Carson Lectures on Revelation

Justin Taylor links to a recent lecture by D. A. Carson on Rev. 21-22—and also to 26 lectures on the whole book! If I'm not mistaken, I listened to these lectures years ago when they were only available for purchase on CD. And they are a great resource for the non-trained Christian. In fact, I think Carson first gave these talks for an evening class of non-seminary students. You don't need any Greek or technical training to follow the lectures.

We have an embarrassment of resources at our fingertips today. There is no reason we should be biblically ignorant. We should easily be the most biblically literate people in the history of the church. But, alas, the pleasures of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things choke out that word!

A Reformation-Scale Work of the Holy Spirit

With the polarization that's well underway in our country (which is not a good thing, of course, for a house divided against itself cannot stand) and the scope of the government's reach ever increasing, there are three possible scenarios looming (barring a Reformation-scale work of the Holy Spirit).

First, the state will exert more coercive power to try to get unity, and most will go along. Second, there will be wide-scale backlash against the coercive power of the state, as many don't go along. In this scenario, there will be a scaling back of the state's overreach as civil limbs get cut off. Or third, there will be a civil war, as happened, you may recall, not too long ago.

I'm not happy about any of these, though the second scenario would be better than the first or third. My hope and prayer are for reformation and revival. In other words, I'm hoping and praying for God to do it again.

Packer on Revivals

What are revivals? Here's one way J. I. Packer puts it:

Revivals are "animatings and deepenings of the awareness of God, of the sense of sin, of the knowledge of Christ, and of the evangelical responses of faith, repentance, righteousness, prayer and praise. . . ."

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 56.

The Power of Truth in the Heart

Sentences like these (and what they convey) are why I love John Owen:

It is one thing to have only the conviction of truth in our minds; another to have the power of it in our hearts. The former will only produce an outward profession; the latter effect an inward renovation of our souls.

—John Owen, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5, Works; Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1998), 376.

Benjamin Franklin's Love and Respect for George Whitefield

In a chapter on "The Reformational Revivalism of George Whitefield," J. I. Packer records these sentiments by Benjamin Franklin about Whitefield:

In 1747, he wrote: "He is a good man and I love him."

And, after Whitfield's death, Franklin said: "I knew him intimately upwards of 30 years. His integrity, disinterestedness and indefatigable zeal in prosecuting every good work, I have never seen equalled, I shall never see excelled."

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 48-49.

Ten Important Principles for Doing Comparative Studies

1. Both similarities and differences must be considered.
2. Similarities may suggest a common cultural heritage rather than borrowing.
3. It is common to find similarities at the surface but differences at the conceptual level and vice versa.
4. All elements must be understood in their own context as accurately as possible before crosscultrual comparisons are made.
5. Proximity in time, geography, and spheres of cultural contact all increase the possibility of interaction leading to influence.
6. A case for literary borrowing requires identification of likely channels of transmission.
7. The significance of differences between two pieces of literature is minimized if the works are not the same genre.
8. Similar functions may be performed by different genres in different cultures.
9. When literary or cultural elements are borrowed, they may in turn be transformed into something quite different.
10. A single culture will rarely be monolithic, either in a contemporary cross-section or in consideration of a passage of time.

—Walton , John H. “Methodology: An Introductory Essay.” Pages viii-xiii in vol. 1 of Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Edited by John H. Walton. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 

How Senseless Hate Confirms Faith

One of the main reasons that I believe Christianity (not cultural Christianity, I'm talking about the real deal) is utter truth is that Jesus' words keep coming true.

For example, take John 15:18-20. Christians are easily the most hated and persecuted group in the world today, including in the post-Christian West. Every time someone or some group spews senseless hate toward me and brothers and sisters in Christ simply because we are following Christ, my faith is confirmed in his words all the more!

It is not a little ironic that the culture that prides itself on being tolerant has fast become highly intolerant of a group of people with a rich (though not perfect) history of and commitment to tolerance.

If you want to think more about tolerance, I commend D. A. Carson's The Intolerance of Tolerance. If you were to read it simply to appreciate how the word tolerance has been used historically and how it is used in diverse senses today, you'd have spent your time and money well. 

Carried to Heaven While Asleep in an Easy Chair?

