Worship: The End for which God's Word is given

We know that the end for which we were made is to worship and glorify God. It's surprising then that within Christianity, worship is a topic often surrounded today by much confusion. It's a key concern for Pentecostalism, as it should be among all true religion in the world. What is true religious worship and therefore what is true religion?

1. Foundation of true worship: God in himself

The reason for our worship is not merely what God has done for us, or what God is to us; but the reason our worship of God is an absolute duty is what God is in himself.

John Owen explains that it is the nature of God, his very being, that is the foundation of all true worship:

Because he is; that is, because he is an infinitely glorious, good, wise, holy, powerful, righteous, self-subsisting, self-sufficient, and all-sufficient being; the fountain and author of all being and good; the first cause, last end, and sovereign Lord of all; therefore, he is to be worshipped: therefore, are we to admire, adore, and love him; to praise, to trust and to fear him. [1]

Of course we worship God because of what he has done for us and is to us, but the principle reason for that worship, and what makes it true worship, is who and what God is. God is the great I AM; that name by which we are to know him. We worship him because he is I AM WHO I AM.

2. Rule of true worship: God's word about himself

And so our worship of God, owed him because of his divine nature, must be directed according to the revelation he has made of his being and nature to us. That is, if our worship is not ruled by God's revelation, if it does not conform to his word about himself, it is rebellion and wickedness.

The end for which the revelation of God is given through the Scriptures is that it would direct us to worship God; that is, the purpose of God's word to us is that we would respond to the true God with the obedience of faith in his word.

Our worship must therefore be a faith response of obedience to the Gospel, God's revelation of himself in the Scriptures. Otherwise we fail to worship under his rule: such worship dishonours the true and living God, is false religion, dead spirituality and idolatry.

Pentecostalism and true worship

Pentecostals may know that the end for which we were made is to worship and glorify God. But do you know that the end for which God's word is given is that it would direct your worship so that it does actually glorify God? The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23).

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Owen, John. The Holy Spirit--His Gifts and Power. Christian Focus Publications 2004, p. 61-62.

[1] Ibid.

Reading the Bible: Barnett & Jensen

© Anzea Publishers 1973
This article is an excerpt that was first published in The quest for power |
neo-pentecostals and the New Testament by Paul Barnett and Peter Jensen (Sydney: Anzea Publishers, 1973, p. 7-16). It is reproduced here with permission.

Knowledge basic to the Christian life

Paul asked:

But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without a preacher?

He concludes:

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ (Rom. 10:14 and 17).

We learn here that our salvation comes by hearing the message of the gospel and believing; or, to put it another way, through the knowledge of God transmitted to us by human language. Nor is it only the beginning of the Christian life which depends on the knowledge of God.

When Paul prays for the Christians at Ephesus (1:16f.; 3:14-19), at Philippi (1:9), and at Colossae (1:9,10), he prays for knowledge. Certainly this means than intellectual understanding. It is indeed a word that speaks of our relationship with god, but it must include the assimilation of information, for our Christian life is not based on ignorance. That is why Paul exhorts Timothy:

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching… Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Tim. 4:11-13, 16).

Notice the importance of scripture. Here we find the light we need to establish and maintain our relationship with God. That is why Paul stresses:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:14-17; authors’ italics).

Thus knowledge of God is of primary importance for every Christian. This explains why the New Testament speaks of a special class of person called a teacher, whose work is so vital to the body that he is to be paid for it (Gal. 6:6). It is not that the teacher is a more important person in God’s sight, but that his function is of great value (see Eph. 4:11-16), and it is necessary if the other members of the body are to work together properly.

Since the knowledge of God is basic to our salvation and growth as Christians, we ought to notice the means by which God has chosen to impart such knowledge to his children. He is free to do as he pleases, but, as has already been indicated, his usual method is through the scriptures. In fact since we know that the Bible is God’s word to us, we are bound to bring all other claims to reveal God’s mind to the test of whether they conform to it (see Deut. 13:1-4).

In short, Christians need to give special attention to the Bible. When they do, they discover at once that God has chosen to reveal his mind to us in human speech, using human grammar, literary forms and style. This means we are forced to respond to God’s word by reading it as a book.

That may seem obvious. But a surprising number of people seem to think of the Bible as a charm. Some people put a copy under their pillow at night. Others try to discover God’s mind by opening the book at random and reading what they find. Others have no hesitation in squeezing from plain words incredible meanings. Others use words torn from the very middle of sentences. Others read weird fantasies into the text. Thus the book becomes plasticine, to be set in whatever mould suits the person concerned, and the word of God is lost.

This last point can hardly be overstressed. It is no good thinking that if what we say has some vague relation to a part of the Bible, or has a pious air to it, then it is the word of God. It is a very serious matter to read something into the Bible that it is not saying, for then our relationship with God, based as it is on knowledge, is severely hindered. Relationships need truth.

There is a need therefore for us to have some rules in mind as we begin to read the Bible, and this chapter will set out some such rules. But our treatment can hardly be exhaustive, only preliminary, and the reader is asked to consult a book such as A. M. Stibbs Understanding God’s word (IVF).

Some suggestions for the Bible reader

To begin with, it would be good to ponder the words of one of the first translators of the Bible into English, Miles Coverdale:

It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture, if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth (authors’ italics).

This is very good advice for the reading of any book, but especially so in relation to the Bible, where the meaning is so important. People often approach it with strange ideas. Chapter and verse divisions, quite foreign to the original writing, have been introduced. These divisions are very useful as study aids, but give the Bible a stilted, unique appearance which does not in fact belong to it.

(i) Clarify the words and phrases used. Most of us use a translated Bible. This means that words or phrases need to be studied for their meaning both in English and Greek. It will not do to assume that the English word is always exactly equivalent to the Greek or Hebrew word that it translates. And example of this is the key word ‘kingdom’. In English this almost always means a place, a geographical location. Although the word can have this meaning in some New Testament passages, yet often it would be better translated ‘rule’ or ‘reign’, a rather different concept. Another example of a word whose meaning is wider in the original than it is in modern English is ‘righteousness’. So it is obvious how important study is, even for a well-known text like Matthew 6:33!

(ii) Note the ‘terrain’. That is to say, the Bible has within it many types of literature: prose, poetry, fable, proverb, allegory, parable, etc. One ought not to handle the prose of a Pauline epistle in the same way as the poetry of a Psalm.

In Job we find statements about God and the world which are not meant to be true. The book is a dramatic poem, the speakers disagree and fall into error, and the whole needs to be read before we can get the message. This is quite different from the use to which a Pauline letter may be put.

(iii) Note the immediate context. Words plucked from mid-sentence, mid-paragraph, even sometimes mid-book, are in danger of being twisted. Read and understand the whole before separating the parts.

There is the story of the careless preacher whose bishop ironically suggested that he preach a sermon on ‘hang all the law and prophets’ (AV), a text wrenched from Matthew 22:40; or another of the missionary who saw the words ‘flee to Egypt’ (Matt. 2:13) as a command for him to do likewise. These are obvious examples of a practice which is perhaps the most frequent of all lapses in regard to the Bible.

Often a Biblical statement is taken from the context of the conversation being reported. Thus, for example, while no one thinks for a moment that we must all buy linen waistcloths because the Lord told Jeremiah to do so (Jer. 13:1), yet we have been told to ‘go, sell what you have, and give to the poor…’ (Mark 10:21) because Jesus told a rich young man to do this. In this regard a study of Coverdale’s advice is essential: we must ask ‘who is speaking?’ and ‘to whom?’

(iv) Know the background. Although the main message of the Bible is available to anyone who will read it by itself, yet the meaning of various parts will be enhanced greatly if the historical and geographical background to the passage is known.

To pick an example, the meaning of Christ’s injunction about swearing oaths is clear enough (Matt. 5:33-37), but it is helpful to know something of the lengths to which the contemporary legalists went in avoiding the implications of the Old Testament teaching.

Psalm 137 benefits from geographical and historical knowledge in the reader. A glance at Babylon and Jerusalem on the map and an acquaintance with the history of Babylonish/Jewish relationships will go far to explain the tone of this song.

For some passages the background information is not only desirable: it is necessary. This is especially true of the prophets.

(v) Note the Biblical context. Because the Bible says so much about God, and our understanding is so limited, there are unresolved tensions in its pages, for example that between the sovereignty of God and man’s responsibility. It can never be right to resolve such tension by ignoring a Biblical doctrine.

