A great deal of the theological reflection on the nature of God (at least that which I come across) is human ruminations disengaged from most of the Bible, ie. the Old Testament. It gets treated as a vestigial organ bigger than the body it’s part of. Is this because the Old Testament conflicts more sharply with the modern and post-modern worldviews than the epistles?
“The kingdom of God is like a banquet filled up with blind and lame losers. We must replicate that in our lives, loving the unlovely. And the kingdom of God is also like a banquet where the servants drag out a guy in blue jeans so that he could be handed over to the torturers. Huh. The Lord’s Table is a come-one, come-all event. The Lord’s Table is place of fierce discipline. Absolutise either one, and trouble ensues.”
There is an interesting article by Walter Brueggemann here. I particularly like his reference to idols as the ‘gods of scarcity.’
However I think he misunderstands the account of Achan’s sin, or misconstrues it support his argument:1
The apostles were told to stop standing around looking into the air and to get to work. Futurists are like clock-watchers at work. They just want to go home and are distracted from the task at hand.
Read Are You a Schizophrenic Christian? by Gary DeMar
Bread and wine administered separate from a meal and in meagre doses portrays God as stingy. Besides this fact, the Biblical image of abundant wine as liquid fire is important for war. Peter Leithart, commenting on Zechariah 9:15, writes:
“The second ‘zone’ we need to think about concerning gnostic tendencies is the sacraments. God’s affirmation of the material world is seen in the fact that He uses physical water to introduce people into His kingdom; and by the fact that we eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood in the Lord’s supper. Many Christians, however, cannot embrace such physical ideas. Water baptism is thus reduced to a mere symbol instead of a powerful communication from God. And so are the bread and wine of the supper.
Why is baptism for both males and females, when circumcision was only for males?
I have been following the Exodus pattern through the Bible, and an offshoot of that was an ‘accidental’ application to baptism. I’ll let you decide whether or not you think it holds water.
There are two ‘waters’ in the exodus pattern, the Red Sea (death) and the Jordan (resurrection).
Both are ‘baptisms’, but circumcision pertains to the Passover, the 2nd feast (unleavened bread). It is exit from the world and entry into a new people. There is blood and then water.
With Jordan, there is water, then blood – Jericho, the first conquest. This second baptism pertains to Atonement, the sixth feast. It is entry into, not a people, but an army. (The order of feasts comes from Lev. 23.)
Sabbath – God’s word through Moses (a single mediator for the people – Adam)
000PASSOVER – a baptism (death) that removes Adam’s sin. A ‘people’ assembled
000000FIRSTFRUITS – Moses ascends to receive the Law
000000000Pentecost – the Law given, the people tested
000000Trumpets – the ‘army’ is assembled and the Law repeated (Deut)
000Atonement - baptism (resurrection) and blood shed that removes ‘Eve’ from sin
BOOTHS – the army makes the Promised Land home (a corporate mediator for the nations – Eve).
Israelite males presented themselves before God at Passover/Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Booths. (Exodus 23:14-17) picturing the death, resurrection and marriage of the “bridegroom.” Trumpets summoned the people to prepare for Atonement, making ready the “bride.”
WEPOW
Passover versus Atonement = Circumcision versus Baptism
With that background, the entire Bible follows this pattern:
Sabbath - Creation to Abraham
000Passover - Circumcision divides humanity in two
>000000Firstfruits - Under Moses, a priesthood ascends before God,
>000000and draws near over blood sacrifices
000000000Pentecost - In the biblical pattern, this central point is always
000000000testing in the wilderness. This is the life of Christ,
000000000who is tested in the way all men are, but who does not sin
000000Trumpets - Christ assembles the New Covenant church,
000000making out of Jew and Gentile one new man in the first century
000Atonement - A corrupted Judaism is destroyed as Jericho, vindicating
000the words of Christ. This is the first conquest of the age
000in which we now live
Booths - the final coming of Christ and the judgment, after which the saints live with Him in glory
Now, to get to the point…
The sign of the Covenant has progressed from the removal of Adam’s sin (Passover) to Eve’s removal from sin (Atonement).
Circumcision was only for males, because Israel’s history concerned the coming of the Adam. Baptism, however, is for both males and females, imaging the resurrection for war of a corporate Eve—the body (Trumpets).
Circumcision brought near those who could not stand on their own (Isaac). Baptism brings near the mature (Esther), who present themselves before God’s ministers as plunder from the nations, submitting to church government to be enrobed, washed, and seated in the royal priesthood.
Obeying the gospel identified us with Greater Adam (circumcision – death), a circumcision “made without hands” (Colossians 2:11).
Submitting to baptism, however, identifies us with Greater Eve and her government over us—the Saturnine sword of the Covenant (resurrection).
Circumcision and Passover looked forward to Christ’s death. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are Covenant memorials, but also look forward to the final Conquest cleansing and resurrection.
A New Covenant believer’s baptism is a knighthood, or “Nazirite-hood.” One mature enough to publicly testify to his faith bows before his Captain and is symbolically beheaded by the sword of Conquest, smashed by the rod of iron—the church. We must be dominated before we can dominate. He rises and stands on the Laver (“Arise a knight!”) – the Jordan, picturing the crystal sea before the Throne. After access to the “marriage feast” he rides into battle as an authorised emissary. Only he who has submitted to the sword is enabled to carry it. As an image it certainly communicates the gravity of the responsibility.
As far as the world is concerned, the Christian has hoisted the Jolly Roger. As far as Christ is concerned, he has nailed the colours of Eve to the mast and deliberately, publicly, joined the brotherhood.
Infant baptism dims the glory of this New Covenant sacrament of corporate maturity.
Israelite males presented themselves before God at Passover/Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Booths. (Exodus 23:14-17) picturing the death, resurrection and marriage of the “bridegroom.” Trumpets summoned the people to prepare for Atonement, making ready the “bride.”
Sabbath - God’s Word initiates the pattern in Adam
000Passover - Adam is summoned and dies (Israel’s circumcision – Red Sea)
000000Firstfruits - Adam is resurrected
000000000Pentecost - Eve is tested in the wilderness
000000Trumpets - Eve is summoned and dies
000Atonement - Eve is resurrected (Christian baptism – Jordan)
Booths - Marriage feast of the Lamb
WEPOW
“Can it really be so simple?” That is the feeling we have about the church. She has been given a mission of global conquest. As Rudolf Schnackenburg has explained, “Through the Church, Christ wins increasingly his dominion over all things and draws them ever more powerfully and completely beneath himself as head… the Church’s mission is necessary and willed by Christ to bring the world of men and with this the whole of creation under his rule.” One cannot conceive of a more astounding project. Continue reading
Bible Matrix blog
