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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Trent Hunter
Read between
January 28, 2020 - December 28, 2021
First, take note of the entrances.
Now let’s check out the lighting:
Finally, let’s consider the influence of the temple.
4. A New Creation Will Dawn
Three great tragedies: death, pain, and guilt. As sure as the Lord has spoken, each of these will be vanquished forever. Living in the undiluted presence of God with these tragedies removed—this is the glory of the new creation.
The Gospel accounts are written to answer these fundamental questions: 1. Question 1: Who was Jesus the Christ? 2. Question 2: What kind of salvation did he bring? 3. Question 3: How did he secure that salvation?
The arrival of Jesus signals the fulfillment of the ages and the beginning of the culmination of history. On every page of the Gospels, the weight of this arrival is felt, yet in slightly different ways in each Gospel portrait.
This genealogy is more than record keeping. It’s the record of God keeping his promises, something to marvel at for eternity. Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes the arrival of God’s kingdom, whose saving rule is known in the ministry of Jesus.
From this statement, Mark structures his Gospel to emphasize Jesus’ identity as God’s Son.
Peter is saying that Jesus is the “Christ”—the anointed Savior and the Davidic king.
Jesus is the human son of Eve who will undo what Adam did by crushing the head of the serpent.
Beginning in eternity past and echoing the very first words of the Bible, John identifies Jesus as the Word or Son from eternity, who has always existed in relation to God the Father:
Who is Jesus the Christ? Jesus is indeed the Davidic son and king, God the Son incarnate, the Lord of glory now taking up residence with us and bringing to pass all the Father’s glorious plans and purposes to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21).
The answer: to show that Jesus succeeds where everyone else—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Israel, David—has failed.
In this healing miracle, Jesus reveals that he is the one who ends our infirmities by paying for our sin and satisfying God’s own righteous demand against us.
Jesus is bringing a change in eras. He is the true temple (2:18–22), and true worship is in the Spirit (John 3). Jesus’ new covenant brings internal transformation for its members. It’s also global in its scope, including worshipers from Israel, Samaria, and all nations.
Jesus’ new covenant fulfills the universal scope of God’s promises to Abraham and promises rehearsed by the prophets—promises rooted in God’s prior purpose for humanity from all creation.
That while Adam stands as the head of the human race, Christ stands as the head of a new race, a completely regenerated humanity.
We might wonder, Is this really the full exodus from sin, the new marriage, the new temple, and the new creation that they had promised? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because in Christ what the prophets promised has truly arrived. But no as well, since the fullness of all that God has promised still awaits a future day of consummation.
Jesus does not write prescriptions. He is the prescription.
A helpful, three-part answer that beautifully summarizes all that Jesus did to accomplish our salvation is that he did the work of our prophet, priest, and king. By fulfilling all these offices, Jesus has become our all-sufficient Savior, the only one we need! Jesus brings God’s Word as Truth incarnate, God’s presence by the payment of our sin as our Great High Priest, and God’s rule as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
As the radiance of God’s glory, Jesus is our great prophet. As the purification for our sins, he is our Great High Priest. As the one who sat down at God’s right hand, he is our King.
When Jesus taught, he taught as one who knew the content and intent of all previous revelation because he is God the Son (Matt. 11:25–27). He is the one about whom all the prophets prophesied.
When other religious systems suggest that good works can merit God’s favor, they minimize divine holiness and human sinfulness.
This is the center of the Bible and of human history: the cross where Jesus died in our place.
Jesus is our prophet, who reveals God to us. He is our priest, who brings us to God. And he is our risen and exalted King, who rules for God.
Jesus defeated Satan by turning his own murder into our payment for sin, snatching us away from the devil’s grip.
Jesus was a king in his birth, a king in his life, and uniquely a king in his death.
What did Jesus have in mind when he said, “I will build my church”
Anything the New Testament says about us is true because it is first said about him.
In this period between Christ’s two advents, the new creation is present in the church and in the lives of individual believers, but the fullness of the new creation has not yet arrived.
Peter is telling the people that what they are hearing is the sound of Jesus Christ reigning from his throne! The crucified Jesus is now risen from the dead, seated at the Father’s right hand, and from his throne has poured out the Spirit upon his people. This was the sound of God’s new creation breaking into the world: first to individuals and then to constitute a new people, the church.
This is the birth of the church—God’s new covenant community and new creation people.
1. FROM DEATH IN ADAM TO LIFE IN C
In Christ, the church is a spiritually regenerated community
2. FROM ETHNIC HOSTILITY TO INTERNATIONAL U
In Christ, the church is a new, reconciled humanity
Some aspects of the Law-covenant put gentiles at a real disadvantage. They were separated from God’s national people and covenant promises. The very construction of the temple reflected this truth.5 The Jerusalem temple built by Herod consisted of a series of layered spaces representing closeness to and alienation from God. Immediately around the temple was the court of the priests. East was the court of Israel and then the court of women. These three courts were on the same elevation as the temple itself. From here, four steps down, was a walled platform, and then on the other side of that
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Who are the true children of Abraham? Paul’s answer is that from the very beginning God intended his people to be those who share the faith of Abraham and who are united to the true seed of Abraham—Christ. The church is God’s new covenant community, a new humanity, international in scope, composed of believers who regardless of their ethnicity are Abraham’s true children by faith in Jesus.
3. FROM ABOMINATION TO HOLY N
In Christ, the church is a purified community
4. FROM COSMIC REBELS TO HEAVENLY R
In Christ, the church is a royal people
In this section, we will consider the two new signs for God’s new covenant salvation: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These signs make the church visible.
Baptism is an initiation sign and rite.
Baptism is a symbol of our faith-union in Christ and marks our entry into the new covenant community.
the New Testament speaks of baptism as shorthand for our conversion.
Baptism, as a sign of the new covenant, signifies our union with Christ
First, baptism points backward to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Second, baptism points forward to the day when we stand secure before God’s judgment throne.