Long Live the King

Luke 24:44-49:
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Acts 1:1-11:
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”


Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”


Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Throngs line the streets of London. Those who have not joined the tumult, like the little man Zaccheus in Christ’s day, have sought a better view from higher up… hanging out of win-dows, peering over rooftops. The buzz of anticipation courses through the humanity crowd-ing the roadway from London’s Tower to Westminster Abbey. For many, this is a once in a lifetime event. There will be no day like today. From the Tower to the Cathedral it is ALL about the procession. Soon, the buzz gives way to a roar… anticipation gives way to the thrill of the moment… the confetti, the streamers, and the music fill the senses with wonder and awe; the pomp and pageantry of a processional line bedazzles children and parents alike.

But it’s not the pomp and pageantry causing emotions to swell, throats to lump up, or tears to flow. No, the impetus and the cause for controlled bedlam is riding in the midst of the extravagant processional… this is a glorious ride, a ride of little boys and little girls dreams that ends, eventually, at the altar of Westminster Abbey. Awaiting the subject of the proces-sional and the cause for celebration is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who then commences with a swearing of an oath, a promise of allegiance from the nation's great and small. With great ceremony, that one who is cause for celebration, the one who has sworn to protect and defend the people is bestowed an orb, a scepter, and finally, a crown. But more important than the display of magnificent grandeur that speaks to the occasion, the recipient of the crown is no longer heir, but is in fact the beneficiary of a kingdom, the kingdom of the Brit-ish Crown, a kingdom that is worldwide in its scope. A king, his subject, and a kingdom crescendo with thunderous applause from the tumult: Long live the king. This, my friends, is a coronation day in England.

But this is also a day that we know very little about, nor do we hold in much esteem. It’s not just the fact that we are too young to remember the last coronation day in Britain. It really doesn’t matter much to us (other than amusing ourselves at the spectacle). You see, we are Americans and proudly so. And for the past 232 years, we have -- rightly or wrongly -- tossed aside the shackles of a monarch and the monarcy. And in doing so, while we seem to have avoided the tyrannical oppression of an abusive dictator by opting for a democratic republic that has been unmatched in history, I'm afraid we also have lost some of the significance of "king" and "kingdom". If we really understood them well, crowns, scepters, kings and kingdoms are earthly copies of a reality bigger than themselves (and interestingly enough, this connection between earth and heaven is engrained in the pomp and ceremony of the British coronation).

Understanding the Book of Acts

I bring this up for this reason... when it comes to the book of Acts and understanding the church's mission as it is described in Acts, we tend to miss the grand theme running through its narrative simply because we are Americans. How many of us, in reading this passage, think first of the kingdom language? Would it surprise us to find the kingdom and its mes-sage as a recurring theme through the book of Acts?

What Luke says about mission and kingdom doesn't mean all that much to us because it doesn't resonate with who we are as an American people group. In these opening pages of Luke’s second volume to Theophilus, we are confronted with this fact that though we are not people of the British Crown, we are most certainly people of A Crown. Yet more often than not, when Acts 1 is brought to our minds and we consider Christ’s commission of his church, a monarchy is quite distant from our thinking. But it is here in Acts 1. Christ spoke to his disciples “things pertaining to the kingdom”.

Now, the story of Acts 1 is a familiar story to most of us. Etched in many of our memories is the flannel graph picture of Jesus ascending in a cloud with a two angels promising a re-turn in the clouds. And if we were paying attention, we also heard the great commission all over again, this time with the promise of the Holy Spirit and a prediction that seemingly comes true: from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. And that’s all there is to this, right? Acts is the book about the gift of the Spirit because Jesus is gone, now his disciples are left to evangelize the world, and the church age gets underway, and for good measure… there are a bunch of miracles thrown in to help the people believe the disciples… right? Isn’t this what we’ve been told about Acts? Often we are led to believe that Acts is “what happened after Jesus left the building”.

But there’s more to the book of Acts than this. In fact, if this is what the book of Acts is about, and indeed if this is all there is to the church’s commission, then we have not really understood Luke at all.

There are some details in these opening paragraphs that we cannot miss if we are to rightly understand Luke and what he chronicles about the church’s mission.

Acts is a continuation

The first thing we need to see is that the book of Acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. Some have wondered if Luke is one book with two halves, two volumes that make up one series, or two distinct books written at two different times with Acts as a sequel. I tend to believe that what Luke is describing in these opening verses is the second in a series of two volumes that are to be understood as a complete unit. When Luke says, “In the first book, O Theophilus” and then moves on to what he has else to say to Theolophilus, he is connecting Acts to the Gospel of Luke in a very concrete way. So much so, that the first few verses of Luke not only function as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke, they function as an intro-duction to the book of Acts as well. Turn to Luke 1:1-4:

Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

Just two things to note from Luke 1 for our study this morning from this passage. First, Luke says the content of his gospel is both “an orderly account” of and based on “eyewit-ness” accounts of Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection. This is important because the witnesses of Acts 1 are the very witnesses from whom Luke has received his account. Luke is the beneficiary of those who become witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. And it isn’t merely Luke who is a beneficiary. Theophilus himself has been taught the same gospel of which the disciples were eyewitnesses.

The second thing we need to see here is that the certainty that gave rise to Luke’s motivation in writing his gospel is the same consideration for the book of Acts. Acts’ has in its purview not merely an accounting of what Theophilus is taught, but a certainty that is inherent to the very gospel being proclaimed by the eyewitnesses. Acts isn’t simply a record, nor does it merely contain patterns for the church *to do*. The book of Acts is life-giving gospel. Wo-ven into the very fabric of Luke’s account of the beginning of the church is the gospel; in fact it is the gospel that brings the church to life.

Christ’s continued mission

The literary connections between the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts lead us to the second major consideration of our Acts 1 text this morning. The book of Acts is Christ’s continued mission. Do not, and I repeat, do not miss the clever language chosen by Luke to link his gospel with the book of Acts: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach”. Here he does not say in the gospel he dealt with what Christ *did* and *taught*. No, the first book was just the beginning. The beginning of what? The beginning of Christ’s activity and teaching on earth. What you have in the gospel of Luke, Theophilus, is only the beginning of what Christ is doing and teaching on the earth. The inbreaking of heaven into the Bethlehem night sky announcing the Incarnation, God become man, is just the beginning. It’s not the end. There’s more, so much more that Christ is doing on the earth and here is the book of Acts as an accounting of it. In fact, while the disciples were witnesses to Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection, I Luke, am an eyewitness of what Christ has been doing on the earth since that time. Christ’s activity of gathering a people for himself and His work on behalf of that people did not end with his death, resurrection, or even ascension. No, Christ has continued to be active in the affairs of His people. Thus, the book of Acts is not really the Acts of the Apostles as it is traditionally rendered. It is better understood as the Acts of Christ through His Spirit, or as John Stott so eloquently puts it, “The Continuing Words and Deeds of Jesus by His Spirit through His Apostles”.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that because Christ is no longer visible on earth that His activity has gone dormant, or, as we may be tempted to think, that Christ has passed the torch to the Spirit and now it is the Spirit’s turn to work. Acts is primarily about Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that this is not the age of the Spirit, for it indeed is that. But the Spirit has descended because Christ ascended and the Spirit is at work doing the deeds of Christ.

Christ’s continued kingdom message

And this point leads us into our third major consideration of our passage as we look forward to the rest of the book of Acts... because Acts contains the continuation of what Christ began to do and teach while he was walking among men, Christ’s kingdom message in Acts is a continuation of what was begun in the gospel of Luke. In the brief 40 days between Christ’s resurrection and ascension the body of Christ’s continuing education of his disciples is apparently two-fold: the kingdom of God, and wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The latter of these two things becomes more apparent in the last half of chapter 1 here and in chapter 2 of Acts… the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost becomes a foundational event in the church as a new creation of Christ in the New Covenant. But… we are not going to take up this part of the discussion this morning.

The first part of Christ’s message to his disciples is what we are looking at… verse 4… Chr-ist taught the kingdom of God, something that was true of his ministry on earth from the very beginning. Curious, isn’t it. If you had 40 days with the disciples before leaving their physical presence, what topic would you choose? Would it have been “kingdom”? Christ reaches for the very essence of who he is and what he has accomplished. This subject of kingdom doesn’t merely reach back to the early days of his ministry, or his cousin John the Baptist’s for that matter: repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. No, this reaches back to the very Messianic nature of the Incarnation. This reaches back to the very earliest of those grand promises, and indeed back to the garden. The gardenic mandate that had been forsaken in the fall was for man to have “dominion” over the earthly kingdom of God… and, as redemptive history unfolds beyond the garden, it isn’t long before Joseph is having dreams about a “ruler” to which all the other heavenly bodies will bow, and Jacob is prophesying that a scepter will come from Judah’s line. These prophets know that there would come One who would re-establish the dominion abdicated by Adam. There would come One who would perfectly fulfill that dominion mandate.

And this Messianic Ruler, as redemptive history moves along, is then tied to David and So-lomon… the House of David is promised a kingdom and a king whose rule and reign is FOREVER so that when the time comes for the Lord Adonai to descend Jacob’s ladder and take on human garb, Luke records for us in chapter 1 of his gospel: “…in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” And as has been promised since the days of Jacob and Joseph and now to Mary, sure enough in a Bethlehem manger is born One who is accompanied by angels who announce to shepherds: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The Messiah, the Warrior King has been born to the house of David, a house that will reign forever and ever.

But this isn’t a throne that is merely handed to the Messiah. The heir to David’s throne emerges as a champion for his people in a journey to secure and win His throne. Luke notes in Luke 4 that Christ’s kingdom is at the heart of the devil’s temptation. The devil offers Christ the kingdoms of the world; Christ resists the temptation, and later in the same chapter preaches another kingdom, a kingdom that is set over against all of the kingdoms of the world: the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 (Luke 4:42-44).

Having beaten the illegitimate claim to the throne, Luke tells us that Christ went “through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” And at other times Christ sent out the disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. The preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God is mentioned 9 times in the book of Luke; the subject of king and kingdom is referenced another 31 times, meaning the gospel of Luke alone has more than 40 references to the kingdom of God; the kingdom is central to Luke’s account of the Christ event. Theophilus cannot understand the nature of who Christ is and what He came to accomplish, he cannot even ponder the manger scene, without the rule and reign of “Messiah” permeating that understanding. This kingdom that long ago had been foretold, this kingdom that long ago had been promised to the Messiah is finally and fully coming to its fruition in Jesus Christ.

This emergence of a King and his kingdom continues in Acts. 7 times in Acts… almost the same number of times as the gospel of Luke… the preaching and teaching of the kingdom is highlighted. In the opening verses of Acts 1, Christ preaches the kingdom in the 40-day in-terval between the resurrection and ascension. This will be the task of the disciples as the King ascends to and is exalted on his throne. And not only does Acts begin with Christ teaching the kingdom of God to his disciples, but the book ends with the same note… Paul is in a house in Rome, where (Acts 28:23ff) “... many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets... Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” The book ends precisely where it began: the preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God.

Christ’s continued kingdom

Is it any wonder then, with kingdom being a central theme of Christ’s message and life work, that the storyline in the book of Acts that continues what Christ began to do and teach swings on a question about the kingdom? And that’s our fourth consideration this morning: Acts is about Christ’s continued kingdom. Everything that happens in Acts not only intersects with the popular verse we’re used to hearing (Acts 1:8), but the context of that verse in the first place: verse 6ff: “Therefore (whenever we see therefore, we understand it is explaining the results of something…. As a result of Christ preaching the kingdom) when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The disciples ask, “will you at this time restore the kingdom?” and Christ answers, “you will be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” They are asking “kingdom”, and Christ is answering “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the end of the earth”. Acts 1:8 is the answer to the question posed in 1:6. How many of us have heard a sermon or sat in a Bible study over Acts 1:8 and have never considered verse 6?

