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8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013
1/20
What is that point? The point is that the NT has no such
rules about our personal acts of worship. Why do I make
this point? Because, unlike the Mosaic Covenant, the New
Covenant approaches the question of our worship in quite
a different way than the Mosaic Covenant does. To put it
plainly, the older covenant has a number of rules for carry-
ing out a persons public acts of worship that please God.They are spelled out in detail. Those rules covered matters
that greatly restricted the freedom of Israelites, but that
changes in the New Covenant.
When Jesus came, he hinted at a great change to begin
after his death and resurrection. We can see this hint in the
following exchange between Jesus and his critics in Mat-
thew 22:15-21:
The Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his
words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Hero-
dians. Teacher,
This is the thirteenth in our series of articles on Christ, Our New Covenant
Prophet, Priest and King.We did ve articles on Christ, Our New CovenantProphetand seven articles on Christ, Our New Covenant Priest.This is the rst
article in the last segment of this series, Christ, Our New Covenant King.The
kingship of Christ is the most controversial of all the three ofces because it
directly involves your prophetic view. We need to dene what we mean when
we refer to Christ as our King. There are quite a few references to Christ, the
King of the Jews in the New Testament, but there are only three direct refer-
ences to Christ as King in the New Testament, and all three of those combine
the word King and the word Lord. Christ is said to be Lord of Lord and King of Kings. Some dispensationalists
insist that Christ is not presently King. They will speak of Christ Our Prophet, Priest and comingKing. This grows
out of their dispensational belief that Christ at his rst coming offered the promised kingdom to the Jews, and they re-
jected it. The kingdom was postponed and will be established at the second coming
Is s ue 2 0 1 Oc tobe r 2 0 1 3
It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9
Christ, Our New Covenant King
Part 1
John G. Reisinger
Most believers have what are called daily devotions.
For some time I have been asking my Christian friends,
Do you keep the New Testament rules for your daily
devotions? A typical response is to look at me blankly
and ask what rules Im talking about. That response is
a fair one for at least two reasons. First, the NT doesnt
use the phrase, daily devotions. And second, most of uswould be hard pressed to nd verses that directly apply
to this practice. One possible passage would be 1 Thes-
salonians 5:16-18. There we read, Be joyful always; pray
continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
Gods will for you in Christ Jesus. These verses command
three things: continual joy, continual prayer, and continual
thanksgiving. And they do apply to our devotions, but they
are clearly far broader than that.
My reason for raising the question about devotions is
that it makes the point I want to make clear in this article.
The New Covenant and Christian Liberty
Tom Wells
ReisingerContinued on page 2
WellsContinued on page 12
In This Issue
Christ, Our New Covenant King Part 1
John G. Reisinger
1
The New Covenant and ChristianLiberty
Tom Wells
1
Biblical Worship and Missions
Steve West3
The Great Commission
A. Blake White5
A Study of New CovenantTheology, Part 4 of 4
Kevin P. McAloon
7
8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013
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Page 2 October 2013 Issue 201
Sound of Graceis a publication of Sovereign
Grace New Covenant Ministries, a tax exempt
501(c)3 corporation. Contributions to Sound
of Grace are deductible under section 170 of
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ReisingerContinued from page 1
ReisingerContinued on page 4
of Christ. They insist that Christ is
Lord over the Church andKing over
a future converted nation of Israel.
I believe the promised kingdom has
already come, and Jesus is presently
seated on the throne of David as King.
We will use the terms King andLord as synonyms in this article.
And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, King of
Kings, And Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16).1
These shall make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them: for he is Lord of lords, and King
of kings: and they that are with him
are called, and chosen, and faithful
(Rev. 17:14).
Which in his times he shall shew,
who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords;
(1 Tim. 6:15).
We should note that some secular
kings have called themselves King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. The title
is meant to show that the one bear-
ing it is the highest authority. He is
Lord over everyone and all things.
Only one person has the right to wear
that title, and that is the one who was
God manifest in human esh. Jesus,
our New Covenant King died, rose
from the dead, ascended into heaven
and is presently seated on a throne at
the right hand of God the Father. Our
Lord is not only the King of the Jews,
but he is also the King of the universe
and everything in it. Acts Chapter 2 is
a very key section of Scripture deal-
ing with our subject. Let me repeat a
small part of it. We will come backand exegete most of this chapter.
Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and
his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Therefore being a prophet, and know-
ing that God had sworn with an oath
1 Scripture quotations are from the
Authorized Version (KJV) unless
otherwise noted.
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, ac-
cording to the esh, he would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing
this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither his esh did see corrup-
tion. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. There-
fore being by the right hand of Godexalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this, which ye now
see and hear. For David is not ascend-
ed into the heavens: but he saith him-
self, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, Until I make
thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly,
that God hath made the same Jesus,
whom ye have crucied, both Lord and
Christ (Acts 2:29-36).
The key verse is this quotation is
verse 36. His Father in heaven raised
the same Jesus, the son of Mary,
that the Jews crucied from the dead.
The Father rewarded his Son for his
redemptive work by exalting him
to the highest place of authority. He
made him, that same Jesus, son of
Mary, to be the Lord of the universe
and the Savior of Gods elect. One of
my favorite choruses is He is Lord.
He is Lord, He is Lord, He has
risen from the dead and He is Lord.
Every knee shall bow, Every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord.
We should note that preaching the
Gospel involves preaching that Jesus
Christ is Lord and calling sinners to
bow to Christ as Lord in repentance
and faith. We will say more about this.
At the moment the important thing isto see that the Lordship we are talking
about is an earned Lordship. Christ
was always the Son of God or second
person of the trinity just as he was
always Lord of all creation; however,
the Father rewarded his redemptive
work as the Messiah with the new au-
thority described in John.
These words spake Jesus, and
8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013
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Issue 201 October 2013 Page 3
WestContinued on page 9
heard in heaven: You are worthy to
take the scroll and to open its seals,because you were slain, and with your
blood you purchased for God persons
from every tribe and language and
people and nation. You have made
them to be a kingdom and priests to
serve our God, and they will reign on
the earth (Rev. 5:9-10).
This new song celebrates the
salvic triumph of Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God. He has conquered sin
and death and hell and Satan. He haspurchased a people at the price of his
own blood. And what a people! They
are from every tribe, every nation,
every ethnicity, every language. In the
current vocabulary of the missiologist,
we would say they are from every
people group. Although in one sense
the accomplishment of redemption
can be considered as a subcategory
of Gods works, there is a profound
shift in focus from the theme of the
second song. Creating and sustain-
ing a world is an act of wisdom and
power; redeeming a fallen world is
an act of love and grace. Redemp-
tion is a special work. It is actually
entirely unique, requiring every one
of Gods attributes to be engaged. In
some ways, redemption is the ultimate
product of Gods essential nature
and creative work. The only tting
response is that everything that has
breath should praise the Lord.What is the connection between
these reections on the categories of
biblical worship and the topic of mis-
sions? Obviously a tremendous num-
ber of biblical passages deal with mis-
sionary endeavors and the necessity
of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to
all people, but we simply cannot deal
with even a fraction of the relevant
Scriptural data in this article. What
In Revelation 4-5, we get a privi-
leged look into how God is worshiped
in heaven above. The scene is one of
indescribable splendor, unimaginable
terror, unalloyed joy, and inexpress-
ible glory. Godthe one who sits on
the throne and lives in unapproach-
able holy lightis praised rst for hisintrinsic character: Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty, who was,
and is, and is to come (Rev. 4:8b).
