Chapter 3 opens with Zechariah’s fourth vision of a series of eight visions from Yahweh. The people of Judah had returned to Jerusalem after years in Babylonian exile.

It’s been about 20 years, and the people of God have already started rebuilding the temple, but they halted due to external pressure and opposition from those in the surrounding areas.

Zechariah, who prophesied 520 years before Christ, was sent as God’s messenger, calling them to return to the Lord and to rebuild the temple. Throughout the book of Zechariah, in his eight visions, he receives guidance from an interpreting angel.

Let’s look at verse one.

V. 1: Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Most commentaries I read say the angel of the LORD here refers to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, God the Son.

“The Angel of the Lord should be understood to be the second member of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ.”1

The vision opens with Zechariah finding himself in a heavenly courtroom, where a trial is about to begin.

Joshua, the high priest, is standing before the angel of the LORD, who is the judge here, and Satan, the accuser, is standing at the right of the judge to accuse Joshua. What is important to note here is that Joshua isn’t just representing himself. As the High Priest, he is representing all of Israel before the Angel of the LORD.

The Baker Encyclopedia put it this way:

“The role of the priest as representative of Israel before God. This essential dimension of the office of the high priest is explicitly identified in the names of the tribes of Israel in the two onyx stones in the ephod, and in the 12 precious stones attached to the breastplate.”2

As Joshua stands in front of the angel of the LORD, with Satan ready to accuse, the LORD actually rebukes the accuser, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan!” What makes this defense of Joshua more amazing is that Satan wasn’t in the wrong in wanting to accuse Joshua and Israel.

Verse three says: “Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.”

Another way of putting it is Joshua is guilty, standing before Yahweh. He was clothed in his sin and the sin of the nation and incapable of performing his duty as high priest. In Hebrew, the adjective “filthy” when used as a noun can denote “excrement” or “vomit.”

What a scene, in the presence of the LORD, and the high priest is covered in poop and vomit, totally unfit to be there, and Satan is ready and willing to point out his sin, to expose him. Which just shows you how much higher the angel of the LORD is than Satan. He is all-knowing, ever-present, creator of the world. He sees the sin of the high priest; he knows his heart. But Satan feels the need to accuse him anyway, like he is thinking he could show the LORD something he already didn’t know. Here, Satan has thoughts of a created being, and he wants the appeal to the Creator. But the accuser is met with rebuke from the LORD.

Now, in verse four, the angel of the LORD tells those standing before Joshua(probably angels) to remove his filthy garments from him. Yahweh is now removing the sin, the dirt, the shame of that sin from Joshua, which is followed up in the next sentence:

“And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you,” (Zec 3:4.)

It is Yahweh who makes him clean and removes his sin or iniquity. Iniquity here refers to sin and its associated guilt. The high priest is incapable of doing this himself; only God can truly make him clean in his presence.

This symbolizes the priest entering the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. Here is an idea of what the priest had to do before he could enter into the presence of Yahweh:

• Gather a bull and a ram for his personal sin offering and burnt offering

• Change into sacred linen garments (simple tunic, undergarments, sash, turban)

• Remove ornate priestly robes to symbolize humility

• Bathe himself with water before beginning his duties

• Continue bathing multiple times throughout the day for ceremonial purity

• Maintain strict physical and spiritual cleanliness before entering the sanctuary

• (Later practice) Prepare for seven days in advance by living in the Temple

• Have a substitute priest ready in case of death or ritual impurity

• Practice priestly duties ahead of time (sprinkling blood, burning incense, lighting lamps, offering sacrifices)

• Abstain from anything that could make him unclean or distract him from devotion

• Bathe again on the morning of the Day of Atonement

• Put on white linen garments as a sign of cleansing and holiness

All the priest’s prep work before that moment could not really make him clean before Yahweh. This would be a complete shock to Zechariah, because he was a priest; he understood everything that went into the moment when the high priest entered the most holy place. And here he is in the presence of the LORD, in the most holy place, still covered in his sin and the sin of the nation. But here is when Yahweh moves on his behalf and removes it all. He is free from sin and the guilt that comes with it.

Not only is his sin removed, but verse four says: “and I will clothe you with pure vestments,” or another way of saying this is with rich garments. God removes his filthy clothing and puts on him new robes, one fit for the presence of Yahweh. One commentary said this:

“God’s representative clothed in God’s righteousness.”3

Yahweh has removed the sin and clothed him in righteousness, a righteousness that is worthy to stand in the presence of Yahweh. Is this not the gospel? Our Lord is the one who removes our sin through his death, and in His perfect life and resurrection, we are now clothed in Jesus ‘ righteousness. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This cleansing of Sin and putting on the righteousness of God in new clothes now gives Joshua access to God’s presence whenever he wants. Verse seven says, “and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.” He gets open access to Yahweh because of what He has done for him. This is exactly what we have now. Through Jesus our High Priest, we can come to the throne of God, the most holy place, whenever we want. We have unlimited access to Yahweh’s presence.

But it doesn’t stop there. In verse 8, Yahweh promises to send His Servant, the Branch, a clear reference to the coming Messiah. In verse 9, He is also called the Stone. The Servant, the Branch, the Stone, all pointing to Christ.

As the Servant of the Lord, Christ is the One who comes to do the will of the Father. As the Branch of David, Christ is the Davidic king who will rise to power and glory from His resurrection. As the Stone, He will bring judgment on the Gentiles and be a stone of stumbling for unbelieving Israel.

On that day when the Messiah comes, Yahweh will remove sin from the land in a single day. The work of the Messiah will bring about the removal of sin, which can be seen at Calvary in Jesus death and resurrection, but this “one day” also points forward to the time when Israel will look to Jesus in repentance and be forgiven (Zec 13:1).

