A WHOLE MAN

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”  Hosea 6:6  The book of Hosea is a very odd book when you consider it in the scope of the prophetic writings. In all of the other prophetic works, you find what you expect to find, prophetic pronouncements. But in Hosea, it is more of an autobiography which serves as a metaphor for the relationship between God and His people. And although Hosea does have many utterances from God in it, they are reinforced by the love that Hosea has for an adulterous wife. Hosea was a prophet of God for about 40 years (1:1) in the Northern Kingdom, but did have some words for the Southern Kingdom (1:7, 5:2, 7:1). There are several themes in this book, and I will just highlight three of them here: Indictment, Instruction, and Hope. The people of God had turned away from God and were living very wickedly. They had rejected God’s law and covenant (4:1), acted in idolatrous practices (11:2), and plac...

Recommended Reading: Chapter 2 (17 pages) Key Quotes: Chapter 2 "One group of theologians will talk about God's love as universal, undiscriminating, and unconditional, but at the core we find man-centeredness. Another group will talk about God's love as God centered, and that's where the offense lies." (43) On Defining and Displaying God's Love: "A God-centered view of love combines both desire and gift. We most desire God, and we give God…A God-centered love draws lines between whoever loves God and whoever does not. " (47, 48) On Agape-only love: "Here's the problem: repentance, holiness, and right belief are eventually cast to the side with agape-only love. Such love softens or even dissolves doctrinal, ethical, and church boundaries…Think about it: what can I do if I want to call myself a Christian but also accommodate the culture's moral drift, particularly in matters of sexuality and family? Easy: I define God's love as ...

He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  Luke 20:25  Perhaps you have heard the saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Possibly, no greater example of this can be seen in the many confrontations Jesus faced than here in the 20th chapter of Luke. It is in this chapter where we read the religious leaders teaming up to challenge Jesus with the goal of discrediting him and swaying the hearts of the people away from him by challenging his authority as a teacher. In verses 19-26, we read of a challenge posed to Jesus by spies who were sent to him to try and trap him. In Matthew and Mark’s Gospel, we read more specifically that it came by the Pharisees and the Herodians which was meant to serve as a political, religious, and social dilemma of paying tribute to the Roman empire. It is interesting to me that in their coming to Jesus they first flatter him with insincere words, but words which do de...

Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed. Isaiah 56:1 In this article we consider the third portion of Isaiah. Check out the previous Friday blog articles to read an overview of Isaiah, Part 1 of Isaiah (chapters 1-39), and Part 2 of Isaiah (chapters 40-55). After having walked through a valley of judgment, in chapters 1-39, to find hope in the Messiah and God, in chapters 40-55, we find ourselves facing several charges from God. At the outset of this section the people of God are challenged to live righteously and this theme of living faithfully to God is expressed in several manners such as obedience to the covenant (56:4), purity from idols (57:2-13), proper posture in fasting (58:3-13), and more. In these last chapters of Isaiah, we are getting a better picture of Godly activity as well as the future hope and destiny of true followers of God. This section is a complete reversal in state of th...

Recommended Reading:  Introduction-Chapter 1 (26 pages) Key Quotes: Introduction  "When [the Bible] says, 'God is love' (1 John 4:8), it's not saying there is a thing out there called love and that God measures up to it…Rather, God in himself provides the definition, the reality, of what love is." (13- Author's emphasis) "The world presumes to understand love and authority, like it presumes to understand God. Yet it understands these things only in their fallen forms, not in their created or redeemed forms…The local church serves, therefore, as a three-dimensional display of God's love and God's authority." (20-21) Chapter 1  Speaking on how individuals are portrayed in many of the Romantic writings-- "What matters is who they are in themselves- what they want, what they feel. Every relationship is a contract that can be ripped up. What's nonnegotiable is whatever my individual heart tells me is true." (27) Speaking on Con...

“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.” Luke 14:1  The trite saying “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” is a bit older than we possibly think. In today’s New Testament reading, we read of Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees at a dinner party he was invited to. While there, we read of how “they were watching [Jesus] carefully.” Now, we do not know exactly, what this means. It is possible that they were curious about him and his teachings. It is likewise probable that they wanted to believe in him. But more likely than those two scenarios, they were watching him to find something that they could use to get rid of him (6:7; 11:53-54). While there Jesus provides three teaching moments that all emphasis how the Kingdom of God does not belong to the religious elite or to those in power, but how the kingdom belongs to those who are humbly dedicated to him. Here we will consider just the first ...

