exploring the faith

What is baptism?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Curt Parton

Easter Sunday is not far off, and our church typically has a baptism during our annual Easter festivities. This day when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ is a wonderful time for a person to be baptized. ‘Why is that?’ someone might ask. ‘What is baptism all about anyway?’

Baptism definitely seems to be a very important practice. After all, it’s something that Jesus specifically instructed us to do:

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20

So we know that we should be baptized out of obedience to Christ. But what exactly is baptism? There are many questions associated with this practice, so let’s see if we can clear up some of the confusion.

Historical background
Though baptism is referred to many times in the New Testament, it isn’t really defined or explained in Scripture. The people back then didn’t need an explanation; it was a common practice. Every first century Jew understood its meaning, so it would be helpful for us to learn how they understood baptism.

The Greek word translated “baptize” can mean to wash, dip, immerse or dye (as in dyeing clothing). We find evidence in various ancient religions of this practice, and it seemed to include the same primary meaning regardless of the specific religious context. It was always a public declaration that a person was converting to a new faith. The Jews were very familiar with this ritual washing. To them, it was a public sign that a Gentile was converting to the Jewish faith.

If we understand what this action meant to the Jews of Jesus’ day, we get a better sense of how shocking the ministry of John the Baptist was. He called the people to “be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven [Mark 1:4].” What he was essentially requiring of them was to humble themselves just like a brand new convert, like a Gentile! They were publicly showing that they were starting all over again with God, in the same way as someone just beginning in the Jewish faith.

In Acts 2, we see the gospel of the resurrected Christ powerfully declared for the first time. The words of Peter pierced the hearts of the people, and they asked him and the other apostles, “What should we do?” The answer was that they should repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This challenged the people that they were to publicly demonstrate to all that they were placing their faith in Christ and committing to follow him.

The people in the first century understood the deep significance of this action. And it still holds this important meaning for us today as well. Baptism is a way for us to publicly show everyone—our family, friends, community, church, even God—that we are placing our trust in Jesus Christ and committing our lives to him.

How are we to be baptized?
How should a person be baptized? Should we dunk, pour or sprinkle? The Greek word for baptize often means to immerse, but it can also mean to wash, dye, dip or flood. We tend to use the word somewhat technically, to refer to a specific religious practice, but the word wasn’t always used this way in biblical times. Sometimes it was even used just for washing one’s hands (Luke 11:38; Mark 7:3-4).

As we’ll see, there is striking imagery in Scripture that seems to best fit immersion. But there are some other descriptive passages that fit with other forms of baptism. For instance, in Titus 3:5-6, we read:

He washed away our sins, giving us new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

This passage seems to support the pouring of water over a person (just as the Holy Spirit is “poured out”), and there are other passages that have similar readings. But then, Hebrews 10:22 says:

For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Verses such as this seem to indicate sprinkling.

Those who insist on baptism by immersion will often point to the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:38-39, where the text specifies that they “went down into the water,” and then after baptizing “came up out of the water.” Similarly, John 3:23 clarifies that John was baptizing in a certain location “because there was plenty of water there.” These kinds of details might cause us to lean toward immersion, but they are by no means unambiguous.

It’s hard to find justification in the Scriptures for us to be dogmatic about any one form of baptism. A very early Christian writing, the Didache, taught that immersion was the normal, standard form of baptism, but that—if sufficient water was not available—pouring water over a person’s head was fine too. This seems to be a healthy approach, respectfully drawing as much as we can from Scripture without slavishly demanding one (and only one) method.

The passage that many of us find particularly compelling in pointing to immersion is Romans 6:3-4:

Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Being buried in baptism does seem to fit best with immersion. The whole immersion process beautifully illustrates this passage. As we step into the baptismal pool and declare our faith in Christ, we relinquish our old life (thus dying). Being lowered under the water is very reminiscent of being lowered under the ground in burial. And then being raised back upright fits perfectly with being raised to live a new life, as this passage in Romans describes.

But the specific method of baptism should not be our main focus. It’s not even the physical act of baptism itself that is most significant. We need to remember this:

The physical act of baptism illustrates a spiritual reality.

We are baptized out of obedience to Christ, and to publicly declare to everyone our faith in him. In baptism, we demonstrate that our allegiance has changed, our citizenship has been transferred. We now belong to the Kingdom of God. The physical act of being baptized in water illustrates how we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, thus making us one with Christ and one with his body, the church. The physical water washing over our body illustrates the spiritual reality that we have been washed by the Spirit of God, cleansed of our sin.

As the passage above from Romans shows us, in baptism we identify our old lives as dead and buried with Christ, and our new lives as being lived through the power of Christ’s resurrection. These spiritual truths are the profound meaning revealed in the physical act of baptism. And this direct connection of baptism with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is why Easter is a perfect time for a Christian to be baptized.

[We've looked at what baptism is, how it's done and what it means. So who should be baptized? We'll explore this question next week.]

Finding the will of God

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Curt Parton

[This is the 3rd post in a series on "Finding the will of God." If you haven't read the previous posts, I encourage you to begin with Burning bushes and the will of God.]

Years ago, I was teaching a Bible study, and the topic of God’s guidance came up. A young man shared how much he desired the leading of God in every area of his life. “I want God to tell me when to go to the bathroom!” he said. “I want him to tell me what clothes to wear and what food to eat.”

Many of us will laugh when we read this, but it does sound kind of nice in a way, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be great if God took away all the uncertainty and ambiguity in our lives? It would be so much easier if he would just tell us exactly what to do, and how, and when, and for how long.

