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martyrcalvin
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Name: Josh
Country: United States
Metro: Modesto
Gender: Male
Interests: Reading Reformed Theology, Old Testament Theology, philosophy and biographies. Spending time with my wife, mountain biking, etc.
Expertise: SIN and hence the need for Christ. Thank you Lord for your Grace despite my ugliness.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
6/20/2004
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| Michael Horton says in his Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology:
"If hyper-transcendence introduces an unbiblical dualism (i.e., antitheses) between the Creator and creature, eternity and time, heaven and earth, hyper-immanence collapses all dualities (i.e., difference) in a monistic scheme. If the paradigm of "overcoming estrangement" represents an ontology of emanation and an epistemology of vision, "meeting a stranger" articulates an ontology of genuine difference and an epistemology of the external Word, both grounded in a theology of the covenant" [(Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 9].
Here we see the beauty of approaching the Scriptures through the biblical lens of a "Creator/creature" paradigm wedded with the mind-blowing phenomenon of the incarnation. God is transcendent in that His nature is wholly other than ours. God, through the prophet Isaiah reminds us that "My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Thus, with this guard, we do not err by assuming that we can understand anything on the same level as God nor exist on His level. Yet at the same time we, like Paul, realize that "He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27). How is this so? He has made Himself very accessible to us through the incarnation (immanence). Can immanence be anymore clearly defined than actually becoming the subject to whom one seeks to be close and tangible? Through the incarnation we are able to see and hear and experience God in a way that frankly blows my mind. He bleeds like we do. He grieves like we do. He laughs and enjoys good company like we do. But how can Jesus Christ be immanent to me when I don't see Him like the first century saints did? May we recall Christ's words in Matthew 28:20 "...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." How so? Well He is with us in Spirit but He is also with us in another way that is just as tangible. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples lastly by His face. But first He revealed Himself through the Scriptures. Luke 24:27 says, "[t]hen beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." What was the response of the disciples after they had been given the Scriptures? Luke tells us that their response was, "[w]ere not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us" (Luke 24:32). And so we see that though the transcendence of God is seen in His fullness of being (ontos) yet He has become very intimate with us in His immanence. Yet both still exist and do not preclude one another. God makes Himself immanent to us every week through the preaching of the Word. Who is the Word? He that was made flesh (John 1:14). That Word (LOGOS) comes to us every week and whispers in our ears the wonderful news of the Gospel; the good news that God has indeed come near to mankind and has made Himself visible in the person of His Son. So visible in fact that Erasmus said of the WORD of God: "These holy pages will summon up the living image of His mind. They will give you Christ Himself, talking, healing, dying, rising, the whole Christ in a word; they will give Him to you in an intimacy so close that HE would be less visible to you if He stood before your very eyes."
To err on the side of transcendence is to never meet God. To err on the side of immanence is to become God, thus blurring the Creator/creature distinction. Yet to have both in harmonious tranquility is only possible if one worships a Triune God who exists perfectly in Himself and has sent His SON, in the form of a man, to live under the Law, die a sinner's death, rise over death and ascend to the right hand of His Father on high.
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
Colossians 1:28
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| Hail the Lamb, the powerful, almighty, blood-soaked, sight-giving, crown-wearing, mercy-giving, God-exalting, patience-bestowing, Lamb of God! His beauty for my wretchedness, His perfection for my putrid, His surpassing goodness for my sin. Ahhhh! Sighing towards Paradise restored.
Revelation 5
I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5 and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals." 6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.
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| The strands of time cause wrinkles on the face and force thoughts into the head. The time I spend here right now is a sort of exile. I was confronted with the demons of the present-reality again yesterday as I groped for the ability to read just a little morsel that represented that seemingly bygone day when it came so easy and so pleasantly. But then thoughts of what needed to be done...quizzes to be graded, tests to be made, lesson plans to prepare, grades to be entered, deadlines to be met, bills to be paid, money to be saved all came rushing into the cranium killing all desire to stop, turn life on hold and put some redemptive construction into my head and heart. So I long for school again but that doesn't do it. I am still depressed. THen I am reminded by my wife that in times like these we are not meant to long for a by-gone time or a nostalgic feeling, rather we are to long for Heaven, for the Son of man, for the new Heavens and the new Earth. And so I say come Lord Jesus, come...we await your presence, we long for your completion, we grope for your love that literally blacks out all sinful thoughts and events. Come Lord Jesus, may your presence be groped after in my life today. | | |
| Mark Dever says in his introductory essay to the book Polity: Biblical Arguments on How to Conduct Church Life: "'Church discipline presupposed a stark dichotomy between the norms of cociety and the Kingdom of God. The more evangelicals purified the society, the less they felt the urgency of a discipline that separated the church from the world. Activism became the crowing virtue of Baptist piety in the twentieth century" (15).
Has the church forgotten her role on this earth? Has she been so entrenched in 'winning America back for Jesus' that she forgot that the great commission was winning souls not societies? Even postmillennialists ought to see the distinction between individual souls and societies. But what's more, they ought to recognize our place on this earth. The kingdom of God is found in the church, in the New Covenant community. IT makes more sense for me as a Baptist to say that than for a Paedobaptist to say that.
Oh that the Lord would restore his broken and bruised church. Oh that order, unity, harmony and dignity would be returned to her. Lord come quickly! | | |
| Hindsight the handmaiden of Providence
Special revelation aids the previously natural man in interpreting natural revelation. Natural revelation bleeds through the canvas of creation being itself manifest in even our chest. Providence is also a beautiful communicator of God's divine plan. Providence cries out to man from everyday events pleading with him to see what is obviously illusive. Illusiveness turns to history plain and clear as Providence turns one cycle more in her intangible/tangible process.
It would be no overstatement to say that I love providence. It is no wonder that the Puritans equated the word Providence with God because thus he operates; Providentially. We just have no idea what he will send us, what he will do to us, what he will allow for us. All actions, on his behalf, are so evidently beautiful, but....many times that is only after the fact. Hindsight is the handmaiden of providence. Jonah thought he was getting away from the Lord when in reality, he was stepping right into his perfect plan. Gotta love a God like that! | | |
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