Ethan R. Longhenry's Blog, page 37

Salvation: Now and Not Yet

If there is one thing which everyone knows about the message of Jesus of Nazareth, it’s that “Jesus saves.” Yet, tragically, the nature of salvation in Jesus Christ is often a matter of bitter disputation.

There are many who emphasize salvation as a present reality: a person can be saved now in Christ. Such people place great emphasis on what is called “initial” salvation, the point of conversion from the world to being in Christ through faith: God accomplished the work necessary to secure this salvation long ago, and many who emphasize the “now” of salvation are easily induced into suggesting that it will endure no matter what a person may or may not do in the future. Those who emphasize the “now” of salvation point to John 3:16, Romans 5:6-11, 8:31-39, and Ephesians 2:1-10, among other passages.

There are others who emphasize salvation as a future promise: a person is not fully saved until after this life has ended and the resurrection of life has been obtained. Such people place great emphasis on what is called “final” salvation, the fullness of all what God promises to believers in Christ: to overcome sin and death in an incorruptible and immortal resurrection body, dwelling in the presence of God without hindrance or veil, no longer enduring pain or suffering. Many who emphasize the “not yet” of salvation are easily induced into questioning the ability for a present believer to have much confidence in their present salvation since it cannot be fully known what he or she will do in the future. Those who emphasize the “not yet” of salvation point to Matthew 10:22, Romans 8:18-25, 1 Corinthians 9:24-28, and Philippians 3:8-15, among other passages.

For generations those who emphasize the “now” of salvation have argued and disputed with those who emphasize the “not yet” of salvation; such arguments endure to this day. Many Christians end up feeling very confused by such argumentation, and for good reason. In the New Testament salvation is not a matter of “now” or “not yet,” but is both “now” and “not yet”! “Initial” and “final” aspects of salvation are not at odds with one another; the Apostles and associates hold them both as true in the tension of life in the world in the light of the resurrection of Jesus.

Christians can see the interplay between “initial” and “final” salvation in a passage like 1 Peter 1:3-9. Peter blessed God because He had already begotten Christians to a living hope in Christ; Christians have an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance guarded for them through faith (1 Peter 1:3-5). These promises speak to a current relationship and form of standing before God: initial salvation, salvation in the here and now. Yet Peter expected the inheritance to be obtained when salvation is “revealed in the last time”; the outcome of their tested faith is the salvation of their souls (1 Peter 1:5-9). And so the promises speak to something which awaits the Christian: final salvation, salvation not yet fully obtained. Peter did not seem to note any irony or internal contradiction in his encouragement to the Christians of Asia Minor.

Many Christians find this kind of tension uncomfortable. Why has God left us in this awkward transitory space, in the “now” but “not yet”? We understand the impetus of the question, yet it is vanity, a striving after wind: we cannot know the ways of the Almighty. Nevertheless, we can at least perceive that yes, we are in this transitory space according to what God has made known in Jesus. We can maintain confidence in God, for if He was willing to give of His Son to secure our salvation now, He will most assuredly bring to pass all that is necessary to bring salvation to a complete end.

We do well to understand salvation in relational terms. God is one in perichoretic relational unity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are “in” each other, yet remain distinct persons (cf. John 17:20-23). Jesus prayed for believers to become one with God and one with each other as God is One within Himself (John 17:20-23). Yet humanity has become separated from God and alienated from one another on account of sin and its consequences (Isaiah 59:2, Ephesians 2:11-12). If left on our own, we humans could never atone for the sins we have committed: our good deeds cannot outweigh the guilt we bear for transgressing God’s commands, and we would be justly condemned (Romans 3:23, 6:22-23, James 2:9-11). In His great love, grace, and mercy, God sent His Son to become the propitiation of our sins, to show us the way of life and truth, and to obtain cleansing from sin and reconciliation in our relationship with God through faith in Him (John 14:6-11, Romans 3:24-38, 5:6-11, 8:1-7). Once we have died to our life of sin in baptism, we have new spiritual life, raised up spiritually to walk with Jesus (Romans 6:3-7, 8:10). We have become part of the household of God, and participate in the Body of Christ; we can call upon God as our Father; our relationship with God is restored (Romans 8:15-16, Ephesians 2:18-22, 4:1-16).

We confess that Jesus is Lord and serve Him in His Kingdom and recognize His death and resurrection as a transitional moment of new life (2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 1:13, 2:6-9). Yet this new life broke into the old world which is still subject to corruption, decay, and death. Jesus gained the victory over sin and death in His resurrection, yet His enemies, sin, death, and the powers and principalities still exist, and have not been fully conquered (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). Our salvation, therefore, is very much like ourselves once we have become Christians: a new creation of the Kingdom striving to grow and expand in an old, decayed world, until the contest is over and the victory is won. Today we live by faith and hope that what God began in Christ will be glorified in our lives and brought to its successful completion soon (2 Corinthians 4:7-18).

Indeed, what is gained by faith must be maintained in faith: if we turn away from our trust in Christ before the end comes, we have lost our ground of standing before Him and will suffer same condemnation as the world which we have chosen (Hebrews 10:26-31, 2 Peter 2:20-22). While we cannot know what will be, however, we can maintain confidence that God will do everything He can to save us and to continue to commit our lives to Him in faith (Romans 8:31-39). If we strive to be one with God and with the people of God as God is One in Himself now, we will enjoy the fullness of relational unity with God and His people for eternity. May we take hold of salvation in Christ now and maintain our faith in Him so as to obtain the fullness of salvation when He appears in glory on the day of resurrection!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Understanding Covenant, III: Jesus, the Old, and the New

For our benefit and protection God has interacted with mankind through covenants. Covenants represent agreements between two parties with mutual benefits and obligations; for various reasons God inaugurated many covenants with mankind revealed to us in the Old Testament.

And yet, within those covenants, God extended hope and promises regarding One who was to come. This One would be the Seed of Abraham, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). He would be the prophet like Moses to whom Israel ought to listen (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). He would sit on the throne of His father David, and of His Kingdom there would be no end (2 Samuel 7:13-16). Furthermore, the prophet Jeremiah extended hope to Israel and Judah for a new covenant, superior to the one YHWH had made with Israel at Sinai (Jeremiah 31:31-35).

At His birth, Jesus of Nazareth was proclaimed to be this Christ, the descendant of David, the hope of Israel, and in whom the Gentiles would trust (Luke 1:5-2:38). Despite many attempts to de-Judaize Jesus over the past few centuries, the Scriptures unabashedly confess Him as a Palestinian Jewish male in the latter days of the Second Temple, a descendant of David, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham according to the flesh (Matthew 1:1-18). Jesus’ ministry in life was centered upon His fellow Israelites (Matthew 15:21-28): interactions with God-fearers among the nations feature prominently in the Gospel narratives, but most likely because of their infrequency.

