Moses, the Giver of the Law

Question: What can we learn from the life of Moses?

Answer: Moses is arguably the most prominent figure in the OT. While Abraham is called the “Father of the Faithful” and the recipient of God’s unconditional covenant of grace to his people, Moses was the man chosen to bring redemption to his people. God specifically chose Moses to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt to salvation in the Promised Land. Moses is also recognized as the mediator of the old covenant and is commonly referred to as the giver of the law. Finally, Moses is the principle author of the Pentateuch, which are the foundational books of the entire bible. Moses role in the OT is a type and shadow of the role Jesus plays in the NT. As such, his life is definitely worth looking at.

We first encounter Moses in the opening chapters of the book of Exodus. In chapter 1, we learn that after the patriarch Joseph rescued his family from the great famine and situated them in the land of Goshen (in Egypt), the descendants of Abraham lived in peace for several generations until there rose to power in Egypt a Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). He subjugated the Hebrew people and used them as slaves for his massive building projects. Because God blessed the Hebrew people with rapid numeric growth, the Egyptians began to fear the increasing number of Jews living in their land. So Pharaoh ordered the death of all male children born to Hebrew women (Exodus 1:22).

Exodus 2 chronicles the birth of Moses as we see Moses’ mother attempting to save her child by placing him in a basket and putting that basket into the Nile. The basket was eventually found by Pharaoh’s daughter, and she adopts him as her own and raises him in the palace of the Pharaoh himself. As Moses grows into adulthood, he begins to empathize with the plight of his people, and upon witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses intervenes and kills the Egyptian and subsequently hides the body. In another incident, Moses attempts to intervene in a dispute between two Hebrews, but one of the Hebrews rebukes Moses and sarcastically comments, “are you going to kill me as you did the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14). Upon realizing that his criminal act was made know, Moses flees to the land of Midian where he again plays the hero to the daughters of Jethro by rescuing them from some bandits as they were out watering their father’s flock. In gratitude, Jethro grants the hand of his daughter, Zipporah, to Moses.

The next major incident in Moses’ life is his encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3) where God calls Moses to be the savior of his people. The rest of the story is fairly well known (especially if you’ve seen Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments or the animated movie The Prince of Egypt). Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh in God’s name and demand that he let the people go to worship their God. Pharaoh stubbornly refuses and ten plagues representative of God’s judgment fall upon the people and the land; the final plague being the slaying of the first born. Prior to this final plague, God commands Moses to institute the Passover, which is commemorative of God’s saving act in redeeming his people from bondage in Egypt.

After the exodus, Moses leads the people to edge of the Red Sea where God provides another saving miracle by parting the waters and allowing the Hebrews to pass to the other side while drowning the Egyptian army under the water (Exodus 14). Moses brings the people to the foot of Mount Sinai where the Law is given and the old covenant established between God and the newly formed nation of Israel (Exodus 19 – 24).

The rest of the book of Exodus and the entire book of Leviticus take place while the Israelites are encamped at the foot of Sinai. God gives Moses detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle — a sort of traveling tent of worship that can be assembled and disassembled for easy portability — all of the utensils for worship, including the priestly vestiture, and finally the ark of the covenant — symbolic of God’s presence among his people as well as the place where the High Priest would perform the annual atonement. God also gives Moses explicit instructions on how God is to be worshipped and guidelines for maintaining purity and holiness among the people. The book of Numbers sees the Israelites move from Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land, but they refuse to go in when ten out of twelve spies bring back a bad report about Israel’s ability to take over the land. God condemns this generation of Jews to die in the wilderness for their disobedience and subjects them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. By the end of the book of Numbers, the next generation of Israelites are back on the borders of the Promised Land and poised to trust God and take it by faith. The book of Deuteronomy shows Moses giving several ‘sermon’ type speeches to the people, reminding them of God’s saving power and faithfulness. He gives the second reading of the Law (Deuteronomy 5) and prepares this generation of Israelites to receive the promises of God. Moses himself is prohibited from entering the Land because of his sin at Meribah (Numbers 20:10-13). At the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ death is recorded (Deuteronomy 34). He is taken up on Mount Nebo and is allowed to look upon the Promised Land. Moses was 120 years old when he died and the bible records that his “eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated” (Deuteronomy 34:7).