Here in Zechariah 3, we have a shadow of what is to come through our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. We were stained with sin and guilty before a holy God. Satan is ready to accuse us before our Creator. But, because of what the Messiah, the Branch, the Servant did for us on the cross, we are forgiven. Through the death of our High Priest, our sin, our filthy garments before Yahweh are no more. Our sin and guilt are removed in the presence of the holy God.

And through Jesus’ perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we are clothed in His righteousness or rich robes. We are given something we could never earn: access. We can come before Yahweh not because of who we are, but because of what He has done, and in His presence, we receive grace.

This is the final post for the reading of the Old Testament literature series. We covered the Pentateuch, Narrative, Wisdom/Psalms, and now, to wrap it up, we are in Prophecy and Apocalyptic.

These posts are adaptations of my work from my Old Testament literature class at Liberty University.

Prophecy can easily be read as just a coded map of the end-times or even as predicting the future.

Readers can comb through the prophetic and apocalyptic literature for indications of the Last Days, with an interest in gleaning details on what to look for, how the future will unfold, and how their present times may be identified as the Last Days.

But prophecy is not mainly a coded roadmap, and apocalyptic is not mainly prediction.

Its central purpose is to reveal God’s plans and purposes in relation to his covenant people, calling them to covenant faithfulness.

As Finzel said,

“Because they failed, God raised up prophets to call the nation back to Himself,”

and

“The overriding message of the prophets can be summarized as: Calling the nation back to covenant faithfulness. Condemning the nation when it refused to repent. Consoling the condemned nation with promises of God’s future blessings.”

Prophetic material often moves across the past, present, and future and typically fits four recurring categories:

• Indictment: what you’re doing wrong
• Judgment: what God will do
• Instruction: how to respond
• Aftermath: restoration and hope

Yes, they sometimes speak about the future, but the focus is on God’s plans, His purpose, and God’s faithfulness to the covenant.

A major correction that Walton makes is that prophecy is not best described as prediction. He says:

“In fact, we would have to insist that God, since he is at some level the cause of everything, cannot be said to predict.”

Since God is actively involved in bringing about outcomes, prediction language is not entirely accurate. Prophecy projects God’s declared plans and calls for response. Outcomes can shift with how people respond, though God’s purposes stand.

Apocalyptic Is Related, but Different

Apocalyptic literature is similar to prophecy in some ways. Both come from God, both are delivered through chosen people, and both show that God is in control of history and has a plan. But they also work differently.

Apocalyptic often comes through visions or angels and looks at the bigger picture of world history and God’s rule over all kingdoms.

Walton says,

“In summary, the primary purpose of apocalyptic literature is not to foretell the future but to communicate God’s plans and purposes, both in space and in time”.

Walton explains that apocalyptic literature is a kind of writing where God reveals something to a person through visions or through a heavenly messenger. These revelations often show things about the future or about the unseen spiritual world, and the point is to help people understand their current situation by seeing it from God’s perspective.

For apocalyptic, the vision is not the message; the message is what the vision means

For example: In Zechariah’s vision of the myrtle trees and colored horses, the actual message concerns God’s continued concern for Jerusalem, his anger toward the nations that plundered her, and his favor toward his covenant people, not the meaning of the visual elements themselves. The vision serves as the occasion for receiving the message; it is not the message itself.

Walton comments, saying:

“Since the narrator does not identify these as symbolic, and does not explain any such symbolism, we do not need to know. We could only speculate, but we do not need to do so, because the message is not related to those symbols. When we track with the author, we are following his lead. We are not supposed to find a myrtle grove in a ravine and look for colored horses.”

Prophecy/Apocalyptic: Hermeneutical Reminders

• Prophecy is primarily about God’s plans/purposes, not future detail management.

• Read prophetic passages through the four-category lens: indictment, judgment, instruction, and aftermath.

• Don’t just mine prophecy for eschatology and apologetic reasons.

• Outcomes may change based on human response, like in Jonah, but God’s plan remains firm

• Calling prophecy predictive can be misleading. It is better understood as divine proclamations of plans with moral outcomes

• In an apocalyptic message, focus on what the text says the vision means. The vision itself is not the message.

• Apocalyptic focuses on God’s sovereignty over empires and cosmic history. It brings hope in crisis.

• Apocalyptic literature is not prophecy with imagery. It is distinct.

• Keep message and fulfillment connected, but don’t blend them. The message is what God is saying to the original audience. The fulfillment is how that word unfolds later in history.

Questions to ask while reading Prophecy & Apocalyptic":

• Is this text a prophetic oracle, apocalyptic vision, or both?

• Which message category is in view: indictment, judgment, instruction, or aftermath?

• In apocalyptic sections, what interpretation does the text itself provide?

• What breach of covenant is being described here? If any.

• What is being said about God’s rule over the nations and empires?

• What did the message want or demand from the original audience

• Where does this text call for course correction, with prophecy or steadfast endurance in crisis with apocalyptic?

Prophecy and apocalyptic literature are not mainly about predicting the future, but about revealing God’s plans and calling His people to faithfulness while reminding them that He is in control of history.

Sources:

Finzel, Hans. Unlocking the Scriptures: Three Steps to Personal Bible Study. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2003.

Walton, John H. Wisdom for Faithful Reading: Principles and Practices for Old Testament Interpretation. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2023.

Question

How can we glorify God?

Answer

We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 11:1

“You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

Selected Quotes

“God will have us make his glory our aim, and then he will bestow grace and glory too upon us.”

— Richard Sibbes(1577-1635)

“If we truly want to honor the Savior, we do as he said. But that means not just obeying him because he’s going to get us. It’s not really that. It’s understanding how great his love is for us so that we, in love with him, want to walk with him. And that understanding means that we begin by saying, “I understand that he has loved me so much that my heart is responding in love for him.”

