The contemporary church is plagued by a famine for hearing the words of God, but one that is a self-inflicted wound.
Many credible men of God have warned that the Church of Jesus Christ will experience a “famine for the word of God.” I initially took this as a prediction that the Bible itself would be suppressed even in Western-style democracies as governmental authorities persecuted the Church. The present reality is rather different.
Continue readingWas the Apostle Paul kidding when he wrote that church elders must be above reproach? The public exposure of gross sin among church leaders is all too common, and often church members discover too late that their more egregious faults began even before they entered the ministry. Even worse are the committees that select men for the ministry despite knowing of their proclivities, and the apologists who strive mightily to restore errant pastors and preachers to the ministry as quickly as possible.
Continue readingJesus of Nazareth is the one who reveals the purposes and fulfills the mysteries of God. Only he is qualified to “interpret” the “unseen God.” In him, all the promises of God find their “Yea” and “Amen.” He is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and fulfills the words of the prophets. This principle is presented in the opening paragraph of Letter to the Hebrews and pictorially in the Book of Revelation.
Continue readingThe first literary section of the Letter to the Hebrews concludes with an exhortation and an ominous warning. Any would-be disciple of Jesus who fails to heed the far “better word” that God is now speaking in His Son will suffer an even “sorer punishment” than the rebellious Israelites received when they disobeyed the Mosaic Law. At Mount Sinai, the Torah was mediated to Moses by angels. Nevertheless, it was God’s word – He was its source – and therefore lawbreakers were punished severely.
Continue readingThe Word of God finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. “IN HIM,” all His promises are “yea” and “amen.” The things that were “hidden” in the past are revealed in the life, words, death, resurrection, and exaltation of the Son, the one in whom all the shadows and types prefigured in the Hebrew Bible have become real. All His mysteries are laid bare in the Nazarene.
In the era that dawned with his death on Calvary, the nation of Israel has not been “replaced” by the New Covenant people of God. Instead, the original promise to Abraham to bless “all the nations” has come to fruition as Jews and Gentiles are united in Jesus to form one new people – (Romans 16:25, Galatians 2:28, 2 Corinthians 1:19-2:0).
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Disciples Global Network 