A People for His Name

The Necessity of Interpreting Gentecost in Relation to Amos 9

September 30, 2011

At the Jerusalem Council, Peter and James both cited what took place at Gentecost (Acts 10) as the conclusive evidence that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and keep the Law in order to be saved. The account in Acts 15 presents James as the chief leader who presided over what took place at the Council.

In his decisive remarks, James declared, “Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name” (15:13-14). He added, “And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

AFTER THIS I WILL RETURN, AND WILL BUILD AGAIN THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH IS FALLEN DOWN; AND I WILL BUILD AGAIN THE RUINS THEREOF, AND I WILL SET IT UP: THAT THE RESIDUE OF MEN MIGHT SEEK AFTER THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES UPON WHOM MY NAME IS CALLED, SAITH THE LORD, WHO DOETH ALL THESE THINGS (15:15-17).”

Here James used Amos 9:11-12. Because he did so, we must maintain that he expected that his hearers would be familiar with the passage and would also readily understand how to interpret Gentecost in relation to it.

For us, establishing the full significance of his use of this passage involves many complexities, and interpreters differ widely on what he communicated through it.[1] Nonetheless, if we are to profit fully from what God has revealed to us about both the Jerusalem Council and Gentecost, we must interpret Gentecost in relation to Amos 9.

I look forward to this study and to sharing what God gives to me through it in future posts. As God brings it to mind, please pray for Spirit-filled insight for me as I undertake this important project.

[1]For a thorough discussion see Beale and Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, 589-93.

In Interpretation

Praying for My Favorite Sports Teams

September 29, 2011

This has not been a good year for my favorite teams in professional sports.

In football, the New England Patriots lost to the New York Jets in the playoffs. In hockey, the Chicago Black Hawks, after winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, lost their opening round playoff series to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 in sudden death overtime.

In basketball, the Boston Celtics lost to the Miami Heat in a series that I believe the Celtics were cheated by the officials in at least one game. In baseball, the Boston Red Sox missed the playoffs on the last day of the season by losing to the Baltimore Orioles in their final game.

In spite of all my teams have disappointing endings to their seasons, I remain a loyal fan of each team.

This morning, after learning of the Red Sox loss, God gave me a perspective about supporting them that I do not think that I have had before. I found myself hoping that God would use their loss to turn each Red Sox player to Himself.

I plan to pray to that end.

May God use these losses to work mightily in the heart of each player on my favorite teams to save those who are not saved and sanctify further those who are saved.

In Prayer

Learning the Hebrew Alphabet through Greek

September 28, 2011

Like many other seminary students, I learned NT Greek before I learned Hebrew. When I was given the Hebrew alphabet, I was taught to pronounce it by hearing it spoken and by reading English renderings of the names of the Hebrew letters.

Recently, I read through Lamentations in the LXX and noticed that the verses in the first four chapters began with the letters in the Hebrew alphabet rendered in Greek. Most of these are exactly what I was taught when I learned Hebrew, but a few vary somewhat.

I think that I would have learned the Hebrew alphabet faster had I been given these Greek renderings along with the English.

This table has the Hebrew alphabet in Hebrew, English, and Greek. It may be of help to some future students who try to learn it.

In Biblical Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Languages

Answered Prayer! – September 25, 2011

September 27, 2011

This Sunday, God answered a prayer request that I have been making for some time now. Having taught adult, non-credit guitar classes for several semesters a number of years ago, I have been praying for some time now for another opportunity to teach a guitar class. Although I have made considerable efforts to arrange for such an opportunity, I have not had nearly as much success as I would like to have had.

After I came home from church on Sunday evening, I received a phone call from a pastor of a local Spanish church. He had gotten my number from someone else and called me to ask if I would be interested in meeting with him to consider the possibility of teaching a guitar class for some people in his church.