— Bryan Chapell

Reflection:

Lord, we want to delight in and enjoy you. We want to be obedient to you, not out of obligation but out of love for you. Help us be imitators of you as beloved children. Give us hearts that hate the things you hate, love the things you love, and what breaks your heart would break ours. Fill us with a holy fear for your name, as Psalm 147:11 says:

Yahweh is pleased with those who fear Him,

Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

Source: New City Catechism

As I’ve been working through the Old Testament genres in school, I’ve been sharing with you all what I am learning. This is Part 3 of 4, touching on Wisdom literature and the Psalms. We’ve already covered the Pentateuch and Narrative.

The Wisdom books and Psalms can often be very easily misunderstood. They aren’t self-help literature but are about learning to live under God’s rule

When we hear “wisdom,” we often think of good advice, life hacks, or practical tips. At a certain level, biblical wisdom can include those things, but it is much deeper. It’s not about being clever, but about aligning ourselves with God’s created order.

In the Old Testament world, wisdom is about recognizing how God structured reality and living inside that structure. Walton makes this point by saying:

“Wisdom perceives what constitutes order and pursues, preserves, promotes, and practices order in every area of life.”

Biblical wisdom is taking every part of our lives and submitting them to the way God has designed the world.

As Proverbs puts it, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This means biblical wisdom is centered on the Lord with reverence, submission, and the acknowledgment of God’s kingship.

Walton uses Adam and Eve to show the opposite of wisdom by saying:

“They chose to seek order for their own benefit and purposes rather than to be order-bringers alongside God, pursuing his plans and purposes as his image.”

Since the beginning, God has called us to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over it. We are called His image bearers to work alongside God in bringing about His created order.

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Ge 1:28.

What is important to remember is that Old Testament wisdom literature is not made up of promises. Often, we treat wisdom texts like promises from God. Proverbs are better understood as wise generalizations, not guarantees.

Job dismantles the simplistic idea that “if I obey, I will prosper.” Ecclesiastes exposes self-fulfillment as an empty path and calls us to accept life’s limits under God’s rule as a gift.

The Psalms must also be read as a whole, not just as isolated favorites. Their purpose is centered on Yahweh’s Kingship. Individual psalms matter, but the message becomes clearer through the shape and movement of the whole book, which is life under the sovereign rule of God’s Kingship.

Walton puts it well:

“So the individual psalms stand as illustrations of the many ways in which God’s kingship affects his people. Covenant, Torah, and Psalms all operate with reference to God’s kingship and prompt us to a broader and deeper understanding of its ramifications.”

The Psalms can function as the hymnbook of God’s people at worship, offering a diverse collection of prayers, songs, and meditations that span the full spectrum of human experience.

Walton describes the main theme emerging from the Psalms as Yahweh’s Kingship. evident both in individual struggles and in God’s relationship with Israel and its anointed king. The result of reading the Psalms with this in mind is that faithful readers will affirm His Kingship across all circumstances in both their lives and their world.

Wisdom & Psalms: Hermeneutical Reminders:

• Fear of the Lord is foundational. Wisdom begins with reverence and submission to God’s authority.
• Do not treat Proverbs as promises. They are general principles that are usually true.
• Job corrects oversimplified theology and calls us to trust God’s larger wisdom.
• Ecclesiastes confronts the idolatry of self-fulfillment.
• Biblical wisdom is something to pursue. It is not a formula or checklist for every situation in life.
• The major theme of the Psalms is Yahweh’s kingship. Struggle, praise, and hope all center around that.
• Psalms are poetic. They can allude to theology but do not always present full doctrinal explanations.

Questions to ask when reading Wisdom & Psalms:

• Am I turning this into a transaction with God? (If I do this, God must do that.)
• Is this wisdom text describing what is generally true, or promising something?
• How is this exposing oversimplified theology?
• How is this text defining or displaying God’s order?
• In the Psalms, how does this reinforce Yahweh’s Kingship?
• What is this teaching about life under God’s rule?

Ultimately, wisdom doesn’t give us control; it teaches dependence on the Lord.

Source: John H. Walton, Wisdom for Faithful Reading: Principles and Practices for Old Testament Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2023)

Question

What else did God create?

Answer

God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.

Scripture

Genesis 1:31

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Selected Quotes

“Now the faithful, to whom he has given eyes, see sparks of his glory, as it were, glittering in every created thing. The world was no doubt made, that it might be the theatre of the divine glory.”

— John Calvin (1509-1564)

“In the New Testament, we learn that the cosmos is created by Christ himself. The Gospel of John says,” In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and without him was noy anything made that was made… As regenerated people, we also have the image of Christ. Which means that we can rest in his goodness, in his great creation power, as he himself controls all of life, and we can flourish under him.

— R. Kent Hughes

Reflection:
Lord, who spoke the world into existence, we marvel at your creation, even though it has been corrupted. Your beauty is revealed in the splendor of the stars. Your might is shown forth in the strength of a hurricane. Your order is displayed in the laws of mathematics. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord for the works of his hands!

Source: New City Catechism

Narrative makes up over 40 percent of the Old Testament. We love Bible stories like David and Goliath, Joseph and his brothers, Esther’s courage, and Moses and Pharaoh. It can be easy to read them as just moral examples we should practice or not practice.

Be brave like David, or patient like Joseph, and bold like Esther. Which isn’t always wrong; we can read the Old Testament in that way, but that’s not how biblical narrative works.

We can fall into the trap of treating these texts just as moral stories or character studies. The characters are not the main teachers of the Old Testament narrative; the author, the storyteller, is, and he is teaching us about God. It is showing us God’s plans and purposes as they move forward through flawed people.