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  Isaiah 40:1  O.k. Let’s address the elephant in the blog. If you have been following along you probably can predict with great accuracy the order and content for each of these articles. You know that when we start a new book in our Bible Reading Plan, there is always an intro article for that book. If we are still reading a book by the time next week rolls around, you will find an article related to something from that day’s reading. So why is it that we are having yet, another “intro to Isaiah”-ish article? First off, although I am breaking Isaiah into three parts and “introducing” each section, it does not mean that Isaiah should be thought of as three distinct books. There are some theologians and historians who believe that Isaiah was actually written by multiple authors; one author for each part (1-39, 40-55, 56-66), however I do not believe that. One reason for this is because the NT authors seemed to all have the sam...

"In the final analysis, you cannot separate love and rule. It's only a question of which love will rule: the love of God, or the love of self?" Jonathan Leeman, The Rule of Love , pg 40 As you know, every Wednesday we take some time and meditate on whatever it is that we would be reading that week in our Bible in a Year Plan. More specifically, on Wednesdays we examine a book or passage from our Wisdom reading (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, etc) and seek to understand what the text is saying, what it is demanding of us, and how we can glorify God for the truth we read. However, at times we will take an intermission from our Wisdom Wednesday articles to examine what wisdom can be found from reading good, biblically-sound books. For the next several weeks, I invite you to join us in our digital book club as we read and meditate on Jonathan Leeman's book, The Rule of Love. You can grab your copy from most bookstores, including the Nine Marks Store . I'm looking f...

20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”  Luke 9:20  On November 19th, 1999, a man by the name of John Carpenter was sitting in the hot seat of the T.V. Show “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. He had made it to the million-dollar question with a lifeline remaining and was as cool as a cucumber. So cool, you could say, that when his final question was revealed to him he used his lifeline to call his parents, not to ask for their help, but just to tell them “I didn’t really need your help, I just wanted to let you know that I am going to win the million dollars.” Then he hung up and actually won the million dollars! We may not think that we have faced any question with as great of an impact on our lives as that, however there is one question that has greater ramifications if answered incorrectly; the question is: “Who do you say Jesus is?” But this is more than a question requiring intellectual knowledge. Knowing th...

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive…”  Isaiah 6:9  Have you ever started reading a book only to realize 15 minutes have passed, you are 10 pages further than you can recall, and you have no recollection of what you have read? Sometimes, you will find yourself in a completely new scene, with a completely different cast of characters, and very, very confused. If not careful, the same thing may happen to you while reading through the first section of the book of Isaiah. In it you will come across numerous judgments on the nations, and if you were to “doze” off for a moment, you may repeat that experience. The context, genre, and subject changes quite frequently, so it is important that as you read, you are paying attention. But doing so will not guarantee you too have a full understanding of the text. For example, if we diligently read through Isaiah 7, thinking that Ahaz has made a great...

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.  Job 38:1-4  ­­­At first glance, Job may appear to be a very sad book where a man is caught up in a divine argument and loses everything for no reason at all but the reality is far from that. Job is a very difficult book to date, with dates ranging as late as 800 BC and as early as 1500 BC, potentially making this the oldest book in the Bible. Similarly, it is difficult to date when Job existed, however there is much reason to believe that he lived during the time of the patriarchs. With this background information, we can know return to the question at hand, what is Job all about? From a narrative perspective, Job tells of the life of…Job. It is in the first two chapters...

46 He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, 47 and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47  While in seminary, I recall one of my writing assignments requiring me to identify and defend a specific portrait of Jesus in each of the Gospels. That is, when examining each of the Gospels, in what way did the authors present Jesus to its reader(s). Similar to the other gospel writings, Luke writes on the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus and provides us with the most information of Jesus’ birth and childhood. But more distinctly, Luke presented Jesus as the compassionate Savior. While the other Gospels do show how Jesus is the Savior, Luke seems to have a more focused interest in presenting Jesus in this light than the other gospel writers do. The author of Luke is the same author of Acts and this book is the fir...

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  Isaiah 1:1  The book of Isaiah contains some of the most well-known passages in the Old Testament, as they relate to the Messiah, and paints vivid images in our minds of what the throne room of God would appear like. Isaiah can be divided neatly into three major sections, and we will take a closer look at each of these sections in the coming weeks. The first section is encapsulated in the first 39 chapters. They are very bleak chapters and mainly consist of judgments from God on the kingdom of Judah. In Isaiah 40, there is a transition, which leads us into the second section, where we consider the coming Messiah and the suffering that he will endure unto death. Finally, the last section in Isaiah centers on the doctrines of soteriology, matters concerning salvation, and eschatology, matters concerning end times. However, ...