A big thanks to everyone who helped and ministered at the Ute Lake Camp Meeting last weekend. If I get time later, I have a few thoughts I'd like us to consider as we look forward already to next year's version.
In the meantime, here are some good words from Dan Phillips on the topic of Assurance. Do you know you're saved? Why? How? Or, maybe for some, Why Not?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Chiastic Structure of Zechariah's Visions
The Greek letter Chi (rhymes with "eye") is represented with a character that looks like our English X.
One of the literary devices that the Bible uses repeatedly is referred to as a "chiasm," with reference again to that X. What is a chiasm, or a chiastic structure?
Basically, it is a word-picture that forms the X in terms of its structure and parallels. Often, it is a string of phrases or ideas that are structured so that the first is parallel to the last; then the second is paralllel to the next-to-last; and so on, until the parallels meet in the middle (so to speak.) Whatever that thing is that is at the middle, that is the idea that the writer is seeking to emphasis by employing this structure.
Chiastic structures are often pictured with the following sort of diagram:
1. Idea A
2. Idea B
3. Idea C
4. Central thought
5. Idea C'
6. Idea B'
7. Idea A'
You see how this forms one half of the X.
These chiasms are all over the place. I would contend that very few of them were deliberately created by the human author who wrote them. My bet is that they were unaware of this underlying structure that the Holy Spirit was installing in the text. When you are reading along in the Scripture and find repeated ideas in a short space of text, you might be dealing with a chiasm.
One example can be found in the eight "night visions" of Zechariah. I stumbled upon this when I was preparing our recent, single-night overview of this book. I am not aware of anyone else proposing this idea concerning these visions and their organization, but I would seriously doubt I am the first. I just don't have the right commentaries...:)
First, here is a very, very short summary of Zechariah's visions, which occupy the first half of his book.
1. (from 1:7-11) A vision of multi-colored horses among the myrtle trees, angelic entities who patrol the earth, making us mindful of the multi-colored four horsemen of the Revelation.
2. (Ch. 1, vv. 18-21) Four horns and four craftsmen. Horns being symbolic in scripture generally of human authority and power, these four are the empires which had historically harassed God's people up until this point. Probably Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. God is judging these horns by means of the four craftsmen. My pick for best-guess about these is that they reference the coming Grecian empire, which split early in its history into four sub-kingdoms. The four perennial harrassers would find themselves put under the thumb of this coming empire.
3. (2:1-5) An angel measures Jerusalem with a measuring line, reminding of events in Revelation 11. This is the holding of God's people to a fixed standard of evaluation, and almost certainly has to do with comparing God's covenant people to the law of God, the Scripture.
4. (3:1-5) The high priest, Joshua, stands accused by Satan before the Lord. God in His grace commands that Joshua's filthy garments be replaced with new, clean attire, symbolizing the removing of his iniquity (3:4.)
5. (4:1-14) A complex vision, involving Zerubbabel, Joshua's "partner in ministry" at the time. Two olive trees represent them both, along with lampstand symbolism, pointing to the first 3 chapters of Revelation. (#4 and #5 feature these men functioning as proto-messiahs, if you will.)
6. (5:1-4) A flying scroll, containing God's judgments against sinners. Probably a reference to God's faithfulness to His own Scripture in dealing with His people.
7. (5:5-11) A woman in a basket, who is named Wickedness, is shipped off to the land of Babylon/Shinar, where she will evidently be enshrined and worshipped there. The wicked woman is an oft-repeated prophetic symbol for false and/or apostate religion, most famously appearing in Revelation 17-18. Whereas the "horn" of Babylon had long plagued the people militarily (as in #2 above), this woman is the more insidious Babylonian plague, in which the people are seduced into joining themselves to Babylonian religion and idolatry. God in His grace is removing her influence from His people, and transporting it to a more permanent home elsewhere.
8. (6:1-8) Four chariots (angelic or heavenly vehicles) carrying God's judgment, pulled by multi-colored horses.