Narrative uses real people and real events, but it’s more than just modern history writing. It’s theological history. Theological history is the telling of real past events in a way that intentionally selects, arranges, and interprets them to highlight their meaning about God and his purposes, not just to report facts.

The narrator selects, shapes, arranges, and emphasizes details to show:

• God’s purposes moving forward
• God’s covenant faithfulness
• God’s sovereignty over flawed people

The authority of the text isn’t mainly in copying the characters; it’s in seeing what God is doing through them.

Ancient storytelling is just different from ours, and Biblical narrative uses different devices to tell the story, which are called “literary conventions.”

Here is a quick definition: “These are stylistic patterns that authors employ to communicate meaning. Rather than existing as formal rules, these conventions develop organically within communities of writers and readers who share expectations about how texts should work.”[1]

Biblical narrative uses:

Telescoping (skipping time): There could be days, weeks, months, or years between chapters or verses.

Repetition for emphasis: Involves restating words, phrases, or concepts throughout a passage to intensify their impact and draw attention to what matters most.

Framing and patterning: Is where an author organizes historical material either into repeated cycles/periods (patterning) or within a deliberate structural framework of headings/parallels/contrasts (framing) to guide how readers interpret the text.

Figural language: Is language that doesn’t mean exactly what the words say, but uses comparisons (like similes and metaphors) to paint a clear picture and make the point stronger.

Attributed speech: Is when a narrator crafts dialogue that represents what a character would have said to convey meaning, rather than reporting the speaker’s exact historical words.

That means we have to pay attention to what is repeated, highlighted, or structured carefully; the original author is very careful about how they format the text.

Narrative: Hermeneutical Reminders

• Read narrative as theology, not just as history reporting.

• The narrator is interpreting God’s activity through the people and events.

• Focus on what the narrator included, repeated, and emphasized, not what isn’t there.

• Narratives aren’t meant to be mined for role models. Look at what the narrator teaches about God through them.

• Remember that preaching/teaching should move beyond behavior tips and ask how God is working and how we participate faithfully.

When reading Old Testament stories, ask:

• What is the narrator showing me about God?

• Why was this story included here in this book?

• What details are repeated or emphasized?

• How does this advance God’s covenant purposes?

• Where is God’s faithfulness or judgment visible?

• Am I turning the character or event into a role model or practice I should do too quickly?

Main takeaway:

Old Testament stories aren’t mainly “be like this character” moral lessons; they are theological stories where the narrator uses literary tools to show us what God is doing (his purposes, covenant faithfulness, and sovereignty) through flawed people, so we should read OT narrative for what the author highlights about God, not just behavior tips.

Sources:

[1]Hershael W. York and Bert Decker, Preaching with Bold Assurance: A Solid and Enduring Approach to Engaging Exposition (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 72.

John H. Walton, Wisdom for Faithful Reading: Principles and Practices for Old Testament Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2023)

In On the Incarnation, Athanasius offers an apologetic for the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that the disciples of Christ no longer seriously feared death.

The way he talks about it is captivating. He describes the weakness of death and how, after their conversion, believers “go eagerly to meet it.” He says:

“Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot, the passers-by sneer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass, and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, ‘O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?’”

I can’t fully explain it, but his words really sank in. There’s a sense of conviction there. Of course, we do not seek out death. But is my life and the fact that I have eternal life in Christ and death has no hold over me, an apologetic for the cross?

And then he says what really struck me:

“Or is it a slight indication of the Savior’s victory over it, when boys and young girls who are in Christ look beyond this present life and train themselves to die?”

What a statement. Young boys and girls in Christ, training themselves to die. They are so overwhelmed with the thought of heaven that death is almost welcomed by mere children.

My initial thought was, how does the church in the West recapture this defense? Can we? Yes, we are blessed. We do not experience persecution like the early church, or even like many churches in other countries today. Thank God for that.

But Athanasius speaks as if this fearless posture toward death was normal, something that clearly distinguished Christians from unbelievers.

Maybe this is because here in America, everything is about looking younger, feeling younger, covering up our oldness, covering up the fact that we are dying.

It seems we are so afraid of death, which is why Athanasius’ words struck me. We do things to distract us from the fact that we will die. Constantly on the move, forever busy, forever distracted, always looking for something new.

And this is me too!

As I sit and think about eternal life, and death truly being defeated, I pray, Lord, help me taste that You conquered the grave, and live like it’s true.

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Question

How and why did God create us?

Answer

God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory.

Scripture

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Selected Quotes

“The glory of God is the first thing that God’s children should desire. It is the object of one of our Lord’s own prayers: ‘Father, glorify thy name’ (John 12:28). It is the purpose for which the world was created. It is the end for which the saints are chosen and converted. It is the chief thing that we should seek, that ‘God in all things may be glorified’ (1 Peter 4:11).”
— J. C. Ryle (1816–1900)

“So God makes us in his image. He makes humans in his image to image something, namely, himself. So our existence is about showing God’s existence or, specifically, it’s about showing God’s glory. Which I think means God’s manifold perfections — the radiance, the display, the streaming out of his many-colored, beautiful perfections. We want to think and love and act and speak in such a way that we draw attention to the manifold perfections of God. And I think the way we do that best is by being totally satisfied in those perfections ourselves. They mean more to us than money and more to us than fame and more to us than sex or anything else that competes for our affections. And when people see us valuing God that much and his glory being that satisfying, they see that he is our treasure.”
— John Piper

Reflection:

LORD God, remind us today that every human is created in your likeness. All individuals deserve dignity and respect because they reflect your image. Help us to love you and those made in your image as we go through our day. We are made to glorify you and display your glory to others. You said it’s not good for man to be alone. Guide us toward community where your glory shines between us and extends to the world.

Show us today how to best honor you, enjoy you, and know you.