C. H. Spurgeon on John Buynan's depiction of the Christian life in the Pilgrim's Progress:

John Buynan has not pictured Christian as carried to heaven while asleep in an easy chair. He makes him lose his burden at the foot of the cross, but he represents him as climbing Hill Difficulty on his hands and knees. Christian has to descend into the Valley of Humiliation, and to tread the dangerous pathway through the gloomy horrors of the Shadow of Death. He has to be urgently watchful to keep himself from sleeping in the Enchanted Ground. Nowhere is he delivered from the necessities incident to the way, for even at the last he fords the black river, and struggles with its terrible billows. Effort is used all the way through, and you that are pilgrims to the skies will find it to be no allegory, but a real matter of fact. Your soul must gird up her loins; you need your pilgrim's staff, and your armour. You must foot it all the way to heaven, contending with giants, fighting with lions, and combating Apollyon himself.

—C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1992), 134.

True Biblical Equality and—Then There's Egalitarianism

Doug Wilson on the biblical notion of equality and its modern distortion egalitarianism:

The Christian faith teaches and brings true biblical equality. The Christian faith also rejects egalitarianism, which is a false definition of equality. Christian equality can be described as equity, or even-handedness. Egalitarianism, in contrast, demands sameness, or equality of outcome. These two visions of equality are about as comparable as wet and dry. Think of it in terms of ten teenage boys trying to dunk a basketball: equity means that they all face the same ten-foot standard, and only two of them can do it—equity thus usually means differences in outcome. Egalitariansm wants equality of outcome, and there is only one way to get that—lower the net. Sameness of outcome requires differences in the standards.

—For a Glory and a Covering: A Practical Theology of Marriage (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2006), 90.

A Fight for One's Life

I'm not a pastor. But I still find this to be an important word about guarding time to read. More to the point, it is an important word about finding time for unhurried, unbroken communion with God over books. It is literally a fight for one's life!

O Lord, The Cause Is Not Mine

"Lord, what you do not do remains undone. If you will not help, I shall gladly surrender. The cause is not mine. I will happily be your mask and disguise if only you will do the work. Amen."

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 90.

Speak, O Lord, Our Delight and Our Reward

The prayer that follows is the congregational prayer from this last Lord's Day at New Covenant Church:

O God—Father, Son, and Spirit—you are our God. Earnestly we seek you; our souls thirst for you; our flesh faints for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

You, the Fountain of Living Waters, the Fountain of Life, you have said to us: “Seek my face.” Our hearts say to you, "Your face, O Lord, do we seek!" To whom else shall we go? You have words of eternal life. You give us drink from the river of your pleasures. You hold pleasures at your right hand forevermore. So hide not your face from us, O God, our God. Turn us not away in our longings and thirstings and pantings of soul. None can slake our souls’ thirst but you alone.

We have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory, and we confess that your steadfast love is better than this life. And so our lips will praise you, God, our Exceeding Joy, you who have put more joy in our hearts than the world has when their grain and new wine abound.

As we pass, then, through this fleeting, vapor’s breath of a life, this wilderness of the world, we long to be where you are, O Lord; we would be at Jerusalem, in the new heavens and new earth. But in your infinite wisdom, you have seen fit, for now, for us to press on in pilgrimage to that great city where your glory is the sun, where the river of your pleasures runs through, where all things are made new, where our souls will fully and finally find rest in God alone.

So as we linger in this world, this desert, as we press, then, toward our heavenly home, the new Jerusalem, help us, Father, to fix our eyes on the Lord of glory, our Lord Jesus, high and lifted up, merciful and mighty, ready to help us in time of need. You have called us to walk worthy of the Gospel, worthy of our calling, worthy of our Lord. But we cannot walk a worthy walk without your speaking to us a sustaining and satisfying word. So help us to grasp firmly in faith your very great and precious promises purchased by his blood. You have told us, Father, that all your promises—old and new—are “Yes!” in your Son.

So speak, O Lord, to our leaders as they bear the load of their pastoral labors: “I am your salvation and your very great reward. I will be with you, even as I was with Moses.”

Speak, O Lord, to the aging among us, bodies fading and failing, say to them: “When you go through deep waters, even the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you. You shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Speak, O God, to those who have lost loved ones: “I will be with you; I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me will live and never die.”

O God our Father, speak to your children battling all manner of struggles inward and outward: “I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you. I will not let your foot be moved; I who keep you will not slumber.”

O God our Father, from whom every fatherhood is named, speak to our families and the heads of homes: “I will be with you; I will keep you from all evil, I will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Speak, O Lord, to our womens ministry: “I will be with you; I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus; my grace is sufficient for you, my power is perfected in weakness.”

