Baptism, Communion, and the Covenants - WordMp3.com River (1 Chr. 9:1; ... Simon the Sorcerer Lydia and household ... “against the altar” (vs. 2). OPC 1988 Peace Offering Meals

Session 3Baptism, Communion,

and the Covenants

Covenantal Inclusion in Baptism and Communion available in digital form at www.WordMp3.com

available at P&R Publications

http://www.wordmp3.com

I. The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism

Edenic Types in Tabernacle/Temple

• Gregory K. Beale in his Revelation commentary makes use of the Garden’s prototypical foundation for the meaning of the “Garden-Sanctuary.”

• Allen P. Ross says, “it is no surprise that the instructions [for the temple] included many motifs and ideas from creation, notably Paradise [Eden]. This was true not only of the tabernacle in the wilderness, but also of the Solomonic temple; and it is true also of the prophetic visions of the new creation to come.”

• Gordon J. Wenham on Genesis says, “Indeed, there are many other features of the garden that suggest it is seen as an archetypal sanctuary, prefiguring the later tabernacle and temples.”

O L D C O V E N A N T B A P T I S M S

• In creation the waters above and below were separated. From Eden flowed rivers. Noah’s household was saved through the flood. There are Edenic springs in the patriarch narratives. Israel (including children) passes through the Red Sea. A laver (of heavenly water) is at the entrance of the tabernacle for priestly cleansing. Joshua leads Israel across the Jordan into the Land. In the temple of Solomon an ocean and basins of water on chariots create a stylized river flowing out to cleanse the nations. Ezekiel and Zechariah see visions of rivers flowing out in the new covenant (Zec. 14:8).

• Washings in the tabernacle, as well as crossing the Red Sea are explicitly called baptisms (Heb. 9:10, 1 Cor. 10). There are many references to baptism(s) in the Old Testament. Messiah would come to baptize Israel and the world. Ezekiel 36:24ff, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean . . . I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” “He will sprinkle many nations” (Isa. 52:15). The water flowing out to baptize nations is prophesied in the Old Covenant, especially in the new covenant prophecies.


water flowing out


• In the Exodus, Israel “passed (Heb. avar) through the midst of the sea into the wilderness” (Num. 33:8). Paul describes this as a “baptism.” They were “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2). So also: “cross (avar) this Jordan, to go in to possess the land” (Josh. 1:11). This “crossing” happens again when Elisha is given a “double portion” of the spirit of Elijah (2 Kgs. 2:8). Then in the exile, Judah was expelled beyond the borders of the Jordan River (1 Chr. 9:1; Josh. 3-4).

J O H N T H E S O U T H E R N B A P T I S T


• ENTER JOHN THE BAPTIZER.

• John was “preaching a baptism of repentance” (Mark 1:4).

• It is unlikely that John physically immersed all the people in Jerusalem, all of Judea, and the district around the Jordan (Matt. 3:5-6).


• ENTER JOHN THE BAPTIZER. Colin Brown wrote, “John was organizing a symbolic exodus from Jerusalem and Judea as a preliminary to recrossing the Jordan as a penitent, consecrated Israel in order to reclaim the land in a quasi-reenactment of the return from the Babylonian exile . . . . the purity and quantity of the water were of less significance than the historic, symbolic significance of the Jordan itself as the boundary and point of entry.”

N E W C O V E N A N T B A P T I S M S

Adult Conversion Baptisms HouseholdBaptisms

3000 (men) at Pentecost (no household present) Cornelius and household

Samaritans - men & womenSimon the Sorcerer Lydia and household

Ethiopian Eunuch (no household)

Philippian Jailer and household

Paul (no household) Crispus and household

Stephanas and household“no other (allos) [household]” 1Cor. 1:16

Disciples of John (12 men) (no household present)

Gaius (and household?)

G E N T I L E B A P T I S M S

• Acts 1:7-8: But you will receive [heavenly kingdom-authority and] power ([exousia] & dunamis, Luke 24:29) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my eye-witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the last [nation] (eschatos) of the earth.”


Outline of Acts The Gospel Goes To...

Baptisms Follow This Outline

Jerusalem & Judea 3000 Men at PentecostSamaria Samaritans, SimonFarthest Parts of the Earth Ethiopian EunuchTransition: Apostle Paul (Acts 9) Paul (apostle to the Gentiles)

First Gentile: Cornelius (Acts 10)God-fearer: Lydia (Acts 16)New Convert Gentiles: The Jailer (Acts 16), Corinthians (Acts 18), Ephesus (confused Jews)

Cornelius’ HouseholdLydia’s HouseholdJailer’s Household

Corinthians: Crispus' Household Stephanus'

HouseholdGaius* (Household?)

