We Must Be Born Again to Understand Who Jesus Is and Believe in Him

Today on a Facebook public forum, a man asked the following question:

“Can someone show me a clear-cut, “no doubt about it,” verse of Scripture proving spiritual regeneration takes place prior to a person putting their faith in Jesus for salvation?”

My reply:

Here’s a verse that teaches it:

John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”

Nicodemus had just said some right things about Jesus.  Verse 3:2: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

To this, Jesus replied, “Unless one is born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus had seen (perceived) some right things about Jesus, based on physical evidence (Christ’s teaching and the signs and wonders He was performing).  Yet he had not seen enough, for he did not yet fully understand who Jesus was — the divine Son (vv. 1:1-4, 14) whose body would be crucified for sinners and raised up on the third day (v. 2:19).

Thus in His reply, Jesus informs Nicodemus that his confession was insufficient for salvation.  Nicodemus needed to be born again (from above) in order to see the kingdom of God (understand who Jesus truly was and what His true mission was).  Christ prefaced His reply with “Most assuredly I say to you,” to emphasize how critically important it was for Nicodemus to understand what He was saying.  The Pharisee did not yet have eyes to see (Matthew 13:16).

Following up in John 3:5, Jesus also informed Nicodemus that unless he was born again, neither would he be able to ENTER the Kingdom of God:  ”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Thus taking verses 3:1-5 together, Jesus told a man who believed some true things about Him that there was no way that man could fully perceive who Jesus was or enter the Kingdom (through personal faith) “unless” he was “born again.”

“Unless” Nicodemus was born again by God’s Spirit, he would never understand who Jesus was, or trust in Him for salvation.

God’s Love for All Mankind (and Why Calvinists Must Embrace It)

I recently prepared a sermon on Matthew 5:43-48.  As I considered the error of the Pharisees (who were saying “Hate your enemy”), and meditated on the implication of Christ’s command to “Love your enemies,” and especially when I thought about our Lord’s teaching that Christians loving their enemies demonstrates they are sons of the Father in Heaven, I came to the conclusion that if God does NOT love everyone — including His enemies — the passage makes no sense whatsoever.

It is *because* God loves His enemies that Christians are called to do the same. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt. 5:46-48).

The “perfection” Christ is calling us to (in context) is to demonstrate the same sort of all-embracing love for others that the Father does — a love that goes to the limit (perfection) of loving, blessing, doing good to, and praying for our enemies (Lk 6:27).  Jesus is calling us to imitate God.  The Father demonstrates love to His ungodly enemies, and so should we.

Calvinists tend to struggle mightily with all this. I know I have. We hear Arminians preaching a sappy version of God, how He’s begging and pleading for everyone to be saved because He so desperately loves them but won’t/can’t force His will on them. We’re right to revolt against all that. But the answer is not to overreact and reject the biblical teaching about the all-embracing love of God.

The Arminian’s fundamental errors are his rejection of God’s sovereignty and man’s total inability. We must reject these errors, yet without disposing of the truth that “God is love” and even in one sense “desires” the salvation of all men (the latter explained in the context of God’s sovereignty and eternal purpose, of course). This is demanded of us, or else we become guilty of erecting a false God, a god who does not love the wicked in any sense.

Some become hyper-Calvinists because of their overreaction against the excesses of Arminianism. They’re never able to find the right balance between God’s mercy and justice, between His love and His hatred. But we must work to do this, or else we fall into the error of the Pharisees. We are required to worship God as He really is, as the Bible reveals Him to be. We must not become guilty erecting a false god because of our lazy unwillingness to wrestle with the tensions of Scripture.

Christian Churches Should Not Celebrate the Seder

It has become increasingly common for Christian churches to perform Passover (aka Seder) meal “demonstrations.”  Christian organizations like Jews for Jesus, Awareness Ministry, and other groups heavily promote this practice.  While there may be nothing wrong with the theory of such demonstration meals, the intent often becomes muddled in the execution.  Many churches cross the line and “celebrate” the Passover, even to the point of adding these “celebrations” to their liturgical calendars.  Even Reformed churches have gotten in the act.  In so doing, they have become guilty of an unbiblical, judaized form of worship.

I recently commented on this trend on a Christian discussion board where most of the participants describe their theological convictions as Calvinist and Reformed.  I received some interesting responses, and the back and forth discussion which ensued (slightly edited) is included below.  The discussion has convinced me all the more that so-called “Christian Seder celebrations” are much worse than an annoying fad.  They in fact represent a disastrous departure from New Testament teaching and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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My original post:
Christian churches should not host Seder meals.  It is exactly the sort of practice the Galatian churches were embracing (observing Old Covenant holidays and rituals) that so concerned the Apostle Paul (Gal. 4:9-11).  Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), and our Lord changed the Seder meal to His Supper (Mt. 26:18, 26-30).  The church errs greatly when it embraces what is old, obsolete, and has vanished away (Heb. 8:13).

Reply from Robert:
Understanding our heritage is important.  We spend time teaching about the origins and understanding of baptism in the mikvah.  We demonstrate what it was like and how it was changed from a Jewish ritual showing repentance and faith into a Christian practice.  It makes sense we would spend time on the origin and understanding of the Lord’s Supper since it was an integral part of the Pesach seder meal.  It didn’t happen in a vacuum and folks can get all confused if they know nothing of the background.  About once every 5 years we explain/demonstrate both.  Teaching, not observing the foundation and heritage.

My reply to Robert:
Churches can and certainly should explain what the Passover meal was for.  They cross the line when they “celebrate” Seder meals and schedule them on their Holy Week calendars, as many are now doing.

Reply from Grace:
I love the sedar. I think it is a beautiful representation of the gospel. We are not trying to be justified by the law which is what Paul was upset with the Galatians for, thank you much

My reply to Grace:
Grace, the problem is that you are reasoning apart from the New Testament to justify the celebration of an anachronistic feast from a covenant that was fulfilled by Christ and has passed away (exactly what the Galatians were doing, Gal. 4:9-11).  Celebrate the Lord’s Supper instead.  New Testament Communion is not only a beautiful representation of the Gospel–it is the sacramental meal our Lord has commanded and authorized.

Reply from Chaz:
Paul would commend the practice. Why are you against it?

My reply to Chaz:
Chaz, I respectfully disagree.  Paul commended the Lord’s Supper, not the Passover meal. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover, and He transformed that meal by instituting new symbols (bread and wine instead of the lamb, bitter herbs, etc.).  To go back to the weak and beggarly elements of the Old Covenant is exactly what the apostles taught Christians not to do.

