Elijah and the End Times

We began our gathering last week (12/9) with a devotional on Isaiah 40. A portion of Isaiah 40 is quoted in 1 Peter 1:24-25, the passage we were studying. A question was asked that I promised to post a response to. Here’s a recap of our discussion and my response:

John the Baptist quoted Isaiah 40:3-5 when Jesus began his ministry. John would have fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi that says one will come in the spirit of Elijah before the Day of the Lord comes (Mal. 4:5), but Israel rejected its king (Jesus) and therefore Jesus will one day come again. This is the reason for the need of a second coming– when the King returns, his people will accept him. As it stands, we live in a kingdom age where the King is not physically present (much like David’s kingship endured a time of exile).

I made mention that I believe the prophecy of Malachi 4:5 has not yet been fulfilled. Someone asked for the verse reference where it talks about an Elijah-like figure who will come before Jesus’ second coming. The verse that I couldn’t recall at the time was Malachi 4:5.

For further explanation of the interaction between Malachi 4:5 and John’s ministry, see this transcript of a Q&A session with one my favorite Bible teachers, John MacArthur.

One final comment: don’t think that the second coming was Plan B for God. It wasn’t. It has always been Plan A. I’m only saying that things would have turned out differently had Israel accepted its King on his first coming. They didn’t and now we know why: his Plan A (which included Israel’s hardening of heart and rejection of Jesus) included Gentiles too (see Romans 11).

The ‘New Birth’ - ‘Love One Another’ Connection

The vertical reality of new birth has horizontal effects, namely loving one another. . . this week (12/9) at SixSixteen Sunday.

Do You See the Joy of God in the Sun?

We opened our gathering today by looking at Isaiah 1 and what it says about snow.  I mentioned a sermon that Pastor Piper gave years ago that has impacted the way I transpose God’s creation and biblical truth.  The link to the sermon is below:

Do you See the Joy of God in the Sun?

“Ransomed” Yields More Fear, Not Less

Two weeks ago (before our Thanksgiving break), we studied 1 Peter 1:17-19.  The main idea in that section is that you should fear funding your sin pleasures with the precious blood of Jesus.

We focus this week (December 2) on the tension this creates as we study 1 Peter 1:20-21.  The tension is that the more beautiful and praiseworthy things we see in Jesus, the more precious we will see his sacrifice; and, as we see his sacrifice as more precious, it should have the effect of creating more fear in us.

So Jesus’ sacrifice seems more precious to us AND our fear should increase as we see glorious things about him. The glorious things that Peter has in mind are in 1 Peter 1:20-21.

That’s this week at SixSixteen Sunday Morning.  We are back in Room 114 of the downtown campus at 9 a.m.

Pastoral Thoughts on Election

A week ago we finished our study of the practical implications of the doctrine of election for those who suffer. Here is an excellent sermon by Pastor John about additional applications of the doctrine of election.

Sentence Diagram of 1 Peter 1:3-5

For those of you who enjoy parsing the Bible into sentence diagrams, here is my diagram of 1 Peter 1:3-5 (in Adobe format).

Or visit the Resources page for other diagrams.

How Does Election Help You in Suffering?

Here’s a video testimony of the preciousness of God’s sovereignty (and electing power) in the midst of suffering. I mentioned this to some of you after class.

What Kind of Free Will is Worth Having?

Here’s a link to the book chapter that I recommended this past week during our discussion of 1 Peter 1:3.  The chapter that is most helpful regarding “what is free will?” and “what kind does the Bible say we have?” is Chapter 3, written by Mark R. Talbot.

The Benefits of New Birth

This week at SixSixteen (10/7) we will look at 1 Peter 1:3-5. Though this passage is two sentences in the ESV, in Greek the sentence begins in verse 3 and continues for several more verses.

Here are a few questions I hope we will address:

Does “blessed” in verse 3 mean “happy” or “praise-worthy”?

What reason does Peter give for the Father causing us to be born again?

What is the difference between a “hope” and a “living hope”?

Did the Father cause us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus or is the living hope empowered by the resurrection?

What is this inheritance that Peter says is kept for us?

Peter says that we are being guarded by faith.  Is this “guarding” to keep things out (like a fence to keep your neighbors out of your yard) or to keep things in (like a fence to keep your dog in your yard)?

If our salvation is “ready”, why must it wait “to be revealed”?