Those Who Forget ... Are Doomed to Repeat
"And they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading." (Nehemiah 8:8)
The title above is usually heard in reference to history, but it certainly has other applications. While they may have an historical aspect, the focus can be on any number of matters.
The passage here is taken from the context of the return of Judah from Babylonian captivity, the rebuilding of the temple, and the restoration of the Old Covenant system. Ezra’s ministry was to the people and he led the first return to Jerusalem before the walls were restored. Now, 100 years later at the completion of the walls, he rises to read the book of the law to the people. This isn’t the first time there needed to be a national re-reading.
Amazing as it may seem to us, God’s "chosen people" had become so polluted by the alien nations around them that they previously lost the book of the law! It was discovered in 622 during the reign of Josiah and there was a national celebration as it was read to the people for the first time in generations.
The whole event seems incredible because each king was supposed to write his own personal copy of the law by hand so that he would be intimately familiar with it (maybe if we required each citizen to write out their personal copy of the Constitution by hand we’d do a better job of ruling this country as God intended!). This very brief history lesson is necessary to understand the significance of the passage above. Before, the people had lost the law. In Nehemiah’s time, they didn’t even know the language of the law!
They had been in captivity for 70 years and most of the generation that went into Babylon had died. Not only that, their children had been raised in a foreign culture and except for the few whom God chose to use as His instruments for restoration, most had lost their national language and ethnic purity.
Assimilation has historically been a highly successful tool in removing a people from power. That is a lesson we should understand as our heritage has been largely swallowed up in the much flaunted multi-culturalism of the day. Boy, do I want to chase that rabbit, but I’ll refrain.
By the time of the return from captivity, the people had all but lost everything God had given to them as an intended blessing. God is about to speak to them through 400 years of silence. There may be no prophet speaking, but they heard Him loud and clear. A time of judgment was coming.
This extended period of silence came because the people refused to listen to the prophets. In fact they persecuted and killed them. Things were getting really bad and those who loved God longed for Messiah to appear.
Just prior to Christ’s birth, there was a major national revival and it is thought that Mary, Joseph, Zacharias and Elizabeth (among others) were products of that revival. They were among the remnant which knew the law and prophets but even they certainly didn’t understand the significance contained in those ancient words. It would be Christ himself who gave them understanding.
We live thousands of years removed from their time and we are attempting to understand things they struggled with. Is it any wonder that we need someone to help us make sense of what scripture teaches? The Ethiopian eunuch was puzzling over Isaiah when God sent Phillip to meet him and "guide" him in understanding its meaning. We need more guides like that today! Can we even admit we need help?
Our culture is of western (Greek) heritage and it comes fully equipped with its own way of thinking and expressing itself. That is not a bad thing, just a reality that can cause us difficulty when we come to the scripture which is eastern/Oriental in nature. It has its own unique language and style and it rests on an entirely different view of the world.
We make a grave error if we try to interpret that kind of literature through a western lens. Major misunderstandings arise if we fail to be diligent in this regard. Unfortunately, Christians have not always done their homework here.
Fortunately, there are always a few who God calls to help the rest of us stay on track. We may go astray for generations but sooner or later God shows someone the freshness of His truth and we begin to recover from our collective missteps.
A few years ago there was a popular little chorus that went something like, "Ev’ry chapter in the Bible is mine, ev’ry book, ev’ry verse, ev’ry line. I’m depending on the promise Divine, ev’ry chapter in the Bible is mine."
While it is true that God’s word has been given to us for instruction in righteousness, it is not accurate to read the text like it was written to us. It wasn’t! It was written to real people who lived thousands of years ago. It has an application to us but we need to be careful about "claiming" verses as some do.
I’ve never heard anyone claim verses like Amos 3:2. "You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities."! We have no trouble associating the "you" in this passage with Israel, but some readily take positive verses and read them as present, personal promises from God. That practice is just plain bad interpretation and application.