Reply from Marie:
Wasn’t the Lord’s Supper observed as the Passover meal?

My reply to Marie:
Marie, there was an overlap of the two covenants in the NT period, and some elements of that overlap may have been present in the early church practice of the Lord’s Supper.  Yet Paul, when writing about Communion in 1 Cor. 11:23-34, clearly teaches that the Supper is about the bread and the wine, the symbols of the crucified Christ (the Old Covenant fulfilled).  Christ is our Passover, and it is the meal He instituted and not the covenant meal of Moses that the Christian Church should observe.  The author of Hebrews explicitly states that when God instituted the New Covenant, “He has made the first obsolete.  Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).  Because the Old Covenant was made obsolete by the cross, the Old Covenant practice of Seder meals vanished from the practice of God’s people and was replaced with New Testament Communion.

Reply from Chaz:
Joe – right. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. I agree. So why do I think it’s still okay to celebrate the old feast? First, there is ample evidence in the book of Acts that the Apostle Paul, the great advocate of liberty from the Ceremonial Law, did not forbid the practice of Jewish traditions. Paul had Timothy circumcised and had several men go through ritual purification in order to demonstrate to the Jewish people that he did not forbid Jews living according to Mosaic practice. To require such practice of anyone would be contrary of the New Covenant and would be a form of “legalism,” yet to forbid such Mosaic practices can also be a form of legalism. Are we forbidden from abstaining from pork as New Covenant believers? Are we forbidden from keeping Kosher? Clearly, Paul permitted (perhaps even encouraged) Jews who believe in Jesus to observe Jewish customs as a witness to the Jewish people that they are still Jewish, yet at the same time he made it crystal clear that salvation only comes by faith and that it is the moral and spiritual essence of the Torah which is required today. Paul said “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the Law I became like one under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law), so as to win those under the Law.” Needless to say, whenever such practice would by contrary to the Gospel, it must either be “recycled” or left behind.

My reply to Chaz:
You said, “Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover.”  Yes, and more than this, Jesus is the fulfillment of ALL the types and shadows of the Old Covenant:  the priesthood, the temple, the animal sacrifices, grain offerings, circumcision, special sabbaths, festivals, and yes, the Passover meal as well.  Because the Old Covenant was fulfilled by Christ’s death, the ceremonial forms and practices of the Old Covenant have also been fulfilled and are now obsolete, because they were part of the same cloth, an obsolete covenant.  This is why these practices literally vanished (per Heb. 8:13) from the experience of God’s people.  The church put an end to them because the early Christians understood they were merely types and shadows, but Jesus is the Antitype and Fulfillment. Understanding and implementing this principle was a very big deal to Paul, and the churches that did not “get it” and continued to celebrate Old Covenant festivals were the churches that received his harshest rebukes (Galatians 3:1-4).

The Law has found its completion in Christ (Rom. 10:4), and it is contrived and anachronistic in the extreme to pull one of the Law’s ritual meals out of the proverbial hat 1900+ years later and say, “The church can celebrate Seder meals,” based on the justification that Paul circumcised Timothy.  Does the latter event also justify the celebration of the Jewish Day of Atonement?

You have suggested I am legalistically forbidding a practice that should be permitted in New Testament churches.  That charge is actually upside down since you are the one trying to justify the revival of a ceremony from the Law.  But in response, I have a question for you:  are you a legalist for forbidding animal sacrifices in your church?

You asked, “Are we forbidden from abstaining from pork as New Covenant believers?  Are we forbidden from keeping Kosher?”  The answers are no and no, provided we are not attaching Old Covenant significance to those practices, as you are apparently doing with Seder meals.  (If you attach no such significance to the meals, why are they on your church calendar?)

Regarding the circumcision of Timothy, that event took place during the transitional period between the covenants, i.e., the overlap between Christ’s resurrection and 70 A.D., when God caused the Temple to be destroyed.  In that unique historical context, Timothy voluntarily submitted to circumcision for the sole purpose of not causing offense to the Jews, NOT because it marked him out as a member of God’s covenant community. Circumcision was emptied of its original religious meaning for Timothy because it had become an obsolete practice (as recognized by the Council of Jerusalem) and was no longer the sign of the Abrahamic covenant.  He submitted to it as a sacrifice of love for Christ — to free himself to minister to the Jews (the real point of “becoming all things to all men”).  You have singled out this event as justification for Christian churches to find religious significance in an anachronistic Seder meal, but you have actually argued against your own case because Timothy’s circumcision held NO religious significance for himself or for Paul. In fact, the early Christians who DID teach religious significance in circumcision were rejected by the Jerusalem Council and identified as preachers of a different gospel (Gal. 1:7-8).  Not that I’m accusing you of such a thing, but just to emphasize how critically important it was in the New Testament period to be right about these matters.

Once again, the Lord’s Supper is what you should be celebrating, not a Passover meal. New Testament Communion is the one and only sacramental meal Jesus has commanded and authorized for His people.

Reply from Chaz:
Let me ask a question of clarification, Joe – are you equating my observance of a Messianic Seder (as a teaching tool only) on par with sacrificing animals?

My reply to Chaz
You’re changing the argument.  You said before, “So why do I think it’s still okay to celebrate the old feast?  First, there is ample evidence in the book of Acts that the Apostle Paul, the great advocate of liberty from the Ceremonial Law, did not forbid the practice of Jewish traditions.”  First you are “celebrating” and “practicing” the Seder, and now you are observing it “as a teaching tool only”?

Reply from Chaz:
No, Joe. I’m not changing my argument. Tomato, tomahto. By “celebrate,” “practice,” “observance,” and “teaching tool” I’m meaning the same thing. You don’t like the words I’ve used? That’s okay. I can use different ones, but please don’t miss my meaning. We are not using the Seder in place of the Lord’s Supper but to show into what context it was originally done. We don’t sacrifice a lamb, but we do have an unbroken lamb bone symbolizing the lamb who was slain, Jesus our Messiah. I also wasn’t intending to call you a legalist. I’m sorry I’ve offended you.

Now back to my question: Are you equating my observance of a Messianic Seder (as a teaching tool only) on par with sacrificing animals? Because sacrificing animals for my sin is a bit different than eating Matzah and retelling the story of the Exodus.

My reply to Chaz:
Chaz, I wasn’t offended, but the suggestion of legalism was made, and I couldn’t let that pass.  As far as “celebrate” and “practice” vs. observing Seder “as a teaching tool only,” I disagree that those words all mean the same thing.  You may understand them to be synonymous, but “celebrate” isn’t a word a Christian teacher would use in a classroom setting.  ”Celebrate” is what Christians do in the context of worship, as with the Lord’s Table — a celebration of Christ’s death on our behalf.  Celebrate is not what Christians do when we’re simply trying to illustrate what Old Testament Jews used to do.