This is stunning. Against the backdrop of the gospel of Luke and its 40 mentions of the kingdom of God, including 9 mentions of the proclamation of the kingdom – including proc-lamation by the disciples, the question posed in verse 6 is stunning. John Calvin quips in his Institutes, “there are as many errors in (the disciples’) question as words”. An exaggeration for sure, but the point is made. Even in Christ’s final days on earth, even as he spends his time, again, reinforcing what has been taught concerning the kingdom of God… in light of His death, and resurrection, no less… like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who had hoped that Christ was “the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21), the disciples misunderstand not only the nature and scope of Christ’s mission and work, but the nature of their own mis-sion and message. They were looking for something political and visible. They wanted something they could taste, see, and touch. It’s hard not to view this question in light of another point of debate in the gospel of Luke with which Theophilus was already familiar: who among us is the greatest?

Luke does not chronicle for us whether or not Christ was dismayed at their question. Yet, as is Christ’s gracious teaching habit, he does not answer their question in a way they (or we, for that matter) would have expected, while at the same time answering the question decidedly. We could spend another or two sermons trying to unpack all there is to unpack in verse 8, but for our kingdom purposes this morning, we must be content in understanding verse 8 as the answer to the question in verse 6.

Christ’s kingdom scope

And this is the fifth point of consideration this morning: the scope of Christ’s Kingdom is the entire world. The disciples ask a question that betrays their continued lack of under-standing about Christ’s mission and in verse 7, he first tells them that it is not for them to know the times or the seasons the Father has fixed by his own authority, a statement quite similar to one that he has already made… that the Son himself has not been privy to such information (Mark 13:32ff). And then he answers, more directly, their question. Don’t miss the significance of the English word “but” at the beginning of verse 8. That word “but” points to the subtle rebuke and contrast Christ makes between his answer and their expectations. The disciples were still thinking way too small in terms of the scope of the kingdom, and too fleshly in terms of the nature of the kingdom. This kingdom is not what they thought it was supposed to be. They ask a question in terms of a nation and land. Christ answers with a different kind of nation, land, and kingdom, a kingdom that will eventually expand to fill the entire earth. The disciples may be myopic in their focus and their expecta-tions, but Christ certainly isn’t. A kingdom beginning in Jerusalem? Yes, that was to be expected, given what the prophets had said about the Messiah’s kingdom. You can almost hear the disciples nod approvingly… certainly there we expect Christ to rule from Jerusalem… but the nods begin to slow when Christ adds “all Judea” and then “Samaria”, and as the scope of Christ’s kingdom is widened, the truth begins to sink in. Christ, the Good and Gracious Shepherd even to the end, is reorienting their hearts and their eyes of faith to that which cannot be seen, a kingdom that is not of this world.

If there were any doubts among the disciples about the nature and scope of Christ’s kingdom and his message, he erases them with his final kingdom boundary marker: to the end of the earth. Once again, Christ wants his disciples to see beyond the finiteness and limitedness of Moses. Here he is invoking the Abrahamic covenant; Remember the promise to Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed? Welcome to Christ’s kingdom, the fulfillment of that promise. Christ the Warrior-King has been given a kingdom that spans the entire globe. The “all nations” of that promise to Abraham find their blessing in King Jesus and His realm. This is picked up in Luke 24, where we have the other link between Acts 1 and the book of Luke: Christ says “this death and resurrection were necessary…that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you.” This language of Luke 24 is the language of Acts 1:8... you are witnesses of my death and resurrection to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

But it’s not just the Abrahamic Covenant in view here. Even here in Luke 24 and Acts 1:8, Christ is reaching back even further to the mandate in the garden… there in the garden the dominion mandate was to fill the earth and subdue the earth and to have dominion over eve-rything that moves on the earth. The original dominion mandate for Adam was to have dominion over the entire earth. Now, a second Adam has come and has inaugurated his king-dom… a kingdom that begins in Jerusalem, moves out to Judea, and then to Samaria… this is a kingdom that is going to expand until it fills the entire earth. And this commission is given to disciples who will carry that kingdom message over the expanse of the globe. Chr-ist’s answer to the disciples question in Acts 1:6 is simply this: the kingdom they expected, a kingdom that is grounded in the original mandate to Adam to fill the earth with God’s image bearers, is fulfilled as the church fulfills its commission.

Christ’s kingdom trajectory

Acts 1:8 then is Christ’s kingdom trajectory. Much has been made by commentators and theologians and pastors throughout church history as to the relationship between Acts 1:8 and the rest of the book of Acts. It’s pretty obvious that the rest of the book of Acts follows this Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, “to the end of the earth” trajectory. The church is birthed at Pentecost in Jerusalem and before Acts closes Paul is in Rome, not quite the end of the earth, but certainly well beyond Samaria. And in that day and age, Rome was considered “the end of the earth”. But what has been missed by too many is that this trajectory from Jerusalem to the end of the earth is characterized as “kingdom expansion”. And if we were to follow the trajectory through the storyline of the book of Acts, we would find that this kingdom expansion occurs as Christ from the heavens orchestrates the increase of the Word and the increase of his church (Acts 2:41,47, 6:7, 9:31, 12:24, 16:5, 19:20).

Christ’s kingdom expansion

Indeed the entirety of the book of Acts is the answer to the disciples’ question. Luke writes the narrative of the entire book in such a way that the book begins with Christ teaching the disciples the kingdom of God and the disciples follow-up question and ends with Paul in a house in Rome expounding to anyone within earshot “testifying to them the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets”, just as Christ had done with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Acts begins with kingdom and ends with kingdom following the storyline provided in Acts 1:8: “from Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth”.

The means by which the kingdom is expanded is the increase of the word and the constant addition of numbers to the church. The increase of Christ’s Word and the increase of Christ’s church is the kingdom rhythm of Acts… the Word is preached, and as the Word is preached, Christ increases His Word and multiplies His church. Kingdom expansion occurs as the gospel is faithfully proclaimed by Christ's witnesses, and this expansion moves from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and Asia Minor… and ultimately to Rome and the entire earth. Kingdom expansion occurs, as Christ redeems for himself a people, and gathers to himself a church as redemptive history unfolds through the book of Acts and beyond.

Thus, the story contained in Acts is Christ’s expansion of his kingdom from heaven by His witnesses, the church, through the Spirit. This kingdom promised to the Messiah would be noted for its outpouring of the Spirit and indeed this is what we find in Pentecost. It is the Spirit who effects Christ’s rule and reign among his people in the ever expanding kingdom.

Christ’s kingdom witnesses

This brings us to the eighth consideration of this passage. The kingdom expansion is accompanied by witnesses who have been empowered by the Spirit. Without witnesses, there is no trajectory. Christ will accomplish his kingdom purposes through His witnesses. Just as the disciples had proclaimed the kingdom throughout Christ’s ministry, so now also they will be proclaiming the kingdom through His Spirit as witnesses to Christ’s death and resurrection and coming shortly, his ascension. This should give us much pause in our day when some are suggesting that the proclamation of the word is not necessary for kingdom growth. Such an idea is foreign to scripture. The proclamation of the word is necessary for kingdom expansion. This is why Paul later will say, I know nothing, I preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified.

Christ’s Kingdom ambassadors

And that brings us to our last consideration… these witnesses of Christ’s exaltation become the king’s ambassadors to all of the nations. Verse 9: “While they watched, he was taken up”. Lost in the nice little children’s Bible Story about Christ’s ascension into heaven is the significance of Luke’s language and imagery of how it took place. This isn’t merely Christ riding away in a puff of clouds. Twice Luke uses the words “taken up” to describe Christ’s ascent into heaven. These words are deliberately chosen to invoke the image of Elijah being taken up into heaven in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. This would not have been lost on Theophilus or the early church. This is no ordinary cloud. This is the glory-cloud familiar to Israel symbolizing God’s presence. Theophilus and the church see more than Jesus in a cloud. This is none other than a new and better Elijah being carried into heaven in shekinah glory. And just as Elijah is taken up, Elisha becomes the new ambassador. Like Elisha, the witnesses watching the New Elijah disappear in the glory-cloud are tasked with furthering the mission of the New Elijah who has been taken into glory. The church, the New Elisha, becomes the ambassador for the king and his kingdom, proclaiming the King’s name from Jerusalem to the end of the earth.

Christ’s kingdom coronation

But this is not the only image being invoked by Luke or by God’s divine orchestration of Christ’s ascent. Certainly, a bookend is what we are seeing here in Acts 1. In Luke 2, the exalted One descended heaven and took his residence in a lowly earth-bound manger with the proclamation about the heir to David’s throne on the lips of angels suspended above the earth. Now, the babe in the manger has been exalted up to the heavens and it is the angels on earth heralding an eventual return. The divine humiliation is over. Christ has ascended in shekinah glory. He has been, according to verse 11, “taken up into heaven”. They aren’t merely looking up, they are, like Stephen “gazing up into heaven”. Heaven is mentioned 4 times in the space of one verse. These disciples aren’t simply looking up into the sky. They are gazing *into* heaven. As the glory-cloud ascends, the disciples are given a glimpse of heaven’s throne room. Christ hasn’t merely ascended, but he has ascended to heaven where Peter will say seven days later he was exalted at the right hand of the Father. These disciples on that hillside are now witnesses to nothing other than the Messiah’s majestic coronation.

Oh, if they hadn’t understood it before, they surely understood it now. How they were foolish and slow of heart. They had been looking for an earthly restoration of glory to Israel and now they were witnesses to Christ’s heavenly exaltation in glory. It is no longer shepherds who will carry that message to the streets of Bethlehem. It is Christ-commissioned witnesses who will carry that message to the end of the earth. Without the ascension, there is no mission.

Just what was it that the disciples witnessed? We are given a very brief glimpse in the Old Testament. I had not considered this passage until I read a few weeks back that a passage from 2 Kings forms the underpinnings of England’s coronation ceremony. 2 Kings 11:4-12:

“…in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Carites and of the guards, and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. And he made a co-venant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and he showed them the king’s son. 5 And he commanded them, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house 6 (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. 7 And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD on behalf of the king, 8 shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.” 9 The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 10 And the priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD. 11 And the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house on behalf of the king. 12 Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to see beyond the coronation of young Joash to un-derstand the significance of that glory cloud on a Jerusalem hillside. Throngs lined the streets of heaven. Heaven’s citizens were hanging out of windows, peering over rooftops. The buzz of anticipation coursed through the throngs of saints crowding the celestial roadway from the hillside to the throne room. Oh, for those saints, even those disciples… there was be no day like that day. Soon, the buzz gives way to a roar… anticipation gives way to the thrill of the moment… the confetti, the streamers, and the music fill the senses with wonder and awe; the pomp and pageantry of a processional line bedazzles the Redeemed.

But it’s not the pomp and pageantry causing emotions to swell, throats to lump up, or tears to flow. No, the impetus and the cause for controlled bedlam is riding in the midst of the shekinah glory-cloud… With great ceremony, that One who is cause for celebration, the One who has sworn to protect and defend and redeem His people is bestowed an orb, a scepter, and finally, a crown. But more important than the display of magnificent grandeur that speaks to the occasion, the recipient of the crown is no longer heir, but is in fact the benefi-ciary of a kingdom, the kingdom that had been promised to a Son, a kingdom that is worldwide in its scope. Behold in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as though it had been slain... and He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne… and they sang a new song, And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

A king, his subject, and a kingdom crescendo with thunderous applause from the tumult: Long live the king who has been crowned with all glory, honor, and power. This, my friends, was Christ’s coronation day in heaven.

Reflection and Response

So what is our response?

First, we must see Christ actively expanding His kingdom from His throne on high through His Spirit. How often have we heard Acts 1:8 preached as if it were an imperative? It is not. You *will be* my witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth. It is a matter of fact. It *will* happen. Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection guarantee that His plan will not be thwarted. We will be His witnesses… ambassadors of the king.

Second, we must see ourselves as participants in the text and in so doing, see ourselves both as beneficiaries of Christ’s work in expanding His kingdom from Jerusalem to Dayton and Springboro, and as participants in that mission. The message of the kingdom has transversed time and space to give us life, make us a new creation in the New Covenant, and transform our lives. As a transformed people we continue the mission as we ourselves give witness to Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension.

