Bible Survey Archives - Page 4 of 25

Psalm 84: No Good Thing Will He Withhold

Ben Zornes on January 29, 2017

Introduction
This is a psalm of pilgrimage—worshipers of God afar off are longing to be where they can worship Him at the place where He has set His name. They yearn to be at the place of worship, at his tabernacle, and the spirit of worship drives them there.

The Text:
“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God . . .” (Psalm 84:1–12).

Summary of the Text:
The tabernacles of the Lord are altogether lovely, and yet He is addressed as the Lord of hosts, the God of armies (v. 1). The worshiper, removed from the place of worship, is heartsick and faint, and yearns to be in the courts of God. He is truly homesick (v. 2). Even the lowly sparrows and swallows are privileged to dwell in the tabernacles of God (v. 3). Everyone who dwells there is blessed (v. 4). For verse five, consider the rendering of the ESV. “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (Ps. 84:5, ESV). Blessed is the pilgrim who is on his way to Zion. The valley of Baca was apparently a desolate place, but it was on the way to Zion, and generations of pilgrims had dug wells for themselves (v. 6). As they approach Zion, they are moving from strength to strength (v. 7). Their strength grows as they approach their goal. Lord God, hear. God of Jacob, listen (v. 8). God is invited to look upon the face of His anointed (lit. Messiah) (v. 9). One day in the courts of God is to be preferred to thousands outside (v. 10). And a lowly place with God is superior to the grandest heights the world could bestow on you (v. 10). The Lord God is both grace and glory, sun and shield (v. 11). No good thing is withheld from those who walk uprightly (v. 11). The man who trusts in God is truly blessed (v. 12).

Milton’s Satan:
After his expulsion from Heaven, Milton’s Satan famously says that he would rather “reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” This is the photo negative of the sentiment expressed here in this psalm. The psalmist would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness—no matter how grand those tents of wickedness might be. This is striking, because this psalm comes from the sons of Korah, who were lowly porters in the house of God, and whose fathers had rebelled against Moses in the wilderness (1 Chron. 9:17-19). They had been humbled, and here is a glorious redemption. They now yearned for the lowest place—and were given the highest place of contributing to the praises of God’s people for virtually the entire history of redemption.

And returning for a moment to Milton’s Satan, we need to remember that his destiny is actually not to rule anything, not even in Hell. The devil is not the king of Hell—the Lord Jesus is the king of Hell. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). Hell is not the devil’s domain or realm; it is his punishment.

The Humility of the Small Birds:
Going lower than the sons of Korah, we find small birds in the tabernacle. The psalmist here notices sparrows and swallows nesting there. What can we gather from this? “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matt 10:29). The Lord assures us that we are worth more than many sparrows. And so what does that mean when we come to dwell in the presence of God? We are welcome there, just as the birds are welcome. The birds are not just privileged to be there—they are welcome to be there. And you are worth more than many of them. And also keep in mind that these lowly birds are welcome to bring up their young there. Are they to be allowed to nest in the tabernacles of God and you not be allowed to do so?

Sun and Shield:
God is our shield, which means that He is our protection (v. 9). But not only is He our protection, He is also our provision. He is our sun and shield (v. 11). What will He give you? He will give you grace and glory. It is not difficult to associate the grace with the shield of protection, the protection we did not deserve, and the glory with the sun of provision. All your strength derives from the sun. Every bit of energy you have has been poured out upon you from 93 million miles away. What a wonderful picture of the one in whom we live and move and have our being.

No Good Thing:
Now the promise near the end of this psalm is quite a striking one. “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11). We have some trouble navigating this concept when it comes to answered prayer. This is because Scripture gives us two models for prayer, and they seem quite distinct. First, in the Garden, the Lord Jesus prayed that the cup of suffering would pass from Him, but He uttered this with a caveat. If it be your will . . . So obviously this is a lawful way to pray. But how many of us rush to this pattern because we want to use it as the all-purpose escape clause? Why do we use this to dispense with the other pattern for prayer? “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13–14).

As we meditate on this—and it calls for real meditation—we have to remember the central context of all this. That context is that God has determined that no good thing, as God defines “good thing,” will be withheld from the one who walks uprightly. And of course, the only way to walk uprightly is to walk in the Upright One. And that is done by faith alone.

