How to Read the Old Testament

 My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

Often when people read the Bible, they’re not quite sure what to do with the Old Testament.  Sometimes the way God acts in the Old Testament seems to be quite a contrast from what we see Jesus saying and doing in the Gospels, and many errant solutions arise in attempts to solve this apparent discrepancy.  Among these are such ideas that Jesus is the kind member of the Trinity and God the Father is the harsh one, or even that the OT God and Jesus are different deities entirely.  Other readers have thought that God had different standards and different methods of rescuing people at different times or from different genealogical heritage, and some have even developed elaborate charts and systems to explain how they conclude this works. 

However, the true key to reveal understanding of the Old Testament is actually quite simple.  It’s ALL about Jesus!  Sometimes it is obvious when something is about Jesus, such as when Isaiah prophesies, “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” or when God tells Eve that her descendant will crush the serpent’s head.  Other times, the connection is less obvious, so try out these introductory tips to noticing Jesus in the Old Testament:

 

1. Ask yourself what role the person or event you are reading about plays in the big picture story of leading to the arrival of Jesus in the world.

 

2.  Consider how the event you are reading carries out restoration or reconciliation in the world.  These events are often little versions of what will be more fully accomplished in the cross of Christ or on the Last Day. 

 

3. Consider how human sin and divine forgiveness interact in what you are reading.  God actually saves the same way in both testaments:  by grace, through faith, because of Jesus.

 

4. Watch for terms like “Word of the Lord,” “Angel of the Lord,” or “Glory of the Lord.”  These are frequently appearances of God the Son before He took on human flesh in Jesus. 

 

5.  Look for common elements like wood, water, bread, or wine.  Frequently events involving these elements are pointing us forward to promises or events God makes more clearly evident in the New Testament.  Wood points you to the cross, water to Baptism, and bread or wine to the Lord’s Supper. 

 

Scripture is more than just instructions to live by or proverbs to inspire.  It is above all else the revelation of Jesus—the one in whom all blessing from God is found, whether by trusting God’s promise that He would come, or the Apostolic testimony that He has come. 

Hope in Suffering

My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

Often tragic events leave humans wondering, “Why would God allow this?”  “Did God cause this?”  “Is God really a loving Father?”

 

We are told that God is good, and we know that He is all-powerful, because that’s just part of the definition of being God.  We also observe that there is substantial suffering in the world and that tragedies and other events occur which cause pain and suffering for people. 

 

We cannot deny the existence of suffering, so sometimes that inspires people to wonder if God is really good or if God is really all-powerful.  It seems to us that if God is good, then He would certainly use His power to prevent these things from happening, and if He is all-powerful, His goodness would certainly move Him to intervene.  This leaves us to wonder how we can reconcile our experience of suffering with the fact of God’s power and goodness.

 

The trouble is that we do not know all things, but only know as much about God as He has chosen to reveal.  He has revealed Himself to humanity through the life of Jesus and the other writings of the Prophets and Apostles foretelling and proclaiming His life, death, and resurrection.  Even though He has not revealed the inner workings of His mind or the reasoning behind His ways, He has demonstrated His goodness to us in Jesus. 

 

This is where we look for Hope.  He chose not to immediately inflict upon humanity the well-deserved punishment for sin, but He Himself came down to be our substitute in suffering death and condemnation.  By this, He demonstrates His goodness to us, and if He has intervened in this self-sacrificing way on our behalf, we can certainly trust that He will do all things for our good.  While we may not understand events in the moment, we occasionally get to see how they work out in hindsight, and even when we don’t, we know that He is for us and not against us because of the work of Jesus recorded by eyewitnesses. 

 

We know that the suffering of this world is only for a time but that He and His promises are eternal, so we look forward with anticipation for the day when He will put an end to the suffering of this world by making all things new in a creation that will forever be free from sin and the suffering it brings.

No Second Coming Guarantee?

 

My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

 

As I write this piece, seemingly everyone is counting down to the solar eclipse which will pass in its totality very near to our state, and which we will see to a substantial extent here in West Michigan.  During the anticipation of this event, there have been any number of predictions and interpretations that go beyond merely the geometric relation of the sun, moon, and earth.  These predictions frequently stray into the spiritual—from generic anticipation of disturbance in generically spiritual forces to attempts to relate this event to Biblical prophecy.

 

By the time this piece is published, it will be known how those predictions turned out, but I am confident I already know. 

 

On one hand, we are right to pay attention to what is happening with the sun, moon, and stars.  Genesis does speak of the time-marking value of the sun, moon, and stars, and Jesus does speak of signs in sun and moon and stars related to His return.  On the other hand, neither of the above passages describe anything like the predictions that are being proposed might accompany this eclipse. 

