So what is Jesus talking about? Let bring all of the questions together so that we can comprehensively answer all the questions we have raised so far. What are “the days of the Son of Man?” What do these days have to do with the kingdom of God? What event fits these directions and descriptions to not return to the house when these days come, that one person will be taken and one will be left, and there will be dead bodies everywhere so that the vultures will come? Daniel 7 describes the coming of the Son of Man as the subjugation of all wicked, insubordinate nations and kingdoms.

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13–14 ESV)

All people and nations must serve him. His kingdom has eternal power and rule. The expectation of the coming of the Son of Man and the arrival of the kingdom of God was the subjugation of the nations (cf. Psalm 2; Psalm 145). The kingdom of God would conquer worldly nations and kingdoms. Daniel 2 pictures the kingdom of God shattering and crushing the world nations. This is the beginning of warning judgments given by Jesus in his teachings. The Jewish nation was going to be judged because of its rebellion to God, disobeying God’s commands, killing the prophets, and most notably killing Jesus, the King. This fits the three directions and descriptions given by Jesus. The Romans made their invasion of Judea and Jerusalem around 66 AD and completed its destruction in 70 AD.

(1) Don’t return your home and gather possessions. When the Romans came, the people were to quickly flee and not return to their home for their possessions because the city was going to be shut up and none would be able to leave. It was important to leave as quickly as possible so they would not stuck inside the city of Jerusalem when the attack began.

(2) Where there are two people, one will be taken and one will be left. The historian Josephus records that many Jews were captured by the Romans in this invasion. Many were captured, taken back to Rome, and made slaves of the Empire.

(3) Dead bodies everywhere. The historian Josephus recorded the horrors of the Roman invasion. It was an event that was visible to all people as Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish nation was being swiftly and comprehensively judgment for its wickedness and the kingdom of God continued to conquer nations in rebellion to Christ. This is the picture of the days of the Son of Man and how it relates to the kingdom of God. Every commentary I picked up did not have an acceptable answer to these three directions and descriptions. Some commentaries honestly admit that they do not understand what Jesus is saying, particularly concerning the dead bodies and the vultures. But the Roman invasion of Jerusalem makes the best sense of Jesus’ directions and descriptions.

But what does this mean for us today? Why does the imagery of Jesus as a conquering king ruling in his kingdom and subjugating the nations have any impact or meaning for us? Daniel 7 gives us a picture of the expectations of the kingdom and what it means for us.

But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever (Daniel 7:18 ESV)

And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Daniel 7:27 ESV)

Everyone must bow the knee before Jesus, giving our lives completely to him as his subjects or be judged with the rest of those who reject him. This kingdom is not about the wrath of God wiping out the enemies, though the scriptures are certainly clear that the enemies will be judged. The kings and rulers of the earth today rule in a selfish way. We see dictators historically and currently ruling for themselves, acquiring power for selfish, evil motives. Please notice the rule of Jesus. His rule, authority, and kingdom are being given to the people of the Most High. He gives this all-powerful, glorious kingdom to his people.

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:10–13 ESV)

In our wretched condition of sinfulness and rebellion, God has made a gracious offer to reign with him. He is offering a place in the eternal kingdom of God. He is giving us the glorious kingdom. How could God be so kind to offer us a place in this kingdom? It shows another dimension of God’s love for his creation. He wants us to be with him. He wants us to reign with him. He is giving us a kingdom if we will accept his gracious offer to be his people.

In verse 22 Jesus turns to his disciples and teaches them more about the kingdom, as these many chapters in this section of Luke’s gospel has been about. The Son of Man is going to come in his glorious kingdom. But there is a shift in the reference point. Jesus says they will desire to see “one of the days of the Son of Man” (vs. 22). In verse 24 Jesus calls this, “the Son of Man be in his day.” Verse 26 uses the same phrase again, “So will it be in the days of the Son of Man.” Verse 30 perhaps gives the greatest clarity, “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” So what is “the day when the Son of Man is revealed” and what does it have to do with the message of the kingdom? These are the questions we will need to answer as we explore the rest of this chapter.

