Historical Context to Prophecy

Not all prophesy, like Hosea, has future (to us) content. Most of it is commentary on the historical situation of the day that the prophet wrote in. Hosea mostly refers to the Assyrian captivity - past history to us but present and future to Hosea. Thus, most of this is just that, history. Hosea 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 all have references to the assyrian captivity - a historical event.

Some prophesies were appropriated by the apostles as part of their understanding of what happened in Jesus. As an example:

Rom 9:25 As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

God's Promises to Israel

Acts 2 is taken by Peter as the fulfillment to the regathering of the scattered children of Israel from among the nations. A remnant remained faithful of those who had been scattered among the nations came to Christ at the ingathering of the day of Pentecost. As Peter said:

Act 2:9-11 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

That’s a good representation of all of the nations and includes both ethnic Jews and converts from among the other nations. They were told to gather for the yearly festivals in Israel. God provided a means of bringing them the Gospel so that they might believe in the One who was the fulfillment of all of the OT promises.

Act 2:17-18 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:…

God's Promises to David

Can’t talk about the Kingdom of God without talking about the one on the throne, Jesus.

The Hosea 3:5 passage speaks of the promises to David. The Apostles explain how these are fulfilled in Jesus in Acts 2:29-36. They key passage in the middle of the text is:

Act 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

Peter’s argument is that David himself (being dead) isn’t the fulfillment of these sorts of OT passages, but Jesus is the fulfillment.

How do I deal with the passages which say that David will sit on the throne? The same way that the Apostle Peter dealt with it. David sits on his throne today, through his legitimate heir, Jesus, the son (descendant) of David. When the Bible speaks of the house of David (as well as archaeology), they mean the heir of the house. We see a very explicit reference to this in many places, such as:

Luk 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

The OT has many other such passages which were a promise of the Messiah:

Zec 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

Ethnic Advantages to Israel

The Apostles seem to be making the point that there never really was an ethnic advantage for Israel. In fact, if you take something too casually you tend to lose sight of what really matters. Jesus made the same point.

Luke 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

And:

John 8:39-40 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

How many of the children in the church today take the Gospel the same way? They take for granted the grace under which they have been raised.

Along a similar line, on the influence of the Gospel in our broken world. It seems to me quite hard to make a judgment on the power (or lack of influence) of the Gospel ourselves in the midst of our culture. As fallen as it is, there’s still an incredible amount of persistent power.

I was watching a history channel on the ancient Celts this AM. Showed their human sacrifices (BC) which we tend to think of as not something our ancestors would have done. Pre-Gospel they were as fallen as the rest of the world.

Today, there is a restraint on evil even now that we can’t recognize because we have little to contrast it to. Perhaps spending some time in a pagan part of the world would do us all good?

The PP and the Eastern Orthodox Church

The PP has had a discussion about the Eastern Orthodox Church going on for a couple of days. Reading the PP's comments about the Orthodox Church are humorous, but surely not in an intended way. To see him compare what the Church believes to what he believes as if he is the measure of truth cracks me up. The PP is part of a particular branch of Protestantism, namely, the Reformed Baptist.

Reformed Baptists
There are some prominent Reformed Baptists out there such as zealot James White, of Alpha Omega Ministries. They take Calvinism and combine it with Baptist theology. You might ask how is that even possible? Well, it's certainly an eclectic mix. They toss out Calvin when it comes to sacraments, like infant baptism and follow Anabaptist traditions in that area baptizing people only after making confessions of faith. In the end they necessarily shred Calvin's Covenant Theology which supported his infant baptism views. Yet they hang onto the Calvinistic/Lutheran (as in Luther not Lutheran) ideas about strict predestination even to the point of believing God preselected people to go to Hell.

In the end they are like Grapenuts, neither grape nor nuts. Or maybe just nuts, who knows?

Phoenix Preacher's Pronouncements

Here's the latest gem from the Phoenix Preacher:

The doctrine of justification by faith is the foundation of the church.

Think about that statement. Justification by faith is the foundation of the church, the PP claims. No wonder the critics say Calvinists tie up their view of Calvinism and make it the same as the Gospel. All you have to do is read one to see what they write!

The PP could do well to read the old song, "The Church's One Foundation" or the scripture passage it comes from.

1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.
1Co 3:11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Leaving CC and Quitting Smoking

Some of the posters on the PP blog have taken to wondering on what basis someone who has left CC has a right to still complain about CC. Of course we know that there's a cone of silence for those inside the movement which prevents them from blabbing to the outside world about the downfalls but what about those who have left? In leaving CC did they give up their right to speak about CC's failures?

To me it is analogous to quitting smoking. It's said that the worst anti-smokers are those who are former smokers themselves because they are always preaching to their friends who are still smoking. But hey, I ask, who is more appropriate than a former smoker to do that sort of preaching?

Who is the one bothered by the reformed smoker than the one who is still smoking? To the non-smoker it is just preaching to the choir.

What offends CCites the most about former CCites is that those who left demonstrate it is possible to leave CC and find another place of true Christian fellowship.