That’s Moses’ life in a nutshell; now what can we learn from his life? Moses’ life is generally broken down into three ‘phases’ or ‘chapters,’ each spanning 40 years of his life. The first chapter of Moses’ life was his life in the court of Pharaoh. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses would have been given access to all of the perks and privileges of a prince of Egypt. He was instructed “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). As the plight of the Hebrews began to gnaw at his soul, Moses takes it upon himself to be the savior of his people. As Stephen says before the Jewish ruling council, “[Moses] supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25). From this incident in his life, we learn that Moses was a man of action as well as a man possessed of a hot temper and prone to rash actions. Did God want to save his people? Yes. Did God want to use Moses as his chosen instrument of salvation? Yes. But Moses, whether or not he was truly cognizant of his role in the salvation of the Hebrew people, acted rashly and impetuously. He tried to do is his timing what God wanted done in his timing. The lesson for us is obvious: We must be acutely aware of not only doing God’s will, but doing God’s will in his timing, not ours. As is the case with too many other biblical examples to count, when we attempt to do God’s will in our timing, we make a bigger mess than originally existed.

Moses needed time to grow and mature and learn to be meek and humble before God, and this brings us to the next chapter in Moses’ life — his 40 years in the land of Midian. During this time, Moses learned the simple life of a shepherd, a husband, and a father. God took an impulsive and hot-tempered young man and began the process of molding and shaping him into the perfect instrument for God to use. What can we learn from this event in his life? If the first lesson to learn from Moses is to wait on God’s timing, the second lesson to learn from the life of Moses is to not be idle while we wait on God’s timing. While the bible doesn’t spend a lot of time on the details of this part of Moses’ life, it’s not as if Moses was sitting idly by waiting for God’s call. He spent the better part of 40 years learning the ins and outs of being a shepherd and supporting and raising a family. These are not trivial things! While we might long for the ‘mountain top’ experiences with God, 99% of our lives are lived in the valley — the mundane, day-to-day things that make up life. We need to be living for God ‘in the valley’ before he will enlist us into the battle.

Another thing we see from Moses during his time spent in Midian was that when God finally did call him into service, Moses was resistant. The man of action early in his life, Moses, now 80 years old, became overly timid. When called to speak for God, Moses said he was “slow of speech and tongue.” Some commentators believe that Moses may have had a speech impediment. Perhaps, but it is odd considering that Stephen said Moses was “mighty in words and deeds.” I think Moses was gun shy; he didn’t want to go back into Egypt and fall flat on his face again. This isn’t an uncommon feeling. How many of us have tried to do something (whether or not it was for God) and failed, and then been hesitant to try again? Moses’ pendulum swung from one extreme to the other. There are two things Moses seemed to have overlooked. One was the obvious change that had occurred in his own life in the intervening 40 years. The other, and more important, change was that God would be with him. Moses failed at first not so much because he acted impulsively, but because he acted without God. Therefore, the lesson to be learned here is that when we discern a clear call from God, step forward in faith knowing that God goes with you! Do not be timid, but be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might (Ephesians 6:10).

The third and final chapter in Moses’ life is the chapter that Scripture spends the most time chronicling; namely his role in the redemption of Israel. Several lessons can be gleaned from this chapter of Moses’ life as well. First, is how to be an effective leader of people. Moses essentially had responsibility over 2 million Hebrew refugees. When things began to wear on him, his father-in-law, Jethro, suggested that he delegate responsibility to other faithful men; a lesson that many people who are in authority over others need to learn. We also see a man who was dependent on the grace of God to help with his task. Moses was continually pleading on behalf of the people before God. Would that all people in authority would petition God on behalf of those over whom they are in charge. Moses’ life also teaches us the lesson that there are certain sins that will continue to haunt us all throughout our lives. The same hot temper that got Moses into trouble in Egypt also got him into trouble during the wilderness wanderings. In the aforementioned incident at Meribah, Moses struck the rock in anger in order to provide water for the people. However, he didn’t give God the glory, nor did he follow God’s precise commands. As such, God forbade him from entering the Promised Land. In a similar manner, we all succumb to certain besetting sins which plague us all our days; sins that require us to be on constant alert.

These are just a handful of practical lessons that we can learn from Moses’ life. However, if we look at Moses’ life in light of the overall panoply of Scripture, we see larger, theological truths that fit into the story of redemption. The author of Hebrews devotes ten verses of chapter 11 to Moses and the faith he exhibited. We learn that is was by faith that Moses refused the glories of Pharaoh’s palace to identify with the plight of his people. The writer of Hebrews says, “[Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26). Moses’ life was a life of faith and we know that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Likewise, it is by faith that we, looking forward to heavenly riches, can endure temporal hardships in this lifetime (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

As mentioned earlier, we also know that Moses’ life was typological of the life of Christ. Like Christ, Moses was the mediator of a covenant. Again, the author of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate this point (cf. Hebrews 3, 8 – 10). The Apostle Paul also makes the same points in 2 Corinthians 3. The difference is that where the covenant that Moses mediated was temporal and conditional, the covenant that Christ mediates is eternal and unconditional. Like Christ, Moses provided redemption for his people. Moses delivered the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land of Canaan. Christ delivers his people out of bondage and slavery to sin and condemnation and brings them to the Promised Land, which is eternal life on a renewed earth when Christ returns to consummate the kingdom he inaugurated at his first coming. Like Christ, Moses was a prophet to his people. Moses spoke the very words of God to the Israelites just as Christ did (John 17:8). Moses predicted that the Lord would raise up another prophet like him from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus and the early church believed and taught that Moses was speaking of Jesus when he wrote those words (cf. John 5:46, Acts 3:22; 7:37). In so many ways, Moses’ life is a pre-cursor to the life of Christ. As such, we can catch a glimpse into how God was working his plan of redemption in the lives of faithful people throughout human history. This gives us hope that just as God saved his people and gave them rest through the actions of Moses, so too will God save us and give us an eternal Sabbath rest in Christ; both now and in the life to come.