Speak, O Lord, to all of us in our individual and particular callings in this world: “I will be with you; no good thing will I withhold from you if you walk uprightly.”

Speak, O Lord, our Delight and our Reward, for your servants are listening; say to our souls, again and again, “I am your salvation.”

For we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Speak, O Lord, For Your Servant Is Listening

A Lutheran prayer for God to speak:

Dear heavenly Father, say something. I will gladly remain silent and be a child and learner. If I should rule the church with my own knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, I would have been sunk long ago. Therefore, dear God, you guide and direct it. I will gladly forsake my point of view and understanding and let you rule alone through your Word. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 89.

The Crux of the Psalms

Dane Ortlund cites Calvin concerning the chief concern of the Psalms, namely, the cross. A choice quotation. Check it out.

Like a Hearty Meal for a Hungry Man

A short way back, I posted about a marriage study a group of us have been doing together this summer using Doug Wilson's book For a Glory and a Covering: A Practical Theology of Marriage. And I said that I expected to do some blogging on the book. However, I've not done any yet.

I've not done so mainly because I've just enjoyed taking the book in as one takes in a hearty meal for nourishment. What can I say? I'm finding it to be solid food for edification. And I've not found myself wanting to analyze and reflect much. I'm just eating. I'm being nourished.

But I do want to record a couple choice quotes. And perhaps I'll get into a more analytical mode later.

In the introduction Wilson recalls how "C. S. Lewis once commented that men think that love means not giving trouble to others, while women think that it means taking trouble for others" (xix). Great observation. To our shame, men.

Speaking then to how some women veer toward overachieving, Wilson recalls how "Lewis once described a woman 'who lived for others'—and you could tell who those were by their hunted expression" (xix). And of course we all know someone like this.

Jesus Is Lord, So Caesar Is Not

Good post over at Between Two Worlds linking to a recent post by Doug Wilson on the lordship of Christ. Read everything you can by Wilson on politics and economics! And don't delay!

And related to this subject, here's a recent sermon by Wilson that deserves a wide hearing and response. It's a sermon addressed to the governor and legislature of Idaho.

May God raise up more prophetic preaching of this sort. What would happen if pulpits started preaching like they really believed the basic Christian confession that Jesus is Lord? We just might see some reform. Just maybe.

O Lord, Left Alone, I Would Ruin Everything

A Lutheran prayer for God's guidance for the task of pastoring:

You know how unworthy I am to fill so great and important an office. Were it not for your counsel, I would have utterly failed long ago. Therefore I call upon you for guidance. Gladly will I give my heart and voice to this work. I want to teach the people. I want always to seek and study in your Word, and eagerly to meditate upon it. Use me as your instrument. Lord, do not forsake me. If I were alone, I would ruin everything. Amen. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 89.

Christian's Charity

C. H. Spurgeon sees Christian in Pilgrim's Progress as an example of being charitable toward all who profess to be Christians. In the words below, he's referring to the time when Christian met Formalist and Hypocrisy:

Well, these two men drew up apace to Christian, and he saluted them, for it is not Christian's duty to suspect anybody; and when he finds people in the right road, he must treat them as if they were sincere until he has proof to the contrary. If it is the law of England that every man is to be accounted honest, till he is proved to be a rogue, it should certainly be the law of the Christian Church.

—C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1992), 96.

O God, Harm None Through My Preaching

A Lutheran prayer for a beginning preacher:

Dear God, I have begun to preach, and to teach the people. It is hard. If it offends here and there, may no harm be done. Since you have commanded me to preach your Word, I will not stop. If it fails, it fails for you. If it succeeds, it succeeds for you and me. Amen. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 89.

Come, Let Us Spite the Devil

The apostle Paul commands the redeemed of the Lord to "rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16). And seeing the importance of this, he urges this upon believers regularly (e.g., Phil. 3:1; 4:4). Now for the religiously minded person, this is troublesome. That person says, "Just tell me what program or ritual to perform. Tell me where to show up, what motions to push through. Don't give me any of this feelings or emotions business. I can't generate that. And certainly not 'always.'" Exactly. You must be born again to obey such commands. You must be born again to be a Christian!

