OVERVIEW:
The King’s glory (chapter 17); the King’s rebuke (chapter 18); the King’s instructions (chapter 19 verses 1-15); the King’s demands (chapters 19:16-20:34).
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
In this week’s reading, we have discussed, in great detail, the importance of keeping your eye on the Jew when dealing with the New Testament. This often confuses people, because they have assumed that since “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” that it all applies directly to them. We could say it this way, however, “Though all of the Bible is written FOR us, not all of the Bible is written TO us.” I like the illustration Jeff Adams uses to make this point:
Suppose I let you read a letter my grandfather wrote to me in which he offered the wisdom and insight he had gleaned through his life on the earth. As you’re making your way through the letter, you come to a part where my grandfather talks about leaving me $100,000 in his will. You immediately stop reading, look over at me, and ask, “When do WE collect OUR money?” I would be very quick to tell you that the letter was addressed to me and intended for me, and that I was simply allowing you to glean from the things my grandfather was seeking to teach me! I think you get the point.
When dealing with the Old Testament and some New Testament books, we as Gentiles, living in the “parenthesis” we call the “Church Age”, must be very careful to keep in mind that we are reading someone else’s mail! We are the church, so we go to the Bible to get our doctrine from the books that are addressed specifically to the church (church epistles), or those that are addressed to men who hold positions of leadership in the church (pastoral epistles).
Now, that doesn’t mean that we can’t glean many things from books like Matthew (written to the Jews to present a Jewish king over a kingdom promised to Jews), or Hebrews (and just take a wild stab at who you think the book of Hebrews is addressed to), or James (you can’t even get past the first verse without being faced with the fact that you’re reading someone else’s mail; it is specifically addressed “to the twelve tribes”!) Again, that’s not to say that we can’t get anything out of these books; it simply means we must make certain that we have “rightly divided the word of truth.” It doesn’t mean that there are not things that apply spiritually to our lives in a devotional sense; it just means we have to be extremely careful! We must keep in mind that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts (at least up to chapter 7) provide us an historical perspective of the first coming of Christ from the standpoint of the nation of Israel. Once the nation of Israel makes their final rejection of their King and His kingdom in Acts 7, a transition takes place in the book of Acts:
- From an OLD TESTAMENT structure to a NEW TESTAMENT structure;
- From God dealing with the NATION OF ISRAEL, to dealing with the CHURCH;
- From God working primarily with the JEW, to God working primarily with the GENTILE;
- From the ministry of PETER, the apostle to the Jews (Acts 1-12), to the ministry of PAUL, the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 13-28);
- From God’s base of operation being in JERUSALEM, to His base in ANTIOCH.
By the time these transitions are made and we get to the end of the book of Acts, the church is firmly established, and we move right into the letters written by Paul, to the church. In those books, we are safe. They are written specifically to us, and lay out for us doctrine intended specifically for those of us living in this dispensation. Because of who Paul is (the Apostle to the Gentiles), and because of who the recipients of his letters actually are (churches and pastors of churches), we always need to make certain that anything we are applying to us is something that lines up with what God penned through him (Paul). It was this very principle that caused our brothers and sisters, at times in church history, to be referred to as “Paulicians”. They understood the importance of “rightly dividing the word of truth” and not applying to us something God promised or intended for the Jews or the nation of Israel.
So, how do we know what to apply and what not to apply from the New Testament books written to Jews? A simple rule of thumb is that the things God wants us to apply from these books will be repeated in the writings of Paul. Keeping these things in mind in today’s reading will be helpful. See if you can make the distinction between those things that are specifically related to the Jews and the nation of Israel, and those that also apply directly to us because they are repeated in the Pauline epistles.
Allow me to just mention a few things about the “Transfiguration” in 17:1-8:
- 17:1 – Note that Peter, James, and John are the fulfillment of the strange statement the Lord made at the end of chapter 16, that there were some of the people that were listening to Him there who would be eyewitnesses of the second coming.
- 17:2 – Note the word “transfigured”. In other words, Christ’s “figure” was “transformed”. When He came to this earth, He couldn’t be anything other than what He was, the very glory of the Father. (John 1:16) That glory, however, was veiled in a body of flesh. At the “transfiguration”, Christ rolled back His flesh revealing the “glory of His Father” (16:27) that will be His when He returns to the earth at His second coming. (See Peter’s comments about this in his incredible statement in 2nd Peter 1:16-18.)
- 17:3 – This is actually the first time Moses stepped foot in the land that was promised to Israel! What a thrill that must have been for him!
- 17:1 – Back to verse one. Notice when this “second coming” pre-fulfillment actually took place! Matthew tells us that is was “after six days”! If we take those “six days” and plug them into the equation God laid out in 2nd Peter 3:8, it lets us know that the second coming (which this passage is foreshadowing) will be after 6000 years of human history (6 days X 1000). The really astute folk will balk at such reasoning, citing that Luke’s account of the transfiguration says that it was “about eight days” (Luke 9:28). Just consider that the number that is “after six” and “about eight” just might be seven!!! (Just as it is laid out in Genesis 2:1-3!)
- 17:1-5 – Notice also that in this “perfect” and “complete” picture of the second coming, there just happen to be “seven” that are in attendance: Jesus, Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah, and God the Father.