12 Men in Ephesus


• Acts 1:6-8 Explains How the Gospel Goes from Jerusalem to the Gentile world (“farthest parts” [eschatos last nation])

• 1st Gentile: Cornelius (“you and your household” Acts 11:14) (God-Fearer)

• 2nd Gentile: Philippian Jailer (“you and your household” Acts 16:31)(Pagan)

C O V E N A N T B A S I S• Belgic Confession (1561) article 34 - We believe our children ought to

be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children. And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults.

• Heidelberg Catechism (1563) Q74 . Should infants also be baptized? A. Yes. Infants as well as adults are included in God’s covenant and people, and they, no less than adults, are promised deliverance from sin through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they too should be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.

II. The Case for Covenant Communion

Children in Old Covenant Meals

• In every administration of the covenants of promise, the central promise is that He will be “God to you and your descendants” (Gen. 17:7, Dt. 7:9, 30:6, 1Chr. 16:15, Ps. 103:17, 105:8).

• Thus, children were included in the Old Testament meals: Sacred Meals of the Patriarchs, the Passover, the Peace offerings in Tabernacle and Temple worship, and Feasts such as Tabernacles.

• There was always a “Kids Table”!

Passover to Communion• “The Lord’s Supper also replaces peace

meals because Hebrews 10:1ff. teaches that the sacrifices of the old covenant are a shadow of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Thus all the sacrificial meals of the old covenant (i.e. the peace meals as well as the Passover meal), which involved feeding upon some of these sacrifices fulfilled the Lord’s Supper, the new covenant sacrificial meal, which is a feeding upon that which signifies Christ’s sacrifice.”

• OPC (1988 Orthodox Presbytery Church, Majority report on children and communion)

• Geerhardus Johannes Vos (March 14, 1862 – August 13, 1949, Princeton): “The meal was an exponent of the state of peace and blessedness enjoyed. But precisely because this meal followed the sacrifice proper, there must be recognized in it a reminder of the necessary dependence of such a state of privilege on antecedent expiation” (Cited in OPC, 1988).

• The peace meal, furthermore, was a feeding on a sacrifice of atonement, for in offering the sacrifice, “He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering,’ (Lev. 3:2). This symbolized the transfer of sin to the animal, who is then killed as a substitute and whose blood is sprinkled “against the altar” (vs. 2). OPC 1988

Peace Offering Meals

• Remember, the inclusion of Israelite children were essential in the Exodus, since this event unfolded the Abrahamic promise (e.g., Gen. 18:19).

• Moses’ request to be released was to “go with our young” to “hold a feast to the LORD.” Pharaoh was willing to let the men go, but not “your little ones” (Ex. 10:7-11).

• Then came “one more plague,” the death of the cherished first born child “at midnight” (Ex. 11:29). “Then [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, ‘Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel’” (Ex. 11:30-31). The children were essential then and now.

Passover and Kids

• In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families–a lamb for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people–you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. Exodus 12:3–4

• “According to the number” is literally: “a man according to his eating.” The same phrase occurs regarding eating Manna in Exodus 16:16, 18, and 21. Manna was obviously eaten by all, regardless of age (there was nothing else to eat).

Passover and Kids

Other Covenant Meals• "You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your

grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand. 18 "But you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all your undertakings. Deuteronomy 12:17–18

• Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD there. 4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; 5 but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the LORD had closed her womb. 1 Samuel 1:3–5

Covenantal Meals in the Old Testament

• The Parallel in the Exodus

• For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10:1–5

• Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? 1 Corinthians 10:15–18

Covenantal Meals in the New Testament

• They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:41–42

• Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:46–47

Objection to Child Communion• Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the

Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:26–32

• So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. 1 Corinthians 11:33–34

THE Objection to Child Communion

• Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:26–32

• So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. 1 Corinthians 11:33–34

• Argument from Rev. Jeffrey Meyers (PCA) in The Case for Covenant Communion (ed. GS):

• The term in 1 Corinthians 11:28 is “prove” (dokimazo ). “Let a man prove himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. E.G, 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 13:5. It does not typically refer to a self-reflexive internal act of evaluation; rather, it has to do with “proving” or “approving” something or someone, often publicly or at least in relation to others. Consider, for example, Paul’s warning to ministers: “. . . each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will prove [dokimazo] what sort of work each one has done” (1 Cor. 3:13; see also 1 Thess. 2:4; 1 Pet. 1:7).

• In the immediate context of 1 Corinthians 10–12 the “proof” that a Christian must display is his or her behavior at the table with respect to the unity of the body of Christ and not the performance of introspective self-examination.