Jesus set forth His relationship and standing relative to the Law of Moses, the Torah, the covenant obligations of Israel, in Matthew 5:17-18. He affirmed their continuing force and relevance, and even indicted the Pharisees and scribes for how they relaxed certain commandments (Matthew 5:17-20). According to Jesus, the creation itself would be overthrown before a single jot or tittle (or, as we would say, a dot of the “i” or crossing of the “t”) of the Law would pass away, until all is fulfilled. Many have misunderstood this statement to be an affirmation of the continuing power of the Law, for they have missed the power of the limiting temporal statement at the end: until all things are accomplished (Matthew 5:18). Jesus affirms the continuing power of Torah until all things are accomplished; therefore, Jesus lived and died under the Torah, the Law of Moses, the covenant between God and Israel established at Sinai.

What are the things which needed to be accomplished? Righteousness needed to be fulfilled. Jesus would live without sin, and die for sin; then all things would be accomplished (John 19:30, Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-8). Jesus would embody the story of Israel: born as a child of Jacob in Canaan, exiled to Egypt, tempted in the Wilderness, ministered in the land of Israel, died in exile, allowing the story of Israel to reach its climax and culmination in Jesus’ return in His resurrection. As God in the flesh who lived fully according to the Law, Jesus could bring Torah and Temple together in Himself, to which He indirectly alludes in John 2:13-22, 14:6-12. Therefore, all of the promises YHWH made, and the hope of Israel, were manifest and fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, or reaffirmed as part of the confidence in hope of His eventual return (Luke 24:44).

Meanwhile, another purpose of Jesus’ life and ministry featured the proclamation of the “Gospel of the Kingdom”: the good news of the imminent reign of God (Matthew 4:17, 23). If there is a founding charter of this Kingdom, it would be Jesus’ proclamation in Matthew 5:3-7:29, the “Sermon on the Mount,” in which the basic demands of the Law and the higher way of the Kingdom are often strongly contrasted. This Kingdom would not feature cosmetic window dressing alterations to the existing status quo: it is a new garment, a new wineskin, leading to a new covenant (Matthew 9:14-17). Jesus would empower His disciples during His life to go out and proclaim the good news of the coming reign of God (Matthew 10:1-42). This reign of God would be manifest after Jesus ascended to the Father after His resurrection and He was given an eternal dominion which would never end, and reign with all authority over heaven and earth as their King and Lord (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 28:18-20). His disciples were made into Apostles by their commission to go and proclaim this reign of God in Jesus the Christ beginning on the day of Pentecost in the year 30 of our era (Acts 1:1-2:36).

It would be tempting to mark off the day of Pentecost as the firm date on which the old covenant between God and Israel was brought to its full conclusion in the reign of God in Jesus and the first day of the new covenant. Many do, and for a host of reasons draw out inferences about covenant doctrines, suggesting that whatever was proclaimed before Acts 2:1 belongs to the old covenant between God and Israel and has no more or less direct relevance to Christian faith and practice than anything in the Law or the Prophets, or suggesting that the old covenant ended immediately and fully on that day.

And yet what God has made known about Jesus and the proclamation of the Kingdom in the first forty years after Jesus’ ascension does not sit well with such simple, clear-cut distinctions. To the Pharisees looking for when the reign of God would be manifest, Jesus declared that it was in their midst (Luke 17:20-21). Throughout His life and ministry Jesus exercised authority over the spiritual forces of evil and was able to remit sin, and drew the appropriate conclusion for the Israelites: the reign of God had come upon them (Matthew 12:25-32, Mark 1:39, 2:1-12). At no point do we hear of major alterations in the proclamation of the good news of the reign of God between what Jesus proclaimed in His life and what the Apostles would proclaim after His death and resurrection: the Apostles would add to what had already been proclaimed what God had done through Jesus in the meantime (Luke 24:44-49, Acts 2:14-36). At many points in His teaching Jesus freely went beyond the Law or proved willing to specifically contradict it: the expectations of Matthew 5:21-58 go beyond what the Law required (including matters of divorce, in which the contrast is made explicit in Matthew 19:3-9), and in one stroke Jesus declared all foods clean in Mark 7:14-19, envisioning the elimination of the dietary restrictions mandated by the Law. In many such instances what Jesus proclaimed would be closely repeated by the Apostles and their associates later on (e.g. Romans 12:17-21, 14:14, 1 Timothy 4:1-4, James 5:12). In terms of marriage and divorce Paul would carefully distinguish between what was said explicitly by the Lord Jesus from what he as an Apostle was now setting forth in expansion, underscoring the relevance of Jesus’ instruction to His later followers (1 Corinthians 7:10-16). Thus the power of God was present in Jesus during His life and ministry, and His proclamation of the good news of the reign of God and all it would entail would become the founding charter of the new covenant between God and all mankind in Jesus, even if it happened to be originally proclaimed while the Law of Moses remained in force.

After the day of Pentecost the good news of the reign of God in Jesus the Christ went out into all the world, first to Israel, then to all people (Acts 2:1-28:20). Paul could say the message went out to the whole world by the time he wrote to the Colossians around 60 (Colossians 1:6). Yet many Jewish Christians remained zealous for the Law of Moses throughout the first forty years of the new covenant in Christ (Acts 21:17-26). Their zeal would inspire some of them to bind the Law on Gentile Christians, for which they were condemned (Galatians 1:6-5:15); yet they were not condemned for their own zeal for the Law. As long as the Temple stood, and Torah could be followed, the covenant between God and Israel was only becoming obsolete. Then, forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, He was vindicated as the Son of Man, and all He prophesied upon Judah and Jerusalem came to pass (Matthew 24:1-36, Luke 17:22-37). Israel according to the flesh was no longer in possession of the land; they did not have a place to offer sacrifice according to the Law; they did not have an operational priesthood to intercede before God for the people. As it had been foretold to Daniel, the land of Israel and its people had its seventy “weeks”, including the coming of the Messiah, but ending after a final “week” (Daniel 9:24-27).

Jesus of Nazareth represents the ultimate transitional figure in terms of God’s covenants with mankind: in Him the hope and promises of the old are fulfilled and satisfied, and in Him the new covenant is inaugurated. God’s reign is manifest in Jesus during His life; the covenant between God and Israel was only rendered finally obsolete when the message of the good news of Jesus’ reign had been proclaimed throughout the known world and Israel had a chance to repent. May we put our trust in Jesus as Lord and obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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New Testament Christianity

Many times we speak of “New Testament Christianity” or hear others speak of it. What is “New Testament Christianity?” Of what value is it? How could it be misunderstood?