In this song God is praised simply in
accordance with his inherent worth
and essential nature. Biblical worship
starts with a recognition that God
as Godis deserving of honor and
praise.
The content of the second song
ascribing praise to God in Revelation4 moves in focus from his intrinsic
nature to his acts of creation. Fall-
ing down before him, the elders say:
You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your
will they were created and have their
being (Rev. 4:11). Here, the focus is
on what God has done. This second
song reveals that God is to be praised
not only for who he is but also for
his acts. As creatures, the elders areparticularly praise-lled and worship-
ful when they think that their lives
and continued existence are owing to
nothing besides Gods sovereign will
and good pleasure.
After these two hymns of praise,
a fascinating drama unfolds in the
throne room. The Lamb of God comes
forward to bring Gods purposes to
pass. Because he has been slain but
lives again, he is worthy to be theagent who accomplishes all of Gods
eternal plans. When the Lamb takes
the scroll (symbolic of Gods sover-
eign decrees) from the Fathers hand,
an explosion of praise occurs. Since
none of the old songs in heaven and
earth has content tted to this new
era in salvation history, a new song
is required. The living creatures and
elders cry out in words never before
we will do, however, is use the hymn
of praise in Rev. 5:9-10 as a launchingpad for our considerations.
There are some subtle and some
not-so-subtle points of contact be-
tween worship and missions in this
new song. One rather obvious link is
that the Lamb has purchased people
from all over the globe. Although un-
stated here, a full biblical understand-
ing of salvation requires the message
of the gospel being communicated to
the lost so that they can hear the nameof Jesus Christ, the good news of what
he has done on their behalf, and by
Gods grace, be given a new heart so
they can believe and be saved. The
gospel is good news; good news must
be heard; to be heard it requires a
herald; heralds must go to the people
who havent heard! Jesus has bought
people all over this world with his
bloodhis church has the unimagin-
ably rich privilege of being called to
go and reach them with this message.
But what will motivate us to go?
At one level, sheer obedience should
be enough to compel us. Jesus has
laid down instructions for his church
to proclaim the gospel to the ends of
the earththat, frankly, should settle
it. Another possible motive could be
the love of our fellow creatures who
bear the image of God and are lost in
their rebellion and sins. Can we really
love our neighbors as ourselves if weare unmoved that they live in a dark
night, some in the world never having
even heard that there is a Savior?
Doctors Without Borderstakes medi-
cal care to people in need; their medi-
cal professionals travel to care for
physical bodies, looking to do good
in this world alone. What about the
representatives of the Great Physician
Biblical Worship and Missions
Steve West
8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013
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Page 4 October 2013 Issue 201
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify
thee:As thou hast given him power
[authority NIV]over all esh,that he
should give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have gloried thee on
the earth:I have fnished the work
which thou gavest me to do (John
17:1-4).
Our Lord, in his humanity, was a
man under specic orders. He came
into the world with a specic job de-
scription (John 17:4) that culminated
in the cross. Christ was born for the
express idea of dying under the wrathof God as a sin offering. It was the
Father who put him on the cross, and
it was also the Father who raised him
from the dead and gave him all au-
thority (John 17:2). Several things
must be noted.
1. The work our Lord was com-
missioned to perform was the
work of redemption. It was to pro-
vide for the elect all they needed
to stand fully justied in Godsholy presence. It involved the do-
ing and dying of Christ. It in-
cluded keeping the Law and earn-
ing the righteousness it promised
and then dying under the curse of
the Law and fully paying our debt
of sin.
2. That redemptive work was n-
ished when Jesus cried out on the
cross, It is nished.
3. The Father was satised with thatredemptive work and rewarded
Christ for performing that work
by raising him from the dead,
seating him on a throne at his own
right hand and giving him author-
ity over all esh. The all esh
included all men without excep-
tion.
4. The authority that was given to
Christ was the legal authority to
justly forgive sinners. He could
only forgive sinners because he
had offered to God his Father an
acceptable sacrice for sins and a
perfect sinless life of obedience.
5. We keep insisting that Christs
Lordship, or authority, that we are
discussing is an earned author-
ity. We are not saying or in any
way suggesting that this reward
in anyway way adds to Christs
deity. We are not talking about
Christs deity as opposed to his
humanity. Christs atoning work
on the cross added nothing to the
deity of Christ. That redemptive
work did give Christ, acting in his
humanity as our substitute, the
legal right to forgive sins. Thatwork satised the holy character
of God. No one, including God,
can arbitrarily forgive sins with-
out a righteous basis. Paul, in Ro-
mans 1:16-17 and 3:24-26, makes
it abundantly clear that the Gospel
justies God in his justifying
sinners. The Gospel shows that
sin must be paid for before a holy
God can forgive them. The death,
resurrection and ascension of
Christ provide the essential workof redemption that make it pos-
sible for God to be both just and
the justier of those for whom
Christ died. Paul insists that the
gospel reveals the righteous-
ness of God (Rom. 1:17). Christs
work on the cross is where
righteousness and peace have
kissed each other (Psalm 85:10).
6. Christ earned the Lordship, or
authority, to forgive sinner inhis humanity. Christs redemp-
tion involved both his deity and
his humanity. Evangelicals have
a tendency to forget that both
Christs holy life that earned righ-
teousness and his obedience death
that paid for sin were both per-
formed in a human sinless body.
Our Redeemer and Savior is not
only the Son of God, but he is also
the son of Mary. Our substitute is
both deity and human. The work
of our salvation involves both the
Son of God and the son of Mary.
It involves both of these, and both
are vital.
We believe and preach both the hu-
manity and deity of Christ. If we lose
either the deity of Christ or his sinless
humanity, we will have a heretical
view of Christs person and work. He-
brews 4:14-16 would lose its power to
help us in time of need if Christ is not
one with us in his humanity. Romans
8:28 would be a mere sentimental
platitude if Christ is not both a sov-
ereign deity and our human brother.
Sometimes both Christs deity and his
humanity are emphasized in the samepassage.
And there arose a great storm of
wind, and the waves beat into the ship,
so that it was now full. And he was in
the hinder part of the ship, asleep on
a pillow: and they awake him, and say
unto him, Master, carest thou not that
we perish? And he arose, and rebuked
the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace,
be still. And the wind ceased, and
there was a great calm. And he said
unto them, Why are ye so fearful? howis it that ye have no faith? And they
feared exceedingly, and said one to
another, What manner of man is this,
that even the wind and the sea obey
him? (Mark 4:37-41).
Why was Jesus sleeping? The an-
swer simple, he was sleeping for the
same reason we go to sleep. He was
tired and his body needed rest. He
was a man, a human being. But wait a
minute. How could a mere man calm
the raging sea with nothing but a ver-bal command? Because he was more
than a mere man; he was the Son of
God. He was deity made esh. He was
the God-man.
We are not talking about deity
versus humanity in this message.
We are talking about an earned Lord-
ship that was given to Christ Jesus the
ReisingerContinued from page 2
ReisingerContinued on page 6
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Issue 201 October 2013 Page 5
The passage we know as the
Great Commission is a popular one,
but it is also an important one, so itis worth revisiting from time to time.