I met with him yesterday to discuss his burden. It seems that he wants someone to do for his church what I have wanted to do in a ministry context for quite some time now—teach a guitar class for people wanting to use the guitar for ministry!

Praise God that there is a good chance that I will soon get to teach another class to people who want to learn to use the guitar for ministry!

In Testimony

True Hope for the Oppressed!

September 26, 2011

In our world that is filled with horrific oppression, multitudes long for someone to deliver them from their merciless oppressors. Psalm 72 highlights the only true hope for the oppressed:

Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. . . . Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight (72:1-4; 11-14).

A comparison of this Psalm with Isaiah 11 makes clear Who the true hope for the oppressed is:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked (11:1-4).

Praise God that one day all oppression will finally cease! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

In Interpretation

"A Creative Element in Judgment"

September 25, 2011

Whether through the agency of men or not, Yahweh’s judgment is a process which sifts men. It separates the righteous from the wicked and thus makes the ‘remnant’ to appear. This points us to a creative element in judgment. We must not think of it as merely negative and destructive. It has, it is true, negative and punitive aspects. But what emerges as the result of judgment is, so to speak, all clear again. It is the beloved community, and we cannot imagine how this could possibly appear apart from judgment.

Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 23

In Interpretation, Quotes

Barrett on the Canaanites and God's Justice

September 24, 2011

Those that defend the Canaanites as innocent victims of Israeli savagery fail to recognize the theology of extermination. To charge the Old Testament as being sub-Christian because of this divine order to kill all the Canaanites is to deny the holy justice of God. . . . In addition to the manifold evidence of the Old Testament about the heinous sins of these doomed people, the book of Hebrews gives some insight that silences every accusation against God and any defense of the inhabitants of Jericho: they perished because the did not believe (Heb. 11:31). What Rahab heard and believed about the God of Israel all the city heard (see Joshua 2:9-11). What they heard, however, they did not mix with faith. From every perspective they were without excuse before the Lord. . . . God’s judgments are always righteous; no sinner, whether from ancient Jericho or modern America, can claim innocence before the most holy Lord.

—Michael P.V. Barrett, Complete in Him: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Gospel, 277

In Apologetics, Quotes

MacArthur on Preaching the Word

September 23, 2011

     Let’s face it—right now preaching the Word is out of season. Humanity is experiencing God’s wrath as He gives people over to consequences of sinful choices . . . . Society may be feeling this divine abandonment in our age more than ever before. And the decline in preaching in the church can actually contribute to people’s sense of helplessness. . . .
     But the market-driven philosophy currently in vogue says that declaring biblical truth is outmoded. Biblical exposition and theology are seen as antiquated and irrelevant. “Churchgoers don’t want to be preached to anymore,” this philosophy says. “The baby-boom generation won’t just sit in the pew while someone up front preaches. They are products of a media-driven generation, and they need a church experience that will satisfy them on their own terms.”
     But Paul says [2 Tim. 4:2ff.] the excellent minister must be faithful to preach the Word even when it is not in fashion. . . . Paul was speaking of an explosive eagerness to preach, like that of Jeremiah, who said that the Word of God was a fire in his bones. That’s what he was demanding of Timothy. Not reluctance but readiness. Not hesitation but fearlessness. No cool talk but the fire of the Word of God.

—John F. MacArthur, Jr., Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World, 33

In Ministry, Preaching, Quotes

"All Things Bright and Beautiful"

September 22, 2011

Melody, guitar chords, and first stanza for All Things Bright and Beautiful in my format.

In Music

"The Obligation to Excel"

September 21, 2011

A minimum level of education will be required by law. But the youth who is alert to life and wants to be more than a part-time hatrack will not be content with the minimum. For consecration to God carries with it the obligation to excel, not in competition with others, but in competition with oneself. God’s work demands trained minds. You have no right to be mediocre if you are capable of something better. Therefore undertake a program of learning.

—Richard S. Taylor, The Disciplined Life, 87

In Discipleship, Quotes

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