Those of you who are parents, do you do this for your children? Well, sure you do, when they’re too young to make decisions themselves. You tell them when to get up and when to go to bed; you tell them what to eat and specify how they should eat (or more precisely how they should not eat); you tell them to brush their teeth, stop hitting their sister, and that, no, kitties don’t like to go swimming. This is all well and good if the child is 4 or 5, but what about when they’re 23? Should you still be giving this kind of detailed guidance when they’re mature adults? We forget sometimes that Scripture speaks of us growing up:

Then we will no longer be immature like children. . . . Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.
Ephesians 4:14-15

Many translations read that we will instead “grow up” and be like Christ. And we shouldn’t forget what the writer of Hebrews had to say to his readers:

You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
Hebrews 5:12-14

What is the “will of God”?
We often talk about the will of God without really seeing how Scripture defines it. What does the Bible mean by the “will of God”? The Bible never actually speaks of the will of God the way we usually do. We find no place in Scripture where the will of God refers to who a person is to marry, where they are to live, which job they should take, etc. Not that these are unimportant decisions! The Bible does give us a lot of guidance regarding these areas. But it doesn’t speak of the will of God in the sense of whether I should choose what’s behind door #1 or #2. This idea of the “will of God” simply isn’t in there.

Many times we complain, “If only I knew what God’s will was for me . . .” But we do know! Is it God’s will for you to love him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength? Is it God’s will for you to grow spiritually? Is it God’s will for you to love others (and not just those who love you, but especially your enemies)? Is it God’s will for you to be a loving husband, wife, parent or child? Is it God’s will for you to be a diligent, hard-working, responsible employee (or a gracious, generous employer)? Is it God’s will for you to use the gifts he’s given you to love your fellow believers in the church? Is it God’s will for you to tell others the good news of Christ? We could go on with this all day, couldn’t we?

The Bible doesn’t speak of God’s will as some secret knowledge that we have to somehow acquire or gain access to. In fact, we are held responsible to know God’s will:

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. . . . Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do [other translations: understand what the will of the Lord is].
Ephesians 5:15-17

No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right,
to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

We are told specifically that it is God’s will that we stay away from all sexual sin (1 Thessalonians 4:13), that we be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessa-lonians 5:18), and that our honorable lives would silence any who might accuse us (1 Peter 2:15). Finding the will of God is really not that difficult. God speaks to us through his Word and Spirit. We just have to listen.

The Bible never teaches us to seek God’s will;
it teaches us to seek God, and do his will.

But how am I supposed to make decisions?
Sometimes we have think there is one—and only one—choice that is in the “perfect will of God.” That there is only one perfect match for us in marriage, that there is only one perfect job or ministry for us, that there is one perfect car or house for us to buy. But we don’t find this idea in Scripture either. The Bible has a lot to say about how we make our decisions, but we don’t see in Scripture that Annette must somehow find God’s will as to whether she should marry Sam or Santosh, or that Andre must receive some sign from God before he decides to move to Buenos Aires or Bangalore.

Let’s go back to Scripture. The New Testament was written during the electrifying first decades of the church, when the Holy Spirit seemed to be at work in amazingly direct, supernatural ways. So how did these leaders make decisions? We should see them consistently waiting on direct guidance from God (or at least a strong feeling of “being led”), shouldn’t we? But that’s not what what we find:

Finally, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens, and we sent Timothy to visit you.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-2

Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. . . . I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill.
Philippians 2:25-26

So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me . . .
2 Corinthians 9:5

And if it seems appropriate for me to go along, they can travel with me.
1 Corinthians 16:4

You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”?
2 Corinthians 1:17

This is just a small sample to give us a flavor. It’s not hard to find examples of this kind of decision making throughout Acts and the letters to the churches. And it’s not just something the apostles did; Paul expected the same kind of decision making from the people in the churches as well. To those who had to decide between two believers in conflict, he says:

Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues?
1 Corinthians 6:5

And, on the issue of who a widow should marry, he instructs:

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only if he loves the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:39

Notice that the will of God is that she marry only another believer, but beyond that she is free to marry anyone she wishes! Paul never even hints that she should seek God’s will regarding the individual that she should marry (nor does he instruct this to anyone else in this long chapter on marriage). So how can she know which Christian man to marry? Here’s what we need to distinguish:

We aren’t seeking to find the one right choice,
but to make a wise choice.

“But wait a minute,” someone might protest, “didn’t God supernaturally direct Paul’s ministry?” And, of course, this is true. God gave Paul very clear, direct guidance at certain times. The Holy Spirit instructed the elders of the church in Antioch to send out Barnabas and Saul (aka Paul). In Acts 19:21, we’re told that Paul was compelled by the Spirit to go to Macedonia and Achaia before going on to Jerusalem.

But in Acts 16:6-8 we see an intriguing account that reveals how Paul made ministry decisions. He and Silas travel through a couple of areas and then head for the province of Asia—but the Holy Spirit prevents them from going there. Now, at this point wouldn’t we expect them to “seek the will of God” as to which direction they should go? But that’s not what they do. Instead, they reconsider their options and make their next best choice—which God also halts. (“. . . but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.”) So they figure the third time’s the charm and settle for Plan C! And that night Paul has a vision from God leading them on into Greece, which they obey. All of this illustrates biblical principles that we see throughout Scripture:

God may at times give us very clear, unambiguous direction. When he does, it will be unmistakeable and undeniable. We won’t need to guess. Our only decision will be whether to obey God or not.

Most of the time God doesn’t give this kind of supernatural direction. When he has chosen not to give us this kind of guidance, we aren’t to keep seeking a sign from him or try to manufacture it on our own.

If God hasn’t clearly shown us which choice to make, then he is expecting us to use the wisdom he has given us. He wants us to grow up and become like him, knowing right from wrong, and what is wise from what is foolish. Instead of trying to get some sign as to the right choice, we’re to strive to make the wisest choice possible.

Even when we don’t see God’s supernatural guidance, he’s orchestrating our lives and guiding us behind the scenes. He already knows the decisions we’re going to make, and he’s incorporated all of this into his plans for us. If we’re sincerely trying to live a godly, wise life, we can trust him to steer us away from danger.

But I don’t have this kind of wisdom!
No, we don’t, and it’s good that we realize it. But we have the source to all the wisdom we need. James 1:5 says:

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

And Romans 12:2 gives us an even more clear picture how we can grow in this wisdom, and know more fully the will of God:

Don’t copy the behavior
and customs of this world,
but let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect.

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Posted in church life, Taking Root, theology | Tagged divine guidance, making decisions, marriage, spiritual maturity, will of God, wisdom | 1 Comment

Feeling led, fleeces, and seeking the will of God

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Curt Parton

[This is the second post in a series on "Finding the Will of God." If you haven't yet read the first post, I encourage you to begin there: Burning bushes and the will of God.]

