Ministry Update (Grace Life)

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Grace Life Family Ministry has been continuing to meet on Saturday mornings during the Sunday School hour. It has been really encouraging to see the participation of so many of our married couples and parents. Especially because of the difficulties involved with working around children’s meal times and nap times, the consistently good attendance shows the commitment of our families to stay Christ-centered.

We have been continuing through our series in the John Barnett book, Word Filled Families: Walk in Truth. Each week we look at a new chapter of the book and are particularly concerned with exploring the biblical principles behind the lessons taught. So far, the book has been greatly helpful and encouraging. Some of the topics covered include the importance of staying Word-filled, marks of a strong godly husband, and God’s estimation of a beautiful woman. A memory verse accompanies each lesson and periodically we have quizzes for accountability (which everyone looks forward to with great anticipation!).

For the month of November, Grace Life also enjoyed an informal “Night on the Town” event. After taking signups, we grouped up our members to enjoy a fun date night over dinner or dessert. In order to facilitate participation, we also helped coordinate childcare (thanks to the Care Ministry!). Our group decided to have dessert together at Leucadia Pizzeria. We ordered four desserts! While we love our children immensely, it was nice to have an evening to spend together with adults!

Grace Life is looking forward to a great rest of the year. We’re off to a great start and are hoping that it will continue to the end. One of our goals this year is to have our first Grace Life retreat. We know that will take a lot of planning and won’t be easy to put together, but hopefully with prayer God will allow us to do that this year. Another upcoming Grace Life event is the annual Christmas party in December. That should be fun time for all the families, including the kids! In the meantime, we will keep doing much of what we have been – providing opportunities for the families of Grace Life to spend time together while also studying and seeking to apply God’s Word.

BOB – Joshua

by Stephen Rodgers

JOSHUA IN 10 WORDS OR LESS

“The Israelites capture and settle the promised land of Canaan.”

TITLE

The title of the book takes it’s name from the central character and successor of Moses, who was commissioned as a leader in Israel (Num 27:12-23). The name “Joshua” means “Jehovah saves” or “the LORD is salvation” and corresponds to the NT name “Jesus.”

AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

The author of Joshua is not named, although the likely primary author is Joshua himself (Jos 18:9; 24:26). The Talmud ascribe authorship to Joshua as well (Baba Bathra 15a), with the exception of the account of Joshua’s death (Jos 24:29-33). As mentioned in the introduction to the Historical Books, it is considered likely that the final form of the historical books (including Joshua) were edited/compiled from earlier primary documents.

Regardless, the original audience would primarily have been Israelites born after the conquest of Canaan.  This book would have served as a record for how they came to be in the land.

DATE

For reasons described above, dating the book can be somewhat problematic, although based on the life of Joshua it is probable that much of it was written between 1405 BC and 1385 BC. Other clues include the fact that Rahab was alive at the time that Joshua 6:25 was written, the fact that Sidon (not Tyre) was Phoenicia’s leading city (Jos 11:8; 19:28), the repeated refrain “to this day” indicates the passage of time between the events described and the book’s final form (Jos 4:9; 5:9; 6:25), a reference to what may be an alternate or earlier record of Joshua’s accomplishments (Jos 10:13), and the fact that Jerusalem had not yet been conquered (Jos 15:63).

BACKGROUND & SETTING

The book of Joshua begins with Israel poised to invade Canaan when Joshua himself is 90 years old.  This displacement served two purposes: the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 12:7; 15:18-21) and judgment on the inhabitants of Canaan.

The book traces the next 20 years, detailing the various battles and incidents involved, until his death at the age of 110 after his successful military campaign.

HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES

Two themes are prevalent in the book of Joshua: 1) God the great warrior, and 2) God’s faithfulness.

  • Throughout the first half of the book of Joshua, it is clearly God who determines the outcome of battles, defeats the Canaanites, and rescues His people from their enemies. Continuing the theme of Deuteronomy, when Israel is obedient, they fare well on the battlefield; when they are disobedient, they are punished until they repent.
  • Throughout the second half of the book of Joshua, God is repeatedly shown to be faithful in keeping His promises (Jos 21:45; 23:14). As previously mentioned, these promises were made centuries earlier to Abraham, illustrating God’s role as promise-keeper, and pointing the modern reader to the promises we have in Christ (2 Cor 1:20; 2 Pet 1:4).

INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES

As a historical book, most historical challenges are more properly categorized as OBJECTIONS (see below) rather than hermeneutical issues.

However, a small number of questions have repeatedly been asked, the most famous of them centering around the issue of how God’s blessing on Rahab relates to her telling a lie (Jos 2). The issue stems from the fact that the 9th Commandment (Ex 20:16), God’s character (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:17-18; Num 23:19; etc.), and Scripture (Ps 31:18; Prov 6:17; Eph 4:25; etc.) all clearly repudiate the act of lying.  However, in this particular context, Rahab’s lie is not addressed, and in fact, God seems to actually commend her for it. This same issue is illustrated elsewhere in Scripture (see Frame’s article, below), as well as throughout history (Athanasius’ encounter with the soldiers of Julian the Apostate, those who concealed Jews from the Nazis, etc.).

Even among theologians, opinions as to how to reconcile this vary (actually, even within a given theological tradition, opinions vary; consider Calvin’s commentary on Joshua versus Hodge’s treatment of the 9th Commandment in Volume III of his Systematic Theology). Suffice to say that a thorough treatment of the subject goes well beyond the scope of this article, but for a very brief introduction to the topic, I would refer the reader to the ESV Study Bible’s Biblical Ethics: An Overview (beginning in the section entitled “Lying and Telling the Truth”) and John Frame’s brief treatment of the subject in “Must We Always Tell the Truth?” for a different view.

A second question that has achieved significant popularity in recent years pertains to the conquest of Canaan, whether or not it could be properly understood as genocide, and whether it can be justified. Suffice to say that this also is an issue that causes considerable debate among theologians. While nearly all theologians agree that inflammatory terms like “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing” are not only unwarranted but false by definition in this case (for example, one cannot condemn the Israelites for “utterly wiping out” the Canaanites based on the account in Joshua while simultaneously ignoring the fact that the same account notes they failed to do so), they make their case in different ways. Some argue primarily from God’s sovereign rights (see the ESVSB’s Introduction to Joshua, “The Destruction of the Canaanites”), others argue primarily for understanding the text within the specific ANE context (see Matt Flannagan’s “God and the Genocide of the Canaanites, Part I, Part II, Part III“), and some argue for both (see Paul Copan’s “How Could God Command Killing the Canaanites?” and “Yahweh Wars and the Canaanites”).

Once again, the reader is advised to pursue further readings on their own if the subject interests them.

LITERARY FEATURES

The ESV Study Bible has a succinct description of Joshua as literature:

In the Hebrew canon, the book of Joshua is included (along with Judges, 1–2 Samuel, and 1–2 Kings) in the “Former Prophets.” In English Bibles, these same books are often called the “Historical Books.” Both designations are apt. The book of Joshua qualifies as historiography (history writing), but it is not like the ostensibly disinterested, largely political histories that modern secular historians write. It is, rather, a didactic history written from a prophetic (that is, theological) point of view.

OBJECTIONS

Generally speaking, the only notable objections to the book of Joshua center around the possibility of the three recorded miracles: 1) the stopping of the Jordan River (Jos 3:15-17), 2) the collapse of Jericho’s walls (Jos 6:20), and 3) the sun standing still (Jos 10:12-14). However, it should be noted that anti-supernaturalism is a philosophical assumption, and while it may render miracles untenable to the reader, it is not a demonstrably scientific or historical fact. As a result of these presuppositions, some historians have posited four alternate view on the conquest of Canaan: 1) a conquest model, 2) a peaceful infiltration model, 3) a peasant revolt model, and 4) an endogenous model.  While the first model comes closest to the Biblical account, all three models contradict what Scripture says, and can account for the Biblical data.  They simply reflect an anti-supernatural bias.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

  • Joshua 1:9
  • Joshua 24:15

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Joshua wasn’t always named “Joshua.”  His original name was Hoshea (Num 13:8), but Moses renamed him (Num 13:16).
  • While Einstein famously commented that “God does not play dice with the universe,” the book of Joshua teaches us that “God does not play dice with dice.” (Jos 14:1-5)
  • While there is some dispute over the exact meaning of the text, in all liklihood, Caleb wasn’t ethnically an Israelite (Jos 14:6).

