Christ Church

Surveying the Text: Hosea

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

Apart from what we can glean from the book itself, we do not know a lot about the prophet Hosea. He was a prophet from the north, and the hard date we can gather from Hosea 1:4 means that his ministry was around 743 B.C. The theme of the book is Israel’s unfaithfulness to YHWH as typified by Gomer’s infidelity to Hosea. The problem, simply stated, was that Israel did not know their God (Hos. 4:1, 6, 14; 8:2-3). We have, in turn, vivid descriptions of infidelity, consequences, and restoration.

The Text

“Come, and let us return unto the LORD: For he hath torn, and he will heal us; He hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth” (Hosea 6:1–3).

Summary of the Text

The sin that is expressly dealt with elsewhere in Hosea is assumed here. In order to return to the Lord, you have to have departed from Him (v. 1). And when we depart from the Lord, He chastises. Here it is expressed as a tearing or smiting. Where He has torn, He will heal. Where He has smitten, He will bind up (v. 1). There is then a glimpse of the coming resurrection. Christ was raised on the third day, and so also will we be raised on the third day (v. 2). Having been raised, we will live in His sight. In that condition of having been raised to life again, we will follow on to know the Lord. The blessing will be like morning, and like lifegiving rain to the earth (v. 3).

A Key Note of Scripture

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6). When Jesus was ministering to IRS men and courtesans, He was challenged on the point by the fussers (Matt. 9:11). When you consider how biblical His adversaries wanted to be, His response had a really sharp edge. “But go and learn what this means” (Matt. 9:13). Wanting to be teachers of the law, the Lord’s adversaries had missed the foundational rudiments—the deep footings for God’s building are made entirely out of mercy. He says something similar a few chapters later when the Pharisees were being persnickety about the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:7). There He says something like if you only knew what you were talking about . . .

The problem with hardliners is not that they see the hard edge of God’s judgment on sin. There are plenty of passages in Hosea that could be culled to create a portrait of an unsympathetic God. But this would be to miss the whole point of the whole thing. “I desired mercy . . .” Hardliners separate truth from mercy, which becomes untrue.

Sentimental saps separate mercy from truth, which becomes hard and unkind.

“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: And by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Prov. 16:6).

New Testament Commentary

We see in a number of places how the New Testament writers are drawn to this book.

The judgment pronounced on the rulers of Samaria (Hos. 10:7) is taken up by the Lord and applied as a lament for the residents of Jerusalem (Luke 23:30). Hosea then describes the Exodus in a way that shows us that Christ is the true Israel (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15), the final Israel, the complete Israel.

Near the conclusion of the book, Hosea gives us a great promise of redemption and his language is picked up by the apostle Paul in his great chapter on the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:55). “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes” (Hos. 13:14).

If you put these three passages together, you can see the trajectory of all of redemptive history. The apostate nation of the northern kingdom of Israel was a stand-in for all the infidelity throughout the time of the old covenant, culminating in the destruction of Old Israel. We see that God does in fact judge sin, and that He plays hard ball. At the same time, we see that God does not level Old Israel without creating, in a glorious way, a New Israel. That New Israel is the Lord Jesus Himself. He comes up out of Egypt as a baby, He is baptized, He is in the wilderness for forty days, He invades the land of Canaan. And, at the end of the process, just like Israel, He dies. But, unlike Israel, He comes to life again. And this is the last of these three prophecies. Death, where is your victory? Grave, what destruction can you have?

Not My Kid

Hosea had a son, a daughter, and then another son. They were given names that indicated the deep trouble Israel was in. Jezreel meant God will scatter. Lo-Ruhamah meant no compassion, and Lo-Ammi meant not my people. But however deep the trouble Israel was in, God’s mercy ran deeper still. Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 to show God’s kindness to the Gentiles, and then quotes Hosea 1:10 to show His kindness to the Jews.

“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in [Hosea], I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved” (Rom. 9:22–25).

There are in fact vessels of wrath. There are in fact vessels of mercy. But go and learn what this means . . .