(vi) The consensus of Christian opinion. Amongst those who believer in the full inspiration and authority of the Bible, there is agreement on a large range of important issues, such as the trinity, the atonement, and the deity of Christ. Sometimes this agreement is expressed in creeds or in confessions. It is wisdom to treat these summaries of Bible teaching as fallible, but with great respect, and to ask ourselves whether we are certain that we have the Bible’s meaning clear when we find that we have stepped beyond the bounds of agreement reached by many different Christians over a long period of time.

It may indeed be that a new Luther or a new Calvin needs to emerge. But the onus is surely on the new interpretation to prove that it is accurate as over against the old, and we are wise to adopt a flexible conservatism.

Some pitfalls to avoid

(i) Flights of fancy. The man who interprets the Bible must always be asking himself ‘What did the human author mean?’ When he ascertains this he will be close to the meaning which God wants him to have.

Trouble is caused by those who wish to see the plan of salvation (or something else) everywhere in the Bible. Thus Naaman’s seven dips in Jordan have been used to give the seven points of conversion (contrition, confession, conversion, commitment … etc.) or the seven points of sanctification, or any seven points the speaker has in mind. Whatever we end with, it is not God’s word!

Similarly the parable of the good Samaritan has been abused, so that every detail of the story stands for something—the man for Adam, the priest for the law, the Samaritan for Christ, and the inn for the church. Anyone can read any meaning he wishes into the Bible if this is permitted.

Fantasies have been read into the high priest’s garments, Elijah’s robe, and Christ’s seamless robe. Someone recently said that he thought that the institutional churches were represented in the Bible by Saul, for whom God withdrew his Spirit!

There is no end to such examples: but the sad result is the same. The word of God is stolen from the Lord’s sheep and they are not fed. A man’s relationship with God requires true knowledge.

(ii) Fixation. This describes the habit of being so engrossed in one doctrine (e.g. predestination) as to read it everywhere in the Bible.

(iii) Wrong presupposition. We must come to the Bible very carefully and humbly, knowing that our culture and theology have conditioned us to read it in a certain way.

Thus, a person who has a firm conviction that God’s love is irreconcilable with punishment may well explain away those passages in the Bible which speak of his wrath. Some have even gone so far as to abandon the whole of the Old Testament on these grounds; others omit parts of the Psalms in church; others retain the unpleasant sections by unconsciously re-interpreting the Biblical language to suit the twentieth century.

We are all subject to this. We hear a Biblical word or phrase, read our own meaning into it, and then proceed on the assumption that the Bible is speaking like that.

(iv) The misuse of narrative. This is a common evangelical failing, and especially in relation to the book of Acts. We hear that the early church did something and we assume that it is a command from God for us to do it—that is, we turn a description (an ‘is’) into a prescription (an ‘ought’). In this way open-air preaching is justified; or small cell-group meetings; or appeals for commitment at meetings and so on.

Christ has granted freedom in these and many areas; some teachers seek to remove our liberty by turning narrative into commands. No one pretends that we must always ask anyone we meet who is reading the Bible, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ (Acts 8:30) as Philip did; or that we must pool our resources as the primitive Christians did (Acts 2:45);1 or that we must sing hymns at midnight if we are in gaol as Paul and Silas did (Acts 16:25). That men did these things is wonderful and interesting; that we must do them is nonsense.

A further example will illuminate the point. In 1 Corinthians 15:29 the practice of receiving baptism on behalf of the dead is referred to. This is the only mention of it in the New Testament, and Paul does not condemn it. If anything, he is favourable about it.

The Mormons actually practise the baptism for the dead, basing their activities on this text. Yet no one else does, for it is plain to most people that the description of a happening in apostolic days is not in itself a command for us to do the same. An ‘is’ is not an ‘ought’.

This example illustrates, too, the main problem with unexplained narratives—they cannot give the whole story. The author selects some details to tell us, but does not give us all; thus when we come with our questions, questions which did not trouble him, we find the text silent or ambiguous. One instance of this is in Paul’s conversion which is noted on page 33. The careless reader, too eager to see what is already in his mind, will be led astray.

Naturally, narratives have some use. They can, for example, confirm that a certain practice is not contrary to the gospel. So we may be confident that open-air preaching is not contrary to God’s word, since both Jesus and the disciples did this; but we are not to assume that it is commanded in God’s word. We may gather imperatives or doctrines from narratives where the author himself has given the details a theological significance known to us. This significance may be learned from his writings as a whole, or from the immediate context, or both. But taking a narrative on its own clear terms is rather different from the unfettered inventiveness so typical in much Biblical interpretation.

To take an example, Peter’s dealing with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) is not a model for us to follow. But it appears to be in Luke’s terms an illustration of the authority of the apostles (Acts 5:11, 12). Speeches given as part of a narrative are of the same character. We may indeed gather commands, promises, and doctrine from the words of an apostolic speech addressed to the public whether general or Christian.

Conclusion

All this may seem overwhelming to the ordinary person, and he may feel that he is not equipped to read the Bible himself. This is not the case. The rules above are common sense, the sort of thing a person does without thinking when faced with a book to read.

Because of our propensity to view the Bible as magic (as distinct from inspired) we sometimes approach it in the wrong way. Prayer for light, common sense and humility are sufficient for the ordinary Bible reader, and he should be encouraged to read on and find God’s plain way. Nor has God left us on our own. Besides the aid of the Holy Spirit, Christ has in every generation given some men the ability to teach. These men have a gift for understanding and explaining the Bible. Thus we ought to turn to such people for help as we read—whether it be to one’s local teacher or pastor, or to the books and commentaries written by teachers for our instruction.

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1. Since writing this the author has become aware that the ‘Children of God’ do in fact bind their members to communal living.

Christian discussion on the Spirit & Evangelical, Pentecostal, Reformed & Charismatic Belief, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of Pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit | http://TalkingPentecostalism.blogspot.com by Joe Towns

Do we need the Bible: The Church & the Word of God

Do we need the Bible for church? The Bible itself says, in effect, 'Wherever two or three people come together in Christ's Name, there is Christ among them' (Matthew 18:20). How 'essential' is reading the Bible to church meetings?

In Pentecostal and charismatic churches around the world today, it would seem as if the spirit and life and growth of the Church was dependant on the quality of the music, not the preaching. But if preaching is important, it is the ability of a speaker to connect with his audience, or speak with relevance about real-to-life issues. The nature and function of 'leaders' in the Church has become just that; 'leadership'. The chief responsibility of leaders is to empower every-member ministry, so as to keep seats full. The Bible may get a mention, maybe even a look-up, but then again, sometimes not.

The church growth movement has spawned a growing trend, particularly within Pentecostal and charismatic circles, towards 'seeker sensitive' meetings, with the focus on attracting new comers. Dynamic and prolonged 'praise and worship' times feature strongly in meetings, followed by highly 'relevant', and at times entertaining, practical and 'down-to-earth' messages, aimed at kick-starting Christianity for new comers and 'charging up' the spiritual energy of regulars. The move away from Bible-teaching centred church meetings is extenuated.

Sadly, this trend portrays a deep ignorance in Pentecostalism and wider about how God is known and makes himself known to people. It comes from a conviction that God is known via 'encounters' in the experience of worship, and that this begins by coming to know him for the first time in the emotion of an initial encounter.

But what does the Bible have to day about all this? How has God revealed himself in the past, and how does he make himself known today, both individually, and in the Church?

The Revelation of God

God is light, says 1 John 1:5. He is open, and not secretive, and delights to make himself known. He wants to reveal himself to the people who are his creation, shining his light into people's darkness (2 Corinthians 4:4-6).

But more than that, God has acted. God has actually taken the initiative to reveal himself in deeds. He has shown his power and deity in his creative universe. He has given his redemptive plan in the Old Testament through Israel, and accomplished it in the New Testament through his most mighty act: the birth, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

But also in addition to his actions, God has spoken. He has actually communicated to his people by speech (Isaiah 40:5; 55:11; cf. Psalm 115:5). His self-revelation is not only in historical deeds, but through explanatory words, and the two are together. Even his ‘Word made flesh’ would remain vague had he not described it and interpreted him through his apostles.

God is light (and so wanting to be known), that God has acted (and thus made himself known), and that God has spoken (and thus explained his actions).

The Word of God

God has not only acted, and spoken, but the divine speech, recording and explaining the divine activity, has been committed to writing. Scripture is God’s Word written. God’s words through men’s words, spoken through human mouths and written through human hands; the Bible has both 100 per cent human and divine authorship (2 Timothy 3:16; cf. 2 Peter 3:16).

