Jun 20 2011

Bowing the Heavens

battleofmidian

What do the Psalms mean when they speak of the Lord “bowing the heavens”?

“Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.” (Psalm 144:5)
He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.” (Psalm 18:9)

The language is architectural, based on the original and greatest Temple of them all, the cosmic “house” constructed in Genesis 1.

This post has been slain and resurrected for inclusion in my 2015 book of essays, Inquietude.

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Jun 19 2011

A Vindicated Faith

Spiritual sight is a gift from God. There are many things that even the greenest Christians somehow sense yet can’t explain. The Spirit guides us into truths even before we can articulate them.

Maria, a 77 year old theology warrior on the American Vision forum, writes the following:

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Jun 17 2011

Blood to Blood, Water to Water

standinglamb

Doug Wilson writes:

“It is of course true that real religion is concerned with the state of the heart, and not with whether a man has jumped through all the right ceremonial hoops. When a man believes the covenant promise he points away from himself . . . To look away from the heart to an objective Christ is not to neglect the heart; to look away in this fashion is the only way to be justified and put right with God” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 46).

This is an excellent statement. It’s perfect fruit for a pie but Pastor Wilson is sticking it in a casserole.

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Jun 16 2011

Roasting the World

jbj.

Wordmp3 has a new lecture by James Jordan available free for download:
Pentecost: Lighting the World on Fire
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Jun 13 2011

Three Strikes

or True Gravity – 2

matches

Someone made the comment that the “Bible Matrix” is something mystical. While it is certainly typological, it is not mystical. And it is only typological because it is the process of maturity God has built into everything under heaven. Trees and men grow up and bear fruit. That’s typology.

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Jun 11 2011

He Is Not Here…

emptycot

You can find this over at Doug Wilson’s blog. I’m reposting it here because I’ve just spent over an hour responding to Doug R. and John B.’s good objections to comments on Shakin’ The Tree, so I’ve not got time to write anything new. Also, posting it here means I can find it more easily in future! So, at the risk of becoming the anti-paedobaptist/anti-hyperpreterist blog…

Baptism Points Away

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Jun 10 2011

A Bunch of Tools

princeanddragon

Fig leaves without fruit are a false covering. Nathaniel (“gift of God”) was “covered” by fig leaves like Adam, but he did not image the serpent. Jesus “saw” him and he was guileless. [1] Years of Bible teaching and a godly upbringing bore the fruit of righteousness. He was a true Israelite, a victorious prince of God. He would see heaven and earth united in Christ.

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Jun 8 2011

Shakin’ the Tree

icybranchesbyericamaule

The debate over infant baptism at Doug Wilson’s blog continues. Pastor Wilson writes:

“The Gentiles were threatened with removal from the same tree the unbelieving Jews had been in. But if this were the tree of salvation, then the elect can lose their salvation — which cannot be defended biblically. And if this is the tree of the covenant, then the point stands” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 36)

This looks logical enough, but trees are a process of maturity, from seed to fruit. So is righteousness, and so is sin.

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Jun 4 2011

Law as Mirror

biblematrixii-cover

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When Adam saw the two trees at the centre of the Garden, he was looking at the heart of the Trinity.

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Jun 2 2011

Second-hand Curses

fallofjerusalem

Doug Wilson writes:

“The Levitical administration brought strong curses for disobedience (Heb. 2:2-3); the New Covenant administration brings much greater curses (Heb. 10:29; Heb. 12:25). Christians commonly assume that the really terrifying curses for disobedience were given in the Old Testament, and that under the New Testament all is grace. But this is precisely the opposite of the New Testament’s teaching on the subject” (To a Thousand Generations, pp. 28-29).

This is certainly a side of the New Covenant that Christians are never taught. The first time I ever heard of it was in David Chilton’s Revelation commentary The Days of Vengeance in 1989. But along with baptism (just had to throw that in), a rediscovery of the Old Covenant hammer makes everything in the New Covenant look like a nail. The Revelation is, after all, a book about the end of the Old Covenant.

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