Matthew 28:18-20 reads,
And Jesus came and said to them,
All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I
am with you always, to the end of the
age (ESV).
The Power of Christ
Verse 18 says that all authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to
Jesus. The word all dominates these
three verses. The Greek word for all
(pas) occurs four times: all authority,
allnations, to obey everything, I am
with you always.
Jesus has all authority in heaven
and on earth. He uniquely has theright to rule. Heaven and earth are
used to indicate the comprehensive-
ness of his authority. In other words,
he has all authority in the universe. As
Abraham Kuyper put it, there is not a
single square inch in the universe that
the risen Christ does not own.
The text says this authority was
givento him. The second person of
the Godhead has always possessed
authority, but now he speaks as vic-tor. There is a sense in which Jesus is
talking here about an authority that
he did not have prior to the cross and
resurrection. It is an achieved author-
ity. It is an earnedlordship. After the
cross, Jesus was raised from the dead,
exalted to the right hand of the Father
and enthroned as King (2 Sam. 7:13,
Ps. 2:7). Romans 1:4 says, and who
through the Spirit of holiness was
appointed the Son of God in power
by his resurrection from the dead:
Jesus Christ our Lord (NIV). Isaiah53:11-12 says By the knowledge my
righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion
among the great, and he will divide
the spoils with the strong, because he
poured out his life unto death. Notice
the therefore. Similarly, Hebrews
2:9 reads But we do see Jesus, who
was made lower than the angels for a
little while, now crowned with gloryand honor because he suffered death.
Notice the because.
He is the Lord. He is worthy of all
worship. We have reduced him to a
puny personal Lord who is waiting
to be accepted. His Lordship is not a
matter of acceptance. Jesus is not a
personal Lord. He is Lord! Philippians
2:9-11 says, Therefore God exalted
him to the highest place and gave him
the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue
acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. He is
Lord of all, whether they bow to his
authority now willingly or in destruc-
tion on judgment day.
The Plan of Christ
Matthew 19-20a gives us the mas-
ter plan: Go therefore and makedisciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have com-
manded you. All of Gods authority
is now mediated through the Messiah,
who commissions his followers to
universal mission.
Jesus commands us to go. A
vibrant church will have people
who leave the church in order to go
to places that need the gospel. If a
person is not led to go, then they must
be involved by sending and praying.
Church budgets should be focused on
fullling this great commission.
We are called to make disciples
at home and abroad because of the
universal Lordship of Christ. John
Dickson speaks of the Mission Equa-
tion: If there is one Lord to whom
all people belong and owe their al-
legiance, the people of that Lord must
promote this reality everywhere.1
Notice the therefore in the passage:
Jesus says all authority has been given
to him, therefore go and make dis-
ciples.
We must make people aware oftheir Lord. We must help them realize
and submit to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. We speak for their king as
we summon them to repent. John
Dickson recounts a story about three
young men who hopped on a bus in
Detroit in the 30s and tried to pick
a ght with a guy sitting toward the
back. They were talking trash, but the
guy didnt respond. They increased
their insults, but the man still saidnothing. Eventually, the bus made it to
the dudes stop, so he stood up. They
were surprised at how big he was
when he stood up. They didnt realize
his size by the way he was sitting. As
he walked out, he handed the guys
a business card and got off the bus.
The young men looked at the card and
read the words: Joe Louis, Profes-
sional Boxer. These young thugs just
tried to pick a ght with the Brown
Bomber, the man who would go on tobecome the world heavy weight box-
ing champion from 1937-49. I imagine
they were a little relieved that their
comments didnt merit a reaction!
Now imagine if we were friends
1 John Dickson, The Best Kept Secret
of Christian Mission (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2010), 31
The Great Commission
A. Blake White
WhiteContinued on page 14
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ReisingerContinued on page 8
all esh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him
(John 17:2 ).
Jesus alone has the authority (right)
to justly and righteously forgive sins
because he has paid for those sins.
Jesus Christ is the only man who can
forgive sins, and he is also the onlyman who can send anyone to hell!
And he must do either one or the other
with every person. All people, without
exception, are in the hands of Jesus
Christ the judge. See Acts 17:31.
I am often amazed at how preach-
ers can so grossly misuse a text of
Scripture. This is especially true when
they butcher texts that deal with the
sovereignty of God. The short dia-
logue between Pilate and Jesus is aclassic example. This is one the favor-
ite passages for Arminian evangelists.
They use it as part of an altar call.
They say, Jesus is in your hands to
do with as you choose. What will you
do with Jesus? I have yet to hear a
single Arminian preacher quote verse
11!
Then saith Pilate unto him, Speak-
est thou not unto me? knowest thou
not that I have power to crucify thee,
and have power to release thee? Je-
sus answered, Thou couldest have no
power at all against me, except it were
given thee from above: therefore he
that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin (John 19:10-11).
It is true that God one time put his
son into the hands of sinners; howev-
er, it is also true that men, unanimous-
ly, cried out, Crucify him! Crucify
him! We will not have this man to
rule over us. Men put Christ to deathbut God raised him from the grave
and gave him all power and author-
ity. Christ also was given a new name
(Phil. 2:9-11). The Father made his son
to be Lord. The real question is not
what sinners will do with Christ, but
the question is what will Jesus do with
the sinner? He is not in our hands; we
are in his hands. All men are in the
hands of Gods appointed Redeemer
God-man as a reward for nishing the
work his Father gave him to do.
Nearly all Christians agree that the
three ofces of Prophet, Priest, and
King set forth in the Old Testament
Scriptures are types of the work and
ministry of the Messiah which are ful-lled in the past and present ministry
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthi-
ans 1:30 is one of many texts.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctication,
and redemption:
Wisdom refers to his work as
Prophet to teach us about God and
ourselves. Righteousness is his work
of Priest to remove our guilt and jus-tify us in Gods sight. Sanctication is
his work through his ofce as King,
or Lord, to rule over us and conquer
sin in us. Redemption is the full and
nal work of a complete salvation that
involves all three ofces of Christs
work. That work accomplishes a de-
liverance from the penalty, power, and
nally even the presence of sin. This
whole work of a complete and eternal
salvation is of him and not of us.
In our booklet, Christ, Lord
and Lawgiver over the Churchwe
discussed four things about the Lord-
ship of Christ: (1) ItsNATURE;(2) Its
EXTENT;(3) HowIt Is EXERCISED
or Mediated;(4) ModernExamples
of Denying Christs Lordship.This
booklet is available from New Cov-
enant Ministries. It is most helpful
in understanding the subject under
discussion. The Lordship of Christ
that we are discussing in this article isan earnedLordship and is part of the
nature of the Lordship of Christ. I em-
phasize again that this is not part of
his deity as such. This is the authority
and power given to the manChrist
Jesus by the Father to save or damn
whom he will. Johns words cannot be
understood any other way. Notice two
texts:
As thou hast given him power over
to do with as he chooses. Romans 1:1-
4 helps us understand this point.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God,(Which he
had promised afore by his prophets in
the holy scriptures,) Concerning his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which wasmade of the seed of David according
to the esh;And declared to be the
Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec-
tion from the dead:
John Murrays comments on Ro-
mans 1:1-4 are most helpful.