Psalm 83: Silent Jehovah

Ben Zornes on January 22, 2017

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Introduction:
Here is the last of the psalms attributed to Asaph. You might recall that we discussed how this could be Asaph himself, or someone descended from him, in the “school” of Asaph. This psalm is likely written by Jehaziel, a Levite descended from Asaph (2 Chron. 20:14). From the internal evidence, the episode referred to in the psalm is very likely the situation that God delivered Jehoshaphat from in his dilemma.

The Text:
“Keep not thou silence, O God: Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: And they that hate thee have lifted up the head . . .” (Psalm 83:1–18).

Summary of the Text:
God is silent, and this is distressing because His enemies are not silent. They are in a tumult and so it is time for God to act (vv. 1-2). They have plotted against Israel in a crafty way (v. 3). The intent was to wipe Israel out, the intention was genocide (v. 4). Many nations have conspired against Israel (v. 5). The Edomites, the Ishmaelites, and the Amalekites were from the south. The Moabites, Ammonites, and Hagarenes were to the east. The Assyrians were to the north. The Philistines, Gebalites, and Tyrians were to the west. Israel was surrounded and in a desperate way (vv. 6-8). The psalmist prays that God would intervene as he had in the past against Midian (vv. 9-11; cf. Judges 7:25; 8:5). The enemies of God’s people had grand plans (v. 12), but the psalmist prays that they be made like tumbleweed (v. 13). He prays that God would take them out like a forest fire takes out wood (v. 14). He prays that a divine tempest would arise (v. 15). Fill their faces with shame (v. 16). And why? So that they might seek the name of God. Overwhelm them with confounded shame, and bring them low (v. 17). Again, why? So that men might know that there is only one with the name Jehovah, the God who is no longer silent (v. 18).

The Situation:
Jehoshaphat, a good and godly king, received word that a great confederacy had arisen against him (2 Chron. 20:1-2). Jehoshaphat did what he ought to have done, which is that he turned to the Lord (v. 3). He prayed in the presence of the people, reminding God of His great deliverances before (vv. 4-13). Jahaziel arose with a word of promised deliverance (vv. 14-17). He does not just promise that Judah will win the battle, he promises that they will win it without having to fight in it (v. 17). Jehoshaphat hears this and he believes (vv. 18-19). All the assembled believe with him.

In the morning, the king reminds them to continue to believe (v. 20), and he appointed the choir to march out in front, praising the beauty of holiness (v. 21). By the time the choir and the army arrived at the place where the enemy was, they had already turned on each other and dead bodies covered the ground (vv. 22-24). They had to spend three days taking the spoil (v. 25). And they came back to Jerusalem in great joy (vv. 26-30).

Fighting Dogs:
Unbelievers hate each other, but are occasionally distracted by their greater hatred of the godly. The death of Jesus was the occasion for peace between Herod and Pilate. Thomas Watson used the figure of two greyhounds fighting over a bone, but if you released a hare next to them, they would be immediately united in their pursuit of the hare. And when we are in this position, it seems to us that their antipathy cannot be directed anywhere else.

But in this case, God made them forget the hare, and turn back on each other.

Fertilized with Bone:
When it says that the ground was fertilized with dead bodies (v. 10), it shows the extent of the judgment and it shows the nature of the judgment. In 1830 some enterprising individuals combed the fields of Austerlitz, Waterloo, etc. and gathered up human and animal bones, shipped them to Hull in England, where they were all ground up and used for fertilizer. They did this to more than a million bushels of bones.

More than once God has promised to feed the birds with bodies of His enemies. More than once He has determined to make the fields lush and green by fertilizing it with the pride of man. Nothing rots better than the pride of man. Nothing makes finer compost than the arrogance and insolence of men who breath through their noses.

Silent Jehovah:
The psalm begins with a pending calamity. Not only is there a pending calamity, but God appears to be disinterested in it. God, why are You silent? Why do You do this to us? We panic early. We jump to conclusions more quickly than we ought. We are disciples who view Jesus sleeping in the boat with great consternation. Do you not care that we perish (Mark 4:38)?

The unbelievers are beating on their shields with their spears, and the God we serve . . . is quiet. They are filled with great, swelling words. Their confederacy is unstoppable. Nothing can save us now. Their alliances are impressive, and we are entirely surrounded. They all have their grievances against us, and those grievances stacked on one another seem to be

Not Silent Forever:
The God who seems so silent is the God who—when the time is exactly right—rises up and delivers His people. How many centuries of silence before the Messiah came? How long did we long for Christ before we were given Christ?