Okay, I'm proposing that the thematic content of these four visions can be arranged chiastically, without unduly "stretching" anything for the sake of making it all fit. The chiasm would look like this:
A. Multi-colored horse/angels
B. Dealing with the oppression of Babylon (among others)
C. Holding God's people to the standard of the Word
D. Joshua prefigures Jesus
D'. Zerubbabel prefigures Jesus
C'. God's Word judges sinners
B'. Dealing with the oppression of spiritual Babylon
A'. Multi-colored horse/angels.
Now, if this seems reasonable, then we shouldn't stop there. We should find the "crux" idea that fits between D and D'.
I suggest that idea is found in the prophecy of Zechariah 3:7-10. I won't type it all out here (because my fingers are already hurting) but the text is a powerful promise of the coming BRANCH, the Servant of God, and the fact that God will, "remove the iniquity of that land in one day." (3:9) Jesus, the Messiah, is coming to deal once and for all with the sins of God's people. See the first half of the book of Hebrews if you need that explained to you.
One of the literary devices that the Bible uses repeatedly is referred to as a "chiasm," with reference again to that X. What is a chiasm, or a chiastic structure?
Basically, it is a word-picture that forms the X in terms of its structure and parallels. Often, it is a string of phrases or ideas that are structured so that the first is parallel to the last; then the second is paralllel to the next-to-last; and so on, until the parallels meet in the middle (so to speak.) Whatever that thing is that is at the middle, that is the idea that the writer is seeking to emphasis by employing this structure.
Chiastic structures are often pictured with the following sort of diagram:
1. Idea A
2. Idea B
3. Idea C
4. Central thought
5. Idea C'
6. Idea B'
7. Idea A'
You see how this forms one half of the X.
These chiasms are all over the place. I would contend that very few of them were deliberately created by the human author who wrote them. My bet is that they were unaware of this underlying structure that the Holy Spirit was installing in the text. When you are reading along in the Scripture and find repeated ideas in a short space of text, you might be dealing with a chiasm.
One example can be found in the eight "night visions" of Zechariah. I stumbled upon this when I was preparing our recent, single-night overview of this book. I am not aware of anyone else proposing this idea concerning these visions and their organization, but I would seriously doubt I am the first. I just don't have the right commentaries...:)
First, here is a very, very short summary of Zechariah's visions, which occupy the first half of his book.
1. (from 1:7-11) A vision of multi-colored horses among the myrtle trees, angelic entities who patrol the earth, making us mindful of the multi-colored four horsemen of the Revelation.
2. (Ch. 1, vv. 18-21) Four horns and four craftsmen. Horns being symbolic in scripture generally of human authority and power, these four are the empires which had historically harassed God's people up until this point. Probably Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. God is judging these horns by means of the four craftsmen. My pick for best-guess about these is that they reference the coming Grecian empire, which split early in its history into four sub-kingdoms. The four perennial harrassers would find themselves put under the thumb of this coming empire.
3. (2:1-5) An angel measures Jerusalem with a measuring line, reminding of events in Revelation 11. This is the holding of God's people to a fixed standard of evaluation, and almost certainly has to do with comparing God's covenant people to the law of God, the Scripture.
4. (3:1-5) The high priest, Joshua, stands accused by Satan before the Lord. God in His grace commands that Joshua's filthy garments be replaced with new, clean attire, symbolizing the removing of his iniquity (3:4.)
5. (4:1-14) A complex vision, involving Zerubbabel, Joshua's "partner in ministry" at the time. Two olive trees represent them both, along with lampstand symbolism, pointing to the first 3 chapters of Revelation. (#4 and #5 feature these men functioning as proto-messiahs, if you will.)
6. (5:1-4) A flying scroll, containing God's judgments against sinners. Probably a reference to God's faithfulness to His own Scripture in dealing with His people.