In closing, it is interesting that even though Moses never set foot in the Promised Land during his lifetime, he was given an opportunity to enter the Promised Land after his death. Upon the mount or transfiguration, when Jesus gave his disciples a taste of his full glory, he was accompanied by two OT figures: Elijah and Moses; representative of the Law and the Prophets. Moses is, this very day, experiencing the true Sabbath rest in Christ that we all one day will share (Hebrews 4:9).

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14; ESV)

"Speak No Evil"

One of my favorite OT stories is the commission of Isaiah found in Isaiah 6:1-7.  It is the year that King Uzziah dies and all of Judah is in mourning over the loss of their king.  Uzziah had ruled for 52 years in Judah; the longest ruling king of the monarchy period of Israel’s history.  As Isaiah goes into the temple to mourn, he sees a vision of the true King of Israel, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, seated upon his throne.  During the turmoil caused by the death of Uzziah, Isaiah gets a glimpse of God in complete control of all things.

What are the first words out of Isaiah’s mouth as his sees God and hears the antiphonal chorus of angels proclaiming the tri-holiness of God?  ”Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” When confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah recognizes the unholiness of his lips.  Here is a prophet of God, a man of impeccable character among his contemporaries and one who will use his mouth in service to God, who is brought to the end of himself because his speech was not pure.

I am reminded of this story as I read the verse quoted above. This verse comes at the end of one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 19. This Psalm is devoted to the glory of God found in general revelation (creation) and special revelation (the word). Similar to Isaiah upon being confronted with the holiness of God, King David, after contemplating the glory of God, has a similar response:

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13)

David cannot consider the holiness of God without being reminded of his own sinfulness. David pleads with God to “declare him innocent” from hidden and presumptuous  sins. Closing his psalm, David prays for his words and thought to be acceptable in God’s sight.

Would that we all considered the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts! If you’re at all like me, words and thoughts often slip under the radar when confessing my sins to God. Yet what did Jesus say during his earthly ministry? “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). This should cause all sane people to tremble in fear before God’s judgment. How many ‘careless words’ do you utter in a month? A week? A day? Or even an hour?

Stop to consider how many scriptural exhortations there are regarding what we say and think? Here are a few:

1. “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:22)
2. “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
3. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” (Romans 12:14)
4. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29)
5. “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” (Ephesians 5:4)
6. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:6)

These are just the ones that immediately come to mind. Despite this impressive list of commands regarding our speech, I wonder how many of us really stop to consider what comes out of our mouths? I’m not just talking about the obvious things like profanity. What about harsh words to a friend or family member? How about that slightly ‘off-color’ joke, or that tantalizing piece of gossip we can’t wait to share? As James says, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). More often than not, harsh words cut deeper than physical abuse.

God takes our speech and our thought life very seriously. Our words and our thoughts reveal the sinfulness of our hearts (cf. Matthew 15:19). Thanks be to God that Jesus Christ atones for all of our sins, even our sins of careless speech. Even so, let us strive to have sanctified words and sanctified thoughts!

Soli Deo Gloria!

On this edition of the program, the hosts talk with international columnist Uwe Siemon-Netto about his career in journalism, as well as his conversion back to the faith of his childhood. The conversation also centers on the doctrine of vocation, two kingdom theory, and the radical theology behind various secular political movements.

White Horse Inn Broadcast for October 18, 2009:

Whoever said “good things come in small packages,” must have read Timothy Keller’s The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (published in 2008 by Dutton Books). This little book (numbering 139 pages in total) is an awesome read. Before going any further, I want to say that every Christian, whether he be a novice to the faith or a faithful follower of Jesus for many decades, should read this book. Fully living up to its subtitle, The Prodigal God brings its readers back to the heart of the Christian faith; i.e., the gospel. It does so by providing an in-depth look at one of the most popular parables Jesus ever told — The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).