It is one thing to recognize a truth and abide in it. It is quite something else to take a promise made to someone else millennia ago and act as though we have authority to write our own ticket. There are scriptures which speak of all believers in all times but they are very few. Who can we look to for help in making sense out of what we read in God’s word? At the very least, it should be someone who recognizes the importance of context as it relates to interpreting scripture.
Beyond that, they should be continually growing in their understanding of how language is used in scripture and firmly committed to allowing scripture to interpret scripture. If we commit ourselves to that kind of diligence, we can then help others make sense of what they are reading.
Things Old and New
"For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." (Galatians 2:18-19)
Among the primary tenets of pre-millennial dispensationalism is the idea that national Israel must be restored in all its former glory as part of God’s plan for the "end times". The Jews messed up His plan when they rejected Jesus and He had to establish the church instead, they conjecture. One of these days, He’s going to take the church out of the way and restore the Old Covenant system and reign for 1,000 years. At least that’s what we are told. Does it line up with scripture? In a word, "No."
Consider the passage above. The immediate topic being considered is circumcision but the larger discussion is the Old Covenant system itself. Paul makes it clear that circumcision of the flesh is of no consequence and anyone who insists upon it as a matter of faith is doomed to keep the whole law. In Galatians 5:4 he goes so far as to say that such ones have fallen from grace! How is it then that we have come to a modern teaching which demands the very thing that Paul said would condemn them?
Look at the passage above again. Paul said that if He re-established the things which Christ came to abolish he would become a transgressor, and the immediate context is only dealing with circumcision. Imagine the scope of the transgression if he sought to re-establish the Old Covenant system in its entirety!
As ludicrous as that suggestion seems it is one of the foundation stones of the modern doctrine of many. In essence, the view teaches that the sacrifice of Christ is not sufficient to save Jews; God will have to save them by setting aside the New Covenant and restoring the Old Covenant sacrifices. Then and only then will they believe in Jesus. But is this what scripture teaches? Again, in no way.
In the often abused text of Hebrews 6, the author says, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."
This passage has frequently been used to argue that a Christian who falls back into sin will lose their salvation. That is not, I repeat, is not what is in view in this text. The recipients are Hebrew believers who are being harassed by Judaizing teachers. They are being urged to keep various aspects of the Old Covenant system. The author warns them that if they go back to the old way it would be impossible to restore them.
In spite of that, popular Christian teachers insist that the Jewish nation today must revert to the old system to be saved! In Hebrews 2 the author had warned them to pay attention to the gospel of Christ. Failure to heed the message of earlier prophets resulted in dire consequences. The penalty for ignoring God’s final prophet in "these last days" (Hebrews 1:2) would be utterly devastating. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3). It is a rhetorical question and the answer is clearly, "We won’t!"
In spite of the clear teaching of this scripture, modern teachers assure us that restoring the Old Covenant system will lead to Israel’s national salvation. Will we believe scripture or the musings of mere men?
Next, consider the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man discovers that his experience after death is not one he wants his brethren to share. He asks God to send Lazarus back to his household to warn his brothers saying "...if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent."
God answered, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31) In this parable Christ makes it plain that anyone who rejected the teaching of Moses and the prophets concerning Him would not repent even if one was sent from the dead.
It is a chilling testimony that though He walked the earth for 40 days after His resurrection and was seen by countless witnesses, the Jewish nation did not repent. Though Jesus had warned them, their arrogance led them to fulfill the very words He had spoken to them. They persecuted and killed the prophets He sent them just as their fathers had persecuted the prophets before Him. They filled up the measure of their evil as prophesied and the promised judgment fell.
It was a judgment in which those clinging to the Old Covenant were punished and the remnant clinging to the Living Hope of the New Covenant found their redemption.
The popular teaching today is that two-thirds of all "Jews" will die in a coming tribulation. That is not a very "Israel" friendly pronouncement. When we understand that the biblical nation of Israel forever ceased to exist in A.D. 70, we will start to focus on the glorious gospel of Christ instead of a world ending conflagration.
