House Law in Ezekiel

I received the following comment:

I came across this while reading the latter portion of Ezekiel.  It is hidden in the language of the KJV but comes out more clearly in other translations.  It is found in Ezk 43:12 and the surrounding context.  The NASB reads:

This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

It would appear that this may be speaking of oikonomia in the OT.  What do you think?  The word for law is Torah. The word for house is Bayith which means basically a house or a home.

Good eye! This does seem to be sort of an Old Testament reference to a house law. In the Septuagint, this reads diagraphen tou oikou, law of-the house, which is not quite the same.

The Sheep and the Shepherd: An Introduction to John 10

In the tenth chapter of John, we have a beautiful picture of Christ as the Good Shepherd caring for His sheep.  This is a passage that many in the churches of today have taken to themselves as a picture of their relationship to their Savior.  Yet I think that in order to truly understand the meaning of this passage and what the Lord would have us to learn and know about it, we need to realize that this picture of the Lord as a shepherd has its root in the figurative language and the promises of the Old Testament.

Let us look at several passages from the Old Testament that have to do with the shepherd and the sheep.  First, let’s look at Psalm 95:6-7.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

Here we clearly see the picture, just like John 10, of a people who are the sheep of the LORD.

Question on Right Division

I received the following question:

I have talked with a friend about the right division of the Bible. I agree in a lot of ways, but I still don’t have a super strong grip on what it all entails.

Well, it regards when God moved from working with Israel to working with believers from all nations equally, as He does today. His work with Israel may not be the same as His work today, and different rules may apply. For example, every Israelite was born into a relationship with God just based on the fact that he was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We, however, not being Israelites, are not born in any such relationship. We have only the relationship of creatures to their Creator, and nothing more, to begin with. Of course, when we believe, a much greater relationship is begun.

The Replaced Kahal

I received the following question:

I remember about a year ago, trying to get me to see that the believers today (what I was calling the Church at that time) are not the ekklesia that we see in the gospels and Acts period. You compared them to the qahal of the O.T.. You taught that the Pharisees were the qahal of the day and that Christ was replacing that qahal or ekklesia with the twelve as the foundation. But lately in our discussions it seemed that we concluded that the Pharisees had by political positioning and self appointed posturing, put themselves into their positions. While it is true that they could have been a qahal that was not being faithful to the Lord, it seems more that they were never intended to be God’s qahal and Christ was not replacing them as much as he was installing the twelve from nothing. There was no qahal that needed replacing, but one needed to be started?

That is a good question. The concept of a kahal is that it is a representative or “out-positioned” body. The word could be used for various things, such as an army, which is indeed a representative body of the people of a nation. Yet the word more typically does not refer to this kind of body, but rather to those in positions of governmental authority in general. Anyone who represents the people of a nation by holding governmental office would be a member of the kahal.

God’s Sudden Revelation

In my message on “The End of Grace,” I professed the belief that the way God brings His current dispensation of grace to a close is by a sudden, mass revelation of truth. I set forth this idea based upon the statement in II Timothy 3:8-9, which reads:

8. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9. but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

This statement is made concerning men in the last days (II Timothy 3:2.) It makes the almost sensational statement that the folly of men who resist the truth will become manifest, that is, clearly obvious, to all. It is clear that the folly of such men is not manifest to all today. Many people are taken in and completely fooled by the cunning words of those who set themselves against the truth. The only way the folly of such men will be clear to all is if the same thing happens as happened in the case of Jannes and Jambres. It was the powerful work of God that showed these men up for the charlatans they were. And it could only be a powerful work of God that could ever cause the folly of truth-resisters to be evident to all, even to themselves. This verse suggest a sudden, powerful, worldwide revelation by which God makes His truth plain to all men.

The End of Grace

All who are familiar with the study of dispensationalism know that one of the most important purposes of such a study is to answer the question as to when the current work of God began. “When did God begin this great dispensation of grace in which we live?” we might ask ourselves. “When was it that God began dealing with men and with the nations totally and exclusively in grace? When did the mystery of Ephesians 3 take effect, and all nations start to hold an equal standing before God? When did Christ choose to no longer center Himself and His work among the Israelites, but instead among all the nations equally?” For the answers to these questions are crucial to understanding God’s work today, what the scope of it is, and what the purpose of it is.

