Titus Victory Arch

Here are some pictures from Titus' victory arch commemorating the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when the Temple was destroyed.  One of the panel's features Roman Soldier's carrying objects from the Temple.  You can clearly see the menorah.

No Small Group

There will be no small group on Sunday, December 1st so we can all sleep off those turkey comas.

Week 25 Prayer Requests

1.  Aaron's knee

2.  Beth's Sister-in-law Trish.  Will have to have chemotherapy before having surgery as planned.

3.  Samantha from KNO.  She will have to have occupational therapy and that may be in Raleigh.

4.  Brant's friend's Darin's mother is recovering from a stroke.  

Week 25 Tabernacle

Names of the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:9          mishkan - dwelling

Leviticus 17:4        mishkan YHWH - dwelling of the Lord

Exodus 38:21 mishkan haedot tabernacle of the testimony - tablets of covenant, emphasizes covenant relationship

Exodus 28:43 ohel moed, dwelling of meeting or assembly.  who is meeting?  God is meeting with his people.  

Exodus 29:42-43 God will meet with his people

Q. What do they have in common?

-  All focus on the presence of God among His people.   

Exodus 25:8 mishdot, sanctuary, holy place

Exodus 38:24   quodesh, holy place

Exodus 34:26 house of YHWH

Q.  What do these have in common?

-  All focus on holiness of God, man cannot come into the presence of a holy God.  

-  The separateness of God is highlighted.

-  There is a tension between these names.  There is nearness and distance.  On one hand their is condescension and on the other there is a separateness highlighted by the walls, fences, and curtains.  Only the priests can enter the sanctuary and only the high priest can enter the holy of holies and then only on the Day of Atonement.  

Q.  Why does this contradiction exist?

-  God’s holiness and man’s sin.

-  Yet God still condescends and creates a system that through sacrifices and a mediator, the people can come into the presence of God.

Q. According to Exodus 19:6, Israel was supposed to be a kingdom of priests.  Why were the Levites set aside as priests?

-  During the golden calf episode, all of the Israelites rebelled except the Levites. 

-  The point is to communicate that the relationship between God and man is broken and requires a mediator.  

Point of tabernacle is God’s presence 

Q.  Why do you think God chose a tent to dwell in during the wilderness wanderings?

-  God identifies with his people in their situation.

-  Anticipation of incarnation

Hebrews 8:5-6

 -  These verses tell us the tabernacle is a copy of heavenly reality.  Work of tabernacle ultimately fulfilled in Christ.  

Hebrews 10:19-20

New and living way verse in Hebrews

This is why we can now approach boldly unlike the way for the Israelites.  The Israelites could approach God but it was guarded and indirect.  Christ breaks the tension that existed in the tabernacle between God’s desire to dwell with His people and God’s holiness.  

Q.  How is Christ prefigured in tabernacle?  Christ says that He is the temple in what way is that true?

- Priest - Christ intercedes for us and allows us to approach God

- Atonement - Points to the cross and the sacrifice of Christ that atones once and for all

for sin

- Presence of God - Christ is the incarnation of God.  

-  This is how Christ can claim that He is the temple.  

4.  Symbolism

-  Altar and laver  - go together, signify sacrifice and cleansing.  represent atonement 

and washing from sin.  cleansing is based upon atonement.  baptism is based 

upon sacrifice of Christ.  in order to enter into the place of God’s presence 

because sin creates a barrier and there must be atonement.

-  Bread of the presence - literally the bread of the face of God.  bread represents a

meal and fellowship.  eating a meal together was a sign of close fellowship

and a relationship with each other.  

you can see the relationship with the Lord’s supper because after one 

has been atoned and cleansed through baptism, they enter into fellowship

with Christ.  

there were 12 loaves of bread symbolizes the 12 tribes of Israel.  all of God’s 

people were included.  there is probably some significance to the fact that

after Jesus fed the 5000 there were 12 baskets left over.  Jesus is providing

His people fellowship with God.  