Jesus describes this as a coming event that will not be hidden. It will be observed like lightning across the sky. The coming of the Son of Man will be obvious to all. Therefore, do not listen to people who claim that the Son of Man is here or there. Jesus says that is going to be a time coming when they will desire the days of the Son of Man, but must not be fooled by going out and looking for it. When the days of the Son of Man arrive, the coming will be quite visible.

But before this coming can happen, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. Before the days of the Son of Man can arrive, the Son of Man is going to experience suffering and rejection. Second, Jesus wants them to know that life will seem to be the same as any other day. Just like in the days of Noah, so it will be during the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, and marrying in the days of Noah when the judgment of the flood came. In the same way, during the days of Lot people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. But then judgment suddenly came against Sodom, raining fire and sulfur on the city. Now we know what Jesus means by “the days of the Son of Man.” He is talking about a coming judgment. Jesus says the days of the Son of Man are going to be like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Life continued as normal but then judgment suddenly struck. Notice the two parallels between the days of the Son of Man and the days of Noah and Lot. First, the judgment was sudden. Second, the judgment was complete. The flood was a comprehensive judgment of the earth for its sins. The fire and sulfur was a comprehensive judgment of Sodom for its sins.

Response (17:31-37)

So what judgment event is Jesus speaking about as he gives this warning about the coming of the days of the Son of Man? Let’s read the rest of the chapter to see what we can learn from Jesus’ instructions. When the days of the Son of Man come, notice the first thing the people were to do was to not return to their homes. They were not to return to the house to gather their possessions, no matter if they were in the field or on the rooftop. They were to flee and not turn back, just like Lot’s wife.

Now many people try to take these instructions to refer to the final judgment when Jesus returns for the final time. But these directions do not fit this interpretation. If it is the end of the world, the final judgment, when Christ returns to the earth and we all stand before the white throne judgment of the Lord, then why would it matter that a person not turn back to his house? If it is the end of the world, then it is the end and it does not matter what a person does.

Second, Jesus says that when the days of the Son of Man come, where there are two people, one will be taken and one will be left. Notice in verse 34 two people may be sleeping in bed. But one person will be taken and one will be left. In verse 35 two people may be working in the field. But one person will be taken and one will be left. These descriptions also do not fit the end of the world judgment. If it is the end of the world, the final judgment of Christ, then no one is going to be left. Everyone will stand before the Lord in final judgment and give an account, as the scriptures teach. Some will want to claim that this is the rapture sequence, but any rapture theology does not fit the command to not go back into the house to gather any possessions. Neither end times, rapture, or second coming theologies fit.

The final description is given in verse 37. There will be dead bodies everywhere. Jesus says that there are going to be corpses and the vultures are going to circling and gathering for their meals because there will be so many dead bodies. This also does not fit the end of time, final judgment of God. There are not going to be dead bodies with vultures eating our flesh when Christ returns for the final time. When the end comes, it is the end and nothing else is going to happen (cf. 2 Peter 3:10-12; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26).

So what is Jesus talking about? We will explore the answer in the next post.

But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27 ESV)

Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (Luke 10:8–12 ESV)

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:20 ESV)

Since the kingdom of God is near, the Pharisees want to know when this kingdom would come. Jesus answers this question in two sections, first to the Pharisees and second to his disciples.

The Nature of the Kingdom (17:20-21)

The rabbis taught that there would be great heavenly signs to signal the arrival of the kingdom. They desired to make calculations for the coming of the kingdom based upon various events that they saw (cf. Luke 12:54-56). In the Jewish way of thinking, if Pilate was still governing Judea, then the kingdom had not come. If the glorious temple of Ezekiel 40-48 had not been constructed, then the kingdom had not come. If the pagans were not defeated or flocking to Zion, then the kingdom had not come. They were looking for various signs. They were looking for upheavals and revolts. Jesus counters this thinking by teaching the Pharisees that the kingdom was not coming with signs that could be observed. They were always asking for signs from heaven (cf. Luke 11:16). There would not be signs like this upon which people could make calculations. In fact, the scriptures point to the suddenness of the kingdom’s arrival. But that is not the point right here. Jesus wants the Pharisees to grasp that the kingdom is not coming in the way they think it would come.