Sorry if I seem to be nitpicking here, but words mean things, and important terms are being muddled.  You mentioned on another thread today, “We celebrate Passover this evening at (our) Church.”  In another post a few days back you included a “Seder” meal on your Holy Week church calendar.  If you are hosting a Seder “only” for teaching purposes, why does it appear on your church calendar, the same place where churches typically list events like Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas (worship services)?  Why are you “celebrating” Passover and eating Matzah and retelling the story of Exodus on the same night in which unbelieving Jews around the world are doing the same?  (And why not celebrate the Lord’s Table instead, since it speaks of a far greater Passover?)  By the way you are “celebrating” an Old Covenant ritual and categorizing it and scheduling it, you’re de facto attaching far more religious significance than would be evident in a simple Thursday night Bible study.  You can’t have it both ways.

And to finally answer your question, no.  I don’t think you’ve thought through this matter carefully enough and have entered into dangerous waters, but I don’t think you’re deliberately denying the Gospel.  Or to illustrate the difference, Paul told the Galatian churches who practiced Old Covenant rituals that he was “afraid” for them (Gal. 4:11), but against the teachers who said circumcision was necessary for Christians, he pronounced anathemas.  I am afraid for you, as I am for all churches that “celebrate Passover.”

Reply from Chaz:
This has certainly given me things to think about.  I’ve already provided my argument and have nothing more to add.  You’ve done a masterful job providing yours.  Thank you, Joe, for taking the time.

Reply from Dean:
Hi Joe – I have to admit I also am uneasy at what seems on your part to be pronouncing an absolute “Thou shalt not…” when it comes to any sponsorship of even a form of a Seder meal by a church, regardless of reason. The clear root of the problem in the Galatian churches seems to be the motive spelled out in Gal 3:12 – they thought that they would “live”, or be justified, only by observing the Jewish ceremonies. But can you allow, if someone clearly teaches that justification is only through faith in Christ alone, for room that “faith working through love” might want to put before people “food” for meditation, for instance, what the bitter herbs might signify?

My reply to Dean:
Dean, you asked, “But can you allow, if someone clearly teaches that justification is only through faith in Christ alone, for room that ‘faith working through love’ might want to put before people ‘food’ for meditation, for instance, what the bitter herbs might signify?”

No.  Jesus and the apostles put an end to the Seder meal as it was practiced in the Old Covenant.  No one is authorized to bring it back into the life of the church.  It’s done, finished, gone, because the shadows and types of the ceremonial Law have been fulfilled in Christ.  The Seder meal has been replaced by the Lord’s Supper.  That is the meal we are to present to the church for meditation.

This is not a question of what I can allow, but what the Bible teaches and authorizes.  And the teachings of Scripture (especially as witnessed by church history) are quite plain that Christians should not celebrate the Seder meal.  To do so is as wrongheaded as it would be to practice circumcision, sacrifice animals, present grain offerings, burn incense, or any other ceremonial practice exclusive to the Old Covenant.

I assume you’ve read my earlier comments, so I’ll sum up my argument:

1) The Old Covenant has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, specifically by His death on the cross.

2) All the ordinances, holy days, and festivals tied to the Old Covenant also found their fulfillment in Christ’s redemptive work.

3) The ordinances, holy days, and festivals of the Old Covenant began to quickly disappear from the practice and worship of God’s people after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and vanished entirely after the transition period between the Old and New Covenants ended in A.D. 70.

4) The Passover meal was transformed by Jesus into the Lord’s Supper, which focuses on bread and wine, and not on lamb, bitter herbs, etc. (symbols of the Old Covenant).  Christ commands His followers to remember Him by celebrating His Supper, a more perfect and complete picture of the Gospel than the Passover meal.

5) When churches “observe” or “practice” the Seder meal, they are guilty of resurrecting an obsolete Old Testament ceremony and disregarding the above observations.  It’s the age-old error of Judaizing the Christian faith.

But can the Church present a Seder meal for demonstration purposes, merely as an instructional tool?  Most churches that “practice” and “observe” the Seder insist this is all they are doing:  presenting the meal to Christians for the sole purpose of teaching them what Jews used to do.

Yet the stated intent of these “teaching sessions” often becomes quite blurred in the execution.  The meal supposedly presented “as an instructional tool only” almost always (from my observation) turns into an expression of worship.  It is often presented in a home during Passover week, the same place and time where Jews around the world are also eating the Seder.  It is accompanied by the reading of the Exodus account and a careful explanation of the various Passover symbols, just as Jews around the world also do.  The participants eat the Seder meal, just like Jews.  In short, a ceremony supposedly intended for instructional purposes ends up looking very much like Jewish worship.  (The shift in purpose is evident in the language used by Christians to describe what they are doing — “observing,” “practicing,” “celebrating” — and the fact that the Seder often appears on church liturgical calendars.)

So, I am not necessarily against the theory of a demonstration meal, but I’m to the point where I advise against it because in the actual thinking and practice of Christians, the Seder so easily morphs into something different — an unauthorized, anachronistic observance of a ceremonial law that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and has passed away. Better to discuss the Passover and its symbolism in a Sunday School class or Bible study, stripped of the original sacramental context that tempts Christians to think of it in wrong ways.

My additional reply:
I found this article on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church web site.  It sums up the biblical case very well.

Reply from Grace:
The Passover was an amazing, miraculous event that took place thousands of years ago that God used to show His power to His people and enemies. why not celebrate that? Is it useless now that Christ has come? Does it not teach us about His justice and mercy and ways? Teaching that you MUST observe passover to be saved is ridiculous, of course.. but celebrating a mighty act of God doesn’t seem so wrong to me.

