The Restoration era Scriptures are the most misunderstood texts in the Bible. Our failure to recognise their recapitulation of patterns from the Torah — and the fact that they are not presented in chronological order but by genre — makes it hard for us to put the pieces together. [1] Very often, we miss great ironies because we don’t get the joke.
Van Gogh’s work has been regarded by some as “hallucinatory,” however his letters show that few artists were as intelligent and rational. His work was not the product of his dark times but of his struggle against them.
“I am feeling well just now… I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But during the attacks it is terrible—and then I lose consciousness of everything. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger and makes haste in what he does.” [1]
For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. “And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” Then I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me…” (Jeremiah 25:15-17)
This is the blog for eating-and-drinking theology. The Bible is an earthy, pungent, dazzling, aromatic book, but that’s not the impression you get from most preachers. They leave out the food and get us chewing on whatever box they put it in to “make it more palatable.” These men who starve the saints should be spit-roasted.
Here’s the last installment of my answers to Brian Simmon’s 50 objections to a first century “coming in judgment” of Christ. You can find a link under Featured Articles that will list them all for you.
46. Abraham still hasn’t inherited the land God promised him (Gen. 13: 15; Acts 7: 5).
Joshua 21:43 “So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.”
I don’t see the relevance of Acts 7:5. The Land was promised to his descendants.
36. Acording to Preterists, all those left in Jerusalem were reckoned unholy. But see Isaiah 4:3-4.
Simple answer: Isaiah 4 refers to the “new Jerusalem” of Ezra and Nehemiah. But I’m going to use this as an opportunity to analyse Isaiah 4 and its context. This stuff blows me away.
“…if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.” (Numbers 16:29-30)
Daughter Jerusalem kept up an outward show of respectability, but under her Temple veils and military skirts her legs were open for anyone. [1] In a vision, Ezekiel dug a hole through this wall of “whitewash” as a legal witness to her crimes against the Covenant.
“Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”
Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1
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Two days ago, we saw the Lord take Jeremiah through the Creation/Tabernacle pattern as He anointed him. Here’s some more thoughts on the Babylonian “seething pot” using the Tabernacle pattern as a guide.
Usually, the Lampstand is at the centre of the passage (Pentecost). But the almond tree/Lampstand here is at Firstfruits. The Land of Day 3 is the Bronze Altar, but the grain and fruit (the Table) is replaced here by the almond).
Jeremiah, as a sign to Israel, is made the incarnation of Yahweh. The seven-eyed “watching tree” is actually Jeremiah, and the Lord continually asks him to “see.” As the prophetic Lampstand watched over Israel (the Table), so Jeremiah would watch over her destruction.[1] The Table seems to be covered by Nebuchadnezzar!
This feasts pattern covers Jeremiah 1:4 - 2:1 so the chapter division is a bit off. After the introduction (vv. 1-3), the Lord speaks. Jeremiah then speaks as Yahweh’s representative from 2:2. He is a Trumpets warning before Nebuchadnezzar’s “Day of Atonement” and the enforced sabbath of the Land.
Sabbath (Genesis - Creation)
[Word from the Ark]
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: ”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Sabbath (creation - Genesis 1:1’s “in the beginning” is literally “at the head”)
Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
or Suffering as the Most Holy Place
I remember an atheist quoting one of David’s Psalms to prove that God doesn’t answer prayer. It was a song of despair. Despite such selective quoting, how do we deal with Bible passages that end without hope? Continue reading