By his resurrection and ascen-
sion the Son of God incarnate entered
upon a new phase of sovereignty and
was endowed with new power cor-
respondent with and unto the exerciseof the mediatorial lordship which he
executes as head over all things to his
body, the church.2
In no sense whatsoever is Murray
suggesting that Christ is more sover-
eign after the resurrection and ascen-
sion than he was before. Nor is he say-
ing that nishing the redemptive work
his father gave him added anything
to his person. He is talking about the
redemptive authority the man, ChristJesus, earned in sufferings. The NIV
in its translation of Romans 1:4, as it
often does, gives an interpretationof
the text instead of an accurate transla-
tion. Notice the difference between
the NIV and the KJV:
A. Romans 1:4-KJV
And declared to be the Son of God
WITH POWER,according to the
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead:
B. Romans 1:4-NIV
And who through the Spirit of
holiness wasDECLARED WITH
POWER to be the Son of God by his
resurrectionfrom the dead: Jesus
Christ our Lord.
2 John Murray, The Epistle to the Ro-
mans (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960) 11.
ReisingerContinued from page 4
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McAloonContinued on page 11
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
As may have been previously ob-
served, all of NCTs views regarding
major historical-redemptive themes
are dependent upon one another
and interrelated at their most basic
foundations, and the same may be
said about our views regarding Israel
and the church. Just as the physical
pictures and types of the Abrahamic
Covenant were set forth under the OldCovenant to be fullled and fully ex-
perienced in the New, even so was the
nation of Israel a physical picture and
type of what would later be fullled
and realized within the church which
Christ came to establish. Ancient
Israel was the shadow, the church is
the substance. Each institution was es-
tablished for differing purposes in the
grand scheme of redemptive history,
carrying with them different lawsalong with different blessings, but
both testifying to and serving Gods
grand purpose of grace in which he
decreed to eternally redeem a people
for himself.
Ancient Israel
NCT holds that ancient Israel was
an elect physical nation which was for
the most part unregenerate, with the
exception of a perpetual remnant of
genuine justied believers that God
had preserved within the nation (seepage 20). Reisinger argues that we
must make a clear distinction between
the physical nation of Israel as a
special seed chosen from among all
of the other natural seeds of Abraham
(i.e., Ishmael, Esau, etc.) and the elect
seed of true believers within that na-
tion: In reality, they were a group of
proud, individualistic, self-seeking
rebels. They were established and
sustained as a nation only because of
their physical lineage to Abraham andJacob. God did this as a fulllment of
his promise to Abraham and also to
accomplish his purpose of bringing
forth the Messiah through the ap-
pointed nation.1Lehrer believes that
although Christians may fall into sin,
and God may warn and chastise them
as a loving Father, these were both of
a different nature than what we gener-
ally read of in the Old Testament. He
argues that the difference betweenwhat was happening in the book of
Judges and the experience of the
Christians struggle with sin is like
the difference between night and day.
In 2 Kings 21:10-15, the reason God
is going to cursenot disciplineIs-
rael is because they had been doing
evil in his eyes ever since the day he
1 Reisinger,Abrahamss Four Seeds, 69,
75.
brought their forefathers out of Egypt.
This is why Lehrer believes that the
nation had always been apostate, and
he argues against the opinion that
Israel had largely been Gods believ-
ing people until the judgments in 711
and 586 B.C.2This establishment and
preservation of an unbelieving nation
who could not help but continually
disgrace the gracious God who had
physically redeemed them was allto display mans utter depravity and
inability in himself, and thus his need
for a Savior who could atone for his
sins and give him a new heart.
Furthermore, as was mentioned in
the previous discussion regarding the
Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants,
NCT holds that all of the blessings,
ordinances, and promises to the nation
of Israel were types and foreshadows
of their true fulllments found in theNew Covenant church. Lehrer sums
up this position by saying:
[I]n the Old Covenant era we see
spiritual truths being related in picture
form. When God revealed mans need
for atonement, he used the types and
shadows of an elaborate sacricial sys
tem including thousands of priests and
barnyard animals. When God revealed
the promise of his people to dwell
with him, he did so in the types and
shadows of the land in the Middle Easand in a building made of bricks and
mortar. This is the way in which God
revealed his plan in the Old Covenant
era. So when God used the prophets
to explain the spiritual fulllment of
Gods plan in the New Covenant era,
God decided to use the language of
types and shadows. He was describing
the New Covenant in the language of
2 Lehrer, 80-83.
A STUDY OF
NEW COVENANT THEOLOGY
Part 4 of 4
Kevin P. McAloon
Kevin recently graduated fromSoutheastern Baptist TheologicalSeminary, and is currently meetingwith some believers seeking Godto raise a church in Carmel, NY.His heart is for the further reforma-tion of Christ's Church back to NewCovenant power and purity, andtruly believes that New CovenantTheology and many of the churchesespousing it are God's blessing inthis generation towards that end.
While avoiding formal denomi-national afliation, Kevin cravesand welcomes all open heartedfellowship with devout brothers andsisters in Christ. He and his groupcovet your prayers. You are invitedto contact him at [email protected]
8/13/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 201, October 2013
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As you can see, the NIV makes the
resurrection to be a powerful demon-
stration of Christs deity, and the KJV
sees the resurrection as giving Christ
a new and earned power or authority.
The resurrection of Christ certainly
is a powerful demonstration thatproves the deity of Christ, but Paul
in Romans 1:4 is not trying to prove
that Christ was both human and deity.
I grant that is the most common inter-
pretation, but I think it totally misses
the point taught in the text. Paul is
saying that the resurrection declares
that Christ has beengiven a power of
Lordship as a reward for his success-
ful atoning work. This is a redemptive
Lordship that belongs to the Son of
Mary as the successful Redeemer. Itis not an innate Lordship that belongs
to the Son of God as a member of the
Trinity.
The manChrist Jesus is declared
to be Son of God with powerbecause
he is gloried and enthroned human-
ity.A true man, the God-Man, has
been given the right to exercise both
the role of Savior and the role of judge
over all men. This Man earned that
right. This truth is seen every time themanChrist Jesus is mentioned in
the New Testament Scriptures. Note
the following examples:
And said, Behold, I see the heavens
opened, and the Son of man standing
on the right hand of God (Acts 7:56).
Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this
manis preached unto you the forgive-
ness of sins: (Acts 13:38).
Because he hath appointed a day,in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that manwhom he
hath ordained; whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he
hath raised him from the dead (Acts
17:31).
For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the
manChrist Jesus; [Note it is men]
(1 Tim. 2:5).
For this manwas counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath builded the house hath
more honour than the house (Heb.
3:3).
But this man,because he continu-
eth ever, hath an unchangeable priest-
hood. Wherefore he is able also tosave them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
[As a true man]to make intercession
for them (Heb. 7:24-25).
This fact explains why the ser-
mons in the Book of Acts emphasize
both the resurrection and ascension
of Christ. It is those events that prove
Christ has been given a new authority.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words;
Jesus of Nazareth, a manapproved of
God among you by miracles and won-
ders and signs, which God did by him
in the midst of you, as ye yourselves
also know: Him, being delivered by
the determinate counsel and fore-
knowledge of God, ye have taken, and
by wicked hands have crucied and
slain: Whom God hath raised up, hav-
ing loosed the pains of death: because
it was not possible that he should be
holden of it (Acts 2:22-24).
The point of this passage is the res-
urrection, but Peter does not stop withjust the resurrection. The heart of his
sermon is verses 30-32.
Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his
loins, according to the esh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
He seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul
was not left in hell, neither his esh
did see corruption. This Jesus hath
God raised up, whereof we all are wit-
nesses (Acts 2:30-32).
The application of the sermon is in
verses 33-36.
Therefore being by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which
ye now see and hear. For David is
not ascended into the heavens: but he
saith himself, The LORD said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until
I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assur-
edly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucied, both
Lord and Christ(Acts 2:33-36).
There is a point in time when God
the Father made Christ to be bothLord and Christ in a new sense. When
did that happen? It took place at the
resurrection and ascension. What is
the peculiar authority that the Father
gave the Son when he made him Lord
over all esh? The Father gave the
Son the legal authority of Lordship to
forgive and justify sinners. The ascen-
sion to the throne at the Fathers right
hand gave the man Christ Jesus the
mediatorial rights to dispense the gifts
he earned by his obedient life andvicarious death. The message of the
Gospel to be preached is, Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assur-
edly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucied, both
Lord and Christ.The man Christ
Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary,
is the judge of all men, and he is the
Messiah who saves the sheep his Fa-
ther gave him.
What must poor sinners do to besaved? They must bow in repentance
and faith to the exalted Christ of God.
Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart, and
said unto Peter and to the rest of the
apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall re-
ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost.For
the promise is unto you, and to yourchildren, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God
shall call.And with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, Save
yourselves from this untoward genera-
tion. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized: and the same
day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls (Acts 2:37-47).
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who know a cure that brings eternal
life and destroys the power of the
disease that brings death? Surely the
church should be more motivated than
medical personnel!
At a deeper level than just dis-
ciplined obedience or love for oth-
ers, there is a connection between
our worship and delight in God and
the call to missionary endeavors.
Although I do not believe that I am
unduly inuenced by John Piper in
general, I remember over a decade
ago reading the rst paragraphs of the
rst chapter in his book,Let the Na-
tions be Glad! The Supremacy of God
in Missions.1His words fell on my
heart like hammer blows. Without ex-aggeration, God used Pipers rst ve
paragraphs in that book to radically
affect my conception of missions. It
gave me a totally new lens through
which to view taking the gospel to
the world. Here is his rst paragraph:
Missions is not the ultimate goal of
the church. Worship is. Missions exist
because worship doesnt. Worship is
ultimate, not missions, because God
is ultimate, not man. When this age
is over, and the countless millions ofthe redeemed fall on their faces before
the throne of God, missions will be no
more. It is a temporary necessity. But
worship abides forever.2
I had never thought about it like
that. God is not worshiped by all
peoples in all places: thats why we
go. God is so worthy of praise and
the Lamb so worthy of honor that the
church should not be able to stand it
until the whole earth is covered withpeople worshiping the triune God.
Piper writes: Worship, therefore, is
the fuel and goal in missions. Its the
goal of missions because in missions
we simply aim to bring the nations
into the white-hot enjoyment of Gods
glory. The goal of missions is the
gladness of the peoples in the great-
1 Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.
2 Ibid., 11.
ness of God But worship is also the
fuel of missions. Passion for God in
worship precedes the offer of God in
preaching. You cant commend what
you dont cherish.3
We should not be able to read Rev-
elation 4-5 without joining our hearts
in the chorus of praise that is rising to
the Lamb and to him who sits on the
throne. We should love God and wor-
ship him with all that we are and have.
We should be inamed with passion
in his presence. We should just love
it. We should love it so much we cant
bear the thought that others are miss-
ing out. As our joy is made complete
in the Lord and as every longing of
our soul is fullled in him, we should
crave this experience for others too.We should not be apathetic that others
are not joining in this sacred choir.
But as true as this is, it is not the ulti-
mate motivation.
More than we long to see people
delighting in the presence of God, we
should long to see God being de-
lighted in. Our major motivation must
be God-centred and focused on him.
It is completely wrong that people
should walk in this worldcreatedand sustained by Godwithout
acknowledging him as God and giv-
ing him the honor that is his due. We
should desire for Gods sake to see the
choir enlarged. He is worthy of praise
and glory and honor and wisdom and
strength. We who have tasted of his
glory should be zealous for it. We
lack passion for missions not because
we lack passion for people; we lack
passion for missions because we lack
passion for God.
Piper expresses this reality very
cogently. He writes, If the pursuit of
Gods glory is not ordered above the
pursuit of mans good in the affections
of the heart and the priorities of the
church, man will not be well served
and God will not be duly honored. I
am not pleading for a diminishing of
3 Ibid.
missions but for a magnifying of God.
When the ame of worship burns
with the heat of Gods true worth,
the light of missions will shine to the
most remote peoples on earth. And I
long for that day to come!4Our view
of God needs to be so high, our taste
of grace so sweet, and our marvel atbeing redeemed so overwhelming that
we worship God in a way that is un-
containable. From our hearts to Gods
throne to the nationsthats how our
praise should move.
If this is true, then when the
church is failing in missions, we must
be failing in worship. Piper states,
Where passion for God is weak, zeal
for missions will be weak. Churches
that are not centered on the exalta-tion of the majesty and beauty of God
will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to
declare his glory among the nations
(Psalm 96:3). Even outsiders feel the
disparity between the boldness of our
claim upon the nations and the bland-
ness of our engagement with God.5
I fear that this strikes at an important
truth. To take the gospel to the nations
requires people who are, frankly,
willing to give up a lot of things that
our society values greatly. To do so re-
quires believing God is more valuable
than these competing idols. Actually,
it requires believing hes worth in-
nitely more. Thankfully he is.
These reections must drive us to
ask how the church is doing in wor-
ship and missions. Here are two sta-
tistics. First, the church has had 2000
years to spread the gospel to the na-
tions. Second, today there are roughly
2-3 billion people who have little tono meaningful access to the gospel.
There are individual people groups
with populations numbering in the
millions who have noknowledge of
Jesus Christ. There are languages and
dialects where no words are ever used
to praise the Lamb; their speakers
4 Ibid., 12.
5 Ibid.
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What is Gods controversy with
the people living in your town? The
following quotation is taken from my
booklet, Christ, Lord and Lawgiver
over the Church. It is taken from the
section dealing with modern examples
of the denial of Christs Lordship. Therst example is The Diluted Message
in Evangelism.
The rst denial of the Lordship of
Christ is seen in The Diluted Evange-
listic Message Preached Today.We
clearly see Christs Lordship denied
when we see him preached as anything
less than Lord. To imply that a sinner
may receive Christ as anyone less than
an enthroned Lord is equal to denying
that he is Lord. Making salvation to
be anything less than full and gratefulsubmission to Christ as Lord, as well
as Savior, is as wrong as denying that
he rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven. The controversy arising
from John MacArthurs excellent book
titled The Gospel According To Jesus
is more than a discussion on how to
preach. The bottom line is the person,
dignity, and authority of Jesus Christ
as Lord. Who is the person that we tell
sinners to look to alone for salvation?
