Author: Josh King

Genesis 37:2-36 & Providence

We have now entered into the last section of Genesis (37:2-50:26). This book ends the way it began, leaving us in awe of God. The Joseph stories are not primarily written for us to glean trite moral lessons from, they are there to teach us about God. Really this whole section has one unified majestic point – the providence of God. Genesis begins by stunning us with God’s creative power, it concludes stunning us with His power. God not only calls all things into being, He sustains His creation, guides it, and governs it towards His ends. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith says the following of God’s providence:

God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will; to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.

How do we know that this is the point of the story? Our initial clue are the prophetic dreams given to Joseph by God. They function as an interpretive gird in this section the same way that Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:10-22) did for the eighth section (25:19-35:29). But this is not the only interpretive key we are given. The theological climax of what this section is to teach us is not explicitly stated until the end. The primary cause in sending Jacob to Egypt was not his brothers; it was God (Genesis 45:5-8). What God does is not simply turn his brother’s evil for good, but plan and will his brother’s evil for good (Genesis 50:20).

The great puritan John Flavel said, “The providence of God is like Hebrew words – it can only be read backwards.” The story of Joseph is a story of God’s providence, it must be read backwards. In fact all of the Old Testament is a story of God’s providence, it must be read backwards. Or as Sinclair Ferguson wrote, “…the events, imagery, and language of the Old Testament are like a shadow cast backward into history by Christ, the light of the world.” Later in the same great book, In Christ Alone, he goes on to write:

The invisible is more substantial than the visible;
The future shapes the past;
The new is more fundamental than the past.

What does all this mean?

Simply put, it means that the story of the Lord Jesus, his person and work, is not a divine afterthought, a heavenly plan B hurriedly scrambles together when plan A went horribly wrong. No, the coming of Christ was in the plan before the fall. Everything that preceded it chronologically actually follows it logically.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph. He is the righteous, elect, and anointed Son, lifted up by His Father and hated by men, for He exposes our disobedience. He is sent as a lamb to the slaughter, not ignorantly, but knowingly by His Father. He is handed over to the Gentiles, suffering for our salvation. After going to the lowest depths bearing the wrath of God, His Father raises Him up, sets Him in the position of supreme ruler, and then using this new power Jesus saves those who have so horribly sinned against Him.

This is the supreme story of God’s providence (Acts 4:27-28). All of history centers around it.

Tolle Lege: Same Kind of Different as Me

Readability: 1

Length: 235 pgs

Author: Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Truth is bigger than fiction.  I think one purpose of fiction is to wake us up to the bigness of real life.  Fiction exists only in man’s imagination.  It is flat.  It comes from man’s mind.  God’s mind is infinitely bigger.  Humans are infinitely more amazing creatures than trolls or elves, for humans are made in the image of God.

None of this is to say that fiction or art is not stunning.  But if Lord of the Rings can so stun, stir, and inspire, how much more the reality of living all of life imago Dei?

Here is a true story that illustrates my argument.  The story of Denver Moore and Ron Hall and Ron’s wife Debbie who brought them together, is filled with love, suffering, beauty, pain, death, hope, joy, and glory.  It is a great story well told.  My eyes are not big enough for me.  This book lends me good eyes, eyes to see my God and humanity, eyes that see Avatar as small.

Read these quotes and see if you want to see with these eyes as well.

Until Miss Debbie, I’d never spoke to no white woman before.  Just answered a few questions, maybe – it wadn’t really speakin.

Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question.  ‘I know it ain’t none of my business, but does you own something that each one of them keys fits?’

I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them.  ‘I suppose,’ I replied, not really ever having thought about it.

‘Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?’

Money can’t buy no blessins.

You’d be surprised what you can learn talkin to homeless people. … Sometimes to touch us, God touches someone that’s close to us.

How do you live the rest of your life in just a few days?

I was embarrassed I once thought myself superior to him, stooping to sprinkle wealth and wisdom into his lowly life.

‘But sometimes we has to be thankful for the things that hurt us,’ I said, ‘cause sometimes God does things that hurt us but they help somebody else.’

The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place.  So in a way, we is all homeless – just working our way toward home.

Just tell ’em I’m a nobody tryin’ to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody.

