Continuity Between Moses and Christ: A Puritan’s Doorway to Traditional Liturgy (Part 2)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
~Hebrews 1:1-2

God has given us many glimpses of Heaven throughout history. But two particular covenantal administrations stand out. First that of Moses, to whom YHWH gave the law and the priestly order, and second and greater than Moses, is Jesus Christ, the new Adam, our covenant head. In Christ God’s glory is made manifest. All we need to know about Heaven we learn from Christ.

So when Jesus says to pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven,” he is telling us to pray for a reality of which he is the very revelation. In fact, the Book of Revelation is called “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

But let’s take a step back. Clearly, as we read from Hebrews, the glory of Christ replaces and overwhelms the glory of Moses. But does that mean that the Old Mosaic administration is completely useless when it comes to teaching us about worship? What exactly is the glory of Moses to begin with?

Often when one turns to the Mosaic Tabernacle administration to glean insight into how Christian worship is to be done, he is told, “You cannot do that. That is the Old, and we are living in the New. The forms and rituals of the priestly administration are past, to be replaced with worship in spirit and truth.”

I don’t think such a dichotomy can be supported by Scripture. In fact, the closer we look at passages specifically regarding worship, the more we will see a continuity between administrations. The Old is surpassed and supplanted by the New . . . but rather than something completely different from what has passed before, the New is actually a fuller and more glorious realization of the Old!

When one replaces old clothing with new, one does not reinvent the way clothing is structured or the way it works. A new shirt will have sleeves and buttons and the rest, just like the old, even if the new is made of silk and the old is made of ragged coarse wool. Both bear the same design and serve the same purpose, that is to clothe the upper body. Illustrations break down at some point because they cannot capture the richness of the covenant. But this one serves to highlight a single point:

We should expect to see continuity between revelation of Heaven in the Old Testament and that of the New, as both of these have the same designer—God—and also serve the same purpose, that is to draw God’s people into His presence to serve Him and to be served by Him at His table. And, in fact, we do find continuity. The New is clearer, less hidden, and more glorious. But the Old was true revelation just the same, of the same Heaven.

The Tabernacle was designed to represent Heaven on Earth to God’s people. The entire structure and administration was itself a model of Heaven. The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant, where God sat and was present among His people, was flanked by cherubim. The curtain that veiled the Holy of Holies was purple, embroidered with cherubim. Everything was overlaid with gold. The Holy of Holies was the very throne room of YHWH, and was the most separate place from the unsanctified world. As we move outward from that room, we have the Holy Place, the Outer Court, the camp if Israel, and then finally, the desert outside the camp.

One of the most significant differences between the Mosaic picture of Heaven and the New Covenant is that in the Tabernacle and the Temple, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and he only once a year to pour blood on the mercy seat. But in the New Covenant the veil no longer divides God’s throne room from His people, having been torn by Christ in his sacrifice on the cross. Therefore we no longer approach the mercy seat remotely through an earthly representative, but boldly as God’s gathered people, through our only mediator, Christ, who is also our only sacrifice.

The view has changed somewhat, but the symbols are the same because the Old Covenant symbols represented to Israel the New Covenant reality. Specific symbols commanded to be pictured in the Tabernacle are really present before God in Heaven and in the Church on Earth. So when we do away with the Old, we must at the same time embrace the reality of the New.

If the Old Covenant house of God and Israel’s place of worship was designed to picture Heaven on Earth, should we expect Heaven to be lifted up and taken away from our presence in an administration of greater and richer glory? Certainly not. At least not while we pray, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” The Tabernacle was designed to picture Heaven on Earth, but the Church gathered in worship is designed to be Heaven on Earth:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
~Hebrews 12:22-24

Next: Continuity between the Prophetic Worship and the New Covenant

The Lord’s Prayer: A Puritan’s Doorway to Traditional Liturgy (Part 1)

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

On Earth as it is in Heaven. What exactly does that mean? Of course it has an eschatological dimension. We look forward to the day when all of the earth will be subdued to Christ and His rule of law will be complete and absolute. This same dimension finds expression in the Eucharist, because our communion declares the Lord’s death, looking forward to the day when He will return in glory. At the Lord’s table we look forward to the blessed marriage supper of the Lamb.

