Category Archives: Bible

Jesus, the true and better

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘All the major figures and leaders of the Scriptures point us to Christ’, writes Tim Keller.  Consider the following:-

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Corinthians 15).

Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation (Hebrews 12: 24).

Jesus is the true and better Abraham, who answered the call of God to leave the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not knowing whither he went” to create a new people of God.

…

Christ is Isaac…Jacob…Joseph…

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Tim Keller, in his recent book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in a Sceptical Age, has this fine quote from Calvin, showing how the great characters of the Old Testament point forward, in different ways, to their fulfilment in Christ:-

He [Christ] is Isaac, the beloved Son of the Father who was offered as a sacrifice, but nevertheless did not succumb to the power of death. He is Jacob the watchful shepherd, who has such great care for the sheep which he guards.
…

Preaching the Minor Prophets

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Alison Lo notes that the Minor Prophets resonate strongly with our contemporary church and society, with their themes of ‘social justice, religious corruption, financial impropriety and social and political unrest’.

They offer rich material for the preacher, then, and the following principles will help.  I summarise:-

  1. Consider the historical and cultural context.  Each prophet spoke into a specific situation: sometimes this is indicated by the heading of the book (Hos 1:1; Amos 1:1; Mic 1:1, etc.).
…

Domesticating the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality

Walking With Giants Posted on by

If people don’t like what the Bible teaches, they may try one of a number of strategies designed to blunt its impact.

Applied to the thorny issue of same-sex behaviour, it can work like this:-

  1. ‘The Bible has been misinterpreted’.  Sodom is not about homosexuality, but about inhospitality.  Romans 1 is not about committed, loving same-sex relationships but about exotic and exploitative sexual behaviour.
  2. ‘The Bible is wrong’.  The Scriptures do indeed teach that homosexual behaviour is sinful, but we must work with the Bible’s underlying principles and values, re-applying them to changing times and situations.
…

Heroes and villains

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In his book Jesus on Every Page (54-59), David Murray discusses the pitfalls involved in preaching from Old Testament characters.  Among other things, writes Murray, this approach is

  1. Man-centred – It puts God in the background, when he should be in the foreground.  We should be preaching, not human character traits, but God’s nature, character and will.
  2. Moralistic – It turns the Old Testament into a manual of do’s and don’ts, rather than a revelation of God’s actions.
…

Exodus – Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The account of the ten plagues of Egypt frequently refers to the ‘hardening’ of Pharaoh’s heart.  Because ‘hardness of heart’ suggests to us something to do with the emotions, Goldingay prefers to think of this as ‘the closing of Pharaoh’s mind’.  There are four aspects to this:-

  • Yahweh will close Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 14:4
  • Pharaoh’s mind was closed: Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35
  • Pharaoh closed his mind: Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34
  • Yahweh closed Pharaoh’s mind: Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:8

Alexander refers to the ‘strengthening’ of Pharaoh’s heart. …

Does typology imply fiction?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It is a well-known fact that the New Testament writers often present Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, or as having come in the spirit or tradition of certain Old Testament personages.  It is often inferred from this that stories about who Jesus was and what he did were fictitious accounts, with their sources not in history at all, but in those Old Testament passages.  According to New Testament scholar and historian Dale C.…

2 Tim 3 – Continue in the gospel – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

2 Timothy 3

What kind of church do we want to be?  A gospel church.  Guard the gospel, 1:14.  Suffer for the gospel, 2:3.  Now: continue in the gospel: v14 – ‘but as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of’.

Why? Because ‘there will be terrible times in the last days,’ v1.  The present age, between Christ’s first and second comings.  If Paul was thinking of some far-off future, why would he tell Timothy in v5 to ‘have nothing to do’ with certain trouble-makers? …

Seventy times seven – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 18:21-35

I’ve never yet met a person who didn’t think that forgiveness was a good thing.  Peter certainly thought so.  He just wanted to check what its limits might be.  The rabbis said that one should forgive a person up to three times.  Peter was prepared to more than double the figure: “Up to seven times, Master?”  “Not seven, but seventy times seven,” says Jesus; meaning, of course, one should forgive his brother an unlimited number of times.…