-  Menorah - made of solid goal with flames burning.  maybe it had some connection

with the pillar of fire and glory cloud that accompanied Israel.  Represented 

God’s presence.  Revelation talks about the 7 candlesticks for the 7 churches

and calls them the spirit of God, so this is a representation of the Holy Spirit. 

-  Incense  - placed right before the veil separating the holy place from the holy of

holies.  receives the worship of his people, but because of the atonement

and fellowship, God receives the worship of His people.  Our worship becomes

a pleasant smelling aroma.  Noah’s sacrifice.  

-  Mercy Seat -  A better translation would be the “atonement cover” it was on top of the 

Ark and had two golden cherubim on top of it.  Romans 3:25, propitiation is the 

Greek word for atonement.  So in the Greek translation this would read 

propitiation cover.  In Genesis 3 the cherubim guarded the way to the tree of life.  

The tabernacle seems to make 3 points:

Presence 

Separation

Atonement

If we think the point of the tabernacle was for God to communicate something bigger to the Israelites using the symbolism of the tabernacle, then what was God trying to communicate?

Use N.T. Wright’s world view scheme.  We can construct a worldview of a culture by examining that culture’s  praxis and symbol  and determine how that culture would answer the basic questions of human existence:

    1. Who are we?  We are God’s people

    2. Where are we?  We are in God presence

3.  What is wrong? We are sinful and God is holy

4.  What is the solution? Atonement

We said the 3 big themes of the tabernacle were presence, separation, and atonement.  We can really say that presence is the main them with separation and the need for atonement a consequence of God’s presence.  

- The passage we read is about the glory of God entering into the tabernacle.  Its God’s presence that gives the tabernacle its significance.  

-  Later we see the same scene repeated at the dedication of Solomon’s temple.  

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where YHWH made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.  And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of YHWH, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH.

1 Kings 8:9-11

Q.  Does anyone have an answer to the wheels in Ezekiel 1

-  Ezekiel 9-11 pictures the glory of YHWH leaving the temple in various stages and finally departing at the Mount of Olives.  

-  However, even though the presence of YHWH leaves the temple and Jerusalem is about be utterly destroyed by the Babylonians, Ezekiel says something really interesting.

Therefore says, “Thus says YHWH God: Though I will remove them far off among the nations, and though I will scatter them among the countries, yet I will be a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.”

-  God’s presence has left the temple but not His people.  After this verse, Ezekiel writes about a new spirit and a new heart God will give His people.  

-  A new temple is built 66 years later, but here is the reaction to it:

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shout aloud for joy.

Ezra 3:12

Q.  Why did the people weep?

-  The glory of the Lord did not return.  We have no scene like we do in Exodus 40 or 1 Kings 8.  

-  Haggai, who was the prophet who instigates rebuilding of the temple, says this

Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?  How do you see it now?  Is it not as nothing in your eyes?  …

According to the covenant the I made with you when you came out of Egypt.  My Spirit remains in your midst.  Fear not.  For thus says YHWH of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.  And I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all nations will come in, and I will fill this house with glory says YHWH of hosts.”

Haggai 2:3-7

Zechariah and Malachi will also talk about the glory of YHWH returning to the temple.  

John 1:14 tell us that the glory of YHWH does return when the word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we have seen the glory, glory as of the only son of the Father.  

Luke has Jesus coming to the Mount Olives during the triumphal entry.  Jesus then goes to the temple and announces judgment  on it.  He prays in the garden at the base of the Mount of Olives and finally enters Jerusalem only to be arrested, tried and crucified.  Later it will be from the Mount of Olives where General Titus and the Roman Xth legion will set up camp and eventually destroy Jerusalem.  To this day Titus’ Arch commemorates this battle and you can clearly see a Roman soldier carrying the Menorah.

Jesus has replaced the Temple because He is the glory of YHWH and fulfills everything the tabernacle and temple were meant to represent - God’s presence.  Jesus through the atonement solves the problem of God’s desire to be with His people but the separateness as a result of their sin.   