If you’ve spent much time in certain Christian circles, you’ve heard people refer to “laying a fleece before the Lord” or something similar. It usually means asking God to give us some clear, concrete indication whether something is his will or not:

“Lord, if this is the right job for me, then please have them call after 4:00 pm.”

“God, should I go out with Betty or Sally? I’m going to turn on the radio and trust that whichever name I hear first is the one you want me to marry.”

Where did we get this practice? We’ll take a look at the passage where we find the idea of ‘putting a fleece before the Lord,’ but first I think it would be helpful for us to see why so many are seeking this kind of confirmation.

“So God said to me, ‘Hey, I want you to put down your book and go talk to that person.’”
How many times have you heard—or said—something like this? Quoting something God “said” to us? It’s become fairly commonplace, hasn’t it? To be honest, sometimes I think this is done to raise someone up (or keep them) on a pedestal high above ordinary “laypeople,” more on the level of a Moses or apostle Paul. But even us ordinary, everyday Christians have fallen into using this way of describing our motivations.

But why do we talk this way? Is this really an accurate description of what took place? When someone makes this kind of bold declaration during a church gathering or a Bible study, I’ll often gently challenge them:

“Did you really hear God speak to you audibly?”

“Well . . . no . . . I didn’t actually hear God speak.”

“But God communicated those very words to you?”

“No . . . I guess I just felt that the person seemed distraught, and that God would want me to stop reading my book and try to help them.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with the idea that God can direct or guide us. But there’s a big difference between saying: “I don’t know if it was the Spirit, but I just felt like I needed to pray for Jill,” and saying: “God told me to pray for Jill.” Have you ever considered what a young Christian thinks when they hear these kinds of bold statements? At first they think, “Wow, that’s amazing!” But then they begin to wonder, “How come God never directly speaks to me that way?” And then they either put us on the pedestal, or they decide there is something deficient about their Christian life. Or they begin to fake it so that they too can sound spiritual:

“I just felt led to go to McDonald’s today.”
It’s easy to start feeling the need to clarify every action or decision with something that makes it sound spiritually motivated. Suddenly everything we do is generated by some prompting or leading—supposedly from the Lord. “I feel that God is leading us to buy the Ford and not the Toyota.” The danger is that we’ll either slip into hypocritically playing spiritual games, or we’ll start confusing our own inner impulses as the voice of God.

Harold Bredesen used to tell the story of when he first came to New York as a young man very zealous to experience a Spirit-directed and empowered life. He was on the bus one day when he thought that God was telling him to preach to the people on the bus. So he stood up and started preaching. One young woman seemed disturbed and moved away from him. Bredesen felt that God was leading him to focus on her, so he moved closer. She moved away again—and he followed. Finally, she exited the bus, with Harold right behind her, preaching away. The story ends with him sitting in the back seat of a police car, wondering if this was really what the Holy Spirit had in mind!

“The bush won’t burn, and I’m all out of matches.”
Those who know me well, know that I’m a sucker for a cleverly written book title. There are some books that I remember only because of a memorable, and useful, title. A few years ago, Dan Schaeffer wrote a book that not only has a catchy title, but it has some really helpful content as well. He shows how many of us—when we can’t seem to find God speaking to us through a burning bush—try to help God out by lighting one on fire ourselves! I guess the idea is that if we get the bush burning, that God will respond to us and speak directly to us as he did with Moses. The problem is that it doesn’t work very well, hence the book title: The Bush Won’t Burn, and I’m All Out of Matches.

Why do we have these expectations? Here’s one reason why: We read all of the incredible ways God supernaturally directed his people in the Bible, and we tend to assume he’s going to guide us in similar ways today.

But, wait a minute. How many times did God speak to someone through a burning bush? Exactly once. How many times did people hear a rushing, mighty wind and see what looked like flames of fire on everyone’s head? Once. How many times did a disciple of Jesus walk on water? Once. (Maybe Peter walking on water should only count for 1/2!) You see the pattern, right? Knocking down city walls, chariots of fire, turning water to wine—God doesn’t seem to repeat himself as far as a lot of these things go. He doesn’t change, but his methods do.

Elijah had to learn this when he ran to Mt Sinai expecting to see great and powerful manifestations of God, just as Moses and the people had seen long before. But instead, God greeted Elijah with a still, small voice, asking him, “What are you doing here?” “Yes,” someone might protest, “God may have changed the specific method, but he routinely guided his people in supernatural ways.” But is this true?

If you chart out chronologically the period of time covered in Scripture, and then note the times when God performed great signs and wonders, you’ll see that these events are relatively few and far between. We tend to think there were spectacular, supernatural events occurring practically every day in biblical times, but this just isn’t the case. Actually these events are included in the Scriptures because they’re extraordinary.

Usually, God only moved in these overt and direct ways during times of great, historical significance: the choosing of Abraham, the deliverance of the people from bondage, the choosing of David, the confrontation of his rebellious people through his prophets, the ministry of Jesus, the birth of the church, etc. Many—if not most—of God’s people had heard of these kinds of events, but never witnessed any of this themselves. We even see mention of this in passages such as these:

We no longer see your miraculous signs.
All the prophets are gone,
and no one can tell us when it will end.
Psalm 74:9

Where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?
Judges 6:13

Manipulation and desperation
There are real problems with seeking—and relying on—this kind of seemingly supernatural guidance. The process is so subjective that we can manipulate it to produce the outcome we want, all the while convinced that it’s God confirming our feelings. “Lord, I’m not sure whether or not you want me to apologize to my neighbor for losing my temper and calling him a jerk and an embarrassment to the whole street. I need to know what you want me to do. I don’t feel led to apologize. But if you really want me to, please make the 3rd car that passes here be a Porsche 987 S . . . yellow . . . with the top down . . . and the driver wearing purple sunglasses and a cowboy hat . . . followed by a hailstorm . . . and a solar eclipse . . .” See, look! God doesn’t want me to apologize to my neighbor!