The Doctor: Our Main Problem

Our main problem is not our particular sins.  The main problem of every person born into this world is the problem of his standing before God.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 10, p. 53

Not All That Glitters Is Gold…

Nor all that twitters is evil.  I thought this was a piece of gold.

Tremble, O proud snake king. The spike-scabbed foot on your skull isn’t dead tissue anymore.  – Russel Moore

HT: Justin Taylor

Genesis 36:1-37:1 & Lessons From the Pagan Phonebook?

If you were to randomly pick this chapter, “the pagan phonebook”, for study I doubt you would receive much nourishment from it.  Not that there isn’t much nourishment to be gained, but it is like handing a whole crab to a child who has never learned how to penetrate the shell.  There is succulent meat for the feasting, how do we extract it?

I think genealogies like this are a great argument for closely studying a book of the Bible and for expositional preaching.  Expositional preaching should teach you how to read your Bible.  If you come to this text in isolation you come to it without the combination to unlock its treasures.  If you come to it having noticed the themes that are developing throughout the book however, its meaning begins to slowly unfold.

Thus far we have seen that it was Jacob who received the blessing not Esau.  Yet Esau is blessed with wives, children, and great possessions.  Edom seemingly becomes a mighty nation much more easily than Israel, driving out the original inhabitants of their land, the Horites (Genesis 36:20-30), well before Israel drives out the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 2:12).  They progress as a nation much more quickly, having kings before Israel does (Genesis 36:31-43).

The pagans often progress more quickly than the saints.  This is nothing new.  In Cain’s genealogy (Genesis 4:17-26) great cultural progress is made in herding, musical instruments, and metal working.  It is the descendents of Cain who are first mentioned as building a city.  What cultural advancements and contributions come from the line of Seth?  None from a secular vantage point are mentioned.  But it is with Seth’s birth that people begin to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:2).  It is in Seth’s line that the rhythm of death is thrown off (Genesis 5:24).  It is in Seth’s line that a man finds favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8).

Esau seemingly has none of the pain that Jacob had to endure, yet all of the gain.  But notice what is lacking.  There is not a hint of the spiritual blessing.

Esau may be blessed in the lesser sense, but he is cursed in the greatest sense.

We need not envy this passing world that we are just passing through.

Tolle Lege: Gospel-Powered Parenting

Readability: 1

Length: 220 pgs

Author: William P. Farley

Gospel-Powered Parenting opens by noting that according to George Barna seventy-five thousand books have been written on parenting just within the last ten years.  Given that statistic why should you buy this one?  Because it is thoroughly gospel-centric.  Because, in the author’s own words,

The emphasis of this book differs from that of many other Christian books on parenting.  Most emphasize techniques.  By contrast, Gospel-Powered Parenting will emphasize the parents’ relationship with God, with each other, and with their children, in that order.  The emphasis of this book is that parenting is not primarily about doing the right things.  It is about having a right relationship with God – a relationship informed by the gospel.

Do you still need a couple more reasons?  Ok, Farley focuses on the new birth rather than morality and he focuses on the father as the lead parent.  In addition Tim Challies says it may be the best book on parenting he has read.  I have not read nearly enough books on parenting in order for my “Amen!” to add any weight to Challies endorsement, nevertheless, this is the best book on parenting I have read, so far.

We parent out our theology.

Understanding the gospel and its implications for disciplining our children fortified Judy and me through these trials.  It helped in several ways:

  • The gospel convinced us that indwelling sin was our children’s problem.
  • The gospel convinced us that authority is a crucial parental issue.
  • The gospel instructed us to pursue our children’s hearts rather than their behavior.
  • The gospel motivated us to use discipline to preach the gospel to our children.
  • The gospel motivated us to fear God.
  • The gospel helped Judy and me to grow in humility and sincerity.

The fear of God equips parents to overcome the fear of their children.  They can disappoint their children, but they dare not disappoint God.

[Reflecting on 1 Timothy 5:8] If Paul writes so stridently about the failure to provide material food, which nourishes our bodies for only a few short years, what would he say to the father who fails to put the Bread of Life before his children?

The Doctor: Go to the Beach?