Read Full Article

Surveying the Text: Revelation

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

The book of Revelation is written in a genre that we in the modern world no longer use, and consequently it can be a very difficult book for us to understand. G.K. Chesterton said that John the apostle saw many strange monsters in his vision, but none so strange as any one of his commentators. And Ambrose Bierce said that it was a book in which St. John concealed all that he knew. The revealing, he said, is done by the commentators, who know nothing. So as we attempt to survey this book in one message, the goal will be to tread lightly, but with some hope of edification.

The Text

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:16–17).

Defining Our Terms

The images from Revelation are quite familiar. But the language of those images is not, and one of factors in the difficulty is found in how the entire book is set. There are four basic options. The first is the idealist view. In this understanding, the book is a giant parable in the sky, with no actual historical anchors. The second is the futurist view, in which the book is understood to be talking about events at the end of the world, which is of course in our future. The third is the historicist view, which understands the book of Revelation as finding its fulfillment down throughout church history, like an unrolling carpet. And the last is the preterist understanding (preter referring to the past), which locates the fulfillment of most of the book in the first century (i.e. in the prophet’s future, but in our past).

My approach here is preterist, with the exception of the last two chapters, which I think must be read in a historicist fashion.

And Another Thing . . .

Another major factor in interpreting this book is found in when you believe it was written. There are two basic schools of thought—one holds that it was written in the nineties, during the reign of Domitian. The second view, the one I hold to, is that it was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and is in fact all about that destruction. If you locate the book after the leveling of Jerusalem, it is difficult to understand what the book could possibly be about, thus opening the door to killer bees, atomic blasts, and nefarious computers in Brussels. The late date depends largely on external evidence. Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, a disciple of John, says the vision “was seen not very long ago, almost in our own generation, at the close of the reign of Domitian.” Domitian died in 96 A.D. The evidence for an early date depends largely on internal evidence. “Things which must soon take place,” etc.

A Sampler

One of the advantages of approaching your study of this book with a preterist understanding is that the past happened the way it did, and there is little opportunity for any funny business. By way of contrast, the future is infinitely malleable. Your creative interpretation can always fit exactly . . . until it doesn’t. Here are three examples of how the fulfillment of Revelation can be understood in a preterist way. All of these examples have to do with numbers.
42 months—the dragon gave power to the beast, and it says: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (Rev. 13:5). The beast, which is Rome, is given power to persecute the saints for 42 months. Nero set the city of Rome on fire, and when suspicion fell on him, he blamed the Christians for it, and launched the first Roman persecution of the church. That persecution lasted from November of 64 A.D. and it continued until June 8, 68 A.D. It lasted for 42 months.

666, the number of man—“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Rev. 13:18). Notice that John knew who he was talking about, and he expected some of his readers to be able to figure it out. Recall that the practice of gematria was common then. So why would it take someone who had “understanding”? If you transliterate the Greek of Nero Caesar into Hebrew, it added up to 666. And if you go from Latin into Hebrew, you get 616, which some manuscripts of Revelation have, even though it is not nearly so spooky.

5 are fallen—“And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns . . . And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space” (Rev. 17:3, 9–10). Rome was renowned as the city of seven hills. We know instantly what is meant by the Big Apple, or the Windy City, or the Big Easy. It was the same kind of thing here. But the seven heads are seven kings, not just seven hills. So let us count—Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius. There are the five, and the one that is “now” is Nero.

Back to the Text

The dragon hates the woman, and the dragon has always hated the seed of the woman (Rev. 12:1ff). But the seed of the woman will crush the head of the seed of the serpent. And thus we have the main characters in this cosmic drama—we have the antagonist, Satan, and we have the Christ and we have the woman. And so it is that both the Spirit and the bride issue an invitation to all mankind—who have only two choices. Either you remain with the serpent, or you come and drink the water of life freely. We know the course of wisdom here because we are told how the story ends.

Read Full Article

Surveying the Text: 2 Corinthians

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

We are called to great glory, but we are called to great glory out of a great mess. God is in the process of restoring a remarkable ruin—say of a cathedral—and the greatness of this undertaking is seen when we consider how great the ruin is. Man was created as the image bearer of God, and the fall shattered his ability to reflect that image accurately. It still does so—you can still make it out—but the image of God in man must be restored. This image is the face of Jesus Christ, and this face is manifested in the preaching of the gospel.