We must believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. What kind of salvation is freelyoffered to sinners by this Person? Dare
we say to a sinner, Jesus Christ is
Lord and he alone can save you. How-
ever, you really need not actually treat
him as Lord in order to trust him as
your Savior? I honestly wish I were
caricaturing but you know I am not .3
It is essential that we keep the fo-
cus on who Jesus is and on what
did Jesus accomplish in his atoning
work. We need only look at the way
Christ was proclaimed by the early
church to prove our point. When
Christ was born, his Lordship was
emphasized: For unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the LORD (Luke
2:11). It is true that Christ is here
presented as a Savior, but the mes-
3 John Reisinger, Christ, Lord and Law-
giver over the Church (Frederick, Md.:
New Covenant Media, 1998).
sage declared that he could be the
Savior only because he was the Lord.
Christs Lordship cannot be separated
from his Saviorhood. To even imply
that a sinner can trust Christ as Savior
and deny him as Lord is equally as
bad as saying a sinner can trust Christ
as his Lord and, at the same time,ridicule and mock his priestly work of
blood atonement. We must declare a
Savior who is the Lord, or we are de-
nying his Lordship. This is surely the
pattern in the entire New Testament
Scriptures: Believe on the LORD
Jesus ChristTherefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that
God hath made the same Jesus, whom
ye have crucied, both LORD and
Christif thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the LORD Jesus (or that Je-sus is Lord) (Acts 16:31; 2:36; Rom.
10:9).
The Gospel presents a whole Sav-
ior. He is Prophet, Priest and King.
We insist the Gospel affects the whole
man, mind, heart and will. Nowhere
in the New Testament Scriptures
are sinners told to accept Jesus as
your personal Savior. That phrase
enshrines the totality of modern or-
thodox theology. We could just as wellsay, Accept Jesus as your personal
Priest or accept Jesus as your personal
King. The emphasis is never on the
ofce but on trusting the person who
holds the ofce, and that person is
always theLordJesus Christ. Gods
salvation is in a living Lord, and we
receive Him in all his fullness and
not merely his ofces or his benets.
Bowing in repentance and faith to the
risen and enthroned Lord is the gospelmessage of the early church.
This emphasis on Lordship does
not end with the sinners conversion.
Holiness and following after Christ
were also couched in terms of Lord-
ship: As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the LORD, so walk ye in
him (Col. 2:6). Notice that believers
were urged to follow Christ asLord
because they had received him in
conversion as Lord. There is no other
kind of gospel or conversion.
Someday every person who has
ever lived will acknowledge Jesus
Christ as Lord.
Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, andgiven him a name
which is above every name: That at
the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; And
that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of
God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).
The new name given to Christ at the
resurrection is not Jesus; that is the
human name given to him at his birth.
Mary was told to call her unborn son
JesusThou shalt call his nameJesus (Matt. 1:21). The new name
given to him as a reward for his re-
demptive work is Lord. That is the
name he earned and which was given
to him by his Father at the resurrec-
tion.
Gods controversy with sinners is
not merely their refusal to mentally
believe that Christ was really born
of a virgin. Nearly our whole society
confesses that fact at Christmas time.Roman Catholics have built their
whole pagan system of Maryology on
a gross misuse of that truth. Nor is
Gods controversy with sinners their
refusal to accept by faith that Christ
rose from dead. Again, our churches
will be packed on Easter Sunday with
people confessing they believe the
resurrection of Christ actually took
place.
What then is Gods controversy
with sinners? What is his controversy
with the people in your city? It has
nothing to do with faith, as a men-
tal assent, in the historic reality of
the birth, death and resurrection of
Christ. I repeat, Christmas and Easter
give ample proof of suchfaith. Gods
controversy with sinners is their re-
fusal to bow in repentance and faith
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McAloonContinued on page 15
the Old Covenant. He pointed toward
the spiritual goal of Gods plan in the
brightest and clearest way that the
physical types and shadows would
allow.3
For NCT, everything from the law,
prophets, and the writings nd theirfulllment in Christ and his church.
These were always the end and the
goal; thus, when Jeremiah prophesies
about the restoration of Israel and
Jerusalem, an eternal dynasty sitting
on the throne of David, and an eternal
and plentiful Levitical priesthood
continuously making sacrices, he
is using Old Covenant language to
describe Gods New Covenant fulll-
ment which is far better than the old
pictures.4
The Church
NC theologians hold that this New
Covenant era began with the estab-
lishment of Christs church on the
day of Pentecost (Matt. 16:18; Acts
2; 1 Cor. 12:12-13).5This is where we
differ from the covenantal concept of
one church existing throughout re-
demptive history. Christs statements
recorded in Matthew 16:18 seem to
indicate that something new is about
to be built, and it is not upon any prior
foundations. The promises to Abra-
ham were not fullled until the death
and resurrection of Jesus, and this
is the reason why the writers of the
NT constantly point Jews back to the
cross and Pentecost as the fulllment
of these promises (Acts 3:24-26).6
Reisinger argues that the giving of
the Spirit was the heart of thepromise
of the gospel in the OT Scripturesand the crowning experience of the
gospel in the New Covenant. This is
seen in the apostles emphasis on the
fulllment of the promises made to
3 Lehrer, 85.
4 Ibid., 91; also see 2 Cor. 3:7-13.
5 See Wells, 109-120; and Reisingers
chart inAbrahams Four Seeds, 114-
115.
6 White, Galatians, 93; Schreiner, 62.
the prophets, such as Joels prophecy
and the covenant made with David. In
Reisinger words:
The in Christ experience of
being baptized into his body can-
not take place until the middle wall
of separation erected by the Law
Covenant has been removed. The trueinheritance cannot be realized until
the true seed to whom the promises
are made has come and fullled the
Old Covenant, earned the blessing it
promised, died under its curse, and
then established the New Covenant,
the new man, the new access, the new
status, yea, the whole new creation (2
Cor. 5:17). This is exactly what we
celebrate when we sit at the Lords Ta-
ble and remember the New Covenant
sealed in his blood (1 Cor. 11:25).7
For NC theologians, this work of
Christ is the fulllment of all of the
law and the prophets, both for Jews
and Gentiles alike. Gentiles are now
brought into the people of God by
the blood of Christ, in that if a Gen-
tile was in Christ when he died, then
that Gentile was also in him when he
fullled the law; therefore all Gentiles
in Christ have fullled the conditions
of the Covenant (Eph. 2:11-22).8Also,
whereas the Old Covenant Sabbathstood as the sign of Gods specic
covenant with Israel, now both Jews
and Gentiles are able to partake of
the spiritual Sabbath. We take Rob-
ert Garners position, that Jesus is
the only Sabbath of rest for believers
under the gospel, and to keep this
Sabbath from polluting it is to believe
7 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds, 61,
108; one obvious implication of this
is that, contrary to Covenantalism, allof those under the New Covenant are
regenerate believers. See prior discus-
sion on page 16.
8 White, Galatians, 140; also see page
96 where he references Poythress
statement that since a new covenant is
made with Israel and Judah, it is made
with Christians by virtue of their union
with Christ the Israelite, from Vern
Poythress, Understanding Dispen-
sationalism(Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R
Publishing, 1987), 106.
in him alone for righteousness apart
from any work. Like circumcision
(Col. 2:11), the feast of tabernacles
(John 7:37), the Jubilee Sabbath (Luke
4:16-21), the cities of refuge (Heb.