Source: The New City Catechism

This semester in school, I’m learning how to read the Old Testament more carefully. By paying attention to genre and how different parts of the Old Testament are actually meant to work.

The Old Testament is difficult to read, let alone understand. We are so far removed from that time and culture. For school, we had to build a framework for understanding the OT. Broken into four sections 1. Pentateuch 2. Narrative 3. Wisdom/Psalms 4.Prophecy/Apocalyptic.

For the next four weeks, on Wednesdays, I will share what I am learning about how to faithfully read these genres, in hopes that you might pull a nugget or two for your personal reading.

Let’s start with the Pentateuch, Genesis-Deuteronomy.

Some avoid them, treat them like a rulebook, or rush through them. Genesis becomes a scientific argument, Leviticus becomes a legal manual, and Numbers can feel random.

But the Pentateuch isn’t about science. And it’s not mainly about laws. It’s about God bringing order, establishing the covenant, and dwelling with His people.

If you miss that, you’re missing out on a lot.

What the Pentateuch Is Actually Doing

The Pentateuch is the theological foundation of the Old Testament. It holds together three big ideas:

• Creation

• Covenant

• Torah/law or instruction

And they are not separate themes. They work together.

1. Creation: God Establishes Order

Genesis 1 is not trying to win debates with modern science. It’s showing God bringing order and purpose to the cosmos.

Here is something I am still thinking through(haven’t fully settled on this, but wanted to share): Day seven is the climax of the Genesis creation narrative, in Genesis 1-2. God “rests,” not because He’s tired, but because He reigns as King over the cosmos. Walton said:

“When God is resting on his throne, ruling the cosmos, he then brings rest to his people. That does not refer to leisure or naps, but to stability and security—order!”

Rest is a royal rule. Order has been established, and the King is on His throne. That theme of God ruling through ordered presence runs through everything that follows.

2. Covenant: God Restores Relationship

After sin fractures that order, God chooses Abraham. Then He forms Israel.

Covenant is how God reestablishes His relationship and presence among His people. It is not abstract theology. It is relational and royal. God is restoring His rule among a people who belong to Him.

3. Torah: Instruction for Life with a Holy King

The Torah is not modern legislation. It’s a covenant instruction and here is what It assumes:

• God’s presence is in the midst of the people

• Holiness matters

• Sacred space matters

• Order must be protected

These laws form the wisdom for living with a holy God who dwells among you, and that’s very different from reading them as random rules. The Torah serves the covenant, and the Covenant does not exist for legalism.

Why Ancient Context Matters

If we read these books through modern categories like science, democracy, individualism, and legal codes, we will distort them.

The Pentateuch is operating in a world where:

• Creation is about order and purpose, not material mechanisms

• Covenant is God’s way of reestablishing a relationship and His presence

• Torah is instruction for ordered life with God dwelling among His people

• God’s “rest” means His royal rule is bringing stability and security

• Israel exists as a covenant people under God’s kingship

We have to enter that world first. Then we can faithfully apply it to our Christian walk.

How To Read the Pentateuch Well

When you open Genesis–Deuteronomy, ask:

• Where are we in the flow of creation, covenant, and Torah?

• How is this passage connected to God’s presence?

• Is this about order, purpose, or covenant structure?

• Where are we in covenant history?

• Is this command tied to Israel’s specific setting?

• What is God doing here, not just what are the people doing?

• What did this mean in its ancient context, before I jump to today?

The Pentateuch is not mainly about isolated moral lessons. It is about ordered life under the rule of a covenant King. Once you start to see and think that, while reading the Pentateuch, it will slowly start to open up to you.

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Source: John H. Walton, Wisdom for Faithful Reading: Principles and Practices for Old Testament Interpretation (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2023)

Question:

How many persons are there in God?

Answer:

There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

The Trinity:

1. God is one. There’s only one God

2. The Father is God

3. The Son is God

4. The Holy Spirit is God

5. The Father is not the Son

6. The Son is not the Spirit

7. The Spirit is not the Father

Selected Quotes

“The great mystery of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being one God, is made necessary to us to be believed… but especially for the knowledge of God’s three great sorts of works on man: that is, as our Creator, and the God of nature; as our Redeemer, and the God of governing and reconciling grace; and as our Sanctifer, and the Applier and Perfecter of all to fit us to glory.”
— Richard Baxter (1615–1691)

“When you have a triune God, you have the eternality of love. Love has existed from all time. If you have a god who is not three persons, he has to create a being to love, to be an expression of his love. But Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, existing in eternity, have always had this relationship of love. So love is not a created thing. God didn’t have to go outside himself to love. Love is eternal. And when you have a triune God, you have fully this God who is love.”
— Kevin DeYoung

Reflection:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are beyond our understanding. Thank you for bringing us into your love, which existed before the foundation of the world. May we be one with you as you Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.

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Source: The New City Catechism

Why I Read The Prodigal God:
I read this book several years ago as a new Christian, and it's always stuck with me. Tim Keller just passed away, and I was listening to a podcast about apologetics. The person getting interviewed said that Tim Keller deeply impacted his apologetic approach. I started listening to his sermons, which eventually led me to his books. The Prodigal God was highly recommended, and it did not disappoint.

One thing this book taught me was that the Parable of the Prodigal Son is well known in and out of Christian circles. Usually, when preached or talked about, the focus is on the prodigal, the son who leaves.

But reading this book opened my eyes to the fact that the climax of Jesus’s parable wasn’t the wayward son (he’s also important); it’s the son who stayed. The elder brother’s condition is the climax of the parable, not the youngest coming home.

The Real Target of the Parable

The Gospel of Luke says that tax collectors and sinners were all coming to Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes were there as well. And they said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” in verse two. In verse three, it says that Jesus told them His parable.