However, like the Eucharist, these words are relevant to the Church for the here and now. If we are to continually pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” should we not seek to see God’s will done in the present? As the Church disciples nations, as it teaches families and individuals how to relate to one another as Christians ought, it is becoming God’s instrument for the fulfillment of this prayer in the world, one step at a time.

“On Earth as it is in Heaven.”

If this is an end toward which we have a part in working, that phrase sort of demands that we ask a question, doesn’t it? If we seek to see God’s will done here as it is in heaven, then what are we looking for?  In other words, just how is it done in heaven? Instead of writing the petition off as some vague wishful hope for a future reality, perhaps we should look at the passages of Scripture that give us lucid pictures of how things are done Heaven and . . . well, do that on Earth!

When we petition God to give us our daily bread (probable direct reference to the Eucharist aside), we do not expect God to simply drop bread out of the sky. We must work for that bread, trusting God to ultimately provide. In the same way, when we petition that God’s will might be done here as it is in Heaven, this does not mean that we ought to sit passively by just waiting for it to happen. Especially when we are given such clear visions of how it is to be done.

I suggest that the clearest view we have of the heavenly workings is in the Book of Revelation. It reveals things to us about Heaven that are only hinted at or shown in glimpses throughout the rest of the Bible, though there are many other passages that we can and should draw from to form a clear picture of what is done in heaven and how it relates to Christians in the New Covenant. And the context of Revelation is the Lord’s Day. John receives the vision as he is “in spirit.”

From that point on, the great theme throughout the book—what we see first and foremost happening in Heaven—is worship. Surely this has direct application for how our worship on Earth ought to look. When we read of the hosts of heaven—the angels, the saints, the martyrs, the elders—praising God, glorifying Christ, eating a feast, etc., we need to take note of those things. Just as importantly, we ought to take note of how they do those things. If the worship of Heaven looks like that . . . how does that inform our worship on Earth, if we pray as Christ taught us to pray: “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”?

I was planning to do this all in one post, but I think it would best be spread over several, point by point. So let this serve as my introduction. Through the next several posts in this series (or however many it takes) I want to show that if we remain faithful to our Reformed heritage of Sola Scriptura, we will find that the Biblical text not only doesn’t forbid traditional liturgies of the Church, but also properly leads us into a rich form of liturgical worship, which has been grasped and developed by the Church throughout the last 2,000 years.

And lest we get stuck in man’s tradition, we must understand that as the Spirit guides the Church to maturity, our worship should move from glory to greater glory, and our liturgy must be progressively purified, refined like gold, and brought closer and closer to that which we will be doing for eternity in the presence of Christ. This maturation has been taking place throughout the last 2,000 years, and we should expect to see it continue. God’s Spirit is not done with the Church.

Points of Contention

Last Sunday we had a Rev. Charles Svoboda preach at our church. He was from the IFCA, he was 87 years old, he was dispensational. He made repeated reference to the “blessed hope” and “glorious appearing” of Christ in a way that clearly referred to the Rapture, and he adamantly maintained that the world is getting worse—a sure sign of the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Svoboda came to Christ at Cicero Bible Church in 1941, the same church where my parents’ college pastor Dr. Saxe was converted, and under the ministry of the same man. Providentially, Pastor Saxe’s son Jonathan was visiting us and our church with his family that very Sunday, and were able to meet him. We discovered that not only did Dr. Svoboda know Pastor Saxe, he had spoken to him only a few days before!

Now, I am actually going somewhere with this. Anyone who has read my articles on eschatology knows I don’t agree with the dispensational interpretation of Scripture. But as soon as this man began to speak, it was clear that he was immersed in the Bible. He had memorized these passages of salvation that he was presenting to us, the congregation, and he believed them with all his heart. As soon as he began to speak, even before I knew who he was or where he came from, I was completely at ease with him.