Third, we must see ourselves as recipients of the royal commission in preaching the kingdom. Like those disciples, we are witnesses to the end of the earth with the message of Christ’s death, resurrection, and exaltation. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. He rules and he reigns over His church from His throne on high. And he effects the expansion of that kingdom through the proclamation of the word through witnesses. To paraphrase what Peter tells the crowd in Acts 2, “let all the world know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who was crucified”. Let us be about the proclamation of that message, and in so doing, be participants in Christ’s mission to expand his rule and reign through the increase of the word and the increase of disciples to His church.

Do you desire, do we desire for Christ to expand His kingdom through His church? Let us participate in Christ’s mission as witnesses proclaiming His name wherever His kingdom is not visibly found. The book of Acts is about the continuing of Christ’s mission on earth by the church. As we participate with Theophilus in that mission, Christ will expand His king-dom through the power of His Spirit as He increases both His Word and those who call him Lord. -- crb

When being biblically defensible isn't enough

Hats off to Jason Stellman, who has admitted for all the world to see what some of us have been saying is true about American Presbyterians for some time: some would prefer to defend their beliefs from the confession rather than the text of scripture.  Notice I said "some" American Presbyterians. While it's not true of all of them -- some of them have been quite influential on my own hermeneutics, when it comes to handling challenges to certain areas of their theology, too often the habit is to retreat back into the confession rather than providing a robust defense from scripture itself.

Here's how Stellman frames the issue: "Say what you will about Peter Leithart, but when it comes to his theology, the man just plain ol' doesn't care about anything other than that it is biblical.  Is this a bad thing? When the study committee which he and I petitioned the Northwest Presbytery of the PCA to form began its work, Leithart's only request was that, in addition to comparing his views to the Westminster Standards, we also take the time to engage his work from the vantage point of Scripture. It was obvious that this latter concern far outweighed the former in his mind.  The conclusions of the minority report that I authored were that Leithart's positions, though biblically defensible to a certain degree, were nonetheless clearly contrary to the system of doctrine found in our Confession and Catechisms. The problem, the minority argued, was that he failed (or was unwilling) to read the Bible through the lens of the doctrinal standards of the PCA. And Leithart's response, in a nutshell, was "Isn't being biblical enough?""

I'm not sure which is more troubling or appalling: the admission that Leithart's position may have some grounds in the scripture OR that the doctrinal standards of the PCA are the prescribed lens for the Bible.  Doesn't the latter imply that the text is subservient to the confession?  Of course it does... and the subsequent discussion following Stellman's post bears that out, with fellow Presbyterians wrestling with the implications of Stellman's admission AND a recently Protestant-turned-Catholic poster boy pointing out the glaring inconsistency.

It's not my intent to get into the whole Leithart situation out there in the Northwest or his unbiblical views of justification, but I have to wonder: where is the exegetical bravado in the PCA?  In the opinion of this blogger, Leithart's position can be beaten with robust exegetical work.  Where's the mano y mano, my (our) exegesis can beat your exegesis, defense of the gospel here?  The failure to respond with exegesis highlights two other possible implications from Stellman's post, both of which aren't all that cheery: 1) Leithart's position has more grounds in the scripture than the confession's position OR 2) we (the PCA presbytery in the Pacific Northwest) don't know how to exegete.

As a friend of mine has pointed out, the unfolding scenario in this particular presbytery out in the Seattle area highlights the difference between the value of a confession and the dangers of confessionalism.  Confessions, though fallible, have been tools used by the church through the ages to guard the entrustment of the gospel, defending and propagating the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  It's when those confessions become the authoritative means by which the scripture is interepreted (notice I did not merely say "means") that confessionalism becomes a danger to the very sola scriptura idea the confessions seek to defend.

Some may think it's a bit of grandstanding for a baptist to comment on an intramural debate.  Maybe.  But this baptist found Stellman's admission stunning.  As one who has engaged Presbyterians on all sorts of issues, confessionalism is a source of frequent frustration.  Yes, all of us have our hermeneutical presuppositions that we bring to the text.  That's not what this is about.  This is about an all-too-frequent tendency that I have noticed for *some* Presbyterians to run and hide in the confession (and its proof texts) rather than engaging the text.  It's as if the divines have done all of the exegetical work... no further exegesis necessary.  Of course, no one ever says that out loud.

But the apparent calcification of the confession against an exegetical challenge (such as the one put forth by Leithart) raises this additional implication: the confession is infallible.  And of course, no one *ever* says that out loud either.  The qualification to the apparent calcification usually goes along the lines of, "well, it's the best possible defense of the gospel humans have been able to produce".  That's a fine sentiment and probably not so far from the truth, but again, the implications raise a question: So, the confession cannot be wrong?  The implied answer: theoretically "yes"; pragmatically and ecclesiologically, "no".

*That* is confessionalism.  If the ecclesiology of any said denomination has no mechanism by which the confession itself is subjected to the rigorous demands, propositions, and hermeneutics of The Word, what is it in that said denomination which holds the highest place of authority?  It's the confession, not The Word.  And if it's not The Word, it's not THE WORD.  And therein lies the biggest problem of all.

The Exceeding Righteousness of the New Covenant

Matthew 4:23-5:20:

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. -- Matthew 4:23-5:20

Introduction: a world of self-reliance

A conflicted Maria has returned to the Abbey. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. She had left the Abbey brimming with confidence, off to be the governess of seven children whose mother had passed away and whose father was busy with his own military and social interests. Yet with music, charm, and a supreme confidence in herself that could not be shaken, a household had been transformed. But she hadn’t been counting on that curious thing called love.

Life throws Maria a curveball, and so… here she is, back at the Abbey, confidence in tatters, but seemingly wiser for having had the experience. Maria renews her vows at the convent and spends the rest of her life at the convent fulfilling the vows she had made to God and to her order. Right? Of course not! Rogers and Hammerstein know better. When things are darkest, what is it that Maria needs more than a confidence and morale booster? Enter Mother Abbess who proceeds to give Maria a bit of inspiration sent from heaven we are assured: “Climb Every Mountain, Ford ev'ry stream, Follow ev'ry rainbow, 'Till you find your dream.” Armed with that bit of honey from heaven, or so we’re led to believe, Maria returns to be the governess of the children again… and of course, we know the rest of the story.

The plot for the Sound of Music swings on the morsel of worldly wisdom: climb ev’ry mountain; exert some effort; make life happen for you; persevere through the bad times, because the sun will come out tomorrow (to borrow another choice morsel from another story we all know well); face your fears; have confidence in yourself; create your own destiny; just do it… till you find *your* dreams. Thus, the underlying philosophy driving one of the greatest musicals ever penned is the triumph of the human spirit and the self-created destiny. Your dreams, your *heaven* is yours for the taking. It’s up to you and no one else… all you need is a little confidence in yourself.

This kind of philosophy isn’t all that surprising coming from the moral philosophers of our culture with names such as Rogers and Hammerstein and Walt Disney. But visit your Christian bookstore, go online to any number of evangelical websites, listen to, or watch any number of evangelical personalities, and you’ll find wholesale adaptation of Mother Abbess’ moral virtue. Oh certainly, many evangelicals would not claim that their ultimate destiny depends on their tenacity and spiritual fortitude. However, they live the so-called “victorious Christian life” as if it were so. While it’s seemingly accepted that the rugged American individualism and Christian machismo won’t get one into the kingdom, it is quite apparent that one maintains the kingdom by climbing every mountain, fording every stream, following every rainbow until we find the kingdom dream. In the end, it might strike us as uncanny how the kingdom dream isn’t all that much different from the American dream. And in fact, some might even conclude that one can have both.

The Sermon on the Mount, though, depicts a kingdom life quite different from that of Rogers and Hammerstein. Life in the New Covenant has a different orientation. It is other-worldly. It is both counter- and contra- culture. It is of another kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Most importantly, life in the New Covenant has its source in a Person. Not the person who climbs the mountain, but the One who has climbed the mountain for those who know they cannot, and now sits on His throne.

The Old Covenant

Surely, how different a picture this One on the mountain was painting for the Israel who had gathered to listen at his feet. This life being offered by the One named Jesus was radically different from the one that they knew in the Old Covenant. For the crowd who gathered to listen, their reality was still dictated by the old order that had been given on another mountain to the first and greatest of the prophets, Moses.

This was an Israel under the weight of an oppressive law they could not keep, and shackled to a covenant routinely broken. The etching from the first tablets of God’s law wasn’t even dry and Israel had broken the covenant and its moral code with a golden calf. At the sight of the calf Moses threw down the tablets; those broken tablets at the base of Mount Sinai not only symbolized broken law and broken covenant, but Israel’s inability to keep either law or covenant.

This Israel, gathered at the foot of Jesus on the mountain, is in need of a righteousness beyond her grasp. “Do this and live” were the terms of the covenant, terms broken early and often by a people seemingly bent on disobedience. Not only was this Israel without a righteousness, this was a people who year in and year out, the prophets warned, were confident in their own righteousness. So confident were they of their own righteousness, when they were reminded of their wickedness, more often than not, it was the prophets, not their iniquities, who were laid on the altar for execution.

This Israel, gathered at the foot of the mountain, was not only lacking an awareness of her sin, she also lacked a kingdom. Destroyed by Assyria and banished by Babylon, Israel never regained the kingdom that had been sworn to David and his posterity. Instead, Israel was merely a Roman territory, occupied by invaders who barely tolerated them.

And… lacking a kingdom, Israel had no king. More than 580 years had passed since a son of David had occupied the throne in Israel, and Herod Antipas was neither Jew nor king. And finally, this Israel that had gathered at the foot of Jesus on the mountain knew nothing of the dwelling presence of God in their midst. The temple had been rebuilt. Herod the Great, to gain favor with the Jews, gave it a bit of dressing up. But no amount of renovation, no amount of temple expansion could mask the glaring absence of God’s visible presence among his people.

This crowd, gathered at the foot of Jesus on a mountain, was sheep without a shepherd, citizens without a kingdom, worshipers without God’s presence, sinners without a righteousness.

The Promise of a New Covenant

What a paltry existence this was. What a sorry lot were these people of God. Defiant, disobedient, unable to keep the covenant and completely unaware of their need for a righteousness. But God, in his mercy and grace, gave the promise of a coming day when things would be different for his people. The old order would give way to a new order of things. In Isaiah, Israel is promised a new covenant in the form of a person; Isaiah 42, verse 6; notice all of the “I wills”. These “I wills” collectively form the terms of a new covenant:

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

And again in Isaiah 49:8, God promises to send Israel a new covenant in the form of a Person:

Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

In Jeremiah 31, Israel is told about a new covenant… in verse 31… again, notice all of the “I wills”...

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Not only is Israel promised a new kind of law and a new covenant, but a new heart that will keep covenant forever. And this new covenant culminates in the highest expression of covenant that first appeared with Abraham: I will be their God and they will be my people. Jeremiah was not the only prophet pointing to a new covenant; Ezekiel 11:

Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Exekiel 36:23

And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them….I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

And Ezekiel 37:

(verse 5) Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live… (verse 12) Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves…And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD…(verse 21) Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land…And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all…They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes…I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them…My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

These are the terms of a New Covenant. If you want to know just what has been and is being accomplished in the New Covenant, just follow the “I wills” of these passages. Almost from its inception as a nation coming out of Egypt, Israel had been breaking covenant. Unrighteous covenant-breakers was the legacy of Israel. But in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, God says he will take care of Israel’s infidelity once and for all by giving them a new heart, a new law, his own Spirit within them that will cause them to obey, a new covenant, a new covenant Incarnate, a righteousness, a king and kingdom, and then, the promise that he will fully and finally dwell with and among His people: “I will be their God, and they will be my people”. Israel is carted off to Babylon, they return to the land… and they wait… for more than 500 years.