Yet there is another question that every honest dispensationalist must ask himself. This question too is one of importance. It should be clear that, just as we need to answer the question “when did the dispensation of grace begin?” we must also search for an answer to the opposite question, “when will the present work of God end?” In other words, when does this current dispensation of the grace of God draw to a close, and God begin once again that kingdom work that He had begun in the time of Christ and the apostles? Thus I have written this message, and will herein examine this very important question.

An Unfulfilled Commission

I received the following question:

Is there a commission that Jesus gave the apostles, but they didn’t fulfill it yet?

Yes, I do believe that there is a commission that the Lord gave His disciples that they did not complete yet. First, let’s consider the ones that they did complete, so that we can compare and contrast it with the ones they didn’t. First, consider Luke 24:46-49.

46. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47. and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48. And you are witnesses of these things. 49. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Most of this is not in the form of a “command,” as the commissions in Matthew and Mark are, but notice that the Lord does clearly state here what He expects His disciples to do now that He has risen from the dead. First, He does command them to tarry in the city of Jerusalem “until you are endued with power from on high.” Implied in His words before that, however, is what He wants them to do next once they are endued with that power. Once this is done, He wishes that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Although one could argue about whether or not this commission was completed, there can be no doubt that this commission was at least begun by the apostles, since they definitely preached “repentance and remission of sins” (Acts 2:38,) beginning at Jerusalem, to the nation of Israel, after they had been endued with power from on high.

Introduction to God’s Present Purpose

Have you considered the topic I mentioned in my last message on “What Is God Doing, Anyway?”  I think knowing the purpose of God in His works today is perhaps one of the most important things a Christian can know.  But, before we learn what God’s purpose for today is, we must know what His ultimate purpose is. 

What Is God Doing, Anyway?

I suppose one of the most important, as well as perhaps the most frustrating, studies for a new Christian is the study of God’s present work and how God deals with us as believers. We come into our Christian life supposing that now that we are on the side of God, great blessings must be just lined up waiting to come our way. That God has a definite program and plan for us we are certain, and we look to our church leaders and the mature Christians around us to point us in that direction and explain to us just exactly what God is doing and what we are to expect from Him. All too often, though, the message which young Christians get concerning God’s dealings with us today are either confused, incomplete and dissatisfying, or just plain wrong. In some ways, the church leaders and mature Christians no more understand God’s workings than do the young Christians, and thus can provide all too little leadership or help in this area. Thus the young Christian is left on his own to learn through experience the way God is dealing with people today. How many young Christians have started out fired up for the Lord and certain that God is going to do thus and thus and thus for them, only to discover that their expectations just do not pan out? And all the older Christians can do is watch with sympathy but all too little explanation.

Why Does God Still Wait to Save Us?

In our previous messages on the “why” question, we were discussing the topic of why God allows such terrible things to happen as the attack on the World Trade Center.  We also were considering it in the light of “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good (God’s) people?”  We had started our discussion by pointing out that God didn’t want us to have to deal with such calamities in the first place, but Adam and Isha chose to disobey Him and thus brought disaster upon themselves and all their children.  Then we discussed that the final end that God has in mind for us and the world is so much more glorious than anything we know now that it makes up for any suffering we could possibly go through.  And finally we discussed that God did not save Adam and Eve immediately because that would not have been in harmony with His just governmental nature, which demanded that their sins be paid for first.  That penalty was paid when Christ died on the cross.

Yet now the question arises of “Now that Christ has died for the sins of the world, why does God still wait so long to save us?  If all that was necessary for God to reverse the effects of Adam and Isha’s sin was for Christ to die, then why didn’t He fix everything long ago?  Why do we still suffer calamities?  Why are we still under the law of sin and death?”  That is the question we will seek to answer in this message.