But we can also get a panicky desperation to hear something—anything—directly from God, especially when we’re making an important decision. We start to use our Bible like a Magic 8-Ball. It’s as if we ask our question (“Lord, should we move to Akron or Albuquerque?”), turn the Bible over and shake it, open it up and stick our finger in for some kind of answer: Reply hazy, try again. But as Howard Hendricks says, the Bible isn’t a lucky rabbit’s foot. It doesn’t work if you rub it.

Putting a fleece before the Lord?
The idea of putting a fleece before the Lord comes from the story of Gideon in Judges 6. He asked for a sign from God proving that God would do what he had promised. First, he put out a fleece and asked God to make the fleece wet but the surrounding ground dry. When God did this, he asked for a second sign, this time making the fleece dry and the surrounding ground wet.

Notice a few important details in this story: (1) Gideon wasn’t trying to find God’s will. God had already told Gideon what he wanted Gideon to do. (2) Gideon knew exactly who was giving him these instructions. There was no uncertainty on his part that God was speaking to him. (3) God had already given Gideon a sign (at his request). God had caused fire to flame up from a rock and consume the meat, bread and broth that Gideon had placed there (Judges 6:21).

So if Gideon knew this was God, and knew what God’s will was for him, why did he insist on ‘putting out a fleece’? Read his own words:

Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. . . . then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.”
Judges 6:36-37 [emphasis added]

This doesn’t demonstrate Gideon’s faith in God, but his lack of trust. God had already given his promise to Gideon, and even graciously demonstrated his power. That should have settled the issue; all that was left was for Gideon to trust and obey. His putting out a fleece, demanding proof from God, is certainly not an example we want to follow.

“But it works!”
Many of us have stories of doing something like I’ve described above, and it seems as if God responded. Maybe you’ve used one of these methods, and everything turned out well. You got the right job, the right spouse, the ministry that was meant for you. But we need to be very careful how we interpret our experiences. Often all a good outcome proves is the mercy and grace of God.

In his book, Dan Schaeffer tells the story of a young couple who brings home a new puppy. They take the puppy out to play in the backyard, where he promptly chases a squirrel up the tree. The puppy is sitting at the foot of the tree, looking up and barking. The squirrel jumps onto a dead, dry branch that breaks under its weight, and he falls right in front of the startled puppy. For the rest of that dog’s life, he would run straight to that tree and look up, barking expectantly, waiting for a squirrel to fall from the tree. He had assumed that his actions caused the squirrel to fall, and so he expected the same actions to work again.

It’s easy to imagine the same kind of scenario between parents and their children. Your daughter thinks that you gave her what she asked for because she cried, when that wasn’t your reason at all. Just because something seems to work, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Just because our actions are followed by a result doesn’t mean that we caused the result.

Sometimes God blesses us in spite of our actions
not because of them.

So what have we learned this week?

We shouldn’t embellish our interaction with God and make it sound as if he’s audibly speaking directly to us when that’s not the case.

We don’t want to over-interpret our own inner impulses and confuse these with the divine leading of the Spirit.

We’ve seen that the biblical basis for ‘putting a fleece before the Lord’ is very weak.

We need to trust God and not try to push him into giving us more information about our future. And we definitely don’t want to manipulate some “sign” that only confirms our own desires.

While God can speak directly and dramatically any time he chooses to, we see in Scripture that this isn’t his usual way of interacting with his people. It’s not healthy for us to assume that God will give us supernatural signs to guide us in our decisions.

So . . . then . . . just how are we supposed to seek the will of God? How can we know for sure how God is guiding us in our lives? We’ll explore this next week.

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Posted in church life, Taking Root, theology | Tagged Dan Schaeffer, divine guidance, feeling led, fleece, Harold Bredesen, signs, will of God | 2 Comments

Burning bushes and the will of God

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Curt Parton

Some of you may remember the series of TV commercials that show two people discussing investments, and one of them comments, “My broker is EF Hutton, and EF Hutton says . . .” And suddenly there is absolute silence as everyone around them leans forward eagerly listening to what EF Hutton says (because ‘when EF Hutton talks, people listen’). I’ve seen a similar phenomenon in Bible studies and small group discussions. Someone will ask something like, “How can I know for sure what God’s will is for my life?” and suddenly everything else stops and people are hanging on every word. Why is this? Well, for most of us it begins with a desire to live our lives according to God’s plan for us. We want to be sure we’re making the right choices and avoiding the wrong ones.

Wanting to do God’s will is a good desire, but unfortunately there are many conflicting approaches to seeking the will of God and, consequently, a lot of confusion. I’m sure this confusion adds to our eagerness to hear and learn more whenever the subject comes up in discussion. We’re going to explore this topic for the next few weeks, and we’ll begin with some basic truths. Remember that whenever you get into an area of belief where you feel uncertain, it’s best to fall back on what you do know, and work from there. So what are some foundational principles concerning the will of God?

God knows the future completely, and he will accomplish his plan.
Isaiah 46:9-11 tells us:

Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me.
Only I can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass . . .
I have said what I would do,
and I will do it.

The amazing thing is that God will accomplish his plan—and we are part of his plan! God not only knows the future, he knows your future. We may not know what’s lying ahead of us, but we can be certain God does. If we truly trust him and genuinely believe that he will do what he has said he will do, then this assurance should give us a strong sense of confidence and security in him.

God isn’t hiding from us anything we need to know.
Sometimes we get so intent on “finding the will of God” that we begin to almost resent God for not revealing it. But God is not like some mean older brother, holding his will for you behind his back. “Ha, ha, ha. I’ve got my will for you right here, but you can’t see it. If only you knew what I want you to do, but I’m not going to show you.” Again, this comes back to trust. Do we really believe that God loves us? Do we really believe that God will work in our lives to accomplish his purpose, and that this is for our benefit? Do we really believe that God has given us everything we need to live the lives he calls us to live?

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3

God doesn’t expect us to have the future all figured out.
We’ll talk more about this in the next few studies, but we need to accept the fact that we’re just not going to get a comprehensive look at the future. If we knew the future exhaustively, we would be God! While God does reveal things about the future from time to time, he otherwise expects us to trust him with our future. An unhealthy obsession with gaining knowledge of the future is actually much more like pagan religious practices (what was called “divining” or “soothsaying”) than it is biblical faith.