THE Objection Answered

• The overarching context of Paul’s admoni- tion in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 has to do with the unity of the church, the body of Christ. All Christians “participate in the body of Christ,” and “because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor. 10:16b–17). That unity or participation, even fellowship [koinonia] in the body of Christ must be manifest at the Lord’s table when the entire church eats together from the one loaf.

• They were divided in their relations with one another, and, not surprisingly, their divisive spirit manifested itself at the table.

• 1 Corinthians addresses divisions: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Cloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? 1 Cor. 1


• “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor. 11:29) What does “discerning” or “judging (diakrino) the body” mean?

• Gordon Fee says, “to take cognizance of the whole church that is seated as one body at this meal.”


A Covenantal Viewof the Christian Faith

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy

with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9

Rejoicing In God’s Precious Promises We welcome Dr. Gregg Strawbridge “A Covenantal View of the Christian Faith” October 1415, 2016 Rev. Strawbridge has served as First Pastor of All Saints Presbyterian Church (CREC) in Lancaster, PA since 2001. His publications include numerous booklets and articles on theology, music, worship, education,and philosophy. He is also director of WordMp3.com, an online library, which includes many articles and musical recordings. Gregg, and his wife Sharon, have three collegeage daughters (Joy, Jenna and Juli) and live in Brownstown, PA. Westminster Community Church 171 Aultman Ave. NW Canton OH 44708 For more information visit us on Facebook or acovenantalviewofthechristianfaith.wordpress.com or call 3302091225

Session 4The Future

and the Covenants

Covenant (Administration)

1) Rites 2) Relatives 3) Reign

Creation/Adamic

Tree of Life 1Cor. 15:22 “As in Adam all die” 1Cor. 15:25 “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet”

Noahic Rainbow Gen. 7:1/Heb. 11:7 “Salvation of his household”

Gen. 9:1 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”

Abrahamic Circumcision

Sacrifices/Meals

Gen. 17:9-13 “You and your descendants after you”

Rom. 4:13 “The promise to Abraham or to his descendants to be heir of the world”

Mosaic Passover Meal

Ex. 12:24 “For you and your children forever”

Ps. 66:4 “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You”

Davidic Scepter/Throne

Ps. 89:3-4 “I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations”

Ps. 102:13–15 “You will arise and have compassion on Zion...So the nations will fear the name of the LORD”

New Covenant Baptism (entrance)

Lord's Supper (continuance)

Acts 2:39 “The promise is for you and your children”

1Cor. 10:17 “We all partake of that one bread”

1Cor. 12:13 “We were all baptized into one body. . . and made to drink of one Spirit”

Eph. 6:2-3 “The first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

I. Hopelessly Left Behind:

End-Times Fictions

Seek the Promise of the Future Inheritance of The Covenant

• All biblical covenants include a sense of dominion and a virtually explicit promise of the kingdom transformation of the world in the new covenant era.

• Through the covenants of promise God purposed to bestow the lost inheritance of Adam on His new humanity (in Christ, the last Adam). Through Christ the covenant purpose is to “create in himself one new humanity” (Eph. 2:15).

• Implication: Covenant Hopefulness in History.

T H E G R E AT C O M M I S S I O N

• And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and disciple [matheteuo] all of the nations, baptizing them [nations] in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20 )

• Romans 4:13 - For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

C AT E G O R I E S

• The chronology of the millennial kingdom

• The character of the millennial kingdom

• The chronology of the great tribulation

• The character of the great tribulation

C O N S I S T E N C Y O F T H E P O S T M I L L - P R E T E R I S T V I E W

• Chronology: The millennial kingdom extends from Christ’s Ascension to His return

• Character: The kingdom is spiritual through the gospel and yet manifests fruit in the peace of men and civilizations.

• Chronology/Character: The great tribulation is past and specifically located in the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.).

M I L L E N N I A L C H R O N O L O G Y

Literal 1000 year Millennial Kingdom

with Jesus Physically Ruling

New Heavens & EarthChurch Age

PREMILL - DISPENSATIONAL

Rapture 7 Year Tribulation




PREMILL - HISTORIC

7 Year Tribulation

Second Coming Post-Tribulation

Second Coming

M I L L E N N I A L C H R O N O L O G Y




PREMILL

Amill Spiritual Kingdom not Transforming EarthNew Heavens & Earth

AMILL

Postmill Realized Gradual, Incremental, Great Commission Fulfilled

POSTMILL

7 Year Tribulation

2nd Coming/ Resurrection/Last Judgment

New Heavens & Earth

2nd Coming/ Resurrection/Last Judgment

“tribulation, apostasy, the spirit of Antichrist” are “characteristic marks”

70 AD Destruction of

Jerusalem Tribulation Past

Jesus is Lord!

