Theology Archives - Kuyperian Commentary

On September 23, 2024 By Nathan Zekveld In Culture 2

Cults, Sects and Catholicity

What is the difference between a cult and a sect? Here is how I define these terms. A cult is outside of Christianity – ie Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses. A cult rejects the truths of creedal Christianity that are the centre of the Christian faith. A sect is within Christianity, but separates itself from the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church in various ways. It maintains the creedal truths of Christianity, but it rejects fellowship (at times) with Christian brothers over secondary and tertiary issues. You should be able to see under those definitions how cults can so easily arise in the midst of a church that is prone to sectarianism. This is why North America has been a seedbed for cults (JWs, Mormons, etc). North America is rife with sectarianism. If Christ alone is the Head of the church and His Word is the charter for that church, and He defines the boundaries of His Church, that should put a check on sectarianism.

This is why North America has been a seedbed for cults (JWs, Mormons, etc). North America is rife with sectarianism.

Historically, the Reformed Churches sought to maintain a sense of catholicity in the midst of sectarian and even cultic teachings. It was the criticism of various Reformed pastors at the time of the Reformation that the anabaptists, the Radical Reformers, were sectarian (not cultic). Some of the anabaptist did verge on the cultic such as the anabaptists in Munster. Even though many of the Reformers had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the initial goal of the reformation had been reform, not to leave the Roman Catholic Church.

While my Anglican and Presbyterian colleagues have similar statements, which reflect the broad sense of catholicity among the reformers, I will focus on the Three Forms of Unity here.

I would encourage all Protestants who are meditating on what it means to have a Protestant (or Reformed) doctrine of the Church to read the Belgic Confession, Articles 27-32. Read the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 21. Read the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 25, 30, 31. Read the 39 Articles, articles 19-21.

In the Belgic Confession, the author uses the language of true church and false church, this statement of faith was formally adopted by an ecclesiastical body at the Synod of Dordt in 1620, a synod of the Dutch Reformed Churches, but a synod at which there was a substantial international delegation that included both Anglicans and Presbyterians. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the authors use the language of pure and purer churches and acknowledge that even the purest churches on this side of heaven, are subject to sin and error, and that some have so much sin and error that they have become synagogues of Satan. The Westminster Confession of Faith was adopted by a “synod” in Scotland in 1646, following the Synod of Dordt.

The point of these remarks is to indicate that the Presbyterian Church of Scotland did not see themselves as the “only pure church” or that the Dutch Reformed Church did not see themselves as the “only true church”. Instead, they struggled to maintain a strong sense of catholicity even as there was so much foment and revolution happening across Europe. At the same time, they were determined to call “a heresy a heresy.” There are synagogues of Satan, both in their land at that time in history, and also at our time in history. At the same time, we don’t want to act in a sectarian fashion towards those who struggle with the same intermixing of error and sin that we struggle with in our churches as we fight and contend for the purity of the Church in Christ.

What does that look like?

For example, historically (with exceptions), the Reformed did not re-baptize Roman Catholics.

If a Roman Catholic family came to my church, we would not re-baptize the parents or their children. This would have been the same when I was a pastor in the United Reformed Church of North America as now in the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. This really was one of the major flash-points of the reformation as the anabaptists were the “re-baptizers” and the Reformed accepted the Trinitarian baptisms of the Roman Catholic Church.

In our congregation we welcome all Christians to the Lord’s Table who are baptized in the Triune Name and who are connected to the Church of Jesus Christ. More subjectively we warn those who are living in unrepentant rebellion and come to the Table of Christ in such a spirit, that they will eat and drink judgment on themselves. Of course, we welcome all to come and see that the Lord is good, we extend the free offer of the gospel, we welcome sinners to trust in Christ and to pass through the waters of baptism and then to come to the Table of the Lord.

It is in this way, that we seek to maintain unity with the church of all times and ages, the one, holy catholic and apostolic church, as it pursues Jesus Christ by faith.

We should take cues from how Augustine handled the donatists and from how John Calvin handled the anabaptists of his era. We recognize a sect for what it is. But we don’t act in a sectarian way towards those who love Jesus, but due to error or confusion, segregate themselves from large parts of His Church. I think here also of the way in which Paul dealt with error in Colossae. He warns against the error, but in that case, he doesn’t call for immediate excommunication for those who are struggling with the inter-mixture of strange philosophies with the doctrine of Christ. He does call for clear teaching on the supremacy of Christ, nevertheless.

Cults, on the other hand are not Christian at all. Cults abandon the true doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity and humanity of Christ. For that reason, as Christians, we should acknowledge that the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons are cults. There is also something cultic about theological liberalism in the church, in its rejection of sound doctrine, and its embrace of heretical teachings. Theological liberalism is no longer Christian or Church. If you read Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen, he makes the point well that those who reject the Trinity, the divinity & humanity of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Word of God, that is not Christianity at all. That is why you see many of the mainstream denominations dying out, as most churches that reject the Word of God will disappear or become a full-blown cult like the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Notice how Mormons and JWs have also rejected the historic Christian Church. There is a point at which sects can verge on the cultic, especially wherever Jesus Christ is rejected as Savior and Lord. We see that in the moral chaos that has ensued in many of the mainstream churches upon their rejection of core doctrines.

The all-encompassing purpose of any true or pure church is that in everything Jesus Christ would be preeminent (Col 1). Read also the goal of Paul’s ministry in Romans 1:1-6.

Finally, in its popular use, the term “cult” is frequently used to describe the visible manifestation of power or control in a society. There are scary things and horrific abuses that happen in these cults because men (and women), being sinful by nature, tend to believe that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to them, rather than to Christ. These things do happen from time to time within the true church as well. Every visible assembly of believers has both hypocrites and sinners. In fact, the church has been described as a “hospital for sinners”. Even (especially!) the pastors of the churches must trample daily over the bellies of their own lusts. But what distinguishes the true or pure church from these cults or synagogues of Satan, is that these churches seek to correct these sins and errors, not only among their members, but also among their leaders.

You see, in this world, it is not about whether, but which, authority you will submit too. Is it the authority of Christ or the Devil? You must see here the centrality of the Biblical truth that Jesus Christ is the sole Head of the Church (Col 1, Eph 1). Any authority that is wielded by the officers of the church is delegated authority (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:18-20; I Peter 5), not transferred authority. Jesus is the King and we are His subjects. We must bend our necks to the yoke of Jesus Christ, which is easy, and His burden light. The false church does not bend its neck to the yoke of Christ and as a result places its neck under the iron yoke of the tyranny of sin & of the Devil. All ministers, pastors, elders, deacons, theological professors are servants of Jesus Christ, the only universal bishop of the Church. The officers of the church, as guardians of the church, are not called to act on their own authority, on their own whims, rolling with the tides of culture and popular opinion, but rather, ought always to guard against deviating from what Christ, our only Master, has ordained for us.