Many who speak of “New Testament Christianity” refer to the desire to follow Jesus of Nazareth as Lord according to the testimony about Him and His Kingdom enshrined in the pages of the New Testament. In truth, “New Testament Christianity” ought to be redundant; the New Testament is to be the standard of faith and practice for Christians (2 Timothy 3:15-17, Jude 1:3). The term has only become necessary on account of the development of other forms of Christianity over the years: Catholic Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Evangelical Christianity, etc. New Testament Christianity involves the desire to practice simple Christianity, grounded in what God accomplished in Jesus, looking to the witness of the Apostles for guidance and direction in serving Christ as Lord (Romans 1:16, 1 John 1:1-4, 2:3-6).

Christians do well to remain firmly committed to grounding their faith and practice in the New Testament. What Paul warned has come to pass: many have been led astray by the doctrines of demons and have introduced all sorts of teachings and practices which did not originate in the witness of the Apostles (1 Timothy 4:1). Some introduced beliefs and practices from the covenant between God and Israel: while the Old Testament is profitable for our learning, and Christians are to maintain continuity with Israel of old as the people of God, the Apostles and their associates recognized the fulfillment of God’s purposes for Israel in Christ and insisted on a distinction between the covenants (Romans 15:3, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Galatians 1:1-5:15, Colossians 2:14-17, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Hebrews 7:1-9:28). Others have introduced beliefs and practices from the pagan and/or secular world, seeking compromise between what God made known in Jesus and the prevailing cultural paradigm of the day. Paul warned about falling prey to deceptive claims of the philosophy of the world, no longer remaining rooted in Christ (Colossians 2:1-9); whereas all cultures have certain commendable commitments, Christians must always be on guard lest their faith conform to the ways of this world, and no longer transformed in Christ (Romans 12:1-2). Throughout all of these trends the New Testament has remained the constant witness of what God accomplished in Jesus and in His Kingdom, and the standard by which the Christian can test all the spirits, doctrines, and practices, to see whether they are of God or not (1 John 4:1).

Therefore, New Testament Christianity maintains great value, even in the twenty-first century: Jesus is still Lord; God still has His eternal purpose in Jesus which He is accomplishing in the church, the body of Christ; the means by which people can be redeemed from the world and transformed to conform to the ways of Jesus remain unaltered; God still cares for His creation and actively seeks for all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (Ephesians 3:10-21, 1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9). God’s work continues on in Christ, but the standard by which we come to know about Jesus also has not changed. All that was necessary to trust in Jesus and follow His purposes in His Kingdom was made known by the Apostles and their associates (Jude 1:3). We thus can practice New Testament Christianity to this day.

New Testament Christianity might easily be misunderstood as an uncritical or fundamentalist obsession with the New Testament, and disparaged as vaunting a mythic past. The goal of New Testament Christianity is not to recreate the first century world, acting as if everything were perfect while Apostles still lived, nor is it to enshrine a particular cultural expression of Christianity as superior to all others. The New Testament is full of examples which should not be followed: dividing into factions based on cults of personality, taking Christians to court over trivial matters, incest, and denial of the resurrection of the dead, and that is just discussing some of the issues among the Christians in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:1-15:58)! In that Corinthian correspondence Paul explained how events described in the Old Testament relating to Israel were written for our instruction and warning (1 Corinthians 10:1-13), and so it is for us with these events, ideas, and practices in the New Testament. It is therefore not enough for a belief or practice to be found in the New Testament: Christians are to believe and do that which the Apostles and their associates commended, and be on guard against all which they warned about or condemned.

Likewise, New Testament Christianity does not demand a return to wearing togas and speaking Koine Greek. The New Testament is itself a model of how God worked to communicate to people regarding what He accomplished in Jesus in their language, in their culture, so they could understand (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:18-23). The Lord Jesus made it known to Simon Peter how God would accept anyone from any nation who would trust in Him (Acts 10:1-48): Christians do not cease being “from the nations” in order to serve Jesus, but are called to serve Jesus faithfully in their specific nation, place, and time (1 Peter 1:13-19, 2:3-9, Revelation 7:9-10). All Christians, therefore, must set themselves to the task of applying the faith and practice made known in the New Testament to their specific context: we have seen in Jesus the way of life and truth, and we must discern how to most effectively embody the life and message of Jesus in our time and place (Matthew 5:13-16, Romans 8:29). We must cling to what is good and abhor what is evil (Romans 12:9); whatever is commendable and good in any time and place is only so because it conforms to what is good according to Jesus, and we perceive that from what has been made known about Him in the New Testament (John 14:6-9).

Christians from all across the world and time may not look exactly the same; the challenges they face and the points of agreement with their cultures may vary; yet they all may still practice New Testament Christianity. In a world full of questions, doubt, and insecurity, we can maintain great confidence in the witness regarding what God has accomplished in Jesus in the New Testament, and ground our faith and trust in God in Christ on that witness. May we seek God in Christ as revealed in the New Testament so that we may obtain the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Understanding Covenant, II: Old Testament Covenants

The Scriptures speak of God as loyal to covenant, faithful to those with whom He has made such an agreement. We have seen how a covenant is an agreement between two parties with mutual obligations and promises. We do well to consider the covenants into which God entered as made known in the Old Testament.

The Garden of Eden

The Scriptures do not explicitly speak of the relationship between God and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in terms of covenant, yet many markers of covenant relationship exist: the promise of living in the Garden and to enjoy its fruit as long as the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not eaten, and a curse if that guideline was disobeyed (Genesis 2:1-25). Adam and Eve partook of that fruit, and the curses became in force (Genesis 3:1-24).

The Noahide Covenant

The first covenant called as much in the Bible is promised in Genesis 6:18 and brought to its fulfillment in Genesis 9:9-17: a covenant between God and all the earth in the days of Noah.

God made an unconditional covenant with all the creatures of the earth to no longer flood the entire world with water (Genesis 9:11). This covenant is not conditioned on anything man would or would not do. The rainbow is the sign of the covenant: when God sees the rainbow, He will remember His promise to no longer destroy all flesh by water (Genesis 9:12-16).

God’s covenant with all flesh in the days of Noah is the last covenant in the Old Testament which maintains all mankind in view, not just the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It also remains in force until this day, and God has proven faithful.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Of all the people and families of the earth God chose Abram, whom He renamed Abraham, with whom to enter into a powerful covenant, promising blessings in Genesis 12:1-3, and establishing the covenant in Genesis 15:18-21, 17:1-14, and 22:16-18.

God entered into a covenant not only with Abraham but with all of his descendants after him: the promises would be ratified with Isaac and Jacob, and the blessings would eventually come to all who would share in the faith of Abraham through Jesus the promised Seed (Genesis 26:1-5, 28:10-22, Romans 4:1-25, Galatians 3:1-29). God entered into the covenant with Abraham on account of his faithfulness; many of its promises would only be maintained if Abraham’s descendants proved faithful to God themselves (Genesis 17:1-2, 9-10). God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations, to be his God and the God of his descendants, to give the land of Canaan to those descendants, and to bless all the nations of the earth through his Descendant, the Christ (Genesis 12:1-3, 17:1-9). Abraham and his descendants would have to honor God as their God and follow His ways (Genesis 17:9). Circumcision of every male over eight days old was the sign of this covenant (Genesis 17:10-14).