The Text

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:3–6).

Brief Background

You should remember from our treatment of 1 Corinthians that this letter was probably written in the autumn of 56 A.D. A severe letter had been sent to the Corinthians in between 1 Corinthians and this one, and it is apparent from all the issues being addressed that no Christian in his right mind should want to belong to “a New Testament church.” Paul is still addressing the problem of factions that plagued the church at Corinth.

Summary of the Text

If the gospel is hidden, it is hidden from those who are lost. In other words, the gospel is not lost, but rather the people who are lost cannot find it (v. 3). The gospel is home, and you cannot be lost at home. The reason these people are lost is that the god of that age (aeon, not cosmos) had blinded their minds. Otherwise the light of the glorious gospel would shine on them (v. 4). Paul confesses that he does not preach “himself,” but rather Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself and others with him as simple servants (v. 5). For God was the one who commanded light to shine out of darkness in the creation (v. 6), and He has done the same thing again in the conversion of sinners. He gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (v. 6).

Trajectory of Glory

A distinction has to be made between where Paul is in the writing of this letter, and where Paul isgoing. The church continues to have practical troubles. Paul is still seeking to reconcile people in the church (2 Cor. 2:2-11), make arrangements for the collection for the poor (2 Cor. 8:1-9:15), and defend his apostolic authority (2 Cor. 11:1-29). His schedule is full of daily challenges. But the theme of where Paul is going is glory—and he fully intends to take the Corinthians with him. The subject of glory comes up in this letter again and again. “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).

Win or Lose

The point is glory, win or lose. When things are going well, when things are prospering, when all the breaks are going your way, what are you instructed to do? “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17).

But we do not serve a God who operates like a vending machine. He is a personal God, and He dispenses every kind of providence, whether hard or soft. What are we to do when it is hard? The answer is the same—we are to lean into the glory.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).

And How is This Done?

So we are to lean into glory? How are we to lean into glory? We do this when we worship the Lord. Remember the ultimate law that is operative here—we become like what we worship. In Psalm 115, idolaters make deaf, dumb, and blind statues, and “those that make them are like unto them.” When we finally see the Lord Jesus full on, we will become like Him, because we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

And that is what we find here in 2 Corinthians as well:
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

We are to worship the Lord with an “open face.” When we worship the Lord truly, we are doing so under the preached Word, which means that we are having the visage of the Lord sketched for us. Remember our text—preaching Christ offers to you the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Do you see this? When you come to a service where Christ is preached, and you do so with “open face,” you are privileged to look upon the open face of Jesus Christ as He is offered in the gospel. And when you look upon Him, face to face like this, what happens? The same thing happens as happened to Moses earlier in chapter 3—and is what could not happen to the Israelites under the older covenant. Moses saw the Lord face to face in one sense (Ex. 33:11), but not in another (Ex. 33:20-23). And the people saw the face of Moses radiant, and Moses would put on the veil so that they would not see that the glory would fade. But we have a glory that does not fade.

Read Full Article

Surveying the Text: 1 Corinthians

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

The theme of this book is the battle between division and unity. But we must follow the wisdom of God. Not only are false division and true unity at odds, so also are true division and false unity at odds. Unity with idols is division. Division from evil is righteousness and real unity.

The Text

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:21–25).

Brief Background

Around 50 A.D. the apostle Paul left Macedonia (northern Greece) and came to Corinth. An ancient city on that spot had been leveled by the Romans in 146 B.C., and was a pile of rubble for a century. In 44 B.C. Julius Caesar re-founded the city as a colony. The replanted city prospered, and by the time of Paul’s arrival there it was five times bigger than Athens, and was the capital of the province. The ancient travel writer Strabo (64/63 B.C.—24 A.D.) was the source of the report that the temple to Aphrodite there was staffed by a thousand sacred prostitutes.

When Paul arrived in Corinth, he moved in with Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1-4). He was not confident when he first got there (1 Cor. 2:3). Silas and Timothy then arrived with good news from Macedonia (1 Thess. 3:6), which strengthened Paul’s preaching. At some point in their time here, Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for Paul’s sake (Rom. 16:3). There apparently had been some significant trouble, such that God made a point of reassuring Paul in a vision (Acts 18:9ff).

