God chooses certain men to do great works. Their work is duplicated and multiplied in the institutions they found. When these men are gone, those who remain tend to rely on systems. The machine must be maintained for pride’s sake, regardless of whether it is being used by God or not. This violates two basic biblical principles.
When I was in sales, I was taught that it takes twelve times as much energy to gain a new client as it does to keep an existing one by letting them know they are not taken for granted. Same goes in geopolitics.
James Jordan writes:
One way to understand the relevance of Egypt [during Solomon's reign] is to contrast Egypt with Tyre. Hiram, king of Tyre, had been a loyal ally of David. He loved David. He clearly was a converted man. When Solomon came to the throne, Hiram could not do enough for him. He volunteered to help build the Temple, because Israel’s God was his God also (1 Kings 5). He showered Solomon with gifts (1 Kings 9:11, 14). If there was any nation Solomon should have allied with, it was Tyre.
“The Bible is not a history of poor people struggling under oppression. Nor does the Bible ever give any example of poor people rising up and overthrowing established order. Deliverance, when it comes, comes from people who are not poor helping those who are. The Bible history is a history of wealthy and royal people, giving us an example of how we are to think and live now that we are all wealthy and royal in Christ as members of His Kingdom Body.”
James B. Jordan, Getting Real with the Patriarchs, Biblical Horizons No. 202. Subscribe at www.biblicalhorizons.com
Trees are elementary Bible symbols. James Jordan writes:
We have noted that God’s people are spoken of as trees. Genesis 2 sets up the connection by saying that both men and trees come out of the ground (Genesis 2:7, 9). We have mentioned already such passages as Psalm 1 and Judges 9, where trees symbolize men. An interesting sidelight on this symbolism is provided in Mark 8:24, where the blind man healed by our Lord initially saw men as trees walking.
In order for a stranger to eat Passover, he had to circumcise himself and his household (Ex. 12:45-49). If he did so, he became “like a native of the land” (v. 48). We are so accustomed to connecting Passover with the Lord’s Supper that it seems strange to consider that perhaps Passover was only for the priestly people, but such was the case. Converted gentiles were not to eat of it unless they were circumcised, and thereby were incorporated into the seed line of Abraham. Did this exclude them from salvation? No, it only excluded them from priestly duties. Did it make them second class citizens? Only in the eyes of the Pharisees. Biblically speaking, their downstream cultural labors in Havilah were just as important as Israel’s sanctuary task. After all, if everyone had become an Israelite, then who would mine the gold of Havilah? Who would bring it to the sanctuary? Israel had its task, and the converted nations had theirs.
Titus steps over the High Priest into the Most Holy Place.
David Chilton’s The Days of Vengeance gets downloaded from my site over 30 times a day (add that up for three years!). It’s a great commentary, but Jordan’s lectures use the Bible instead of Josephus to interpret Revelation. Chilton was peeping through the keyhole. Jordan throws open the door. These are cutting edge and, I believe, indispensable for anyone with an interest in preterism.
Available here, or from www.wordmp3.com
Days of Vengeance is on this page (near the bottom).
The devil hates confession. It breaks his power over us. He would rather have us confine ourselves behind the bars of our own private Sheols than get right with God.
Why is confession so powerful? Because it is judicial. It is an application of the knowledge of good and evil. Continue reading
Slogging through the Old Testament with your “daily reading program” sure makes you familiar with it, but those Christians brave enough to actually read it often find themselves wondering what on earth is going on. “Just keep reading your Bible” our pastors tell us, but do you ever get the feeling they don’t have a big grip on it either? “Just stick to the basics. The rest doesn’t matter.” It would sure be easier if pastors actually taught the Bible.
Or Rich Jewish Rulers made Poor, Blind and Naked
Or The Bible Teaches Replacement Theology
According to James Jordan, there’s nothing much in Revelation that isn’t also elsewhere in the New Testament. We just don’t get Revelation because we don’t speak the language of the Old Testament with any confidence. Accordingly, his interpretation of the Apocalypse interprets the seven Seals as the release of the gospel. The Trumpets are the warnings of the Apostles to the Jews until the beginning of the Roman siege. [1]
Bible Matrix blog