God proved faithful to His covenant with Abraham: Abraham fathered many nations, the Israelites overtook the land of Canaan, and in Jesus of Nazareth all the nations of the earth have been blessed and have been able to share in the faith of Abraham (Genesis 24:1-Joshua 24:28, Romans 4:1-25).

The Mosaic Covenant

God promised Abraham that He would enter into a covenant with Abraham’s descendants; He fulfilled this promise for Israel in the Wilderness, having led them out of captivity in Egypt, seen in Exodus 19:1-Deuteronomy 34:12.

God made this covenant between Himself and the children of Israel (Exodus 19:1-24:18); He made it known through His servant Moses, and so it is known as the Mosaic covenant. God entered into this covenant in faithfulness to His promise to Abraham; whether Israel would be blessed or cursed was dependent on Israel’s faithfulness to the covenant (Leviticus 26:1-46). God promised to be the God of Israel, to give Israel the land of Canaan, to bless them and give them victory over their enemies, and maintain Israel as His elect nation; the Israelites were obligated to keep Torah, instruction or law, as God set forth to Moses (thus known as the Law of Moses; Exodus 20:1-34:12). Circumcision remained a sign of the covenant, since the covenant between God and Israel was a continuation and fulfillment of the covenant between God and Abraham; the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle also functioned as signs (Exodus 35:1-40:38).

God proved faithful to His covenant with Israel despite Israel’s continual faithlessness. Israel would endure all the curses of the covenant on account of their disobedience (2 Kings 17:7-23, 2 Chronicles 36:15-16); their rejection of the Messiah God sent them meant the full end of the observance of Torah as written, and the people of God re-centered upon those following Jesus the Christ (Matthew 24:1-36, Galatians 6:16, Ephesians 2:11-18, Colossians 2:14-17, 1 Peter 2:3-10).

The Davidic Covenant

YHWH reigned as king over Israel until Israel sought its own king; YHWH would eventually choose a king according to His own desire, David, and would make a covenant with him (1 Samuel 13:14, 7:8-16, 23:5).

God entered into a covenant with David and his descendants; God entered this covenant because of David’s faithfulness, and its promises were dependent on his descendant’s continued faithfulness (2 Samuel 7:8-16). God promised to make a house, or dynasty, of David, who always would have a descendant on the throne; David and his descendants would have to serve God faithfully according to the Torah given to Israel. No sign was established for this covenant.

God faithfully maintained a man on the throne of David from Solomon his son until the days of Zedekiah son of Josiah; the continual disobedience of those descendants led to a diminished kingdom and then the loss of all temporal power (2 Chronicles 36:1-16). God’s promises to David met their complete fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David who proved faithful and was given an eternal kingdom and dominion which remains to this day (Daniel 7:13-14, Luke 1:32-33, Acts 2:36, Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-8).

At various points in the Old Testament these covenants were ratified again for different generations; other evidence exists for covenants among men. Yet the covenants described above substantially represent the covenants in which God entered in the Old Testament. We have seen how they all ultimately point to Jesus of Nazareth and the work God has accomplished in Him. May we prove faithful to God in Christ and find salvation and the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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How Shall Jacob Stand?

Amos was sent to prophesy a warning of doom and condemnation for the northern Kingdom of Israel in the days of Jeroboam (II), king of Israel: if they would not change their ways, YHWH would bring the calamity and disaster of the Assyrian hordes (Amos 1:1-6:14). The next section of Amos is primarily defined by a series of “visions” which YHWH gives to Amos (Amos 7:1-9, 8:1-3).

YHWH showed Amos a host of locusts who would come up and consume all the shoots of the “latter growth,” after the “king’s mowing” (Amos 7:1). Many see this spiritually or allegorically, but it appears to be a vision of the coming of locusts at a precarious moment after the rains came, after the traditional mowing of the grass according to the king, which would lead to devastation of crops and a subsequent famine. Amos cried out in intercession for Israel, asking God to spare Jacob, for how could he stand, since he is small (Amos 7:2)? YHWH relented; this would not be (Amos 7:3).

YHWH then showed Amos fire, which would come out to contend for YHWH’s purposes; it consumed the great deep, the ocean depths, and would overcome the land (Amos 7:4). Again Amos cried out in intercession for Israel, since Jacob is small; again YHWH relented, and it would not be (Amos 7:5-6).

Amos then saw the Lord standing by a wall made by a plumb line, holding a plumb line (Amos 7:7). YHWH asked Amos about it, and explained its purpose: He would set a plumb line in the midst of Israel, and would not pass by them anymore; the holy places of Israel would be desolate, and YHWH would rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword, for death and devastation (Amos 7:8-9).

In some way Amos communicated these visions to the Israelites, and this time a response came swiftly. Amaziah, the priest of YHWH at Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam regarding the “conspiracy” which Amos spoke, that Jeroboam would die by the sword and Israel would be sent into captivity; he was sure the land could not bear these prophecies (Amos 7:10-11). Amaziah called Amos a seer and told him to go and prophesy in Judah, and no longer at Bethel, since it was the king’s sanctuary and a house of God (Amos 7:12-13). Amos then corrected Amaziah: he was no seer, but a shepherd, and a keeper of sycamore trees; YHWH had told him to go to Israel and prophesy against it (Amos 7:14-15). Amos then set forth the word of YHWH to Amaziah: since he would forbid prophesying against the descendants of Isaac and Israel, his wife would become a prostitute in the city, his children would be executed, his land would be divided as by a plumb line, and he would die in an unclean land, thus participating in the exile of Israel (Amos 7:16-17).

The Lord YHWH then showed Amos a basket of summer fruit (Amos 8:1). YHWH then explained its purpose: the end had come for Israel, and He would not pass by them again (Amos 8:2). God then envisioned what it would be like on that day: wailing in the temple; corpses everywhere; horror and astonishment in silence (Amos 8:3).

All of these visions work together to communicate God’s warning for Israel: their judgment would not come by famine or fire from heaven; instead, God would lay down His line, and Israel would be left to their own devices. They thought a glorious age awaited; in truth, they were enjoying the last fruits of their relationship with God, and their end was near. Death and devastation would come for many; for those who stayed alive, exile or slavery.

Amos’ message proved politically explosive; the authorities at Bethel wanted nothing to do with him and what he had to say. He was accused of plotting sedition and conspiracy against Jeroboam and against Israel; he was proving to be a pesky Judahite who did not belong and was meddling in business which was not his. Then, as now, it was easier to get rid of the messenger than it was to heed the message. Amaziah would have not been troubled much by Amos; he would have been sure that Amos was cantankerous, and that judgment was far away if it ever came.

