$1 Shipping at Westminster Bookstore
I don’t know if anyone else has seen this special, but WTS Bookstore has $1 shipping on all orders over $35. Not sure if this is a permanent change, but it is an incredible deal. See the deal here.
Hoekema on the Kingdom of God
Just finished teaching on the Kingdom of God at our church. In my opinion, Anthony Hoekema still has the best definition of the Kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God, therefore, is to be understood as the reign of God dynamically active in human history through Jesus Christ, the purpose of which is the redemption of God’s people from sin and from demonic powers, and the final establishment of the new heavens and new earth. It means that the great drama of the history of salvation has been inaugurated, and that the new age has been ushered in. The kingdom must not be understood as merely the salvation of certain individuals or even as the reign of God in the hearts of people; it means nothing less than the reign of God over his entire created universe.
Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, p. 45
The Letter to the Hebrews
Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak, Slow to Anger
About two months ago I preached on James 1:19-27 (you can listen to the sermon here). James 1:19-27 is probably the most well-known passage in the whole book, especially verses nineteen and twenty. Most often believers understand James 1:19-20 to say that in our day-to-day relationships with people we should be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In other words, listen carefully, consider how you speak to others, and be self-controlled.
While the Bible has a lot to say about our personal interactions with others (especially with our tongues), I don’t think this is what James has in mind. Remember James is writing to Jewish Christians who are facing persecution for their faith in Christ. The context of chapter one is how the church is to deal with trials.
James 1:2-4: Have joy in trials for God is making you complete.
James 1:5-8: If you lack wisdom in trials, ask God for it and he will give it freely.
James 1:9-11: Understand the nature of trials. Trials can come to all people.
James 1:12-15: Do not find fault with God in trials.
James 1:16-18: God is good and his goodness is demonstrated in our salvation.
I believe that 1:19-20 is a continuation of what James has been talking about in chapter one. In our trials we must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In our trials we are to be quick to hear the gospel. We are to remember God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. We must be quick to hear (or remember) what God’s word says about our relationship to him in the midst of trials. A loving God brings trials into my life to conform me to the image of his Son (cf., Rom 8:29; Col 3:10; Heb 12:3-11). Likewise, we must be slow to speak. What do we often say in our trials? God is mad at me, he has forsaken me, and he has turned his back on me. We speak out of our frustration, rather than remembering that a merciful God does all things for our benefit. Finally, we must be slow to anger. When we fail to remember the gospel in our trials we are tempted to become angry, bitter, and resent God. When we face trials we must not become angry with God, but with a teachable heart learn what God has for us. It is certainly biblical to have a righteous anger toward injustice, but when we suffer because of injustice we should never assign evil to God. In the midst of our trials we must live out the truth of who God has already made us (1:18) and we must live in the good of the gospel, which reminds us of God’s love, mercy, and grace.
Asaph was faced with the temptation to speak without knowledge in the face of his trials. He wrote in Psalm 73:12-17:
Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Asaph realized that he was in no position to be angry with God, but in his presence remembered God’s justice, mercy, and love. As we face trials in our lives we must remember the gospel. We must recall the truth of God’s love found in the gospel. We must not speak falsehoods about God in our trials, but recite gospel truths. Moreover, we must not become angry with God when we face trials of various kinds, but understand that our loving Father deals with us as sons so that we might share in his holiness.
I appreciate what Tim Lane and Paul Tripp have to say about trials.
Trials do not cause us to be what we have not been; rather, they reveal what we have been all along. The harvest the trial produces is the result of the roots already in our hearts. (How People Change, p. 102)
Will we remember the gospel in our trials or will we forget it? What will be revealed to be in our hearts in the midst of trials?
The Gospel and Biblical Theology
Graeme Goldsworthy summarizes the relationship and history between the two.
Because the gospel concerns the work of the historical Jesus Christ as the one who fulfils the OT promises, it is at the heart of biblical theology. When the plain meaning of the OT was lost to parts of the early church, often through the adoption of a dehistoricizing, allegorical interpretation of the Bible, the gospel ceased to be regarded as primarily what God has done in the historical Christ. The emphasis shifted to what God does inwardly in the human soul through piety and sacramental ministrations of the church. The Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century recovered the historical meaning of the OT and, with it, the historical gospel. A biblical theology which had its roots in the apostolic gospel was thus re-established.
Goldsworthy, “Gospel” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, p. 523
Canon Press Book Sale
Canon Press is having a sale on books. The books range from $1-5. Many good titles for an inexpensive price. See the sale here.
Forgetting You Are a Sinner
To the degree that you forget you are a sinner, you will underestimate your daily need for Christ and the relationships in his body that are his tools of change.
Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp, How People Change, p. 12
The Man Nobody Wanted
When God came to earth in Jesus Christ, he was the son of Leah. Oh yes, he was! He became the man nobody wanted. He was born in a manger. He had no beauty that we should desire him. He came to his own and his own received him not. And at the end, nobody wanted him. Everybody abandoned him.
Why did he become the man nobody wanted? For you and for me! Here is the gospel: God did not save us in spite of the weakness that he experienced as a human being but through it. And you don’t actually get that salvation into your life through your strength; it is only for those who admit they are weak. And if you cannot admit that you are a hopeless moral failure and a sinner and that you are absolutely lost and have no hope apart from the sheer grace of God, then you are not weak enough for Leah and her son and the great salvation that God has brought into the world.
Tim Keller, “The Girl Nobody Wanted” in Heralds of the King, p. 70
John Currid on Numbers
John Currid’s commentary on the book of Numbers is due out later this month. It is the final volume of his series on the Pentateuch. See it here.
You can also view Currid’s other commentaries on the Pentateuch here. His commentaries are very useful.