Keller on Christ in all of Scripture

More sermons for you. Tim Keller at the Reform & Resurge Conference 2006:

Is the Bible basically about you and what you need to do, or is it basically about Jesus and His salvation? Which is it?

For example, when you're preaching about David and Goliath, what is it basically about? Is it basically about 'the bigger they come, the harder they fall;' 'if you have faith, you can move mountains;' 'God and you can handle anything;' 'you can face the giants in your life'? That's the way it's usually preached - in which case, it's basically about you.

But, now, if you come with a bias that says every theme, every single theme, eventually comes out in Jesus Christ. You can trace all the threads, whether it's the thread of the temple, or the covenant, or the hero, or every prophet or every priest or every king - every thread, if you run all the way through the Bible, in the end, is Jesus.

We would do well to digest that kind of Christ-centered theology.

One of My Favorite Verses in All of the Bible

. . . is Isaiah 35:10

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a beautiful promise for God's elect! Return to Zion with singing! Neverending joy on our heads! Obtaining gladness AND joy! Nevermore again to be sad or sigh! All of the depressing feelings of this fallen life to forever flee from us! To enjoy God forever in His place with His own happiness! What costly, bountiful, incomprehensible blessings Jesus bought for us God-hating sinners on the cross!

Joel: God Never Finally Opposes His Children

We were talking in community group last night about our pastor's sermon on Joel last Sunday, and we stopped to linger over the idea and application of God's opposition of His people. In using the word "opposition," we determined from Joel that often the Sovereign Lord makes life difficult, quite difficult (Paul says in 2 Cor. 1 that he "despaired of life itself"), for His children. God "opposes" them for a season, so that He would work humility and repentance by His grace.

Consider the book of Joel. Its three short chapters speak often of weeping and wailing, of locust plagues, of repentance, and of the day of the Lord. That's some pretty sobering, apocalyptic stuff. But note the renewal and repentance that comes to those who follow God's command to "Put on sackcloth and lament, . . consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly, . . . cry out to the Lord," (1:13f, 2:15f). God then says to His people in Joel 2:19-3:1,

"Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land . . . Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem. . ."

Grain and new wine! Enemies driven away! Rejoicing in God! Vats overflowing with wine and oil! Land restored! Plenteous, satisfying food! Dwelling with God! Knowing Him! No more shame! The fullness of His Spirit! Calling on His name for salvation! Escape from judgment! What blessings He promises after repentance! What happiness heaven will hold for those who repent and believe!

God's opposition, then, is never finally against His own children. "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness," says Hebrews 12:10. But we must understand His discipline correctly. It is not easy, and it not happy at the time. It is much like how our parents disciplined us when we were young, except that God is wiser and more loving than our earthly parents. He even works locusts and plagues and disaster and famine for the good of His chidren.

Consider one more text with me - Romans chapter eight. 8:28-29 reads, "For we know that God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." So each and every thing in the life of God's child is meant for their good, which is growing in and exalting Jesus Christ. Later Paul writes that nothing in all of creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus - not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. And what God means here is, those things are coming! Don't be dismayed when they do! He still loves you who are in Christ!

One final note - these things are taught in plenty in the Old Testament. So let us read it and enjoy the God who loves His children so wisely and so fully.

Now We Love Greek and Hebrew, SO . . .

After writing that post, I promptly went looking for brothers with whom to study Biblical Greek and Hebrew. God has already blessed that endeavor, so praise Him for help in application, too!

Here are some more pointers in practicing your Greek and Hebrew:

1. Ask for God's help.
"in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God," (Philippians 4:6). I need Him to come in power if I will learn anything worthwhile for His glory, and so do you. I skip this all too often and reveal my belief that I can do it on my own.

2. Get the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament.
And a Greek Old Testament, if possible. The Hebrew Old Testament is known also as the Biblical Hebraica Stuttgartensia, the Tanach, and/or the Masoretic Text. The Greek New Testament can be denoted with the name of its translator(s), i.e. Westcott-Hort, Robinson-Pierrepont, Nestle-Aland. The Greek Old Testament is called the Septuagint, or LXX. You can buy all three at the United Bible Societies site or search for them somewhere like Amazon or Half.com.