Other Works Referenced

  • Apologetics Study Bible, “Joshua Introduction”
  • Archaeological Study Bible
  • ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Joshua”
  • MacArthur Study Bible, “Joshua”
  • NET Bible, Joshua
  • NIV Study Bible, “Joshua”
  • Reformation Study Bible, “The Book of Joshua”
  • Know Your Bible
  • Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
  • Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook

Apologize Excessively

by Elder Peter Lim

Conflicts between people are inevitable. Because this has the potential to alienate one another and cause the church to lose its effective witness to the world, we take it very seriously at LBC. I hope no one is getting tired of learning more on this subject as we’ve been covering the topic at retreats, sermons, Bible studies, etc. It takes time and effort to teach this subject in a way that isn’t simply a “how-to” manual of the required steps involved in conflict resolution. This is because conflict is one of the best indicators of the heart’s condition and shouldn’t be treated as if following a few simple steps is going to solve the problem. The heart is revealed when the facts of the conflict are known. This revelation should cause the offender to be pierced to the heart for his own depravity. It should also cause the offended to realize that although he has been wronged, he himself has offended God many times and has experienced the grace of God so that he couldn’t possibly withhold forgiveness to a fellow sinner. So both parties should end up being more reminded of the gospel. This is a good result of a bad situation.

Unfortunately, many real-world scenarios are not so ideal. Oftentimes, people lack the courage and the wisdom to make true peace with one another. I wanted to write about one of these scenarios today. Specifically, people in general have a hard time apologizing correctly. Some reasons for this difficulty include:

  • A desire to “move forward” as soon as possible
  • A desire to minimize the culpability of one’s own action
  • A desire to leave options open in case it is later revealed that there is another plausible explanation so that one can escape blame
  • Not wanting the other party to think that they have no culpability
  • It’s not pleasant to admit wrongdoing

Sometimes people are too quick to “apologize.” They don’t take any time to really consider how they might’ve offended someone. They don’t make the effort to put themselves in the other person’s shoes to truly grasp the severity of the pain that they have caused. An excessively quick response of “I’m sorry” can have the opposite effect. Instead of moving forward to true peace, it causes the offended to feel victimized again because of an inadequate expression of sorrow. This can get even worse if the offender tries to reprimand the offended for not granting a quick and full forgiveness. Whether an apology is made too quickly or more appropriately, it should be accompanied by supporting actions and attitudes. In fact, apologies should be made excessively to the extent that the offended is abundantly clear that one is truly sorry. Yes, it’s humbling to repeatedly apologize but it’s worth it because of what is at stake here. Every offender needs to be alert for signs of an inadequate apology received by the offended, and make every effort to apologize better. If the offended doesn’t want to forgive, it’s one of those situations where the offender should rather be wronged and continue to humble himself and apologize again. What an opportunity to be like Jesus and be wronged… for the sake of those who don’t deserve it. It’s a wonderful opportunity to exhibit grace. Therefore, let us endeavor to glorify God in our apologies by doing it excessively and not giving the devil an opportunity to drive a wedge of division between people.

And They Heard…

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Revelation 11:12

Without considering these words in their prophetical connection, let us regard them D as the invitation of our great Forerunner to His sanctified people. In due time there shall be heard ‘a great voice from heaven’ to every believer, saying, ‘Come up hither.’ This should be to the saints the subject of joyful anticipation. Instead of dreading the time when we shall leave this world to go unto the Father, we should be panting for the hour of our emancipation. Our song should be-

‘My heart is with Him on His throne,
And ill can brook delay;
Each moment listening for the voice,
‘Rise up and come away.”

We are not called down to the grave, but up to the skies. Our heaven-born spirits should long for their native air. Yet should the celestial summons be the object of patient waiting. Our God knows best when to bid us ‘Come up thither.’ We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure. I know that strong love will make us cry,

‘O Lord of Hosts, the waves divide,
And land us all in heaven;’

but patience must have her perfect work. God ordains with accurate wisdom the most fitting time for the redeemed to abide below. Surely, if there could be regrets in heaven, the saints might mourn that they did not live longer here to do more good. Oh, for more sheaves for my Lord’s garner! more jewels for His crown! But how, unless there be more work? True, there is the other side of it, that, living so briefly, our sins are the fewer; but oh! when we are fully serving God, and He is giving us to scatter precious seed, and reap a hundredfold, we would even say it is well for us to abide where we are. Whether our Master shall say ‘go,’ or ‘stay,’ let us be equally well pleased so long as He indulges us with His presence.

