Josh King

Matthew 12:38-45 & No Show On Demand

Jesus, unlike many entertainment corporations today, does not offer a show upon demand. When the Pharisees ask for a sign it further reveals their attitude toward the miracle Jesus has just performed (Matthew 12:22, 25). It reveals their attitude toward all of His miracles, their attitude toward Jesus himself. The Pharisees do not need a new sign, they need new hearts, for they cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

And yet Jesus promises them a sign. What does Jesus mean that He will give them no sign except the resurrection? He has give them many signs, and He will perform many more. If we look at some instances of the apostolic preaching of the resurrection where this “evil and adulterous generation” is also mentioned I think we will see what Jesus means (all emphases mine).

[T]his Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. – Acts 2:23-24

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. – Acts 3:13-15

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead,

[B]ecause he [God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” – Acts 17:31

[Jesus] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, – Romans 1:4

The resurrection is the vindication of Jesus. It shows the wicked and adulterous generation to be wrong in their opinion concerning Jesus. They kill Him, God raises Him from the dead. And still today the resurrection is the sign that all doubters, skeptics, agnostics, and atheists have to deal with (toward understanding and using the apologetic strength of the resurrection I recommend beginning with The Reason for God, specifically chapter 13).

So to all who ask, “Why on earth doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t He prove Himself?” We reply that God has indeed on earth done something; in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ and everything in between, God has indeed on earth done something. To those who ask a sign to validate our message I love the reply of Calvin. When Roman Catholics contended that their miracles authenticate their message, and then asked where the reformers miracles were, Calvin replied:

In demanding miracles of us, they act dishonestly. For we are not forging some new gospel, but are retaining that very gospel whose truth all the miracles that Jesus Christ and His Disciples ever wrought serve to confirm.

Doubters, skeptics, agnostics, and atheists don’t need new signs, they need their eyes open to the signs that are.

The Pugilist: The Revelation of the Trinity

We cannot speak of the doctrine of the Trinity, therefore, if we study exactness of speech, as revealed in the New Testament, any more than we can speak of it as revealed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament was written before its revelation; the New Testament after it. The revelation itself was made not in word but in deed. It was made in the incarnation of God the Son, and the outpouring of God the Holy Spirit. The relation of the two Testaments to this revelation is in the one case that of preparation for it, and in the other that of product of it. The revelation itself is embodied just in Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is as much as to say that the revelation of the Trinity was incidental to, and the inevitable effect of, the accomplishment of redemption. It was in the coming of the Son of God in the likeness of sinful flesh to offer Himself a sacrifice for sin; and in the coming of the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, that the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead was once for all revealed to men. Those who knew God the Father, who loved them and gave His own Son to die for them; and the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved them and delivered Himself up an offering and sacrifice for them; and the Spirit of Grace, who loved them and dwelt within them a power not themselves, making for righteousness, knew the Triune God and could not think or speak of God otherwise than as triune. The doctrine of the Trinity, in other words, is simply the modification wrought in the conception of the one only God by His complete revelation of Himself in the redemptive process. It necessarily waited, therefore, upon the completion of the redemptive process for its revelation, and its revelation, as necessarily, lay complete in the redemptive process. -B.B. Warfield, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity

Matthew 12:33-37 & Evil Trees Cannot Produce Good Fruit

When Jesus asks the blaspheming Pharisees (Matthew 12:24), “How can you speak good when your hearts are evil?”, he means for us to realize that this is impossible.

But don’t fallen, unregenerate men do good? Yes, in one sense, by God’s common grace, on a horizontal plane, men do “good” things, but on a vertical plane and in the most ultimate sense, all of their acts are evil. Consider pirates.

In a gang of pirates we may find many things that are good in themselves. Though they are in wicked rebellion against the laws of the government, they have their own laws and regulations, which they obey strictly. We find among them courage and fidelity, with many other things that will recommend them as pirates. They may do many things, too, which the laws of government require, but they are not done because the government has so required, but in obedience to their own regulations.” – W.D. Smith

As fallen, unregenerate men we are pirates, glory thieves, stealing the glory of God and giving it to other things. All of our life is one of idolatry. All behavior flows from the heart. If our actions are not springing from a heart that treasures Christ supremely, something else is being treasured. In doing “good” we are doing a greater evil. We “keep” other commandments only to break the first one (Exodus 20:2). As fallen men we are never truly good, at best we are subdued. We “obey” only when it is convenient to get what we want, only so that we can live to rebel another day.

Where then do the good trees (hearts) come from that bear good fruit; fruit that will serve as evidence of one’s justification (v. 35, 37)? Answer: Regeneration.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. – Ezekiel 36:26-27

All praise be to Jesus for the good tree that I am and the good fruit I produce.

Tolle Lege: Church Discipline

Readability: 1

Length: 138 pp

Author: Jonathan Leeman

Jonathan Leeman concisely argues for church discipline and gives many helpful case studies in applying church discipline in his simply titled book, Church Discipline. Essential and urgent, this book is not for just a few.

More specifically, a church needs to understand that church membership is not like membership in a club or some other voluntary organization. It’s about citizenship in a kingdom in which we are affirmed and recognized as ambassadors by the king’s embassy-like representative, the local church. Individual Christians do not have the authority, once they become convinced that they are Christians, to stand before the world and say, “Hey world, I’m with Jesus,” through self-baptism and giving themselves the Lord’s Supper. No, the church has that authority, through the power of the keys.