Acts 2:2-4

Week 24 Homework

Remember we will not be meeting on November 17th.  Next week we will look at the tabernacle.

Read Exodus 40:34-38 in preparation.

Week 24 Prayer Requests

1.  Cade (Lundberg's nephew) is at Duke to try to determine if seizures can be controlled by brain surgery.  Pray especially for the family who is going to have a difficult time being back at Duke.

2.  Brant's friend Darren's mom who had a stroke.

3.  Samantha from KNO who is still at Duke with complications from her stent.

4.  Joan is traveling all next week and may have to encounter some bad weather in the mountains.

5.  Allison Blake is trying to decide if she should take some work in Richmond that could be potentially lucrative but it also 2.5 hours away from her family.  She desires wisdom to make the right decision.

6.  The Benfield's friend Jim Cropp is having open heart surgery today.

Week 24 The Mosaic Covenant

Exodus 24:1-8

Review of Covenants

-  Covenants are oaths divinely administered.  God or gods ultimately responsible for enforcement of covenant

-  Different types:

  1.  Suzerain-Vassal covenants - The vassal performs certain duties for the suzerain.  In   

   return the suzerain provides protection for the vassal.

  2.  Royal Grant covenant - The suzerain grants the vassal something as a gift.

Parts of a Covenant

   1.  Preamble - Identifies the suzerain

   2.  Historical Prologue - Gives a history of the relationship between the suzerain and vassal.  Establishes motivation for obedience.  

   3.  Stipulation - The requirements of the vassal

   4.  Sanctions  - The rewards and penalties of following or not following the stipulations.

   5.  Documentary Clause -  Directions for where covenant was placed.  

   6.  Ratification Oath - The vassal binds himself to keep all the stipulations.  Often

involved ritual sacrifice.

-  Law is not just a list of rules like a legal code, it is a covenant:

1.  Laws are given to a particular group of people

2.  Sanctions based on performance of stipulations

Q.  What does this mean for how me apply the covenant today?

-  Lets see how this fits in with other covenants we have studied.

Q.  The first covenant we studied was the covenant with Adam.  What were the terms of the Adamic covenant?

-  Adam would tend and keep the garden, be fruitful and multiply, and not eat of the forbidden fruit.  He and his descendants as God’s images, would develop the kingdom given to them by God, the earth.  Just as God had worked to create the universe, man would develop the earth and enter into Sabbath rest along with God enjoying His presence and access to the tree of life.  This covenant is a works covenant similar to the suzerain-vassal treaties.

-  This covenant man broke and so God could have thrown up his hands and given up but instead he establishes a remedial covenant.  It is promised first in Genesis 3:15 and sketched out more fully in the covenant made with Abraham.  So this is a covenant of redemption.  This is a promissory covenant and similar to the royal grant covenants.  

-  This covenant of redemption is established between the seed and His people.  It continues through the covenant with Abraham and through the New Covenant and Christ until the present age.

-  The covenant of redemption is based on the principle of grace.  All that is required is to put your faith in Christ if you are a New testament believer or in the seed or messiah to come if you are an Old Testament saint. 
-  Looking at salvation from a covenantal standpoint, we are submitting ourselves to Christ and trusting in Him to be the obedient vassal who will, as the second Adam, complete the task given to Adam and thus obtain the offered Sabbath rest and access to the tree of life.  

-  God’s kingdom does is in effect earned, it is earned through works, but it is Christ who completes the work.  We gain the benefit of Christ’s work by submitting ourselves to Him and putting our faith in Him as God’s vassal rather than standing before God ourselves as God’s vassals.  

-  This is the first step in understanding why God gives us the law and something like the Mosaic covenant.  We must understand that salvation can only be obtained by grace, however it is also earned through Christ’s work. 

Q. Is the Mosaic Covenant a Suzerain-Vassal Covenant of a Royal Grant Covenant?

-  It has always been controversial to assign a category to the Mosaic covenant.  It seems works based but there are aspects that point to Jesus like the sacrificial system.  Also because of the fall man’s sinfulness prevents him from having the ability to earn salvation.

