Sunday, April 28, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Missions in the Old Testament?
When is the last time you read the Old Testament prophets? Probably not your favorite place to turn at 5:30am for morning devotions. Oh, sure, there are some passages that we love and have heard preached on from time and time (e.g. Isaiah 9; Jeremiah 31; Micah 5). But if I can speak from my experience, these tend to be some of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand and see how they connect to our lives today. Yet, if we're going to understand Christian missions and Jesus' commission of his disciples then these books are indispensible!
I am currently in the midst of teaching and leading the discussion in the Bethlehem Institute (TBI) course called God's Mission and Christian Missions. This curriculum drives home the idea that Christian missions is our participating in God's mission to glorify himself in all the earth. One striking line from the curriculum this past week states, "Christian missions will never be rightly understood if this God-centered perspective on the goal (and fuel) of missions is not embraced and celebrated." Namely, the perspective that God is ultimate and he is rightly and lovingly seeking worshipers of himself from every tongue and tribe. But how does the Old Testament, particularly some of these seemingly obscure passages in the prophets, help us see that better?
THE INWARD PARADIGM
Many missiologists and Old Testament scholars see a paradigm in the Old Testament that has been title "come and see religion" or "centripetal mission" (i.e. moving inward). This paradigm is illustrated in a number of ways: theologically, geographically, religiously. First, theologically we see that Israel's distinctiveness among all the nations was the presence of their God, Yahweh:
"Keep [these statutes and rules] and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes will say, 'Surely this is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD [Yahweh]? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" (Deut. 4:6–8, ESV)
"And [Moses] said to [Yahweh], 'If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?'" (Exod 33:15–16, ESV)
The presence of God with his people would clearly set them apart from the other nations. Further, as they live faithfully under his rule in the land that he gives them their light will shine brighter. Thus, when nations encounter the nation of Israel faithfully living out God's law they will ascribe to them a sense of "greatness" which will go to the praise and glory of their God.
And this leads us to the second point, geographically we see how Israel was situated to serve as a light to the nations. The land given to them by Yahweh was at the cross-roads of the ancient civilizations. Egypt, Cush, and Arabia to the south, the sea-peoples on their near borders, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia to the north, and the land of Israel right in the middle. To their east was vast tracts of desert which made Canaan a particulalrly good choice for international travel, trade, and diplomacy. Thus, Israel, with God's presence in her midst, was perfectly geographically situated as a light to the nations. And in the midst of their land Yahweh chose a particular place where he said that he would make his presence dwell in a special way.
This leads to the third dimension of the inward paradigm, the temple in Jerusalem, the heart of Israel's religious activity. It was this building that God chose to indwell with his glorious presence and set his name there (see 2 Sam 7:13 & 1 Kings 9:3). It was here that the daily and occasional sacrifices took place. It was here that the people gathered three times a year during the pilgrim festivals. It was here that most faithful Israelites faced while praying (1 Kings 8:48; Jonah 2:4, 7; Daniel 6:10). So, the presence of Yahweh among his people took up special residence in this house called the temple and it became the place where people would go to meet God. Thus, Israel was theologically, geographically, and religiously situated to be a light to the nations and the nations were to come to that light and meet Yahweh.
WHAT HASN'T CHANGED?
This "come and see" reality colors all the Old Testament depictions of missions and salvation. This is one reason it is often very difficult for us, in a New Testament era, to understand these passages. We have to read them from the worldview of the original hearers before transferring them to our time period. Let's just take one example:
"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isa 2:2–3, ESV—see also Isa 60:1–6; Micah 4:1–2 for more examples)
Most Christians can read this and discern that something good is going on in this text and that it refers to the salvation of the nations. The hard part comes when we ask what this looks like today. The language of geography, temple, and law can often we confusing. But now we can understand from the foregoing considerations that Israel was to be a light of what it meant to live God's way, the temple was the place where one met God, and the law (synonymous here with God's word) was his instruction and a symbol of his gracious reign over his people. If this is the case then what Isaiah is doing in reference to the "latter days" (our era) is talking about missions and salvation according to the inward paradigm that he and the people of Israel understood. So, if we can read it this way first it will help when we take the step forward into what this looks like today.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
In these "latter days" after the resurrection of Messiah Jesus we live under an outward missions paradigm. The inward paradigm is still operative to an extent, as we will see shortly, but the activity of God's people takes on a new outward character that was not prominent in the Old Testament era. We can simply recall Jesus' words here, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt 28:19) and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The witnessing and disciple-making activity of God's people has an outward progression to it as we reach for the nations, the end of the earth. Thus, we are a "missionary" people having been sent out by our risen Lord.