6:18), the Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), the
Day of Atonement (Heb. 10:1-14), and
all Mosaic institutions, the Sabbathhas reached its fulllment in Christ
(Col. 2:17; Heb. 4).9To conclude with
Reisinger:
The church is the nation born
in a day. She is the true house of
David. She is the temple of the living
God and each of her members are liv-
ing stones in that growing temple. God
himself not only dwells in her midst,
but also he literally indwells every
stone. Her children, without exception
shall dwell safely in the mountain ofGod forever. She is Abrahams seed
because she is in Christ, and every one
of her children, without exception,
are true believers because they are
born spiritually. They are all baptized
into the body of Christ by the Holy
Spirit of promise and are all given the
Spirit of adoption in order that they
might realize that new position. The
New Covenant community that was
promised in the prophets has been now
established forever, and that New Cov
enant community is the true and nalfulllment of Gods promise to make
Abraham a great nation.10
EVALUATION AND CONCLU-
SION
Much has been attempted to be
covered in this brief study, and much
more could be written to further
expound NCT and its exegetical argu-
ments. There are many more nuances
and positions that warrant discussion;
however, what I have attempted to
cover here are those themes where
9 Robert Garner, A Treatise on Baptism
(1645; reprint, Paris, AR: The Old
Faith Baptist Church, n.d.), 30; in
Wells and Zaspel, 235. See Wells
entire chapter entitled, The Sabbath:
A Test Case.
10 Reisinger,Abrahams Four Seeds,
112.
McAloonContinued from page 7
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Page 12 October 2013 Issue 201
son you would see them bowing and
straightening up, again and again.
Such acts go on in thousands of places
in our world.
If an ordinary citizen of Israel
overstepped the boundaries between
the two groups, he was in grave dan-
ger.
What kinds of things were used
in worship? As I said above, animals
being sacriced was a chief ingredi-
ent of Old Covenant worship. First we
must realize that not any and every
kind of animal could be used. No wild
animals could be used, only domestic
ones. The animals are specied. In-
cluded are lambs (Ex. 29:38-41; 14:10;
cf. Matt. 8:4), goats (Lev. 1:10), and
doves or pigeons (Lev. 5:11). Otherthings of value to Israels citizens
could accompany the giving up of
the animals themselves. We read of
incense or perfume of some value that
sometimes was used along with the
esh of the animals that were sacri-
ced (Ex. 30:34-38).
When were the people to worship?
Just as they had designated places,
so also they had designated times. In
the wilderness they were to gather atthe tent of meeting when they heard a
single trumpet blast. We presume that
regular times were put in place once
they arrived in the promised land. The
next question covers one such time.
Where was worship to be done?
First at the tabernacle and later at the
temple of Solomon. Three times a
year, all the males had to appear in
a designated place for worship (Ex.
23:14ff; 34:23; Deut. 16:16). 2 Chron-icles 8:12-13 suggest rules for daily
offerings there as well.
Why were they to worship as they
did? Since as a nation they were a
mixed sacral society, we must keep
in mind that prescribed worship had
to be public so that it could be made
certain that every citizen was taking
part. That made regular times and
places necessary. If worship had been
they said, we know you are a man of
integrity and that you teach the way
of God in accordance with the truth.
You arent swayed by men, because
you pay no attention to who they are.
Tell us then, what is your opinion?
Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or
not? But Jesus, knowing their evil
intent, said, You hypocrites, why are
you trying to trap me? Show me the
coin used for paying the tax. They
brought him a denarius, and he asked
them, Whose portrait is this? And
whose inscription? Caesars, they
replied. Then he said to them, Give to
Caesar what is Caesars, and to God
what is Gods.
Since Israel was a sacral society,
they greatly disliked paying Rome
taxes. In principle they knew they
should not do so. Their oath of al-
legiance was given to Yahweh, not to
Caesar. But as a captive country they
had little choice. The busiest roads
of the empire often bore witness to
Romes demand for allegiance by
crucifying Jews and others in such
public places. Jesus critics saw in this
fact a chance to trap him no matter
how he answered their question. If he
said, Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes toCaesar, they would denounce him
before the people and seek to ruin his
inuence. If he said, No, they could
do worse. They could denounce Jesus
to the Roman authorities to be cruci-
ed. Eventually, as we know, they
succeeded in this.
Christs answer contains the hint
I mentioned above. Shortly he would
die. After that he would build up his
church. It would not be a sacral soci-ety. To be sure, its members highest
allegiance would belong to God, but
its citizens would be faithful members
of whatever nation in which they held
citizenship. That hint becomes clear
in the writings of both Paul in Ro-
mans and Peter in 1 Peter.
Paul writes in Romans 13:1-2:
Everyone must submit himself to
the governing authorities, for there is
no authority except that which God
has established. The authorities that
exist have been established by God.
Consequently, he who rebels against
the authority is rebelling against what
God has instituted, and those who do
so will bring judgment on themselves.
Peter makes much the same pointin 1 Peter 2:13-14:
Submit yourselves for the Lords
sake to every authority instituted
among men: whether to the king, as
the supreme authority, or to gover-
nors, who are sent by him to punish
those who do wrong and to commend
those who do right.
Before we turn to the NT to see
all that this change would mean, lets
take a closer look at Israels worship.
We will do so by using the standard
list of questions that ask who, what,
when, where, and why?
Who were the people commanded
to carry out worship?
There were two groups that over-
lapped. First, every citizenthe people
who brought the sacrices to be used
in worship. Second, the prieststhe
people who did their work on those
sacrices. We will see shortly thateach of these groups had specic
instructions as to what they were to
do. They emphatically did not do the
same things!
These two groups were typical
groups in most, perhaps nearly all,
ancient societies. We call such nations
or societiessacral societiesor theoc-
racies. Israel was such a nation. These
nations put large public religious
demands on their citizens. Such na-tions still exist. The nations dedicated
to Allah, that is Muslim nations, are
such examples. There every citizen
worships Allah and engages in the
same acts of outward worship as all
other citizens of such countries do.
For example, if you were to look
into a Muslim temple at a time of
worship, you would see a crowd of
persons all on their knees. In uni-
WellsContinued from page 1
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Issue 201 October 2013 Page 13
WellsContinued on page 14
dened as inward under the Sinai
covenant, there would have been no
way to measure it. This does not mean
that no worship during that period
was inwardnot at all! Those born
again or regenerated in that period
would have worshiped inwardly as
well. In large measure that is what thenew birth is about. In that experience
dead men and women are made alive
to the living God who created them
and who sustains them, for both time
and eternity.
Turning now to the NT, we nd a
great emphasis on internal worship.
Lets begin with John 4:19-24 where
Jesus surprises a Samaritan woman
by telling her of her relation to six
men:Sir, the woman said, I can see
that you are a prophet. Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, but you
Jews claim that the place where we
must worship is in Jerusalem.
Jesus declared, Believe me,
woman, a time is coming when you
will worship the Father neither on
this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You
Samaritans worship what you do not
know; we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews. Yet atime is coming and has now come
when the true worshipers will wor-
ship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for they are the kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in spirit and
in truth.
A number of things call for com-
ment in Jesus words to her. First,
Christ refuses to share the honor of
making salvation known with any
other nation, with neither the Samari-tans nor any other group: Salvation
is from the Jews! Second, Christ
shows in verse 21 that true worship-
ers will include Samaritans. Third, he
announces that a much fuller grasp
on salvation is on the verge of being
revealed. This surely declares the
arrival of the kingdom of God and
the New Covenant. It anticipates the
knowledge that comes with Jesus
himself as hinted at in the OT (Isa.
53:10-12; Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14).