There’s an interesting exchange in the last few verses of the gospel of John. Jesus reveals a bit of how Peter will one day die (by crucifixion). So Peter points to John and asks, “What about him?” Jesus tells Peter, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” Apparently, it became quite a rumor among the community of believers that John wouldn’t die until Christ returned, to the point John had to clarify that Jesus didn’t say this would happen. He merely said, “If . . .” The interesting thing is that Jesus didn’t clarify this for John either; John still didn’t know whether this was just a learning opportunity for Peter or a real clue as to his future. In essence, Jesus’ message to John was the same as it was to Peter: ‘It’s not for you to know this information about your future. You just need to focus on following me.’

Sometimes God gives direct and very clear instruction.
It doesn’t take us long when reading the Bible to see how many times God spoke directly and dramatically to individuals, giving them explicit instructions as to what they were to do. God interacts directly with Abraham; he appears in a vision to Jacob; he speaks to Moses first through a burning bush and then later on a quaking, smoldering Mt Sinai. No matter how comfortable or uncomfortable we may be with such manifestations, our theology needs to include the reality that God does sometimes communicate in unusual and even sensational ways.

Now, this doesn’t mean we should start looking around for a burning bush! (Remember there was only one of those in the Bible.) But it does mean that we should be open to the possibility of God providing very direct, personal guidance to one of his children. I remember a time when I had walked away from my faith. I was actually considering a completely different religion, and had only been vaguely thinking of Christianity as a comparison to this other faith. When suddenly—like a cold, brisk breeze slicing through the fog—the words of Elijah to the people of Israel (words that I hadn’t thought of for years) arrested my thoughts: How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, serve him.

It’s not that I was looking for some kind of message. I tried everything to shake this thought or somehow drown it out. But it haunted me for three days. Every morning when I woke up, this was the first thing that entered my mind. Every time I hung up the phone at work, this challenge pounded in my head. When I was trying to talk with my friends, listen to music or go to sleep, this thought was constantly confronting me: How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, serve him. I wasn’t longing to return to Christianity at all. But finally, very dispassionately and even coldly, I simply gave up. I said, “Okay, God. If you want me, you got me.”

This isn’t the most dramatic story I could tell, and I know some of you probably have more sensational accounts from your own lives. But this leads us to an important question: How do we know that direct guidance from God is actually from God? We know that God can communicate directly and supernaturally—not because of our personal experiences, but because of what we see in the Word of God. But how can we be sure that he is communicating directly to us?

If we have to guess whether an instruction is directly from God or not
—it’s probably not.
Do you think Moses spent much time debating with himself whether it was really God speaking to him through the burning bush? When God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice, did Elijah have to ask, “Who is this?” If God is going to dramatically, supernaturally give us very clear, very direct instructions, he’s not going to leave us scratching our heads as to whether it’s him or not! The question isn’t going to be “Is this God?” but “Am I going to obey God? Am I going to do what he has told me to do?”

In my own story, I didn’t hear an audible voice. But what I experienced was so far beyond my own thoughts and reflection, so unexpected, so obviously someone else . . . so obviously God . . . that I couldn’t deny it was his voice. It wasn’t that I wanted to believe it; I couldn’t deny it. (I did have the choice to respond or not, but I knew clearly who I was submitting to or rejecting.)

I mean, let’s think about this. Remember all of the biblical stories of God dramatically manifesting himself to his people. Now if God is going to directly speak to you in some way and instruct you to do something specific, do you think he’s going to have any problem being absolutely unmistakeable and undeniable about who is giving you these instructions? Is this somehow a problem for him? When God clearly speaks to us, there is no doubt. So if God is supernaturally telling you to sell everything and move your family to Zimbabwe, you won’t have to scratch your head and wonder if it’s really him. What he expects you to do will be undeniable.

If God is giving you direct, supernatural instruction or guidance,
you won’t need to play guessing games.

If God has clearly, unmistakably told us to do something, the proper response is always to obey and obey quickly. As the Dogs of Peace song says, we don’t want to “beat around the burning bush.” But this still leaves us with some important questions:

Should we expect God to guide us directly, dramatically and undeniably? Is this supposed to be a regular part of the believer’s life? Is this the only way God guides us? Or can I know God’s will for my life without this kind of direct, supernatural instruction?

What if I look around and I don’t see any burning bushes? What if I’m a committed Christian who’s never experienced anything this sensational? Is there something wrong with my Christian life? If I’m seeking God’s will should I be seeking this kind of direct guidance?

What does it really mean to “seek God’s will”?

These are some of the questions we’ll be discussing next week.

Next post in this series

Posted in church life, Taking Root, theology | Tagged burning bush, divine guidance, knowing the future, will of God | 4 Comments

Understanding the Trinity

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Curt Parton

Have you ever stood outside on a clear night and stared out into the stars? How far does the universe extend? Does it go on forever? We could accept such an idea intellectually, but we still struggle with wrapping our minds around it. But, if the universe has a point where it ends . . . what’s immediately our next question? What’s on the other side? We have a hard time completely grasping an infinite universe, yet something inside us demands infinity.

We have the same problem with time. Does time have no beginning or end? How can this be? Yet, if time began, what happened before? When we think about God, we wrestle with the same limitations. We have finite minds, yet we’re drawn to contemplate the infinite God. This doesn’t mean we can’t know anything about God or even understand much about him intellectually. But it does mean that we shouldn’t be surprised if a complete grasp of God remains somehow beyond our reach.

We have finite minds, and we are contemplating an infinite God.

This shouldn’t cause us to just give up and say, “Who can really know anything about God!” The Bible actually speaks of us knowing and understanding God (Jeremiah 9:23-24, for instance). If we couldn’t understand God at all, he wouldn’t have tried so hard to make himself understood in Scripture. So how do we make sense of God as Trinity?

Much of the traditional verbiage is not all that helpful. “One God in three persons” communicates something very true, but to most of us it sounds nonsensical, as if we’re being asked to accept that one person is three people. What?! How can God be both one and three at the same time?