7. (5:5-11) A woman in a basket, who is named Wickedness, is shipped off to the land of Babylon/Shinar, where she will evidently be enshrined and worshipped there. The wicked woman is an oft-repeated prophetic symbol for false and/or apostate religion, most famously appearing in Revelation 17-18. Whereas the "horn" of Babylon had long plagued the people militarily (as in #2 above), this woman is the more insidious Babylonian plague, in which the people are seduced into joining themselves to Babylonian religion and idolatry. God in His grace is removing her influence from His people, and transporting it to a more permanent home elsewhere.
8. (6:1-8) Four chariots (angelic or heavenly vehicles) carrying God's judgment, pulled by multi-colored horses.
Okay, I'm proposing that the thematic content of these four visions can be arranged chiastically, without unduly "stretching" anything for the sake of making it all fit. The chiasm would look like this:
A. Multi-colored horse/angels
B. Dealing with the oppression of Babylon (among others)
C. Holding God's people to the standard of the Word
D. Joshua prefigures Jesus
D'. Zerubbabel prefigures Jesus
C'. God's Word judges sinners
B'. Dealing with the oppression of spiritual Babylon
A'. Multi-colored horse/angels.
Now, if this seems reasonable, then we shouldn't stop there. We should find the "crux" idea that fits between D and D'.
I suggest that idea is found in the prophecy of Zechariah 3:7-10. I won't type it all out here (because my fingers are already hurting) but the text is a powerful promise of the coming BRANCH, the Servant of God, and the fact that God will, "remove the iniquity of that land in one day." (3:9) Jesus, the Messiah, is coming to deal once and for all with the sins of God's people. See the first half of the book of Hebrews if you need that explained to you.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Now it Oughta all Make Sense
I really liked this letter to Chuck Colson, whose testimony and whose founding of Prison Fellowship ministries have made him a sort of Christian statesman in modern Evangelicalism.
The writer does a better job than I can of expressing my own heart.
If you've wondered what it is that makes me tick as a pastor (and I know some of you have!) it is in this article. My passion and heart's desire is to do the very sort of work the writer is commending.
The writer does a better job than I can of expressing my own heart.
If you've wondered what it is that makes me tick as a pastor (and I know some of you have!) it is in this article. My passion and heart's desire is to do the very sort of work the writer is commending.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Kick-ball with the AntiChrist
This is not a church-y sort of post, not Bible-y either. I just need to voice a conspiratorial suspicion here.
Here's the thing. I am quite used to the Mainstream Media taking it upon themselves to tell me what to think. They routinely tell me how I should consider every event they report on. They tell me what I should think of every politician that crosses the stage. They tell me what movies and music I should like. They tell me whose private lives I should be interested in.
Okay. I get it. That's what they do. I'm used to it. I expect it.
But now, I really think they've gone too far.
Now, it seems they're trying to tell me which sports I should like. I mean,
What in the stinkin' world is with this huge push to try and force Americans to give a rat's behind about Soccer?
Frankly, I'll tell you, it's part of their overall nefarious scheme to de-nationalize the world and make us all one under the futbol-loving Antichrist.
Well, I for one am not going along with it. Count me as a Bible-reading, gun-owning, Constitution-loving Christian American who will not be led quietly into the dark night!
I count my extreme distaste and hatred of the coma-inducing boredom-fest that is soccer as a measure of my American patriotism.
No to the New World Order. No to the Bilderburgers. No to the Global Warming Fascists.
And no to Soccer, the most brainless team-sport ever invented. Heck, I'd rather watch Olympic Curling!
Rant complete. You will now be returned to your original program.
Oh....and P.S. Go Dallas Cowboys!
Here's the thing. I am quite used to the Mainstream Media taking it upon themselves to tell me what to think. They routinely tell me how I should consider every event they report on. They tell me what I should think of every politician that crosses the stage. They tell me what movies and music I should like. They tell me whose private lives I should be interested in.
Okay. I get it. That's what they do. I'm used to it. I expect it.
But now, I really think they've gone too far.