Jesus teaches something very startling. Jesus says that you are not going to say that the kingdom is here or there because the kingdom of God is in their midst. The KJV, NKJV, and NIV 1984 reads “the kingdom of God is within you.” This is a plausible reading of the Greek, but is rightly rejected by most translations because Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. Jesus was not telling the Pharisees that the kingdom of God was within them. Jesus has been spending his time in these chapters revealing that the Pharisees are not in the kingdom. The Samaritans, the sinners, and tax collectors were entering, but the Pharisees and religious leaders were not. Rather, the kingdom of God was in their midst. I want us to think about the impact of what Jesus is saying. Who was in their midst? Jesus was in their midst, the King of Israel. Recall what Jesus said in Luke 11:20. If Jesus casts out demons by the power of God, then the kingdom of God had come upon them. Jesus had been casting out demons. What is Jesus’ point? The kingdom was already working in their very midst. The reign of God had already broken into the world through Jesus’ ministry. To see the kingdom, look at Jesus and what he offers. As we have seen in these last five chapters in Luke, the kingdom of God is made up of people who have responded to Jesus and share in the benefits he has to offer. The kingdom of God was within their grasp if they would recognize that Jesus is the King of this kingdom. The kingdom was arriving and the king was in their very presence. There was no need to look around all over the place for the kingdom. The kingdom is seen in Jesus.

To be continued…

And if we are sincerely seeking answers – we will find them. God is not a trickster or capricious. Jesus is not a jester laughing while souls slide away. If we seek the truth we will find it. If we are looking for a teacher of the truth, one will be supplied. The only problem I can see is that we might not see it or the teacher when they come into view.

Many years ago, and in the middle of the night, someone asked me what he needed to do to be saved. It was a test. I asked him what he thought. He was already in Revelation when he asked. He and his wife had worked their way to the end of God’s Book without any outside assistance. He answered that they believed that Jesus was the Christ and that they needed to be baptized. They had figured it all out on their own. I told him that as it was Sunday morning and the end of our shift was nearing, that he ought to go to the closest church of Christ and I would have my brother meet them there, as they all lived over an hour away.

What a dummy I was I later thought. I should have gone with him to meet his wife that very morning and taken them both to the assembly where my brother worshiped, to the closest beach, pool or baptistery and immersed them myself. I have witnessed many baptized in rivers and the ocean; and more than a few in someone’s pool. The where and by whom is irrelevant, only the why of immersion has any value. I thought I really missed it, but my part had yet to be played.

It turned out well even with my notion that I had missed the details. You see, it aint about me and never has been. I and my wife were to be blessed to be some of the teachers for a short time when they were seekers and as they became disciples. I was “sent” to them by my having come into contact with him on that midnight shift we both worked (he had said that he knew I was a religious man). No miracles, no visions, just events that I sure didn’t understand then. We spent a few years at the same assembly both teaching and learning. For a long time now, he has been serving as an elder; and she has raised godly children and grandchildren, having also been a teacher of the gospel. So, it seemed that whether I understood it or not “All’s well that ends well.”

It really had nothing to do with me; but a lot to do with conviction, sincerity and the will to find out what God wants everyone to do. There is the Word and there is “us.”

So, it is about whom we decide to serve, about our obedience, and how we spend our time. We can’t offer or obtain the information by injection, and we won’t find it under a rock. And I’m sorry to have to report it this way, but you won’t receive a vision in the middle of the night. Buildings, windows, pews, songbooks, podiums or overheads ultimately have nothing at all to do with it. It is my responsibility for ME, and your responsibility for YOU.

All of modern religion is now mostly illusion, an ethereal invention composed of the thinnest and flimsiest of materials. And there is no hallowed space and nowhere to turn to except for the Word of God. It is about the common work of individual Christians. You won’t get a merit badge in Christianity and obtaining a doctorate will do you little good. Just follow the instructions and do the work that is commanded. Whether I can hoist a cross on my shoulders or pierce my hands has nothing at all to do with worshiping God.

If what I need is instruction, I need to read the Word of God. And if I do that and cannot seem to sort things out, what I ought to do then is to pray for a preacher to be sent just like Cornelius had prayed. God will never leave someone who truly seeks him in the dark. Just don’t expect a miracle and keep your eyes peeled so that you know when the news is being delivered into your hands.