What is church membership? Church membership is the church’s public affirmation of an individual Christian’s profession of faith in Jesus, and it’s the individual’s decision to submit to the oversight of the church. When your church begins to understand that, the idea of church discipline will start to make a lot more sense.

It will also help people to understand why they don’t have the authority to simply resign their membership when threatened with discipline. People join the church by the authority of a church, and they exit the church by the authority of the church.

WTS Books: $11.18 Amazon: $10.94

The Pugilist: The Old Room and the New Light

This is not an illegitimate reading of New Testament ideas back into the text of the Old Testament; it is only reading the text of the Old Testament under the illumination of the New Testament revelation. The Old Testament may be likened to a chamber richly furnished but dimly lighted; the introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before; but it brings out into clearer view much of what is in it but was only dimly or even not at all perceived before. The mystery of the Trinity is not revealed in the Old Testament; but the mystery of the Trinity underlies the Old Testament revelation, and here and there almost comes into view. Thus the Old Testament revelation of God is not corrected by the fuller revelation which follows it, but only perfected, extended and enlarged. It is an old saying that what becomes patent in the New Testament was latent in the Old Testament. – B.B. Warfield, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity

Matthew 12:22-32 & Kingdom Conquest

Jesus heals a demon oppressed man and the crowds respond with speculation while the Pharisees respond with accusation. The crowd likely speculates because Jesus doesn’t meet their presuppositions. After all of His strong words and mighty miracles they still ask, “Can this be the Son of David?” What did they expect? Who was the Son of David to be?

The Son of David would be God’s Messiah, that is, His Anointed One. Now all the sons of David who served as kings were anointed, but the Messiah (Hebrew), that is, the Christ (Greek), would be the Lord’s Anointed. They were all only shadows, He is the substance. So they are looking for a greater David, someone to free them from political oppression and bring national prosperity. They say they are looking for the Son of David, but they are really looking for another Saul, a king after their own hearts, not God’s. Don’t miss how Jesus in answering the Pharisees’ accusation answers the crowd’s speculation as well.

Jesus says that if He drives out demons by the Spirit of God, and He is arguing that He does, then they must realize that the kingdom of God has come upon them. Jesus is God’s conquering King, and He is advancing, He is binding the strong man and plundering his house. He defeats our greatest foe. When Jesus says He does this “by the Spirit of God” He is saying He is the Lord’s Anointed; that is why the kingdom has come, it is here because the King is here.

Where does Christ achieve decisive victory? At the cross Satan is cast down (John 12:27-34). How does the kingdom advance today? In the preaching of the cross Satan’s kingdom is plundered as blind eyes see, dead hearts beat, and captives are released. The preaching of the cross is not only the power of God unto salvation, it is also the conquest of Satan’s kingdom.

Tolle Lege: Church Membership

Readability: 1

Length: 132 pp

Author: Jonathan Leeman

Church membership means something. In an age of causal, easy come, easy go, promiscuity this note needs to struck. Jonathan Leeman strikes it well. His symphony on membership is The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love. Church Membership is the pop hit version. Short and catchy I hope it gets stuck in your head.

What is the local church? I’m going to say a number of things to answer that question, but let me start here: the local church is the authority on earth that Jesus has instituted to officially affirm and give shape to my Christian life and yours.

Just as Jesus instituted the state, so he instituted the local church. It is an institutional authority because Jesus instituted it with authority. Now, I’m doing my best to avoid getting into a conversation here about the relationship between church and state, but here is what you must understand if we’re going to have a paradigm-shifting discussion about church membership:

Just as the Bible establishes the government of your nation as your highest authority on earth when it comes to your citizenship in that nation, so the Bible establishes the local church as your highest authority on earth when it comes to your discipleship to Christ and your citizenship in Christ’s present and promised nation.

Christians don’t just join churches; they submit to them.

WTS Books: $10.70 Amazon:$10.19

The Pugilist: On the Term “Trinity”

The term “Trinity” is not a Biblical term, and we are not using Biblical language when we define what is expressed by it as the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. A doctrine so defined can be spoken of as a Biblical doctrine only on the principle that the sense of Scripture is Scripture. And the definition of a Biblical doctrine in such un-Biblical language can be justified only on the principle that it is better to preserve the truth of Scripture than the words of Scripture. The doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer view. Or, to speak without figure, the doctrine of the Trinity is given to us in Scripture, not in formulated definition, but in fragmentary allusions; when we assembled the disjecta membra into their organic unity, we are not passing from Scripture, but entering more thoroughly into the meaning of Scripture. We may state the doctrine in technical terms, supplied by philosophical reflection; but the doctrine stated is a genuinely Scriptural doctrine. – B.B. Warfield, The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity

Matthew 12:15-21 & Not Today

The Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus, and Jesus withdraws; please don’t mistake this as cowardice. Jesus is not afraid of confrontation or conflict. He will continually and boldly expose and challenge the Pharisees pronouncing judgment and warning on them. We will see Jesus repeatedly withdraw when things get this intense, but there is never a hint of fear of man.

After the shootout at the O.K. Corral in the movie Tombstone, as the marshall turns to arrest the Earps and Doc Holliday, Wyatt looks the sheriff in the eye and says, “I don’t think I’ll let you arrest us today.” Jesus is doing something like that here. Every time He withdraws it is as if He is saying, “I’ll let you kill me, but not today. My death will be according to My plan, not yours. It will be My victory, not yours.”

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. – John 10:17-18

The Pugilist: Christians Grow in the Dark

True Devoutness is a plant that grows best in seclusion and the darkness of the closet. -B.B. Warfield