This why the Apostle Paul when he advances the ministry of reconciliation in II Corinthians 5, in the power of the Spirit says boldly: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (II Cor 5:13-15)

You see then, how Paul directs the power of the gospel into service. The work of the catholic church is for the life of the world, in service to Christ who is the sole Head of the Church, the King of kings and Lord of lords, that in everything He might be supreme.

End note: This post was initially posted on Substack by Nathan Zekveld

Photo by ThrowBack Graphics on Unsplash

On August 12, 2024 By Paul Liberati In Church, Culture, Theology Like

What Does Baptism Accomplish? Part Two: Adoption Ceremony

When God enters into covenant with His people, there is always an adoptive element involved: He becomes their Father, and they become His children. And this has always been the case. In Scripture, even Adam’s relationship with God is expressed in terms of sonship (Hosea 6:7; Luke 3:38), highlighting the filial dimension to the covenant into which he was created. Later, after his Fall and recovery by God in Christ, that relationship was available to those who renewed their covenant with God and maintained the true worship of the Lord (Genesis 4:26). They were called sons and daughters of God, while the rest of the world were called the sons and daughters of men (Genesis 6:2).

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On June 11, 2024 By Nathan Zekveld In Culture Like

The Power of the Prophetic Word

Open the Bible and you will see prophets calling both king and priest to faithfulness to God. In David’s Palace, the prophet Nathan stands with his finger pointed, crying out “you are the man.” As Jeroboam approaches his idolatrous altar to make sacrifices to an idol, a man from Judah marches up to that place of idolatry and calls down the judgment of God on him. Amos, that rough and tumble farmer from Tekoa, cries out for the northern kingdom to return to the Lord. John the Baptist is beheaded for challenging Herod on his adulteries. The Apostle Paul goes right for the center of power as he is hauled off in chains to Rome, where Christian tradition claims that he died for his Lord.

In his commentary on I & II Kings, Peter Leithart writes (p. 97): “Prophets break into and out of the normal ‘chronicled’ history, the usual progression of kings and successors, as Yahweh slices across the grain of history with his prophetic word.”

In revolutionary times, pastors must never underestimate the power of the Word preached faithfully, in the power of the Spirit and pointed at the glory and majesty and mercy of Christ.

But there are a number of ways to empty the preaching of its power. There are a number of ways that this can be done in our time.

First, the preaching of the Word can be emptied of its power by becoming a fun little TedTalk, with all the right hand gestures and voice inflection. Not that these things don’t matter (it is said that Isaiah was silver-tongued), but is a man with great rhetorical ability drawing the attention to Christ, is he faithfully dividing the Word of Truth, or is he building a ministry on a persona?

Second, the preaching of the Word can be overpowered by the beauty of the liturgy, the presence of the sacraments, the glory of song. Word and sacrament come together. Apart from the Word, the sacrament is an empty symbol, and the sacrament is the visible sign & seal of an invisible grace that the Lord uses to confirm the Word. The song is a means of employing the Word to praise God, but it is not the teaching and application of the Word. The liturgy plays a role in effectively teaching the patterns of Biblical repentance and grace and thankfulness, but again, the prophetic Word is the centerpiece that humbles the pride of man and raises him up again to serve the Lord with a thankful heart.

Third, the preaching of the Word can get lost in the pathways of a mad pursuit for political power. Rather than allowing God through His Word to do the great work of humbling the pride of kings & popes as Luther did when he was drinking beer with his friends in Wittenburg, there is a temptation for pastors to drift from their mission and seize earthly power through unlawful means that are outside their calling. A pastor is lawfully given the task to preach the Word (also to teach that Word from home to home), to administer the sacraments and church discipline under the authority of a session of elders. This does not mean that there is no place for Christians to acquire political power, but that is not the duty of the minister of the Word and sacrament. He is not called to administer God’s wrath by the power of the sword as the civil magistrate is called to do (Romans 13).

The modern Christian, and especially the modern Christian pastor, must see then the unequivocal power of the Word. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3–6: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” If it is a revolutionary aim, then it is only revolutionary in the sense that kings are established in their rule when they bow the knee to the true sovereign over the whole universe, which is Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And the way that we effect this as the pastors of the Christian Church is through the bold preaching of the holy gospel and by not backing down from that high calling and task when the state threatens to disband the gathering through lockdowns or locking up a pastor in prison.

The duty of the pastor then is to bind Himself to the Word and let the Word bind his speech, his actions, everything. It is in this manner that he becomes an example to kings of the great power of the Word to transform nations by transforming individual men and their families by the power of the gospel. The minister who places himself so firmly under the Word of Christ, will be an example to his flock and to the gathered church across the nation of what fidelity to Christ looks like, imitating Christ as Christ was exalted through humiliation.

In this we ought to become an example to the kings of the earth. Every godly king to must go through a humiliation, whether that be David in the caves, King Alfred in the forests of Britain, or all the kings of both the Old Testament and New Testament times who were humbled through Christian repentance and a turning to the Lord in faith.

But remember the ministers of the gospel will break. They go into stages of depression. They are on the run. They are killed and sawn in two and live in the dens and caves of the earth from time to time. But it is when the ministers of the gospel break, that the light of Christ shines out through the cracks of earthen vessels (II Cor. 4). It is the breaking of the ministers of the gospel that God has ordained as the means by which His Word will break the pride of men. Just as Gideon’s armies moved to victory when their earthen vessels were broken open, so the armies of the Lord come to victory when pastors are “are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (II Cor. 4:8-9)

The Word of God is the hammer that will break the pride of men and pound out Christian men into sharp pointed weapons who are able to be more and more effective with the Word in the business sphere, in the workplace, in their homes, in the town hall meeting, equiped to love and serve their communities in truth. The pastor is the vessel that the Lord raises up to bring that Word into collision with the pride of nations. This is why Paul is so concerned that Timothy be a faithful expositor of the Scriptures. Timothy and Paul are both men under orders: farmers who patiently sow seed, athletes who obey the rules, soldiers who faithfully listen and obey the commands of their Lord & Master Jesus Christ. If we would see revival & reformation sweep our land then we must see the Holy Bible faithfully opened and applied across our nation again. We must see pastors willing to take a hit and broken open, rather than deny their Lord and Master who is the sole Head of the Church. We must grow pastors who relentlessly believe that the Word is above all earthly powers and show that they believe by obeying its commands of Christ even to the point of martyrdom.

This is the prophetic Word that slices through the grain of history. As Peter writes to the Christians in exile: “…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God, for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (I Peter 1:23-25).

This is the Word above all earthly powers. God has invested it with the power to regenerate wicked kings, homeless men & women, and sanctimonious Christians who have a veneer of holiness but are full of dead mens bones.

So submit to it, study it, search it, love it. And preach it.