Fourth, in saying, the true
worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and in truth, Christ an-
nounces that the worship will have a
large internal dimension. That will be
true whether we capitalize Spiritto make this a reference to the Holy
Spirit or leave it as it appears here.
That is true because the Spirit is said
to live within believers.
One more thing needs emphasis:
these are the kind of worshipers the
Lord seeks. This makes two points.
First, since God is sovereign, he
will not seek such people in vain. He
will nd them! In other words, Jesusdescribes all members under the New
Covenant as worshipers in spirit and
truth. That is a vast number of people!
However, just as important is another
fact: given the spiritual death in which
all men are in bondage, Gods seek-
ing will have to bring a new birth or
regeneration with it. Jesus made this
point very evident to Nicodemus in
John 3:3 when he says, I tell you
the truth, unless a man is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
One place Christian liberty is seen
at some length is Romans 14:1-23.
Well sample this passage without
covering it in detail. Lets start with
the question of what we can or can-
not eat. The Mosaic Covenant had a
good deal to say about this (Ex. 22:31;
Lev. 11:1-27). But now the decision is
left to us (Rom. 14:1-4). The same is
said of what days to celebrate (Rom.
14:5). Note that the decisions are leftto us. Making decisions that may turn
out either good or bad is a path to
increasing maturity and an exercise
of increasing maturity. We see this as
parents as we watch it take place in
our children. That is consistent with
the change from the Old Covenant to
the New.
Romans 15:1-3 and 5-7 show that
liberty is not license. There are limits
to our decisions. One important one
is the effect our choices will have on
others. Paul puts it this way:
We who are strong ought to bear
with the weak and not to please our-
selves. Each of us should please his
neighbor for his good, to build him up
For even Christ did not please himselfbut as it is written: the insults of
those who insult you have fallen on
me. May the God who gives en-
durance and encouragement give you
a spirit of unity among yourselves as
you follow Christ Jesus, so that with
one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Accept one another, just as
Christ accepted you, in order to bring
praise to God.
Who is affected by our choices?Paul rst mentions the weak, that is,
those who have scruples against some
things that we practice. Building them
up in some way is better than press-
ing them to dele their consciences.
Perhaps through our liberty they may
come to feel the freedom we have in
Christ, but not at the cost of doing
something that they suspect is wrong.
We must feel a spirit of unity with
them and so must they with us as each
party seeks to understand the other.
There is also another party in-
volved, God. Our unity should display
the most important ingredient of our
lives, our seeking to bring glory to
God! Paul tells us to do this with one
heart and mouth (v. 6). In modern
English we often associate heart
with emotions rather than with our
intellect. But in both OT Hebrew and
NT Greek, heart and mind are often
synonyms. The unity here is betweenwhat we think and what we say, be-
tween mind and voice. We must bring
these two together to please God. How
we express this glory, however, is left
largely to ourselves. We may usually
do it alone or in concert with others.
But in a sacral society, the law always
demands a public component in all
worship.
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Page 14 October 2013 Issue 201
WhiteContinued from page 5
One other element of our liberty:
just because something under the Old
Covenant is no longer required does
not mean it is forbidden. Take tithing
and Sabbath. Those who nd tithinguseful may continue it. As for Sab-
bath, many of us who are older have
fond memories of a day in the week
when shops were closed by law and
custom. I could be glad if that custom
remained, though this is not, in my
judgment, an issue where Christianity
may dictate to civil law. Where I lived
many shops also closed on Wednes-
day afternoon to allow folks to go to
mid-week services!
The command to make disciples is
sandwiched by the authority of Jesus
and the presence of Jesus. Opposition
will abound, but Jesus hasnt left us
as orphans (John 14:18). He is with us
through his Spirit. The whole book of
Matthew is sandwiched by this theme
(see 1:22-23). In Jesus, God is with usnow and forever, always (literally the
whole of every day).
to the one who God has made to be
Lord.It is the rejection of the Lord-
ship of Christ over their life that is the
sinners problem, and we are called
to face sinners with that problem by
pressing the claims of Jesus Christ as
Lord. We must demand that the sinner
lay down the weapons of his warfareand rebellion and totally and uncondi-
tionally surrender to a gracious King.
God the Father says that Jesus is
Lord. What say ye?
with Joe and were on the bus. Surely
we would have informed them of who
this man was! Joe Louis was said to
have been able to knock out a horse
with one blow (I am not sure why he
went around hitting horses). We would
have informed these guys that theywere in the presence of greatness and
did not know it. They hadto be in-
formed. His greatness demands it. Ev-
ery one of our friends, neighbors, and
family members lives and breathes
in the presence of the greatest Lord,
whose power makes Joe Louis seem
like a handicapped grasshopper. We,
the people of the one true Lord must
stand up on the bus and promote the
reality of his Lordship with our words
and works.2
Jesus commands us to make dis-
ciples. We often think this verse only
applies to those called to be mission-
aries. This verse is for all Christians.
The main verb in this passage is
make disciples. We are not merely
called to make converts, but dis-
ciples. We are not called to build big
buildings, have immaculate services,
entertain, or replicate rock concerts
but to make disciples. Marshall andPayne write, Thus the goal of Chris-
tian ministry is quite simple, and in a
sense measurable: are we making and
nurturing genuine disciples of Christ?
The church always tends towards
institutionalism and secularization.
The focus shifts to preserving tradi-
tional programs and structures, and
the goal of discipleship is lost. The
mandate of disciple-making provides
the touchstone for whether our churchis engaging in Christs mission. Are
we making genuine disciples of
Jesus Christ? Our goal is not to make
church members or members of our
institution, but genuine disciples of
Jesus.3
2 Ibid. 36-37.
3 Tony Payne and Colin Marshall, The
Trellis and the Vine (Kingsford, Aus-
tralia: Matthias Media, 2009), 14.
So yes, we must go, send, and
pray, but if this is all we do we are
not heeding our Lords command. We
mustbe making disciples.
Furthermore, if we do not disciple,
our culture will. What would it look
like for us to be a people discipled
by our culture? Well for starters, wewould look no different than our un-
believing neighbors. We would share
their values. We would confuse the
kingdom of God with the empire of
America. We would jump at promo-
tion offers without giving the slight-
est thought about how it would affect
time with the people of God. We
would be in debt in all sorts of ways.
We would be very individualistic,
going home every week night to sit inmychair, eat myfood, in myhouse.
We would think that attendance for
an hour on Sunday would be enough
to please God in our behavior. We
would think of self rst when we
come across an extra sum of money.
We would compromise hard truths.
We would tolerate divorce and be de-
pendent on two income lifestyles. We
would aim to be a very comfortable
people. We would be dened by what
we own. We would value family overthe family of God. Oh, but what if we
followed the commands of Christ?
We are also commissioned to bap-
tize. Baptism is an outward expression
of our submission to the authorita-
tive king. We are also called to teach
them to obey everything Jesus com-
manded. The people of God are no
longer bound to the Mosaic law but
the commandments of the Messiah.
The Old Testament is important, andthe Epistles are extremely relevant;
however, it is Jesus commands that
comprise the central core of the Chris-
tian faith and proclamation.
The Presence of Christ
The commission concludes with
the words, And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age.
We can do none of this on our own.
ReisingerContinued from page 10
WellsContinued from page 11
Holiness is the best sabbathdressbut it is equally suitablefor everyday wear.
C.H. Spurgeon
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