Here’s the scoop on an important new book, with Michael Horton as a main contributor: Covenental and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture

Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

How does the canon of Scripture fit together? For evangelical Christians, there is no question about the authority of Scripture and its testimony to the centrality of Jesus Christ in God's salvation plan. But several questions remain: How do the Old Testament and New Testament relate to each other? What is the relationship among the biblical covenants? How should Christians read and interpret Scripture in order to do justice to both its individual parts and its whole message? How does Israel relate to the church? In this volume in IVP Academic's Spectrum series, readers will find four contributors who explore these complex questions. The contributors each make a case for their own view―representing two versions of covenantal theology and two versions of dispensational theology―and then respond to the others' views to offer an animated yet irenic discussion on the continuity of Scripture.

To read the rest, follow the link below:

We do not go to church to perform a ceremony appease the wrath of the angry God. We do not shed the blood of some poor animal and then consume it in flames as a burnt offering unto God. Nor do we sacrifice a virgin, or throw one of our children into a volcano as a form of human sacrifice. We do not perform some a ritual intended to purify us from our sins and to make God happy with us. Ministers of word ans sacrament are not priests, nor do we celebrate the Mass, offering the transubstantiated the body and blood of our Lord as an unbloodied sacrifice unto the Father so that God’s wrath toward our sins is turned away. We do none of these things. Why? Because we have a great high priest who has already turned aside God’s anger toward our sins! Therefore we assemble to hear yet again that Jesus has already, once and for all, satisfied God’s righteous anger toward our sins when he suffered for us upon the cross, because his sacrifice for sin paid our debt in full.

We are working our way through that section of the Belgic Confession which deals with the work of Christ (Articles Twenty and Twenty-One). Before we move ahead to consider Christ’s work as our high priest–who satisfies the justice of God on our behalf–we need to keep in mind the context in which Christ’s priestly work takes place. That context is human sin. If we do not consider the suffering and dying of our Lord in its biblical context–which is human sinfulness–then we really do risk misrepresenting or misunderstanding what Jesus does on our behalf. In the suffering and dying of our Lord we do not see a picture of human worth, as so many of our contemporaries seem to think. Rather, in the cross, we see the gravity of our sin and the horrible cost that our blessed Lord Jesus paid to redeem us from our sins.

To read the rest, Article Twenty-One: "We Know Nothing But Jesus and Him Crucified"

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There is probably not a Christian alive who does not know this verse from memory. Yet, is there anyone reading this who can recite Romans 3:25 from memory? “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Both of these verses tell us something very important about the death of Jesus Christ. But why do we tend to memorize verses which speak of the love of God while often overlooking those verses which speak of the justice of God? This question brings us to the topic of Article Twenty of the Belgic Confession which deals with the justice and mercy of God in Christ. It also brings us to one of the greatest problems in the Christian church today, a sentimental understanding of the cross.

We move from those articles dealing with our Lord’s incarnation (Eighteen and Nineteen) to those dealing with the work of Christ (Twenty and Twenty-One). In fact, we cannot speak of our Lord’s person–the Word who became flesh, who possesses two distinct natures (one divine, one human) joined together in one person (Jesus of Nazareth)–without also speaking of our Lord’s saving work on our behalf. The person and work of Jesus Christ are inseparably linked. Jesus Christ is that redeemer promised throughout the Old Testament, even from the moment of the fall of our race into sin. Jesus is also the mediator of the covenant of grace, making him the only mediator between sinful men and women and the Holy God.

To read the rest: Article Twenty of the Belgic Confession: A Most Perfect Love

Job’s Faith Is Re-Kindled

Despite all appearances to the contrary, and despite the cruel counsel coming from his friends (most recently Eliphaz), Job still expects vindication. Job knows that God is good, keeps his promises, and that some how and in some way, his ordeal will end and it will be clear to all that Job is not hiding some secret sin.

As the dialogue between Job and his friends continues to unfold, in Job 16:18-17:3, the glowing embers of Job’s faith reappear. With this hope arises, as Job calls out his erst-while friends for their cruel and self-righteous counsel. He calls them “mockers.”

O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return. `My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?’

Job now realizes that the answer to the “why?” question (which he has asked of YHWH), along with his personal vindication before his friends, might not come until after his own death. But yes, Job will get his answer. He will be vindicated—if not in this life, then certainly in the next. His friends do not understand nor, apparently, do they care to.

To read the rest, follow the link below

From October of 2015

Pastors are always more than a little apprehensive during weddings. Why? Because even though the couple you just married are thrilled that after months of preparation they have finally been pronounced man and wife, that moment is immortalized on film. Every pastor who conducts a wedding knows they are one slip-up away from an American’s Funniest Home Video submission.

There in the background, behind the obvious joy of the moment, is pastor buzzkill-caught with a disapproving scowl on my face even as the newlyweds express their heart-felt joy.

I'm glad this charming couple has found humor in this photo--they teased me with it--and I'm sure they know there was nothing about that day of which even remotely I disapprove.

Here is yet another reminder that the camera catches all, including my lunch backing up, or that moment when I started to relax, or even when my thoughts began to turn to what it is that I was to do next in the ceremony.

Whatever I was thinking or digesting, here I am, pastor buzzkill in all my glory! The moral to the story, "smile!" Even when it hurts to smile!

And to you young ministers reading this, don't eat fast food in a rush before conducting a wedding . . . A verp awaits