Note: this has also been posted over on Susbtack here.

Photo by Duncan Kidd on Unsplash

On February 13, 2024 By Nathan Zekveld In Culture 2

Does Politics Have any Place on the Pulpit? How to Speak to Kings 101

One of the issues that has presented itself to the Christian Church, especially in the last 100 years, is the problem of politics and the pulpit. It was an issue in Bonhoeffer’s day as the Church, especially Christian pastors, went quiet on major cultural-political issues out of fear of being deemed “too political.” This is a problem in the American Church just as it was in the German Church in the pre World War II era. Eric Metaxas points out in his book Letter to an American Church. If it is a problem there, it is so much moreso a problem in the Canadian Church. I heard many such comments whispered from the pews of Reformed Churches in the years heading up to the COVID tyranny of 2020-?. I’ve heard it with increased frequency in the last couple of years. This has lead me to reflect deeply on Scripture and pray about what God demands of the preacher in a time like this. And so I’ll begin by posing a question: does politics have any place in the pulpit?

I submit that this debate is not about whether politics are in the pulpit, but how we preach on politics from the pulpit. Everyone engages in politics of some form or another (whether secular, totalitarian, pagan, or Biblical). It is another question if it is guided by a proper interpretation of the Scriptures.

Be Ye Not Political:

I use the language here that Eric Metaxas uses for the title of the 11th chapter of his Letter to the American Church. This has become an additional commandment in much of the Canadian Church as we silence our pastors and/or as pastors self-censor. Of course, there is something here in this command that we should be warned against. The answer to the problems of our society is not found in the politics and policies of men. The answer is found in the Scriptures. The answer to sin comes from God in His revelation of Jesus Christ. As a Christian Church, we also have to take care not to align ourselves with a political party, although we must “abhor what is evil and love what is good” (Rom. 12:9), wherever it might be found, including in political parties and state leaders. We must also avoid political alliances with evil in order to accomplish a single isolated good. But at the end of the day, there is no Biblical command that says “be ye not political.” It is more a matter as to how to be political.

Is the gospel at the front end? Is the Word of God central? Is worship central? Is the city of God the city that transforms the cities of men? How does it transform the cities of men? These are all important questions.

But in order to understand more what is going in here, we must first acquaint ourselves with secularism.

The Lie of Secularism:

Secularism does not simply refer to the old idea of the separation of church and state which is a good ideal, when understood rightly. Secularism refers to the separation of religion and state, that the state can govern by morally neutral principles, by a social contract, maybe incorporating some of the natural law.

But the problem with secularism is that it is an impossibility. Man is inherently religious. He will either worship the state or he will worship science or he will worship something or someone else. Man needs a higher authority. For that reason, secularism as an ideal has failed at its inception. It failed the minute someone thought it up.

Nevertheless, we continue to promote the lie as a society. That way the Christian faith is kept out of politics, that is, politics being the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area.

The Church has become deeply secularized, separating faith and business, faith and politics, faith and family. But the resounding motto that our people should hear both in the pew and in all of life is this: if Jesus is not Lord over all, then He is not Lord at all. This is the truth that is taught throughout the Scriptures, but especially as we find it in Colossians 1:18–20: “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Here is the problem. When God’s Laws are mocked, especially the preachers and teachers in the Church cannot be silent. It is an impossibility. It is an impossibility because the initial place that His authority is made manifest is in the Church. The pastors have been given the holy and sacred duty to declare the crown rights of King Jesus.

Christians and Kings:

We see themes of believers standing before and speaking to kings throughout the Scriptures. We hear the true God of the Bible described this way in Deuteronomy 10:17: “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.” Solomon speaks to his son in Proverbs 22:29: “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” And again in Ecclesiastes 8:3 “Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.” King David writes in Psalm 119:46–47 “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” Daniel stands before Nebuchadnezzar and Beltashazar to speak the Word of God. John the Baptist rebukes Herod for taking his brothers wife (as a side note: I remember reading of one commentator who claimed that John the Baptist was a young minister who had a promising career that was cut short by political preaching). Paul stands before various kings until he finally brings the gospel to Caesar after Christ commissioned him in Acts 9:15–16: “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’” We hear Jesus described by John as “the ruler of kings on earth” in Revelation 1:5 and by Paul to Timothy as “the King of kings and Lord of Lords” in I Timothy 6:15. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 28:18 that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” and that we are to teach the nations all things that He has commanded after going out and baptizing and discipling them. We find this promise in Revelation 21:24: “By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it…” (Remember the principle of “now and not yet” for that passage from Revelation.)

Does the Call to Repentance include Kings?

Jesus writes in Luke 24:46–48 “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

I’ll cut right to the point. Yes, repentance for the forgiveness of sins must also be declared to our civil authorities, regardless of how “political” that might be deemed. This is our basic duty and task as a Church, as a Christian people. Just as Paul was a witness of Christ to Jews, to Gentiles and the children of Israel, so we are witnesses to the reality of Christ’s suffering, His resurrection, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations – that includes Canada.

We see it in the annals of Christian history, as Ambrose called King Theodosius to repentance, Patrick brought the gospel to the kings and princes of Ireland, John Knox called out the sins of the queen of Scotland, Abraham Kuyper tried to bring Biblical principles to bear as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for a time.

The prophet has a duty to cavil against the evils and pride of all men and call them to bow the knee to Jesus Christ and to find their life in Him. And he has a duty to do it in a particular way. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:1–3: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”

Throughout Christian history, Christian kings have sought to bring the laws of Christ to bear, such as Constantine, Charlamagne, King Alfred, William the Silent, and other Christian kings and leaders of the post-Reformation era.

In order to call for repentance, men need to repent of something, they need to turn away from something and turn to something. The primary thing is a recognition among the kings and leaders of the earth that Jesus is Lord over all, and that in order to rule rightly, they must bow the knee to Him. If Jesus is Lord of all, then His principles for justice and law that are found throughout the Scriptures, are the best principles to rule by. Anything that stands in opposition to those principles is fundamentally rebellion against Him, and in His goodness, He died for rebels, to deliver them from their rebellion. We find the promise inPsalm 68:18: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.” We find the fulfillment in Ephesians 4:8 where Paul applies this to Christ: “Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’”

Conclusion:

The clear conclusion of what we find in the Scriptures is that the implication of the gospel message that Jesus is our final prophet, priest and king is that there are massive political ramifications to the call to repentance and faith in Him. And yet, the kingdom of Christ advances differently than the kingdoms of this world. The kingdom of Christ advances through the bold preaching of the gospel message, the call to bow the knee and yield allegiance to Jesus as King, the king who came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). It advances as bold martyrs give up their lives rather than betray or deny their Lord and Master Jesus Christ. As the blood of the martyrs has watered the dry and stony grounds of godless and unbelieving nations, the church has sprung up out of it. This is because we have a God who knows the way out of the grave. It advances as kings and presidents and prime ministers get down on their knees and say to Jesus Christ: “My heart I offer to you Lord, promptly and sincerely.”