But the God who spoke centuries ago is not silent today. Scripture is not a museum of ancient documents in which the words of God a preserved. On the contrary, it is a living Word to living people from the living God; a contemporary message for a contemporary world. (Hebrews 4:12; e.g Hebrews 3:7). God still speaks through what he has spoken. That is, God speaks to us today through the Scriptures.

We must guard against two opposite errors in thinking: The first is that, though God spoke in ancient times, God is silent today. The second is the claim that God is indeed speaking today, but his Word has little if not nothing to do with Scripture. God has spoken, and God speaks, and it is through what he has spoken that he speaks. We must keep the Word and the Spirit together, for apart from the Spirit, the Word is dead, but apart from the Word, the Spirit is unknown.

But not only has God spoken, and continue to speak through what he has spoken, but when he speaks he acts. God’s Word is powerful. The Word does more than explain God’s actions, it is in itself active. God accomplishes his purpose by his Word (Isaiah 55:11; Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word is so different from ours, because in his Word his speech and actions are combined.

The Church of God

The universe was formed by God's Word and is sustained by it. So too, the Church is the creation of God by his Word, and as God’s ‘new creation’, it is as dependant upon his Word as his first creation (the universe). Not only has he brought it into being, but he maintains and sustains it, directs and sanctifies it, reforms and renews it through that same Word. The Word of God is the scepter by which Christ rules the Church and the food with which he nourishes it. That is, the Church lives by the Word of God in the Bible.

'The quality of preaching and the spirit and life of the church have advanced or declined together' (Stott, 1982). The spirit and life and growth of the Church is dependant on the quality of the teaching of God's word in the Church. The nature and function of 'ministry' in the Church is 'pastoral'. It is a ministry of the Word where the chief responsibility of pastors who ‘tend’ the sheep is to ‘feed’ them the Word of God; 'leading' them to obey the Word of God, and 'protecting' them from false teaching and godlessness by teaching them accurately the Word of God (Ezekiel 34:1-3; Psalm 23:1,2; John 10:9; 21:15,17; 1 Peter 5:2; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11).

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Stott, John. I believe in Preaching, Hodder and Stoughton, 1982. talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Why we meet: The centrality of Preaching

Why should we preach at all? Pentecostal and charismatic churches today make 'worship' central to their meetings, and tack-on-the-end sermons have increasingly suffered from a shift in emphasis and purpose. They serve to 'charge up' Christian motivation, or sell a vision for the future direction of the church, or explain keys to successful Christian living--anything but the bold and accurate declaration of the message of God as written from Genesis to the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament never gives 'worship' as a reason why Christians should gather together at all. But it does teach that Christians should meet together for edification and fellowship. We should meet to build one another up in faith and share in our common-union with Christ (Hebrews 10:24-25). But how do we build each other up as Christians? The answer highlights the importance of preaching within Christianity and our church meetings: it is through speaking God’s word to one another that we grow up into Christ (Ephesians 4:15).

Preaching as God's idea

Preaching is God’s idea. Preaching didn’t evolve out of history. It isn’t the idea or invention of people. It isn't something the church came up with as a contemporary means of communication. It actually was the plan that God had for the church. Preaching is completely characteristic of Christianity.

Jesus

Jesus used preaching as the central point to his ministry. The evangelists present Jesus as having been first and foremost an itinerant preacher (Mark 1:14). This was Jesus’ own understanding of his mission at that period (Luke 4:18). He acknowledged that the Spirit of God was on him to preach: “The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news.” During his life Jesus sent his apostles out to preach to Israel (Mark 3:14), and after his resurrection he solemnly commissioned them to preach the gospel to the nations (Matthew 28:19), and this is exactly what they did (Mark 16:20).

The Apostles

The apostles gave priority to the ministry of preaching (Acts 6:4), since it was to this that Jesus had primarily called them. It appears that reading the Scriptures at Christian gatherings (e.g. Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; 2 Thessalonians 3:14), followed by Bible exposition (Acts 20:7) was preserved as a custom in synagogues, and taken over and Christianized by the apostles (Acts 13:14-43). And the Apostles continued to pass on the baton to others. To start with, they were not the only ones that preached in the first century. Philip (Acts 8:5) and Barnabas (Acts 13:2, 5) are two famous examples. Paul passed his commission to preach on to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:1, 2). He also instructed Timothy to continue passing on this responsibility to teach God’s Word onto others (2 Timothy 2:1). The Apostles taught that preaching was God’s appointed way by which sinners would hear of the Savior and so call on him for salvation (1 Corinthans 1:17-21; 9:16; Romans 10:14,15).

Church history

Preaching and teaching God’s Word continued to be a predominant emphasis among the early church fathers, and using this as its means, in 3 centuries alone, the Church brought the Roman empire to its knees. And preaching has continued to be a predominant emphasis of the Church right down through all of Church history: 'Since the early Church era, the quality of preaching and the spirit and life of the church have advanced or declined together' (Stott, 1982).

What is preaching

To 'expound' the Scriptures is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it, rather than ‘imposition’, which is to impose on the text what is not there. But preaching is more than exposition, for otherwise preaching would not necessarily have any application to our contemporary lives. Preaching is more than communication. Preaching involves communication, however there is no other form of communication which resembles it and could replace it because each component is special, making this type of communication unique: the Preacher is a servant of God who speaks God's words, as God's word, to God's people, knowing that God himself is speaking through his words to his people.

The Bible itself uses a variety of images to illustrate what Christian preaching is. The commonest is the 'herald' (or 'town crier'), who has been given a message of good news to proclaim. Two of Paul’s most direct descriptions of his evangelistic preaching are “we herald Christ crucified” and “we herald... Jesus Christ as Lord” (1 Corinthains 1:23; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Isaiah 52:7).

Other metaphors the Bible gives to illustrate the role of a preacher of God’s Word are 'sower' (Luke 8:4-15), 'ambassador' (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20), 'fellow worker' (2 Corinthians 6:1; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9), 'steward' or 'housekeeper' (1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 1Tim 3:4-5; Tit 1:7), 'pastor' or 'shepherd' (John 21:15; Acts 20:28-31; Cf. Ezekiel 34), and 'workman' (2 Timothy 2:15).

The preacher goes out into the world, like a farmer into his fields, spreading the precious seed of God’s Word, praying that some of it will fall into well-prepared soil and in time bear good fruit. The preacher has been commissioned to serve as an envoy in a foreign–even hostile–world. He has the responsibility of representing the sovereign Government he represents, whose cause he is proud to plead. The preacher is partnering with God in the work of God. He is a co-worker: He has a role to play, and God has a role to play, and together the job will get done. The preacher is privileged to have been put in charge of God’s household and entrusted with the provision they need: God’s revealed secrets. He is expected above all to be faithful in dispensing them to God’s family. The preacher is an under-shepherd of the Chief Shepherd, to whom he has delegated the care of his flock and who he has charged to protect them from wolves (false teachers) and lead them to good pasture (sound teaching). The kind of preacher who is approved in God’s sight is the workman who is skilful in his treatment of the word of truth. He correctly handles the Bible.

Contemporary objections

Preaching in our contemporary age has its challenges. Society has for decades now seen preaching as a ‘dying art’, an outmoded form of communication, a ‘relic from the past’. The 'anti-authority' culture that seeks ‘true freedom’ sees preaching as a symbol of the authority that it rejects. People have their own opinions and convictions, which they at the very least consider to be equally valid to the preacher's; a preacher has no right to lay down his message as 'law' on another, or frame his message in absolute terms as 'truth', let alone assume to speak as one with the 'words of God'.

The Scriptures teach that fallen mankind can only find fulfillment in the context of authority. Unlimited freedom is an illusion. The mind is free only under the authority of the truth, and the will under the authority of righteousness. We believe not what we have invented but what God has revealed. This gives us authority. Preachers are trustees of divine revelation (1 Corinthians 4:1). A sermon by very nature is a revelation, not an exhortation. The Word of God is the authority. The authority with which we preach is inherent neither in us as individuals, nor primarily in our office as a preacher, nor even in the church whose members and accredited pastors we may be, but supremely in the Word of God which we expound. But it is not enough for us to make pronouncements of authority. Preachers need to argue the reasonableness and demonstrate the relevance of God's word. When a message 'rings true' and is seen to relate correctly with human reality, it carries its own authority, and authenticates itself.