Mr. Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and author of The Reason for God, helps us to look at this popular parable through fresh eyes. The parable tells the story of a son who demands his portion of the inheritance and leaves home to go to a far away country. While he is away from home, he wastes all that he has on ‘prodigal’ living and ends up becoming a servant feeding the local swine. Upon coming to his senses, he determines to return home and repent of his wrongdoing. When he arrives home, he barely gets his speech completed before his father begins to lavish love and affection on him. Most people who have heard this parable preached know this much. What remains largely un-preached is the other son in the story. Jesus begins his parable by saying, “There was a man who had two sons,” yet we tend to focus on the first son in this story and how this parable provides a perfect illustration of repentance.

Two things can be said at this point: 1) The main character in the story is the father, not either of the two sons; 2) the story is not so much about repentance, which is present, but the overall story of redemption that is told all throughout Scripture. Mr. Keller is correct when he says that what we have in this parable is just a microcosm of the entire meta-narrative of the bible. The role that the two sons play in this parable is to show us two ways in which we all reject God and seek our own salvation. The first way we reject God is demonstrated by the exploits of the younger son. He is the rebel; the one who breaks all the rules and lives to please himself. He rejects God by going as far as he can and as fast as he can in the opposite direction. The second way we reject God is illustrated by the older son. He rejected God by being a fastidious rule-keeper. Yet his obedience wasn’t performed out of love for his father, but in an effort to earn his father’s love and respect (which was already his by virtue of being his son). Both sons rejected their father’s love, but whereas the younger son repented of his folly and was welcomed back, the fate of the older son is left unresolved. The older son of the story was symbolic of the Pharisees who were listening to Jesus tell the story. They, like the older son, were jealous of all the attention that ‘younger sons’ (representative of the sinners and tax collectors that were flocking to Jesus) were getting from Jesus. The older son is really the main emphasis of the parable, not the younger son.

Mr. Keller spends a considerable amount of space in his book helping us to understand the second son of the story and how this second son describes many Christians today. While there are many who have come to Christ out of prodigal living, many more of us are like the older son of the parable. Older son syndrome is much more difficult to be freed from because the subtlety of the sin of self-righteousness is harder to recognize. The natural tendency of human beings to default toward self-righteousness is extremely hard to root out.

The first four chapters of Mr. Keller’s book delve more deeply into the nature of the two sons found in this parable. Chapters three and four, in particular, help us to redefine what ‘sin’ and ‘lostness’ are. Sin and lostness are clearly seen in the actions and attitudes of the younger son, but the older sin is equally sinful and lost and Mr. Keller does a wonderful job of helping us see this. However, it is chapters five, six and seven where Mr. Keller really shines in my opinion. It is in these chapters that the gospel is clearly seen and preached, and it is in these chapters where Mr. Keller helps us to see the unfolding of the ongoing story of redemption in this parable. These last three chapters are worth the price of admission.

I reiterate what I said at the outset of this review: Every Christian should read this book! Would that every pastor and minister of the gospel would read this book and begin to preach “Christ and him crucified” again from all of Scripture! We need more gospel preaching and much less “moralistic, therapeutic deism” in our churches. I highly recommend this book (5 out of 5 stars).

The Westminster Assembly

Q. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

A popular aphorism attributed to Benjamin Franklin that is still popular today is, “God helps those who help themselves.” In other words, before relying on God to do his part, we must first do our part. While this statement is not found anywhere in the bible, there is a certain grain of truth in it. For example, there is the story of Elisha and the widow’s oil found in 2 Kings 4:1-7. In that story, God provides for a widow and her family, but before doing so, Elisha instructs her to gather as many empty vessels as she can find. Before providing the miraculous multiplication of her miniscule supply of oil, the widow had to do something first. There are other biblical examples that demonstrate that God only does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and therefore, in a tangential way, support Mr. Franklin’s premise.

However, whether or not this principle gleaned from Mr. Franklin’s statement is biblical is not the point of this article. Something else can be deduced from this statement which is more relevant to the topic at hand. I believe contained within this pithy saying is a ‘truth’ that runs counter to biblical teaching and actually leads people away from God rather than toward him. In the statement, “God helps those who help themselves,” is the sense that we are ultimately in control of things; that if we want God to move in our lives, we must be moving ourselves. Conversely, if we do nothing to better our lives, God won’t act (which clearly is not biblical). Even more sinister is the idea that we can somehow ‘control’ God (“If we do ‘A’, then God will do ‘B’.”). This belief that we are in control of our own destinies is as old as sin itself. It was the lie that Adam and Eve bought from Satan’s mouth back in the Garden of Eden, and it’s a lie that we continue to buy to this day.

The full breadth of this lie isn’t contained in simply believing that God will act in our lives once we start to take control of the situation. It is the age old battle between God’s sovereignty and human free will. As sinful and fallen human beings, we resent the notion that anyone is in control of our lives. As Jesus told us in the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11-27), “we do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). Our sinfulness suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). The idea that God is sovereign and in control of all things that come to pass is an affront to human secularism and the sacrament of free will.