So yes, politics do have a place on the pulpit. Jesus speaks to the governance of a specific region, especially when that government begins to mock His laws and Word and despise or even persecute His holy Church. Secular politics are a lie. And no pastor should either assume a lie or preach a lie. The Bible and the truths therein should set the agenda. The Lordship of Christ over all things is central. All men, all parties, must bow before His throne.

This means that those bearing the Word must first and foremost be in submission to it, in their warnings, encouragements, exhortations and praise.

Note: The header photo is an illustration by the Dutch painter Peter Paul Rubens of St. Ambrose barring King Theodosius from the sanctuary after the Massacre of Thessalonika. He would not allow the king to enter until he repented of this massacre.

Note: This is part of a series of items relating to ecclesiology that I am posting on Kuyperian Commentary. You can find other work on my Substack account. My latest essay on Kuyperian is important background to this one.

On October 16, 2023 By Nathan Zekveld In Church, Theology 1

The Church is our Mother: Why our doctrine of the church is limping along

The 3rd century church father and theologian Cyprian once wrote: “You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the church for your Mother.”

You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the church for your Mother.”
Cyprian, De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate sect. 6

Before you question the authority of Cyprian in making this statement, realize that he is simply using Biblical language for the Church. Paul writes to the Church in Galatia: “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (Gal. 4:26) Similarly, the Book of Revelation frequently uses the language of Jerusalem to speak of the Church, language that Paul uses to refer to our mother: “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” (Rev. 3:12) The language of church as mother might bring some light to the Apostle Paul’s words about the ministry of him and his colleagues in 1 Thessalonians 2:7–8: “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”

I will begin with this statement (thesis) then. A Churchless Christianity is an impossibility. My Biblical definitions and arguments below should back this statement up sufficiently.

In response, the modern-day evangelical will turn on the smoke machines, and the above statement will likely be surrounded by hazy smoke and fog of rebuttals. Well, what do you mean by the church? Are you referring to a building? Why can’t I have ‘church’ with a couple friends out in the woods? Billy will read a few verses of Scripture, pray together, sing a few songs and church is over. I’m spiritual but not religious. Do you mean the visible or the invisible church? Do you mean the local church or the universal church?

We should be clear that the church has been clear on various truths about the church all the way from Cyprian too Calvin to the Reformed theologians who followed Calvin. This has been the message of the church throughout the ages as she responds to the Word of God. 1200 years after Cyprian, in the days of the Reformation, John Calvin also used the language of the church as our mother, assuming what Cyprian wrote:

“I will begin with the church, into whose bosom God is pleased to collect his children, not only that by her aid and ministry they may be nourished so long as they are babes and children, but may also be guided by her maternal care until they grow up to manhood and, finally, attain to the perfection of the faith. What God has thus joined, let not man put asunder (Mark 10:9): to those whom he is a Father, the church must also be a mother. This is not merely under the Law, but even now after the advent of Christ; since Paul declares that we are the children of a new, even a heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26).”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.1

John Calvin continues:

“But as it is now our purpose to discourse of the visible church, let us learn, from her single title of Mother, how useful, no, how necessary the knowledge of her is, since there is no other means of entering into life unless she conceive us in the womb and give us birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short, keep us under her charge and government, until divested of mortal flesh, we become like the angels. (Matt 22:30)… Moreover, beyond the pale of the church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for, as Isaiah and Joel testify (Isa 37:32; Joel 2:32).”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.4

If you read Cyprian and Calvin among the various theologians of the first 1900 years, it is clear then that in the 21st century, our corporate understanding of the church is at best, slowly limping along. Our collective view is definitely not traveling clearly within the boundaries of Scripture.

It is then useful for our intents and purposes here to consider what the Scriptures say about our mother. We should dig deep into the Scriptures to discern who she is and what God’s will is with regards to her authority. It is clear from the Scriptures that the Church is our mother, but what else does it say about the church? After all, if the Bible speaks of her as our ‘mother’, it would be useful for Christians to at least discover who our ‘mother’ is.

What I lay out below is a brief definition and overview of her government, her fellowship, her preaching and her sacraments. Much more could be said from the Scriptures.

What is the Church?

Jesus Himself instituted the Church in Matthew 16:18–19 when He said: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Similarly, Jesus speaks of the church as a visible entity in Matthew 18:17 when describing the process of dealing with sin: “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” The Greek word for “church” is used in Acts 2:47 when Luke puts on the record that many were saved on the day of Pentecost. It is used soon aer in Acts 5:11 when we hear that fear came upon the church. It is used many more times throughout the New Testament, both in the singular and the plural, that is, “the church” and “the churches.” In fact, my Greek lexicon records its use about 193x in the New Testament. If you look back into the Old Testament for types or pictures of the church, you will find it referred to many more times. St. Augustine once stated: “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” To paraphrase Augustine: “The church is in Israel concealed; Israel is in the church revealed.” We should also refer to Israel or Israel/Judah as the Old Testament Church.

So what exactly is the church then? Well, the Greek word “ἐκκλησία” can be translated as “the assembly, the congregation.” It can mean “called out” or “called together.” In the Old Testament, the equivalent word would be “qahal,” which is referred to in I Kings 8:65. It does not refer necessarily to a meeting place, but too a gathering, a group of people who have been called together. In the New Testament the word “ecclesia” most frequently refers to the New Testament Church as a totality (Eph. 3:10) or in a specific location (Col. 4:15), it can also refer to the Old Testament assembly of believers (Acts 7:38), or even a riotous mob (Acts 19:32). But essentially, it refers to a group of believers who love Jesus Christ. Consequently, when you read in Matthew 18:20 about “when two or three gather” in His Name, Jesus is not necessarily referring to the assembly for worship, but to the process of church discipline, which in the New Testament as in the

Old would have to be confirmed by at least two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15, Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor. 2:21–3:1-2, I Tim. 5:19).

So Matthew 18:20 is not sufficient reason in and of itself to separate from the church as Christ has instituted it in the Scriptures, to have a private or informal gathering.

As you dig deeper into the Old and New Testaments, you will find that there is also a government that is connected with the church (I Tim. 3, Titus 1-2, I Peter 5, Heb. 13:18). Her ministry is identified (marked out) by preaching (I Cor. 2, II Tim. 4:1-5, I Peter 1:22-25), the celebration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 1, 11), and Christian fellowship of which spiritual church discipline is an crucial part (Matt. 18, I Cor. 5, I Cor. 16:21).