 

The Genesis description describes the ordinary function of the sun, moon, and stars in marking time, which is far from any of the extraordinary expectations of the popular predictions, and Jesus’ words in Luke describe the final moments of the creation as we know it as He returns on the Last Day.  But a solar eclipse is quite an ordinary thing if you think of how often they happen worldwide, usually over an ocean.  This one just happens to be nearby.  In addition, Jesus says elsewhere that no one knows when He is returning, and that He is returning at a time no one expects him.  That almost makes it reasonable to make a “no second coming guarantee” for the day of the eclipse! 

 

We do well to pay attention to what happens in the sky and in space, though.  Like the Psalms say, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”  Seeing the greatness of creation, and how far beyond our control it is ought to remind us humans of the greatness of God who does control them.  Such rare, but comparatively ordinary, events ought to remind us to repent of sin and trust in Jesus to forgive our sins, so that we can look with hope and without fear to the day we do see the extraordinary celestial events accompanying His return, trusting that He also guides our lives’ events and protects us from evil to accomplish His will of graciously giving eternal life. 

Self-righteously Unrighteous

 

My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

When we consider the now-cliché question, “What would Jesus do?” turning over tables and chasing people with a whip isn’t probably the first thing that comes to mind for most people.  However, that’s exactly what we see Jesus doing in the event recorded in John chapter 2.  If you are familiar with this event, you have probably heard it described as Jesus condemning the greed, dishonesty, or corruption associated with the market that had been set up in the outer court of the temple to provide a convenient way to purchase sacrificial animals or exchange Roman coins for temple coins. 

 

All of those sins most likely are occurring, but they are only a symptom of the true problem.  The likely owners of these establishments in the temple courts are the Pharisees, who were known for their enthusiasm at making and keeping rules.  In the Old Testament, God had given somewhere around 600 laws to the people of Israel regarding their religious, civil, and moral life.  As an attempt at safeguarding against disobeying God’s law, these Pharisees had expanded the list to over 10,000 rules to be kept regarding every facet of life. 

 

The trouble is that in doing so, they had reversed the direction of religious life.  The structure of the Old Testament sacrificial system was not to be a transaction with God, as if murder could be paid back by burning a bull or an act of adultery could be satisfied by slaying a lamb.  That would be no different than any indigenous religion invented by human minds, rather than a prediction of the crucified sacrifice of Jesus for sin.  Likewise, the point of the food and purity laws was not that meats like pork or shrimp were in themselves an offense against God, but that just as He is separate and distinct from every humanly invented deity, His people were likewise to be distinct from the nations that surrounded them. 

 

This self-righteousness of the Pharisees was the root concern, and the cause of the dishonest trade in the temple, because self-righteousness ultimately creates a demand for loopholes, and eventually the obsessive keeping of man-made laws yields loopholes so wide that the Ten Commandments themselves are neglected in favor of keeping the obsessive details of Pharisaical law.  This is the unrighteous self-righteousness that Jesus cleanses from the temple when He clears the outer courts of this market, and what He speaks of when He later tells the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures because you think by them you will earn eternal life, but it is they that testify about Me.” 

Wealth Idolatry

My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

When reading the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels, His frequent warnings about the dangers of wealth are inescapable.  When we consider that we live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world, in one of the most prosperous times in human history, these warnings might be even more striking. 

So, when Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell everything he has and give it to the poor in order to follow Him, when He criticizes the wealthy in the parables, even comparing their wealth to thorns which choke and starve a growing plant, and when He says things like, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,”  it’s possible even the decidedly middle-class reader might be concerned about how their current net worth impacts their eternal wellbeing. 

Looking at the full witness of Scripture, we can see that the Bible’s approach to wealth is similar to many of God’s other earthly blessings in life.  Whether the question is how much to eat, how much to drink, or how we spend our time and energy, the question typically comes down to two factors:  duty and idolatry. 

First, we are to use all things God has given, whether ability, time, or wealth, to fulfill the responsibilities of the vocations in which we live.  The advice of the Reformation era theologians, drawing on the earlier example of the Early Church Fathers, was that we are to begin in the sphere of the home and use these earthly resources to fulfill our duty as parent or child, husband or wife.  We then devote these things to the good of our own congregation, and finally, we use them in service to the world more broadly, beginning in our own community, and extending to our nation and the world. 

Second, when we consider how much we ought to consume or save up, rather than give away to help others, a closer look at Jesus words is in order.  He doesn’t say, “You must become poor to gain eternal life.”  He warns against idolatry—trusting in that wealth for your highest good.  When a person struggles and suffers, they are continually reminded of their need to rely on the grace of God, but when a person prospers in earthly things, it can give them the impression they can make their own way in heavenly things, rather than trusting Jesus.  

So the approach of Christians is neither one of consuming endlessly for their own pleasure, nor is it a requirement to live in strict austerity.  Instead, we practice moderation, avoid idolatry, and generously live for the benefit of others in the roles we have each been given.