So, if we are to be taking the gospel to the nations (the outward paradigm, centrifugal missions), how is the inward paradigm still operative? Or, to say it another way, how do we understand today the Old Testament pictures of missions that only talk about "coming in" to a place like Jerusalem or the temple?
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that Israel and the Temple pointed to about missions and salvation. In a very real sense these Old Testament types were meant to point forward to Jesus. If "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), then Jesus is that salvation (John 4:25–26; cf. Rom 9:4–5). Yeshua, his Hebrew name, means "salvation" (Matt 1:21) and he comes into this world as the perfect Israelite who will bring salvation blessings to all nations (cf. Gen 12:1–3). All the Gospel writers labor to show us this in portraying Jesus as the "Son." Israel, and particularly the Davidic King, was the Son of God in the Old Testament (Exod 4:22–23; Deut 8:5; 2 Sam 7:14; Psa 2:7).
Matthew, for example, opens tracing the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham through David. He is born of a virgin (think Gen 3:15) in Bethlehem (the city of David) and magi from pagan nations come to worship him. Then his family flees to Egypt and Matthew quotes Hos 11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matt 2:15). This refers to the people of Israel in its original context but here is brought to bear on Jesus, the son of God. Then, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry we get the brilliant declaration, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17; cf. 17:5). After this declaration Jesus is led into the wilderness where he fights temptation quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, the book written as Israel wandered in the wilderness being tested. Jesus is Israel and Jesus is the temple (Matt 26:61; cf. John 2:19–21), the place where people meet God.
We could follow a similar examination for all the Gospels but at this point it is more important to see how this connects to the issue of the inward missions paradigm still being operative in the outward missions movement of the New Testament. Jesus sends out his people as witnessing disciple-makers who call the nations to come in and meet God. Because Jesus is the very radiance of the glory of God (Heb 1:3) the nations come in to the temple where they will see this glory. So, the language that Isaiah used of the nations "flowing to the mountain of God" finds its fulfillment in the nations coming to faith in Jesus. This connection happens as the church moves outward in its missionary work to bring in the harvest.
CONCLUSION
As you read your Old Testament and you encounter missionary language about the nations coming into Israel, into Jerusalem, into the Temple, understand it according to their paradigm. Encountering Israel and coming into the Temple was how people would meet God. But now we have been sent out by the risen Messiah to call people into the Temple of his Body where they will meet God and find the light of salvation. Isaiah records the words of Yahweh regarding the Messiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa 49:6). Now we go out to call the nations in to this light.
I am currently in the midst of teaching and leading the discussion in the Bethlehem Institute (TBI) course called God's Mission and Christian Missions. This curriculum drives home the idea that Christian missions is our participating in God's mission to glorify himself in all the earth. One striking line from the curriculum this past week states, "Christian missions will never be rightly understood if this God-centered perspective on the goal (and fuel) of missions is not embraced and celebrated." Namely, the perspective that God is ultimate and he is rightly and lovingly seeking worshipers of himself from every tongue and tribe. But how does the Old Testament, particularly some of these seemingly obscure passages in the prophets, help us see that better?
THE INWARD PARADIGM
Many missiologists and Old Testament scholars see a paradigm in the Old Testament that has been title "come and see religion" or "centripetal mission" (i.e. moving inward). This paradigm is illustrated in a number of ways: theologically, geographically, religiously. First, theologically we see that Israel's distinctiveness among all the nations was the presence of their God, Yahweh:
"Keep [these statutes and rules] and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes will say, 'Surely this is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD [Yahweh]? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" (Deut. 4:6–8, ESV)
"And [Moses] said to [Yahweh], 'If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?'" (Exod 33:15–16, ESV)
The presence of God with his people would clearly set them apart from the other nations. Further, as they live faithfully under his rule in the land that he gives them their light will shine brighter. Thus, when nations encounter the nation of Israel faithfully living out God's law they will ascribe to them a sense of "greatness" which will go to the praise and glory of their God.
And this leads us to the second point, geographically we see how Israel was situated to serve as a light to the nations. The land given to them by Yahweh was at the cross-roads of the ancient civilizations. Egypt, Cush, and Arabia to the south, the sea-peoples on their near borders, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia to the north, and the land of Israel right in the middle. To their east was vast tracts of desert which made Canaan a particulalrly good choice for international travel, trade, and diplomacy. Thus, Israel, with God's presence in her midst, was perfectly geographically situated as a light to the nations. And in the midst of their land Yahweh chose a particular place where he said that he would make his presence dwell in a special way.