Let us not teach others that they must repeat the mistakes of Old Covenant Israel to find salvation in Christ. Let us rejoice that in Christ salvation is available to everyone right now!
Core Truths
"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work." (Psalm 62:11-12)
The rendering of this text in the KJV is somewhat cryptic as it is in most older translations and commentaries. That makes it easy for most folks to just read over them and move on, but it throws up a stop sign for me.
Having decided it looked like a good place to dig, I wasn’t disappointed to discover that the truths expressed in this short passage are foundational to the entire biblical story.
David says that God spoke once that is clear, but the KJV has David hearing twice. A little research here gives us other options.
If you haven’t looked at the New English Translation (or NET Bible as it is known), I would recommend it if for no other reason than the 57,875 notes! While some are more opinion, than commentary on the language, many if not most provide much needed insight into the English text. I wasn’t surprised to find a note for this passage because of its seemingly obscure language.
The notes suggest the passage is a "numerical saying" which points to a parallelism in what follows. The use of "once" and "twice" is said to suggest what follows is a list relating to the second numerical reference. Hence we find two truths which follow.
Adam Clarke interprets the text as, "Once hath God spoken; these two things have I heard: That strength is the Lord’s and to thee, Lord, is mercy."
In his commentary on this passage, Clarke observes, "These, then, are the two grand truths that the law, yea, the whole revelation of God, declares through every page. He is the Almighty; he is the most merciful; and hence the inference: The powerful, just, and holy God, the most merciful and compassionate Lord, will by and by judge the world, and will render to man according to his works." Clark goes on to lament, "How this beautiful meaning should have been unseen by almost every interpreter, is hard to say: these verses contain one of the most instructive truths in the Bible."
I share Clarke’s assessment of the significance of this seemingly obscure passage. God is all powerful! Christians give lip service to this truth but we don't often allow it to really get our attention. Let's see if we can put things in perspective a bit.
Imagine yourself walking through a power generating station with all its transformers, high voltage lines, etc. Do you romp about casually paying no attention to your environment? Not if you are old enough to understand something of what that kind of power can do!
In fact, most folks would feel downright uncomfortable being placed in that setting and would want out at the earliest possible moment. Isn’t it curious (arrogant?) that at the same time people (believers and unbelievers in Christ alike) tend to think of God as a Divine Warm Fuzzy to cuddle up with when it suits them?
We tend to focus on the side of God’s nature we like and ignore those aspects which should make us truly reverence Him in all His holiness.
"Our God is a consuming fire" is the last phrase from the pen of the author of Hebrews. He echoes the theme which punctuates the biblical record beginning in Exodus. Indeed, the whole book of Hebrews has this fact in view and it finds its purpose in warning those first century Hebrews about God’s wrath that was very, very close to being unleashed at that time.
When we are confronted with that kind of power, we don't carelessly embrace it, we give it the respect it is due! Failure to do so has dire consequences in the physical world, which pale in comparison to presuming upon God's power.
Even comparing His presence to standing at ground zero of a nuclear test is a puny analogy. We would be vaporized in an instant! But the reality is that we all stand before God. Can we take the heat?
That's where the second great truth comes into view: mercy. Much of the world understands that God is merciful but they want to define His mercy on their terms, not His. Christ alone is the instrument of God's mercy. Those who choose to face God without Christ's covering demonstrate that they do not understand the Power they face. That is a fatal oversight.
Power and mercy: two related truths that are at the very heart of all scripture and which we rarely hear spoken of at length. David understood these truths were his only Hope from the problems that confronted him. To the degree we let them order our lives, we are blessed with the confidence and assurance he knew as a man "after God's own heart."
(If you would like a free copy of the NET Bible, you can download it at www.netbible.org or you can just read it online there. Print versions are available with the proceeds being used to fund the project)
Missions Update
It is really gratifying to see so many of our readers respond to Sharon’s request for support in her upcoming medical mission to Peru. You will be hearing from her personally, but know that we are blessed by your sharing in her work.