The anticipation of a new covenant

We come to the book of Matthew and from the very beginning there is a sense of anticipation about what is to come, chapter 1 verse 1: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David…(verse 17) all of the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ fourteen generations.” From the very beginning of his eyewitness account of the Christ, the Messiah, Matthew is bent on us and those in the early church reading his account understanding that this Messiah is the Promised King who is the final heir to David’s throne.

Israel needs a Savior; in chapter 1:21, Gabriel tells Joseph that the son born to Mary is to be named Jesus “for he will save his people from their sins”.

Israel no longer enjoyed God’s dwelling presence among them; in chapter 1:23, this one named Jesus is fulfillment of the promise of God through Isaiah, “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a *son* and they shall call his name Immanuel”, which means God with us. Months later, a shekinah-glory-like star leads wise men from the east to “came to rest” over the place where the child was. Immanuel has come to dwell among his people.

This crowd at the feet of Jesus on the mountain lacks righteousness; Christ submits to John’s baptism because it is fitting for Jesus to fulfill all righteousness.

Israel lacks a kingdom; Jesus comes out of the wilderness and begins to preach, “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Israel lacks a king, they are sheep without a shepherd; in chapter two there come wise men from the east asking “where is he born king of the Jews?” The answer for the wise men is found in Micah and quoted by Matthew, “from you, Bethlehem, shall come a ruler who will *shepherd* my people Israel”.

Israel needs someone who can accomplish and fulfill all of the terms of the covenant and the law that it failed to do. Matthew chronicles for us that Israel’s champion, Israel’s incarnational representative is miraculously brought up out of Egypt, through the baptismal waters, into the desert where he is tested and tempted for 40 days, and now we come to chapter 5 and this one who has been brought up out of Egypt, through the baptismal waters, in the desert, has now ascended a mountain. And it is on this mountain that one better than Moses beckons Israel to draw near; it is on this mountain that THE Son of David ascends and sits down, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom (4:23).

The Sermon on the Mount

While many commentators have suggested that Christ is assuming the posture of a Jewish rabbi who dispenses wisdom with his students, Matthew is doing much more than that here. This is the “son of David”, the One born “king of the Jews” assuming the posture of One who has authority, and as the Sermon unfolds, One who has ultimate and supreme authority. At the bookend of this sermon Matthew tells us that the “crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and *not* as their scribes”.

This king comes proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that imposes itself on this world, a kingdom that does not look like the kingdoms of this world. This is the upside down kingdom with kingdom citizens living life upside down with an orientation toward the heavens.

This upside down kingdom’s citizens are marked by those things which are foolish in the eyes of the world. These kingdom citizens are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek. Contra a Jewish culture wrapped up in asserting its own righteousness, the kingdom citizen hungers and thirsts for a righteousness that only the King can satisfy… they seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and in doing so will find that He satisfies the desires of their soul. These kingdom citizens who are merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers find themselves persecuted for the sake of that very same righteousness, a righteousness that had cost the prophets their very lives.

But this righteousness is beyond the grasp of the kingdom citizen. It is not self-generated. This king comes proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom marked by a righteousness that can only come from above. Israel lacks righteousness. And this King tells his people that unless their righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, the kingdom is not for them (chapter 5 verse 20).

One must feel the weight of this. The kingdom citizen hungers and thirsts for a righteousness that cannot and will not be his own. The demands for entrance into the kingdom have not changed… in fact, the ultimate standard of obedience to the law, “be holy as I am holy” is interpreted by Jesus as “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (chapter 5 verse 48). What a severe imposition.

And as we track just what it is that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees through the rest of the Sermon on the Mount we might be driven to the point of depression. By highlighting the heart issues, which we will get to in a minute, the strict code of the law isn’t simply brought to bear, but the intent behind the code as well. This Sermon on the Mount proposes an ideal so high and unattainable, Christianity’s critics have scoffed at the ethic here, suggesting such severe demands are unjust and even unethical. No one can live up to the standard proposed by this king on this mountain. And they are right.

An exceeding righteousness

How is it that one could be more righteous than those who dedicated their entire existence to promoting their own righteousness? These Pharisees are those who have championed obedience to God’s law on their own terms, and in so doing, have come to have confidence in their own righteousness. The righteousness of their kingdom is attainable. These are they who sing “climb every mountain, ford every stream”, confident that the kingdom rewards the kind of righteousness applauded by men.

If entrance to the kingdom requires a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees, those paragons of Jewish virtue, how can anyone enter? How is it possible? The answer is found in the very same passage. Matthew 5:17-20 form the thesis statement, if you will, for the entire Sermon on the Mount, landing on verse 20. The entire Sermon swings on this question of the kind of righteousness demanded by the King for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. But it is a righteousness that this King himself provides. This king comes to the mountain having been baptized by John in order to fulfill all righteousness.

That same word “fulfill” is found here in verse 17 of chapter 5. The One fulfilling all righteousness is the One fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. Thus, the righteousness needed by this crowd at the feet of a King on the mountain, the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, must come from the One who has satisfied not merely the demands of the law, but has fulfilled the entire Old Testament. “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them”.

This king proclaiming the good news of the kingdom fulfills, or fills up to the very last measure, everything foreshadowed in the Old Testament. From the law to the prophets, comprehensively from Moses to Malachi, what was contained in law and in prophecy, Christ came to fulfill all that anticipated Him.

This word “fulfilled” isn’t simply about making all of the predictions in the Old Testament come true. This is the typical way “fulfill” is often preached or taught in our evangelicalism. No, the word used here, pleroo, has the idea of “filling up completely” or “filling up to the last measure”… so… this King doesn’t merely make the predictions about the coming Son of David come true; Christ here is saying that he is the final subject and object of that which had been foreshadowed and promised throughout all of the Old Testament. Christ is the sum and substance of all Old Testament revelation, the sum and substance of its history.

And this fulfillment includes all of the law (Matthew 5:18). In filling up the full measure of all that was foreshadowed in the law, in obeying the law to its fullest extent, Christ embodies the Law and becomes the standard by which all holiness is measured. In becoming the sum and substance of law by filling up the law to its fullest measure, in fulfilling all that had been foreshadowed in the law, this king sitting on the mount is the full and final Torah, he is The Law of the New Covenant invested with all of its authority and glory.

It was Christ all along to whom the Old Testament had been pointing. And it is this Christ, this king fulfilling all righteousness, who becomes righteousness for His people. This Christ, who sits on the mountain, dispenses to His kingdom citizens a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. This king who is proclaiming another kingdom proclaims that the righteousness necessary for entrance into the kingdom is a righteousness that comes from above, a righteousness given by another.

How does Christ’s fulfillment of the law become righteousness for us? Because this King, is the Blessed man of the beatitudes. In fulfilling the law and the prophets, this king has, on behalf of his people, has been poor in Spirit, This King is one who mourned. This King is one who in purity of heart was persecuted for righteousness sake. This Son of David, this new Israel delivered out of Egypt, affirmed in the waters of baptism, and tested in the wilderness, in meekness hungered and thirsted after that righteousness necessary to provide salvation for His people. On this mountain, this King, this Lawgiver, proclaims a kingdom that will be won by filling up the very last measure of a law that enslaved those who broke it. In obeying all of the demands of the Old Testament, this King, this Lawkeeper, gives life to those who seek first his kingdom and that righteousness only He can provide.

The New Covenant

This Israel, at the feet of Jesus on the mountain, lacks a covenant that is not and cannot be broken. And this king who comes proclaiming the advent of the kingdom of heaven comes bringing a New Covenant for his people. If we were to trace the storyline of Matthew’s unfolding of the kingdom of heaven that is imposing itself onto the stage of this world in the Person of Jesus Christ, we would eventually come to an upper room, where this One who is fulfilling all righteousness holds up the cup to His disciples and declares that this new kingdom, ushered in through His death and resurrection, inaugurates a new covenant, a new covenant ratified by His blood and personified in Christ himself. Fulfilling Isaiah 42 and 49, this King becomes The Covenant himself, his own promise and guarantee to His people, bestowing all the rights and privileges of kingdom citizenship. Entry into this kingdom, must be through the One who is Covenant Himself, the only One with the authority to bestow the rights and privileges of kingdom citizenry.

In this New Covenant, a great exchange has taken place: Israel’s unrighteousness for Christ’s righteousness. The heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh. God’s people, those of us who knew nothing but disobedience, have been given new heart that not only desires to obey, but we have been given a Spirit that causes us to obey. In fulfilling the tablets of stone, the kingdom citizen no longer lives under the specter of an external law that condemns, but lives the life of the Spirit, an internal law that produces obedience in the kingdom citizen.

Thus, in this New Covenant, the principle of inversion, a principle that has been prophesied in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, becomes the order of the day. And at the outset of the kingdom, this principle of inversion is being proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount by the king who sits on the mount. That which the world thinks is mighty really is weak. That which seems wise is foolish. What seems right to the average person is wrong. What seems to give life brings death. And being meek, waiting on the Lord, is now that status quo. Mercy rules the day. The foolishness of this world is wise. Peacemaking, not winning, not war, is the mark of the kingdom citizen. Self-reliance is out; utter dependence on someone else for favor with God and overcoming life’s difficulties is the mark of the kingdom citizen.

Everything Israel understood to be reality has been flipped on its head. The emphasis of the Old Covenant had been an external code written on breakable stone tablets. The emphasis has shift from a law demanding perfect conformity to an external code, or that which seemed wise to the law abiding Israelite, to a new order in which being poor in spirit, meek, merciful, pure in heart, hungry and thirsty after righteousness is the mark of the kingdom citizen.

If we were to read a little further in the Sermon on the Mount we would find that the emphasis of the New Covenant is on internal righteousness that flows out of the heart. In a series of 6 statements in chapter 5, Christ juxtaposes the law over against the intent of the law, which is aimed at the heart. Sitting in the backdrop of the external code of the Old Covenant are issues of the heart. “You have heard that it was said in the law, thou shalt not murder… but I say to you, those who hate are guilty of murder. You have heard it say, don’t commit adultery. But, I say to you, if you lust after a woman who isn’t your wife, you’re guilty of adultery.” This New Covenant inverts the emphasis on the fruits of obedience to the tree that gives rise to the fruit (Matthew 7:16-17).

Heart issues were certainly part of the Old Covenant. God’s people are condemned for having hearts that are far from him. Heart issues are implicit in the first and last commandments… having no idols before God and not coveting. Heart issues are certainly inherent to the greatest commandment which summarizes the law: loving the Lord your God with all heart, soul, and strength. But the identity of the Old Covenant was wrapped up in external code and law keeping. The external code dominated the Old Covenant landscape. Do’s and don’ts dominated the Israelite’s worship. “Do this and live” was at the forefront of everything that happened in the Old Covenant.

But in Christ’s fulfillment of the law and prophets, in Christ’s fulfillment of “do this and live”, the New Covenant he makes with his people is characterized by the internal, the new heart of flesh and its corresponding Spirit, that does not break Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31ff). In the Sermon on the Mount, the king who is proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, places the heart front and center because it is the heart out of true worship, true love, and true obedience flows.

This is why the kingdom citizen lays up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). His affections are oriented toward a righteousness that the world cannot give, and toward a kingdom that cannot be seen. The fleshly heart of the kingdom people in the New Covenant is oriented toward this King sitting on the mountain as the only thing that can satisfy. This is why the kingdom citizen need not be anxious about life (Matthew 6:25). Those with eyes of faith are not anxious over the provisions in this world; indeed, these kingdom citizens recognize that the King sitting on the mountain dispenses bread that gives life (Matthew 4:4).

Conclusion

The King has come to the mountain proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. The crowds who gather at the foot of Jesus on the mountain are offered life in a righteousness only the One who fulfills the law and the prophets can provide. They are offered the kingdom of heaven in the Person who is born king of the Jews, the One who has an authority that is not of this world.

This sermon ends where we must end. Chapter 7 verse 28: “When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.” If we are to find ourselves among those kingdom citizens to whom Christ feeds himself and gives life, we must find ourselves following Christ’s footsteps.