When we’re faced with something we’re unsure of, it’s a good idea to fall back on what we do know. Let’s start with the big picture of God. What do we know about him? Well, he’s infinite, unlimited. He’s not limited in his love, his power, his knowledge or his wisdom. He’s not bound by space or time. He lives in what CS Lewis called “the unbounded now.” He speaks to us and interacts with us in space and time, but he’s not bound by them. In fact, he created both space and time.

Okay, so what if this God who is everywhere and in every time wanted to enter his creation as part of his creation? That’s a shocking idea . . . but is there any reason why he couldn’t? Of course he could, if he wanted to.

So, if God entered his own creation, as a human being he would now be limited—by his own choice—in space and time. He would live one second at a time, just as we do. He would have to move from place to place, just as we do. Now if God-entering-humanity is necessarily bound by space and time, does this mean that the infinite, unlimited, unbound God who fills everything and every time no longer exists? No, it just means that we now have God existing in two very different ways at the same time.

How would we describe this? The Bible explains this difference as the “Father” and the “Son.” This helps us understand how God the Son could pray to God the Father. We can see why Jesus could say that the Father was greater than he, yet still say that the Father and he were one, and that if they had seen him they had seen the Father. They were both God, yet in personally distinct ways.

[I need to make clear that this is how God has always existed. The Trinity didn't somehow begin when Christ came to earth as one of us, but the incarnation (i.e. God becoming human) helps us understand how God can be God in very different ways at the same time.]

What about the Holy Spirit? It’s intriguing that the Bible (especially the Old Testament) often uses the Spirit of God synonymously with the presence of God. Of course, we know that God is everywhere, so this must refer to his presence in a special, unique way. When you were a child, did you ever use a magnifying glass to burn a blade of grass? How does that work? It magnifies the light and heat from the sun, right? This doesn’t mean the blade of grass is the only place the sun is shining; the sun’s rays are all around. But, in our example, the sun’s rays are focused and intensified in a specific place.

This is what happens with the Holy Spirit. God’s presence is everywhere. But through his Spirit his presence is focused and intensified in a very special, unique way. This is why we speak of ‘feeling’ the Spirit at certain times. The wonderful thing is that, as New Covenant believers, we always have the Holy Spirit with us, bringing that special focus of God’s presence into our hearts and minds and flowing through us to others around us. Isn’t that beautiful? The role of the Spirit is to always direct our thoughts, devotion and obedience back to the Father and the Son.

There’s something very important that I want you to see in all of this. If God exists in three personally distinct ways—three different ways of being God at the same time—and if he’s always been this way, then this means that God eternally exists in community. Think about that. Why do we long so much for real, authentic community? Because we’re created in the image of God, who lives in perpetual loving relationship. This is why the two greatest commandments Jesus gave us are focused on relationship: love God and love each other. This is one reason why the oneness between husband and wife is so significant, and why we treasure it so greatly. We weren’t created to be alone. This is why the unity of the body of Christ is so vital, and why Jesus prayed that we would be one as he and the Father are one. When we live in truly loving community, we are most like God.

The future that God has planned for us is an eternity of loving him and loving each other, true community without the separation and alienation caused by sin. The more we live in this loving community now—with God and each other—the more we begin experiencing the eternal love and life of our Triune God.

Posted in Taking Root, theology | Tagged community, God, incarnation, infinity, space and time, Trinity | 2 Comments

Revelation: The story comes full circle

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Curt Parton

We often refer to being ‘fed’ by God’s Word. You could even think of the various biblical genres as different kinds of food. To me, the letters to the churches are like a thick, juicy steak, something you can really sink your teeth into. (If you’re a vegetarian, maybe you could compare it to a savory veggie lasagna.) Some of the psalms are almost the equivalent of a sweet, creamy ice cream sundae. On the other hand, the genealogies or chapters of laws and regulations are often more like lima beans or brussels sprouts; we know they serve a purpose and are good for us, but they’re not the most enjoyable thing to eat!

I compare studying the book of Revelation to eating a crab (or maybe an artichoke). Imagine going out with friends to a seafood restaurant that specializes in crab—but you’ve never eaten crab before. The smell is different but somehow appealing, and people seem to be enjoying eating it . . . but how in the world are you supposed to get into this thing and find the meat?! This is the kind of challenge we often experience with Revelation. The book is strongly compelling to many believers, even to brand new Christians. But it also creates a lot of confusion. Just how are we supposed to crack this book open?

Adding to our desire to get a handle on this book is a potential blessing described right in the book:

God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.
Revelation 1:3

This sounds like a book we want to understand, doesn’t it? Thankfully, there are some basic facts about this book that can help us sort out what it’s all about.

Apocalyptic
If you’ve been with us through the rest of this series on studying the Bible, you’ve seen different kinds of biblical literature that are probably familiar to you. We still have letters today, and also history, legal codes, poetry and even proverbs. We can relate to these scriptural genres. But the book of Revelation is a kind of literature called apocalyptic, and this is not as familiar to us. We no longer have apocalyptic literature being written today, but it was fairly common in the 1st century. So what exactly is it?

Apocalyptic writings claimed to reveal the secrets of what would occur at the end of time. The biblical book of Revelation is not only apocalyptic, but also prophetic. These weren’t just some strange visions that John somehow got a glimpse of, they were given to him by God for the purpose of communicating them to God’s people. But there is a common characteristic of apocalyptic writing that we have to be very aware of when we begin to read and study the book of Revelation:

Symbolic
Apocalyptic writing was always highly symbolic. Very little was written clearly and literally, but symbolism was used throughout these writings to communicate their message. That’s the nature of this kind of literature, and this is what we should expect when we read Revelation. Is this what we find?

In the first chapter of Revelation, we’re introduced to seven gold lampstands, which we discover represent seven churches. Seven stars represent the angels of these seven churches. It doesn’t take us long to see that this book is filled with symbols that represent something important, but we need to recognize that most of what we read in Revelation was not intended for us to understand literally. These vivid, colorful descriptions represent things that are very real, but the descriptions are meant to be symbolic.