The contemporary loss of confidence in the gospel is the most basic of all hindrances to preaching. To preach is to publicly proclaim a message, while to ‘evangelize’ is to spread the good news. Both presuppose that we have been given something to say. Without a clear and confident message preaching is impossible. Yet it is precisely this that Pentecostalism increasingly lacks. Much charismatic preaching today is ‘speaking’ not preaching: encouraging motivation, explaining practical insights, proclaiming speculations, giving opinions, expounding views, declaring the preacher's beliefs.

Preaching as essential

Preaching is a distinguishing feature of Christianity. It is essential to Christianity; it is a necessary and authentic part of it. Christianity is a religion of the Word of God. It revolves around the fact that God has revealed himself by his own initiative to fallen humanity, and his self revelation is given to us in the most straightforward means of communication known to people--by words. God spoke through the prophets and instructed them to convey his message to Israel by speech and writing. Supremely, he has spoken in his Son, who is his "Word made flesh", whether directly or through his apostles. God's word comes to us by the Holy Spirit, who bears witness to Christ and to the Scriptures, and who enables us to accept it as God's Word.

It is God’s speech that makes our speech necessary. Those who have heard and believed God’s Word are to speak it to others. We must speak what he has spoken - this is the Christian obligation to preach.

Needed: A recovery of preaching

What is needed within Pentecostalism is a recovery of conviction in the essence and importance of preaching. Pentecostals need to regain confidence in the truth, relevance and power of the message of the Bible--the gospel. Preaching is not motivational speaking, it is not the proclamation of new ideas, or the discussion of key issues. Preaching is the declaration of the Word, the truth as it has been revealed in the Bible.

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Stott, John. I believe in Preaching, Hodder and Stoughton, 1982. talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Listening to the Spirit: John Woodhouse

Adapted from John Woodhouse, ‘How the Holy Spirit works when the Scriptures are being read or heard' (The Briefing Dec 1999 Issue 248):

Pentecostals speak of the Spirit’s work in ‘revealing’ God’s word or giving ‘revelation’ into God’s word. More often than not this refers to a verse of Scripture ‘standing out’ or affecting us in a special way; we see a new aspect of meaning in a familiar passage, or gain ‘special insight’ into the meaning of a text, or find immediate application into a specific situation.

Theologians speak of the Spirit ‘illuminating’ the Word of God. What does this mean, and how does it happen? Are Pentecostals referring to the 'illuminating' work of the Spirit when they speak of their ‘revelations’ into the Word of God?

Do some read the Bible intellectually, while Pentecostals read spiritually? Are these two different ways of reading the Bible? Is it the work of the Spirit to enable us to discern deeper truths in the Bible that cannot be seen just by the ‘intellectual’ processes of merely ‘reading’? What is the role of the Spirit when the Bible is read or heard?

How to hear God

The proper reading of the Bible is a spiritual activity. But it is wrong to set ‘spiritual’ in opposition to ‘intellectual’ reading. Reading is an activity that always requires the use of the mind. But because Christians believe that the Bible is the very word of God the proper reading of it is always more than an intellectual activity, although it is never less than an intellectual activity.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 makes clear that the words of the Bible are only properly heard or read when the hearer or reader receives the words, not as the words of men only, but also as they actually are, the words of God. If anybody ever receives the words of Scripture merely as the words of men, then they have not understood them. It is this proper reading and hearing of the Scriptures that is only possible by the Holy Spirit. This is ‘illumination’.

Our problem

Since the fall, people are by nature incapable of hearing God’s Word. Our problem is described in the Bible as hardness of heart, eyes that fail to see, ears that fail to hear, minds that forget, minds that fail to understand, minds that misunderstand, hearts that are darkened.

This is not an intellectual problem, such as missing the logic or argument put forward by the Bible. Some of the greatest minds are spiritually blind. It’s also not a moral problem, the inability to see the difference between right and wrong. Some extremely moral people are also spiritually blind.

This inability is an expression of sin. It is the stubborn unrepentant heart, which is hard towards God (Romans 2:5). People refuse to glorify God or thank Him. Our thinking is futile and our foolish hearts are darkened (Romans 1:21). This ‘hardness’ is actually God’s punishment for our sin (Romans 1:28; 11:10; Matthew 13:13-15). He decrees the god of this world to blind the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The result of this judgment is that people by nature do not believe God’s Word. There is all the difference in the world between understanding the meaning of the words, phrases and sentences themselves in the Bible and actually believing them; that is, receiving them as God’s very own words. The evidence of ‘deafness’ to the Spirit is the failure to hear God himself speaking when the Bible is read or heard. This is why the gospel appears to be foolishness to those who are ‘perishing’ (1Corinthians 1:18).

God’s work

There is nothing people can do to themselves fix our inability to hear and understand what the Spirit is saying through the pages of the Bible. Not will power or intellectual persuasion can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

Blindness to sight, deafness to hearing, is the work of God alone. The change is a God-given capacity to believe God. The consequence is that the gospel is no longer foolishness to somebody. God doesn’t increase their IQ or make his or her conscience more sensitive. God himself ‘breathes’ his word into their hearts so that they ‘hear’ it as his voice; they receive it as God’s Word (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

This is a work of the whole Trinity, God the Father, Son and Spirit, but it is especially attributable to the Holy Spirit. As with all his work, the One God is not divided in anything he does. The work of the Holy Spirit is the work of God.

Salvation

The work of ‘illumination’ is also not detached from salvation. ‘Illumination’ is not additional to salvation; it is an aspect of God’s saving work. Our eyes are opened, not to a general religious truth like the existence of God, but specifically to the reality of God’s grace towards us personally in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Actually God’s ‘elect’ are those specifically to whom the gospel comes with the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing full assurance (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5). God chose them before time began to be saved, and when the time came his salvation comes to them by the Spirit’s work of bringing their hearts to belief in the truth about Christ Jesus as Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:13). ‘Illumination’ is, therefore, the experience of all Christians. It is part of being born again. We all have this work of the Spirit.

The Spirit and the Word

God’s Word accomplishes the work of God’s Spirit, which changes blind human beings into believers. The Spirit of God is God’s breath. ‘Spirit’ literally means ‘breath’ or ‘wind’ (Cf. John 3:8). When the word of Scripture comes not just as human words, but with the Holy Spirit and power, then the words come with the power of God’s own breath (Compare 1Thessalonians 1:5 and 2:13) (Cf. 1 Peter 1:12). The One, who brought creation into being by his powerful word, saying ‘let there be light,’ now illumes the darkness of unbelieving hearts by speaking the word of the gospel of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). Scripture is effective only as God himself addresses hearers, to do his work in them by his Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).

Conclusion

People simply cannot believe the Bible, God’s word, unless God graciously speaks it to them himself. When God speaks, he acts; that is, his Word works – it is active and powerful by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s work when the Bible is read or heard is to bring the words to us in such a way that our deaf ears and our blind eyes are opened to receive them as God’s word. This is a sovereign work of God.

Pentecostals need to revisit the doctrine of ‘illumination’ and ‘revelation’. ‘Illumination’ does not amount to certain texts ‘standing out’ or new insights being gained. It is about hard hearts being made responsive to God, and unbelief turned into faith, and sinners turning toward obedience. It is not the word of God that is illumed. It is our darkness that is illumined by the God-breathed Word (the ‘Spirit’s’ Word).

The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for our minds. God’s Word must be understood by careful reading. We must always guard against misunderstanding the Bible by thinking as we read it. But the intellect alone will not make us believe God when we read the Bible. We must always pray that God himself will breathe his word into our hearts and minds, producing faith and repentance, hope and service, love and obedience.

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John Woodhouse, Matthias Media: The Briefing Dec 1999 Issue 248, ‘How the Holy Spirit works when the Scriptures are being read or heard.’ talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

From the Beginning: Reading the Gospel

One of the greatest needs of Pentecostalism is a true understanding the meaning of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the context of the gospel. Properly read, it interprets the New Testament; that is, the Old Testament serves to provide the meaning of the gospel. (See The Answer for Pentecostalism: Biblical Theology). With this conviction, given here is an overview of the message of the Old Testament for Pentecostals.

One book that would greatly help Pentecostals understand the message of the Bible as a whole is Vaughan Roberts' God's Big Picture, Tracing the story-line of the Bible. Following the lead of Graeme Goldsworthy and the method of Biblical theology, Roberts gives a simple, short and accurate explanation of the unfolding and progressive revelation of God and his kingdom in the Bible. My overview of the Old Testament here borrows much from Vaughan’s book and Goldsworthy’s approach:

1 The pattern of the kingdom (Genesis 1-2): Creation, The good beginning

Genesis 1-2 shows how God's kingdom was in the beginning when God first created everything. This kingdom is a pattern of how God wants the world to be in the end. Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the first account of God creating the world. It begins with God speaking words, commanding into existence the universe and everything in it. People were made in the image of God and were blessed in order to multiply to fill the earth and rule the world. In the beginning God was pleased with all of his creation because everything was good. Things did what God had commanded and his people obeyed his word. The high point comes in Genesis 2:1-3 with the seventh day (2:1-3), showing that 'rest' is God's goal for creation.