In fact, much of the New Testament is instruction to the church on how to be a church, how to live together as a church. It is full of theological and practical instructions for how to think about her covenantal bond to the groom, Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:25-33). Most of the letters are addressed to a church or to a group of churches. Only a couple are addressed to a Christian to Christian leaders. It is likely that Paul’s letter to Corinth was one of the first books of the New Testament, in chronological order of writing. You should regard Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth as a sort of initial church order or church constitution to instruct the church in regards to her duties with regards to the preaching (I Cor. 1-4), to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 1, 11), and spiritual church discipline (I Cor. 5). This is in light of the desire of Christ that His Church act in a unified (I Cor. 1:10) and peaceable (I Cor. 14:33) and orderly (I Cor. 14:40) manner. The early church was also to have a moral code in relation to adultery and idolatry (I Cor. 5-11) as well as other matters of the Old Testament Law. But she was also to have a clear understanding of the authority of officers or office-bearers in the church as we see throughout Paul’s instruction to Timothy and Titus, wise men, full of the Holy Spirit, who are able to properly handle the Word of truth and instruct the assembly (II Tim. 2:15).

All theology, the writings of Scripture is tied into our understanding of what the church is, what her function is in this world, her worship, her preaching, her sacraments, her discipline, her fellowship, her government. We should not talk about the doctrine of salvation in total isolation from the doctrine of the church. This is neither done in

Scripture or in church history. It is clear then that a close study of Scripture should help the believer discern between a faithful church and an unfaithful church, a true church and a church that is either corrupt or apostate. But the believer is driven to love the church and to serve her and seek her upbuilding nonetheless, even if it is a basket-case church like in Corinth (I Cor. 14:12). For this, reason it is the duty of leaders in our current ecclesiastical confusion to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12). We must not just be taught to love one another, but how to love one another.

How God describes the Church:

It is impossible to understand the church as a heavenly institution apart from God’s sovereign designation of the church as the object of our love in this world. Above all, we should see the beauty of the church by faith even when it is “with schisms rent asunder, by heresies oppressed.” We find a command in Psalm 48:12-14: “Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.” We read in Psalm 87:1–3: “On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah”

In the Scriptures, the Church is described as God’s temple (I Cor. 3:16-17, I Peter 2:5), as God’s field, God’s building (I Cor. 3:9), as the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:27, Eph. 4:12), the Bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7-8, 21:9, II Cor. 11:12, Eph. 5:31-32), The family of God (II Cor. 6:18, Eph. 2:19, Gal. 6:10, I Tim. 5:1), the household of God (I Pet. 4:17). We should see the church from the eyes of God, the eyes of faith, and not through the lens of this world. The Church is folly to the world. But to those who are being saved, we see it from the perspective of Christ who is reigning in the heavenly places. We should see the church through new eyes, with all its warts and flaws, as a Church that Christ loves and is purifying through water and the Word.

If we despise what Christ loves, separate from it and especially persecute it, then He will break out against us in His hot anger and holy indignation (I Cor. 3:16-17, Revelation). He did not come primarily to save an individual. He came to save a church (Eph. 5:31-32). It is of this church that I as a saved individual am a member. The Church is the primary object of Christ’s redemption. I get to join in on that grand project of

restoring sinful humanity to a new community in His cross and resurrection. He saves dead men. But unto what? He calls out. But He also calls together. If you love Christ, it is impossible to not love His Church, wherever He has called it together, and is moving with His Spirit within it. If you love Christ, it is impossible to not hate heresy, error, schism, and sin. It is impossible not to have mercy on those who doubt and to save others by snatching them out of the fire (Jude 22-23). Together, we are the church militant. We express that militance primarily when we gather together to worship Christ. As He heads down the warpath, Christ stops for a moment and looks back at His Church following in their orderly ranks and says with Solomon in Song of Solomon 6:10 “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” We look forward to the day when we will be the church at rest.

Conclusion:

Cyprian and Calvin argued in this way, because Christians must be taught to love what God loves. Why would you not love what God loves? We must be taught to avoid and flee from the desires of our sinful hearts. This includes the desire to escape the oversight of the church. I also hope that you see why I would describe the modern day church as “limping along.” I also hope that some of the theology that I lay out in here drives you to find a godly Christian Church that is repenting of its sins daily and growing in holiness, that is seeking to preach the pure gospel from the entirety of God’s Word, that is seeking to maintain the sacrament of baptism and the Lord’s Supper in holiness, and seeking the salvation of sinners and the purity of the church and beauty of godly Christian fellowship through the holy practice of spiritual discipline. All the extra programs of modern day evangelicalism, should disappear until we can do these things well. In fact, as Christians we should simply focus on worship, fellowship and service to one another and ultimately to Christ. Let’s get to work. Let’s worship Christ who bought us with His blood. Let’s be the Church.

Photo by Liv Bruce on Unsplash

This post was initially posted here on Rev. Nathan Zekveld’s Substack account.

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On October 12, 2023 By Kendall Lankford In Culture, Politics, Theology 5

IS ISRAEL THE CHOSEN PEOPLE OF GOD?

THIS DISPENSATIONAL MOMENT

Every time a rocket is launched from the Gaza strip, a dispensationalist gets his wings. And by wings, I mean like Red Bull, in that he will receive a rather large boost of courage, enough, in fact, to crawl up and out of the hole he has been hiding in from his last failed prediction and to flood the internet with a panoply of reasons why the end times are really here this time and happening right before our eyes. This confusion is entirely unhelpful and could be cleared up if any of my former 28 articles and podcast episodes on the topic of eschatology were seriously engaged with. Shameless plug intended.

Along with this, I have also seen a litany of social media posts proclaiming solidarity with Israel in their current war with Hamas, because they are God’s chosen people and we do not want to be on the wrong side with God. For this reason, before getting on to our topic today, I thought it might be wise to mention a few things to consider regarding the covenantal status of modern-day Israel.

STILL GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE?

Perhaps the best place to start would be with what the word Israel means. From the Scriptures, the first time the word is used is when God wrestles with Jacob and then renames Him Israel, which means “the one who wrestles with God.” Knowing this, it is obvious that “Israel” is not a genetic term that is passed through bloodlines down through families in the same way “Egyptian” would be. To be a member of Israel was a spiritual activity, of knowing God and wrestling with Him in intimate fellowship, not just merely inheriting the right DNA.

We know this is true, because God calls all kinds of ethnic peoples “Israel.” For instance, when the Israelites leave the land of Egypt, escaping from the slavery to be a free people serving their covenant God, the text tells us that a “mixed multitude” went out with them (Exodus 12:38). Apparently, there was a contingency of Egyptians who were so impressed by Yahweh, that they abandoned the empire of the Pharaohs and joined themselves with Israel, becoming followers of Jehovah. Just like the ethnic born sons of Abraham, they too were accounted as Israel.

Moses also reiterates that Israel was a spiritual distinction, when he admonishes the people to “circumcise their hearts” (Deuteronomy 10:16). All of the men of Israel had performed the physical sign of circumcision on their genitals, but there were many of them who were not true Israel in the heart (Romans 9:6). This is because being a member of true Israel was never about biology or physicality, but of spiritual allegiance to Yahweh.