If you search through Christian art from the Middle Ages, you can find paintings depicting Christ returning with a sword protruding from his mouth. But all biblical scholars recognize that this sword (Revelation 19:15) is not to be understood as a literal sword, but as a symbol or representation of the Word of God. If we aren’t trying to interpret everything in this book literally, we’ll avoid a lot of confusion. For example, some of you may have heard attempts to understand, as literal, the scorpion-like locusts in Revelation 9:1-12 with gold crowns on their heads, faces like humans, hair like women and teeth like a lion. If we try to hard to interpret something literally that is meant to be symbolic, the results can be pretty silly—and we can miss the whole point of the elements in the prophecy.

This is challenging for many of us, because we’re accustomed to understanding the Bible literally. While the Bible includes metaphors and colorfully poetic expressions (as do most writings), everything indicates that the events recorded in Scripture are to be understood as actual, literal events. As a rule of thumb, we assume what we read in the Bible is literal unless something in the text indicates otherwise. In other words, it means what it says (just as we do today). With apocalyptic writing such as the book of Revelation (and parts of the Old Testament prophetic books such as Daniel), we have to turn this rule completely around: In Revelation we must assume that what we read is symbolic unless something in the text indicates otherwise.

Tied to the Old Testament
John (the author) makes specific references to the Old Testament over 200 times in the book of Revelation. The imagery he uses is almost always drawn directly from the Old Testament. This means that the more familiar we are with the Old Testament, the easier it will be for us to understand the book of Revelation.

Not written in chronological order
You may have noticed that there are many series of seven in the book of Revelation. In the first three chapters, we see seven churches. In the rest of the book, we find seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, etc. If you’ve ever tried to fit all of these into chronological order, you may have become very confused. Here’s an example of why this is a problem. If you read in Revelation 6:12-17, you’ll see a description of what happens when the sixth seal is broken:

I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.

Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”

What is this describing? It certainly sounds like the very end, doesn’t it? But if we’re trying to fit Revelation into chronological order, we have a real problem because we still have seven trumpets and seven bowls to go. If you read the end of the series of seven trumpets (Revelation 11:15-19) and the series of seven bowls (16:17-21), they also sound like the very end. How do we make sense of this?

If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, this actually shouldn’t be so confusing. We often see in Scripture what the scholars call “recapitulation.” For instance, do you realize that we have three accounts of creation in the first part of Genesis? What does the first sentence of the Bible say? That’s one complete (albeit very brief) account of creation. The rest of chapter one tells us the story again, this time adding more detail and focusing primarily on the story from the perspective of earth. Chapter two “recapitulates” the story, this time zooming in on the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve.

The book of Revelation is doing something similar. When we study the seven seals, there is very little that ties these descriptions to the end of time until we get to the sixth seal. The seven trumpets seem to zoom in much closer to events of the very last days. They also grow in intensity, from the seals affecting one-fourth of the earth to the trumpets affecting one-third. The seven bowls not only zoom in even closer to the time of the end, but there are amazing parallels between the trumpets and the bowls: how they affect the earth, seas, water, living things, the sun, bringing darkness, ushering in a great final battle, etc. And the bowls intensify from affecting one-third to everyone and everything.

This is just a brief taste of the parallels and patterns you’ll find in the book of Revelation. But if you don’t try to fit everything into some chronological order, you’ll avoid a lot of confusion and unnecessary exegetical gymnastics (that is, trying to fit square pegs into round holes to make everything fit).

The scope of the book
Throughout much of the history of the church, Bible scholars have debated the intended range and focus of this book. Some have felt that Revelation gives us only a very broad, generally encouraging theme of struggle and suffering, but ultimately of God triumphing. Others have protested that there seems to be much more rich detail in this book than would be required for a general, encouraging message of “God wins.” Some have thought that what is described in Revelation is prophecy regarding events that have already occurred, while others see Revelation as being entirely fulfilled in our future.

More and more, students of Scripture are seeing Revelation as being, in a sense, all of the above. It is undeniably a figurative depiction of the struggle and suffering of God’s people and the ultimate judgment and triumph of God. And we can see where certain sections may very well point to things that have already occurred in history. But it seems just as clear that much of the prophecy in this book awaits fulfillment and, as we learned last week, prophecy often has a partial, immediate fulfillment and a final, complete, ultimate fulfillment.

Full circle
One of the most important things for us to do when reading Revelation is to see it from a ‘big picture’ perspective, in light of God’s master plan as revealed in Scripture. When we see Revelation in the context of the rest of the Bible, we find more wonderful parallels.

Genesis begins with creation. Revelation ends with new creation, a new heaven and a new earth. The first chapter of Genesis shows God systematically bringing order into chaos. In Revelation, we first see God removing his order and maintenance from his creation and allowing the encroaching chaos free reign (in essence, undoing much of Genesis 1), and then reestablishing his perfect and beautiful order. We go from the Tree of Life restricted from humanity in the Garden, to the Tree of Life freely given in the new Jerusalem.

Most importantly, we go from separation from God in Genesis—with the corresponding curse, decay and death—to complete restoration and reconciliation in Revelation. Heaven and earth as one (Revelation 21:3-5):

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

And the one sitting on the throne said,

“Look,
I am making everything new!”

The prophets: God’s messengers, calling his people back

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Curt Parton

So, you decided to read the Bible straight through from the beginning. [This isn't the only way to read it, or necessarily the best. But for some reason we all seem drawn to read Scripture this way from time to time.] You slogged through all the genealogies and laws. You read carefully the historical stories and poetic writings. And then you arrive at the prophets. A verse here and there may sound familiar, but most of it makes you wonder: What in the world is this all about?

If there’s any part of the Bible that’s difficult to simply pick up, read and understand, it’s the prophetic books. While there are brief snatches of history in some of the prophetic books, they are few and far between. This leaves most of what you’re reading without any immediate context. Those of you who’ve been reading our Taking Root studies for awhile will remember that we have a handy tool for just such times. A good study Bible will explain who the author was, to whom they were writing and why, and what the historical setting was. Without this background information, we’re not going to be able to understand what these books are all about. Even with this background information, there are a few additional tips that can be helpful when reading the prophets:

Historical setting
This week we’re discussing the Old Testament prophetic books. (We’ll explore the New Testament book of Revelation next week.) So these books are focused primarily on God’s interaction with the people of Israel. When Solomon died and his son Rehoboam assumed the throne, the nation of Israel was divided into two separate kingdoms: the northern nation of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Very quickly, Israel fell into idolatrous worship of false gods. God eventually allowed them to be completely destroyed by the Assyrians.