Yet, as the seventh Q&A of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us, God is sovereign and in control of all things that come to pass.  When answering the question, What are the decrees of God, the Catechism answers: “The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.” The obvious question that comes to mind is how can this possibly be compatible with the concept of human free will? The secular humanists would contend that the two are not compatible. This can be illustrated syllogistically as follows:

1. If God is sovereign (“foreordains whatsoever comes to pass”), then there is no human free will
2. But human beings do possess free will
3. Therefore, God cannot be sovereign

Logically speaking, this is a valid argument and is a prime example of the Modus Tollens (Denying the consequent) form of argument. If the premises are true, the conclusion is necessarily true. The question that begs to be answered is whether or not the premises are true.

Orthodox Christian theology would, in fact, deny both premises. The first premise asserts the belief that human free will is incompatible with the sovereignty of God; whereas the second premise makes the assumption that human beings do possess free will. To disprove this syllogism and affirm the validity of the Catechism, we need to define what ‘free will’ is. I deal with this a little more fully here, so I won’t go into too much detail except to say that when discussing free will, there are two major camps: Compatibilism and Incompatibilism. As one might guess from the terms used, the debate hinges in whether or not free will is compatible with any form of determinism (e.g., God’s sovereignty). If you’re a proponent of incompatibilism, then you’re either a hard-core determinist (i.e., deny free will) or a hard-core libertarian (i.e., deny determinism). The following diagram helps to illustrate the options:

Free-Will Taxonomy

The libertarian would have to prove the claim that our choices are not determined by anything, but are completely free. On the other hand, the hard-core determinist would have to prove the claim that any form of free will is an illusion; that human beings make absolutely no ‘free’ choices. I would argue that the incompatibilist camp is wrong on both counts. Let me illustrate this by example: Against hard-core determinism, there is nothing coercing me to write this article; I write this article freely under no compulsion. On the other hand, against libertarianism, I write this article because it is my strongest desire at the given moment; and I always do what is in accord with my strongest desire at any given moment. Therefore, my choices are determined (by my strongest desire at any given moment), yet free (I execute my choices under no external compulsion). This is precisely what the compatibilist would argue.

Orthodox Christianity is compatibilist by nature, as the Westminster Confession of Faith asserts:

God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (WCF 3.1)

The way I like to illustrate this truth is by way of an analogy (keeping in mind that all analogies, by definition, can only be taken so far). Suppose you’re a novice chess player and you’re going up against a chess grand-master. The novice chess player is freely making moves during the game (i.e., not under any external compulsion by the grand-master), yet the grand-master makes his moves in such a way that the novice has no chance of winning no matter what he does. The grand-master, based on his superior knowledge of the game and his ability to ’see’ many moves in advance can easily manipulate the moves of the novice to ensure victory every time. All the while, the grand-master is not ‘making’ the moves for the novice.

God is the ultimate ‘chess grand-master.’ As such, he “foreordains whatsoever comes to pass.” He is accomplishing his “eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will…for his own glory” (cf. Psalm 33:11; Isaiah 14:24; Acts 2:23; Ephesians 1:11-12). We are free to make choices in accordance with our desires, but all of this falls under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty; there is nothing that occurs outside of the decrees of God. Finally, the notion that we are the ‘center of the universe’ and that everything revolves around us couldn’t be further from the truth. We exist for God’s glory, not the reverse!

Soli Deo Gloria!

]]> http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/what-are-the-decrees-of-god-wsc-question-7/feed/ 0 Carl westminsterassembly 800px-FreeWillTaxonomy2.svg http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/merry-christmas/ http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/merry-christmas/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:22:50 +0000 Carl Gobelman http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/?p=1820 ]]>

New Creation Person is taking a Christmas hiatus for a few days to spend some time with family and recharge the ol’ brain cells.  So here’s wishing all readers and visitors a very Merry Christmas!!!

Isaiah 9:6

A friend tells you, “The Bible has a lot of nice stories but people take it too seriously because its really just a book written by men.” How do you respond? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts continue their conversation with Greg Koukl, president of Stand to Reason and author of, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions.

White Horse Inn Broadcast for October 11, 2009:

Abraham and Isaac

Question:  What can we learn from the life of Abraham?

Answer:  Aside from Moses, no other OT character is mentioned more in the NT than Abraham.  James, the brother of our Lord and author of the epistle that bears his name, refers to Abraham as a “friend of God” (James 2:23); a title used of no one else in Scripture.  Abraham is often called the “father of the faithful” in reference to Galatians 3:7.  Abraham’s import and impact in redemptive history is clearly seen in Scripture and cannot be overstated.  As such, what can we learn from his life?