Because even though I may not agree with him or Pastor Saxe or any number of these people in their eschatology, I cannot help but acknowledge and respect whole lives lived for Christ, the love they have for the people of God, and the pure sincerity with which they serve the Lord. Although I continue to examine various passages and attempt to bring deeper and perhaps different meanings to light in the Scripture, I do not despise these people with whom I disagree. How can I? No Christian should despise them for the sake of their theology. They represent collectively many hundreds of years of service to God. We all can learn a lot from that.

“Which Way Are We Coming?” part 2 Interpretive Issues in 1 Thessalonians 4 (v.17)

I am departing a short while from Matthew 24, though we’re not going too far, since I’ll be referencing Matthew 25.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

This is the classic passage that many understand as refering to the Rapture, whether pre-tribulational, post-tribulational, or mid-tribulational. The passage tells us that Jesus will descend from heaven to take up all who believe in him. From there, many interpreters will generally read the passage with the assumption that all those who have been taken up will then go with Jesus back up into the clouds to be with him forever.

I want to propose that when we read the passage this way, we are reading the translation at its English face value and missing the original meaning, which should be determined primarily by comparing the section to other similar passages. We should always follow the general principle of biblical interpretation to read more difficult sections in light of similar but clearer ones.

For the purpose of this article I’ll be concentrating on one word: “meet.”

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air . . .

This word “meet” in the Greek text is a lot richer than in our English translations. It has implications for direction, initiator, etc. The English “meet” is a translation of the Greek apantesis. By lexical definition this word means far more than to simply encounter. I want to first establish the lexical definition and then take a look at how the word is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

From Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:

apantesis (ἀπάντησις, 529), “a meeting” (akin to A, No. 1), occurs in Matt. 25:6 (in some mss. in v. 1, and in 27:32, in some mss.); Acts 28:15; 1 Thess. 4:17. It is used in the papyri of a newly arriving magistrate. “It seems that the special idea of the word was the official welcome of a newly arrived dignitary.”

So no ordinary meeting this is, but one of a city going out to meet a dignitary or magistrate. When the dignitary approached a city, the elders of the city would go out to meet him and escort him back into the city.

Interesting as a lexical definition, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us about how apantesis is used in the biblical literature. Let’s take a closer look at the other two New Testament uses of the word. We should pay particular attention to who is doing the “meeting,” who is being “met,” which direction both parties are traveling, and where they go afterward.

Let’s start with the clearest of the three usages:

Acts 28:15

And so we came to Rome. And ^the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, ^Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, ^Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier that guarded him.

So . . .

1) Paul is traveling toward the city of Rome.
2) The brethren meet him.
3) Paul and the brethren continue on into Rome, the original destination.

Let’s take a look at Matthew 25:1-11

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

This is an important passage to consider in relation to 1 Thessalonians 4 because it is most likely describing the same events in parable form. Christ returns to Earth to claim his bride, who is patiently awaiting him. So let’s look at the same questions here that we did in Acts 28.

1) The bridegroom is going to the marriage feast.
2) The virgins go out to meet him.
3) They continue on to the marriage feast, the original destination.

It is not explicitly stated that the virgins are already at the location of the feast, but that can be inferred fairly clearly as the parable’s narrative seems to depend on it. The bridegroom certainly does not fetch them from where they are waiting and whisk them off to some far away location. Rather, while the foolish virgins are away buying more oil, the bridegroom comes and enters into the marriage feast with the five wise virgins. The foolish virgins return to their original location to find the door already shut.

I think it is pretty clear that the lexical definition of apantesis fits the biblical usage almost exactly. Someone important approaches, those waiting go to meet him, and then escort him back to the location where they were waiting. In no case does the one being met reverse direction and return the way he came. On the contrary, it is the party meeting the dignitary who changes direction.

What can we gather about the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 by comparing it with these other similar texts? Well, let’s use our “who and where” questions in the same way:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

So reading in light of the other usages of apantesis, here is what we see:

1) The Lord descends from heaven [toward Earth].
2) After the dead rise first, we who are alive go to meet him in the air.
3) [We accompany the Lord back to Earth, which he was originally approaching, and where we were waiting for him].

Here’s a quick diagram illustrating what we find when comparing all three of these passages in parallel:

We see here that the most natural and biblically consistent reading of
1 Thessalonians 4:17 gives us a picture of the second and final coming, when Jesus will come to judge and rule the world forever. When examined closely it does not appear to be such a good fit for a pre-trib or mid-trib Rapture. To see the Rapture in this text you would have to approach the passage with that already in mind.