So, with no one to provide the quick answers and point to the two-step solution; we need to go to where the Holy Spirit left the care and wearing instructions for the whole armor of God. Be prepared, preach the Word in season and out of season – when it is accepted and even when it is not (and whether we see things working out or not). We may be surprised at what happens.

James teaches that prayer is the answer for suffering. Is there any among the congregation who is suffering? Let that person pray. The suffering that James is referring to is not that we are having a bad day at work. Look back to James 5:10 and we see that this suffering is a reference to the suffering the prophets endured for the Lord. The prophets suffered for their stand for righteousness and God’s truth. They suffered for speaking the messages of God. They suffered for engaging the wicked world. After pointing out the suffering of the prophets, James turns his attention to his audience and tells us that when we suffering for what is right, we need to pray. When the apostles suffered at the hands of the Sanhedrin, notice that the first thing the apostles and the Christians in Jerusalem did was pray for boldness (Acts 4:29-31). When we are not suffering for righteousness, then our prayers must be songs of thanksgiving to God.

Verses 14-15 are considered complicated verses. I strongly believe that James is speaking about physical sicknesses in this section. I will very quickly show you the reasons why.

(1) This word astheneo translated into English as “sick” always refers to physical illnesses in the gospels. Further, when this word is used by Paul to speak of spiritual sickness, a qualifier is always given. For example, Paul speaks of being “weak in faith” (Romans 14:1-2) and “weak in conscience” (1 Corinthians 8:7). Paul adds the words “in faith” and “in conscience” so that we know the sickness is spiritual in nature.

(2) Part of the response for the sick is that they are anointed with oil. Anointing with oil always refers to physical ailments in the New Testament. We never read of using anointing oil for sins, spiritual weaknesses, or spiritual sicknesses. However, we know that oil was used medicinal (consider the parable of the Good Samaritan) and oil was widely used for a variety of ailments and afflictions.

(3) This sickness is different than a person caught in sin (vs. 15). If the person is afflicted with spiritual sickness, then the second sentence in verse 15 is redundant. Of course this person has committed sins. That is why he is spiritually sick! Rather, James is talking about physical sicknesses so that James can add that if the person has committed sins, they will be forgiven as well.

(4) If this is spiritual sickness, then the elders must go with oil to everyone who is weak in the faith and have fallen into sin. But what is the oil going to do? What is the value of the oil for those who are in their sins? Further, there are no examples of using oil to deal with people’s sins.

(5) We are told that the prayer of faith (contextually: prayed by the elders) will save the sick. The elders can certainly pray for your sins. But you will not be saved from your sins by their prayers. Their prayers are for your heart to change so that you will pray for forgiveness. The text makes more sense to say that the elders will pray for your physical sicknesses and that God will hear those prayers.

It is evident from the passage that James is referring to a very serious illness, not simply when we have our usual, run of the mill sicknesses. Here are a couple of reasons why. First, calling for the elders implies that this person is physically unable to go to the elders or go to worship. The elders are called to this one who is severely sick. Second, James says that the elders will pray over the sick one. People today use this phrase, “to pray over,” in a way foreign to the scriptures. This is the only place in scripture where the phrase, “pray over” is used. James is simply describing posture. The person is so physically sick that he or she is laying on their mat on the floor and unable to get up. Therefore, the elders are praying over them in posture because the sick on is on the floor. It would the similar to the posture in the hospital where the person sick is laying in the bed and cannot get up or go to the elders. The elders go to them and pray for them. They are pray over them in posture as they are standing or sitting or kneeling, while the sick person is laying down.

Further, James is not saying that the elders have special powers of healing. James is simply recognizing as we all recognize that the elders are representatives of the congregation. They represent the church as a whole. Also, one should not be thrown by James saying that the sick will be healed and raised up. James is not giving an absolute promise. How could he? He would die. All the apostles would die. Everyone must die. The point is not to teach that if you will pray for a person that person will always be healed of their sicknesses and diseases. Don’t forget the point of this paragraph. James is teaching us the power of prayer. Prayer is powerful even in our physical sicknesses. Prayer is not exclusive to our spiritual needs. Prayer is effective and powerful for our physical sicknesses.