When Jesus arrives, what does He say? “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand . . .” (Mark 1:15). When was Jesus born? When the fullness of time had come (Gal. 4:4). We serve the God whose sense of timing is exquisite. And this is why He seems so silent—His sense of timing is far, far better than ours.

And so when is the time of salvation, according to that exquisite timing? The Christ has been given, and so the day of salvation is now. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

Psalm 82: God Among Gods

Ben Zornes on January 15, 2017

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Introduction:
We come now to yet another psalm of Asaph. Unlike many psalms, this one is not directed to God. It speaks of Him, but the import of what is said is directed at rulers. This is an Old Testament instance of “teaching and admonishing one another.” This is a word to be sung horizontally.

The Text:
“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods . . . ” (Psalm 82:1-8).

Summary of the Text:
The psalm begins, for us at least, very cryptically. Elohim judges among the elohim (v. 1). His complaint against them is that they are unjust in their judgments (v. 2). Instead of what they are doing, they should deliver those who are oppressed (vv. 3-4). When rulers rule wickedly, they blunder on stupidly in the dark, and they put everything out of joint (v. 5). God says that He had declared them gods (v. 6), but that now they will die like men do (v. 7). God is then invited to rise up, judge the world, and inherit all the nations (v. 8).

God and Gods:
The word for the one, true Creator God has a plural ending—Elohim. If we were to reproduce the monotheistic confession of Israel in modern English, we would say something like “we believe in one true Gods.” At the same time, the word for the pagan gods is the same word, same ending—elohim. So the first verse here says that “Elohim stands in the congregation of El; He judges among the elohim.”

Throw into this the wild card of Scripture’s acknowledgement that such gods were not non-existent. They were supernatural beings, but they were created, just like we were created. “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Cor. 8:5–6).

Background Cosmology:
In this place, the imagery and language has God judging among divine beings (or angels) who have ruled unjustly and wickedly. This is a divine council, the congregation of El. Their rule has ramifications on earth. But in John 10, Jesus quotes v. 6 to the Jews, saying that the phrase “you are gods” applied to those to whom the Word of God came (a reference to Israel at Sinai). This makes it apply to men, as opposed to angels. The best way to harmonize this is to argue that Asaph was overlapping the imagery of the divine council in order to make the same point about Israel. This would be warranted if the heavenly councils and the earthly councils were somehow linked. This helps explain why Deut. 32:8 may be rendered differently in the Masoretic text and in the Septuagint. The former says that God divided up the nations according to the number of the sons of Israel. The LXX says the angels of God or sons of God.

Going the other way, this also helps explain why earthly rulers can be called gods. “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people” (Ex. 22:28). See also Ex. 21:6 and Ex. 22:8-9.

Judges Shall Be Judged:
We know from Scripture that judging shall be judged (Matt. 7:1), but we also need to learn that judges shall be judged. If God told the heavenly gods that they would die like men, how much more shall men die like men? As Spurgeon put it, “How quickly death unrobes the great.” When God hunts birds, He can shoot them out of the tallest of trees. What? Do you think God’s guns cannot reach the Ninth Circuit? Or the Supreme Court?

Relieve the Afflicted:
You have perhaps heard it said that lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math. But who runs the lotteries? A great deal of the world’s sorrow is generated by the clevers, by the creatives, by the smart people. We see their true character by what they do, and do not evaluate it on the basis of their intellectual horsepower. They abuse the poor and needy, but they don’t do it under banners that say, “Let’s stick it to the poor and needy.” No, they are all about saving the children . . . except for the ones whose body parts they have for sale.

Out of Course:
They are clever enough to completely fool the poor and needy. They can run roughshod over the afflicted and needy. They know how to abuse orphans, and they know how to distract you if you try to call them on it. They are clever enough for that.

But they are not clever enough to see the reality of what they are doing. They know not (v. 5). They do not understand. They walk on in darkness, and they put the foundations of everything out of kilter. The devil is likely a thousand times smarter than any of us, but he is this kind of fool.

Getting Your Case Heard:
When it comes to the judgments of God, there is a great difference between the imagination of the ancient Jews and the imaginations of Christians. In certain respects, their take is superior to ours, and will not be corrected until we recover psalm singing more fully. When we think of God as judge, we tend to think of criminal court, and ourselves as defendants. This is not automatically wrong because there is scriptural warrant for it (2 Cor. 5:10). My concern here is emphasis. The Jews thought of unjust judges as the ones you couldn’t get to hear your case. They thought of it as civil court, and of themselves as plaintiffs. The whole point was to get into court, not out of it.