Genesis 2:4-24 gives a second account of God creating the world, focusing on God's creation of people and their special purpose in creation. When God created people, Adam and Eve, he gave them a garden he had planted to work and care for. God gave Adam and Eve commands to obey, and in particular one specific command that, if obeyed, would allow continued life. God was their king, and if Adam and Eve disobeyed his word, they would die.

The Kingdom of God
Genesis 1-2 reveals the pattern of the kingdom of God, showing the world as God intends it to be: a place of great blessing because God's kingdom ruled perfectly. The pattern of God's kingdom is God's people (Adam and Eve) in God's place (the Garden) under God's rule (the word of his command) through one man under God (Adam).

2 The perished kingdom (Genesis 3-11): Creation under curse

Genesis 3 tells how God's good creation was ruined and how the kingdom of God, as it was in the beginning, perished. Soon after the beginning of human history the bible records the beginning of human rebellion against God's command and his Kingship, and God's following judgment, grace and promise concerning the future.

Sin: Creation in rebellion
In a reversal of the order of God's work in creation, an animal, the Serpent, spoke to the woman, who led her husband Adam to break the command God had given him before he had made Eve. The Serpent's temptation of Eve to eat the prohibited fruit caused her to doubt God's goodness and to disobey his word. In accepting the fruit from his wife, Adam rejected God's authority as king over him.

In judgment God cursed the Serpent, Satan, and punished Eve and Adam with pain, struggle, toil and ultimately death. In doing so he cursed the ground from which Adam had been formed. God punished them in faithfulness to his word, which was meant to rule over them.

In mercy however God's judgment delayed death to allow people to have children and the cursed ground to produce food, even with death fast approaching. God also promised that one would be born who would crush Satan's power over people (Gen 3:15). This promise shows that God had a plan for the future. The New Testament says that God had this plan before he began creating the world: To show his grace by re-creating his kingdom in the world through this future man (Eph 1:9-11).

The perished Kingdom
God's kingdom was destroyed by the sin of Adam, and from Eve all people are born outside of that kingdom: Now we are not God's people; we do not live with God where he is; we do not have one man from God as our head and ruler; and we do not have God's gift of life. We reject Gods' Kingship; we live in a world alienated from God; we follow the disobedience of our one Father, Adam; and we die in our sins.

The spread of sin and death
Because of their sin in the land God had given them, God forced Adam and Eve out of the garden to have children and grandchildren who would now rule the world in evil ways, bringing death to all people. The sin of Adam's firstborn, Cain, who took the life of his younger brother Abel, brought another curse from God, demonstrating that God's judgment on people would increase as sin increased.

Judgment: Creation in reverse
Genesis 4 - 11 shows the beginning of the human race, and the spread of sin and death to all of society. Following their Father, Adam, all people rejected God's kingship, and God was grieved that he had made them. In judgment on the world God ended all life on earth by the waters of a flood. In a reverse of the order of his work of creation, God made dry ground disappear again under the waters. Every single person and everything that lived on the land died except Noah and those with him, eight in all.

Salvation: A new beginning for creation
As sin and judgment increased, Gods' grace also increased. In mercy on humanity, there was one man, Noah, to whom God spoke and who obeyed his word by building an ark to raise his life up above the waters and save his family and the animals with him. Through the ark, God saved a remnant of humanity and brought a new creation up out of the waters.

Disappointment: Spread of sin & judgment in the new world
This second beginning for the world did not create a renewed people for God. The sin of Noah and of his son Ham brought a curse on the people of Canaan from the one who had now become the second Father of the human race. Later, the building of the tower of Babel represented humanity united in rebellion against God's kingship, again incurring God's judgment on human society as a whole, forcing them to spread out over the earth, as God had commanded Noah and his sons, though now in divided people groups (Genesis 11).

3 The promised kingdom (Genesis 12-50): Promise of future blessing, Reversal of the curse

The kingdom of God was not simply the area where God ruled, for from the beginning God has ruled everyone and everything, including those outside his kingdom. But his kingdom was the place where his control was accepted willingly. Now God planned to reestablish his kingdom by bringing back under his rule a people who would want to live with him as their King.

In Genesis 11 all of human society united together to make themselves to be one great famous nation without God. And God judged them by confusing their language and dividing them over the whole world. But although sin increased and was met by God's judgment, God's grace also increased. Some years after God's judgment on humanity at Babylon, God again spoke to one man, Abram, who obeyed God's command, this time to leave his nation and go to a new land. God promised to bless Abram, whom he later named Abraham, by making him the father of a new and great nation blessed by God. He also promised to bless and curse others based on their response to Abraham, so that through this one man God's blessing would spread to all people groups on earth (Genesis 12:1-3).

In a reversal of his judgment on all peoples at Babel, God's promise to Abraham would reintroduce his blessing in creation to people from every nation by reestablishing one people under God. There are four elements to this promise:

Man
It is to Abraham that God said, "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing... all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you". God's promise was to Abraham, and all of his purposes would be come about through him.

People
Abraham's descendents would become a great nation that would be God's own people. This promise was later rephrased in this way: 'I will be your God and you will be my people'. But right from the beginning God's plan involved 'all peoples' from all nations, for God said to Abraham, 'all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you'.

Land
Abraham was commanded to go to another land that God would show him. God said later to Abraham, 'The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendents after you' (Genesis 17:8).

Blessing
Abraham's descendents would be blessed and through him 'all the peoples of the earth will be blessed'. It was not only Abraham's physical children who would be blessed. Anybody could be included by treating Abraham well; God said to Abraham 'I will bless those who bless you'. But also God's curse would now come to those who treated Abraham badly.

The kingdom of God
God's promise to Abraham was a promise of a return of the kingdom of God: God's people (Abraham's descendents) in God's place (the Eden-like land of Canaan) under God's rule, and therefore enjoying his blessing. And all of this was to come about through the one man (Abraham). From Genesis 12 to 2 Chronicles the four elements of God's kingdom are progressively established, though only in partial fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham: A new people (Genesis 12 to Exodus 1) become God's people (Exodus 2 to Exodus 18) under God's rule and blessing (Exodus 19 to Numbers) in God’s paradise land (Deuteronomy to Judges) under God's king (1 Samuel to 1 Kings 11).

4 The partial kingdom (Genesis 12 – 1 Kings 11): The Kingdom of Israel

A new people: Israel
From Genesis 12 to Exodus 1 God created a new people. God promised to Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation," (Genesis 12:2) when he had no children and his wife's womb was already dead. But God kept his promise to Abraham by bringing life to what was dead in a miracle birth, so that Sarah gave Abraham a son, Isaac. God again brought life to Rebekah's barren womb when she conceived with two sons from Isaac, Esau and Jacob. But God's promise to Abraham passed from Isaac to his youngest, Jacob, whom God named Israel. God gave Jacob a huge number of sons, comparatively, twelve in all: Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. And the reason became clear, for from Jacobs’s sons, God created the new community of people, Israel, with twelve tribes.

Creation of Israel
God had created a new people, this time not out of the dust of the earth, but out of one man, Abraham, whose body was as good as dead. Like Adam and Eve, they were blessed to increase in number to fill the land of Canaan and subdue it. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob became exceedingly wealthy so that they could support a growing community that would become a great nation. When Jacob moved his growing household to Egypt, Israel was seventy people in all. After four hundred years in Egypt this new people had grown into a large community. As God had intended for Adam and Eve, "the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7).

Sin
But while God's people were growing in number and wealth their sin was also greatly increasing. Like Cain, Jacob's older sons hated their younger brother Joseph and planned to kill him. But when they saw some Ishmaelites they sold him to them, who brought him into slavery in Egypt.

Protection and provision
God was with Joseph and raised him up to be ruler over all Egypt. God gave Joseph knowledge and wisdom to store up food, and when a drought came upon the entire region, God brought the surrounding nations in Canaan to Joseph to be blessed by him, including Jacob's family. Jacob's family would not perish but have life, and would begin to increase in Egypt. Instead of bringing judgment on Jacob's family for their sin, God paradoxically used their evil to save Jacob's family from death.