The most likely reconstruction of Paul’s dealings with the Corinthians is this. What we know as 1 & 2 Corinthians are probably 2 & 4 Corinthians. A lost communication to the Corinthians precedes 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:9ff), and another lost letter, a “severe letter,” was sent before our 2 Corinthians (2 Cor. 2:4. 1 Corinthians was probably written in 55 A.D. and 2 Corinthians was written in the autumn of the year after.

Summary of the Text

God determined that the world, with all its wisdom, would not be able to use that wisdom to come to know God (v. 21). Rather God chose to accomplish this great thing by means

of the foolishness of preaching (v. 21). Jews want a sign, and Greeks want graduate seminars in philosophy (v. 22), and God says no to both. The divine answer is the proclamation of Christ crucified (v. 23)—calculated by God to trip up the Jews and to seem like idiocy to the Greeks. God did not make this thing seeker friendly. This cross divides unbelieving Jews and Greeks from the community of the faithful. But to those who are called, Jews and Greeks both, Christ is both the power and wisdom of God (v. 24). In all this we see that God’s folly towers above man’s wisdom, and God’s weakness isstill omnipotent (v. 25).

Wrongful Division

The church at Corinth was full of factions. These factions were based on a number of false standards. They were divided over things like the status of various social groups, disputes at law, food issues, accommodation with idolatry, sex tangles, spiritual gifts, and the Lord’s Supper. Paul’s great concern is the reconciliation of these divisions between God’s saints, but in order to accomplish this, there must be division from sin. Unless you break with sin, you will eventually break with everything else. Unless you declare war on sin, you will eventually be at war with everything else. To make peace with wolves is to declare war on sheep.

The Divine Strategy

The plan for the church is a harmonious building. You are God’s building, Paul says (1 Cor. 3:9). The word is oikodome.
The plan for the church is a harmonious family. The phrase brother or sister is used by Paul around 40 times in this letter. This is clearly related to the theme just mentioned, that of a house or building.

In order to have this true unity, there has to be a sharp break from Egypt. The sea was divided, and so it was that Egypt and Israel were divided. But that division still needed to be pursued. Not only did there need to be an Exodus of Israel from Egypt, there also needed to be an exodus of Egyptian ways from Israelite hearts (1 Cor. 10:7ff). Otherwise, all we have done is plant a colony of Egypt in the wilderness.

To Return to the Text

In order to accomplish this great miracle of deliverance, Jesus had to die. Since it involved external bodies, a powerful deity like Zeus could have gotten Israel out of Egypt. But in order to get Egypt out of Israel, the Son of God had to die. Right after Paul warned the Corinthians not to fall into the same trap the Israelites had fallen into, he reminds us that the foundation of our unity as Christians is the fact that Christ was broken. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16–17). Christ was one, and was broken, so that we who were broken might become one.

What kind of sense does this make? It is the folly of preaching. It is the folly of the cross. God takes a glorious unity and breaks it on the cross so that all our brokenness might be placed on Christ, and in that breaking, be made whole. Christ crucified is Christ for the world. Christ crucified is the only kind of Savior that can help the world—meaning He is the only kind of Savior that can save.

Read Full Article

Surveying the Text: Romans

Joe Harby on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

The book of Romans is the Magna Carta of the human soul. The book of Romans contains as thorough a statement of genuine liberty as can be found anywhere in all of human literature. The book of Romans is a book of life, a tree of life. The book of Romans is a three-foot-thick vein of gold in a mountain range of glorious Scripture. The book of Romans is a book filled with inexpressible joy, anchored forever in the decrees of the everlasting Father. What should we think about the book of Romans?

The Text

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16–17).

Brief Background

The letter is likely written from Corinth around 57 A.D. Compare 1 Cor. 16:1-7 with Romans 15:25-26. The book of Romans is a fund-raising letter, showing a marked difference between Paul’s way of doing that kind of thing and ours (Rom. 15:17-29). He emphasizes what he has been doing, and what he teaches, with a glance at the need. Unfortunately, we tend to reverse this. And what is the result? Apart from whether it helped on his mission to Spain, Paul wrote a fund-raising letter that is arguably the most influential book in Christian history. We should meditate on that for a moment.