So whatever you affirm about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, make sure you don’t leave this part of it out. Arise, O God, judge the earth. For thou shalt inherit all nations. This judgment is the culmination of gospel. The judgment of God coming to earth is to be categorized as good news.

Surveying the Text: 2 and 3 John

Christ Church on May 8, 2016

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Introduction

These two epistles are quite distinct, but being from the same author, and being so short, we will consider them together. As it happens, some of the issues raised are intertwined in some interesting ways.

The Text

“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 10–11 ).

“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not” (3 John 9 ).

Summary of the Text

The letter of 2 John is written to “the elect lady and her children,” which either means that John is addressing a particular church under the image of a woman, or he is addressing a particular woman who hosts a church in her home. 3 John is a personal and private letter written to Gaius.

Occasion of the Letters

2 John is basically a miniaturized version of 1 John. The same emphases are there (love and the truth of the Incarnation), and the occasion is likely the result of what happened when the false teachers banished in 1 John made their way to another town, seeking to spread their heresy. Do not receive them, John says. The occasion for 3 John is that John (“the elder”) had sent someone to that church, along with a letter of commendation (which was customary). Diotrephes, a man “who loved to have the preeminence” refused hospitality to this apostolic emissary, and threatened church discipline for anyone who did receive that emissary. John writes another letter (this one), urging Gaius to receive Demetrius, the new emissary.

A Level Playing Field?

We should begin by noting the problem. John requires exactly the same thing that Diotrephes requires. In 2 John, God’s people are required to show no hospitality to false teachers (vv. 10-11). In 3 John, Diotrephes uses the same tactic, insisting that hospitality not be shown to an emissary from John. What’s the difference? The difference is the distance between truth and falsehood.

We are too accustomed to thinking that there is such a thing as a neutral playing field, which has to be “level,” and that in the battle between good and evil, both sides should be bound by the same rules. If one side has to get ten yards for a first down, then it should be the same for the other side. If one side cannot clip, then neither can the other side. Carrying our bad analogy across, we say that if the Pharisees cannot call Jesus names (drunkard, glutton, demon-possessed) then that means that Jesus cannot call them names (white-washed tombs, children of the devil). But this is false because the contest between ultimate truth and falsehood is not that kind of contest. The field is not neutral. It belongs to God.

It is therefore right that John prohibit hospitality to false teachers, and it is therefore wrong for Diotrephes to prohibit hospitality to true teachers. Right? Wrong? These are strange words. Tell me more about this religion of yours.

Emphasis in a Tight Spot

The size of both these letters was a standard size for that era. These letters would fit on a single sheet of papyrus, and given the space constraints, it is significant to note what sorts of things are repeated. Fee and Stuart point out that in the first six verses of 2 John, the word truth is used 5 times, walk 3 times, and love 5 times.

Truth draws a hard line. Love is the reason why truth must draw a hard line. Truth without love will not remain truth for long, and love without truth has no reason not to devolve into sentimentality. Love becomes ugly without the truth, and truth becomes ugly without love.

The Christ is the love of God incarnate, and so every antichrist is anti-love. The Christ is the truth of God, given to men in the darkness of lies, and so every antichrist is anti-truth. Believe in love, and love the truth. Walk in both of them.

Think of truth as the skeleton and love as the flesh. We are to speak the truth in love, Paul says (Eph. 4:15 ). If we opt for love without truth, we have bodies like giant amoebae or bean bag chairs. If we opt for truth without love, we want to be a skeleton hanging from a rack in somebody’s science room.

Face to Face

“Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full” (2 John 12 ).

“but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name” (3 John 14 ).

In both letters, John is constrained by the size of the paper. The letters are brief—3 John is the shortest book in the Bible. But even here John gives us an important principle. Communication (which includes teaching) is a matter of relationship and love, and so it is not an “all or nothing” affair. Person-to-person, face-to-face, is better for John and the lady, for John and Gaius. But their face-to-face meetings, when they occurred, are not better for us. The fact that John wrote it down means that we get something that is far better than nothing. Scripture is God’s idea, and when all things are considered, it is not a “second-best” option.

This applies to other things as well, including issues like “distance learning.” The principle is always “compared to what?” Scripture is distance learning, as are books and web pages, and letters and Skype calls. They are not examples of things that drive us apart (unless we want them to). Rather they are additional tools for a loving heart, a heart that never sacrifices the good on the altar of a hypothetical best.