Hardship
Ironically God also used the evil of Jacob's brothers, who sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt, to not only preserve their lives, but also to bring all of Jacob descendents into slavery in Egypt. The next Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, hated the people of Israel and subjected them to extreme hardship (Exodus 1).

God's people: Redemption
God had planned a much greater deliverance for Jacob's family, (Genesis 15:14) whereby (from Exodus 2 to Exodus 18) he would bring punishment on Egypt and redeem Israel, so that they would become his people and a great nation. God's promise to Abraham hundreds of years earlier was now passed onto the entire community: "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God" (Exodus 6:7).

God's prophet
Israel’s extreme hardship caused them to cry out to God for help. God heard them and spoke to one man, Moses, who obeyed God and went to Pharaoh with God's words: "Let my people go!" Moses warned Pharaoh with great miraculous signs and acts of judgment that if he disobeyed God's word, he and all Egypt would come under Gods' judgment. But Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go. God told Moses that he would gain glory for himself by bringing judgment on the Egyptians and would save Israel, who would become his own people in the process. He did this in two ways:

Salvation for Israel
Firstly, in one night God passed through Egypt killing every firstborn son. The Israelite firstborn sons also risked judgment because Israel were also sinful, but God graciously provided them a way to be saved from the plague by telling each family to kill a lamb and put its blood on their doors. When God saw the blood, his judgment passed over that family, and their firstborn were spared. When Egypt saw that all their firstborn sons were dead, Pharaoh ordered Israel to leave Egypt, which they did under the leadership of Moses.

In their escape from Egypt (the Exodus) God saved Israel from his own his punishment by providing a substitute to die in their place (the lamb). He bought Israel at the price of these blood sacrifices. This redemption set Israel free from Pharaoh to belong to God.

Judgment on Egypt
Secondly, God drowned all of Egypt's army in the Red Sea after Israel passed through on dry ground. Israel were powerless against Pharaoh who chased them, because they were trapped. But God acted for them with his own power. He opened up the sea and they went through the waters, and then God closed up the sea again on Egypt. This baptism, as with Noah and his family in the ark, is a salvation by the waters of God's judgment for the purpose of placing a new people in a new land.

God's kingdom people
When Israel left Egypt, there were almost one million of them. In their exodus God showed that belonging to his kingdom was not automatic. Israel were outside God's kingdom; the only way they could enter his kingdom was by God's own judgment passing to a substitute who he would provide. This is also an act of God's own power. It was by God's act of saving this people from judgment that they became his own people.

A sinful people
Immediately after the Israelites had seen the great power God displayed against the Egyptians, God tested them by leading them into the desert where they could not find drinking water or food, and they grumbled against Moses and against God, and wanted to kill Moses. Again and again God miraculously provided for them, but again and again they tested God by doubting his goodness and by disobeying his instructions. Though Israel were now God's people, they did not live as God's people (Exodus 15-18).

God's Rule and Blessing: Law, Presence, and Sacrifice
God's promise to Abraham, "I will bless you" (Genesis 12:2), involved a promise of a special relationship with God: "I will be your God and the God of your descendants" (Genesis 17:7). From Exodus 19 to Numbers, God partially fulfilled that promise by bringing this newly redeemed people under his rule and blessing.

In Exodus 19 God did not lead Israel straight into his promised land but brought them first to a mountain (Mount Sinai) where he appeared to them. He said to them, 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself' (Exodus 19:4). Moses went up on the mountaintop to meet with God and God spoke to him. Then Moses told the people all that God had said: He told them how to love God, he told them how to love each other, he told them how to live as God's people. God gave his new and special nation his good word to obey, as he had done to Adam in the beginning. God was now ruling Israel and giving them the blessing of a new relationship with him. Israel were not absolutely free. They were free from slavery in Egypt, but they now belonged to God, and he was to be their God. God's kingly rule and blessing came in three ways:

Law
Firstly, God's gave Israel his law: God was with them, ruling them by his word of command. Israel needed to learn how to relate to God as their God. They did not yet know how to do this, for he is not like the gods of the nations that were around them. So God made himself known to them by explaining how they should treat him. His words told them what pleases him and what his demands were. For example, he said 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3).

Presence
Secondly, God gave Israel his presence: God was with them, ruling them by his presence amongst them. In his law he gave them instructions for building a tabernacle. This was a tent where God's presence would be revealed among them. They were to be careful to make the tabernacle exactly as God had said, because it was to be a visible symbol of God's ruling presence among them.

Sacrifice
Thirdly, God gave them sacrifices: God was with them, ruling them only because God himself would deal with their sin. In his law, God had provided a way so that Israel could escape God judgment. This was necessary because God would not allow sin to go unpunished. God also knew that Israel were no different from any other people since Adam. They broke God's law and deserved death as their judgment. But in their place God accepted the death of sacrifices that were to be made every day at the tabernacle. Also on the Day of Atonement every year (Leviticus 16) the high priest was to kill a goat as an offering for the sin of all the people, and sprinkle its blood in the tabernacle. The blood spoke of the life of the substitute animal. Israel could escape God's judgment of death and live only because God had provided sacrifices that he would accept as the payment of the punishment of their sin. In this way God enabled himself to continue to live with Israel.

Disobedience: The rebellion of God's people
Although Israel had seen God's powerful saving acts for them, and accepted his law, they were quick to turn away from what God commanded, as was Adam. While Moses was on Mount Sinai they made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' God's anger burned against them and he threatened to destroy them, but Moses prayed for them and for the sake of his Name God spared the nation. Nevertheless, Moses commanded the Levites to go throughout the camp with the sword, and that day about three thousand of the people died. God himself punished those who had sinned by striking them with a plague (Exodus 32).

Again and again God's people forgot God's word, they doubted that God's word was good, they disobeyed God's word and they did not live with God as king over them.

After being led from Mount Sinai to the edge of their promised land, ready to go in and take possession of it, Israel rebelled against God (Numbers 14). Again the Israelites sinned by grumbling against Moses. And again they were ready to kill him. They refused to go into the land because it was full of strong fighting men. Though Israel knew God sent disaster on the Egyptians and he divided the Red Sea in half so they could walk through it, they did not trust that God would make it possible for them to enter the land.

Again God threatened to destroy them, but Moses prayed for them and God relented for the sake of his Name. Nevertheless, God made all of them wander in the desert for forty years until most of the first generation of Israelites died, including Moses, all except Joshua and Caleb. But afterwards, God was ready to bring his people into the land he had promised them.

God's land: Inheritance
God had brought Israel out of Egypt, given them his law and lived with them through the tabernacle, but God had promised Abraham, 'I will give this land (Canaan) to your descendants' (Genesis 12:7). From Deuteronomy to Judges God partially fulfilled this promise by choosing one man, Joshua, who led his people to conquer Canaan and take possession of it.

Blessing and curses in the land
On the plains of Moab, on the edge of their promised land, Moses gave speeches to Israel on the importance of obeying God's laws in the land they were about to enter (Deuteronomy). He told Israel that God would bless them in the land if they obeyed his law: they would stay in the land; they would have many children and abundant crops. But if Israel did not obey God's law in the land, God would curse them: they would be rejected from the land, they would not have children, their crops would fail and they would die (Deuteronomy 30:15-16).

God's victory
After Moses died Joshua led Israel into the land of Canaan and they took it as their own (Joshua). It was obvious that God himself fought for Israel because they had easy victory in their battles even though their enemies were powerful nations much larger than they.

Judgment on Canaan
God commanded Israel to kill every person in the land, as God himself had destroyed all life in the days of Noah. It was on account of the wickedness of these nations that God was going to drive them out before Israel, not because of Israel's righteousness; God was using Israel to bring his judgment on these nations for their sin, such as worshiping other gods, killing their children and sexual immorality.

Holiness in the land
Another reason God commanded Israel to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan completely was that the practices of these nations would influence Israel to worship their gods and adopt their sinful behaviour. Israel did not, however, completely kill these people as God had commanded, but they did take most of the land. God gave them rest on every side, just as he promised Abraham. "Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled" (Joshua 21:45).

At the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua warned Israel to continue to obey God's law. "Choose this day whom you will serve..." On that day, Israel promised to be God's people, to serve God and obey his word. If they kept their promise, they would have always lived in the land God gave them.

Disappointment: Sin in the land
After Joshua died Israel increasingly disobeyed God's word, rejecting God as king over them and worshiping other gods. So God punished them by letting their enemies rule over them (Judges).