Summary of the Text

Paul begins here by declaring that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ (v. 16). The gospel therefore is something we should not be ashamed of, but it is something that provokes the world into trying to make us ashamed of it. If you found a cure for cancer, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” If you invented a perpetual motion machine, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” If you wrote an epic poem that won the Nobel Prize for literature, you would not say “I am not ashamed.” But if you found a cure for sin, given the nature of sin, you would have to make this your constant refrain—“I am not ashamed.” This is because sin always pushes back. Whenever sin is attacked, there is always blowback, and one of sin’s central technique is the ever-popular coolshame.

But we are not ashamed because the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, whether Jew or Greek. By this powerful means, the righteousness of God is made manifest, from beginning to the end. And why? How? It is manifested through how the just live their lives, which is by faith (v. 17).

Overview of the Book

The first three chapters outline man’s dilemma for us. Man is trapped in sin, trapped in himself, trapped by his idols. Chapter 1 shows us that the Gentiles are under sin, despite God’s revelation of Himself in nature. Chapter 2 shows us that the Jews are under sin, despite God’s revelation of Himself in the Torah. Chapter 3 shows us that the Jews and Gentiles are together under sin, trapped in the same way. Sin has them both by the throat.

In the next two chapters, we have two different cases made for the gospel. The first is an exegetical case in Chapter 4, showing us how Abraham was justified by faith. In Chapter 5, we have a theological case outlining the gospel. We are shown that Christ is the last man, delivering us from the death brought down upon us by the first man.

The gospel always generates objections, and so then Paul begins anticipating and answering them. The form of the book of Romans is what was called a diatribe in ancient times—where you are dealing with an imaginary opponent throughout (see Rom. 2:1-5; 17-24; 8:2; 9:19-21; 11:17-24;14:4, 10).
In Chapter 6, he shows us how liberation from sin does not liberate us to sin. In Chapter 7, he shows what the law is for then, now that we have learned that it is not for our justification. In Chapter 8, Paul describes what life in the Spirit looks like, now that we are freed from the law.

At the end of Chapter 8, Paul exults that nothing can separate God’s elect from His love for them in Christ Jesus. But wasn’t the old Israel elect? What about that? In Chapter 9, Paul shows how God’s sovereignty extends through both kinds of election, both covenantal and individual. Is there no place then for ethnic Israel? In Chapters 10 and 11, Paul shows how God’s gifting and calling are irrevocable.

In Chapter 12, Paul turns to the practical ramification of living how this glorious gospel. In this chapter he addresses issues of spiritual gifts and government.

In Chapter 13, he talks about our relationship to the civil authorities. In Chapter 14, he turns to keeping the peace within the church over “debatable matters.”

In Chapter 15, we have an outline of gospel mission, and in Chapter 16, he wraps up and then extends his greetings to the saints.

Not an ‘Improve Your Golf Swing’ Gospel

As you reflect on how the gospel is presented in this great book of liberation, notice how death features in the goodness of this powerful gospel. Our problem was Adamic death, and Jesus Christ came to this earth in order to die in such a way that this shared death of ours could finally die, and be raised to life again. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). In Adam, we live in a living death, and in Christ we are finally able to crucify that way of living death. And because it is finally crucified, it can be brought to life again. That is what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus does.

So this is not a message that pats the back of your hand and encourages you to start living your best life now. If a man wants to follow Jesus, at least according to Jesus, he has to take up his cross daily and follow Christ. Whatever could that mean? Well, guess. The only way out of the hellhole of self is to have that wretched selfish ego hanged on a gibbet until dead. That is final freedom.

Why? Because in our poverty, Christ brings His riches. In our darkness, He is the only pure light. In our swamp of misery, He brings the solid ground of joy. In the midst of our cursing, He brings His blessing. In our uncertain vagaries, He brings His everlasting and predestinated love—the only kind of love that could do us any good. When our blind eyes were staring at the outer darkness, He opened our eyes, turned us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. When our fists were clenched against Him, His hands were opened wide toward us, and with a nail hole in each one.

Read Full Article