Did Amos’ prophecy regarding Amaziah come to pass? We have no revelation of explicit validation, but we have every reason to expect it took place. Within a generation Israel would be devastated and cast into exile; as part of the elite, Amaziah’s wife would have been easy prey for rape and a life of prostitution, his children targets for execution, and his own life spared only to exacerbate his humiliation.

Amaziah’s story would be Israel’s story. They did not heed Amos; they would experience devastation and suffering; those who died would be considered more fortunate than those who lived to experience further humiliation in exile.

Unfortunately, most of those who come with a message of sharp rebuke from YHWH receive the same response as Amos did. It remains easier to dispatch or ignore the messenger than it is to heed the message. Every generation convinces itself that they are different, and they will heed the messages previous generations did not. And yet every generation, in its own way, refuses to heed God’s warnings. Judgment will invariably come.

As Christians we do well to heed the things which took place in Israel as examples for us. We must prove willing to listen to the prophetic critique we find in the pages of Scripture and go through the uncomfortable experience of having our idols and ideologies exposed for what they are so we can more fully trust in God in Christ and obtain salvation in Him. May we heed the Word of God and obtain the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Salvation in the New Testament

Great expectations surrounded the birth of the Messiah. The angel Gabriel told Mary to name Him Jesus (“YHWH saves”), for He would save the people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Mary rejoiced in God her Savior, seeing in her Son God’s remembrance, help, and mercy to Israel (Luke 1:47, 54-55). Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus as the Savior to shepherds (Luke 2:10-11); Simeon confessed Jesus as God’s salvation, the glory of Israel, and a light to the Gentiles (Luke 2:30-32). Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied of Jesus as the means by which God would bring salvation to His people, a horn of salvation in David, and salvation from Israel’s enemies and those who hated them (Luke 1:67-75). The birth of Jesus brought great joy to those who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem (cf. Luke 2:38).

In the covenants which God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, and David, salvation had involved deliverance from enemies, blessings and prosperity in the land which God had given them, and progeny to maintain the covenant, the land, and God’s blessings (Genesis 17:4-8, Leviticus 26:1-12). Israelites therefore naturally expected the coming Messiah to bring this kind of salvation to His people in even greater measure than in the days of Moses or David.

All who would maintain such expectations would become disappointed and frustrated by what God accomplished in Jesus of Nazareth, not because He was a false Messiah, but because they set their sights, hopes, and dreams for salvation too narrowly. Israel was focused on the oppression of the Romans. The Romans, however, were only the latest in a long line of oppressors and persecutors. One day they would be gone, and some other oppressor would rise.

Jesus of Nazareth instead proclaimed the good news of God’s reign in the Kingdom He was establishing: defeat over the greatest enemy, Satan, and the sin and death by which he had deceived and tyrannized mankind for millennia (Romans 5:12-21, 6:14-23, 8:1-25). Jesus gained victory over Satan by resisting all of his temptations and suffering evil at the hands of his agents to the point of death (Hebrews 4:15, Colossians 2:15). God gave Jesus victory over death in the resurrection, and gave Him all rule, power, and authority in His ascension and the establishment of His Kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:14-36, Romans 6:1-11).

Christians do well to understand salvation as it has been manifested in what God accomplished in Jesus. Jesus came, died, and was raised again to save people from their sins and reconcile them to God and to one another (Ephesians 2:1-22). Jesus absorbed and suffered the shame and the curse of sin and in this way secured redemption for all who would trust in Him (Galatians 3:10-14, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Jesus now reigns as Lord and Christ, and all do well to follow after Him and His commandments (Acts 2:36, 1 John 2:3-6). In Jesus all are invited to become part of the household of God and to participate in the work of the Kingdom of God in Christ in His church (Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:18-22, Colossians 1:13, 18).

To this end participation in the new covenant between God and Jesus contrasts sharply with participation in the covenant between God and Israel. Israel was a specific people given a specific piece of land; Christians come from all the nations of the world and are citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom which is not of this world, transcending all lands and nation-states (John 18:36, Acts 10:34-35, Philippians 3:20-21). Israel’s blessings and curses were concrete, focusing on offspring, material prosperity, and material security; while Christians may still receive such concrete blessings from God, they are not guaranteed, and their existence or lack thereof do not inherently provide assurance of God’s favor or disfavor (Matthew 6:19-34, 2 Corinthians 11:18-33). The Christian’s strong assurance and hope lay instead in eternal life in the resurrection (Philippians 3:1-15), something beyond this life. A Christian may experience a Job-like event of great material loss: in Israel such would be considered a curse, but in Christ it may be the way the Christian glorifies God and obtains the resurrection of life (1 John 3:16, Revelation 12:11).

The contrast between salvation in the Old and New Testaments is often reduced to “physical” versus “spiritual”: salvation in the Old Testament involved physical deliverance from physical enemies and distress, whereas in the New Testament salvation involves spiritual deliverance from our spiritual enemy.

As we have seen, this “physical vs. spiritual” contrast has a lot of truth in it, yet we must resist making the comparison absolute. Everything God sought to accomplish in Israel would culminate in Jesus’ death and resurrection; the Patriarchs and the Israelites who trusted in God sought to cultivate that spiritual relationship and yearned for a heavenly city and land whose builder and founder was God (Hebrews 11:8-16). Thus, spiritual elements existed in the salvation and covenants of the Old Testament; likewise, the physical is not entirely rejected in the New Testament.

God is a spirit; God desires for the salvation of our souls (John 4:24, Romans 6:3-7, 8:9-11). Yet if God’s salvation in Christ were only spiritual in nature, the story would be about how to escape the enslavement of the hopelessly corrupt creation in order to cultivate pure spirit: this was the story advanced by the docetics and Gnostics, and rightly condemned as heresy by Paul and John (1 Timothy 6:20-21, 1 John 4:1-5, 2 John 1:6-10).

In our zeal to make appropriate contrasts between the old and new covenants we should not go beyond what is written and fall prey to the philosophies of the world (Colossians 2:8-9). God has made humans as soul, spirit, and body; we were made thus as part of His creation which He called very good (Genesis 1:26-27, 31, Hebrews 4:12). God’s creation has never been the problem; the problem was the corruption introduced into the creation by sin and death (Romans 5:12-21). God became flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth; Jesus took on the form of sinful flesh to redeem it (John 1:1, 14, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21). The “game changer” was not Jesus’ revelation to the world of secret knowledge of how to escape, but Jesus’ resurrection from the dead: Jesus’ resurrection is the ground for the hope of our own resurrection, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:18-23, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58). Humanity is not the problem; physicality is not the problem; sin and death are the problems, and when sin and death are fully overcome in Jesus, we can be made ready to obtain eternal life in the incorruptible, immortal, yet still distinctly human, resurrection body (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:50-58). Not for nothing do Peter and John envision life in the resurrection in a glorified “new heavens and new earth,” a setting to right of all that has gone wrong, not a complete abandonment of what God made and called good (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-22:6).