II. Hopefully Looking Ahead: A Covenantal Future

P R O O F O F T H E P O S T M I L L O R D E R

• "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet [Ps 110]. The last enemy that will be abolished is death...." (1Co 15:22-26)

• Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” (1Co 15:51-55)


• Here we have the chronological sequence of the reign of Christ in relation to His coming. The "end" is "when" "He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father," and at the time “after He has abolished all rule and all authority and power” (15:24).

• Paul teaches that the kingdom is consummated at the “end/His coming.” This is not when the kingdom begins (contra premillennialism). Further (contra amillennialism), His victory does not happen all at once. His abolition of rule, authority, and power (of His enemies) has taken place prior to the end (see BAGD on the subj. aorist construction with the hotan clause of v. 24, the correct trans. is “after He has abolished all rule. . .”).


• (a) The last (eschatos) enemy (death) is overcome at the Resurrection (at His coming), then His reign is prior to the Resurrection. Hence, there can’t be another 1000 years of enemies after this.

• (b) Paul expresses this reign (v. 25) in a paraphrase of Psalm 110:1: “Sit at my right hand [reign] until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Bible is clear that this reign began when Jesus ascended to the right hand of Father (Acts 2:33, 34, 5:31). Christ is currently at the right hand of God the Father (Mk. 16:19, Rom. 8:34, Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1, Heb. 1:3, 13, 1 Pet. 3:22).

• (c) Though Christ is ruling in the “midst of His enemies now” (Ps. 110:2), His reign, according to Paul, will overcome all of His enemies. Thus the kingdom will be demonstrably victorious.

T H E V I C T O R Y A S S U R E D

• Psalm 2: 6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee. 8 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.

G R O W T H O F T H E K I N G D O M

• Isaiah 11:9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

• The Westminster Larger Catechism 191 defines: “In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come), acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him for ever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.”

K I N G D O M G R O W T H

• Daniel 2:35ff But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. . . 44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

• Matthew 13:31–32 - “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”

• Matthew 13:33 - “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”

P R E S E N T R E I G N O F C H R I S T

• Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." 2 The LORD will stretch forth Thy strong scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of Thine enemies." 3 Thy people will volunteer freely in the day of Thy power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Thy youth are to Thee as the dew.

R E I G N O F C H R I S T

• Acts 5:31, "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."

• l Peter 3:22 speaks of Christ "who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."

R E I G N O F C H R I S T

• Ephesians 1:20-22 says that Christ was "seated [with] Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion....He put all things in subjection under His feet..."

• Philippians 3:21 says that He has power "even to subject all things to Himself."

• Colossians 2:10 says, "He is the head over all rule and authority" (see also vv. 1:16-17).

Vision for Transformation• Abraham was called to undo the fall of Adam (Rom. 4:13). The whole

covenantal enterprise of Israel was to undo the fall and reclaim dominion. The original creation mandate of dominion over the earth are recast to Abraham (Gen. 12, etc.) and this is fulfilled in Christ who is the True Heir, Last Adam, the Son of Man.

• We can be sure that the motif of expansion is true, not only because of the universal reign of Christ now – but because Christ is the true landlord, the True Man “appointed heir of all things.” The covenantal blessings of Christ's reign can extend “far as the curse is found” (Isaac Watts).

• Would any Biblical expositor deny that the available, promised blessings to Israel in the antecedent age extended to health, birthrate, domesticated animals, sickness, etc. (e.g., Ex. 23)? “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground . . .” (Dt. 28:4). How much more, then, under Christ's exalted reign? (2Cor. 1:20).

A Covenantal Viewof the Christian Faith

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy

with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9

Rejoicing In God’s Precious Promises We welcome Dr. Gregg Strawbridge “A Covenantal View of the Christian Faith” October 1415, 2016 Rev. Strawbridge has served as First Pastor of All Saints Presbyterian Church (CREC) in Lancaster, PA since 2001. His publications include numerous booklets and articles on theology, music, worship, education,and philosophy. He is also director of WordMp3.com, an online library, which includes many articles and musical recordings. Gregg, and his wife Sharon, have three collegeage daughters (Joy, Jenna and Juli) and live in Brownstown, PA. Westminster Community Church 171 Aultman Ave. NW Canton OH 44708 For more information visit us on Facebook or acovenantalviewofthechristianfaith.wordpress.com or call 3302091225

Documents

Baptism, Communion, and the Covenants - WordMp3.com River (1 Chr. 9:1; ... Simon the Sorcerer Lydia and household ... “against the altar” (vs. 2). OPC 1988 Peace Offering Meals