Some feel uncomfortable about giving others the opportunity to assist them financially with such efforts, but I have a little different perspective on that issue. Given that most of us are involved in Christian ministry of one sort or another, we have a choice. We can either dedicate our resources to that ministry alone, or we can choose to share our resources with one another and thereby share in a much broader outreach to the world.
It may seem silly for you to send someone a gift of $25 and then have them send you an offsetting gift at a later date, so why bother? Because we are blessed both in the giving and the receiving. Giving to others financially is one way of affirming what God has called them to do. While we all covet the less tangible gifts of prayer, emotional support, etc. when we receive the time, help, or financial resources of others it solidifies the bond between us.
More than that, it helps us to feel a greater sense of accountability and stewardship. Most importantly, it reminds us that what we have is not our own but a sacred trust from God. So, may God bless you for your generosity and the opportunity to walk closer to Him.
On another note, our niece, Nicole Reynolds of Mesquite, Texas will be leaving for Ireland in September for a six month mission trip there with Youth With A Mission. The first three months will be spent in training and the last three will be in outreach to the people there.
The Apprentice’s Journal
The last month has been an interesting if a somewhat hectic one. The highlight of the period for me was the seminar with Don Preston here August 1-2. The topics included, Are We Living in the Last Days?, Can God Tell Time?, In the Glory of the Father, The End of Time or The Time of the End, and Who Is This Babylon? If you’d like the tapes of the event, just let me know. I hope to get them edited and ready to copy before the end of the month. I don’t know the cost yet but it will be just the cost of production plus shipping and whatever you’d like to give to help sponsor future events. I’m really hoping we can plan a major event (3-4 days with several speakers) in The Woodlands just north of Houston sometime next year.
On other fronts, the garden has about had it. It never did really produce well this year and I don’t really know why. I have been reworking the tomato plants hoping to get them to put forth a second effort this fall and we do have a few that are just now beginning to ripen. Time will tell! Over
It’s been a real challenge just to keep the yard from burning up and September’s water bill promises is be a real thriller! The only positive aspect is that the grass doesn’t have to be cut as often and with the heat that is a really good thing.
We did have a couple of mornings down in the upper sixties and they were wonderful. I guess God does that just to let us know that even in the sameness of year after year, there is a newness as each season unfolds and we greet it with expectancy and enthusiasm.
The sassafras tree is already changing color and dropping a few leaves but that may be the heat too. Still, it is a reminder of what lies just ahead as God’s order progresses. It should remind us too that His purpose in our lives continues to be worked out daily.
Even when it seems we’ve hit a plateau in our journey and all we can see is the horizon, we know there is much between us and that far perspective. What lies in between must be traveled to be seen so God calls us on.
At just the right moment, He calls our attention to what has been around us all the time if we just had the eyes to see it. It is always an awesome sight which makes us wonder how we could have missed it for so long.
I’m learning that a critical prerequisite of being able to see in the distance is to first be able to see here and now. If we can’t discern God’s work in our lives at this point in time, is it reasonable to expect that we can even begin to glimpse where He is taking us farther down the road?
I remember when I first entered the fascinating study of "orienteering" or following a map. It seems rather obvious to say it, but you must first know where you are before you begin to see a route to reach your destination. Many Christians spend their time straining to make out what lies ahead without ever really considering their starting point.
May I suggest we pause occasionally in our journey to look at the benchmarks we see in God’s word and in the lives of others to determine where we are? Are we on track or have we lost sight of our goal?
I’m not one who gets lost, but I have been disoriented a time or two. I’m sure you know the feeling of relief that comes when a familiar landmark appears and the landscape around you suddenly makes sense again. Even though we may press on in blind confidence, it is quite comforting to have clear evidence to tell us where we are. In some discernible way, may you grow in that knowledge today. ~ Jim