My reply (to Grace and others who chimed in):
I’ve already answered the questions and objections that have been raised, but just to sum up, Passover as a celebration (act of worship) expired when Christ our Passover fulfilled it. That is why we are not to celebrate it.  It has nothing to do with motives.  The obsolete celebration of Passover expired because the Old Covenant expired.  Passover disappeared from the practice of God’s people for the same reason the ceremonial law (along with all its other feasts) disappeared — because Christ has fulfilled it all.  Those old forms disappeared (Heb. 8:13) because we are now related to God in a new way, via a New Covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Passover was replaced by our Lord Himself with the New Covenant Supper.  During the Passover meal He celebrated with His disciples before His arrest, Jesus transformed the meal.  He picked up the cup and said something that had never been uttered in the past, at any Passover celebration.  Matthew records the saying like this: “This is My blood of the New Covenant” (Mt. 26:28).  That’s virtually a verbatim quotation of Exodus 24:8, when Moses sprinkled blood on the people to confirm the new relationship they had with God in the Covenant of Sinai (Old Covenant).  By using those words and declaring the inauguration of the “New Covenant,” Jesus was declaring the end of the Old.  No longer were the people of God related to God via the sprinkling of animal blood, but by the blood of Christ.  No longer was the sacramental meal of God’s people to focus on Old Covenant forms (lamb, bitter herbs) but on Christ Himself (signified by the new forms of bread and wine).

Some of the strongest warnings in the New Testament were written against people who revived the old and obsolete forms of worship.  Why?  Because Paul and the writer of Hebrews and the rest of the apostles were legalists?  No, because they understood that the revival of those old forms of worship sent God’s people looking backwards to the types and shadows, when their focus was now to be exclusively on Christ in Heaven (Heb. 12:18-29).

Reply from Brian:
Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Directly contrasts the argument that they should not be observed because of the fulfillment in Christ. If Paul had a response to what was written just now against observing the feasts and festivals, he wrote it here explaining that the practice of them was not forbidden.

My reply to Brian:
‎Brian, who was judging whom in the verses you just quoted?  The Judaizers who had revived obsolete Old Covenant celebrations were judging the Christians who refused those practices.  Paul says to the latter group that they should NOT let the Judaizers do this because Christ is the reality of those shadows.  You’ve actually argued against your own position.

Reply from Grace:
God is the same God He was when He brought the Israelites out of Egypt. I am amazed by that action. I will celebrate that action.

Additional reply from Jason:
That objection is only valid if those who are practicing it are doing so meritoriously.

1.The case of the Galatians is that they are not merely observing one aspect of the Law, in fact, it’s far more likely that what they were swayed to do was observe the whole of the Levitical Law and Passover was not even in mind. The controversy was caused by the Judaizers. The issue for them was one of merit.

What those churches that Chaz and others are referring to are doing is practicing it to show how Christ is revealed in both covenants. They do so by practicing ONE aspect of the Law, a very explicit anticipation of Christ.

Unless those who practice Seder meals are doing 1) doing so on the basis of merit. And 2) observing the whole of the Law; then there is no comparison to the Galatian controversy.

My reply to Grace and Jason:
I’ve argued my case pretty thoroughly, I think, and don’t have a lot more to add.  I will point out that the early church was very emphatic about eliminating all forms of Jewish (i.e., Old Covenant) worship from the life of the Christian church, exactly for the reasons I’ve stated.  A study of the church fathers will bear this out.  It is nothing less than a revival of the old judaizing error to bring back into the life of the church an obsolete form of worship that Christ, His apostles, and the early church put to an end.

Reply from Jason:
My point still stands.  The Church Fathers were free to do as they wished. But that’s still not the same as a direct prohibition.

My reply to Jason:
Jason, were the Church Fathers free to revive grain offerings?  The Day of Atonement? The Aaronic priesthood?  If not, why not?  All of the Old Covenant ceremonial forms of worship were (using your words again) “anticipation(s) of Christ.”  If reviving the celebration of Passover is fair game for Christians because it “points us to Christ,” why not revive all the other forms?

Reply from Jason:
Again, the issue is merit (a point you keep missing). If those churches are practicing it out of Judaizing meritorious intent then, and only then, will your all-or-nothing argument have weight. But that’s not the intent. Rather, it shows Christ in the Old thus emphasizing the impact of the New. And since we are under Grace, they are free to observe one ceremony to the exclusion of the rest.

My reply to Jason:
I’m not missing the issue of merit at all.  I think it’s you who miss it.  The Law as covenant was a heavy burden the people of God were never able to bear because those who did not do all of the Law were cursed (Gal 3:10-14).  Paul quotes Deut. 27:26 to emphasize this point:  ”Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”  By reviving Passover as a form of Christian worship, you are reviving the Old Covenant and its curses, whether you intend to or not.

Reply from Jason:
Not at all. For one, without the issue of merit then there is no ground or basis for using the Galatian controversy to make your case, much less should you be “worried” over them. Second, as I said, nobody is confused over the fact that we are under grace. The observance is done in light of Christ, not in spite of it.

You say you’re not arguing from merit, but again, your arguments only have any significance if those people are practicing it as merit. That’s why all people are cursed who are under the Law; because there’s no amount of merit that is sufficient to redeem us on our own. But such is not the issue of those who observe Seder meals. You’re presupposing intent that isn’t there.

My reply to Jason:
‎Jason, you said, “since we are under Grace, they are free to observe one ceremony [Passover] to the exclusion of the rest.”

You are right that we are now under Grace — the Grace of the New Covenant sealed by Christ’s blood, which fulfilled the curses of the Old Covenant.  And it is exactly for that reason that we should not turn back the clock and revive the practice of Mosaic Law that brings God’s curse with it.  Being “under Grace” doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want in regard to celebrating Old Covenant forms of worship.  It means we are now free from all the curses that the Old Covenant (including its forms of worship) brought upon the pre-Christian church.

Also, you still haven’t answered my earlier question.  Is the Church free to reinstitute grain offerings?  The Day of Atonement?  The Aaronic priesthood?  If not, why not?  All of the Old Covenant ceremonial forms of worship were (using your words again) “anticipation(s) of Christ.”  If reviving the celebration of Passover is fair game for Christians because it “points us to Christ,” what is to stop us from reviving all the other forms?

Reply from Jason:
Reinstitute? You’re arguing two different issues. No one has been arguing for a reinstituting of anything.

My reply to Jason:
We had a discussion earlier in this thread about the meaning of “celebrate.”  Churches that use that term to define their observance of Passover are indeed reinstituting an obsolete, Old Covenant form of worship, simply because “celebrate” is something done in the context of worship, not a Sunday School class.  They call the practice “Christian,” but in fact it’s Old Covenant, judaized worship, identical in every important respect to what unbelieving Jews around the world also do.

But okay, if you want to beef with the word “reinstitute,” I’ll drop it if you’ll talk to me about grain offerings, the Day of Atonement, and the Aaronic priesthood.  Are Christians permitted to bring those practices back into the life of the church (whether to observe them or whatever you want to call it) in order to point people to Jesus?  Why or why not?