But if you are born again, rejoicing always should be at the top of your scale of priorities. And obeying the command to rejoice in the Lord always really ought not to be so hard for the regenerate. There are innumerable inducements to be joyful. But we miss them. We look right beyond them. So often we prefer to groan over some trifle that, in eternity, will prove to be like an irksome gnat that bothered you for two minutes on a bright, cool summer day off in the distance.

So C. H. Spurgeon says a good word about this privilege of every believer. It is one of our most potent weapons against Satan's stratagems. Let's hear it, and take it to heart:

It is the privilege of the true believer to be "singing all the time." Joy in God is suitable to our condition. Joy in the Lord is more injurious to Satan's empire than anything. I am of the same mind as Luther, who, when he heard any bad news, used to say, "Come, let us sing a psalm, and spite the devil."

—C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1992), 86-87.

O Lord, Give Me What I Need to Glorify You

A Lutheran prayer for understanding and doing that glorify God:

Dear Lord God, give me your grace that I may rightly understand your Word, and more than that, do it. O most blessed Lord Jesus Christ, see to it that my search after knowledge leads me to glorify you alone. If not, let me knot know a single letter. Give only what I, a poor sinner, need to glorify you. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 88-89.

Brief Blog Break

We're heading out of town for a few days. I'll be back to posting when we get back!

Shooting Off Fireworks While Wearing Shackles

There is undoubtedly much for which to give thanks to God this July 4th. However, we ought not to forget how far we've fallen from the true and living God and the freedoms he gave this country.

Doug Wilson's "Five Aphorisms for the Fourth" follows as a reminder that our celebrations are misguided if we don't realize how far we've fallen from what we used to have to celebrate, and that the celebrations are starting to ring hollow.

"The problem with George III was that he was from the House of Hanover. The problem with Obama is he's from the House of Handover.

Christians who absolutize obedience to the 'existing authorities' never seem to think that the Constitution is an existing authority.

Shooting off fireworks without a real commitment to liberty now is a red, white, and blue way of building tombs for the prophets.

To approve resistance to tyranny long-dead without resisting tyranny here and now is . . . convenient somehow.

As we observe the 4th, recent events make it inappropriate to celebrate our freedoms. It is appropriate, however, to reassert them."

O God, Uphold Us by Your Spirit in Our Trials

A Lutheran prayer for upholding by God's Spirit amid trials:

O Father of all mercy and God of all comfort, strengthen and uphold me by your Spirit. You command that we should wait on him until the reason of our trials shall appear. For you do not for your own pleasure permit us to be tortured and grieved. In fact, you do not permit any evil to be done unless you can make it serve a good purpose. You see my distress and weakness. Therefore you will help and deliver me. Amen. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 87.

Sermons that Stoop

C. H. Spurgeon on the preacher humbling himself in the pulpit for the sake of coming clear to his listeners:

It is said that many of the sermons of Augustine are full of shockingly bad Latin, not because Augustine was a poor Latin scholar, but because the dog-Latin of the day was better suited to the popular ear than more classically correct language would have been; and we shall have to speak in similar style if we want to get hold of men.

There is a certain prudery about ministers which disqualifies them for some kinds of work; they cannot bring their mouth to utter the truth in such plain speech as fisher-women would understand, but happy is that man whose mouth is able to declare the truth in such a way that the person to whom he is speaking will receive it.

So Spurgeon concludes, "Learn to stoop."

—C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, 1992), 58-59.

Anticipation in the Pentateuch

William Dumbrell on the trajectory of the Pentateuch:

The remainder of the Pentateuch comments on Genesis 1-11. By the time that the covenantal theology of Israel is fully developed in Deuteronomy, a program to which the rest of the OT remains committed, the national failure of Israel has been anticipated. The Pentateuch makes clear, however, that this failure in no way vitiates the eschatology already developed in these books. A people of God will be constructed and will enjoy the ideal of rest in a Promised Land. God will be their God and will indwell them forever.

—The Faith of Israel: A Theological Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 68.

Discovering What to Put First

Blaise Pascal: "The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first."

—Taken from Mark Trendinnick, Writing Well (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 146.

Torah In Deuteronomy

Old Testament scholar William Dumbrell on the term torah ("law") in Deuteronomy:

The concept of torah is critical for Deuteronomy. Usually the term is understood as "teaching, instruction," but its meaning in Deuteronomy is stronger. Torah is covenantal law, the divinely authorized social order of Israel that attests its election. Deuteronomy is entirely about this law and the blessings that obedience to the law will bring.

 —The Faith of Israel: A Theological Survey of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 66.