Thinking also of the lineage of Christ, from the genealogies recorded in the Gospels, we can ascertain that Ruth the Moabite was a part of His lineage and was grafted into Israel. Along with Ruth, Rahab the Canaanite prostitute was a part of His line as well as Bathsheeba, who was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and could have been a Hittite herself (the text is unclear). Regardless, the Servant of the Lord, whom Isaiah calls “true Israel” was the one who assimilated people who were far off, and foreigners to His covenant promises, and brought them into Him as one people. This is why Paul says that there is neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3:28) because all are one in Christ, made one through His finished work (Ephesians 2:14-16), to be children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:29), and have been made into a new nation, the “Israel of God” which includes slaves and free, male and female, Jews and Gentiles together as one unified people of God (Galatians 6:16).

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On October 2, 2023 By Kendall Lankford In Postmillenialism, Theology Like

When Do The “Last Days” Really Begin? (Part 2)

INTRODUCTION

As you will remember from Part 1, a great noise exploded from the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Within those walls, a hurricane-like wind came rushing in, a torch-like flame settled onto the crown of each disciple’s head, and a crowd began forming to make sense of the confusion. Amid this pandemonium, all of the elect believers in the group, meaning everyone whom God had chosen for salvation, began hearing Peter preaching in their native language, causing wonder to come over the crowd. For the ones whom God chose and poured out His Holy Spirit, this was an exhilarating affair, watching the plague of Babel dissolve right before their very eyes.

But, men and women were standing there that day who were not elect. There were some whom God did not pour out His Spirit and for whom this dramatic display was patently absurd. They even began hurling the accusation that the recipients of the Spirit must be inebriated from drinking too liberally of spirits. This was a terrible mischaracterization. And suggesting the Holy Spirit’s work was on the same level of foul inebriation was likely a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that Jesus previously warned about.

Against this context, Peter began preaching from a text in Joel that perfectly fit the situation and precisely addressed both groups. Last week, we saw the situation. God was bringing the Old Covenant period of a temple, a priesthood, a sacrificial system, kosher laws, and clean and unclean statues to an abrupt halt. He ended that transitional era to bring about the final epoch of human history, where His Son, the true and better Adam, would recapture everything the first Adam lost. Because of this, that old Kingdom of types and shadows needed to go away because our Lord would not allow any rival kingdoms to become a distraction from His purposes.

With that, Joel also declares that there will be dramatic signs in the heavens, on the earth, and among the people of God, showcasing exactly when the last days began. According to Joel, “the last days” were not a future end of human history but the final moments of the Mosaic era, and when that glorious era faded away, there would be undeniable signs proving it was happening. As we saw last week, some of those signs applied to the believers, to the ones who experienced the outpouring of the Spirit, spoke in tongues, prophesied, had visions, and dreamed dreams. These signs would confirm that the old boat was sinking and they were on the new covenant raft. Today, we will look at the five remaining symbols, the ones that are signs of judgment for all those who have rejected Christ, and we will understand how all of this proves the last days Peter, Luke, and Joel were speaking about already occurred.

A NOTE ABOUT EARTHLY SIGNS AND HEAVENLY WONDERS

For many, Acts 2:19 guarantees that the events described concern things that have not already occurred. They will tell you that the first-century sky over the top of Jerusalem wasn’t filled with any significant wonders, the earth during those forty years was not full of various perturbations and signs, that the blood, fire, and smoke have no historical referent, and the sun and moon did not go dark and stop casting their light. Because, they say, these things have not yet happened; we cannot be living in the last days, and anyone who says so is full of malarkey.

One need only reply to that assertion with: “Hold my beer.”

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On September 22, 2023 By Kendall Lankford In Postmillenialism, Theology 1

When Do The “Last Days” Really Begin? (Part 1)

SWING AND A MISS

When Christians hear the phrase “The Last Days” or “The End Times,” what images come to mind? For some, a clandestine government laboratory where a pseudo-scientist whose name rhymes with Dr. Ouchie is busily brewing the next super woo-flu that will kill a quarter of the population is well in view. For others, it could be a one-world cryptocurrency, planes falling from the sky, a maniacal and blood-lusting monarch, or the Romish pope (if you’re really old school). Whatever the case, for the vast majority of evangelicalism, we have utterly missed it.

Now, when I say we have missed it, I don’t mean a booming foul ball ovah tha Green Monstah, kid! No. We missed it like an undersized middle schooler trying to make contact against a Randy Johnson slider. It wasn’t even close.

Instead of the final fleeting moments at a cataclysmic end to human history, when the Bible talks about the “Last Days,” it means the last days of the old covenant era. It refers to the winding down of that redemptive epoch where priests mediated between God and us, temples were where you traveled to meet with God, and animal blood sacrifices stood between you and the almighty. The “Last Days” picture the close of that significant era and the dawning of the final chapter of human history, where the world will know God through His one and only Son.

We are not waiting for that great eon to materialize in the uncertain future. The old covenant has been closed already, the new and final covenant era is fully here, and the events we will look at today, from Acts 2:17-21, will overwhelmingly confirm this.

THE TEXT:

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Acts 2:17-21 KJV

TEN PROOFS THE “LAST DAYS” ARE IN THE PAST

A BIT OF BACKGROUND:

Whenever one of the three great pilgrimage feasts prescribed in the Law occurred, Jerusalem’s population would swell from a couple hundred thousand to well over a million. This is because all Jewish males were required by the Law of God to attend these three festivals every year. And, since most Jewish males were also married with sizable families, the city would balloon up rather quickly.

Intriguingly, history reveals that numerous Jewish pilgrims embarked on journeys from the farthest reaches of the known world to partake in these festivals. While some hailed from nearby Judea and Galilee, a significant contingent had settled in the distant corners of pagan cities, towns, and nations across the vast reaches of the Roman empire. This widely scattered group bore the title of “diaspora Jews,” they arrived in Jerusalem, each carrying the rich history and traditions of their native people and the languages from their far-flung homelands.

Now, on the morning of Pentecost, downtown Jerusalem would have been packed with no shortage of extra bodies. Once-quiet city blocks, home to only a handful of families, now teemed with hundreds, even thousands, of individuals pressed tightly together. According to the account of Luke, as the Spirit descended, a deafening crescendo of sound erupted, undoubtedly piquing the curiosity of neighbors, onlookers, and the naturally inquisitive.

They found a group of very ordinary, a run-of-the-mill assortment of blue-collar Galileans. But, with one extraordinary twist. Instead of those Galileans praising God in Aramaic, the common tongue of the Jews, everyone present heard them praise God in their native tongue. For instance, picture those from Rome hearing hymns sung in Latin or Greek while those from Egypt listened to Peter’s preaching in the elegant flow of Coptic. Even pilgrims journeying from as far as Seluecia, modern-day Iraq, were met with the disciples speaking fluently in their Parthian tongue. They all collectively saw the ancient curse of Babel being miraculously reversed before their very eyes. Well… Not all of them.