Reply from Jason:
Grain offerings, day of atonement, Aaronic Priesthood etc. are impossible anyways since there is no Aaronic priesthood in existence nor any lineage to be found. Plus, those were performed in either the Temple or Tabernacle. Since we have neither, the question can’t proceed to any degree that can be answered with relevance to the discussion. In other words, the two events do not parallel each other enough. two procedural categories, I mean.

My reply to Jason:
I don’t see Christian churches that “celebrate” Passover requiring all participants to be circumcised (per Ex. 12:48), and yet they’re doing it.  You yourself are not judging such Christian “celebrations” to be impossible even though God’s Law says they are exclusively for circumcised people and forbidden to uncircumcised (which makes the celebration of Passover impossible for Gentile churches).  So why is my question about the reintroduction of grain offerings and the Day of Atonement somehow irrelevant to the discussion simply because the Temple and Tabernacle aren’t around?

Why Will God Damn People Who Have Never Heard of Jesus?

Recently on Facebook, I posted a link to a 2004 interview with then-State Senator Barack Obama regarding his religious faith. (The entire transcript can be read here.) In response to my post, an old college friend (a non-Christian man) emailed me a question about one of Mr. Obama’s comments. Below is my friend’s question, and my edited response follows.

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“May I ask Minister Vusich . . . how you would respond to [Mr. Obama's] comment about the Hindu in India who would have no opportunity to even hear of Jesus. . . . That has always perplexed me. How can someone be damned if they have no opportunity or knowledge to know they are damned or know the faith love and grace [of God]?”

Dear P_____,

The God of the Bible is invisible. Since He is not part of the creation, He cannot be studied in the same way we study trees, frogs, and planets. As Jesus taught in John 5:37, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” Left to ourselves, we would have no certain idea of what God is really like, since He is hidden from our eyes.

Thankfully, the invisible God has revealed Himself to us. By His grace (undeserved favor), He has made Himself known to everyone in a general way, regardless of culture, location, or whether a person has ever heard of the Bible or Jesus Christ. He has done this in two primary ways: by Creation and Conscience.

In the visible Creation, the invisible God has provided unmistakable evidence of His existence and majesty. God spoke His word into the formless void to make the Heavens and the Earth, and everything He has made shows signs of His greatness. We are literally surrounded by evidences of the glory of the Almighty Creator.

God also reveals Himself to man in the Conscience. God created Adam to serve and obey Him, and all of Adam’s descendants are born with the innate knowledge that some actions are good and some are evil. This explains, for example, why virtually all human societies understand murder to be wrong, whether they have heard of the Sixth Commandment or not (Romans 2:14-15). Man understands good and evil because God has put knowledge of His laws in man’s heart.

Further, man understands that he does not obey these laws as he should. This is why religious consciousness is universal to human society. It is why man creates religions and is drawn to making religious sacrifices. Man knows God is there and is displeased with him because of his sin, and he therefore seeks to relieve his guilty conscience via invented religion (Romans 1:18-23).

Thus man knows from Creation that God made him, and from Conscience that he is guilty of disobeying God’s laws. All men are therefore accountable for their actions. As the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 1:20, “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Man understands that God is there, and that he has failed to obey His laws. Thus man is without excuse when God judges him for being sinful, regardless of anything else he may learn about God.

God left the witness of Creation and Conscience so that men would seek after Him (Acts 17:24-27). Yet the problem of man’s disobedience is universal and profound. Left to ourselves, everyone serves his own desires rather than God because everyone is by nature a sinner. Thus all men deserve judgment, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . . (and) the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). This is the painful reality about the human condition. Man is under the sentence of eternal judgment because of Adam’s sin and his own. He knows he deserves this judgment because of his disobedience, and is afraid.

Despite his fear of judgment, sinful man suppresses the knowledge of God he gains from Creation and Conscience. He does not respond correctly to this knowledge because he does not want to humble himself before God. He does not want to be thankful to God. He does not want to love God or serve Him. He prefers to ignore God (an expression of contempt) and pursue a life of sin (an expression of disobedience), even though he knows deep down in his heart that this makes him all the more deserving of hell. Because man knowingly rejects God, God delivers him over to the power of his sins, and he becomes increasingly deluded (enslaved to false religion and philosophy) and increasingly sinful (given over to corrupt desires). Thus God is entirely just when He condemns people to hell who have never heard of the Bible or Jesus Christ.

The knowledge we have of God from Creation and Conscience is not sufficient to save us. It is sufficient to establish our guilt, but it does not show us how to overcome the power of our sins and be made right with God. This is where the Christian Gospel comes in. Man needs further knowledge of God so that he may understand how to be saved. And by His grace, God has communicated this knowledge in two ways: by His written Word, the Bible, and by His incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the written Word is inspired (its words are God-breathed), profitable (it teaches us, reproves us, corrects us, and trains us), and sufficient (contains all knowledge of God we need to be reconciled to Him and be saved from our sins). God determined that the truth about Him and how we may be saved from hell should be recorded in written form, and thus He “breathed out” His Word in the Law, the prophets, and the writings of Christ’s apostles. Oral traditions are unreliable because they inevitably become corrupt over time, but in the Bible God has reliably revealed everything man needs to know about Himself, and what He has done to save us from our sins.

God has also communicated special knowledge of Himself in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). The divine and eternal Word took on human flesh and became Jesus, the true and righteous Man. He was born of the virgin Mary in order to identify with us, to set an example for us, to teach us, and to reveal God more fully to us. Most importantly, He became a man to provide salvation for us by humbling Himself before God, obeying all of God’s will, bearing our sins, dying on the cross as our Substitute, and rising physically from the dead on the third day to be exalted to God’s right hand.

Thus the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of the invisible God to man (John 14:9). He is the loving God made visible in human flesh, the representative Man who has paid the debt we owed God in order to save us from eternal judgment (John 3:16). The Scriptures are the witness of Christ’s salvation and teach us that by faith in His name, we receive forgiveness for our sins and the assurance of eternal life (1 John 5:13).

This is the mandate for Christian missions and evangelism. Because God is gracious and loving, He has provided the Savior Jesus and an inspired written testimony of everything Jesus has accomplished to save us from eternal damnation. He has commanded the Church to carry the message of Jesus Christ to all nations, so that all people may know how to be saved from their sins and become His disciples. And He sends His Holy Spirit from Heaven to bring dead sinners to life so that they may repent, believe, and be saved (John 3:3-8; Titus 3:5).

P_____, that’s my long answer to your important question. And you know what I need to say next! I pray you will take this to heart and come to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus is the one way God has provided for us to be made right with Him. There is no other way to be forgiven, and no other way to Heaven. Call out to Jesus Christ in faith, and you will be saved.