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LBC Weekly SPARK – November 18, 2011

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Dear LBC friends and family,

I hope you are doing well and walking in the Lord! As the holiday season approaches, I’m sure things are going to get busy with family get-togethers, travelling, and shopping. I just wanted to send a quick message about the importance of not forgetting what matters most. Especially as we look forward to Thanksgiving (perhaps my favorite holiday of the year!), it can be easy to get distracted by all the food and activity. I want to encourage you to take extra time in the coming weeks to consider what you are thankful for, and give praise to God.

Please also pray for those who are going through trials, hardships, and difficulties that God would be gracious to strengthen, comfort, and encourage them. This is a great time of the year to particularly think about one another and lift each other up in prayer. I hope you have a great Friday and are looking forward to another blessed weekend with the church family!

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

Here are the announcements for this week:

  1. Friday Night Bible Studies. The College and Youth Ministries will be meeting for Bible study tonight at the church at 7:00pm. Come out and be challenged through the teaching of the Word! More information about our affinity groups can be found at the church website.
  2. Men’s Breakfast. Don’t forget we will be meeting for Men’s Breakfast this Saturday from 8:00-10:00am at the church. Bring a breakfast item to share! Juice will be provided. Please note and change your calendars that the December 3 Men’s Breakfast has been cancelled.
  3. Thanksgiving Dinner. The annual All-Church Thanksgiving Potluck will be this Sunday, November 20, at 5:30pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and enjoy good food and fellowship! If you signed up to bring an item, please be sure to have it at the church by 5:15pm latest! If you are in need of an aluminum pan for your food item, you can pick one up on Sunday from the kitchen. Talk to Hwa or Suzie Park for more information.
  4. Thanksgiving Week. All midweek Bible studies and ministries will be taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday (November 21-26). Also, we will not be having Sunday School hour on Sunday, November 27. Have a great holiday with friends and family!
  5. Flocks. The next flocks week will be November 30 through December 3. More information about flocks can be found at the church website. If you are unsure of which flock to attend, please contact Peter Lim (peterlim@yahoo.com).
  6. Christmas Concert. Our annual Christmas Concert is a great venue to invite family and friends to hear great music and listen to the gospel message! This year’s concert will be on Saturday, December 10 at 6:00pm. Refreshments will be served.
  7. Operation Christmas Child. Please don’t forget that this Sunday is the collection date for LBC’s Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Shoeboxes can be given to Mrs. Grace Lee before service on Sunday morning.
  8. Membership Make Up Class. If you missed either of the membership classes from November 12 and 13 and need to make up a class, we will be having a make up class on Tuesday, November 29 at 6:00pm at the church. This is for anyone who missed either class. If you need to, please bring your dinner to the class.
(Editor’s Note: If you want an easy way to stay up-to-date with LBCevents, you can sync your calendar with any of the various church calendars that are available online).

Weekly Links (11/18/2011)

Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not the engine of the church. The gospel is. Without the gospel, both discipleship and church fail. Without the driving force of the gospel, discipleship devolves into self-help religiosity motivated by conservative pietism. The church is reduced to a glorified non-profit in which people lose interest. But the gospel reactivates both church and discipleship!

The good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us, changes everything! In the gospel, God in Christ welcomes sinners and sends out disciples. The gospel, not discipleship, is central to the church. If we make discipleship the engine of the church, we’ll run quickly out of gas. But when the gospel is central, the church gets traction and disciples get depth. (Jonathan Dodson, “There’s a Discipleship Crisis in the Church Today”)

by Richard Shin

Happy Friday! Here are some awesomely possum links:

That’s all, folks. Have a great weekend!
Coram Deo

Singles Ministry: Launching Pad for Godly Growth

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

What’s New?

Coming back from a small break of meeting with College Life during the summer, the Singles began meeting on Wednesday nights instead of Friday nights. This has been a great switch from the pattern of Single Life for the past few years, when before, many of the post-college guys and gals usually come to get their hearts refreshed and their eyes refocused after a long workweek. The time of refreshing teaching had to wait until the end of the week, leading to multiple hours of work, continual study for graduate school, or the pursuit of a job in between. Coming to the middle of the week, many of the Singles can see each other sooner, and fellowship as brothers and sisters on the race to spiritual growth and maturity, keeping one another accountable as a whole group to stay spiritually-minded for the rest of the week.