Like Noah, Abraham (or Abram as he was originally called) is first mentioned in a genealogical list in the book of Genesis as the son of Terah (11:26).  Also like Noah, Abraham is the tenth and final name mentioned in that genealogical list (Noah was the tenth generation after Adam and Abraham is the tenth generation after Noah); further indicating that he is an important figure in the Genesis account.  Whether or not these genealogical lists are meant to represent unbroken lines of ancestral descent is open to debate.  What is important is that the author of Genesis (Moses) is trying to show the progress of the line of promise from Seth to Noah to Abraham.

The life of Abraham takes up a good portion of the Genesis narrative from his first mention in 11:26 all the way to his death recorded in Genesis 25:8.  Though as much as we know about the life of Abraham, we know precious little about his birth and early life.  When we first meet Abraham, he is already 75 years old.  Genesis 11:28 records that Abraham’s father, Terah, lived in the city of Ur, a very influential city in southern Mesopotamia situated on the Euphrates River about halfway between the head of the Persian Gulf and the modern day city of Baghdad.  Whether Abraham was born there, we really don’t know, but his narrative begins there.  We also learn that Terah took his family and set off for the land of Canaan, but instead settled in the city of Haran in northern Mesopotamia (on the trade route from ancient Babylonia and the Mediterranean Sea about halfway between Nineveh and Damascus).

Abraham’s story really turns interesting at the start of Genesis 12.  In the first three verses of Genesis 12, we see the call of Abraham by God:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

God calls Abraham out from his home in Haran and tells him to go to a land that he will show to him.  God also makes three promises to Abraham:  1) The promise of a land of his own; 2) the promise to be made into a great nation; and 3) the promise of blessing.  These promises form the basis for what will later be called the Abrahamic Covenant (established in Genesis 15 and ratified in Genesis 17).  What really makes Abraham special is that he obeyed God.  Genesis 12:4 records that after God called Abraham, he went “as the Lord had told him.”  This act of faith is so impressive that the author of Hebrews ‘enshrines’ in the Faith Hall of Fame: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

If we think about this statement a moment, we will see how big a step of faith it really was.  How many of us would leave behind everything that is familiar to us and just go, not knowing our destination?  Now consider that the concept of family meant everything to a person living in the time of Abraham; much more than it means to us in 21st century North America.  In that time, family units were much more strongly knit; it was unusual for family members to live hundreds of miles apart from each other.  In addition, we’re not told anything about the religious life of Abraham and his family prior to his calling.  The people of Ur and Haran were pagans who worshipped the ancient Babylonian pantheon of gods; in particular, the moon god, Sin.  Given that fact, it seems reasonable that Terah was a pagan idolater.  There is no biblical evidence that the line of Shem (son of Noah and Abraham’s ancestor) were worshippers of the true God.  Yet somehow, by God’s providence, Abraham knew and recognized the call of Yahweh, the LORD, and obeyed willingly, not hesitantly.

Another example of Abraham’s life of faith is seen in the birth of his son, Isaac.  Abraham and Sarah were childless (a real source of shame in that culture), and yet God promises that Abraham shall have a son (Genesis 15:4).  This son will be the heir, not only of Abraham’s vast fortune with which God blessed him, but more importantly, the heir of promise and the continuation of the godly line of Seth (cf. Genesis 4:26).  Abraham believes the promise of God and it is credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, a very important verse, which we will look at later).  God reiterates his promise to Abraham in Genesis 17, and his faith is rewarded in Genesis 21 with the birth of Isaac.  Again, the author of Hebrews highlights this when he writes, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore” (Hebrews 11:11-12).

Abraham’s faith would be sorely tested regarding his son, Isaac.  In Genesis 22, God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the top of Mount Moriah.  We don’t know how Abraham reacted internally to this command.  All we see is Abraham faithfully obeying the God who was his shield (Genesis 15:1) and who had been extraordinarily gracious and good to him up to this point.  As with the earlier command to leave his home and family, Abraham “rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac” (Genesis 22:2).  We know how the story ends, but imagine how Abraham must have felt.  He had been waiting decades for a son of his own, and the God who promised this child to him was about to take him away.  The point is that Abraham’s faith in God was greater than his love for his son; which is the ‘moral’ of the story.  As the writer of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:17-19).

To be sure, Abraham had his moments of failure and sin (as we all do), and the bible doesn’t shrink back from describing them in detail.  We know of at least two occasions in which Abraham lied regarding his relationship to Sarah in order to protect himself in potentially hostile lands (Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18).  In both of these occasions, God protects and blesses Abraham despite his lack of faith.  We also know that the frustration of not having a child got to Abraham and Sarah as they concoct a plan to take matters into their own hands with Sarah’s servant, Hagar (Genesis 16:1-15).  The birth of Ishmael not only demonstrates the futility of Abraham’s folly and lack of faith, but also the grace of God (in allowing the birth to take place and even blessing Ishmael).  The ‘Father of the Faithful’ had his moments of doubt and disbelief, yet he is still exalted amongst men as an exemplar of the faithful life.