God did indeed save His people from their sins and gave them victory over their enemies in Jesus their Messiah. God’s work in Jesus did not align with Israel’s expectations, but it was also not otherworldly or escapist. Our hope is not in the here and now, but in Jesus and the resurrection, but it cannot be completely extricated from the creation in which God took on flesh and dwelt among us, died, was raised in power, and now rules over as Lord. May we continually praise God for the hope of salvation in Jesus, and seek to obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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2 Baruch

Jerusalem had fallen to the Romans; another Temple of the Israelites had been torn down and burned. In order to make some sense of what happened, many Israelites turned to the past. An Israelite of the late first century sought to provide understanding and encouragement to his fellow Israelites by writing as if Baruch, attempting to make sense of how YHWH could have again handed His people over to their enemies. His writing is known to us as 2 Baruch.

2 Baruch is also known as the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, in contrast with the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch. 2 Baruch was almost assuredly originally written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, but probably Hebrew, and then translated into many languages. 2 Baruch has been primarily preserved in a Syriac translation of a Greek translation of the original (hence why it is often called the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, even though it was not a Syriac composition). The work is written as if by Baruch, son of Neriah, Jeremiah’s scribe and companion, who experienced great distress on account of his circumstances in Jerusalem, but whose life would be spared on account of his faithfulness (Jeremiah 32:12-15, 36:4-32, 43:3-6, 45:1-5). And yet 2 Baruch would give Baruch a pride of place and standing as a prophet in his own right not at all suggested in Jeremiah or anywhere else in the Old Testament; for this and many textual reasons 2 Baruch is universally recognized as pseudepigraphal, written by an anonymous Israelite in the first century CE or early second century CE after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 but without any expectation of the bar-Kokhba revolt. The anonymous author most likely chose Baruch since he maintained faith and trust in God despite distress in the days when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians; he likely intended for this to provide a model and example for Israelites of his own day. Many have noted the many parallels between 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra and some have suggested a dependent relationship; while both have apocalyptic themes and relate to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the two works remain distinct. 2 Baruch is not as consistently apocalyptic, featuring narratives, speeches, prayers, and lamentation as well; the author of 2 Baruch attempted to frame the most recent devastation in terms of the greater story of what he believed God was accomplishing for Israel. Through prayer, lament, speeches, and visions, the author of 2 Baruch attempted to provide context for his fellow Israelites after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and hoped to encourage them with the promise of a Messiah and the resurrection.

2 Baruch can be read online here. 2 Baruch began with God warning “Baruch” and the faithful to leave Jerusalem before it is destroyed; “Baruch” cannot make sense of how God could be faithful and do such things; God told “Baruch” it would happen to discipline the people for their sins while giving confidence that the heavenly Jerusalem is preserved; “Baruch” saw an angel gathering the vessels of the Temple before the destruction (2 Baruch 1:1-9:1). “Baruch” remained in Jerusalem and lamented the fall of Jerusalem, considering those who died more fortunate than those who endured Jerusalem’s destruction (2 Baruch 10:1-12:5). God and “Baruch” then have another conversation regarding future judgment and the hastening of time so as to reach the end (2 Baruch 13:1-20:6). “Baruch” then prayed, contrasting God’s greatness and man’s short time, asking for the end to come (2 Baruch 21:1-26). “Baruch” and God conversed again, in which God established the end would come when the fixed number of those who would be born came to pass, with the end times divided into twelve parts, each with tribulation, culminating in the time of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead (2 Baruch 22:1-30:5). “Baruch” then gathered the remaining elders of Judah and spoke to them of the future, in which the Temple would be rebuilt but destroyed again, but afterward built again for eternity in the renewal of creation at the end (2 Baruch 31:1-34:1). “Baruch” lamented the fate of Jerusalem again, even lamenting the insufficiency of his lament regarding the humiliation of Israel (2 Baruch 35:1-5).

“Baruch” was then given a vision of a forest with rocks and crags and a fountain turning into a river which uprooted the forest except for one cedar; the cedar would be brought before a vine and condemned: this is explained to “Baruch” as a series of four kingdoms, with the vine as the Messiah who would overcome the final kingdom; “Baruch” is told that all are judged by what they do toward the end of their lives (2 Baruch 26:1-43:3). “Baruch” convened a group of Israelites and exhorted them to obey the Law to obtain life in the new world to come; he would soon be gone, but Israel would not lack leaders or wise men (2 Baruch 44:1-47:2). “Baruch” again prayed a contrast between God’s greatness and man’s transience, begging God to not remove hope from Israel; God responded by emphasizing the need for judgment to satisfy justice, and detailed the tribulations to come; the nature of the resurrection is discussed, glorified for the righteous, a resurrection so as to decay for the wicked; “Baruch” wished for people to finish their lamentation and prepare for what God would give them (2 Baruch 48:1-52:8).

“Baruch” then received an extended vision, explained by the angel Remiel: he saw alternating black and bright waters raining upon the earth from clouds in twelve cycles, which were explained in terms of the six times of wickedness in Adam, Egypt, the Amorites, Jeroboam, Manasseh, and the Babylonian exile) and the six times of righteousness in Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and the Second Temple); a greater darker period would then come, bringing destruction, and then a flash of light to end it: the end of the Second Temple, the time afterward, and the coming of the Messiah and peace (2 Baruch 53:1-76:5). “Baruch” addressed the Israelites for a third and final time, speaking of the present destruction as chastisement for Israel’s sins, admonishing the Israelites toward faithfulness no matter what (2 Baruch 77:1-17). Based on Israelite encouragement “Baruch” then wrote two letters of a similar message for the exiles in Babylon and in Assyria; the latter is preserved in the rest of 2 Baruch, the “Epistle of Baruch,” detailing the events which transpired in Jerusalem, how it was the judgment of God, the importance of remaining faithful to God and the Law, and the expectation of judgment on Israel’s enemies (2 Baruch 78:1-87:1).

We do not know how well 2 Baruch was received within Israel; the text was preserved by Christians who found it profitable for consideration and meditation. 2 Baruch testifies to how some in Israel attempted to come to grips with the destruction of Jerusalem, understanding it as God’s judgment for sin while remaining confident in the Torah and the coming of the Messiah and a day of resurrection. Jerusalem was destroyed on account of the sins of the people; yet that sin was primarily their rejection of the Messiah whom God had already sent to Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, who prophesied the destruction as His vindication as the Son of Man (Matthew 24:1-36). 2 Baruch has value for us as a witness of the continuing hope of the Messiah and resurrection in Israel; we do well to put our trust in Jesus as the Messiah so that we may obtain the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Works Consulted

Stone, Michael and Henze, Matthias. 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2013.