Remember context is…

People complain about the dwindling congregations and how the churches are going down. Why are people ceasing to attend places of worship? Why is it,that last Sunday night I noticed that, while the places of worship in Cardiff were only sparsely attended, the trains coming from Porthcawl and other sea-side places were packed out. Why did these people spend their day at the seaside and in other places rather than in the House of God worshipping? Well, the answer is perfectly plain. They obviously prefer to be at seaside and feel that they get greater benefit there than they do in their chapels and churches. Now it is no use arguing with people like that, it is no use our telling them that they really do not get greater benefit there, because they honestly believe that they do… What I feel like saying to these trippers is this: if you honestly believe that you derive greater benefit by spending your day in the country than you do by attending a place of worship, well then, go to the country. Don’t come here if you honestly feel that you could do better elsewhere. Unless you feel that something is being offered and given to you here which no other institution can offer or equal, well then, in the name of Heaven, go out into the country or to the sea-side. The church of Christ is a church of believers, a common association of people banded together by a common belief and a common love. You don’t believe? Well, above all, do not pretend that you do, go to the country and the sea-side. All I ask of you is, be consistent. When someone dies in your family, do not come to ask the church in which you do not believe to come to bury him. Go to the sea-side for consolation… – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years by Iain H. Murray

Also, I know my photo comparison may not be the best (here is a better one), but does it not seem that the Doctor bears a strinking resemblance to Victor Garber?

Adoption Is Not an Option

 It is something that one should want to do, not have to do.  It is not plan B.  It is not an alternative.  It is not an alternate route you take only because of road construction.

Adoption for us is not optional, it is optimal.

Genesis 35 & The Motifs of a Sojourner

You know you’re getting old when your generation gets its own radio station.  Yes, Tulsa now has a Gen X radio station, 106.1, and yes I listen to it being reminded of some of  the music I unfortunately liked, some which I still do, and some why I wonder why it still exists in any format.  So I am driving to church listening to aforementioned radio station and hear “One Week” by… um… I hesitate, The Barenaked Ladies.  It’s a fun, up tempo little ditty, of which the chorus makes sense to me but the verses seem to be a discombobulation full of pop-culture references.

Some critics think this chapter to be something like “One Week”.  Little more than slightly organized chaos.  They use it to question the inspiration of Genesis, or at least to argue for different authors contributing to the whole over a period covering up to the deportation to Babylon.  After all, Jacob’s life has consisted of meal size portions so far, why did we go bite size all of the sudden?

I rather think this is some excellent story telling on Moses’ part, weaving together all the motifs that have appeared throughout Jacob’s life bringing this section (25:19-35:29) to a close.  They are the themes of the sojourner’s life.  They are the themes that will unite all of Abraham’s offspring together as we traverse this world.  What are they?

1.   God’s initiating grace (Genesis 35:1).  Yes, repentance once again is called for in Jacob’s life but it is preceded by God’s speaking and commanding.

 

2.  Repentance and obedience(Genesis 35:2).  Purity is a prerequisite for worship.  This putting away of idols is a repeated event throughout Israel’s history.  It will be a recurring one in our lives as well for idols always creep in.  If God is to be our God, He will have all, no other gods allowed.

 

3.  Protection (Genesis 35:1)  As Robert Robinson wrote:

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

 

4.  God reminding us who we are in Him (Genesis 35:9).  In Christ we are sons of God, children of Abraham, joint heirs with Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, slaves of Christ, and saints.

 

5.   God reminding us of His promises (Genesis 35:11-12).  O, how easy we forget and distrust.

6.  Death and life, joy and sorrow, laughter and weeping (Genesis 35:18).  The Lord gives the Lord takes away.  God’s covenant presence does not mean the absence of distress (Genesis 35:3), but His presence in it, sustaining us through it, and hearing us when we cry.

This is the life of a sojourner.  The promises made to Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15 are the glue that binds all these vignettes together.  All these promises are at least partially fulfilled here.  As sojourners we taste of heave now, but we are not there yet.  The kingdom of God is in-breaking, but yet to come.  We live in the tension between the here now and the not yet.  And so we journey as these recurring motifs sound throughout our lives until one day, we too, fade from the narrative and are gathered with our people, like Isaac. And thus that biggest and greatest and eternal chapter will begin.