Again and again, Israel's trouble brought them to the point of desperation and they cried out to God, who in kindness gave them a leader (a 'judge'). God's Spirit came upon Israel's judges to defeat their enemies and restore peace. But Israel soon rejected God's kingship and found themselves in trouble and crying out to God again. This cycle of sin in the land, judgment, repentance, deliverance through a judge, restoration to peace, and return to sin, repeated again and again and again after Israel had entered the land God gave them.

Rejecting God as Israel's king (1 Samuel)
When Israel had entered Canaan and Joshua had died they had no king over them in the land. Everyone did as he saw fit and sin increased in the land God had given them (Judges). The low point of Israel's sin against God at this time came when Israel asked God for a king to be like the other nations around them. Israel wanted a human king to rule them instead of God. Instead of seeking a king from God in order to obey him, they sought a king in rejection of God in order to sin. In anger, God gave them the king they wanted, Saul, warning them of what this king would do to them: the day would come when they would cry out to God for relief from the king they had chosen. And just as Adam had done, Saul rebelled against God’s word. In judgment, God rejected him as king. But in great mercy, God acted now to choose for himself the king he wanted over Israel, who would lead them to obey his word.

God's king: David, and his Son
From 1 Samuel to 2 Chronicles God's people, under God's rule and blessing in God's land, came under God's chosen king, David.

The promise of a single deliverer who would have permanent victory for Israel over her enemies has its origin in Genesis 3:15, in which God had said that the head of the Serpent (Satan) would be crushed by a future human man. God had promised to Abraham that kings would come from him (Genesis 17:6) and in Genesis 49:10 Judah (one of the sons of Jacob/Israel) was promised that his descendants would become kings and all the nations would obey him.

In Deuteronomy Moses commanded Israel concerning their future king in the land: God himself should choose their king and the king should respect and obey him (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). This Scripture was partially fulfilled in David, whose reign, although deeply and at times tragically marred by sin, was broadly characterized by obedience. And consequently, under David Israel became very successful and powerful, more than at any other time in their history.

During the time of Samuel the Philistines ruled over God's people. However God chose one man, David, from the little town of Bethlehem, and a shepherd, to be ruler over God’s people Israel. God kept his promise to rescue his people, and was with David to defeat the Philistines on Israel’s behalf. God gave David victory over his enemies in all his battles. David, the mighty warrior, ruled over not only God's people, but he also subdued God's land, Canaan.

God’s kingdom
David wanted to build God a permanent house, to replace the tabernacle. But God spoke to David, commanding him not to build him a house, but instead instructing him that David's son would build him a house. Ironically, God promised to build David a house; that is, a kingdom: God's kingdom. God also promised David that one of his sons would live forever as God's king. This forever ruler would be the Promised One who would bring God's blessing to all the peoples of the earth. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13).

The kingdom in Israel
After David died David's son Solomon became king. With gold and wood he built the temple God had commanded. This was where Israel’s priests made blood sacrifices for their sins. When God saw the blood of the sacrifices – that great sign – he would pass over, or forgive, the sins of his people, as he had done since their exodus from Egypt. After it was completed, the glory of God filled the temple.

God had kept many of his promises to Israel. He now gave Israel rest in the land and they enjoyed great blessing under Solomon, as Adam and Eve had done in Eden. “The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy” (1 Kings 4:20). Now that God's people were in God's place it seemed that soon they would become a blessing to all the people of the earth, as God had promised Abraham. The Queen of Sheba did come to visit Solomon to see his riches and listen to his wisdom (1 Kings 10:1-13). God had already made Abraham into a great nation. And he had already given Israel the land. Now God's king was bringing God's blessing to other peoples of the earth.

Disappointment: The sin of the first son of David
The promises of God about his kingdom were only partially fulfilled under David and Solomon: All the nations did not obey Solomon and certainly he did not defeat the chief enemy of God’s people, Satan. Instead, as did Adam, Solomon turned away from God in rejection of his word. He married many wives and began to follow their gods, the gods of the nations around him. Solomon’s disobedience was the beginning of the end for Israel. Before Solomon died, God told him that someday his kingdom would be torn apart. Here began the long wait for the arrival of the Son of David, the one man who would be king over God’s kingdom forever (the ‘Messiah’).

5 The prophesied kingdom (1 Kings 12 – Malachi): The coming kingdom of God

God's prophets
Moses was God's first prophet to Israel, to whom God gave his law at Mount Sinai after their exodus from Egypt. Israel became God's people by obeying his word received from Moses. To remain in God's land, under his blessing, they needed to continue to obey the Law of Moses. Disobedience would end in judgment from God: he would take away his blessing, eventually they would be removed from his land and no longer be his people (That is, the kingdom of God would no longer be the kingdom of Israel). All of the prophets of the Old Testament after Moses spoke to Israel (and Judah) about their obedience to God's law given through Moses: they reminded them of the blessings that would come to them if they obeyed it and the judgment (curses) that would come if they disobeyed.

Sin and Judgment
From the death of Solomon (1 Kings 12) to the exile of Judah (2 Kings 25) Israel and Judah committed a long and tragic decline into increasing sin and judgment. With Solomon, all Israel turned their hearts away from God, and after Solomon died God fulfilled his word of judgment: Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king and 10 tribes of North and East Israel rebelled and began their own kingdom in the North (which would now be called ‘Israel’), leaving the smaller southern kingdom of Judah in the South (the ‘Jews’).

The end of the kingdom of Israel
To stop his people from going south to the temple in Jerusalem (David’s city in Judah) Rehoboam made two golden calves at each end of his new kingdom in the North, telling Israel ‘these are the gods you should worship’. From Rehoboam on, Israel’s kings increasingly led Israel into increasing idolatry.

God was angry. He sent prophets to warn these kings and his people to stop being unfaithful to God. The first great prophets after Moses were Elijah and Elisha. Despite their wicked idolatry, Elijah and Elisha declared that there was still time for the people to return to God before his final judgment would come upon them. At that time the ruler over Israel was Ahab. Elijah challenged Ahab's prophets to a contest and demonstrated that God alone is God in Israel. Yet the king and all Israel continued to reject God's word. God's prophets began to warn them that God’s final judgment must now come upon them: they would be removed from his land and would no longer be God's people. Finally in anger God sent Assyria in 722 BC to attack and destroyed Israel. The only survivors of the destruction were either killed or taken as prisoners into Assyria.

The end of the kingdom of Judah
God’s promises remained with David’s family line and the smaller tribe of Judah. However in the end Judah’s sin was greater than that of Israel, whom God had destroyed, and even greater than that of the nations around them, some of whom God had also destroyed. Judah did have some faithful kings who brought God’s people to repent. But Judah, like Israel, rejected God again and again, continuing to turn away after other gods.

King Zedekiah ruled over Judah and did many evil things. Still he did not think that God would punish him. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn the king, but Zedekiah refused to listen. Finally in 597 BC, God in anger sent her enemies one last time, this time the Babylonians, to attack and this time to destroy the kingdom of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and burned Solomon's temple to the ground.

The message of judgment: The end for the Kingdom of Israel
Both Israel and Judah did not take the warnings of God's prophets seriously. And so God carried out his judgment upon them. At that time the prophets spoke of these events not as accidents. God was faithful to his covenant established through Moses, which said that if Israel did not return wholeheartedly to God after their sin, he would judge them with exile and desolation. Their destruction took place to fulfill the curses given through Moses (see Deuteronomy 28).

Israel lost their lives and their land and their blessing. They were now a people rejected by God, expelled from his place, with no king of their own to rule over them, and without God’s ruling presence among them. The symbol of God’s throne and presence with them in the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, was no more. They lived in a foreign land of foreign gods and were oppressed by a foreign ruler.

For the Northern Kingdom of Israel, it really was the end. But in faithfulness to David, the Jews were not completely destroyed. Like Adam and Eve, the Jews were expelled from their land, and yet they lived. Like going back to Egypt, Jacob’s sons and daughters were taken into slavery, now in Babylon. Though a remnant of Judah remained, her exile did signify an end to God’s kingdom being revealed in Israel/Judah.

The message of hope: God's promise remains
Although God's judgment was necessary, God remained faithful to his promise to Abraham and to David. He promised to Abraham to bring his people under his rule and take them into his land where they would receive his blessing. And he promised to David that he would always rule them through a king from David’s family. Even though the kingdom of Israel/Judah had failed, Israel had a future hope.

Although the return of the Jewish exiles was disappointing, and demonstrated that God’s kingdom would not come about by a rebuilding of Israel, the partial kingdom, God would do a completely new thing in the future to bring about his real, perfect kingdom, this time forever.