Jesus does not simply snatch his bride from the world and take her away to Heaven, never to be seen again. Rather, He calls her up to Him as He approaches, and together they descend to Earth in glory, where she will be with Him forever.

Finally we note that in Matthew 25, if we read it as a parallel to
1 Thessalonians 4, we find that the marriage feast is the final destination, not simply a marker in the middle of God’s time line. It is to the marriage feast that Christ and his bride return after their “meeting” in the air. It is not something that happens in the clouds, but rather it takes place in this world, which God loved and gave his Son to redeem. That feast will be in the New Heavens and the New Earth, when Jesus Christ returns, physically and visibly, just as he ascended. That is the kingdom of heaven.

“Which Way Are We Coming?” Interpretive Issues in Matthew 24 (v.30)

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (ESV)

If you read this and most other translations, you can easily come to a mis-understanding of what the text is actually saying. In English, this verse appears to say that the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. As this lends itself to our imagination, we picture people on Earth gazing up at the sky at some supernatural apparition—the sign of the Son of Man. But there is a better and more likely interpretation of this phrase. To understand it, we need to ask ourselves, what, exactly, is “in heaven”? In Greek, this can more naturally (and in light of the second half of this verse, which I’ll come to, more likely does) refer to the location of the Son of Man, rather than to the sign. The sign simply appears, and the location of its appearing is not disclosed.

How does the second half of the verse support this interpretation? Again, if we just read the English, and particularly if we do not read it in the light of other Scriptural texts to which it refers, we may let our imaginations get the better of us. We picture Jesus Christ, robed in brilliant light, riding the clouds of heaven like a chariot, descending to Earth on the last day with a host of his angelic army following at his back.

But let’s think biblically here instead of letting our creative natures run wild. To what is this verse referring? The Son of Man on the clouds of Heaven refers, in fact, to Daniel 7:13-14.

I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

I have a couple observations about this. First, there should be no doubt that Matthew 24:30 is a direct reference to Daniel 7:13. Both speak of the Son of Man “coming” on the clouds of heaven; both speak of the Son of Man’s power and glory. Matthew 24 describes the fulfillment of Daniel 7.

So this is Christ’s second coming, right?

The problem is when we consider the direction the Son is “coming.” In English, when we say “come,” we automatically assume that the subject is travelling in our direction. Hence our tendency to interpret Matthew 24:30 as Christ “coming” down to Earth. But we need to consider the perspective of Daniel and the purpose of Matthew.
Which way is the Son of Man coming in the texts? Daniel views his visions from a high heavenly vantage point. In Daniel 7, the Son is coming to the Ancient of Days. In proper English, from an earthly perspective, the text tells us that Christ is really going, not coming. So why does Matthew say “coming”? Matthew is quoting Daniel almost word for word. Since Daniel (viewing things from a heavenly vantage point) says “coming,” Matthew uses the same word to make the reference explicit. That may make the direction of movement more obscure, but that is only if one isn’t aware of Daniel 7.

Let’s compare this with a conflation of two other passages—

Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 1:9.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

Sound familiar? All of these passages are speaking of Jesus Christ going to the Father’s right hand on the clouds. I don’t think there can be much doubt. Matthew 24:30 is speaking not of Christ’s second coming to Earth at the end of history (which is yet to come) but of his ascension to the right hand of the Father (which happened at a particular point in history), where he rules both Heaven and Earth.

So in light of this, what is the first half of the verse saying? It is Jesus’ promise to his listeners that they will be given a sign that the Son of Man is in Heaven—that he has gone to the right hand of the Father, and that he rules. Of course, the rest of Matthew 24 must be read with this in mind. And we should note that the tribulation comes before this sign.

While we should not confuse the sign with that which is signified (the sign is the evidence of a state that is already in effect), most often sign and signified are temporally linked. One closely follows the other in time and space. From this, we may infer (though not with complete confidence from this text), that since the signified (ascension and rule) occurred two thousand years ago, the event of the sign itself also is history.