Therefore, verse 14 is telling us to come armed with spiritual and natural resources for healing. Do not neglect God when you are seriously ill. There is power in prayer. However, do not neglect natural resources for healing. James instructs the elders to pray and secondarily to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord. As we already mention, rubbing oil was a common way to treat illnesses. We must not neglect what God has made available for healing. There is such a mistake today made by religious people who believe God must heal outside of any medicinal intervention. People will not take medicine or have surgeries believing that God will heal the person miraculously. Beloved, God has given us medicine as part of our treatment. What we have for treatments today are very much a part of the ways God can answer prayer. However, we must not put all our trust in the treatments forgetting there is power in prayer for healing. Come armed for healing through spiritual and natural means.

Not only does prayer have power for our physical sicknesses, but also our spiritual sicknesses. Sins can be forgiven through prayer. We see clearly in the apostle John’s first letter. John writes to Christians and says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 ESV). Further, we are to confess our sins to each other so that we can pray for each other. When we are struggling with weaknesses, temptations, and sins we can ask for the prayers of one another. Please notice that James does not say to only confess your sins to the elders or a particular group of people within the church. We are all on equal footing when it comes to sins and all of us need the prayers of one another in our fight against Satan.

This is why James can make such a dynamic, powerful statement at the end of verse 16. The prayer of the righteous person is strong when it is exercised. We need to be exercising prayer because it is a powerful tool that works in a variety of circumstances. Prayer works when we are suffering for righteousness. Prayer works when we are severely ill. Prayer works when we confess our sins to God and brings forgiveness. Look at what can be done when prayer is exercised! Prayer causes things to happen!

I mentioned some time back that Aurelius Augustinus was for practical purposes the father of all Trinitarians. This is not to suggest that he had been alone in deriving the doctrine that the Living God is a composite being made up of three persons God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. But he did provide the most interesting arguments to try to prove it. I am not suggesting that there are either less or more than three beings who are Deity and God as mentioned in the scriptures. But I will suggest right away that the scriptures teach the members of Deity are each a distinct person though all are God. Each has a different or given station as seen by mankind. There is One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Ep. 4:6) who conceived the plan of salvation in its every detail throughout the ages. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him (1 Co. 8:6), who is the Messiah and the Lord of creation, who also executed the plans the Heavenly Father had originated. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability (Acts 2:4), indicates where the Spirit of God confirmed each and every part of the proceedings here as was his appointed portion. They are distinct yet all are unified in purpose and direct in operation as it has concerned mankind. Otherwise, we would have Jesus praying to Himself for assistance, and God the Father confused both within and about Himself. Yet God has said He is not the author of confusion. I suppose that should also apply to the explanations he has given us concerning them, whether we understand it all or not.

To help “explain” the exploding Trinitarian theory, the Nicene Council came up with a lot of things, one of which was the Doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit. It is based solely upon John 15:26 – where Jesus speaking to the twelve apostles said, “But when the Helper (or Comforter) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

Out of this single passage, scholars and those known as church fathers decided that the Holy Spirit was a “personal property or characteristic individuality” belonging to all of God as composed by the three persons God; while the “unbegotten fatherhood” belongs singly to God the Father, and something they styled “eternal generation” is limited alone to God the Son. You will never find any of this in a Bible. I wonder how they could ever come to know them. But then we should already have an answer.

It is like most other religious matters. It appears quite a lot of thinking went into this and hardly any reading and study of the scriptures. And we owe these men a hearty thanks-so-much for taking the extremely complex and making it hopelessly impossible to fathom. But then, the original Nicene Creed, as translated into English, ended with the words, “…and [we believe] into the Holy Spirit.”

The same groups also came up with the Doctrine of the Two Wills of Christ, known scholastically as monotheletism and dylotheletism. This is in essence the age old argument that Christ could not have possessed the pure nature of God while on earth (that is the Trinitarian version of God) because his rational will would have been in conflict with his reasoning will: as in impulse versus will – God against God in conflict as a man.