Two groups of people are mentioned here. You have the tax collectors and sinners. These people correspond with the younger brother. They left home and engaged in wild living. Then you have the Pharisees and scribes, who represented the elder brother. They held to traditional values, they studied and obeyed Scripture, attended synagogues, and prayed.

It is the scribes and Pharisees who question Jesus, and the parable is a response to them directly. The parable of the two sons focuses on the elder brother’s heart and ends with the father pleading with him to change it.

Fast forward to the end of the parable. What happens? The lost son comes home and is received by his father with open arms, and they throw a feast because his lost son has come home. It is a beautiful moment, and the verse is so powerful:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. (Lk. 15:24.)

The beginning of the chapter said that the tax collectors and sinners realized their sinful state and came home. They were gathering around Jesus. But who was grumbling? The religious leaders were, and the same is happening here. The elder brother is grumbling because the father so willingly accepted the younger son back. The elder brother is invited to the feast, but he doesn’t go in.

Why doesn’t he go in? He gives his reason by saying, “Because I’ve never disobeyed you!” He is angry with his father because he stayed and got “nothing” in return. The elder brother’s self-righteousness is putting a barrier between him and the father. The younger brother’s sins are obvious to all, but the older brother’s sin of pride in his moral record, in doing the right thing, is keeping him from going into the feast with the father.

The older brother was resentful of the father because he had never gotten the party or the fattened calf that the younger brother had received. Here, you can see the older brother’s true intentions. He wanted the father’s goods. Jesus is teaching them that neither son loved the father for himself. They were both using him to get his stuff. If the older brother really cared about being with the father, we wouldn’t have had any issues going to the party. He was using his obedience to get something from the father. He was playing the long game and thinking to himself, “Because I stayed, I worked, I was obedient, you have to bless me.” When that didn’t happen, his true nature or his true reason for obeying came out.

Both brothers sin, and that sin separates them from a relationship with the father, but only one accepts the invitation to come in.

This parable ends abruptly. Jesus deliberately leaves the elder brother in his alienated state, outside the feast. The younger wayward son enters the feast. The lover of prostitutes and reckless living is saved. But the older brother who stayed and was obedient is outside. The Pharisees must’ve been sickened by this. Everything they thought they knew, Jesus was completely reversing. Because the older son was like the Pharisees, Jesus is saying you’ll be left outside the feast unless you see your errors, your sin, and repent.

The Quote That Sealed It

“Elder brothers obey God to get things. They don’t obey God to get God himself, in order to resemble him, love him, know him, and delight him. So religious and moral people can be avoiding Jesus as Savior and Lord as much as the youngest brothers who say they don’t believe in God and define right and wrong for themselves.”

Tim Keller, The Prodigal God.

Am I obeying God to be blessed by Him, or does my obedience flow out of my love for Him and wanting to bless Him? That was the question I found myself asking.

What This Taught Me About Sin

The younger son wanted to live his life free from his father. Free from his authority, he took his inheritance and lived as he wanted. What did the older son want? He wanted the same thing as the younger. He wanted the father’s gifts, but instead of running away, he stayed close and never disobeyed. This is how he was trying to take control of the father. He’s saying, “I stayed, I served, I never disobeyed you; now you have to do the things in my life that I want you to do.”

Usually, when we think of sin, we think of the younger brother. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. We think of stealing, lying, and things of that sort. Here’s the list of rules; don’t break them! But here, Jesus shows us a man who hasn’t violated virtually any of the moral wrongs we think of, yet Jesus is saying he is just as spiritually lost as the immoral person. This is because sin isn’t just about breaking the rules; it is about putting ourselves in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge, just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life. One did it by running away and being reckless, the other by being obedient and serving.

Why This Matters Today

It is so easy to fall into the older brother trap today. We assume that if people go to church, read their Bibles, and serve, they must be Christian. But that is not what Jesus is saying. The Pharisees did all of those things, but their motive, their heart, was in the wrong place. They were being obedient to be blessed by God, not to bless Him.

It is easy for Christians to get caught up in this trap. We think, “Oh, I’m a Christian, so I have to go to church and read my Bible.” Or we think that by doing those things, God HAS to bless us. We can be so busy doing the things Christians are supposed to do that we forget the person we are doing them for. Our obedience should flow out of love for God, not using God to get what we want in life. That is what the older brother was doing. He was hoping that by doing all the right things, he could control his father and get what he wanted.

Obedience Flows from Love

Now I am not saying that good works, obedience, or having good moral character are bad things at all. God wants us to be like Him. I’m saying we should do and be these things out of love for God, not obligation. When the things you do flow from your love of God and His love for you, you will bless the Father.

Paul in Ephesians 5:1–2 says:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are to be imitators of God, not in our own strength, works, power, or might, but as beloved children. When we operate and move as beloved children, then we will walk in love as Christ did.

Key Takeaway
You can be spiritually lost while looking morally faithful. The parable isn’t just about the obvious sinner who runs from God. It’s also about the moral, disciplined, religious person who obeys God in order to control Him. Both sons wanted the father's gifts more than the father himself. One did it through rebellion. The other did it through obedience.

Source: Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. New York: Dutton, 2008.

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I’ve had more than a few conversations with Jehovah’s Witnesses over the years, usually on a front porch, on the sidewalk, or even in my dining room.

The conversation almost always lands in the same place: Jesus may be exalted, but he is not God. He was created by Jehovah. In this post, I want to walk through one passage that challenges that claim, using their own Bible and translation.

JWs use a corrupt translation of the Bible called the New World Translation. It’s important to know they don’t trust any other translations of the Bible. So, if you use your own Bible, they will automatically not trust it.

As we go through these steps, it’s important to use their Bible.

