In my second year of college I took a religious course titled “New Testament”. It was a required course at the public institution I was attending. Before the course started I imagined that this class would be nothing more than a good refresher on the New Testament Scriptures.
The Gospel Saves Posts
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” I’ve heard this stated several times over the past few weeks. A lot of people who choose to not believe in God make such demands of believers.
In Jeremiah 18, God sends the prophet to a potter’s house. When Jeremiah arrived, the potter was at his wheel refashioning a ruined piece of clay into a useful vessel.
Solomon began his reign well. When God granted him any request, Solomon asked for wisdom and was given riches, peace, and length of days to boot. He realized his father’s vision by building God’s house in Jerusalem. He expanded Israel’s territory to its farthest extent and accumulated great wealth for God’s people. However, the many wives and concubines he collected for both political and pleasurable ends influenced Solomon’s apostasy. Ecclesiastes briefly chronicles his life apart from God. Solomon states his purpose in 1:3, “What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” Profit or gain is generally a business term that describes what is left over when all the expenses are paid. In Ecclesiastes, it expresses Solomon’s search for meaning, value, or purpose in human existence. “Under the sun” tells us that Solomon searched for these things without involving God. Solomon puts his earlier faith as well as his father’s faith to the test. Is life worth living without God? Can man find happiness or contentment in the world apart from a God worldview?
Some concepts in the Bible are difficult to understand. This one is not. Jesus told his disciples in John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” You believe in Jesus, you love him, so what’s next? Jesus makes it pretty simple – keep his commandments. In our relationship with the Lord he expects the same kind of love that we want in our human relationships. Love that lives. Love that grows. Love that works. Love so pure, so fervent, so focused that it moves us to keep the commandments of Christ. And if our earthly relationships are ample evidence, not all love is like this.
Daniel 7:13-14: “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.”
In recent weeks, I’ve enjoyed reading “The God Who is There” and “Escape from Reason” by Francis Schaeffer. A good brother in Christ recommended the books to me and I am grateful for the recommendation. Schaeffer had a lot of good things to say about the devolution of Western thought that began in the early Renaissance and gained steam in late 18th/early 19th century philosophy.
Psalm 110 is a key Messianic prophecy cited by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews. For our purposes, I would like to examine three aspects of the prophecy over the next three blog posts, if the Lord is willing:
-
The Messiah is the Son of David
-
The Messiah is superior to David
-
The Messiah is a priest