Along with the new day of meeting, Single Life has new staff! Though we lost nine faithful members from staff for various reasons (we all miss you!), our God has continued to bring up workers of His grace to this ministry. Splitting into a Shepherding and Admin Staff, the dynamics now has a group that helps out with the planning of events in Single Life, while the Shepherding Staff helps out with the facilitation of small groups, seeing the necessity of one staff helping the other. On Admin staff, we have the privilege of servants Vic Allende, Jane Liou, Eugene Park, Janet Shih, Brian Song, and Herman Wang. On Shepherding Staff, we have the additional joy of Joseph Ho, Obadiah Lee, Jennifer Shih, and, with God’s humor, myself, to newly serve our brothers and sisters. With the wise oversight of our Pastor, Patrick Cho, he saw the need for a focused staff to exercise their gifts in specific ways within the ministry.

Lessons Learned

It’s been a personal joy for me to be a part of this affinity group, since I get to spend more time with brothers and sisters my age and grow alongside them. Having moved from Youth Staff to Singles Staff, I immediately saw the change in atmosphere and interaction among one another. Not saying one is better than the other, my time with the youth has given me a wider love to a group very much unlike myself in many ways. The youth, as well as the staff, have taught me and modeled for me a love that grows deep in a ministry with the specific goal of building one another up in love and good deeds. Now that I am with a group closer in age, I can now give of myself to other brothers and sisters and share the joy I had with the youth, all coming from the same Source of love: our bond in Christ.

Starting up where he left off, Pastor Patrick continued to preach on Colossians 3, specifically addressing the attitudes we need to “wear” in our relationships at church. I think I can safely say the preaching continues to refine our character to look more like that of Christ in every area of our lives. With each garment we put on (vv. 12-13), it becomes more and more heavy to wear, and yet the reminder is always that God in Christ has shown how to do this abundantly, and empowers us to put these clothes on. Each character trait must actively be evident in our walk under the umbrella of love (v. 14), forgiving one another as we pursue Christian character. I’ve taken this to be a divine diagnostic of my life, evaluating my heart according to Scripture and finding where I need to lean on the Lord for His power to change.

I also had the opportunity to preach on the issue of contentment, since discontentment seems to be the unwelcome guest in our hearts that we have a hard time kicking out. Looking at the life of Paul in Philippians 4:10-13, you get a glimpse of a man completely content in Christ—no matter what circumstance he finds himself in. When I find that Paul had to learn how to be content, it reminds me that even the apostle Paul didn’t get it the first time around. He had to grow in having this attitude of being satisfied with whatever the Lord gave him, since he saw everything, especially his hard life, as a gift from God that was made for his growth in devotion to Christ. Seeing that it is through the strength of Christ that empowers us to live content humbles me again in admitting my lack of perspective when I work or when I take tests in class.

It’s an exciting time of new starts and continual growth for our Singles Ministry, and I’m grateful to God that I get to see with my own eyes the hand of God at our church. To see Singles continue to grow in their understanding of Scripture and seeking to do what it says is a beautiful sight. These are men and women dedicated to honor God in the workplace, and the conversation continues to focus on how to glorify our Savior in specific ways and holding each other accountable.

We’ve now begun small groups, and I, along with the other staffers, have already seen the love that shines in our church through these times of sharpening and encouragement. We all look forward to serving the Singles and finding more ways to do so. There is also the upcoming Car Rally this Saturday, so it should be a fun and stimulating way of getting to know the area we live but also the people who walk alongside us in faith. Our Christmas Party is quickly approaching, where we always enjoy a special time to enjoy the giving hearts of our brothers and sisters (including the gift cards to In N Out).

Continue to pray for our hearts to seek biblical change consistent with our confession of the God who saves and redeems from the inside out. Pray for the Gospel to spread to more and more singles who are in need of God’s grace, and that this ministry will continue to be centered on the Word of God as it relates to this stage of life that God blesses us with.