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The Cost of Eternal Life

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

John 3:16 is perhaps the best known verse in the Bible. There always seems to be at least one person holding a sign proclaiming the verse at every sporting event. The message of the verse provides comfort and encouragement for many: it speaks of God’s love for mankind and the opportunity given for mankind to obtain eternal life.

Many people have heard about the message in John 3:16 but have not heard much else from the Bible. People also hear from many churches that all they need to do in order to be saved is to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that no matter what they do after that moment, they will be saved. Therefore, many think that as long as they recognize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, everything will be fine. The Scriptures, however, do not teach this: in fact, they teach the opposite in James 2:24 and 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9. Eternal life is possible; we do nothing to earn it or deserve it, but it comes at great cost.

The Scriptures reveal that we humans do not deserve salvation, and no one is saved because of how great they are or because they have purchased salvation somehow (cf. Romans 3:9-21, Ephesians 2:1-10). Yet this does not automatically mean that salvation requires nothing from us. Let us consider what the Scriptures teach regarding what God seeks from those who would obtain eternal life.

To obtain eternal life, we must certainly believe, but must also do the will of the Father, as it is written:

“Not every one that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

To obtain eternal life, we must put away sin, as it is written:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? (Romans 6:1-2).

To obtain eternal life, we must do what is right and good, as it is written:

To them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life (Romans 2:7).

To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17).

To obtain eternal life, we must make Jesus and His will the top priority in our life, and suffer loss and humiliation, as it is written:

“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37-38).

Please do not take our word for this, as if our word means much of anything. Instead, please see that we have spoken from the Scriptures regarding these matters. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles have declared that it is not enough just to recognize that Jesus is Lord; we must act accordingly, doing the will of the Father, seeking the good and avoiding the evil, constantly suffering loss for Jesus.

John 3:16 is a wonderful passage and we would do well to praise God every day because of His love and His offer of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we do not want you to be deceived by a false gospel that leads to eternal condemnation (cf. Galatians 1:6-9). The view that says that all we need to do in order to be saved is believe is popular and comforting, but, as the Scriptures reveal, it is simply not true! When we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord of Heaven and earth (cf. Matthew 28:18), we must then obey Him and His will, doing His commandments and walking as He walked (1 John 2:1-6). We, the members of the church of Christ, are striving to obey Jesus our Lord, and we stand ready to encourage anyone else who seeks to do the same. We encourage you to consider the options of life or death, and choose to follow Jesus to obtain eternal life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Woe to Those at Ease in Zion!

Over and over again Amos has attempted to impress upon the Israelites of the northern Kingdom of Israel their dire condition if they do not repent of their sinfulness: YHWH was about to come in judgment, and the results would not be pretty (Amos 1:1-5:27). Israel was not listening; nevertheless, directed by God, Amos persisted.

Amos pronounced woe to those at ease in Zion and secure and comfortable in Samaria: they were trusting in their foreign policy measures, as if by such intrigues they could remain stable (Amos 6:1). They claimed a special status, yet Amos asked them to consider other neighboring kingdoms like Calneh (likely the same as Calno in Isaiah 10:9, referring to Kulniah in modern-day Syria), Hamath, and Gath of the Philistines, for in substance neither Israel nor Judah were really any better than they (Amos 6:2). At the time Amos spoke all of these places still stood; they all would be conquered by the Assyrians and be swept away. Israel’s pretenses to greatness would not save them.

Amos then indicted the Israelites (and likely the Judahites as well) for their ostentatious wealth and frivolity: they imagined the day of reckoning to be far off, and gained through violence (Amos 6:3). They wasted their time in leisure, living with fancy furniture, eating choice meats, making up songs and instruments, drinking wine, cleansing themselves with oil, and in all of this do not mourn the affliction which caused distress to the house of Joseph (Amos 6:4-6). The day would be coming in which their songs would end and they would be the first to be sent away into exile (Amos 6:7). Amos thus powerfully indicted the people for squandering great wealth and time in leisure without regard for their fellow Israelites and the distress which was about to overcome them all.

Amos’ judgments did not become more pleasant for Israel. YHWH has sworn by Himself (since there is none greater, Hebrews 6:13, and heightening the solemnity) how He hated the pride and strongholds of Jacob, and it would be delivered up (Amos 6:8). Amos then envisioned the result of the disaster: a household of ten men would have none left, and the relative who would come to bury the dead would ask if any were alive, and one in the innermost part of the house would answer no, and encourage silence, not speaking the name of YHWH for all the terror and dread which had come upon them (Amos 6:9-10). YHWH has commanded, and all the houses, great and small, would be razed (Amos 6:11).

Some translational confusion exists regarding Amos 6:12-14, whether certain words should be treated as place-names or translated into substantive words, but the point remains understandable regardless. Israel has presumed that it is able to maintain power by its own strength, or perhaps the Israelite army has proven successful and has gained victory in Lo-debar and Karnaim (Amos 6:13). To this end Amos asked if horses run on rocks, or if one plows rocks or the sea with oxen, which of course is ludicrous; and yet Israel has turned justice to gall and righteousness to wormwood, both forms of poison, and yet think their strength will save them (Amos 6:12). No: YHWH would lift up a nation (which would be Assyria), and Israel and Judah would be afflicted from its northern to southern extremes (Amos 6:14).

Amos’ chastisement of Israel and Judah in Amos 6:1-14 is consistent with the tenor of his message throughout and entirely appropriate to the situation in the latter days of Jeroboam (II) of Israel. At the time Israel was prosperous; at the time things seemed to be improving. At the time one could understand why Israel felt safe and secure. They ate, drank, sang, danced, and played, and gave no thought to the destruction coming upon them. It all seemed remote; prophets had been prophesying doom and gloom for years. Such all seemed plausible until it was no longer tenable, and devastation came far more suddenly than they could have imagined on their own. Within a generation the northern Kingdom of Israel would cease as a going concern; all the horrors Amos prophesied came to pass.

The Hebrews author spoke of Christians as having come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, in Christ (Hebrews 12:22). To this end Christians today do well to heed the warning of Amos and be aware of the danger of growing at ease in Zion. We are constantly barraged with marketing and messaging to encourage us to live enjoyable lives in leisure: our entertainment is full of those who maintain fancy furniture, eating choice foods, drinking, cavorting, and living in the moment, and give no thought to the prospect of an evil day to come, a day of reckoning and judgment. We are encouraged to consume greatly; do we give thought to the distress which may be coming upon the people of God or the land in which we live?