Now, it seems they're trying to tell me which sports I should like. I mean,
What in the stinkin' world is with this huge push to try and force Americans to give a rat's behind about Soccer?
Frankly, I'll tell you, it's part of their overall nefarious scheme to de-nationalize the world and make us all one under the futbol-loving Antichrist.
Well, I for one am not going along with it. Count me as a Bible-reading, gun-owning, Constitution-loving Christian American who will not be led quietly into the dark night!
I count my extreme distaste and hatred of the coma-inducing boredom-fest that is soccer as a measure of my American patriotism.
No to the New World Order. No to the Bilderburgers. No to the Global Warming Fascists.
And no to Soccer, the most brainless team-sport ever invented. Heck, I'd rather watch Olympic Curling!
Rant complete. You will now be returned to your original program.
Oh....and P.S. Go Dallas Cowboys!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A Taxonomy of Idolatry
Zephaniah, chapter 1, lists several species of idolatry.
1. In 1:4 we have outright idolatry, the worship of false gods. Included here is specifically Baal. The worship of Baal was the ultimate in "seeker sensitive" worship. Everything the uninformed visitor might hope for: lots of wine, lots of grilled food, and, lest we forget, orgies.
We evangelicals don't set up statues and ritually fornicate in front of them. But that doesn't mean we are not idolators all the same.
Our churches are filled with folks who got their ideas about God from bumper stickers, and TV shows like "Touched By An Angel." (You don't believe in Providence? The Irish angel who always preached the false gospel at the end of the program was played by an actress named Roma! C'mon!!)
We haven't got carved images, but we have false images nonetheless, set up on their little stands in our brains. The most radical, threatening thing that could happen in some churches would be to have a guy stand up and actually read what the Bible says about the character and nature of God. Something like this would be a good start:
Psalms 5:5 "You hate all workers of iniquity."
What? Does that say what I think it said? Um, yes it does.
But I thought God hates sin and loves the sinner! An angel told me! Last Thursday at 7 PM.
What is called God in many, if not most, evangelical churches is a made-up notion, a fiction, a nice, sugary fairy story.
2. Then we have another species of idolatry, synchretism. Synchretism is the buffet-style approach to religion, where to take a little from here and a little from there.
In Zephaniah 1:5, this is seen in those who, "worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom."
We see this today in people who pick-and-choose which portions of the Bible they want to believe. Like buffet samplers. This here looks yummy, but this other stuff looks a bit questionable, so I'll leave it and move on. Oh, and don't get the yellow stuff whatever you do!
We see it in those who love Jesus, but don't want all the smart people they know to think that they are neanderthals, or snaggle-toothed snake-handling fundies, and so they also accept the pronouncements of the modern high-priests of Scientism, who assert based on nothing but faith that evolution is true and good.
3. Then we have another form of idolatry. In verse 6, it is Apostacy, or the "falling away" from the true faith.
"Those who have turned back from following the Lord." Etc, etc.
Of course, in the Southern Baptist world, we have no apostates. We only have sad instances of our failure to disciple genuine converts. (Please read the last two sentences aloud, with the heaviest possible inflection of sarcasm you can muster.)
Yes, we do believe that once you are saved, you cannot then be lost and going to hell again. However, salvation is not a Get Out of Hell Free Card that you can carry around with you in your back pocket, then whip it out in an emergency. It is a state that you live in, and are transformed in.
Ours in the SBC do in fact fall away. And they fall away at alarmingly high rates...I mean, rates over 90%. But when they fall away, when they apostasize from the faith, they are not losing something they once had: they are proving that they never had it. They were never saved to begin with.
4. The last species of Idolatry in Zephaniah 1 is Indifference or Apathy.
In 1:6, we hear of those who "have not sought the Lord, or inquired of Him."
They knew the true God...they just didn't care very much. And why not?
Because they were basically comfortable without Him. They weren't starving, they had clothes and houses and farms, they weren't under attack from foreign armies. Things were okay.
