Hi friends,
I thought that after the last “Some Thoughts,” I might not do another one since I struggled with ideas near the end but today, by God’s grace, he has given me at least two new ideas which I wanted to share (aka I should’ve just waited to post today instead of yesterday).
As last time, I’m going to write this as I go so it might seem a bit scattered section by section but at the time of my writing of this intro, it’s March 27th! So here is the agenda for the day:
- Matthew 27:51-54 as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:1-14?
- Should we circumcise? (Out of love & obedience, not salvation)
- Jesus and Jonah (Matthew 8:23-27)
- Resurrection
- “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” (Colossians 2:16)
- “To the unknown God” (Acts 17:22-34)
side note: I was gonna do a post on 1 Peter 2 because there was so many great references and that I wouldn’t two “some thoughts” posts in a row but I got lazy since this was mostly done so I just posted it
So I was reading some articles for a class and one article made this acute observation that the events in Matthew 27 regarding Jesus’ death seem to be a fulfillment of the events in Ezekiel 37:1-14 aka “the valley of dry bones.”
I discussed this with my friend who knows more about eschatology than me and he disagreed with me (😤) BUT at least let me point out some interesting things.
The main points of comparison via Ezekiel:
- Earthquake (37:7)
- Opening and raising of the graves (37:12)
- The people of Israel being ‘brought’ (37:12) and ‘placed’ (37:14) into the land
Via Matthew 27:
- Earthquake (27:51, 54)
- Tombs of the saints were opened and they were raised (27:52)
- The saints entering the holy city (27:53)
Another significant thing to note is that this is the only gospel which records such events – the other gospels have no earthquake or raising of the saints when Jesus dies.
I think that the very least, it would be fair to say that at the time of the writing of Matthew, the author almost definitely had Ezekiel 37 in mind.
A couple months ago, I brought up the question of whether a Christian should circumcise.
Most of you will look at me with disgust and some may even be ready to call me a heretic (and that’s why I had put the brackets in the agenda).
Before you accuse me of being one, let me explain my perspective.
I have read both Acts 15 and Galatians.
And I agree: circumcision does NOT save. circumcision does NOT make us righteous That is done by the grace of God.
If you think circumcising is the way to salvation – tough luck, you’ll need to keep he whole law.
THAT is what Acts 15 and Galatians are talking about.
Acts 15 is a council regarding the law of Moses, circumcision, and SALVATION.
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Acts 15:1
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
Acts 15:10-11
Paul says it clearly, circumcision is WORTHLESS FOR SALVATION UNLESS YOU KEEP THE WHOLE LAW:
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
Galatians 5:2-3
THAT is why circumcision ‘does not count for anything’ in this letter to the Galatians:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Galatians 5:6
The question I’m asking is NOT whether we should do it to be saved BUT whether or not we should do it out of love and obedience for the Lord. If we desire to follow God and we desire to follow his law and commandments then should we not circumcise?
I ended up reading 1 Corinthians 7:18 and decided no.
“Well, Paul says we should ‘lead the life that the Lord has assigned to [us]’ (1 Cor 7:17) so I guess we don’t have to.”
I still didn’t have a WHY but it seemed we didn’t have to.
But I was reading Acts 16 today and I read about Timothy getting circumcised. And this question came up again.
And as I think of that question again, I can only imagine an astonished Paul asking “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT WHAT JESUS HAS DONE ON THE CROSS?”
And that’s when it clicked. Why if you circumcise, “Christ will be of no advantage to you.”
The response isn’t “we don’t HAVE TO so we don’t” or “we don’t have to because PAUL SAYS NOT TO” but there is a very good reason WHY.
When we understand what the Gospel means – that salvation has been given to ALL people and ALL nations then there is no longer a need to become Jewish. THAT is the beauty of the cross. If we miss that and try to circumcise and try to become to Jewish then it’s like as Paul says, that “Christ will be of no advantage to you” because we have missed what makes the Gospel so beautiful.
So today I was listening to a sermon on the story about Jesus calming the storm. The pastor pointed out some really interesting parallels between the story of Jonah in the boat (in Jonah 1) and Jesus calming the storm.
- Main character is found sleeping (Matthew 8:24b, Jonah 1:5)
- A storm is brewing (Matthew 8:24, Jonah 1:4)
And that seems to be the end of the parallel, as Jonah is delivered into the sea by the sailors (Jonah 1:15) while Jesus calms the storm and all is well (Matthew 8:26).