So what practical points can we take from Abraham’s life?  The obvious lesson to draw from his life is to live a life of faith.  Abraham could take his son, Isaac, up to Mount Moriah because he knew God was a faithful God who would keep his promises.  Abraham’s faith wasn’t a blind faith (like so many critics of Christianity simplistically state); his faith was a settled assurance and trust in one who had proven himself faithful and true throughout his entire life.  If we were to look back on our lives, we would see the hand of God’s providence all over it.  God doesn’t have to speak from burning bushes or part the sea waters to be active in our lives.  God is superintending and orchestrating the events of your life.  Sometimes it may not seem that way, but Abraham’s life is evidence that it is true.  Even Abraham’s failures demonstrate that God, while not protecting us from the consequences of our sin, graciously works his will in us and through us; nothing we do will thwart his plan.

Abraham’s life also shows us the blessing of simple obedience.  When asked to leave his family, Abraham left.  When asked to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham “rose up early the next morning.”  From what we can discern from the biblical narrative, there was no hesitation in Abraham’s obedience.  I am sure that Abraham, like most of us, may have agonized over these decisions, but when it was time to act, he acted.  When we discern a true call from God, we must act; obedience is not optional when God commands something.

Abraham’s lapses of faith show us the folly of trying to take matters into our own hands.  Especially in regards to the situation with Hagar and Ishmael.  God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah, but in their impatience, their plan to provide an heir to Abraham backfires.  First conflict between Sarah and Hagar arises, and later on conflict between Ishmael and Isaac flares up.  We cannot fulfill the will of God in our own strength; our efforts ultimately end up creating more problems than they solve.  Ishmael’s descendants end up becoming bitter enemies with the people of God as we later learn in the OT narrative.  This lesson has wide ranging applications in our lives with the moral being:  If God has promised to do something, we must be faithful and patient to let him accomplish it in his own timing.

Theologically speaking Abraham’s life is a living example of the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone (or as the Reformers would say, Sola Fide).  Twice the Apostle Paul uses Abraham as an example of this crucial doctrine.  In Romans 4, the entire chapter is devoted to illustrating Justification by Faith through the life of Abraham (cf. Romans 4:1-3, 9, 12-13, 16).  A similar argument is made in the book of Galatians where Paul shows us from Abraham’s life that the Gentiles are heirs with the Jews to the blessings of Abraham through faith (Galatians 3:6-9, 14, 16, 18, 29).  This goes back to what was said earlier regarding the statement of Genesis 15:6 (“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness”).  Abraham’s faith in the promises of God was sufficient for God to declare him righteous in his sight; thereby proving the principle of Romans 3:28 (“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”).  Abraham did nothing to earn justification.  His trust in God was enough.

We see in this the workings of God’s grace very early in the OT.  The gospel isn’t something that started in the NT with the life and death of Jesus, but something that goes all the way back to the beginning in Genesis.  In Genesis 3:15, God made a promise that the “seed of the woman” would crush the head of the serpent.  Theologians believe this is the first mention of the gospel in the bible.  The rest of the OT narrative chronicles the outworking of the gospel of God’s grace through the line of promise beginning with Seth (Genesis 4:26).  The calling of Abraham was just another piece in the story of redemption.  Paul tells us that the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham when God told him “in you shall all the nations be blessed” (Galatians 3:8).

Another thing we learn from Abraham’s life is faith is not hereditary.  On three separate occasions in the Gospels (Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8; John 8:39), we learn that it is not enough to be physically descended from Abraham to be saved.  The application for us is that it is not enough to be raised in a Christian home; you cannot ride into heaven on the coattails of someone else’s faith.  God is not obligated to save you simply because you have an impeccable Christian pedigree (cf. Philippians 3:1-11).  Paul uses Abraham to illustrate this in Romans 9 as we see that not all who descended from Abraham were elected unto salvation (Romans 9:7).  God sovereignly chooses those who will receive salvation, but that salvation comes through the same faith that Abraham exercised in his life.

Finally, we see that James uses the life of Abraham to illustrate the principle that faith without works is dead (James 2:21).  The example he uses is the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22).  The application to draw from this is that a mere ascent to the truths of the gospel is not enough to save.  That faith must result in good works of obedience that show that faith to be a living faith.  The faith that was enough to justify Abraham and count him as righteous before God’s eyes (Genesis 15) was the very same faith that moved him into action as he obeyed God’s command to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Abraham was justified by his faith and his faith was justified by his works.