After a while, if your life doesn't completely far apart, even though you've never studied your Bible, or prayed very much, it's easy to get lulled into this sense that [speak with a whisper here] that stuff really doesn't matter a lot.
This is maybe the worst idolatry there is, where you know the truth and just couldn't care less. This is the lukewarmness that Jesus promises to spew from His mouth.
Don't let this be you. And if it is, repent of your gross idolatry and seek the Lord with your whole heart.
--------------
On the title of the post, What is Taxonomy?
1. In 1:4 we have outright idolatry, the worship of false gods. Included here is specifically Baal. The worship of Baal was the ultimate in "seeker sensitive" worship. Everything the uninformed visitor might hope for: lots of wine, lots of grilled food, and, lest we forget, orgies.
We evangelicals don't set up statues and ritually fornicate in front of them. But that doesn't mean we are not idolators all the same.
Our churches are filled with folks who got their ideas about God from bumper stickers, and TV shows like "Touched By An Angel." (You don't believe in Providence? The Irish angel who always preached the false gospel at the end of the program was played by an actress named Roma! C'mon!!)
We haven't got carved images, but we have false images nonetheless, set up on their little stands in our brains. The most radical, threatening thing that could happen in some churches would be to have a guy stand up and actually read what the Bible says about the character and nature of God. Something like this would be a good start:
Psalms 5:5 "You hate all workers of iniquity."
What? Does that say what I think it said? Um, yes it does.
But I thought God hates sin and loves the sinner! An angel told me! Last Thursday at 7 PM.
What is called God in many, if not most, evangelical churches is a made-up notion, a fiction, a nice, sugary fairy story.
2. Then we have another species of idolatry, synchretism. Synchretism is the buffet-style approach to religion, where to take a little from here and a little from there.
In Zephaniah 1:5, this is seen in those who, "worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom."
We see this today in people who pick-and-choose which portions of the Bible they want to believe. Like buffet samplers. This here looks yummy, but this other stuff looks a bit questionable, so I'll leave it and move on. Oh, and don't get the yellow stuff whatever you do!
We see it in those who love Jesus, but don't want all the smart people they know to think that they are neanderthals, or snaggle-toothed snake-handling fundies, and so they also accept the pronouncements of the modern high-priests of Scientism, who assert based on nothing but faith that evolution is true and good.
3. Then we have another form of idolatry. In verse 6, it is Apostacy, or the "falling away" from the true faith.
"Those who have turned back from following the Lord." Etc, etc.
Of course, in the Southern Baptist world, we have no apostates. We only have sad instances of our failure to disciple genuine converts. (Please read the last two sentences aloud, with the heaviest possible inflection of sarcasm you can muster.)
Yes, we do believe that once you are saved, you cannot then be lost and going to hell again. However, salvation is not a Get Out of Hell Free Card that you can carry around with you in your back pocket, then whip it out in an emergency. It is a state that you live in, and are transformed in.
Ours in the SBC do in fact fall away. And they fall away at alarmingly high rates...I mean, rates over 90%. But when they fall away, when they apostasize from the faith, they are not losing something they once had: they are proving that they never had it. They were never saved to begin with.
4. The last species of Idolatry in Zephaniah 1 is Indifference or Apathy.
In 1:6, we hear of those who "have not sought the Lord, or inquired of Him."
They knew the true God...they just didn't care very much. And why not?
Because they were basically comfortable without Him. They weren't starving, they had clothes and houses and farms, they weren't under attack from foreign armies. Things were okay.
After a while, if your life doesn't completely far apart, even though you've never studied your Bible, or prayed very much, it's easy to get lulled into this sense that [speak with a whisper here] that stuff really doesn't matter a lot.
This is maybe the worst idolatry there is, where you know the truth and just couldn't care less. This is the lukewarmness that Jesus promises to spew from His mouth.
Don't let this be you. And if it is, repent of your gross idolatry and seek the Lord with your whole heart.
--------------
On the title of the post, What is Taxonomy?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)