Kingdom citizens, this morning we meet at the foot of Mount Zion. We feast at the feet of the One who has been enthroned. We eat of the bread that He offers freely in his word. We find our satisfaction in One who has fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. All that we lack, He provides.

These crowds who followed Jesus off of the mountain, most of them, if not all of them, were unaware that if they continued to trace the steps and path of *this* king, it would lead them to another hill where this king would inaugurate the New Covenant with his blood, beneath a sign that read, “This is Jesus, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37). The one who is born “king of the Jews” in Matthew 2 dies as the king of the Jews in Matthew 27. This king came proclaiming a kingdom in humility and meekness; this king came into Jerusalem not riding a white horse, but a donkey; and this king died inaugurating the kingdom with his own blood. If we are to follow this king, we must trace his footsteps in meekness and humility and mercy and being poor in Spirit to our own possible crucifixion.

As citizens of a new kingdom living under a new covenant with new hearts of flesh and the Spirit living within us, we live by the inversion principle. We eschew and forgo the climbing every mountain self-reliance and self-righteousness. The king proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom on the mount is determined to drive every bit of self-reliance out of us. We are fools to the world, living with our eyes focused on a kingdom that is not of this world, to the point of being persecuted for righteousness sake.

As we feast on Christ, as we find our satisfaction in the One who sits enthroned, as we pursue the expansion of a kingdom that is not of this world, we trace the footsteps of the king in mercy, in meekness, in purity of heart, to the point where we too are persecuted for righteousness sake. At the risk of being falsely accused because of His name, we orient our hearts toward our reward in heaven, a Reward who has exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees. -- crb

Dennison on the "faithmeister's" gospel: "I Have Confidence in Confidence"

"There is a popular variety of faith that finds itself expressed almost universally. It even communicates its message in the most innocent way, presenting itself most attractively. In our own time, there is the popular form of faith that asserts itself in our culture.

"..There is that form of faith, that popular expression of faith that is spread abroad through Hollywood and its products. And I have in mind one of the most sacred products that Hollywood has ever produced. I have in mind “The Sound of Music”. We find that popular form of faith expressed in this musical as Julie Andrews is on her way to Christopher Plummer’s house, skipping down the road singing “I Have Confidence in Confidence”, or “I have faith in faith”.

"The form of faith expressing itself here is the type that rises up from within the person who is confessing that faith or giving expression to it. And invariably in this form of faith, the object of that faith is very much connected to an aspect of personality. In some cases, it’s actually genetic. Some individuals are born just a little more optimistic than others. Some are even relentlessly optimistic. But even where it isn’t genetic, we learn from the “faithmeisters” of our time that we all have within us these seeds of potentiality, and if we can just tap into that, then we’ll rise above all the storm and stress of life and our existence will be a perfect calm. Here, the form of faith is nothing less than sheer willpower. It is built upon an appeal to our inner potential, and we, having tapped into our inner potential can even congratulate ourselves for having tapped into it.

"And then, we can go on to congratulate ourselves some more, because with this faith that we now have in tow, we have developed a remarkable stick-to-it-iveness and perseverance that is especially suited to help us face the ups and downs of life. In fact, our stubborn optimism may even win us some awards. We might get some recognition. And that, from the “apostles and prophets”, the “faithmeisters” of our day -- those who are the exponents of the faith in faith gospel -- we might even become the headliners at an Amway convention or get to tell our story in the pages of Guidepost magazine.

"Let me assure you that there is nothing at all of this form of faith in true biblical religion. And let me assure you, equally, as hard as it for some to take it and accept it, there is nothing of Rodgers and Hammerstein's “I Have Confidence in Confidence” in the biblical gospel. Still, it is pursued by literally millions.

“...you may be perceiving in it the patterns of that age-old 'faith game' in which genuine faith, so-called or so-described, is measured by its ability to gain for you what you want. And such faith is even thought of as having the power to procure for you what you want.

"In the 'faith game', faith is no longer a receiving and resting upon Jesus Christ or upon the works of God as they are presented to us in the gospel. Faith is no longer a trust in God’s sovereignty and His righteousness as revealed to us in the scripture. According to the “faith game”, faith is just another form of manipulation. Faith is a form of voodoo. It’s a form of witchcraft, by which we manipulate our destinies to our own liking.

"If there is any of this paganism in Habakkuk, God is determined to rid him of it, and that in order by the end of his prophecy, he might be both a spokesman for true faith and a living example of what it’s all about." -- Charles Dennison, Sermon on Habakkuk 1:1-17, 2-19-1995, Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Sewickley, PA

Beale headed to WTS

I guess this means Wheaton was "already/not yet".... and since he already had been serving as part-time faculty at WTS, what was temporary has been made permanent. :-)

Westminster Bookstore Blog » Archive » Greg Beale Appointed Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary

Big picture: Beale replaces Enns. :-)

Horton: "The law gives us something to do, and the gospel gives us something to believe."

“Despite its good intentions, the assumption that continually makes Evangelicalism a seedbed for liberalism is that doctrine is secondary to life. Today, Evangelicalism is far less divided by doctrine, which is generally treated with indifference, than by the particular ideology that cultural transformation should take. "Deeds, not creeds" has already been tried-many times, and has simply led to ungodly strife and divisions in Christ's body even over matters that are not clearly addressed in Scripture. While church history (and contemporary experience) exhibits evidence of wrangles over doctrinal precision that do not lead to the peace and purity of the church in its mission, the church has demonstrated that it can find plenty of other things to fight about when it looks away from Christ.

“It might seem controversial to identify doctrine with "gospel" and deeds with "law," especially since these days we often hear calls to "live the gospel." However, the gospel is not an imperative, but an indicative; not a program to follow, but an announcement to welcome for our own salvation and to herald for the salvation of the world. Does that mean that we do not have imperatives or that we do not follow Christ? As Paul would say, "May it never be!" It simply means that we have to distinguish indicatives and imperatives. The law gives us something to do, and the gospel gives us something to believe. Christians are no less obligated to obey God's commands in the New Testament than they were in the Old Testament, but they are commands, not promises. The imperatives drive us to despair of self-righteousness, the indicatives hold up Christ as our only Savior, and then the imperatives become the "reasonable service" of believers "in view of God's mercies." There is a lot of wisdom to the order of the Heidelberg Catechism: Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. The commands tell us what we are to do; the gospel tells us what God has done. "Deeds, not creeds" leaves the sinner with the tattered garment of fig leaves rather than robed in the righteousness of Christ.

"If doctrine is rightly understood, however, not as dry and dusty speculations, but as the biblical indicatives of God's work in creation, providence, redemption, and consummation of all things in Christ, then the doctrine is the gospel." – Michael Horton, “Creeds and Deeds: How Doctrine Leads to Doxological Living”

Ridderbos: "'to teach' and 'teaching'...stand in the closest relation to the great redemptive event that is proclaimed in the kerygma of the gospel"

“Teaching and preaching are frequently brought into a close relationship with each other. Jesus already associated those words (Matt. 4:23; 9:35ff.), and so did the apostles He appointed (Matt. 6:30, cf. vs. 12; Acts 4:2; 5:42; 15:35; 28:3 1). What to teach and teaching indicate thus stands in the closest relation to the great redemptive event that is proclaimed in the kerygma of the gospel; it belongs to the essence of the New Testament proclamation of redemption. In keeping with that, those terms are also used in a comprehensive sense—”teaching the things concerning Jesus” (Acts 18:25; 28:3 1), “teaching the word of God” (Acts 18:11)—when in general the object of that “teaching” is the entire content of the gospel (Gal. 1:12; cf. vs. 11; Col. 2:27; Eph. 4:21; 2 Thess. 2:15).

"In that sense, the absolute use of teaching must also be understood to refer to the activity of the apostles (Acts 11:26; Col. 1:28), and the same reference is present in other expressions: “the teaching of the apostles” (Acts 2:42), “that form of teaching which was delivered to you” (Rom. 6:17), “the teaching of God, our Savior” (Titus 2:10), “the teaching which is according to godliness” (1 Tim. 6:3), “the good teaching” (1 Tim. 4:6), “the sound teaching” (1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1), and “the teaching” (1 Tim. 6:1; Titus 1:9; 2 John 9).

"(Karl Heinrich) Rengstorf's view (which is similar to Dodd's; crb) that teaching is not concerned with the redemptive facts, with the proclamation of redemption as such, but with the Old Testament and the revelation of God's will (based on the revelation of Christ) should be rejected because it involves a false antithesis. It is true that frequently teaching and to teach are concerned especially with ethics, but it is impossible to find Rengstorf's distinction supported by New Testament usage. Teaching not only accompanies the kerygma (Matthew 4:23; 11:1); from the outset it refers to the content of the kerygma (Matthew 5:2; Mark 1:27; 4:2ff; Acts 18:25). In the New Testament, the activity and content of teaching have a comprehensive meaning, as passages such as Galatians 1:12; Colossians 2:7; and Acts 18:11 irrefutably show.

"Teaching, then, is distinguished from kerygma more by form than by content. Although kerygma is the work of a herald, didache belongs to another sphere of *activity* (emphasis mine; crb), the sphere of religious instruction. The form of Jesus' teaching closely resembles the Jewish form of instruction, as that instruction took place in synagogues (cf. Luke 4:16ff; Matthew 13:54), in disputations (cf Mark 12:35), in the association between a religious teacher and his disciples (cf. mark 7:31; John 18:19; etc.), and otherwise (cf. Matthew 5:2; Mark 4:1; Luke 13:26; etc.). the main point, however, is that in that way the communication of redemption also takes place in the form of instruction, of material explanation, and of more detailed answers.

"We can understand, then, that as the announcement of the gospel took hold during the missionary phase of gospel proclamation, the gospel, which at first had been designated as kerygma and maturia (witness), increasingly came to be described as "teaching" and "good teaching," and so forth. that is supported by the Book of Acts and by the Pauline Epistles, especially by the Pastoral Epistles. In those places, teaching acquires in general the significance of instruction in the Christian faith, of the activity of Christian teaching, and of the content of that teaching (cf. Acts 11:26; Romans 12:7; Colossians 1:28; 1 Timothy 2:12).

"All that happens by the nature of the case. New Testament revelation is communicated above all as proclamation of the word. Therefore, from the beginning, that announcement demanded that the meaning and consequences of that revelation be unfolded, that it be connected with preceding revelation, that it be distinguished from other religious views, and that it be defended against false teaching and heresy. All of that is amply found within the New Testament, and if falls more under the concept of teaching than under kerygma. In that same sense, the New Testament also speaks repeatedly of "knowledge" (gnosis, episnosis) and of "knowledge of the truth," which frees one from error and ignorance (cf. Acts 17:30; Eph. 4:18; Col. 1:6; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:4; Titus 1:1; Heb. 10:26; 2 Peter 1:3). Such knowledge is spread by preaching (2 Cor. 2:14; 4:6). With a slightly different nuance of meaning, it is also repeatedly referred to as “wisdom” (sophia) and as “insight” (sunesis) (Col. 1:9ff.). In short, New Testament revelation not only makes known the great and new event of redemption but in many different ways points to its implications.

“It is difficult to describe in a few words what all of that includes. Whoever reads Paul’s letters to the Romans, Galatians, or Colossians, as well as elsewhere, can form a picture of what is to be understood by this “knowledge of the truth” (gn6sis aletheias). That knowledge is not of a speculative nature (Rom. 11:34; 1 Cot. 2:16) and is directly related to the practice of faith and life (1 Cor. 1:5; 12:8; etc.), yet that does not eliminate the fact that it advances by means of reasoning and theoretical reflection. Especially through studying the Old Testament, that knowledge achieves greater scope, depth, and clarity. In that sense, Paul repeatedly argues and draws conclusions (Gal. 3:7), brings the church to a deeper insight (Rom. 6:6), wishes also that the church “would be filled with the knowledge of his (God’s) will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” and so forth (Col. 1:9ff.; cf. Rom. 12:2; Phil. 1:9ff.; etc.).55 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews even distinguishes expressly between “the elementary principles of the oracles of God,” in which the church has been instructed and which with a brief indication of their content he compares to feeding with “milk,” and “solid food,” the word that is more difficult to understand, in which the more “trained” must be instructed and of which in his epistle he provides a specimen (Heb. 5:11—6:3).