God's people
There would be a new people (nation) belonging to God as a result of a new exodus that God would perform. God had promised that he would keep Judah from being completely destroyed. A small number would return from exile in Babylon (Isaiah 10:20-21). Through them God would create a new people of God from those who were not his people: "In the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God" (Hosea 1:10).

The prophet Isaiah said that a future man, referred to as ‘the servant’, would bring about a new exodus of God’s people (See Isaiah 49:5-6; 52:13 - 53:12). He would achieve this rescue for God's people by his death, which would save them from their sin. He would face their punishment (exile from God) in their place, so that God may forgive them as the new people of God.

The servant would not just do this for the nations of Israel and Judah. God said to him "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6). The servant himself would fulfill God's promise to Abraham to bring God’s blessing to all the nations (Isaiah 60:1-3).

God's place
God would create a new Jerusalem and it would be the capital city of a completely new creation, involving a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17-18). As in the Garden of Eden, a river would flow through this land giving life to the whole world. It would flow out of a new temple that God would himself build and enter (Ezekiel 40-48). Everything would be new; the problems of this old world would be no more; there would be perfect peace, health and prosperity (Isaiah 11:6; Amos 9:13-14).

God's rule and blessing
There would also be a new covenant that would not rely upon God's people. Because of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God that first covenant brought God's curse upon God’s people, instead of his blessing. This new covenant would not be completely new however. Rather it would fulfill all of the promises God made to his people in the old covenant, because it would finally deal with people's sin. It would bring complete forgiveness and a personal knowledge of God to God’s people. And God's blessing would be guaranteed (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The prophets also spoke of a new blessing that this covenant would bring: God’s law would control God’s people in a new way; it would be from within (Jeremiah 31:33). The prophets Ezekiel and Joel made it clear that this was a promise of a new relationship with God. God promised to give his people his own Spirit. They would be controlled, no longer by their sinful desires, but by God's Spirit, who would live with them (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Joel 2:28-32).

God's king
God would fulfill his promise to David to make one of his sons his eternal, universal king who would always rule God's people in his perfect kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7). David himself called him Lord, because, although he was one of his sons, he would nonetheless be the Son of God (Psalm 110:1). The prophet Daniel said that he would be 'like a son of Adam' who comes down from heaven and would be given all authority in heaven and on earth. Peoples from all nations and every language would worship him (Daniel 7:13-14).

Disappointing return (Ezra – Nehemiah)
In 538 BC king Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians and allowed the exiles from Judah to return to their land and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1). Only a small number made the journey back and faced strong opposition. Eventually they did build a new temple (Ezra 3-4:5) and some of the younger Jews celebrated. But those older wept because they knew that this temple, against the prophet’s expectations, was a great disappointment compared to the first temple that had been destroyed, let alone the new glorious temple spoken of by Ezekiel.

The leader Nehemiah began rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1-2), but also, against the prophetic expectation, received opposition. The priest Ezra called on the Jews to obey God's law, but once again they committed the very sins that brought God's judgment of exile upon them in the first place (Ezra 9:1-4). Despite Ezra's efforts the people were as unfaithful to God as they ever have been (Nehemiah 13).

This return was full of disappointment. The people were expecting the prophetic message of hope to come true in their efforts to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem. But it was clear that this did not happened: their temple was not the glorious one spoken of by Ezekiel; the people did not have new hearts; they did not have a new king ruling over all the nations, from a new Jerusalem, giving God's people perfect peace and prosperity. The wait for the arrival of the Son of David, the one man who would be king over God’s kingdom forever (the ‘Messiah’), continued.

The future: The Kingdom of God is coming (Haggai – Malachi)
Three prophets spoke God's word after the return of the Jews from their exile: Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. They condemned the returned people for their unfaithfulness and warned them again of a future judgment. But they also explained that their hope should not have been in a return to the past. The new city, building and place that the prophets wanted them to expect were not part of this world now. They were much too great. God said through the prophet Zechariah that these temporary parts of Israel were just a sign of what God would do in the future when he brings his new creation (Zechariah 3:8). Israel's past was only symbolic of their future. The prophets before the exile had used the language of the kingdom of Israel to give people a picture of the future kingdom of God. But God's kingdom was no longer the kingdom of Israel. Therefore, God's kingdom would not come with a restoration of Israel. Rather, everything would be new. Their hope should be in God and what he would do through his future king.

The last of God's Old Testament prophets, Malachi, spoke that God would send a messenger ahead of this king who would prepare the Jewish people to receive him: 'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come' (Malachi 3:1).

Four hundred years of silence
After Malachi’s words, hundreds of years passed without a single word from God. Israel remained small and were ruled by other nations who rose to power over them. After 400 years, the Romans ruled over Israel, whose king was Caesar Augustus. But while Caesar was getting ready to show the world how great he was by a census of his entire empire, God, the world's true ruler, was getting ready to show how great he was by coming into the world as one of his people. Finally, God was going to end the years of silence and keep his promise of an eternal king. And in the power of his Spirit, God did it by bringing his long awaited Messiah, the Son of David, into the world as a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem.



More on this topic

The answer for Pentecostalism: Biblical Theology

Bibliography

Goldsworthy, Graeme. According to Plan, The unfolding revelation of God in the Bible, IVP, 1991.

Helm, David. The Big Picture Story Bible, Crossway Books, 2004.

Roberts, Vaughan. God's Big Picture, Tracing the story-line of the Bible, IVP, 2003. talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Answering Pentecostalism: Biblical theology

Pentecostalism is a distinct theological system with its own distinctive method, doctrines and practices. Although similarities exist between Pentecostalism and Protestantism, Evangelicalism, even Catholicism, the former is separate from such theological systems because of its specific origin in the more recent American movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century, such as Methodism, Dispensationalism, Millennialism and the Holiness movement. Within this context, Pentecostalism emerged in the early twentieth century when a new generation departed from such movements by taking further steps away from an understanding of the gospel based in the historic events of the Old Testament.

Graeme Goldsworthy has observed that when the loss of understanding of the historical meaning of the Old Testament has occurred in the church in the past, the result has been a shift in emphasis from the New Testament’s focus on the historical basis in the Old Testament of the gospel. After the fourth-century A.D, with the rise of Catholicism, Christianity turned inward as the church during the medieval era and into the dark ages increasingly emphasised the personal sacraments:

“When the plain meaning of the Old Testament was lost to parts of the early church, often through the adoption of a dehistoricizing, allegorical interpretation of the Bible, the gospel ceased to be regarded as primarily what God has done in the historical Christ. The emphasis shifted to what God does inwardly in the human soul through piety and the sacramental ministrations of the church.” (Goldsworthy, G., New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, p. 523) [1]

The same may be said to have occurred more recently following the American revivalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century movements that gave birth to Pentecostalism: The lack of basis in Pentecostalism on a historical understanding of Old Testament, which had been central in the Reformation era, has blurred the gospel itself, (the work of God for Christians through Christ) by a refocus inward that is evident in Pentecostalism’s primary emphasises on the fruit of the gospel (the work of God in Christians by his Holy Spirit). Pentecostalism’s central basis of an experience of Spirit-baptism that produces tongues-speaking is a charismatic sacramentalism. This, together with their focus on personal worship and the Spirit’s inner voice, gives Pentecostalism more in common with the subjective focus of Catholicism’s sacramentalism than many realise.

The fundamental problem with Pentecostal theology is its lack of understanding of the meaning of the Old Testament. Just as the message of the Bible is a progressive story from creation to new creation, the message of God’s Word is to be understood in terms of his promises and revealed plan and their historical fulfilment. These are the revelation of a mystery, previously hidden in Israel’s historical development, and now disclosed through the writings of the New Testament apostles and prophets, though still yet awaiting completion in history. (Romans 1:2; 16: 25-26, Ephesians 3:4-5)

What is needed by Pentecostals is a careful reading of the meaning of the Bible’s message in its progressive historical revelation of the gospel of God, through the words, grammar, and contexts of the various writings of the Biblical authors, in their various genres, who make known God’s purposes for his own glory, of which salvation for his people is one aspect.

The Biblical authors demonstrate that the message of the Bible is self-interpreting, and as such the only appropriate means of comprehending the meaning of Scripture is to allow its own unfolding unity to give its interpretation. This way of reading, popularly called ‘Biblical theology’ – referring to the Bible’s own method of doing theology – is the answer for today’s Pentecostal and charismatic movements.

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[1] Of great use for understanding the historical meaning of the Old Testament is G. Goldsworthy’s According to Plan: The unfolding revelation of God in the Bible (IVP, 1991). talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.