Among them stood a few who remained untouched by the Holy Spirit’s power, hearing only an incomprehensible babel crescendoing from a cacophony of gibberish. Instead of recognizing the nature of this event as a fulfillment of eschatological prophecies, they hurled derision and ridicule upon the disciples, accusing them of inebriation.

For the one group, God had chosen to freely give them the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That outpouring caused them to praise Him, to hear His praises in their own dialects and languages, and to go on to serve Him for a lifetime. For the skeptical party, God intentionally chose to withhold His Spirit, leading them from skepticism to utter ruination, poignantly demonstrating His total sovereignty over election and regeneration.

To clear up any confusion between these two groups and let everyone in earshot know what was happening, Peter stood up and declared precisely what was happening from the prophet Joel. Within those very poignant words from Peter, we will see ten undeniable proofs that the end times have already come.

This week, we will look at the first five that Peter mentions, describing the situation for those who love Christ and receive Him. They are the ones who will experience the Holy Spirit’s power, inherit the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, and they are the ones who will endure to the end, and be saved in those last days.

Next week, we will look at the final five signs that Peter mentions from Joel’s prophecy, which concern those who hate Christ and reject Him. For them, incredible signs and wonders will demonstrate they are on the wrong side of the end-times debate. They will not make it alive into Jesus’ Kingdom; they will be buried in the ashes of Jerusalem, along with all of the other old covenant trappings and shadows.

With that, let us look at the first five proofs that the “last days” concern the events in the first century, focusing on how that applies to believers and Christians.

PROOF 1: PENTECOST SETS THE TIME FRAME

Peter addresses the concerns that they were drunk before the second breakfast by saying: “in the last days” God will pour out His Spirit “upon all flesh” (v. 17). Peter is acknowledging the loud sound they just heard and the miraculous gifting of this group to speak in each other’s languages, is proof that the outpouring of the Spirit had just happened, which makes this an eschatological event. Peter isn’t overlooking the scene unfolding beside Him to opine about something that will happen in the distant future. He claims that the last days had come upon them, and His chief evidence for this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as Joel describes, just happened. Based on this, we can confidently say that the last days are not something we are waiting on but something that has already occurred.

PROOF 2: YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTER WILL PROPHESY

Along with the loud whooshing clamor in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit’s miraculous appointment of tongue speaking among the crowds, Peter also claims that young men and women will prophesy in the last days. According to Luke, Joel, and Peter, the onset of male and female prophets in the first century was one of the sure signs that the Old Covenant era was drawing to a close because, in these last days, God had chosen to speak through His Son (Hebrews 1:2).

These men are clear: when you see young women and young men prophesying in the Spirit, then you will know that the temple, the priesthood, the ceremonial law, and the sacrificial system are on their last leg and the final chapter of redemption, where the world will be conquered by God’s reigning Son, will be fully inaugurated. For some time, both redemptive eras coexisted simultaneously. Meaning the new covenant era of Christ’s advancing Kingdom lived alongside the waning Herodian temple, the Aaronic priesthood, and the Mosaic system of sacrifice for about forty years (from the time of Christ’s ascension in AD 30 or 33 until the destruction of the temple in AD 70).

That Biblical generation (about 40 years) was the God-appointed season where men and women could prophesy, which is precisely what occurred in the first century. For instance, when Jesus was born and brought into Jerusalem to be circumcised, he was greeted by an elderly woman named Anna, and an elderly man named Simeon, who were called prophets and ones with whom the Spirit of God was speaking (Luke 2:25, 36). Paul also alerts us that young men and young women were prophesying in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 14:1-6) and needed specific instructions on how to implement this gift appropriately (1 Corinthians 11:4-5). Luke also tells us that Philip, who was one of the seven Hellenistic deacons, had daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9) and that there was a man named Agabus in the Christian Church who prophesied (Acts 11:27-28 and Acts 21:10-11).

Do not miss the fact that prophets had been notably missing from Judah since the death of Malachi, the final prophet. For four hundred years, God was silent, refusing to raise up new prophetic voices to speak to the people until the birth of His Son. When Christ was born, God unleashed the prophetic tongue once more and brought both men and women to speak prophecies in the early church, which again is a sign that the last days were occurring in the incredible events described in the first century.

There is one last point to consider before moving along. When God raises up prophets, especially female prophetesses, it is always in transitional periods during the waning of epochs. Think about it like a book with various chapters. The nation of Israel went through a chapter called slavery, a chapter about being set free and given a new covenant, a chapter about the occupation in a new land, a chapter of rule by judges, a chapter that describes the rule by various kings, an exile, a homecoming, and a period of silence that lasted 400 years. During each of these chapters near the closing moments of each, God raises a prophetic voice to bring that chapter to a close. For instance, God raised up Moses and Miriam (both described as prophets) in the waning years of the slavery period, just before a new era of communal Torah observance, called the Mosaic covenant, began. The same is true for Deborah, a prophetess before the Lord, presiding over some of the final years of theocratic rule by judges just before the Jewish Monarchy was installed. This was also the case for Huldah, a prophetess who had a significant role to play in the life of Josiah, a mere 30-40 years before the end of the Monarchy and the beginning of exile (2 Kings 22).

As the final grains of sand in the Old Covenant hourglass fell, it is not surprising that a proliferation of the prophetic occurred. It is also clear that this was a specific prophecy given by Joel, recounted by Luke, that confirms this would happen when the last days of the Old Testament had come. All of this points us to the fact that these prophets and prophetesses were a forty-year sign to the first-century believers and us that the last days had already begun and that a new era was dawning. That era is the epoch of Christ and His Kingdom, which we live in today.

PROOF 3: YOUNG MEN WILL SEE VISIONS

In the same way that a rise in prophetic activity would signal the last days of the Old Covenant era, visions among young men would also be used by God as a powerful testimony that the changing of ages was occurring. This is precisely what we see going down in the New Testament, and we do not need to speculate whether this sign was fulfilled in the first century. We know unequivocally that it was.

For instance, while Paul was on his way to kill the believers hiding in Damascus, he was confronted by a dazzling vision of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9; 26:18-20), where he was told to go into the city and wait for a man named Ananias to pray for him. When he arrived, the Lord also gave Ananias a vision as well, comforting the reluctant disciple that it was His will that Paul be healed (Acts 9:10-18). Beyond this, Cornelius the centurion saw a vision (Acts 10:2-4), Peter saw a vision (Acts 10:9-23; 11:5), Paul had multiple additional visions (Acts 16:10; 18:9), and John the apostle wrote an entire book of the Bible, which is the book of Revelation, based on a vision (Revelation 9:17).