“What has just been said also provides a new and very important element for determining the character and authority of the written word of the New Testament, an element that needs to be strongly emphasized, especially in opposition to the one-sidedness we have seen in the so-called kerygma theology. Knowledge has such a prominent role in the New Testament, not because already in early Christianity the intellect had overgrown faith or theology had overgrown conversion, but because knowledge is a direct result of the nature of the great works of God in Christ Jesus. That salvation is universal in nature; it encompasses man in his full existence and in all of his relationships and affairs, and it also dominates the entire past and future history of the human race, as well as that of the cosmos and the world of invisible things.

“The redemption described in the New Testament does not view all of that from the perspective of the empirically observable course of the human race in its fortunes, distress, and struggle for emancipation but from the great theocentric viewpoint of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. Thus there is the necessity of consciously connecting that revelation with the preceding history of revelation, of explaining what happened in Christ in the light of the Old Testament, and, conversely, of illuminating the Old Testament in the light of the event of salvation in Christ. From the very beginning, all of that is part of the “new teaching” (Mark 1:27; Luke 4:32).

“That teaching is a core that emits its rays in all directions. On the basis of Christ’s death, the New Testament also develops a “doctrine” of man of his need of the way of salvation that has now been revealed, and of the believer’s being comprehended in Christ from eternity past in the counsel of God (Eph. 1:4) to his glorification with Christ in the future (Col. 3:4; etc.). That teaching is what brings to light the hopelessness of the Jewish striving for salvation (Rom. 2ff.), as well as the darkness of heathendom in its fear of fate and demons (Col. 1—2). Because the entire New Testament is one great explication of the new event of salvation, the kerygma is also “teaching,” and pistis (“faith”) is also gnosis—knowledge, insight, and wisdom. Thus the New Testament’s authority is not only related to the one thing that it “proclaims” but also to the many things that it “teaches.” It is a false antithesis to oppose faith in Jesus Christ, who is the Truth, to the possession of a “particular whole of conceptions and insights.”

“The apostolic teaching of the New Testament not only proclaims that in His person Jesus Christ is the Truth, but it also specifies with apostolic authority in what that truth consists. Certainly, that does not mean that New Testament “teaching” and “knowledge” provide us with a ready-made system of truth, so that to possess truth and to hold to sound teaching is a completely static and quantitative affair. The apostle Paul demands of the church an increase and growth in the knowledge of Christ, in whom the treasures of knowledge and wisdom are hidden (Col. 2:2ff.; Eph. 4:1 1ff.), and to that end he not only points the church to the person of Christ but also provides it with a material introduction to that knowledge and wisdom. He instructs the church in the Scriptures; he shows it the main lines of the divine work of redemption; he teaches it to understand the nature of grace, the meaning of the law, and the origin and depths of sin; he ex-plains to it the way of God with Israel; he unfolds the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection in the light of the old covenant; and he describes the nature of the resurrection of the dead. When Paul so taught, he did not give his own theological speculations; rather he explained the mystery that had so far been hidden but was now revealed, and he did so with the same authority with which he had preached and testified to the reality of the event of redemption (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1; Eph. 3:2; Matt. 13:51). – Herman Ridderbos, “Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures”, pp.69-73

Garfield: "Christianity...points out a house not built with hands."

I came across this quote this morning reading up on a news story about the recent beheading of a new statue that was dedicated up at Hiram College near Cleveland. Hiram was founded by the Disciples of Christ. Garfield is among the DoC's most notable preachers. Preaching a sermon entitled "The Material and the Spiritual" from John 6:7 in 1857, Garfield said:

"Men are tending to materialism. Houses, lands, and worldly goods attract their attention, and as a mirage lure them on to death. Christianity, on the other hand leads only the natural body to death, and for the spirit, it points out a house not built with hands, eternal in the heavens. Christianity teaches that the converted are to receive the Holy Spirit. That they are sealed by it and changed by it into the image of God.

"To assist men in understanding the spiritual, a few material ordinances are still needed. Baptism, as an ordinance derives its efficacy from God. Jesus commanded it. It brings the trusting soul into the death of Christ. Its ends are spiritual good, and it shows to men and angels that the man's spirit is obedient to the will of Christ. The Lord's supper is an ordinance through which our weak conceptions can be raised up to the spiritual Christ. In this simple 'in memoriam' we not only declare our faith in the Christ of the past but in the present, who is alive forever more.

"Let me urge you to follow Him, not as the Nazarene, the Man of Galilee, the carpenter's son, but as the ever living spiritual person, full of love and compassion, who will stand by you in life and death and eternity." -- James Garfield, "The Material and the Spiritual", noted by F. M. Green

Not bad for a President.

The preaching and modeling of the cross is foolishness

The following is a challenge I provided to the rest of the Clearcreek Chapel elders during our retreat @ Pigeon Forge this week:

I have been tasked with providing some thoughts from 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, but before I do that, let's look @ Isaiah 29.

Isaiah 29:11-16
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

There will come a day, when wisdom will be turned on its head. Here in Isaiah 29, such a turn of events is considered a "wonderful thing". "Wonderful things" AND "wonder upon wonder", language typically reserved for Israel's blessing… here is placed in a context of judgment. Wonderful things will happen, but given their propensity to ignore the God who is their Wisdom, it will not be a good thing.

The LORD, Yahweh, the covenanting God of Israel is spoken of as Israel's "counsel". God is *their*, or is supposed to be their wisdom, yet in their folly, they are the ones turning things upside down. What is supposed to be wise, they consider to be foolishness; what they consider to be wise, is really foolishness.

It's kind of interesting that the first part of this passage is one of the most often quoted passages in the New Testament. Yet this is not the part of the passage that Paul chooses to focus in on, though I'm sure he does understand it to be part of what is happening in Corinth.

But this is the passage Paul has in front of him as he writes a Corinthian church awash in problems. When we think of the church at Corinth, what do we typically tend to think of? Usually it's the depraved sexual situation, or making mockery of the table. But the first letter begins with another problem that seems more germane and fundamental to Paul's understanding of who he is, what his ministry is, and who they are. Verse 10 of Chapter 1:

10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

There are a lot of things we could say about this passage… more than we have time for. What's interesting to me is that, when confronted with a host of problems in the church @ Corinth, including a fundamental disunity and divisiveness, Paul seems himself and the Corinthian church living out the fulfillment of Isaiah 29. The *day* spoken of in Isaiah 29 has arrived. And the fulfillment is no more positive than the prophetic picture painted in Isaiah. So… what is happening here that Paul would bring to bear Isaiah 29?

What is the main problem with the Corinthians that Paul feels compelled to address right off the bat? What problem, if addressed, sets the stage for Paul to say what he must say in the proceeding chapters? Paul first addresses the manifestation of the problem: Chloe has informed him of a partisan spirit in the community. Some commentators and some pastors have taken this to mean that personalities are to be avoided at all costs…. I'm a Vosian, I’m a Piper Cub… that's not what Paul is after here. After all, elsewhere Paul says "please, imitate me". Paul is after a partisan spirit in which competition and ambition are present. The idea of one-upmanship is resident in this problem of division. This is a Corinthian church pursuing the "win". This is a Corinthian church full of people trying to gain the upper hand by artificially choosing sides. How can we say that? Because of the answer Paul gives to the problem.

The word play in this passage is interesting… the wisdom of the world, what the world believes to be true about a good course of action, an honorable and commendable way of living life, is contrasted with the cross of Christ and the preaching of the cross of Christ. And in those who adopt the "advantage" mindset… in others words, always looking for the advantage in any given situation in life… believe the cross to be utter foolishness. "What a waste of a life. Look what the servant orientation and other people worldview got Christ… it got him killed." Weakness is a characteristic and a trait to be avoided at all costs. Expending oneself and pouring out oneself like a "drink offering" is not on the radar.

But… in addressing the division problem in Corinth, a division problem borne by competition and ambition, Paul runs to the very antidote for the "advantage" mindset: Christ and His cross.

The cross here has an objective and subjective reality to it. Paul preaches Christ and His cross because it is Christ and a cross outside of ourselves that changes us. Resident in Christ himself and His death is the power of the gospel AND the wisdom of God. This *is* the gospel. Christ has been wisdom for us, and Christ has been righteousness for us in the cross.

The subjective reality is that in the cross we find "wisdom" for real life, a wisdom that is foolishness in the world's way of thinking. The cross calls us to a life and ministry that is foolish; it is a life of humiliation, weakness, servitude, and self-sacrifice. And interestingly enough, it is these qualities that God says in Isaiah 29 will be absent from Israel. Israel will pursue the wisdom of the world (much like Israel had done in Solomon's day). Paul understands that *that* day of Isaiah 29 has arrived in this church in Corinth. They are being seduced into thinking that the life of always pursuing the advantage, the life of success, the life of trying to *win* is the wise way to live. They wanted a pathway to excellence.

The church at Corinth expects from Paul a message of victory, not only in terms of content, but apparently also in terms of style of delivery. Paul did not come to them with "words of eloquent wisdom" or with "lofty speech or wisdom". Paul does not give them what they want. Paul gives them the cross… not just for justification sake, though it is certainly the power of the gospel. But for life sake. Christ, our Wisdom come from God, imputes to his people a wisdom from above, a wisdom that results in wise living. And because Paul finds life in the content, he summarizes the content of everything He preaches as "Christ crucified." This isn't merely for evangelization… this is a summary of what Paul elsewhere calls "the whole counsel of God". The unilateral proclamation of the Word is saturated with "Christ and Him crucified".

So for our sake as we think about who we are and what we do as elders… how are we to approach our ministry? What is it that our people need? We must be shepherds who live cross-like lives. The wisdom which we offer looks like the cross. And it is in the preaching and teaching of Christ crucified that our people will find that wisdom they long for. It is in the cross that our people will find wisdom for life.

And there are those who would claim such a cross orientation is foolish. Most recently I was reminded of this in a conversation in which it became quite apparent that the person with whom I was conversing had a really low view of pastoring, ministry, self-sacrifice, and doormat theology. It was inconceivable to this person that the cross calls us to expend our lives for the kingdom and that all else, including career, material goods, even family, must be oriented around that same *kingdom*. The reality that Paul wants us to see in 1 Corinthians 1 is that there is no problem, no situation, no crisis, no difficulty in our ministry that does not find its antidote and solution in the cross.

Everyone wants wisdom. It's why Joel Osteen is popular. Osteen has a smarmy way of delivering down-to-earth wisdom. He is the Garrison Keillor of 21st century Christianity. And if one were to apply what Osteen has to offer in the daily affairs of life, it's possible that life may look a little better. But listen to Osteen, or any of the other "word of faith" preachers who have large ministries and the messages is patently void of the cross.

People are looking to us for wisdom, and rightly so. They want wisdom for life. They want to avoid the foolish pitfalls that make life difficult. But the wisdom we offer is not the wisdom that has similarities to Osteen's wisdom or the world's wisdom. This wisdom is Christ (hear echoes of "the Lord our counsel" in Isaiah 29). Our people need the gospel. They need the cross. They need Christ.

17 Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

The things we discuss here at this table are foolishness as far as the world is concerned. People come to Pigeon Forge to hike, to read, to play golf, to fish, to enjoy nature. We've come here to be foolish men. We've come here to place ourselves at the foot of the only One and only thing that matters in life: Christ and his cross. It is Christ and his cross where we not only find a righteousness in Christ that saves us, nor is it only where we find our wisdom for ministry, but our people find wisdom for life. It is through this cross that we have been saved and we are *being* saved (1 Cor. 1:18). The objective reality of what Christ has done for us and to us works itself out as a subjective reality in wisdom that looks like foolishness to the world.