This leads to the third dimension of the inward paradigm, the temple in Jerusalem, the heart of Israel's religious activity. It was this building that God chose to indwell with his glorious presence and set his name there (see 2 Sam 7:13 & 1 Kings 9:3). It was here that the daily and occasional sacrifices took place. It was here that the people gathered three times a year during the pilgrim festivals. It was here that most faithful Israelites faced while praying (1 Kings 8:48; Jonah 2:4, 7; Daniel 6:10). So, the presence of Yahweh among his people took up special residence in this house called the temple and it became the place where people would go to meet God. Thus, Israel was theologically, geographically, and religiously situated to be a light to the nations and the nations were to come to that light and meet Yahweh.
WHAT HASN'T CHANGED?
This "come and see" reality colors all the Old Testament depictions of missions and salvation. This is one reason it is often very difficult for us, in a New Testament era, to understand these passages. We have to read them from the worldview of the original hearers before transferring them to our time period. Let's just take one example:
"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isa 2:2–3, ESV—see also Isa 60:1–6; Micah 4:1–2 for more examples)
Most Christians can read this and discern that something good is going on in this text and that it refers to the salvation of the nations. The hard part comes when we ask what this looks like today. The language of geography, temple, and law can often we confusing. But now we can understand from the foregoing considerations that Israel was to be a light of what it meant to live God's way, the temple was the place where one met God, and the law (synonymous here with God's word) was his instruction and a symbol of his gracious reign over his people. If this is the case then what Isaiah is doing in reference to the "latter days" (our era) is talking about missions and salvation according to the inward paradigm that he and the people of Israel understood. So, if we can read it this way first it will help when we take the step forward into what this looks like today.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
In these "latter days" after the resurrection of Messiah Jesus we live under an outward missions paradigm. The inward paradigm is still operative to an extent, as we will see shortly, but the activity of God's people takes on a new outward character that was not prominent in the Old Testament era. We can simply recall Jesus' words here, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt 28:19) and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The witnessing and disciple-making activity of God's people has an outward progression to it as we reach for the nations, the end of the earth. Thus, we are a "missionary" people having been sent out by our risen Lord.
So, if we are to be taking the gospel to the nations (the outward paradigm, centrifugal missions), how is the inward paradigm still operative? Or, to say it another way, how do we understand today the Old Testament pictures of missions that only talk about "coming in" to a place like Jerusalem or the temple?
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that Israel and the Temple pointed to about missions and salvation. In a very real sense these Old Testament types were meant to point forward to Jesus. If "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), then Jesus is that salvation (John 4:25–26; cf. Rom 9:4–5). Yeshua, his Hebrew name, means "salvation" (Matt 1:21) and he comes into this world as the perfect Israelite who will bring salvation blessings to all nations (cf. Gen 12:1–3). All the Gospel writers labor to show us this in portraying Jesus as the "Son." Israel, and particularly the Davidic King, was the Son of God in the Old Testament (Exod 4:22–23; Deut 8:5; 2 Sam 7:14; Psa 2:7).
Matthew, for example, opens tracing the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham through David. He is born of a virgin (think Gen 3:15) in Bethlehem (the city of David) and magi from pagan nations come to worship him. Then his family flees to Egypt and Matthew quotes Hos 11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matt 2:15). This refers to the people of Israel in its original context but here is brought to bear on Jesus, the son of God. Then, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry we get the brilliant declaration, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17; cf. 17:5). After this declaration Jesus is led into the wilderness where he fights temptation quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, the book written as Israel wandered in the wilderness being tested. Jesus is Israel and Jesus is the temple (Matt 26:61; cf. John 2:19–21), the place where people meet God.
We could follow a similar examination for all the Gospels but at this point it is more important to see how this connects to the issue of the inward missions paradigm still being operative in the outward missions movement of the New Testament. Jesus sends out his people as witnessing disciple-makers who call the nations to come in and meet God. Because Jesus is the very radiance of the glory of God (Heb 1:3) the nations come in to the temple where they will see this glory. So, the language that Isaiah used of the nations "flowing to the mountain of God" finds its fulfillment in the nations coming to faith in Jesus. This connection happens as the church moves outward in its missionary work to bring in the harvest.
CONCLUSION
As you read your Old Testament and you encounter missionary language about the nations coming into Israel, into Jerusalem, into the Temple, understand it according to their paradigm. Encountering Israel and coming into the Temple was how people would meet God. But now we have been sent out by the risen Messiah to call people into the Temple of his Body where they will meet God and find the light of salvation. Isaiah records the words of Yahweh regarding the Messiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa 49:6). Now we go out to call the nations in to this light.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Learn Some Greek!
Ever wonder what its been like since I've transitioned to trying to learn Biblical Greek and Hebrew like living languages? You can see part of the curriculum right here...
See more HERE
See more HERE
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