The Duty to Rest

In Solomon Says, I wrote a great deal about the temptation to sleep (or “sleep,” since I don’t think only literal unconsciousness is being warned against).

But notice that sleep is also a blessing:

My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.
Then you will walk on your way securely,
and your foot will not stumble.
If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Proverbs 3:21–24 ESV

So what happens when you get sweet sleep?

For The Second Podcast Episode… And the Republication of my Mark Commentary

So I might as well announce it here!

I have, with the help of my son Calvin, started a podcast: The Glory of Kings.

We will discuss things related to wisdom and the Bible. A good deal of that will be on living wisely. Some will also be about reading the Bible with better understanding.

(I believe that Proverbs 25:2 applies to both areas. Life and the Bible are both riddles to be wrestled with.)

We recorded the third episode today.

Our second episode has dropped and it involves another announcement that I have delayed making: Canon Press has republished The Victory According to Mark: An Exposition of the Second Gospel. You can buy it directly or you can listen to it read aloud on the valuable Canon app!

Our podcast episode was mainly about the new introduction about my improvement (at least I think so!) I have made since originally writing the commentary. Give it a listen if you haven’t read the new introduction (or maybe even if you have).

As an extra help, here is what I see as the pattern of Mark 1-10, presented without much explanation (listen to the podcast and/or read the book for more information).

The City of God(ly Humanity)

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Revelation 21:2-3 ESV

Many readers think the City is something that exists at or after the end of the world and/or after death. This is understandable. The next verse says there is no longer any death in this city.

Ultimately, the new Jerusalem, won’t be perfectly realized until after the resurrection, but I don’t think that means it is nothing but a future hope. My main concern here is that people assume, whatever their eschatology, that the city is simply a heavenly creation given to us like manna was given in the desert or Jesus gave blind men their sight.

Election and Union: Eph 1:3-14

I think most people read Ephesians 1:3-14 as an overflowing of verbiage, powerful statements lacking any coherent order.

I propose that the passage is quite organized. It has an initial statement (vv. 3, 4) and then two re-statements (vv. 5-10; 11-14). The first of these re-statements has a tw0-part structure (vv. 5-6, 7-10).

Here is the text:

The Pattern of Ephesians 1:12-14

I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1:12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later reveals that these two groups are (from his perspective) we Jews and you Gentiles. The text read in the New American Standard:

to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Election in Ephesians

Ever since the conflict between Pelagius and Augustine and then between the Reformed churches and Jacob Arminius, what the Bible says about election (“choice”) and predestination had caused Christians to form two opposing camps. To get it out of the way, I am in the “calvinist” camp.

But I thought I might point out something about Ephesians that may be helpful no matter which camp one is in…

In Thick Darkness

When Solomon finished building the Temple in Jerusalem, we read that

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
1 Kings 8:10–13 ESV

Question: When and where did God say this?

Are You a False Balance or a Just Weight?

Sometimes, when a Biblical writer is addressing one thing, he is actually talking about something else.

According to the Apostle Paul, the Biblical law about not muzzling the ox while he is treading the grain (Deuteronomy 25:4) is actually about people.

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
1 Corinthians 9:9–11 ESV

Spirituality or Sloth?

In studying Ephesians, it came as a bit of a shock for me to realize that Paul is basically urging Christians, in response to the Gospel (chapters 1-3, or perhaps 1-4:16 since there’s something like a “false start” in the beginning, a possible mirror image to the “non-conclusion” in 3:1 that is then resumed in 3:14), to adopt or learn new habits.

Can new habits do anything?

The Path to Personal Integrity from First Command to Tenth

It may seem strange to follow up a post on the First “Commandment” of the Decalogue with one on the Tenth. But I think it may help demonstrate to you how all Ten are a unified message, not simply a list. Consider what happens if he go straight from One to Ten. I submit that this sounds quite natural and logical:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me… You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Exodus 20:2, 2, 17 ESV