Your friend always,

Joe

Mormonism Teaches Christianity Is a Cult

Everyone is talking about the pastor who says Mormonism is a cult. But no one is talking about Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism) and his successors who from the beginning have labeled the Christian religion as a cult.  Since Mitt Romney wants to make an issue of the pastor’s comment, I think it’s fair to ask Mr. Romney if he repudiates the teaching of his faith which says all Christian churches are “wicked” and “apostate.”

The following quotes are from recognized Mormon authorities. These and other similar citations may be found here.

“I was answered that I must join none of them (Christian Churches), for they were all wrong . . . that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight.” (Joseph Smith – History 1:19, from The Pearl of Great Price)

“The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:171)

“. . . orthodox Christian views of God are Pagan rather than Christian.” (Brigham Henry Roberts, Mormon Doctrine of Deity, p. 116)

“Believers in the doctrines of modern Christendom will reap damnation to their souls.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 177)

“. . . all other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives baptism or the Lord’s supper from their hands will highly offend God, for he looks upon them as the most corrupt people.” (Orson Pratt, The Seer, pg. 255)

“And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act.” (Orson Pratt, The Kingdom of God, Pt. 2, p. 6)

The Call to Confident and Steadfast Worship

This is an article I recently submitted to the Reformed Herald, the magazine of the Reformed Church in the United States (the communion in which I serve).  It is an exposition of Hebrews 10:19-25.  All Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.  [EDIT:  The article was published in the February 2011 issue of the Herald.]

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Jesus summed up the divine mission as the Father seeking true worshipers, who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24).  Thus Christians are called to worship the Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:9-10).  To this end, we are taught by the Scriptures to meet regularly as a church for public worship (Hebrews 10:25; Psalm 95:6), and to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

The chief obstacle we face to our divine calling is sin.  Even the most mature Christians are prone to pride, covetousness, and unholy desires.  As God calls us to give Him glory in everything we do, we feel the sting of evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.  How then can we be encouraged to serve the Lord with joyful hearts, and not be discouraged by the many ways we still fall short of His glory?  How can we be confident that we will be accepted when we worship God, despite our many sins?

Hebrews 10:19-21 provides the encouraging answers to these questions:

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God.”

Christians have confidence in worship because of something objective, because of something outside of ourselves.  We are not confident to worship because we feel better about ourselves, or because we are sinning less today than we did the day before.  We are confident because of the perfection of Another.  We are bold to approach the heavenly throne room because a “new and living way” to that place has been provided us by Jesus our High Priest, through the shedding of His blood.

The assurance that our prayers are heard, that our offerings are acceptable, that God is pleased with our lives, begins and ends with Jesus in heaven.  There is a place for self-analysis, but not as the starting point of worship.  Reflecting deeply on our own spiritual condition is bound to make us despair, even as we are to enter God’s presence with rejoicing (Psalm 100:1).  Where we must look for assurance is to Christ in heaven.  We must reflect on His spiritual condition — His perfect obedience, His faithful intercession, and His glorious majesty.  This is our starting point.  This is how we avoid the discouragement that comes from knowing how sinful we are.  This is how we can be confident in worship, despite our many failures.

Time and again, the author of Hebrews points us to our heavenly Mediator.  For example:

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him.” (Hebrews 3:1-2a)

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Do you understand this, dear Christian?  If the requirement to worship God is to attain a subjective measure of holiness before approaching the heavenly throne, why would the author of Hebrews tell us to go to that throne to “obtain mercy and find grace” (Hebrews 4:16)?  The throne of Christ is not a throne of reward.  It is a “throne of grace.”  Believers enter His presence boldly and joyfully, even as we acknowledge that we need His forgiveness and help.

It was the realization of this principle by Martin Luther — that Christians must not trust in the attainment of an elusive standard of moral uprightness for the right to worship confidently — that sparked the Reformation of the Church.  Liberation from Roman Catholic superstition began when Luther came to understand the biblical truth that the medieval church had forgotten:  that Christians have been justified by faith (Romans 5:1a) and have peace with God (5:1b), and therefore enjoy secure access to the heavenly presence (5:2a) because they have been reconciled to the Father by the death of Christ (5:6-11).  Luther understood that it is within this context of humble trust and confidence that believers in Christ are to come and confess their sins to God.

This is not to say that Christians should never grieve over their sins.  Christ paid too great a price for us to be casual about our disobedience (James 4:6-10).  Yet the way to unburden ourselves of personal guilt is not to avoid God because we feel sinful, which can be our first impulse (Luke 5:8).  Rather, we should come to the Father with childlike faith, and yes, with bold confidence, rejoicing in the promise of forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9) even as we mourn over our sins.

This is the meaning of Martin Luther’s controversial statement to his friend, Philip Melanchthon:  “Be a sinner, and sin boldly, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.  We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.  We, however . . . are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.”  Luther was not encouraging his friend to sin.  He was using hyperbolic language to startle Melancthon, to help him understand that sin would be for him (and for all Christians) a permanent and ongoing struggle in this life, yet should never again be a reason to doubt or despair in God’s presence.  Luther exhorted Melancthon in the same way the book of Hebrews exhorts all Christians to be bold before God despite their many sins.

This is simple, basic Christianity, but the history of the church demonstrates that the simple things can easily elude us.  Jesus died to give us access to God.  Do not erect mental barriers to that access.  Do not whip yourself as Martin Luther did (literally!) because you feel unworthy of God.  Come to Him in faith, and keep coming to Him, to receive cleansing from your unrighteousness.  Do not come because of the deluded notion that you are somehow worthy in yourself, but because Jesus is worthy, and has made you worthy by His shed blood and the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5-7).

The author of Hebrews says that our bold access to heaven is “by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.”  This phrase is overflowing with encouraging truth.

By “living,” the author draws attention to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is not by the blood of dead animals that we serve God, as the Israelites did under the Old Covenant, but by the blood of the crucified but now risen Lord Jesus.  Jesus our perfect Substitute is alive in heaven, interceding on our behalf.

By “new,” the author hearkens to the preceding section of his letter, which speaks of Christians being under the New Covenant.  One of the joyful benefits of this covenant is God’s declaration: “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).  Under the Old Covenant, there were constant reminders of sin, with the daily and seasonal and yearly offerings, and the Israelites never had full assurance that their sins had been finally and forever remitted.  This is why the immediate presence of God was often a terror to them (Exodus 20:18-21; Judges 13:22).  Yet now, under the New Covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus (Matthew 26:27-28), believers have confident assurance of permanent communion with God because their sins have been eternally blotted out of the divine record book (Hebrews 9:12), never to be used in evidence against them again (Psalm 103:12).  Unlike the Israelites who quaked with fear in God’s presence (Hebrews 12:18-21), we have now been brought near to God in heavenly Zion, with perfect and lasting assurance that He accepts us because of Jesus, “the Mediator of the New Covenant” (Hebrews 12:22-24).  What glorious comfort this is to our troubled souls!  We could never have confidence to worship God, even at our best moments, unless these things were so.