You can't read the Biblical languages unless you can see the Biblical languages, so don't think you'll get any study done unless you actually own a copy of each of these. Yes, you can still go online to a place like Zhubert.com (which you should) or find a free Bible program like E-sword (which you should) or buy an expensive Bible program like Logos or BibleWorks (which you probably shouldn't), but you can't always carry those things with you and you definitely have a hard time keeping notes in them and showing them to others. You should use all the free stuff available to you, including any library you can get into, but when the Christian hits the road his Bible(s) must go with him. (So get e-sword if you already have a laptop but no money.)

3. Use it in worship services, in personal Bible study, in group Bible study, in sermon and teaching preparation, wherever and whenever you can.
Even if you can't diagram in both languages yet, go ahead and read any and every word you can. If you are interested in a verse, look it up in the original. Pay attention to the syntax (the word order) and the vocabulary (the word choice). Practice writing the actual words down on paper. Look at them later when you return to your notes. Do the most that you can with these languages - God will reward you. "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything," (2 Timothy 2:7)

4. Sit down and read it just to read it.
As in, not to read it for something else, but just reading it to sit and read and see if you can remember this or that particular passage. (This is easier with Greek for several reasons, but mostly because the New Testament is shorter and easier to remember.) Look up vocabulary as needed.

5. Get together with a brother or two and work through a book of the Bible.
This provides two key elements in study: fellowship and accountability. We need fellowship in study because it keeps us joyous and alert, and it builds friendships. We need accountability both personally and theologically because we must learn the obedience of being responsible students and exegetes. We need the regularity of meetings and groups because God uses them to teach us responsibility, and we need the joy of God in and with our brothers and sisters.

6. After a while, teach somebody.
Teaching is the best way to learn. So after you've learned and worked and read studied and memorized and looked up and written and read some more, go teach somebody. We have to carry on a passion for God and His Word to the next generation.

7. Thank God for such grace.
Oh to know Jesus as He really is! To see His glory in His Word! To understand His perfect character and work! To be able to speak of Him to others! Such manifold grace we do not deserve.

The Pentateuch, Pt. 1: Disappointment

In my journey through the Pentateuch (ha ha, get it?), I've been lingering long in the book of Numbers. What has begun to strike me is the sheer weight of disappointment that, I believe, the reader is supposed to feel as he reads it. It is as if the book, from the Exodus to almost the very end, is written to be one giant disappointment.

Take, for instance, Numbers 11-20. This set of narratives is full of the people's repeated rebellion, God's consuming wrath, His restraining grace, and His terrifying judgment. By the time Numbers 20 rolls around, the reader is exhausted with Moses and Aaron, thinking, "When is this gonna end?" I counted no less than seven different rebellions, and almost every time Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before God.

In God's perfect timing and writing, however, redemption does not come just yet. In chapter 20, Moses' sister dies. She had been with him from the beginning. We're not sure why the text spends so little time on her death, but if feels weighty nonetheless. Then, the people rebel against God and His servant once again, complaining about the lack of water. Moses then, in his anger at these "rebels," strikes the rock twice instead of speaking to it, and water spews forth. Yet, this time, it is Moses and Aaron who are judged to have disbelieved and defamed God.

God tells Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in Me, to uphold Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." So now Moses and Aaron, like the generation left to die in the wilderness for their rebellion, cannot enter the land of God's own promise. This alone would be disappointment enough.

But the chapter is not done. Next, Moses (we're not told exactly why) proceeds to try to pass through the land of Edom. This could be viewed as another act of rebellion (like the nation of Israel trying to take God's promised land for themselves after their rebellion in chapters 13 and 14) or simply the proactive travel plans of a leader. Either way, he is turned back by Edom's king. The disappointment continues.

Finally in chapter 20, God tells Moses, Aaron, and all the people that Aaron's time has come. Moses' brother will return to dust. Not only that, but Moses has the last honor, so to speak, of removing Aaron's God-given priestly garments and giving them to Aaron's son right before Aaron dies! What a depressing thing to read! What a depressing thing to do! In the midst of all that the text has brought us through, in the midst of all that God has brought Moses through, he now has to disrobe his beloved brother and, in effect, release him to his death. This is depressing and disappointing, and - if we didn't know the ending - completely heartbreaking.

It seems that point #1 of the Pentateuch's wilderness narratives of the Pentateuch is the sadness and disappointment of sin. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, the people are constantly disbelieving God and diappointing the reader. We are, at least for a time, meant to feel deeply saddened by the amount of sin evident in these people, in this text, who are just like us.