Last Thoughts

Singles, we have a unique opportunity to bear witness of Christ in companies and classes where the light is dim but our God shines bright. Let’s take advantage of every opportunity to introduce our friends, family and co-workers the Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ. God supplies our every need; let us demonstrate our thankfulness to Him at our station in life: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (work, sharing Christ, loving each other), giving thanks to God our Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Let us “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

BOB – The Historical Books

by Stephen Rodgers

Comparative Outlines of the Historical Books

Having briefly dealt with the “five books of Moses,” we now turn our attention to the second major section of the OT: the historical books. We just finished going over the Pentateuch, which was the first section, and are now moving on to the next section. Remember, the OT (as it appears in the Protestant Bible) can be broken down into four sections:

  1. Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
  2. History (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
  3. Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs)
  4. Prophecy (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

The 12 historical books were written over a period of approximately 1,000 years, and trace the history of Israel from the invasion of Canaan, through the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the fall of the two kingdoms to Assyria and Babylonia, and the restoration of Judah from exile in the sixth century BC.

AUTHOR & COMPOSITION

Unlike the Pentateuch, the historical books do not have a single author. Rather, as we can see from their content (and from their structure in the Jewish canon) that each book was written at a particular time in Israel’s history, although theories vary as to exactly how the books should be grouped thematically, and to what degree they were editorially shaped after their initial composition.  For example, one theory holds that Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings form a group of writings known as “Deuteronomistic History” that were completed during the Babylonian exile (albeit begun much earlier), whereas Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah form a second group of writings completed during Judah’s return from exile.

Ultimately it is important to ask the question why a particular scholar (or group of scholars) is advancing a specific textual theory. Two scholars may advance similar theories in regards to the compositional elements of a particular text or set of texts, but their reasons for doing so will be radically different if one approaches their study with the presupposition that the Bible is the word of God, and the other approaches their study with the presupposition that there is no God and the Bible is no different from other ANE holy books.

It should be recognized however that while these writings are clearly a serious attempt to write an accurate history of Israel and Judah using the conventions of ANE historiography, these books are not merely historical; they are also theological. Ultimately, this is not a story about Israel from the perspective of the historian, but rather they are ultimately written from the perspective of God as they record His repeated interaction with His people through miracles, revelation, and providence.

THEMES

The ESV Study Bible highlights five major themes of the historical books:

  1. God’s Sovereignty – God is portrayed and presented in the historical books as sovereign over all creation, both in terms of both specific inbreakings (miracles) and a  more macroscopic view of history (first the nation of Israel, but also over Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia).  In fact, it is precisely his sovereign care for Israel and their place in history that form the backdrop for this section of Scripture.
  2. God’s Presence – God is portrayed both as near and far throughout the historical books. In many cases He is shown directly intervening in events via miracles, prophets, and even the monarchy.  At other times His presence is missing, either as a result of Israel’s sin (Judges 2; 1 Sam 4:19-22; etc.) or simply due to reasons known only to Him.  In either case, the presence of God (or lack thereof) is noteworthy within the narrative.
  3. God’s Promises – The historical books quite clearly were written on the foundation of the promises and covenants of the Pentateuch.  Furthermore the historical books overall can only be understood in the context of the Abrahamic covenant in which God swore to Abraham that he would receive the land of Canaan (Gen 12:7; 17:18-21), many descendants (Gen 12:2; 15:5) , and blessings on him, and through him, on all nations (Gen 12:1-3).
  4. God’s Kingdom – Just as the Bible teaches that God is king over all the earth (Ex 15:18; Ps 93:1), He also chose to exercise his rule through human kings from the line of Abraham (Gen 17:6, 16; 35:11; 49:10). He prescribed that Israel’s kings should not be like the kings of other nations, but were instead to be rooted in God’s Word and allow Him to fight their battles for them (Deut 17:14-20; Judg 8:22-23; 1 Sam 8:5, 20). While some kings followed this mandate and others (to their destruction) did not, the common theme is that God is the ultimate King of Israel. The Davidic kings were “sons of God” (2 Sam 7:11-16), and this theme carries into the NT where the ultimate Son of God was also of the line of David (Matt 1:1; Rom 1:3) and His ministry ushers in a new present kingdom while also pointing to a future one as well.
  5. God’s Covenant – The theme of the previously mentioned “Deuteronomistic History” books could be summed up in the statement “Sin brings punishment;  repentance brings restoration,” which echoes one of the great themes of Deuteronomy. Throughout the historical books a pattern emerges: reward follows obedience, whereas punishment follows disobedience. This is seen in the nation as a whole, their representative kings, and even specific individuals (1 Chron 10:13; 2 Chron 26:16-23).