The phrase “through the veil, that is, His flesh,” is a mysterious saying at first glance.  By “veil,” the author is alluding to the heavy curtain which hung at the entrance to the Holy of Holies in the old earthly temple (Hebrews 9:3).  The Holy of Holies was the throne room of God on Earth (Psalm 132:7), and the veil at its entrance was a symbol of the sinner’s separation from God.  An artistic rendering of cherubim was embroidered on the veil (Exodus 26:31), representing the angel with the flaming sword that protected Eden from sinful Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:24).  Under the Old Covenant, the high priest of Israel passed through this veil once each year to offer blood atonement for the nation of Israel (Hebrews 9:7).  No one except the high priest — and he only one day each year — was allowed to have such access to God in the old earthly temple.

How is the “flesh” of Jesus a metaphor for this veil?  Just as going through the temple veil was the only way to enter the earthly throne room in Jerusalem below, so is the flesh of Jesus now the only way to enter the heavenly throne room in Jerusalem above.  Jesus is the “Way,” the one through whom men, women, and children may now come to gain direct access to the Father in heaven.  As Jesus said, “I am the Way . . . no one comes to the Father except through Me.”  It is by Jesus Christ alone that we may enter the presence of God in heaven, and by no other way (Acts 4:12; 19:23).

Note further that it is not just by the Son of God’s flesh, but by His crucified flesh, offered on a tree, that we gain this access.  Just as the earthly veil was torn in two when Jesus died (Mark 15:37-38), access to heaven was opened to all the faithful when the flesh of Jesus was torn on the cross, and His blood shed (Ephesians 2:18; 3:12).  Entrance to heaven’s throne room is granted freely and exclusively to those who enter by faith in Christ who suffered on the cross.

To doubt this access, to question whether believers are allowed to worship God freely and boldly, is a great sin against God, and puts us in danger of fearful judgment (Hebrews 12:25).  To shrink away from God in light of what Christ has done is to say, “God, I don’t believe You have taken away my sins.  I don’t believe You have given me confident access to Your throne.  I don’t believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His presence at Your right hand is reason for me to be bold in Your presence.”  This is the sin of unbelief that the Hebrew Christians were in danger of committing (Hebrews 3:12-4:13).  The warnings given to those Christians are the same warnings we must heed today:  Christian, stop doubting!  Do not reject the access to God’s throne He secured for you by the blood of His Son, in favor of another path.  Stop wavering in unbelief and be confident in Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished for you.

Having assurance that we may confidently enter the heavenly throne room by faith, the author of Hebrews exhorts us to steadfast worship.  Verses 10:22-25 present a three-pronged exhortation, one that some commentators perceive as the central exhortation of the entire epistle.  We will consider each of these prongs in turn.

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)

This is a strong call to the church to act upon the confident access it has to the glorious throne of the Father and the Son.  Since we have this confidence, “let us draw near,” meaning, “let us draw near to commune with God and worship Him.”

Reformed churches are sometimes criticized for a “boring” worship style.  Certainly bland, emotionless worship is not something we should aspire to.  On the other hand, when we consider deeply what is happening in the Christian worship service — an orderly conversation between the saints on earth and the Father and Son in heaven — worship becomes an awesome thing, no matter what hymns are chosen, no matter what Scriptures are read, because God is speaking from heaven to His people on earth, and we back to Him.

Many Christians today don’t understand this heavenly dynamic of worship.  Instead of eagerly anticipating the glorious meeting with God in heaven by faith, they look instead for carnal substitutes:  loud music, drama productions, multimedia shows, big personalities, giant buildings, and large crowds.  Such things may be impressive on a fleshly level, but compared to the seriousness and wonder of heavenly conversation with God, they are worthless!  In fact, they are worse than worthless, because they direct our minds to earthly glory, rather than the glory of God in heaven which is apprehended by faith alone.

Certainly the author of Hebrews does not underestimate the importance of heavenly worship.  The lead thought of this climactic exhortation is to draw near to God in heaven to commune with Him in worship!  Let this be an admonishment to us, brethren — we ought never allow the importance of Sunday worship be diminished in our minds.  On the scale of apostolic importance, one to ten, worship is a ten!

Americans today are so casual about worship, so thoughtless, so dull-witted.  We must free ourselves of this culture of ignorance and think deeply about the heavenly realities of worship.  The Father has sought us out, and gathered us together for this purpose, that we might worship Him, not in Jerusalem or in any other earthly location, but in the realm of the Holy Spirit, in heaven, in Jesus, who is The Truth.  The goal of our salvation, the purpose of our weekly gathering, and the eternal destiny of all the chosen in Christ, is to worship God in heaven (Psalm 23:6; 30:12).  Let us never be guilty of taking this lightly! Let us never be lured into seeking earthly distractions instead of the awesome heavenly access we enjoy!

“With a true heart” means that worship must be done without pretense, without going through the motions.  We must draw near to God with sincere and not hypocritical intentions.  We must come with worshipful hearts, with our minds engaged as well as our bodies.  Christian worship is for thinking people.  Christian worship engages the mind.  We do not come to church to meet our friends, to show off our new clothes, to sing songs, to receive a blessing, or even to hear a sermon.  We come to church with one central purpose: to worship God.  Such worship requires the totality of our being.

“Full assurance” means that worship must make the connection to our heavenly High Priest, having confidence that we are accepted by God because of the crucified and risen Christ.  Jesus offered Himself as the propitiation for our sins, reconciled us sinners to God, and has ascended to heaven to be a perpetual High Priest at God’s right hand.  It is on this basis alone that we are assured that our prayers, songs, and acts of charity are pleasing to God.

Christian, do you understand this?  Your assurance of being accepted by God is not that your conscience isn’t bothering you at the moment, or that you’re feeling happy and upbeat.  Your assurance is this, that no matter how much you may sense the need for God’s mercy, and no matter how good (or bad) you may be feeling, Jesus Christ has made you worthy to come to God, and that alone is what gives you confidence.

