After Pentecost, the firstfruits church met in the Temple. Over the next few decades, the Jewish leaders barred these worshippers from their premises. What they didn’t realise was that the glory was departing as it did in the time of Ezekiel, only this time it was inside people who were living Temples as Jesus was.
Ah, America. Being the land of freedom isn’t all bad. Some of the extremes are good. Doug Wilson writes:
“If your eschatology sees something other than the progressive growth and universal influence of the Kingdom of God in time and history, the success and triumph of the Great Commission, then you’d better stop drinking the Kool-Aid.” George Shubin
That was my friend George’s comment after reading this article by George Weigel from First Things.
For 27 years, the International Bulletin of Missionary Research has published an annual “Status of Global Mission” report, which attempts to quantify the world Christian reality, comparing Christianity’s circumstances to those of other faiths, and assaying how Christianity’s various expressions are faring when measured against the recent (and not-so-recent) past. The report is unfailingly interesting, sometimes jarring, and occasionally provocative.
“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”
Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 3
Guest post by Michael Shover
There is another aspect to the Feast of Booths that we need to take into consideration. The sacrifices. During the Feast of Booths, 70 bulls were sacrificed. 13 on the first day, 12 on the second, 11 on the third, 10 on the fourth, 9 on the fifth, 8 on the sixth, 7 on the seventh which equals 70. Then 1 on the last day. Why 70? What is the significance of the number 70? The 70 bulls represented the 70 nations of the world as outlined in Gen. 10. The 1 bull that was sacrificed on the eighth day represented Israel. The 70 bull sacrifices represented the ingathering and atonement for the 70 nations of the world. Salvation was accomplished by Israel for all the nations.
(Michael Jensen has published an interesting article:)
Hence are we called atheists. And we confess that we are atheists, so far as gods of this sort are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity. Justin Martyr (103-165), First Apology VI
I should like to propose a thesis that may seem somewhat unlikely for a Christian theologian: namely, that the atheists are right.
“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”
Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 2
Guest post by Michael Shover
According to Leviticus 23 the Feast of Booths, or The Feast as it was later called, was an eight day celebration.
“The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.” Leviticus 14:14
This is one of those weird things we Christians don’t like to talk about. But James Jordan loves to talk about the weird things. He says somewhere that these three bloody points on the body plus circumcision make a cross. Well, there are certainly four points, but does it look like a cross to you?
“…how we feast and celebrate is a reflection of our beliefs concerning the salvation of the world.”
Sermon Notes on Deuteronomy 14:22-29 – Part 1
Guest post by Michael Shover
It has been one of the most unfortunate developments in the history of the Church that we have gotten away from and have forgotten the Biblical mandate to feast before the Lord. We so often lead lives that are shallow in piety and so consuming in busyness that we become forgetful, nay even neglectful of the fact that our God commands such things as, “And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or strong drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.”
“…and they are seven kings;
five have fallen,
one is,
the other has not yet come;
and when he comes,
he must remain a little while.” (Revelation 17:10)
Time for another weird one. Although it’s probably only weird to the conservative evangelical Bible scholars among us. [1]
Albert’s post on marriage the other day allows us to see the context of the sin of the Samaritan woman. James Jordan observes that this woman was most likely a victim of this unjust system, hence the other Samaritans’ readiness to believe her testimony.
Bible Matrix blog