Judah continued to be ruled by the line of David, and enjoyed the presence of the Temple in Jerusalem. As with Israel, the history of Judah also includes decline and idolatry, but interspersed with periods of repentance and reform. Their downward spiral took longer than their brothers to the north but they also were eventually conquered. Their beautiful capitol city and Temple were destroyed, and most of the surviving people were taken captive to Babylon. 70 years later, they were allowed to return to their home, rebuild the Temple and eventually restore the city of Jerusalem.

Confronting his people
Three weeks ago, we learned about the psalms in the Bible. We saw how the psalms are prayers to God, not always God’s words to us. But the prophetic books are very different. The prophets were people whom God specifically called to be his official messengers to his people. When they spoke their prophecies, they were speaking the words of God himself; they were quoting him verbatim. This is why we repeatedly see in the prophetic books some variation of the phrase: “These are the words of the LORD . . .”

Much of what God had to say to his people was direct confrontation:

The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go to the entrance of the LORD’S Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the LORD! Listen to it, all of you who worship here! This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:

“‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’S Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’S Temple is here! The LORD’S Temple is here!” But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!

“‘Go now to the place of Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, the Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave you and your ancestors. And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel.’”
Jeremiah 7:1-15

As you read through the prophetic books, you’ll also notice that sometimes God gave the people the opportunity to repent and avoid the judgment awaiting them. But other times, he let them know that judgment was coming and he would not relent. And it’s not just his own people whom he confronts; he has quite a bit to say to the surrounding nations as well.

Revealing the future
This is where it gets a little tricky. We’re used to assuming that every prophecy telling about the future is revealing our future. But that’s not usually the case in the Old Testament prophetic books. Much of the material from the prophets is simply God confronting his people and letting them know what awaits them if they don’t return to him. We also find prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ sprinkled throughout the prophetic books. For us, these prophecies are all concerning the past—although they still teach us about how God interacts with his people, and they serve to validate the earthly ministry of Jesus.

Yet there are also important passages that point to the very end of history and the culmination of all things in Christ. One of the interesting things about the prophetic books is that they often include prophecies regarding both what is past (for us) and what is still present—but the prophecies are in the same immediate context and not always easy to tell apart! Have you ever seen a mountain range in the distance while you’re traveling? It can seem as if two mountains are right next to each other, but when you get closer, you realize that a huge distance separates them. This is the kind of challenge we have when interpreting the prophetic books.

To see a great example of this, compare the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1-2 with Jesus’ reading of this prophecy in Luke 4:16-21. Do you notice how Jesus reads all of the prophecy except the last line: “. . . and with it, the day of God’s anger against his enemies”? Why is that? Because the last line is referring to when Christ comes in judgment, and this wasn’t yet occurring during his first coming.

Two authors
Another thing to remember about Scripture is that it actually has two authors—the human author and the divine Author. This means that the Author (Holy Spirit) could include meaning that the author (human) wouldn’t have understood. We can reach back to the psalms for a perfect example of this. When Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The Jews would have immediately recognized this as a quote from Psalm 22. What’s amazing is that David wrote this psalm hundreds of years before crucifixion existed as a form of execution. Yet when you read the psalm he wrote, the similarities to the crucifixion of Jesus are astounding:

Everyone who sees me mocks me.
They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
“Is this the one who relies on the LORD?
Then let the LORD save him!
If the LORD loves him so much,
let the LORD rescue him!” . . .
My life is poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax,
melting within me.
My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
an evil gang closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
My enemies stare at me and gloat.
They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing.
Psalm 22:7-18

There is nothing in this psalm that indicates David was speaking of someone other than himself. Obviously, he was writing figuratively about what his enemies were doing to him. But the language he uses is overly strong for what he was experiencing; it points beyond the immediate circumstance to something greater. And we see the fulfillment in the death of Christ. The Holy Spirit inspired David to write something that—though it had real meaning to him at the time—included a deeper meaning that David couldn’t have grasped then. (In another place, when Daniel asks for an explanation of the vision he’s seen, he’s essentially told, ‘Never mind, this isn’t for you’ [Daniel 12:5-13].)

Most of the prophecies we read in Scripture have some kind of fulfillment in relatively close proximity to the time of the prophecy. But as you read these prophecies, watch for elements that don’t fit, that were not completely fulfilled. Isaiah 13 is a prophecy about the destruction of Babylon, but as you read it you’ll see language that actually describes a final judgment at the very end. Many prophecies have an immediate, partial fulfillment but await(ed) an ultimate fulfillment either at Christ’s first coming or his return.

Ultimate restoration
The prophecies we read reveal a pervasive corruption and stubborn rebellion against God by his people. Through the prophet Isaiah (65:1-2), God said to them:

I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, “Here I am , here I am!”
to a nation that did not call on my name.
All day long I have opened my arms to a rebellious people.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.

Through prophecy after prophecy, God warned them what was coming. But the people stubbornly wouldn’t listen. So God disciplined his people by allowing them to be conquered and humiliated. Jerusalem was laid waste, and the Temple was destroyed. But the good news is that he didn’t utterly reject them. Even while he was telling them of their impending judgment, he encouraged the people that he would one day restore them:

But this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. . . .

In the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD.
Jeremiah 32:37-38, 33:10-11

But the prophecies of restoration and healing go beyond what God did for the people of Israel:

People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the LORD’S teaching will go out from Zion;
his word will go out from Jerusalem.
The LORD will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore.

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand
in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled
with people who know the LORD.
Isaiah 2:3-4, 11:6-9

This isn’t just good news for the ancient people of Israel; it’s the wonderful hope for all of God’s people. This is the future we can all anticipate. Just as God disciplines and judges, so he will heal and restore.

exploring the faith

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Understanding the Trinity

Revelation: The story comes full circle

The prophets: God’s messengers, calling his people back

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