Jesus and Paul encouraged Christians to live in vigilance in Matthew 25:1-13, Romans 13:11-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 for good reason. Those going on to destruction distract themselves with intoxicating passions and desires of the flesh; those who pursue eternal life will remain sober, as in the day, always prepared for the return of the Lord Jesus.

Amos’ warnings remain prescient: the people of God are easily deceived into living for the moment and trusting in their own strength and ingenuity. They may have every reason to think that things will continue on as they always have. But then previously unimaginable disasters may come about, and nothing could ever be the same. Yet just as God warned Israel through Amos about what would come to pass, even though it was beyond their imagination, so in Christ we have been warned about what God will bring to pass in Jesus, even though it remains beyond the imagination of many. There is no time or room to be at ease in Zion; may we always be prepared for the return of the Lord Jesus, and share in the resurrection of life in Him!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Salvation in the Old Testament

God has worked diligently throughout time to save His people. As the people of God in Christ Jesus, we Christians tend to understand salvation and related ideas through the prism of what God has accomplished through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension, and eventual return. This is right, good, and appropriate for us today in the new covenant; nevertheless, we must be careful about projecting what has been made known in Jesus back onto the Old Testament, before the mystery of the Gospel was made known (cf. Ephesians 3:1-11). We do well to explore what salvation looked like in the Old Testament.

As Christians we tend to think of salvation first in terms of forgiveness of sins and (as a result) the opportunity to put our trust in the hope of the resurrection to come (John 3:16, Romans 8:1-25). For the Patriarchs and Israel, salvation was much more physical and concrete.

The author of Hebrews well encapsulated the nature of Israelite service before YHWH in Hebrews 9:1-8: in Exodus and Leviticus YHWH made provision for Israel to build a sanctuary for His presence and name, first a tent, and later a temple, with an altar, a priesthood, and commandments for the offering of animals and produce in order to atone for sin or guilt or make peace with God (Exodus 25:1-Leviticus 27:34). All Israel would assemble before YHWH at prescribed times and the requisite offerings were sacrificed; Israelites would bring their produce to thank God, atone for their sins, and make peace with Him.

In Christ we understand that our hope will not be complete in this life, but in the promise of the resurrection to come (Philippians 3:1-21). The Patriarchs and the Israelites only knew of the afterlife as Sheol, the underworld place of the dead, the habitation of the righteous and the wicked alike (Genesis 37:35, Numbers 16:33, Psalms 9:17, 88:3, 89:48, Ecclesiastes 9:10). Yes, some Israelites nourished hope of being redeemed from Sheol (Psalms 16:10, 49:15), and Daniel would be given the promise of the resurrection (Daniel 12:2), but how exactly this would work out for Israelites in the end was not yet fully made known to them. We can therefore understand why the hope of the Patriarchs and Israel tended to focus on this life.

Job provides a great example for our understanding. God had blessed Job: he had seven sons and three daughters and great wealth, and conscientiously offered sacrifices for himself and his children lest anyone happened to sin against God (Job 1:1-5). Then Job was considered as one forsaken by God when his children were killed, animals slaughtered, and struck with illness (Job 1:13-22, 2:7-9). Afterward, when God blessed him again, Job maintained twice as much wealth as he had before, and again seven sons and three daughters, very beautiful were born to him, and saw his great-great-grandchildren (Job 42:10-17). God redeemed Job by rescuing him from disease and destruction; Job’s blessings were his children and his wealth.

The list of blessings and curses in Leviticus 26:1-46 also prove instructive for us. If the Israelites would observe the Law YHWH gave them, He would bring rain at the right time to nourish a bountiful harvest, give them security and safety in their land, defeat their enemies before them, multiply their number, maintain His tabernacle in their midst, and be their God (Leviticus 26:1-12). Israel could have this confidence because He had saved them, defined in the exodus from Egypt: YHWH sent plagues upon the Egyptians and delivered Israel with a powerful hand from their midst (Leviticus 26:13; cf. Exodus 6:1-15:21). If the Israelites did not observe the Law YHWH gave them, He would send illness among them, cause their enemies to eat their harvest, defeat them before their enemies, send further plagues against the land, render them barren or strike their children dead, and ultimately cast them out of the land in exile (Leviticus 26:14-43). And so it would be throughout Israel’s history. In the good times, as in Solomon’s day, Israel and Judah dwelt in safety, every man under his vine and fig tree, with confidence in the future with children and great-grandchildren (1 Kings 11:25). In the bad times, as in the end of Israel and Judah, untold thousands died of plague, famine, and war, the cities and sanctuaries of Israel and Judah were put to the torch, and the people exiled out of the land (2 Kings 17:1-41, 25:1-21).

Salvation and redemption, therefore, looked very different in Israel than they would in Jesus. Sheol was a drab affair; one’s place in Israel among the people of God would be secured by having sons and grandsons continuing the family lineage on the plot of land given to their ancestors. Dying without children or losing one’s ancestral land were the ultimate disasters, leading to the extermination of the family lineage in Israel and their place among the people of God. If an Israelite lived to a good old age, enjoyed prosperity in the land, saw Israel’s enemies defeated and had sons and grandsons, he would have considered himself blessed, fortunate, and saved and delivered by YHWH from evil. If an Israelite died young, suffered persistent drought or pestilence, endured plagues, were oppressed by Israel’s enemies, and died childless, he would have considered himself cast off by YHWH and accursed.

In Jesus of Nazareth YHWH would provide the ultimate deliverance and salvation for His people Israel, if they chose to accept it. All of the plagues and difficulties Israel experienced ultimately derived from the work of the Evil One and the powers and principalities; Jesus defeated them all by suffering on the cross and dying for the sins of the world, and God raised Him from the dead (Romans 8:1-25, Colossians 2:11-15). The blood of bulls and goats could not truly atone for sin (Hebrews 10:4); Jesus’ blood would cleanse from sin all whom God would rescue in faith, from Adam until the last man on the final day (Hebrews 7:1-9:27). Through Jesus all can have direct access to God and participation in His household (Ephesians 2:18-22); God dwells among His people through His Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20). The fullness of the salvation in which Israel hoped can be found in the resurrection of life in Jesus: life in the presence of God for eternity in prosperity and health, without pain, suffering, or death (Romans 8:17-25, Revelation 21:1-22:6).

In truth, salvation throughout time has always involved maintaining a strong relationship with God and depending upon Him for deliverance and blessings. Nevertheless, the differences in understanding salvation between the Old and New Testaments remains profound, especially as they relate to this world. We do not rightly divide the Scriptures if we impose a new covenant understanding of salvation on the Old Testament; we also miss the mark if we look for confidence in our salvation in the new covenant according to the standards of salvation in the Old Testament. May we put our trust in God in Christ, obtain salvation and a restored relationship in Him, and put our hope in the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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