Peter cited visionary experiences as critical evidence that the last days of the Mosaic period were occurring in the first century. By the Lord’s grace, we have a plethora of evidence pointing to this being true.

PROOF 4: OLD MEN WILL DREAM DREAMS

In addition to noises, tongues, the outpouring of the Spirit, prophesying, and visions, God continued piling up evidence that the last days were happening more than 2000 years ago by citing the fact that the old men would be dreaming dreams. This also occurred in the New Testament period, with examples such as Joseph, who, like his Old Testament counterpart, had many dreams (Matthew 1:20-24; 2:13, 19, 22), the Magi (Matthew 2:12), and even Pilate’s wife, who is not a man, but was given a specific dream by God as a warning to her husband, Pilate (Matthew 27:19). Once more, we see a proliferation of these events in the first century, not so we will be confused on the timing of the last days, but so God can give us exacting clarity.

PROOF 5: A JEWISH REVIVAL

Peter’s quotation from Joel 2 also states, in verse 18,: “On my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit.” When we realize that “my servant” is a common way for God to refer to Israel and Judah as a nation (Isaiah 41:8-9; 44:1; 49:3; 53:11; and Jeremiah 30:10), then we can understand that the prophecy of Joel is a prophecy, not just about the salvation of the nations, but also about the events beginning with a revived Jewish people who will have the Holy Spirit poured out upon them in the first century.

This certainly did not happen in full at the events of Pentecost, nor during this forty-year window we have been describing. And, for that matter, Joel does not predict a monolithic revival in Judah where everyone is converted to Jesus. That did not happen in history, and that is not at all what Joel says. When he describes the revival of Judah, he talks about it like there is a remnant that survives while the majority of the unfaithful Jews will perish. For instance, in Joel 2:32, the prophet says: “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

Joel tells us that God will set apart a remnant of Jews to be a part of His elect people that will eventually take over the entire world. This happened most assuredly since the vast majority of the first-century church was Jewish converts to Jesus, beginning with the 3000 who were cut to the heart while listening to Peter preach (Acts 2:41). A future revival of Israel may still be coming. We pray to the Lord it does. But, it is no small matter that droves of Jewish people began worshiping a resurrected man named Jesus Christ in the first-century city of Jerusalem. Let us not take for granted how shocking that would have been at that time and in that context.

CONCLUSION

As we have seen from this text, Joel lays out five initial pieces of evidence that the first-century people were living in the last days. These passages have proven that the “last days” are not esoteric events in OUR future but clear events within the forty-year future of Peter and the first-century church. We have seen how the glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit caused men and women to hear Peter, who was preaching in a foreign language, perfectly and clearly in their mother tongue. We have seen how the Holy Spirit’s outpouring caused His people to prophesy, His elect young men to dream dreams, predestined old men to hear visions, and a remnant of Judeans to come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ for their salvation.

The last days began in the first century and ended with the end of Jerusalem and her temple. That isn’t to claim that the Bible contains nothing in our future; it does. But when we consider this text and the ones that have come before, we can conclusively conclude that these events have already happened. Until next time, enjoy living in the last chapter of human history and get to work building Jesus’ Kingdom.

On January 3, 2023 By Uri Brito In Church, Culture Like

The Death of Mainline Churches

One of my predictions in 2023 is a relatively certain one. It pertains to the continual decline and fragmentation of Mainline Protestant Churches.

In the late ’90s, Thomas Reeves warned the liberal, mainline churches against “smug denominationalism.” He used C.S. Lewis’ language as a cautionary tale about the direction of liberalism both in the political and religious spheres. His book was aptly entitled “The Suicide of Liberal Christianity.”

In 2020, mainline Protestants were bleeding numerically, shutting down their ornate buildings, which were ironically transformed into modern pubs all over Europe. They possessed one of the “lowest retention rates in any tradition” (Pew Research). From 2007-2017, they lost over five million members, and the children of these members were going farther and farther away from any religious manifestation. But even back in 1996, Reeves noted that the decline of mainline churches has “been eroding for better part of this century.”

The culprit in the 20th century is the same in the 21st. According to Reeves, “their defining theological doctrines have been largely forgotten.” While there is a modicum of hope in Reeves’ 26-year-old book, he concludes with profound pessimism. Should the mainline churches continue unchanged in their direction, they will proceed “on their steady slide toward complete irrelevance (211).”

The mainline consisting of PCUSA, ELCA, American Baptists in the USA, United Methodists, etc., have taken trajectories of death throughout. They have sought to bestow power on inclusivism and anointed corrupt priests to lead the way, and to hell, they led.

Conservative ecclesial bodies must invest in catechetical discipleship and build a reservoir of resistance against liberalizing forces without and battle locally and nationally against such forces that seek to crawl their way into the midst of the assembly.

Reeves was right that smug denominationalism is a temptation for many of us. Many of our conservative churches have grown during supposed crises created to ensure complacency among the populace and within the church. But, in God’s kindness, never was reading leaves such an easy task.

The task of the conservative corpus is to seek the good of the city by building on that eternal city. In the midst of the tranquility of growth and theological prosperity, may we not grow weary in well-doing. Smugness tickles our vanity, but humility steadies our march.

On October 31, 2022 By Uri Brito In Politics Like

Brazil’s Election and the Failure of the Evangelical Pastor

This is a sad day for my home country. Lula won a narrowly divisive runoff election this Sunday and will begin his third term as president at the age of 77. Convicted of corruption, he served 580 days in prison, and after his release, he became the symbol of victimhood.

He sought old partnerships and was able to reanimate a nation to the old causes of social transformation through the state. It didn’t matter the misery incurred by such policies in Venezuela, Cuba, or Argentina, Lula’s charm and political capital earned him overwhelming victory in the poorest part of my country, the Northeastern part (where I grew up). Lula functions in some ways like a Neo-Pentecostal leader who appeals to the poor through promises of prosperity, offering a Gospel as convoluted as a Marxian paradigm. And the people said, “Amen!”

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, was the Tropical Trump; if Trump could dance and recite the Lord’s Prayer, he would be the Orange Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is equally charismatic as Lula, and the oddity of the whole thing is that wherever he went in the Northeast, he was received with immense approval. But politics is a tricky business. The people may love a candidate, political inclinations, or moral declarations, but they are easily seduced by flattery and promises of statist charity. I’d also happily admit to Bolsonaro’s number of blunders throughout, but the options were so universally contrary to one another, leaving Brazilians with no excuse.

The tremendous benefit is that this entire thing has awakened a conservative resurgence in my home country. Conservative principles are now much more common than before Bolsonaro’s election. I suspect the various movements will only continue to grow. Certainly, the environment is ripe for a conservative nationalism that sees Brazil’s interests, morally and economically, as the heart of a prosperous nation.

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