“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” Romans 16:20
James Jordan commented in one of his lectures that some churches had a serpent painted on the floor in the doorway. The saints trod him under foot as they entered God’s house to worship.
“Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:27
Although they are spread throughout the four gospels, Jesus’ seven words from the cross are easy to put in chronological order. Once in order, they follow the themes of the annual Feasts.
At Firstfruits, Christ on the cross is Moses, mediating between heaven and earth. From the mountain, He transfers His legal responsibility for His mother to John.
He calls her Woman. At this point in the garden, the Lord married Adam to Eve. Of the seven elected Judges, this is Deborah, the warrior-mother. This step is always about the Covenant head lifted up to make a house for Greater Eve.
With this loving act, Christ prefigures the responsibility for the faithful remnant of Old Covenant Israel being transfered to the Apostles.
Interestingly, Revelation 18:7-8 follows the same structure. At the Firstfruits/’Woman/Bride’ step, Israel, who has rejected and killed her Messiah, says, “I am no widow.”
A friend of mine discovered John Piper and devoured just about every online sermon in under 12 months. It changed him profoundly. (I highly recommend Piper’s biographical series. I should listen to them again.)
Anyhow, my friend shared that Piper had made a comment about not ‘getting’ the prophets. As there are so many views on what the prophets are talking about, this is understandable. Based on what I’ve heard from James Jordan and my resulting studies, I would like to offer some helpful hints. They seem to play out, from what I can see.
“Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?” Acts 7:42 [NKJV]
James Jordan observes that in using the phrase “The Book of the Prophets”, Stephen refers to what we call the minor prophets, considered as one book in the Hebrew canon. The main themes in this Book were the jealousy of the Lord and the day of the Lord. Another judgment, death and resurrection of Israel was on the horizon.
The Book of the Twelve, Lecture 1, available from www.wordmp3.com
High Chair Fundamentalism
The author of Hebrews wants to press on beyond basic Christian doctrine. He does not want to abandon this foundation, but he does want to build on it. That foundation is repentance from religion, faith in God, the meaning of the Levitical washings or baptisms in the Law, the laying on of hands, the resurrection, and eternal judgment. He is not content with his readers remaining in an infantile state–he intends to press on.
This is important because remaining in the foundational doctrines without pressing on creates the temptation toward apostasy. Those who have been initiated, who have tasted, but who do not press on to know Christ further are in grave danger. Sticking with the basics only is therefore not a good way to stick to the basics.
This is the central problem with pietistic fundamentalism; at the end of the day it is counterproductive and does not defend the things it seeks to defend. The real way to “defend” a foundation is by building on it.
–Doug Wilson, Christ and His Rivals, p. 111
or The Feasts are the Key to the Revelation
All Christians recognise Christ’s fulfilment of Passover (crucifixion) and Firstfruits (ascension), followed by Pentecost. Futurists, who major on all things Jewish, recognise that Trumpets and Atonement follow, but they push them into the future.
or A Marriage Made in…
The Bible is big on mediators. Adam’s role as faithful Showbread would link heaven and earth. He would be a god-man. Fulfilled by Christ, this is the liturgical role of a minister. He faces God as representative of the Bride, and faces the church as the representative of the Bridegroom. He is Solomon at the completion of the Temple dedication.
The ‘hell’ hybrids are the Land-beasts of the Bible. This is what Adam became, conspiring with Satan. It was an unholy alliance between God’s mediator and the Creation, in which the Creation called the agenda. The resulting peoples are hunters like Nimrod and Esau, wolves instead of shepherds, bloodthirsty children of the daughters of men.
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch,
After the ascension of Christ, Satan was expelled from his “ministry” before God as the Accuser of man. Like the evil twin of the blazing torch that measured Abram’s sacrifices, he was then used by God to bring an end to the Covenant.
and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
These first three trumpets concerned the Land (Judah), the Sea (the world empire) and the springs of water (the Temple). This same order began the song of ascension, Psalm 24:
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“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate… Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer
You’ve probably heard people talk about “the scandal of grace.” I was reminded of one weeknight meeting last year when we discussed God’s mercy. One couple, who met while they were both in the police force, felt that there were some people who really deserved hell.
They are relatively new Christians, and the high temperature of their interest in the Bible was matched by this sudden ferocity toward the scum of our society. They had seen, close up, the worst of what people are capable of, repeatedly, defiantly. “They don’t deserve mercy.”
Of course, no one can deserve mercy. It demonstrated to all present that night (especially we who are so sheltered) the breadth of the bloodied, open arms of the Son of God.
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