Most people, it seems, don’t believe that Christ is God anyway, and as a result, these men concluded that he was too far under rational human will while here to maintain what he was as God, forced into a sort of split personality. So there must have been some form of separation of God from the human form in order to be rational. Hence the polysyllabic Latin forms listed above. We plain folk just have to sin you know. And why should Christ be different if he was really human while he was here. It is just too confusing and very difficult to sort out. So to get to the deep end, you need to listen to the priest, bishop and cardinal who each have an indwelling of the Spirit – because we said so. At least that is the inference I must take out of this circling high altitude godless drivel, with not so much as a speck of scripture supporting any of it.

In this last look at a few of the slight problems inherent with Catholicism, I will end by quoting what Pope Innocent III stated to the soiled and pitiable Francis of Assisi while he stood in audience at Rome. “Go, brother, go to the pigs, to whom you are more fit to be compared than to men, and roll with them, and to them preach the rules you have so ably set forth.” And as the history goes – Francis did as he had been bidden by the then reigning Vicar of Christ, feigned successor to Peter.

I’m getting old and can’t seem to remember where the command to preach to the pigs is found in the gospels. And I’m puzzled as to how Innocent (who seems on the surface not quite so) managed not to burst out laughing and roll right off of his high and holy seat. Poor Francis could have used a bath and perhaps a psychological examination too. By the way, Francis of Assisi is the most venerated of all the Roman Catholic “saints.” That may change when John Paul II “gets his due” (and you know he will).

This is all very sad business, as millions have been led to destruction by the wicked schemes of men and theories such as these and the many others we can find out there, if we will only look.

The angels have said, “Worship God.” We can live by that.

~

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given; “If even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

(Hebrews 12:18-29)

What John says in verses 16-17 should change our view of how God dealt with people in the days of the Old Testament. In Jesus, God unveiled the full measure of grace and truth. But John does not picture the time before Jesus as a time lacking grace and blessings. Rather, grace has been added to grace. Now we are left with the question: what does it mean that we have all received “grace upon grace” (ESV) or “grace in the place of grace already given” (NIV)? What does it mean that grace was added to grace? Verse 17 is the explanation of this message. Notice that verse 17 begins with the word “for.” John explains what he means here. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John does not paint the law in a negative light. Rather, the law is described as the first grace that was offered.

The Law of Moses revealed grace in a number of ways. We must never forget the occasion of God giving his law to Israel. He had just delivered them from Egyptian slavery. God had just shown his power against Israel’s oppressors and had set them free. Grace was already flowing toward Israel. The Law of Moses reveals God’s grace in many ways. First, the law revealed the character, nature, and will of God. The law was a detailed explanation of God’s demands. God did not leave his people in the dark about who he was and what he desired. It was gracious for God to reveal himself through the law. This is one of the misconceptions we continue to have about the scriptures and about God’s laws. We often look at God’s laws as a bunch of rules given by a cosmic dictator trying to tell us what to do. Instead, we need to see the scriptures and the laws of God as grace. God is revealing himself to us. God is telling us about himself. God is telling us what we must become if we are going to have a relationship with our Creator. Law is not in opposition to grace. Law is the extension of grace, the revealing of grace. Israel’s deliverance under the first redeemer, Moses, issued the gift of the Law. The Law was given to the people. It was not a burden. The Law was the revelation of God’s will for his people.

Second, the Law revealed the truth about ourselves. The Law was gracious because it showed where the people stood before God. The Law revealed their shortcomings. The Law declared the character of God so that their hearts would be illumined that they fell short of his character. In this we truly see grace. The Law revealed sins and revealed that the people were law breakers. But God did not judge the people immediately for their sins. God did not destroy people for every sin they committed. Grace was extended to the people. Grace was being offered, allowing the people to repent and offer sacrifices so that the people would see the gravity of their sins. Fire did not come down from heaven and consume every person for every sin. We see that happen on a few occasions toward those who were standing in rebellion to God. But that was not the stance God had toward the world, nor toward his people. Grace was being offered through the Law of Moses in that though the people did not obey the law, God continued to have a relationship with his people. God continued to bless his people though they were violators of the law. This is the very point the apostle Paul was making about God in Romans 3:25. In speaking about Jesus being the propitiation for sins, Paul says, “This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:25 ESV). Carefully read those words: in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. Passing over sins is grace. God was being gracious to the people throughout their history.