But that is NOT the case because if we know how the rest of Jesus’ story goes…
- In the same way Jonah is delivered into the sea (Jonah 1:15), Jesus is delivered into the hands of sinful men (Luke 24:7)
- In the same way that Jonah is in the fish for three days (Jonah 1:17), Jesus is in the tomb for three days (Acts 10:40)
- In the same way that Jonah’s escape from the whale leads to the repentance of the (Ninevite) Gentiles (Jonah 3:5-8), Jesus’s escape from the tomb leads to the repentance of (all) gentiles (Acts 11:18)
Maybe this is the sign of Jonah that Jesus speaks about :O (Matthew 12:39-41).
If Jonah’s preaching was able to turn the hearts of one Gentile city, how much greater is what Jesus does when he allows for all nations to be turned? (Matthew 12:41b)
So in my class for Paul of Tarsus, I’m writing a paper on death, resurrection, and the parousia, and one thing I noticed is that Paul puts a pretty big emphasis on the resurrection.
(parousia – is a word that referred to the visiting of the emperor when he’d be crowned with divine honors and stuff but is also the word that Paul uses to describe the return of Jesus)
This is funny because in our modern day Christianity, all we hear is talk about heaven. When’s the last time your pastor talked about the final resurrection?
Yet in Paul’s letters, he makes such a big deal about the resurrection and parousia. If you actually look through Paul’s work, you’ll notice he doesn’t talk too much about the moment after death.
The only two times he suggests an immediate ‘fellowship with the Lord’ after death is in Philippians 1:21-24 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-9.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
Philippians 1:21-24
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
2 Corinthians 5:6-9
Yet in 1 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Romans all make a pretty big deal about the parousia and resurrection. The WHOLE chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is dedicated to Paul’s insistence of a physical and literal resurrection.
Like it’s a pretty big deal.
And although heaven is great and all, if our focus is on something that shows up like three times (as Luke 23:43 is sometimes used in reference as well), then maybe we’ve missed the point.
Maybe heaven ISN’T the point.
If we read Revelation 21 with the new heaven and earth, we’ll realize something quite interesting.
The focus is not on us forsaking this earth and leaving to be with God in heaven but rather it is heaven that comes down with God coming to us.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
Apparently there’s more to Christianity than forsaking the present world and simply ‘saving souls?’
This next one is a really interesting because of how it’s used out of context. Colossians 2:16 says this:
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Colossians 2:16
It’s easy to read this and think ‘oh, well this means there’s no need to do any of the festivals, or the sabbaths, etc.’
Uh… Actually no, it’s quite the opposite of what it’s saying. If we keep on reading the verse in it’s CONTEXT, we will read this in verse 18:
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind
Colossians 2:18
Asceticism is the practice of abstaining from indulgence – aka what verse 20-23 talks about:
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
Colossians 2:20-23
Paul is not saying, ‘don’t do those things because they are no longer necessary.’
In fact, he’s saying the exact opposite.
Colossians 2:16 is about a verse saying how you CAN and are ALLOWED do those things.
It’s a DEFENSE of those actions, not a deterrent.
So in Acts 17, Paul starts talking to these pagans at the Areopagus and tries to convince them to believe in his God.
He starts with:
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Acts 17:23
And we may think ‘wow, these guys have a inscription dedicated to YHWH (aka the name for the God of Israel) and they didn’t even know it.’
And then Paul proceeds to quote some stuff to them:
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Acts 17:28
and we kind of assume Paul is quoting some book from the Hebrew Bible because that’s what Acts does.
But if we read over this text and don’t realize that:
- Those quotes are not from the Bible
- That inscription is not meant to be for YHWH
Then we’ve COMPLETELY MISSED the point of the story.
The quotes are from Greek philosophers and the inscription is meant to worship some unknown deity that they might have accidentally left out of their pantheon but definitely was not made with YHWH in mind.
This passage was not written that we’d learn to preach by quoting our scriptures but that we’d learn to preach through the very lens of our audience.
That is not to say we should not our preaching is absent of scriptures (because Paul’s surely wasn’t) but it highlights the importance of not only knowing OUR text but knowing the text of others, their beliefs, their backgrounds, and understanding where the Gospel fits into that.
And if it doesn’t? Maybe you have the wrong Gospel.
That’s all for today,
Thanks for reading.
Stay cool 😎😎😎,
Jason
Jason Reads the Bible 
:O
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