First, ask them to go to Hebrews 1. Have them read Hebrews 1:1-14. Then, when they are done, ask them: Who is this about? ” They should say it’s about Jesus. This is to set the foundation. They just told you that Hebrews 1:1-11 is about Jesus.

Then have them read Psalm 102:25-27. In their translation, it reads:

25  Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth, And the heavens are the work of your hands. 26  They will perish, but you will remain; Just like a garment they will all wear out. Just like clothing you will replace them, and they will pass away. 27  But you are the same, and your years will never end.

After they read it, ask them who this is about. They should say Jehovah. Now bring them back to Hebrews.

Have them read Hebrews 1:10-12 (remember they already said it is about Jesus). In their translation, it reads:

And: “At the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. 11  They will perish, but you will remain; and just like a garment, they will all wear out, 12  and you will wrap them up just as a cloak, as a garment, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never come to an end.”

This is where you ask them again, “This is about Jesus, right?” Sometimes they will say yes, not realizing what happened. Gently remind them that we just read the same verses in Psalm 102, and they said they were about Jehovah.

This is from their translation. The verses in Psalm 102 that speak of Jehovah are the same verses used in Hebrews to speak of Jesus.

This is where you tell them that Jesus is Jehovah. This is where you tell them the true gospel and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

What to expect:

Unforuntely in my experience, this will not likely lead them to change their views or follow the true Jesus. Engaging with Jehovah’s Witnesses is tough work; you see very little fruit. But there are countless stories of people leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses after a conversation like thes. It doesn’t happen right away; it takes time and many faithful people planting seeds.

I encourage you to start planting seeds. Put a rock in their shoe. Something they will think about as they continue with their lives. If they come to your door, plant a seed. If you see them at a street corner, plant a seed.

Use this the next time you engage with JWs. Hope you enjoyed!

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What is God?

Answer:

God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.

Scripture: Psalm 86:8-10, 15

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God..

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness

Selected Quotes:

“He that first gave the laws of nature must have all nature in his hands, so that it is evident God has the world in his hands to dispose of as he pleases.”
— Jonathan Edwards

“The God of the Bible is self-defined. He speaks of himself as eternal and righteous. He is the God of love. He is the God of transcendence; that is, he is above space, time, and history. Yet he is also the immanent God; that is, he is so much with us that we cannot possibly escape from him. He is everywhere. He is unchangeable. He is truthful. He is reliable. He is personal.

“We cannot take his sovereignty and forget his goodness, or take his goodness and forget his holiness (his holiness is what makes him the God of judgment), or take his judgment—even the severity of his judgment—and forget that he is the God of love.”
— D. A. Carson

Reflection:

There is none like you, O LORD. You are holy, powerful, merciful, just, gracious, ever-present, and all-knowing. You are all things, yet set apart as Creator, high above and exalted. May I bless you today, LORD, and live in your presence.

Source: Keller, Timothy, and Sam Shammas. The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017.

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The Man:

We all know people who think they are“good.” They say things like “I’m not perfect, but I’m a good person” and “I’ve never murdered anyone.” We live in a society that has a works-based view of salvation. If you were to ask the average person how to get to heaven, the response is usually, “I’m generally a good person; I volunteer and feed the poor from time to time.”

The man who walks up to Jesus in Mark 10 is that person; let’s look at verse 17.

Verse 17 jumps right into the action as the man approaches Jesus with the question that all Christians hope someone will ask them (minus the “good teacher”): “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” You have to believe that some Christians would scream: believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and eternal life is yours! So, why doesn’t Jesus do that? Let’s look closer.

Jesus’ Response: Verse 18-21

Jesus immediately confronts the man and tells him, “No one is good except God alone.” Jesus is essentially saying to this man, “Do you know that by calling me good, you are calling me God?” The man assumes that Jesus is merely a human teacher, and Jesus challenges his reality by saying that calling him good is calling him God. He corrected the man by redefining what he considered good. Jesus says to the man that no one is actually good, and that includes you.

Then Jesus points the man to the Law, or the Ten Commandments. Remember the man’s specific question to Jesus was how to get eternal life. But, we know from other verses in Mark that it isn’t the law that gives eternal life(Mark 9:43, 45, 47; 10:15). Entry into the kingdom and receiving eternal life is a gift of God and not something that can be merited by human deeds

Jesus gives him six horizontal commandments, which relate to sinning against others. The man claims he has kept them all. The Bible says that Jesus looked at him and loved him in this moment. The man is sincere, but blind to the depth of God’s standard, blind to his sin.

When you’re a parent, you might understand this: sometimes our young kids lie to us, and it is obvious they are lying. We can see right through it, but they have no idea, and there is (at least for me) often a deep sense of love for them and their innocence.

So Jesus applies the first commandment in disguise: “You shall have no other gods before me,” and then He tells him to go sell everything and follow him. The man walks away from Jesus because he loved his god of wealth/possession more than the true and living God.

Why Point to The Law?

Why didn’t Jesus just say, “Believe and follow me for eternal life”? Well, He did. Jesus first directed the man to the law of God for one reason: to expose his sin. That’s what the Bible says the law does to people:“ For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.”(Romans 3:20.) You see that? The knowledge of the law exposes our sin!

This man needed to see that he was a sinner, which would lead him to Jesus the Savior. Jesus needed to show this man that he had broken the law. If someone doesn’t see their sinful state, they won’t see their need for a savior. Once you understand you have broken the law, the good news that your penalty has been paid will indeed be good news.

John MacArthur said, “ Grace means nothing to a person who does not know he is sinful and that such sinfulness means he is separated from God and damned. It is pointless to preach grace until the impossible demands of the Law and the reality of guilt before God are preached.”

This man didn’t see himself as a sinner in need of grace. Jesus did not point this man to the law because law-keeping can save him. Jesus pointed him to the law to reveal what was ruling his heart. The commandments exposed him, and Jesus’ call to “come, follow Me” revealed the path to life, the eternal life he was seeking.