Q.    Adam at least had the ability not to sin, why would God assign a covenant where the terms were impossible to keep?  

-  In response, some theologians assign it as another administration of the covenant of grace and make it a promissory covenant.  

Q.  What happens if you decided that the Mosaic Covenant is a Royal-Grant Covenant?

However, there are a lot of mental gymnastics to make the Mosaic covenant fit into this category and they do not seem to be very satisfying.  You also have to ignore a lot of what Paul says about the contrast between law and grace.

-  There is also the problem of the point of a promissory covenant.  The point of a promissory covenant is that the blessing is guaranteed.  However, what was the blessing of the Mosaic covenant?  The blessing of the Mosaic covenant was continued existence in the promised land.  What ultimately happened to the people under the Mosaic covenant?  Israel was exiled specifically because they did not follow the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant.  

Q.  If the Mosaic covenant is a promissory covenant, what does Israel’s exile mean?  

-  It means that those under the terms of the New Covenant can lose their promised blessing.  However, we know there is no condemnation for those under Christ.  

-  The O.T. also uses the image of divorce.  The prophets condemn the Israelites for their infidelity comparing Israel to a prostitute until God issues a bill of divorce.  The bill of divorce results in the exile.

-  However, the church as Christ’s bride, can never be divorced from Christ.  There is something fundamentally different between these two covenants.  To try to make them the same creates more problems than it solves.  

-  Leviticus 18:5, the principle of “do this and live” 

-  The blessings and the curses shouted at Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal

-  It makes more sense to think of the Mosaic covenant as a suzerain-vassal covenant operating under a works principle. 

-  The key is who takes the oath.  Under the Mosaic covenant it is the people who take the oath.  Yet they are unable to keep the stipulations and so they cannot benefit from the blessings and instead are subject to the curses.  That is why Paul saws the law is a curse.

Republication

-  There are striking similarities between the Mosaic covenant and the covenant with Adam.  

-  Both Adam and the Israelites are given a land and a mission and rules.  The land of milk and honey looks back to the abundance of the garden in Eden.

-  Both Adam and the Israelites were promised blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.  The penalty for disobedience was exile which represented separation from the presence of God and death.  

-  There is a difference though.  Adam’s disobedience led to actual death.  The penalties of the Mosaic covenant deal with continued existence in the land of Israel and not questions of eternal salvation and damnation.  

Leviticus 26:3-13

-  The Mosaic covenant is only a picture, it is a type and shadow of reality.  

-  For example Daniel suffers the penalty of exile.  He spends his whole life after he is taken away as a child in Babylon.  However, few would doubt that his eternal salvation is secured because of his faith in God.  

-  Daniel suffers the picture of death and exile but not the reality.   

-  At the same time, certain aspects of the Mosaic covenant still present grace in type and shadow that point toward Christ.

Q.  What are some examples of this?

1.  Priesthood

2.  Sacrificial System

-  These two things allow us to draw near to God.  Ultimately that is God’s purpose in the covenant - we would be His people and He would be our God.  

-  On one hand the Mosaic covenant looks back to the covenant with Adam, but also looks ahead to the New Covenant.

-  The Mosaic Covenant does not annul the covenant of grace that begins with the promise in Genesis 3:15 and comes to fullness in Abraham.  The Mosaic covenant is rather built on top like an overlay.  

1.  Jeremiah 31:31-33 - Shows contrast between Old Covenant and New Covenant.  Note that this passage specifically describes the old covenant as the one made when Israel was led out of Egypt.  Later when Jesus introduces the Lord’s Supper, He says that the wine is the blood of the New Covenant referring to this passage.

Q.  What is the basic difference between these two covenants? 

-  The new covenant cannot be broken

2.  Romans 10:4-10 - Moses taught both works and truth. Levitcus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 30.  Grace principle was not suspended during the time of the Mosaic covenant.  Paul is actually quoting from a section in Deuteronomy that introduces the New Covenant for the first time.

