I had the privilege of leading our church in their first Good Friday service. It was a blessing. I preached from Zechariah 3:1-10. One of the main points I drove home was the idea of exchange. Below is a comparison I made between what we got and what Christ got at the cross.
- We got a clean turban; while Christ got a crown of thrones.
- We were clothed with clean garments; while Christ was stripped of his garments.
- We were given life; while Christ was given death.
- We were declared innocent, even though guilty; while Christ was declared guilty, though he was innocent.
- We had our sin taken away; while Christ received our sin upon himself.
- We were reconciled to God; while Christ was separated from God.
- We as the unclean, were made clean; while Christ the clean, was made unclean for our sake.
Martin Luther reminds us of this concept of exchange when he said:
Learn Christ & him crucified. Learn to sing to him &, despairing of yourself, say, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine & have given me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not & have given to me what I was not.”
Over the past two weeks I’ve preached on Matthew chapter eight. On two different occasions I brought out how Jesus is greater than the Law.
1.) Jesus shows his greatness over the law in his exchange with the leper (Matt 8:1-4). The Law prescribed that touching a leper would make one unclean (Lev 13-14), but when Jesus touches lepers the unclean become clean. Jesus is greater than the Law because he is not subject to the stipulations of the Law when it comes to clean and unclean. In similar fashion Jesus takes upon himself (at the cross) my defilement, my leprosy of sin. Therefore, like the leper I now present before men the gift of Christ, which serves as a testimony that I am clean. In other words, I point men to Jesus as the one who has made me clean and as the one who can make them clean as well.
2.) Jesus shows his greatness over the law in his exchange with the disciple (Matt 8:21-22). The Law instructed Jews to honor their father and mother (Exo 20, Deut 5). It was a serious sin to dishonor your parents (Deut 27:16). One way to honor your parents was to give them a proper burial; however, Jesus teaches the disciple that he is to first honor him. Jesus is greater than the Law because he deserves supreme honor and attention. The disciple must not only first honor Christ, but must abandon his earthly family to join his new spiritual family (Matt 10:37-39; 12:46-50). This statement by Jesus would have been defamatory and offensive, but the greatness of Christ does not allow for any other obligations besides him.
Jim Hamilton recently posted his top ten reads on biblical studies. Can you guess what was number one? See his list here.
Download Sinclair Ferguson’s free booklet, Preaching Christ From the Old Testament here.
HT: Unashamed Workman
Westminster Bookstore is offering for a limited time an extra 10% of each volume from the NICOT series when you order two or more. See available copies here.
Jim Hamilton pointed out that Greg Beale’s important essay on apostolic hermeneutics is now available online. Read it here. It is also found in a larger work on the topic: Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts?: Essays on the Use of the Old Testament.
I was not aware he was working on this commentary, but Iain Duguid (one of my favorite OT writers) has come out with a new work on Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The commentary is part of the EP Study Commentary series. See it here.
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.
Justin Taylor points out a short essay by Bruce Waltke on how Elisha is a type of Christ. Read it here.
The WTS Bookstore is making available Doug Moo’s book, The Old Testament in the Gospel Passion Narratives. I believe this book is based on his dissertation. You can see the book here.
Recent Comments