At the end of the day, only the Cross can help our people be wise in the way that God has defined wisdom in his Word. This is why we not only preach the gospel to ourselves every day, but we must constantly be putting the cross front and center to our people. The preaching and modeling of the cross is foolishness to the world; the preaching and modeling of the cross is wisdom for life for our people.

We are living in *that* day of Isaiah 29. Christ inaugurated this *day*, bringing sight to the physically blind and hearing to the physically deaf. But those miracles were intentional pictures of a greater reality: Christ came bringing healing to the brokenness of sin. In the foolishness of the cross (rather than the "wisdom" of triumph and advantage), Christ provides an atonement that gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. There is healing in the cross, and as we preach and model its message, we bring healing to those who are blind and deaf. It is in our day, through preaching Christ and Him crucified, that the deaf hear. It is in our day, through preaching Christ and Him crucified that, out of their gloom and darkness, the blind see. Again and again and again.

And it is in our preaching and modeling of that gospel of being disadvantaged the real foolishness is exposed. The gospel of always pursuing the advantage and always finding a way to win in situations and conversations leaves the deaf unable to hear and leaves the blind in their gloom and darkness. Those pursuing the win don't like hearing about the cross, the gospel that produces self-sacrifice. Those who always try to get a leg up on the rest of the world, including those in the body of Christ, are exposed as the truly foolish in the preaching of the cross.

Because Christ has first been foolish in the world's eyes, we are called to the same foolishness. It is only in the foolishness of the cross, the meek will obtain *fresh* joy and the poor among mankind will exalt the Holy One of Israel. If we want to lead our people to Mt. Zion coram deo on Sundays, we must give them the cross. And we must ourselves be serving and shepherding in a cross-like way. As we do so, we model for our people the mind of Christ. -- crb

Poythress: "...the New Testament leads to a reevaluation and rereading of the Old Testament."

"Both the Old Testament and the New Testament give us the Word of God himself. But, in fact, in one respect the New Testament has a functional priority, since it interprets the earlier words from God and gives us words addressed to our phase in the history of redemption, in contrast with earlier phases that now have passed away. For example, the laws concerning animal sacrifice (Lev. 1–7) still offer instruction to Christians, but the sacrifices themselves have been made obsolete through the accomplishment of Christ’s self-sacrifice.

"In sum, through the Old Testament and New Testament together, in their historical relation, God speaks to us, meets us, and gives to us reliable instruction. We find not merely interesting ideas but authoritative knowledge of God and his ways. This knowledge furnishes, among other things, the basis for a worldview.

"In crucial ways, the worldview offered by the New Testament is not new but builds on that found in the Old Testament...Although the Old Testament predicted the coming of Christ and his redemptive work (Luke 24:25–27, 44–49), the exact manner and the total meaning of his coming remained mysterious (Eph. 3:1–6; Col. 1:26–28). First-century Jews primarily expected a political deliverer and warrior, who would enable them to throw off the oppression of the Roman government and regain political independence, international prominence, prosperity, peace, and respect. They were surprised, and sometimes offended, by the unconventional form that Jesus’ ministry took. Many said that he was a prophet (Matt. 16:14), but it took divine revelation for Peter to see that he was the Messiah, “the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16–17).

"Thus, the New Testament introduces “surprise” elements. The Old Testament leads up to the New Testament but does not allow us to see beforehand what the New Testament reveals. Consequently, the New Testament leads to a reevaluation and rereading of the Old Testament. Having seen and experienced “the end of the story,” we look back to the earlier parts of the story with deeper insights into their significance. The change at times may be as radical as what happened to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road. He had been a persecutor of the church and of what he interpreted as false messianic claims. Christ turned his world upside down by announcing from heaven: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5). Saul had to reread the Old Testament and reevaluate what he thought he knew, on the basis of this spectacular undermining of his beliefs." -- Vern Poythress, "New Testament Worldview"

Vos: "the Saviour's resurrection is to be reproduced in the Christian"

“…the believer's whole ethico-religious existence, the sum-total of his Christian experience and progress, all that is distinctive of his life and conduct demands being viewed as a preparation for the crowning grace of the resurrection. Only by showing this can the Apostle's teaching be fully cleared of the charge of incoherency between his religion and his eschatology. We believe it is possible to show this. The passages in which the entrance upon the Christian state is represented as a being raised with Christ come here under consideration. As shown before, they are semi-eschatological in import; they take for granted that in principle the believer has been translated into the higher world of the new aeon.

"Still for this very reason they establish a real, a vital relationship between what is enjoyed already, and what will be received at the end, for it is characteristic of the principle to lead on unto the final fulfilment. Thus, according to Rom. 6:5, the likeness ("the image made like") of the Saviour's resurrection is to be reproduced in the Christian. Even now believers are to reckon themselves alive unto God in Christ Jesus, the Lord (vs. 11). Those who have the vision of the glorified Christ are through it "transformed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Cor. 3:18. Whatever may be the exact meaning of these mysterious words it is at any rate plain, that a transforming influence proceeds from Christ, such an influence as He could bring to bear upon us only in the capacity of the glorified, i.e., the risen Christ, and which has for its goal the acquisition of the same glory-image on the part of believers.” – Geerhardus Vos, “The Pauline Eschatology” p. 157

And just how is the Savior’s resurrection reproduced in the Christian?

“On the one hand the Spirit is the resurrection-source, on the other He appears as the substratum of the resurrection-life, the element, as it were, in which, as in its circumambient atmosphere the life of the coming aeon shall be lived. He produces the event and in continuance underlies the state which is the result of it. He is Creator and Sustainer at once, the Creator Spiritus and the Sustainer of the supernatural state of the future life in one…

“…what God did for Jesus He will do for the believer likewise (Romans 8:11). It is presupposed by the Apostle, though not expressed in so many words, that God raised Jesus through the Spirit. Hence the argument from the analogy between Jesus and the believer is further strengthened by the observation, that the instrument through whom God effected this in Jesus is already present in the readers. The idea that the Spirit works instrumentally in the resurrection is plainly implied…we paraphrase: If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus dwells in you, then God will make the indwelling Spirit accomplish for you what He accomplished for Jesus in the latter's resurrection. The idea of the "indwelling" of the Spirit in believers, occurring as it does in a train of thought prospective to the resurrection, can hardly help suggesting a process of preparation carried on with a view to that supreme eventual crisis. The Spirit is there as indwelling certainly not for assuring the Christian of his ultimate attainment to the resurrection alone. The indwelling must attest itself by activity also.” – Geerhardus Vos, “The Pauline Eschatology”, pp. 163-164

Christ, the New Torah

If Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the Covenant of the New Covenant the natural question arises as to what law must be obeyed under the New Covenant since the law delineated the stipulations of the Sinatic Covenant. Those stipulations under the Old Covenant outlined, among other things, the terms of righteousness and holiness. To keep covenant was to obey the law (a thought worth much more consideration at some other time).

Spurgeon, in a sermon on the subject of Christ as Our Righteousness -- taken from Jeremiah 23:6, drops this tantalizing thought: "Christ in his life was so righteous, that we may say of the life, taken as a vehicle, that it is righteousness itself. Christ is the law incarnate. Understand me. He lived out the law of God to the very full, and while you see God's precepts written in fire on Sinai's brow, you see them written in flesh in the person of Christ." -- Charles Spurgeon, "Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord Our Righteousness".

Much could be said about Spurgeon's perception, but in the interest of brevity we will suffice with this: Christ's perfect obedience to the law not only fulfilled the law, but incarnated the Law as a New Standard. Thus, to answer one question that arises from the reality of the New Covenant, Christ is “the LAW we need to obey” since He (and no longer the Decalogue), in and of himself, is the Standard by which all holiness is measured. The stone tablets have been exchanged for a Person, a Person who has fulfilled and now incarnates the tablets. Not only has he imputed that work to those who could never obey the law and were under its condemnation, in that imputation he has placed a new law on the heart, the Spirit, to conform us to the Incarnation of the tablets.

But there's more. "Written in fire on Sinai's brow." Such a "Spurgeonic" phrase brings to mind an incident in the life of Christ that not only tends to be overlooked in Christian theology, but tends to be ignored in the discussion of what *law* constitutes the righteousness of the New Covenant: the Transfiguration. The imagery and implications of the Transfiguration event cannot be understated in consideration of Christ as the Law Incarnate. We do not simply obey Christ because He is the Lawgiver, though he is surely that. When that voice that shakes the foundations of the heavenly temple booms out, “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him”, it’s not merely in the context of Moses. The gloriously transfigured Messiah descends that mount not merely as the New Moses, the ultimate Lawgiver, but as the new Law (note the language of Deuteronomy 33:1-5 and its NC/NT fulfillment in Matt. 17:1ff, Mark 9:2ff, Luke 9:28ff AND Acts 7:52-53).

Unlike Deuteronomy 33, the new Moses descends the Sinai of Transfiguration empty handed. Why? Because the former code has been incarnated in a Person (insert here the indicative of imputation and justification, not merely sanctification). We *listen to* or *obey* the new Lawgiver because the Lawgiver has personified that standard which had been foreshadowed in temporary stone.

He also descends empty handed because there is no new code to deliver. The entire paradigm for obedience has been flipped on its head. As this Incarnate Law descends the Sinai of Transfiguration, he descends to finish His work in His own Person of breaking the tyranny of the law… and in doing so, descends as a Law that will cause His people to conform to His Standard, His image.

And this is precisely what happens. The glory cloud, which was the top of Sinai Transfiguration, and the Spirit descends @ Pentecost, even as Christ ascends. The law written on hearts of flesh comes to dwell among His people, even as the Lawgiver, Law, and Judge begins His rule from the heavens. This isn’t simply an exchange of code for code. The new law written on hearts of flesh *causes* conformity to the image of the Son. This “law” is alive, doing what the old code could never do… effecting transformation in those who are “under” it. Because it is everything the old “law” is not, this “Law” really is the perfect “anti-law”.

And what of the imperatives that are so dominant in the Old Covenant schema? The imperatives of the NC don’t “replace” the old code. Christ Himself replaces the code and then implants Himself in His people via the Spirit on hearts of flesh. The imperatives are the means by which Christ through His Spirit is conforming us to the image of God in His Son. Yes, even the smattering of OC code which appear in the NT, even those moral principles in the backdrop of the Decalogue, no longer have the same function as they did in the OC. They cannot simply be listed in the same way as *code* (Christ Himself is the *code*, applied to the heart by the Spirit). The imperatives have a new identity (“grace and truth” - John 1:17, providing more parallel between “law” and “lawgiver”). They are no longer external, but internal, being worked out of us in the transformation of the Spirit. We work out the imperatives of the NC, we *do* the imperatives because conformity through them to the image of Christ is *who we are*. To suggest that the imperatives are new code replacing old code is pulling an old paradigm into the new, when in fact, the very nature of commands and imperatives in the NC has been changed.

W.D. Davies suggests the Messianic Age was so bound up with the idea of New Torah, the early disciples understood the New Age that dawned in Christ had its Torah personified in Christ himself: "Although Paul regards the words of Jesus as the basis of a kind of Christian halakah (the entire collection of Jewish law), it is Christ Himself in His person, not only or chiefly in His words, who constitutes the New Torah; and so too in the Fourth Gospel the New Torah is not only epitomized in the commandment of agape which finds its norm in the love of Christ for His own and in the love of God for Christ, but is realized also in the Person of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, i.e. the personalized Torah who is set over against Moses… those in the Early Church…saw their Torah in Jesus Himself, as well as in His words…" W.D. Davies, "Torah in the Messianic Age and/or the Age to Come", p. 93

It's interesting to read John 1 (LOGOS as Torah) in light of what Theodore Vriezen notes in Isaiah 42, 43 and 55. Of Isaiah 42, Vriezen writes: "God wants to use Israel to bring to the nations the knowledge of his Torah... (Isaiah) proclaims... the universal vocation of Israel... as a missionary task. Israel is to bring the message of the Torah to the world and to reveal the redeeming and vivifying power of suffering for the sins of the world... Here the Old Testament revelation of God reached its culminating point, especially in Isaiah 43, for here the idea arose that the Torah (revelation) not only leads to theocracy, the rule of God over Israel itself, but also to that love which suffers unto death for the sins of others.