-  We see this in the ministry of the prophets.  The prophets spent a lot of time condemning Israel for their failure to live out the Mosaic Covenant.  However, these same prophets also proclaimed a new covenant, return from exile, restoration and renewal.

So if the Mosaic Covenant is doomed to failure and Christ and the New Covenant are ultimately superior, what is the point of the Mosaic Covenant?

1.  Communicates the righteousness and holiness that is needed to earn entrance into the kingdom of Heaven.  Heaven must be earned.  It comes at a cost.  The unrighteous do not have a right to the kingdom.  

2.  Law is a pedagog.  A pedagog is not a teacher or a didaskalos.  A pedagog was a slave who beat the child to get him to go to school and do his work.  It drives us to Christ by showing our inability to keep the law.  

3.  Gives us context so we can understand Christ’s work.  Galatians 4:4-5

Dates for Small Group

We will be meeting at our regularly scheduled time on November 10th.  However, I will be returning from a conference in Asheville on November 17th so we will not meet that date.  I plan on having small group November 24th but taking a break for the Sunday after Thanksgiving, December 1st.  So this is my plan as of today:

November 10th - Small Group
November 17th - No Small Group
November 24th - Small Group
December 1st    - No Small Group

Week 22 Homework

Read Exodus 24:1-8

We will examine the Mosaic covenant and try to figure out what we do with today.

Week 22 Prayer Requests

1.  Beth's nephew Cade.  Cade is returning to Duke where the doctors will discontinue his seizure medication and monitor him to see where the seizures are coming from.  It will be very difficult for his parents to return to the place they spent 99 days with him during his original bout with encephalitis.  

2.  The Blake's nephew Colin who is recovering from an ankle injury.  

3.  Samantha from KNO who had to have her shunt removed and may have MRSA.

4.  Grace Hill Church

5.  Resurrection Church

Week 22 The Feast of Passover?

Week 22 The Feast of Cover Over

Exodus 12:12-27

-  The common view of the passover is that God sends the angel of death to Egypt and when when the angel sees blood on the doorposts he passes over that house but if he does not see blood on the doorposts he will kill the firstborn male of that house.  

-  This view is incorrect because of a bad translation.  We are going to examine this passage more throughly and play literary detective to try to develop a better view of the passover.  

Two Figures

-  The first step to figuring out what is going on is to read the text closely to see who is actually carrying out the passover.

-  In 12:12 we are told that YHWH is going to pass over the land of Egypt.  So God is ultimately the person who brings about this judgment.

-  However, we read in verse 12:23 that it is this person called the destroyer who actually enters the home and kills the first born.

-  The destroyer is an angelic agent of YHWH who carries out the execution sentence.  Since he is under the command of YHWH he is also identified with YHWH.  

-  It is very common for angels to be both distinguished from God and identified with God.  

Two Actions, Two Verbs

-  The Destroyer is the one who passes through or over the land of Egypt.

-  The word used to describe the action of the Destroyer is abar and pass over is a perfect acceptable translation.  Its used all throughout the Bible and this is exactly what it means.

-  However, in verse 23 there is another verb that is translated as passover called pasach.

-   This verb is rarely used in the Old Testament.  While it is typically translated pass over it is almost certainly incorrect.  

-  So far we have the following picture: YHWH sends the Destroyer to pass over the land of Egypt.  However, YHWH also pasach the doors of the houses with blood on them and does not allow the Destroyer to enter.  This action of pasach results in the sparing of the blood marked Israelite homes from the curse of the tenth plague.

-  So in order to figure out what YHWH is doing we need to determine the meaning of pasach.

Meaning of Pasach

-  How can we figure out the meaning of this word?  

Context

-  We cannot determine a whole lot from the context but is there anything we can tell?

-  Pasach is clearly the action of YHWH.  So we know its something YHWH does.  However, the pasach action is performed on the door.  

-  Pasach cannot then mean simply to skip the house or go around the house.  It seems to be a deterrent a shielding action.  