But now we are receiving the fullness of grace through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God has revealed the full measure of grace. God’s faithfulness has its ultimate fruition in Jesus. God’s character of grace and truth (faithfulness) was revealed with the giving of the law but was fully revealed and made available to all people through Christ. To parallel the exodus, the redemption brought by the second Redeemer (Jesus Christ) was a deeper revelation of God and the fullest experience of salvation, grace, and covenant faithfulness. God had been giving grace but now the ultimate reality of grace has been bestowed through Jesus. God’s grace and faithfulness are seen in Jesus.

The Word, the Eternal God who created all things and in whom is light and life, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Jesus is the eternal God who became flesh and lived with us. The Greek word for “dwelling” is skenoo which means a tent or tabernacle. If we were to translate with awkward English, we could say that the Word became flesh and pitched his tent with us, or tabernacled with us. The imagery is not merely that God lived with us, a point made back in verses 10 and 11. The point is that a new Sinai has occurred.

Exodus 33-34 is the primary reference point for this parallel. In Exodus 33-34 God gives the law from Mount Sinai a second time and reveals his character and glory to Moses. This is our first point of parallel. Just as the Law came from God which revealed the character and glory of God, now the Word has come from God which reveals the character and glory of God. Our second point of parallel is this: just as God “tabernacled” with his people in the wilderness, the Word tabernacled with his people. In the wilderness God was seen in his glory dwelling with his people as a pillar of cloud and fire above the tabernacle. More importantly, when the tabernacle was constructed, notice what occurred:

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34–35 ESV)

The same thing happens when the temple is constructed.

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 7:1–3 ESV)

Please notice that the people of Israel understood the glory of the Lord filling the temple as God’s grace, steadfast love, and goodness. The glory of the Lord was dwelling with his people. But what happens later in Israel’s history is sad. The people are full of sin and violate the covenant with God. The prophet Ezekiel comes on the scene and sees in his visions the glory of the Lord leaving the temple (Ezekiel 10:4, 18, 11:22-23). But Ezekiel prophesies of a hopeful time when the glory of the Lord will return to his temple.

As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple. (Ezekiel 43:4–5 ESV)

Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD. And I fell on my face. (Ezekiel 44:4 ESV)

Further, Haggai commanded the people by the word of the Lord to rebuild the temple with these encouraging words:

For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’” (Haggai 2:6–9 ESV)

But there is the curious thing about these prophecies looking forward to the day when the glory of the Lord would return to the temple. When the people returned from Babylonian exile and built the temple in the days of Zerubbabel, we do not read of the glory of the Lord filling this temple. The word “glory” does not appear in the books of Ezra or Nehemiah which chronicle the return from exile. Haggai had promised the return of God’s glory to the temple. However, the people built the temple and nothing happened. No return of God’s glory. No filling of the temple. Nothing. Now listen to the words of John: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord return to the people in his prophecy with the glory of the Lord filling the temple. Haggai said that the latter glory of this house would be greater than the former. The former glory was immense because Solomon built a temple that was filled with gold and precious stones. Further, God filled that temple with his glory. Even so, Haggai declared that the future glory of the temple would be greater. Jesus, the Word, was that future glory. Jesus is where God and humanity meet. Jesus is the revealing of the glory of God. Jesus is the fuller glory of God “tabernacling” with his people.

The Hebrew writer argues strongly that the Levitical priesthood and the physical temple has been abolished:

“For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.” (Hebrews 7:12)

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13)

“By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holiest of all is not yet opened as long as the first tabernacle is still standing…” (Hebrews 9:8)

From these passages we learn that since the priesthood has changed from Aaron to Christ, the law has also changed. The first covenant (the Law of Moses) was obsolete and vanished away. Salvation and the way into heaven were not opened while the first tabernacle was still standing. Therefore, with the Levitical priesthood gone, the old law changed, and the tabernacle no longer standing, there is nothing revealed in the Old Testament concerning the use of musical instruments that is applicable today. To turn to David as authority for musical instruments requires us have a physical priesthood from the tribe of Levi, because that was what God commanded David (please read previous posts for explanation).