"This is the last new element of the revelation of God given to Israel before the coming of Christ... Jesus Christ becomes the fulfillment of this divine vision. In this way the greatest and most profound message of the Old Testament is *actualized* (my emph., crb) by Him among men on this earth, and thus the true meaning of the word of God, spoken to Israel is revealed completely... There will be an everlasting covenant which will reveal all the faithful acts of grace granted to David, so that all the nations will run unto Israel which is His witness (55:3-5); Israel is called to be a 'light to the Gentiles' and a 'covenant of the people' to teach the world the Torah and 'Righteousness/Justice' (misphat)... Israel should become a light to the Gentiles so that God's salvation might spread as far as the ends of the earth. " Theodore Vriezen, "An Outline of Old Testament Theology", p. 18, 34

In John, then, we see the New Torah tabernacling (as the original tablets had done in the Ark of the Covenant) among His people. Stephen picks up on this theme from the Deuteronomy 33 passage in Acts 7, when he equates "the Righteous One" with the "law delivered by angels" (Acts 7:52,53). Something or Someone greater than the Torah has been delivered by angels. And as the disobedient Israelites rejected what had been delivered by angels, so too, disobedient Israelites, including this Sanhedrin, had rejected the fulfillment of the law which had been accompanied by angels to Bethlehem.

Into the Old Testament line of martyred prophets, Stephen places the baby delivered by angels to be the new Torah. It is that baby, who is both Law and Lawgiver who would be martyred. It is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, the Righteous One who numbered himself with the transgressors and made many righteous. It is the Righteous ruler and redeemer that Zechariah says would come riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey that has been betrayed and murdered. Surrounded by a heavenly host giving praise to God, the New Torah had been delivered and subsequently rejected, just as Israel had done to so many prophets who had proclaimed the Messiah’s coming. Stephen would soon experience that very same rejection.

Stephen's sermon, though, pulses with the energy of Pentecost. The Sinai of Transfiguration which displays the Torah Personified is brought to bear on the Upper Room as the New Torah ascends to the heavenly temple and the Law written on the Heart descends to indwell a temple made without hands, the church. Just as the external law descended on a mountain with fire in a shekinah glory-cloud with a roar producing fear and trembling (Exodus 19:16-20, 24:15-18), so too the Law written on the heart descended on an "Upper" room with fire in a shekinah glory-wind with a roar producing amazement and "fear" (Acts 2:1-12,33,37). Pentecost not only duplicated Sinai, but superceded Sinai bringing a greater, permanent glory than the one that was fading away (2 Cor. 3).

But Pentecost as Lawgiving occurred only because the Greatest Law and Lawgiver first had descended on a mountain with the radiance of light "like the sun" in a glory cloud with a voice producing fear and trembling (Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:3,7, Luke 9:29,34,35). Rather than hearing the commandments and indeed the entire Mosaic Covenant from Moses, the disciples are told to listen to Christ. It is Christ, not Moses, who is the new authority, the new Torah, for the new era that is about to dawn in the cross and resurrection. Sinai. Transfiguration. Pentecost.

Thus, Christ’s descent from Sinai Transfiguration and his ascent to His throne must change everything we ever thought about law, law keeping and imperative obeying. Christ the King is Christ the Law. The very fingers that carved out the words in the tablets have now taken on flesh and have *become* the Word imprinted by the Spirit on the heart. In Christ, not only has David's throne found its promised and eternal Successor, but the law enforced by that throne has found its ultimate Endpoint and Final Expression.

This New Torah descending the New Sinai of Transfiguration wasn't New Torah for Torah's sake. While condemnation came through the law of Moses, "grace and truth" came through this New Torah (John 1:18). This New Torah descended the mount in order to effect a new order in His people. The One who became a New Covenant for His people now creates covenant keepers through His Spirit Who produces covenant keeping. The New Torah, who is both the original Lawgiver and perfect Lawkeeper, produces obedience in those who are indwelt by the Spirit, the law written on the heart.

But that's not all. This New Torah grants the lawless a righteousness that perfectly meets the standards imposed by the Sinaitic Law. The righteousness required by the condemning law comes from the One who obeyed it perfectly on behalf of those who could not keep it. Again, Spurgeon is sublime: "He carried out the law, then, I say to the very letter he spelt out its mystic syllables, and verily he magnified it, and made it honorable. He loved the Lord his God, with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and he loved his neighbors as himself. Jesus Christ was righteousness impersonated…the Law-giver has himself obeyed the law Do you not think that his obedience will be sufficient? Jehovah has himself become man that so he may do man's work: think you that he has done it imperfectly? Jehovah—he who girds the angels that excel in strength—has taken upon him the form of a servant that he may become obedient: think you that his service will be incomplete? Let the fact that the Saviour is Jehovah strengthen your confidence. Be ye bold. Be ye very courageous. Face heaven, and earth, and hell with the challenge of the apostle. "Who shall say anything to the charge of God's elect? "Look back upon your past sins, look upon your present infirmities, and all your future errors, and while you weep the tears of repentance, let no fear of damnation blanch your cheek. You stand before God to-day robed in your Saviour's garments, "with his spotless vestments on, holy as the Holy One." -- Charles Spurgeon, "Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord Our Righteousness".

This is the New Covenant. Things are not the same. We’re not in Kansas anymore (and all praise to Him who is our Covenant that we are not). Is it any wonder that one of the disciples at the foot of the mount would later write, "In the beginning was Torah (Logos/Wisdom), and Torah was with God and Torah was God"? -- crb

Christ has become an everlasting Covenant for His people

The paper I presented at last year's NCT think tank in Hunt, NY has been posted @ a new blogsite meant to highlight the rhythm of promise/picture and fulfillment in the New Covenant. Here's a portion of it:

There are several observations to be made about this Suffering Servant who will be made a covenant for the people. There has also been a lot of discussion about whether or not this is a covenant personified and what “for the people” actually means. Again, while some commentators are ambivalent about what it means for a person to be made a covenant, many others, some of whom will be quoted here are convinced (rightly so) that this is nothing other than a covenant that takes on flesh. So the first thing we can say about this covenant is that...

• The covenant promised here is a person, none other than the Suffering Servant of verse 1 in this passage. The Suffering Servant is going to embody a covenant.


• The Servant-Covenant will be given. There are echoes here of an earlier prophecy, “unto us a Son is given”. This is a covenant that will come from outside of the people… an example of a unilateral action on the part of YAHWEH.


• The Servant-Covenant will be commissioned by YAHWEH. Not only is he having an effect on the people, He is divinely ordained for this specific purpose.


• This Servant-Covenant brings justice. Justice is mentioned three times in the first four verses. Here in this passage the divine commissioning is itself characterized by righteousness. Justice is inseparable from the nature of this covenant and its effects.


• This Servant-Covenant will be a light. In fact, these two phrase “covenant for the people” and “light for the nations” are so connected that one could say that this Suffering Servant will be a covenant light. IOW, this is a covenant from which light proceeds.


• This Servant-Covenant acts on behalf of the people. “For the people” suggests not only recipients, but those who are the beneficiaries of the giving of this new covenant. There is a cause and effect relationship between the covenant and the people.

This then is the profile of the Suffering Servant who is to be a covenant for the people. Isaiah is saying that there is coming a day in Israel in which a Suffering Servant will be embody the covenant for His people. This Servant-Covenant will be a light to those whom he is given. As this covenant shines forth he brings justice to His people, a people that is broader than mere Israel. -- crb, "Christ, Our Everlasting Covenant"

This is precisely what happened when the Suffering Servant raised the cup in the upper room hundreds of years later. The Suffering Servant stood before those He had chosen to be His messengers to the rest of the world and declared, "this cup that is poured out *for you* (emph. mine) is the new covenant in my blood". In just a few short hours, the new covenant would be ratified even as the Suffering Servant became a Covenant for His people. As had been foreshadowed in the torch and the firepot, God not only covenanted with His people, He became that cut berith himself, subjecting himself to the curse of a broken covenant so that He could lavish on His people all of the spectacular blessings of an everlasting covenant. In the end, Christ provided Himself to His people in establishing Himself as their everlasting Covenant. -- crb

Clark: The visible, institutional church is the divinely established and ordained entity in the world for representing the kingdom of God on the earth

While I would obviously disagree with R. Scott Clark that church growth occurs via the birth of covenant children, I would wholeheartedly agree with the thrust of these paragraphs that come from a lecture he delivered @ Westminster-CA last year. These thoughts mirror much of our January series on the book of Acts @ Clearcreek Chapel.

Here, Clark posits mission at the core of a church's reason for existence. I think I would add that mission isn't merely *reason* for existence... it runs to the core of who we are. The church was created *in mission*. Christ, in breathing life into the new creation, places within it a missional orientation. Thus, to be missional is to "be who we already are". If this is true, Clark is surely right in knocking our penchant for being satisfied with sheep stealing. Instead, we could be a little more strategic:

"Mission cannot be merely something that some people in the congregation do. Mission, rightly defined, must be at the core of our reason for existing as a congregation. The buzz word for this notion is 'strategic.' By 'strategic' I mean this: we need to have a godly and wise plan for advancing the kingdom by reaching the lost through the planting of churches, through the administration of the means of grace.

"If we are to be strategic, we must come to believe that congregations do not exist chiefly for the comfort of those who presently attend. Yes, growth through having covenant children and nurture of the same is a beautiful thing, but what about those who are born outside of covenant families? Not having been raised in the church I am perhaps more sensitive to the plight of those who are utterly outside the visible church. Who will reach them? Jesus gave to the church the mission of reaching the lost and of baptizing the adult converts (and their children; Rom 4) and of teaching the faith to and exercising discipline over those who are converted.

"Too often the plan seems to be to wait for some group of people to contact us. No, if we are to be missional and strategic, we ought to be contacting them and announcing to them and witnessing to them that the kingdom of God is near (Mark 1:15). I fear that we do not have a strategy to reach the lost by planting churches because we are satisfied simply by gathering up a Diaspora of dislocated Reformed folk in a given area or we hope mainly to find disenchanted evangelicals and to bring them to church or worst of all, because we are not convinced that the visible, institutional church is the divinely established and ordained entity in the world for representing the kingdom of God on the earth. As a matter of biblical and confessional principle I think we’re bound to say that, as useful as the other agencies are (some of which I support privately), they are not directly instituted by our Lord. They are private associations doing good work, but they are not the visible, institutional church authorized to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments and discipline. Only the church may do these things.

"Once convinced of the necessity and uniqueness of the visible church as Christ’s means for advancing his cause, our congregations ought to exercise prayerful forethought to planting churches toward the end of actually reaching the lost rather than shifting the sheep. In other words, one of the chief missions of the church is to reach out to those who are not presently in our services, who do not yet confess Christ. As far as I can tell, this sort of church planting hardly goes on at all. There is a lot of talk about it but not many folk doing it. Two-year plans are fine when there’s a group ready-made and where we can, as it were, add water and stir. If we are to reach people with little or no Christian background at all, it is going to take years to reach them and to teach them.

"To be strategic, our existing congregations must be willing not only to part with financial resources but they must also be willing to train and then part with human resources. Church plants need the leaven of mature, well-taught Christians who can serve as a receiving and founding core group. In this way, the mission is not confined to the ordained ministry.

"This is asking a lot of the older, established churches. Some folk might be reluctant to undertake such a project. I understand that reluctance — who wants to say good-bye to friends we see every Lord’s Day? — but I cannot agree with it. Yes, not everyone in the congregation is up to being part of such a mission, but some of our people are up to it. They’re ready for it and they may not even realize it. Our consistories need to identify those folk in our congregations as part of the church planting strategy and we need to be prepared to ask them to make the sacrifice of leaving behind their family and friends, at least for a time, for the sake of the mission." -- R. Scott Clark, "Why the Mission Needs the Marks of the Church"