Q.  What else can we do to determine the meaning of pasach?

Other Verse that use Pasach

1.  I Kings 18:21

And Elijah came near all the people and said, “How long will you go pasaching between two different limbs?  If YHWH is God, follow him; but if Ba’al, then follow him.”

Q. What do you think pasach means in the context of this verse?

-  This verse is from the story where Elijah confronts the priests of Ba’al and sets up the two altars at Mt. Carmel in a contest to see which one would burn up the sacrifice.  

-  Elijah confronts the Israelites over their indecisiveness.  

- This verse uses pasach in the sense of a bird hovering and asks Israel whether they will serve Ba’al or YHWH and pictures them as like a bird hovering trying to decide what branch it will land on.  

-  So once again we have this bird imagery associated with pasach of hovering.  

1.  Isaiah 31:5  

Like birds hovering, so YHWH of hosts 

will protect Jerusalem;

He will protect and deliver it;

He will pasach and rescue it.”

Q.  What do you think pasach means in the context of this verse?

-  The verse talks about YHWH protecting and rescuing Jerusalem.  Pasach seems to have a sheltering action.  

-  In Hebrew poetry uses parallelism where the words of two or more lines of text are related. 

Psalms 24:1-2

The earth is YHWH’s and the fullness thereof

The world and those who dwell in

For he has founded it on the seas

and established it upon the rivers

Genesis 4:23

Adah and Zillah hear my voice

You wives of Lamech listen to what i say

Q.  So how can we use parallelism to help us translate a word?  

-  This verse happens to be poetry so we can use that technique here.

-  The parallel verb is ganan which is usually translated cover or shield.  

-  So our inference from the context agrees with the parallelism that pasach means shield or cover.

-  Cover is also set parallel to another verb above where it is parallel to sup which means to hover.  

-  The metaphor is of a mother bird fluttering or hovering and protecting her nest - so just like in the 1 Kings passage we have bird imagery.  

-  The picture here is that YHWH will protect Jerusalem by shielding and covering her the way a mother bird protects her nest.  

The True Story

-  Now that we understand the meaning of pasach we can understand the picture Exodus 12 is trying to paint.

-  The Destroyer does not simply skip over the houses with blood stained door.  The Destroyer comes through the land of Egypt and YHWH pasachs the blood stained doors which means He protects and shields the houses like a mother bird protects her nest.

Q.  What is YHWH protecting them from?

-  The Destroyer. The point is unless YHWH barred the door, the Destroyer would enter in the house and kill the first born children.  The blood is not what protects the house but YHWH Himself.  YHWH protects the people from YHWH’s judgment.  

Q.  Why does YHWH do this?

-  YHWH does this because they are His people.

Q.  Why are they His people?

-  Because YHWH made a covenant with Abraham that He would bless Him and that all the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham.

The Lamb

-  The lamb is described as the pasach lamb in verse 21 and 27.  

-  The Hebrews were ordered to kill the lamb.  The verb for kill used here is sahat and is the same word used for the destroyer, he is the sahater.

Q.  What does the use of the word for both the action performed on the lamb as well as the destroyer who carries out the execution of the first born mean? 

-   In other words the Hebrew are to destroy the lamb just as the destroyer destroys the Hebrew first born.

-   The death of the lamb is equated with the death of the Egyptian first born.  

-   So the lamb represents the death-judgment inflicted by YHWH.

-  However, it is called the paschal lamb and as we have established paschal refers to the protective shielding of YHWH.  

-  So this lamb represents both God’s judgment as well as God’s protection. What does that sound like?   Is that not the gospel of justification by grace?

-  Once we realize the lamb points to Christ then we understand how the paschal lamb can represent both.  

-  Yet this is the nature of YHWH.  When Moses asks YHWH to show His glory and what Moses see is described in Exodus 34:6-7

YHWH passed before him and proclaimed, “YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will be no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.” 

-  YHWH to is characterized by judgment as well as grace and forgiveness.