“Faith” means that worship must be performed not according to what is seen, but in relation to the unseen God dwelling in the unseen heaven through the mediation of the unseen Savior in the realm of the unseen Spirit.  The priests, vestments, and elaborate ceremony of the Old Covenant have been fulfilled by Christ.  Such things served as shadows under that covenant, but they are no help to New Covenant worship.  In fact, they are a hindrance and distraction, because the Christian’s mind is to be drawn by faith to an unseen world, where the types and shadows have found their fulfillment.  As the author of Hebrews reminds us a few paragraphs later, faith is “the conviction of things not seen” [NASB].  True worship done with full assurance of faith is focused on a place completely unrelated to what we see, that is, heavenly Jerusalem, where the Father and the Son reign in glory (Hebrews 12:22-24).

The phrases, “hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” and “bodies washed with pure water,” make use of metaphorical language the Hebrew Christians would have well understood.  “Hearts” and “bodies” represent the inner and outer person, respectively.  By virtue of spiritual regeneration (symbolized by the washing of baptism), Christians have been cleansed from all sin, both inwardly and outwardly.  The guilt that caused Israelites to panic in God’s presence (Judges 13:22) has been completely taken away.  This is why we can now be bold in God’s presence.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

The author here brings to the surface the importance of hope, the future expectation of good, the resurrection focus of the Gospel.  Christians are to worship with eager expectance of the good things they will receive at the appearance of Jesus Christ from heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5).  It is not only past history (death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ) that should fuel our worship, but also future history (Christ’s return, the resurrection of the dead, and the future glory of Christ’s eternal reign).  It is in the nature of Christian worship to confess our hope, our eager longing for the Day when we will sin no more, when our bodies will be raised imperishable, when death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:50-55; Revelation 22:20).  It is the expectation of resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), the expectation of vindication (Matthew 25:31-36), the expectation of reigning with Christ forever (Revelation 5:10) that is to fuel our worship. These are the vital components of our “confession of hope.”  We ought not waver in this expectation of future glory, even when we are experiencing trials, because the God who never lies will make good on His promises (Romans 4:18-22; Hebrews 11:9-10; John 8:56). “He who promised is faithful,” and He will deliver us the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

This final word has a horizontal thrust.  In the context of Christian worship and fellowship, we are to encourage one another to greater and greater service of love for God and for each other.  When we meet as a church (a practice we must never forsake, as some do), we are to be purposeful.  We are to communicate to each other not just the superficial events of the week, but to speak with a view to encouragement, Christian love, and exhorting each other to greater and greater expressions of godly compassion and mutual care, all in light of Christ’s return.  As we gather to meet with God to contemplate His goodness, His promises, and His mercy, the overflow of our spiritual meditation should be to exhort other believers to love and faithful service.

The tendency is to think, “Is that my place?”  Yes, it is.  The meaning of Hebrews 10:24-25 is quite plain.  We are called to consider one another, to exhort one another.  It is not just the minister who is to do these things.  “That’s fine in theory, but how does it work?  What exactly am I to do?  What do I say to exhort my brother or sister?”  The answer is, think about it.  The apostle says “consider.”  Consider how you can make your conversation an edifying influence on others.  Consider how you can demonstrate Christ’s love to a brother or sister, and be ready to sacrifice your money and time to make it happen.  Consider how you can motivate a brother or sister to take up a need and run with it, to do a job no one else seems willing to do.  There is no specific “to do” list here.  It’s up to each of us to use our minds wisely to consider how to stir up other church members to love and good deeds. Again, this sort of worship is for thinking people.  Don’t be lazy and give up because nothing comes to you right away.  Consider and act, and in view of Christ’s return from heaven, make this the increasing habit of your life.  Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, “and so much the more as you see the Day (of the Lord) approaching.”

Brethren, in view of all that has been accomplished for us in Christ, let us confidently and steadfastly approach the throne of God to worship, and let each of us consider how to encourage one another to love and good deeds, because the Day we long for, the bodily appearance of Jesus from heaven, will soon be here.

The Message of the Bible – in One Sentence?

I was intrigued by a question that was recently posted on Dane Ortlund’s blog:  What is the message of the Bible in one sentence?

The question is virtually impossible to answer, at least in an all-embracing way, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t helpful to try.  One of the main goals of every good student of Scripture should be to gain a comprehensive understanding of the entire Bible, for when we see the forest clearly, the relation and importance of the individual trees (doctrines, commandments, prophecies, and historical events) becomes more obvious.  Mr. Ortlund’s query is helpful because it raises two critical questions: 1) Do I understand the essential message of the Bible? and 2) Can I articulate that message to others?

The ancient church certainly understood the value of this sort of exercise.  The impetus behind the great ecumenical creeds (e.g., the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, and others) was to briefly sum up the teachings of orthodox Christianity, not only to instruct believers in the essential message of the Bible, but also to equip them to make a sound confession of their faith in the face of persecution.

Synthesizing the Bible is also a very Reformed thing to do.  The early Protestants were all about faithfully summarizing the Scriptures and using these summaries as teaching tools — e.g., the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession of Faith, Westminster Standards, Augsburg Confession, etc.  I decided to answer Mr. Ortlund’s question because there is value and historical precedent for the church to distill its beliefs to a summary of the essentials.  Following the Apostles Creed, I have self-consciously adopted a redemptive-historical perspective, starting in Eden, moving to the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, then into the apostolic era, the Second Coming of Christ, and arriving at Paradise restored.

Okay, so here’s my go at it.  I’ve been playing with the sentence for a couple weeks, and this is where I finally landed (put the finishing touches on it today).  I’m liable to tinker with it again in the future, but for now I’m satisfied it does a halfway decent job of bringing together the major themes of Scripture in a comprehensible (if admittedly wordy) fashion:

“The Kingdom of God was forfeited by sinful Adam and restored by the obedient Lord Jesus Christ, who by His prophesied death, burial, and resurrection has triumphed over Satan, sin, and death; and who by the voluntary sacrifice of His own body and blood on the cross has fulfilled God’s Law, securing forgiveness of sins and everlasting righteousness for His believing people; and who through the Holy Spirit and the preaching of His Word is graciously redeeming an elect multitude from all nations to joyfully share in His eternal, glorious, universal reign, which reign has already begun and will be consummated when Christ returns bodily from Heaven to resurrect the dead, reward the righteous with eternal life, condemn the wicked to eternal punishment, and usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth.”

A friend of mine questioned whether the above qualifies as a single sentence.  It does, though I’d hate to diagram it!  And like my friend pointed out, the apostle Paul was known for creating some whopper sentences.  So at least I’ve put myself in good company.

Comments welcome.