What Does That Mean for Us Today?

Charles Spurgeon said, “I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law.” Jesus preached the law and then said, “Follow me.”

Does our modern-day evangelism look like this? Are we exposing sin and then preaching the wonderful grace of God? Certainly, we can evoke a tearful response when we tell someone Jesus loves them, and it is easier to speak about love than sin. I totally get it. But a gospel which merely says “Come to Jesus” and offers a fulfilling new life without conviction of sin is not New Testament evangelism.

Paris Reidhead said, “We have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved.” Simply put, we should not prescribe the cure before we have convinced them they are sick.

As John Wesley advised a young evangelist, for effective evangelism, preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace. The law of God is a weapon for Christians to use in evangelism. The law of God exposes sin, and once sin is seen, shower them with the grace and good news of Jesus Christ. In Mark 10, Jesus does exactly this: He uses the law to reveal the man’s heart, then calls him to follow Him.

Christian, know the law and meditate upon it. It is an effective tool in evangelism.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; (Ps 19:7)

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. ( Ps 1:2.)

Quick Tip:

I’m not saying this is the only way to talk to people about God. If you’re talking to someone about the faith and they say something like “I’m fine without God” or “I’m a good person,” use the law. May the Holy Spirit guide you.

Sources: Ray Comfort, The School of Biblical Evangelism; Ray Comfort, God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life.

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Question:

What is our only hope in life and death?

Answer:

That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Romans 14:7-8

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Selected quotes:

“We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal. O, how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own, has taken away dominion and rule from his own reason that he may yield it to God!”
- John Calvin

“The basic motive is that God sent his Son to save us by grace and to adopt us into his family. So now, because of that grace, in our gratitude, we want to resemble our Father. We want the family resemblance. We want to look like our Savior. We want to please our Father. The basic principle then is this: that we are not to live to please ourselves.”
- Timothy Keller

Reflection:

How great it is to be the Lord’s. The God of the universe calls us His own. Whatever this week holds, the catechism reminds us that we belong, both body and soul, to Him

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Why this book?

I picked up this book because I lacked a solid understanding of church history and the Protestant Reformation. That gap is often cited as a weakness of Protestant Christianity, and in my case, the criticism was fair.

I repeatedly encountered Catholic and Eastern Orthodox voices claiming that Protestantism is historically shallow and disconnected from the early Church. That raised an important question for me: Is Protestant Christianity actually rooted in history and Scripture, or is it a later invention?

What It Means to Be Protestant addresses those questions directly, arguing that Protestantism is not shallow but grounded in Scripture and meaningfully connected to the Church’s historical witness.

What is the book about?

What It Means to Be Protestant is a defense of Protestant Christianity written for readers who may be unsure what Protestantism actually claims. The book presents the Protestant Reformation as a reform movement rather than a rejection of the historic Church, focusing especially on sola fide (justification by faith alone) and sola Scriptura (Scripture as the Church’s only infallible rule for faith and practice). Ortlund also examines doctrinal developments within Catholic and Orthodox traditions that the Reformers believed required reform rather than continuation.

What This Book Does Well

• Grounds the Protestant Reformation in the faith of the apostles and early church history

• Critiques Catholic and Orthodox traditions fairly and without caricature

• Makes church history accessible and easy to understand

• Supports its arguments with both Scripture and the Church Fathers

Favorite Chapters

Chapter 6: The Case for Sola Scriptura

I believe most Protestant Christian denominations hold to the doctrine of sola Scriptura but don’t fully understand it. This chapter provides a detailed overview of this key doctrine.

Ortlund says, “Sola Scriptura is the claim that Scripture is the only authority standing over the church that is incapable of error”. He is clear, however, that this does not mean Scripture is the only authority in the Church; rather, it is the standard by which all other authorities are measured.

Chapter 7: Objections to Sola Scriptura

You can believe in a doctrine, but can you defend it? This is why this chapter was one of my favorites. Ortlund takes common objections and offers sound responses rooted in Scripture and church history.

As he walks through the objections, he concludes by saying, “It is perfectly consistent to accept a high view of tradition and the authority of the church while maintaining that only Scripture is the infallible rule of the church”.

Chapter 9: Protestantism as Retrieval

This chapter was eye-opening because it showed me the historical motivation behind the Reformers’ desire to change the Church. They did not want to leave it and start their own church; they sincerely wanted to reform it from within.

The problem was that the Catholic Church had added additional “works” necessary for salvation, which Ortlund lists early in the chapter. That was the issue the Reformers faced. While belief in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life remained affirmed, additional requirements for salvation were introduced, an issue this chapter addresses in detail.

Things to Keep in Mind

• This book is written as an introduction rather than an exhaustive response to every objection to Protestantism.

• Some chapters engage in detailed historical discussions that may feel dense to certain readers.

Who Should Read This Book?

Best for:

• Pastors, elders, and lay leaders engaging questions about church history or encountering Catholic and Orthodox critiques of Protestantism

• Christians seeking an accessible introduction to church history, especially the Protestant Reformation

• Protestants who are considering Catholicism or Orthodoxy

Probably not for:

• Readers who are not interested in historical or theological questions about Protestant identity or the origins of the Protestant Reformation

Final Assessment

This book is a clear and historically grounded introduction to Protestant Christianity that avoids strawmanning other Christian traditions. It is important because, as Ortlund puts it, “People are aching for the ancient, the transcendent, the stable, the deep”, and this book helps show how Protestant Christianity can meaningfully offer that.

Question for Readers

Have you encountered anti-Protestant objections from Catholic or Orthodox friends? If so, what have you heard?

References

Ortlund, Gavin. What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always Reforming Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2023.

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