GENRE

The historical books are predominantly narrative, although they also contain portions of other genres such as poetry, genealogies, lists, letters, etc.

It should be noted that the historical books do not mythologize their miracle accounts; rather they present miracles as accounts of real events in the same manner that they record other, more everyday events.  Despite the fact that secular scholars question the historical reliability of the miracle passages, from a literary standpoint there is no reason to separate them from the text, or consider them to be later additions.

Other Works Referenced:

  • ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to the Historical Books”
  • Reformation Study Bible, “Introduction to the Historical Books”
  • Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On The Old Testament
  • Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook

When Heroes Become Villains

by Pastor Patrick Cho

You couldn’t turn on the radio or TV these past couple weeks without hearing something about the scandal at Penn State University and the child sexual abuse charges against former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Certainly all that is surfacing, as well as the firing of university heads and head coach Joe Paterno, will damage the university’s reputation for years. It will certainly be a long time before the university recovers from all of this. It is a sad and serious situation for the school and for all the families involved.

I don’t want to get into the grossness of the allegations or even the recently published defense of Sandusky where he claims he was merely guilty of “horseplay” with those boys. I don’t want to talk about the culpability of Coach Paterno or whether or not he was morally responsible to do more than he did in response to the accusations he received. I’m sure many more articles will be written about these things in the coming months especially as the trial gets underway.

Reflecting on this whole situation, one thought kept repeating in my mind, and I realize this is a minor issue compared to the seriousness of the situation. But we certainly have a tendency to make heroes of men and even idolize them in our hearts. Oftentimes, we make sports stars into heroes who really have no business being treated that way. Just because a guy can throw a ball or run fast doesn’t mean we should make them out to be saints, but sometimes we do. Sometimes, in our eyes, our heroes can do no wrong. The Sandusky situation is a sobering reminder of how false this thinking is.

Sadly, it reminds me of other greats in the athletic world who came crashing down because of scandals and moral failures. Tiger Woods is no longer a name that is only associated with golf because of his adulterous affairs. Tiki Barber has been bashed for leaving his wife of eleven years while she was pregnant in order to continue what had been a two year affair with an intern.

Growing up, my favorite athlete was Michael Jordan, who arguably could be the greatest athlete of all time to this day. It seemed everyone wanted to “be like Mike.” Over the years, it became more and more apparent that he wasn’t one that was worth idolizing either because of his adulterous relationships and problems with gambling. Even in his Hall of Fame induction speech, it seemed all Michael Jordan cared about was Michael Jordan.

All in all, how much should we really look up to sports figures? This is a great reminder to me especially because I am a parent. What kinds of people do I want my children to admire and revere? We need to really think about how character is displayed more than athletic ability. This is one of the reasons why (and I hate to say it because I’m a Chargers fan) I appreciate Tim Tebow. At least to this point, he seems to stand out as one who is not admired as much for his athletic ability but for his personal character. It is interesting in light of this how much Tebow is belittled in the media. What do we really care about anyway?

In the end, however, is it wise to lift up men to this level at all? As believers, we worship and serve Almighty God. But more than that, by His grace we enjoy a personal relationship with Him. How much greater is this than knowing any sports celebrity? We know the God of Creation because of His Son Jesus Christ (cf. 1 John 5:20)! Jesus Christ gave us understanding SO THAT we could KNOW Him who is true! Think about what an awesome privilege this is to say you know the God of the universe in a personal way.

All this scandal in the sports world should also remind us that life is all about lifting up the name of Christ and adoring Him, and not about giving undue veneration to men. We can certainly appreciate athletic ability. I know I will never dunk a basketball in my life. I can celebrate the victories of my favorite teams and the accomplishments of my favorite players. But we need to be careful not to elevate these individuals to idol status. They’re just men.

Arise, and Depart

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Micah 2:10

The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to all-‘Arise, and go forth from the home in which thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy last journey.’ And what know we of the journey? And what know we of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called ‘Death.’ God bids us cross it, promising to be with us.

And, after death, what cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father’s house-to our Father’s home, where Jesus is-to that royal ‘city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.’ This shall be our last removal, to dwell for ever with Him we love, in the midst of His people, in the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

‘Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For Thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise, and join
The chorus of the sky.’

2.7a