We will see Christ face-to-face in the resurrection. Is that any reason to ignore the letters He has given to us now? “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12 ). We should know how to compare them, certainly. But we also need to receive them both.

Surveying the Text: 1 John

Christ Church on May 1, 2016

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Introduction

All passages of Scripture must be understood in context, but some by their nature require more contextualization than others. First John is one such book. Without an understanding of the errors it was written to refute, the necessary result is always going to be more error.

The Text

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:1-4 ).

Summary of the Text

John begins with the same kind of reference he uses in his gospel, with an emphasis on the beginning (arche), which should make us think of Genesis 1:1 . But this person who was from the beginning was someone that John and his fellows had heard, had seen, gazed at, and touched (v. 1). That person was the Word of life. That Word was manifested to them (v. 2). What they had witnessed, they now declared, so that the listeners could come into fellowship with them, and then discover that their fellowship was with the Father and the Son (v. 3). This was all written out carefully, so that our joy might be full (v. 4).

Occasion of the Letter

Those who were causing the problems in Ephesus here were characterized in three ways by the apostle John. They were false prophets (4:1), they were deceivers (2 Jn. 7 ), and lastly they are antichrists (2:18, 22; 4:3, 2 Jn. 7 ). These false teachers had broken with the true church and had “gone out into the world” (4:1). This break showed that they were not really of the truth (2:19).

Those believers who had not gone out with the false teachers were in fact overcomers (4:4), but they were overcomers who had been unsettled by the battle and who were greatly in need of encouragement. This is the pastoral encouragement that John provides in this letter.

Characteristics of the Lie

From the internal evidence of this letter, and from the external evidence we have about Ephesus in the first century, we can piece together a pretty good understanding of the heresy John was attacking.

The false teachers had both a doctrinal problem (2:26) and an ethical/moral problem (3:7). The doctrinal problem was that they denied the incarnation of Jesus. The ethical problem was that they claimed to be able to be “in the light” while taking some kind of weak view of their sinfulness and sins.

As it happens, we know a good deal about this brand of heresy in Ephesus at this time. The leader of the opposition against the apostle John in Ephesus was a man named Cerinthus. Cerinthus was, I believe, the antichrist. He was a leader of an early Gnostic group. Gnosticism was characterized by two great features—the impurity of matter and the supremacy of knowledge.

The first led them to deny the incarnation, which is in effect the materialization of the eternal one. Their arrogance and pride over their “inside knowledge” led them to their lovelessness and to their lawlessness. Hence, we see John attack the heresy of the Cerinthus at every key point. Christ is the very Son of God. We must walk in love. We must keep God’s commandments. We must turn away from every form of lawlessness.

Do not confuse the beast of Revelation with the antichrist of 1 John. They are both bad men, but they are very different kinds of bad men. A beast is a savage persecutor of the church from outside, an out-of-control despot who hates the people of God. An antichrist is a smooth talking false teacher, one who weasels his way into the church and introduces the contagion of heresy. In modern terms, a beast would be someone like Stalin. An antichrist would be a liberal Methodist bishop, although I don’t have a particular one in mind. The former savages the body of Christ on earth. The latter denies that God assumed a body on earth.

We Sin Downhill

When false teachers introduce absurd errors, and apparently sane people go for them, what is going on? If I am talking to someone who is about to go for some nonsense, the question always to ask is “what’s the pay out?” What else is going on? The answer is that the devil functions with bribes. He offers intense short term pleasures, the central one being the sensation of absolute freedom (1 Jn. 3:4 ). All you have to do is agree to the long-term covenants that end with an inchoate and dissolute mind. This is called selling your soul to the devil. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25 ).

Life and Doctrine, Doctrine and Life

Remember the context of this letter. John is not addressing a tormented Christian, alone in his room, wrestling with a troubled conscience over some sin or affliction in his life. John is not addressing the sensitive believer in the midst of a panic attack. He is talking about a group of false teachers who have an utter disregard for the commands of God.

In John’s mind, these issues are to be understood in terms of light and darkness; he is not discussing the twilight. His absolutism is refreshing in a relativistic era, in which our thinkers and theologians want all cats to be gray.

We focus on the ethical—love your brother (1 Jn. 2:9 ). We focus on the doctrinal—Christ is God in the flesh (1 Jn. 2:22-23 ). A denial of either is equally fatal. It does not matter whether you have leprosy of the heart or leprosy of the head.

Hold it all together this way. Jesus of Nazareth is God, and God is love.