Bully's Blog

.

Some more thoughts on New Covenant Virility.

The minute details of the Bible matter. What was the Ethiopian eunuch, keeper of the queen’s treasure, reading, and why? In sacred history there are no accidents.

Isaiah 53 is about the barrenness and woundedness of God’s Man. He is circumcision epitomised. Like a eunuch, He is judged by men as unfit for Tabernacle service, judged in the gates (kingdom doors shut) and sent outside the city. He is “stricken,” or afflicted with stroke, God’s “lash” of plague, as unacceptable-for-priesthood as a leper.

“…and who will declare His generation?” Here is an important detail. What does this mean?

Continue reading

or The Spirit Bids Geldings Be Fruitful

It’s cat-among-the pigeons time again.

Identifying the Bible Matrix in Acts reveals in quite a number of places that the author, Luke, has a sense of humour. Or the Holy Spirit does. In Acts 8, at Ascension (Firstruits), the Ethiopian eunuch asks Philip to hop up into his chariot. [1]

Philip opens the Law for him at Pentecost, the man is “resurrected” at Trumpets, baptized at Atonement (the Laver), and at Tabernacles we have both a Jew and Gentile whose witness flows out into the nations.

Continue reading

“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea…” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2)

All Israel was baptized through the sea, including the infants. But Christians who practice infant baptism confuse the corporate picture with the personal.

Continue reading

‘OPEN THEISTS’ TEACH THAT GOD CANNOT KNOW THE FUTURE. He gave human beings a true free will, so if God knows the future, human beings cannot truly be free. The Old Creation (the Old Testament) and the New Creation (a new humanity beginning with Christ) were thus both gigantic g ambles on God’s part. Does God g amble? After all, He commanded His priests to “throw the d ice.”

Continue reading

or The New Jerusalem is Temporary

He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the Land. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them. The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dry-shod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:12-16)

Everyone knows what “walking on water” means. You can do the impossible. Often it has a negative spin, as when it is applied to politicians with a Messiah-complex.

But what does it actually mean in the Bible? And why did Jesus do it?

Continue reading

or Sword Swallowers

Part 1 is here.

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” (Matthew 20:20-23)

When we say “Amen,” we’d better mean it. It is a reception of the Covenant, binding us to it legally for better or worse. Ray Sutton writes:

Continue reading

Memorials are a big deal in the Bible. When the Lord sees a covering—a firmament—whether it be a rainbow, or blood displayed, He remembers.

When Jesus asks His disciples to perform the Lord’s supper as a memorial to Him, it is not for our memory but God’s. He sees the bread and wine, remembers the blood of His son, and we are spared, covered.

Continue reading

No More Heredity

Another quote from Regis Debray’s God: An Itinerary, and then some comments.

He’s a staunch atheist so I really shouldn’t be enjoying this book. What a mind. He’s like James Jordan’s evil twin. He has some wonderful observations despite his lack of the unifying paradigm of faith to understand their true meanings. He alternately makes me want to scream and sing.

Debray mistakenly interprets the adjustments made by God in the economy of His people throughout history as the inventions of men, yet without the constraints of errant tradition, he often hits the nail on the head. All he says should be taken with a grain of salt, but he is consistently thought-provoking.

Continue reading

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11 

I remember a scene from X Files where they printed out a binary code and laid the pages out on the floor. When viewed from a distance the ones and zeros made the image of a face. There was a similar scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies, where there was a search for a secret passage and it turned out to be a large X on the floor when viewed from above. This is just my view, but it seems a lot of theologians spend a great deal of time walking in circles in the jungle, lost in the details of prooftexts when we have Old Testament “Google maps” at our fingertips.

Continue reading

All the events of the Bible take place within a cosmic theatrical “stage,” one based on the structure of heaven. Like the Globe Theatre in Shakespeare’s era, an understanding of the symbolic significance of the physical elements in the literal, historical creation account in Genesis gives us incredible insights into the structure of many prophetic Bible passages and the order of many historical events. When we get to the Revelation, familiarity with this theatrical “set” is crucial to understanding its fulfilment in history.

Continue reading