Just as Moses was directly commanded by God (Numbers 10:1-10) for priests to use two silver trumpets for certain, specified occasions, and just as David was directly commanded by God (2 Chronicles 29:25-27) for certain Levites to use certain instruments on certain occasions (1 Chronicles 16:1-6), we need to search the New Testament for the same kind of authority. Just as Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:25-29), Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:4-5), Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:10), and Nehemiah (12:24,35,45-46) restored the worship to what God commanded David, we must also restore our worship to what is commanded in the New Testament.

However, the New Testament does not provide a command for using musical instruments in worship. Further, we have no instructions on which instruments to use, who can use the instruments, nor when the instruments are to be played. The silence on these matters should be glaring to us. Only by the command of God were instruments added in the Old Testament, along with careful explanations of who can play, what instruments were to be played, and when the instruments were to be played. We lack information and commandment for all these things in the New Testament.

Consider further, in the lists of spiritual gifts (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12), there is no gift concerning musical instruments. And yet, those were gifts given by God under the Old Testament system. If musical instruments of the temple were to continue, why do we not find the apostles instituting their use or any New Testament church practicing it? Why is there no mention of any spiritual gift for musical instruments in the New Testament? While in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit spoke profusely and very specifically about the use of instruments, the Holy Spirit remained absolutely silent in the New Testament regarding instruments.

Finally, the instruments of David were never separated from the temple or the sacrificial system. Therefore, as John Calvin said, “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law.” John Calvin correctly observed that returning to instrumental music is returning to the Old Testament system of worship. We do not look to the Law of Moses, for the Law was only a shadow of the things to come in Christ (Hebrews 10:1; 8:5). We are under Christ and his Law (Hebrews 10:8-10). To continue to use mechanical instruments in Christian worship is to return to the Law of Moses, to the Levitical priesthood, and to animal sacrifices which cannot take away our sins (Hebrews 10:1-4). We have been set free in Christ and must not submit ourselves to the shadows and the enslavement found in the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1-4; 4:21-31; 3:10-14).

The same was true with David. Note Amos 6:1-6.

1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! 2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 4 “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! (Amos 6:1–6 ESV)

Amos mentions David “inventing” musical instruments. These people in the days of Amos had done the same, but not according to God’s command and not for the purpose of worshiping God. Instead, they used the instrument in luxury without caring for their own spiritual condition or that of the nation. The Hebrew word (hashab) means, “to employ the mind in conceiving and devising new artistic productions. An ingenious creative activity that results in new or original artistic devices.” (Brown-Driver-Briggs). The same word is used concerning Bezalel in “making” or “devising” artistic designs in the tabernacle (Ex. 31:3-5; 35:35). King Uzziah “made engines of war invented by skillful men…” (2 Chron. 26:15). The point is not that David invented instruments without the authority of God. We noticed in the last post that God commanded David to make instruments for worship. Further, 1 Chronicles 23:4-5 refers to David speaking about the “musical instruments which I made.” “Made” is a Hebrew word also suggesting that it was created by David by God’s instruction. This is the reason that these instruments became known as “the musical instruments of David.” (2 Chron. 7:6; 29:26; Neh. 12:26). Under the direction of God’s instructions, David devised and crafted these instruments for worship. A few translations render Amos 6:5 differently to avoid suggesting David invented instruments leading to the confusion that a literal rendering gives.

“You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.” (Amos 6:5 NIV 2011)

“Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves,” (Amos 6:5 NASB)

“…who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music;” (Amos 6:5 NRSV)

Note Deuteronomy 12:30: “Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’” Therefore, not only did God authorize the use of the instrument in the OT, not only did He specify who would use the instrument in worship, not only did He specify when and how the instrument was to be used, God also invented the exact design of the instrument to be used in worship.

Now I want to remind you of one thing. In Leviticus 10:1-3, when Nadab and Abihu offered “common” fire, they were destroyed. God specified the kind of fire and they were killed when they did not use it because it was not “holy.” Everything concerning the instrument in the Law of Moses was also specified and when there was apostasy, it was all restored to the exact way that God had originally prescribed it. To do otherwise would have been sin.

In the next post we will look at instruments in the New Testament.