For a number of years now learned interpreters of Scripture have been telling us that the Song of Songs is (primarily) about human love. I put the word primarily in parentheses in that last sentence for a reason. I had grown so accustomed to the emphasis on human love in the Song that I had …
Category Archives: Messiah in the OT
God: The Merciful Judge
This past weekend it was my privilege to be in Fayetteville, AR, at University Baptist Church. I spoke on the theme of God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. These talks seek to summarize the Bible’s big story, highlighting the promises that generate the typological patterns. The talks are now available on UBC’s …
Jeremiah: A Type of Christ Who Speaks for God
I’ve argued that Jeremiah was a prophet like Moses, and Jesus is the typological fulfillment of this pattern that began with Moses. Luke presents both Peter and Stephen asserting that Jesus is the prophet like Moses announced in Deuteronomy 18:15–18 (Acts 3:22–23; 7:37), and Matthew, Mark, and Luke are pointing to this in their transfiguration …
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Genesis Genealogies Graphic
Jerod Harper has a nice note on the way the genealogies in Genesis trace the descent of the line of the seed of the woman, accompanied by this splendid graphic:
The Hero Story (The Messiah in the Old Testament)
This essay appears in the spring 2011 issue of Southern Seminary magazine, The Tie. I am grateful to post it here by permission. Click through for a free subscription to The Tie. Have you heard the ballad of the hoped for hero? Ancient prophecies foretell his coming. Not altogether clear, shrouded in mystery, but enough …
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Sermons on Nehemiah
In God’s kindness we made our way through both Ezra and Nehemiah at Kenwood Baptist Church. The sermons on Ezra can be found here. May the Lord bless his word. September 12, 2010, Nehemiah 1–2, “Pray and Act” September 19, 2010, Nehemiah 3–4, “Building While the Nations Rage” October 3, 2010, Nehemiah 5, “A Wartime …
“Son of Man” or “Human Beings” in the NIV 2011: What Difference Does It Make?
In answer to the question: What makes a translation [of the Bible] accurate? I said: “Its ability to preserve the way that later biblical authors evoke earlier Scripture.” You can read my explanation at the BibleGateway Perspectives in Translation forum. The NIV 2011 provides a perfect illustration of my point. Hebrews 2:6–8 is quoting Psalm …
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The Journal of Family Ministry (re) Launches at SBTS
Under the leadership of the prolific Timothy Paul Jones, the Gheens Center for Christian Family Ministry has re-launched The Journal of Family Ministry. The editorial introducing the new journal recounts in miniature the remarkable changes that have happened at SBTS since the late 1980s. If you’re thinking about ministering to youth and families, you’ll want …
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Couldn’t Disagree More!
Joseph Fitzmyer writes regarding Genesis 3:15: “Moreover, this verse does not mention משיח [Messiah], or even have a hidden reference to a coming Messiah, despite the later interpretations often given to it in both the Jewish and Christian tradition” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The One Who Is to Come [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007], 28). The language …
Review of Joel Kennedy’s The Recapitulation of Israel
Joel Kennedy. The Recapitulation of Israel: Use of Israel’s History in Matthew 1:1–4:11. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.257. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008. 264pp. 9783161498251. $105.00 (paper). Published in Bulletin for Biblical Research 20.2 (2010): 268-69. This book is a revision of a dissertation supervised by Francis Watson at Aberdeen. The subject of the book …
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What Is the Old Testament?
Over on the MCTS blog there’s an answer with which I heartily agree!
Peter Gentry on Daniel’s Seventy Weeks
The next issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 14.1 (2010) is soon to be released. The issue is on eschatology, and you can see the Table of Contents here. SBJT has generously made available what looks to be the most important essay in this issue: Peter J. Gentry, “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks and the …
That the Generations to Come Might Praise the Lord
On January 31 it was my privilege to preach at Kemp Road Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio. I attempted to set the role of the family in the wider context of God’s purposes in Old Testament theology, moving from the father’s role in Deuteronomy 6 to the king’s role as a father to his people …
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SBC Messianic Fellowship
For those coming in early for the SBC this summer, it would be great to have you join me on Saturday, June 20 from 1:25pm to 4:30 for two sessions at the SBC Messianic Fellowship Meeting. Come ready to study the Twelve Prophets! (some of them, anyway).
“Arise, O Star” at Songs of Southern Friday Night
Last summer I posted the lyrics to “Arise, O Star,” which is my attempt to put the Messiah in the Old Testament to music. This spring there was an invitation here at SBTS for folks to submit songs they had written, so I turned this one in along with another (an attempt to put the …
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The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham
I have just been alerted that my Tyndale Bulletin essay, “The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham,” is now online: “The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham,” Tyndale Bulletin 58.2 (2007), 253-73. Here’s the abstract: Might the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 be a direct answer to the …
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Review of Chester, Messiah and Exaltation
Andrew Chester, Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology, WUNT 207. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. 716pp. ISBN: 978-3-16-149091-0. $215.00. Cloth. Published in BBR 18.2 (2008), 348-50. Encouraged to do so by Martin Hengel, Andrew Chester has revised or expanded several published essays, written three substantial new ones, and given them …
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The Messiah in the Old Testament: A Rap
As promised, in the last day of my class on the Messiah in the Old Testament, I delivered this rap that I wrote as I was preparing for the forum on Christ in the OT that was held earlier this semester here at SBTS. I think one of the students got the audio, so if …
How Much Christ in the Old Testament?
That was the topic of discussion yesterday. It was my privilege to participate in a panel discussion here at SBTS, and the audio file is here (HT: Awilum). My views have been shaped by the preaching, teaching, and writings of Drs. Thomas R. Schreiner, John Sailhamer, T. Desmond Alexander, Stephen G. Dempster, E. Earle Ellis, and …
Arise, O Star
[I wrote this some time back, and we have sung it a number of times at Redeemer. I’m only posting it now because I’ve only now figured out how to make things single spaced on the blog–press shift then enter.] Arise, O Star Verse 1 Seed of the woman Promised long ago Sworn to crush …