In the final analysis, we see that Abraham was an exemplary individual.  Not so much in his piety or exemplary life (he had his short comings as we saw), but because his life illustrates so much of the Christian life.  God called Abraham out of the millions of people on the earth to be the object of his blessings and to be the ‘Father of the Faithful.’  God used Abraham to play a pivotal role in the outworking of story of redemption culminating in the birth of Jesus.  Abraham is a living example of faith and hope in the promises of God (“For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”  Hebrews 11:10).  Our lives should be so lived so that when we reach the end of our days it can be said of us as it was said of Abraham, “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8).

The Westminster Assembly

Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

In question #5 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we looked at the issue of God’s unity, oneness, and uniqueness.  According to that Q&A, Christianity is solidly a monotheistic religion.  Yet in today’s question, we learn that there are three ‘persons’ in the Godhead.  This raises the obvious question:  How can God be one, yet there be three persons in the Godhead?  Does Christianity really believe in one God or three Gods?

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity has humbled many a theologian over the centuries.  I have given the Trinity a somewhat more fuller treatment in an article titled What Does the Bible Say About…the Trinity?, so I will not rehash that argument too much in this article.  What I do want to spend some time on is the word ‘persons.’  What do we mean when we ask “how many persons are there in the Godhead?”  Before answering that question, let’s briefly look at the history of the doctrine of the Trinity.

The official formulation of Trinitarian doctrine was the result over the theological battles of the early 4th century.  Arianism (named after the theologian Arius), in order to protect Christian monotheism, denied the deity of Jesus Christ.  This ran counter to the prevailing opinion of the time regarding the deity of Jesus Christ, and erupted into a full-blown theological war.  The result was that Arianism was deemed heretical at the Council of Nicea (325 AD) and again at the Council of Constantinople (381 AD).  One of the results of these two ecumenical councils was the Nicene Creed.  The Nicene Creed is the earliest Christian statement that fully subscribed to Trinitarian doctrine.  It was used as a test of Christian orthodoxy over against heresy, and is still used today in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox (with some slight variations), Anglican and Protestant churches.  Contrary to Trinitarian critics, the doctrine of the Trinity wasn’t invented at Nicea. Rather a doctrine that was widely believed was given official formulation at Nicea.

When we talk about there being three persons in the Godhead, the word ‘person’ is meant to convey “who-ness” as opposed to “what-ness” which describes the Godhead as a whole.  Earlier in our look at the Catechism, we asked the question, “What is God?” In that article, we talked about God’s attributes, or the qualities that make God uniquely God.  However, we also believe that God is personal, as the Westminster Confession of Faith so aptly asserts:

In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. (WCF, 2.3)

From this part of the Confession, we can see that there is a hierarchy within the Trinity.  The First Person of the Trinity, the Father, has primacy; he is neither begotten nor proceeds.  The Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, is “eternally begotten of the Father, and the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, “eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.”  The concept of ‘person’ is conveyed in this hierarchy as well as in the titles “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”  This hierarchy is purely functional and in no way implies inferiority of the Son to the Father or the Spirit to the Father and the Son.  The best example of this hierarchy in action is seen in the salvation of sinners.  The Father elects those who will be saved, the Son atones for their sins and purchases their redemption, and the Spirit applies this redemption to them in ’space and time.’

Another thing Trinitarian critics like to point out is that you cannot find the ‘Trinity’ in the bible.  Let’s deal with this directly:  You will not ever find the word “Trinity” in Holy Scripture.  There!  However, like salt in a meal, you don’t need to ’see’ it to know it’s there.  Just a few scriptures to show the ’salt’ of the Trinity sprinkled in the bible:

• Matthew 3:16-17 — “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”
• Matthew 28:19 — “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 — “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
• 1 Peter 1:2 — “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.”

The reason why the doctrine of the Trinity isn’t really a doctrine of Tri-Theism is because of the next clause in the Catechism’s answer:  ”These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”  The ancient theologians at Nicea used the term Homoousis, which is Greek for “of the same substance.”  In other words, despite the functional hierarchy and the fact that the Son is “eternally begotten” of the Father, they share the same substance, or being.  All of the attributes that can be said of the Divine Being (i.e., the “what-ness” of God) can be applied equally and completely to all three persons of the Godhead.  God is a unique Being who manifests himself in three distinct personalities, or as I like to say, there are three “who’s” and one “what” when talking about God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

]]> http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/how-many-persons-are-there-in-the-godhead-wsc-question-6/feed/ 0 Carl westminsterassembly http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/tactics-part-1/ http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/tactics-part-1/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:52:12 +0000 Carl Gobelman http://newcreationperson.wordpress.com/?p=1793 ]]>

Not only is it important to “know what you believe and why you believe it,” but it’s also crucial that we learn how to effectively communicate those beliefs to outsiders. How, for example, do we avoid getting into heated arguments? What’s the best way to challenge opposing points of view? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts discuss these matters with Greg Koukl, president of Stand to Reason and author of Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions.

White Horse Inn Broadcast October, 4, 2009: