Jesus is never mentioned in Psalms, but best-selling author Tim Keller sees him there

Jesus is never mentioned in Psalms, but best-selling author Tim Keller sees him there

When I saw the title of this piece by Jonathan Merritt who writes for the Religion News Service, I wasn’t sure how to take it. Was he implying that Jesus isn’t in the Psalms, and that Keller was reading that into the text. After reading the interview, I’m not sure what he thinks, and maybe that’s a good thing. But to question whether Jesus is in the Psalms even though his name isn’t used, obviously, is to ignore that Jesus himself said the Psalms, as well as the rest of the Old Testament did indeed speak of him. In fact, as I happen to be reading through the Psalms now, I am often reminded about the time Jesus spent with the disciples post-resurrection. The very first thing he did with two of them on the road to Emmaus was say this:

25 “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

In that same chapter after he’d appeared to the rest of the disciples and basically freaks them out, he takes a piece of fish, eats it and says:

This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

Luke adds that “he” opened their minds so that “they could understand the Scriptures.” And it wasn’t just a time or two. Luke tells us in the first chapter of Acts:

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

So not only did he spend a lot of time teaching them how the Scriptures, our OT, all pointed to him, but proving to them that he was indeed alive, that he was in fact Jesus of Nazareth risen from the Dead! If you read through the Psalms you can’t miss our risen Lord in it. The whole of the Bible, from the first words of Genesis 1, to the very last words of Revelation, is about Christ. A short and readable book by Edmund Clowney is an excellent introduction to this critical concept not taught nearly enough in America’s Bible-believing churches: The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament.

 

 

D.A. Carson on “The God Who is There”

D.A. Carson on “The God Who is There”

Don Carson is Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in the Chicago area, an author of numerous books, and just a plain old brilliant guy. I’ve read several of his books, but recently came across a series of talks by him at Apologetics315 called, “The God Who is There,” a book he had written of the same name. The title may sound familiar because it is the same as a ground breaking book by Francis Schaeffer written almost 50 years ago. Dr. Carson does a spectacular job of giving a broad yet detailed overview of redemptive history, from Genesis to Revelation. Although a professor, his speaking style is anything but professorial. And his Reformed theological perspective is refreshing in an age when what we do for God seems more important than what God has done for us.

 

 

 

Revisiting ‘Faithful Presence’: ‘To Change the World,’ Five Years Later

Revisiting ‘Faithful Presence’: ‘To Change the World,’ Five Years Later

I read James Davison Hunter’s “To Change The World” several years ago and thought it was a brilliant analysis of the power of cultural institutions to shape the culture. His strategy for cultural engagement, though, left me puzzled at the time. He called it “faithful presence,” and there didn’t seem to be any sense that he believes Christians should want to influence the culture. This question of Christians and their relationship to culture is a complicated one, as H. Richard Niebuhr described in his seminal book on the subject, Christ and Culture. I think I understand “faithful presence” better now, but what is the take away of a discussion of culture for Christian parents?

We cannot take for granted or be unaware of the culture’s influence on our kids. It is more than obvious that we live in a post-Christian culture hostile to our faith. Some parents fear this hostility, or try to protect their children from it. I have a different take: culture can be our children’s best friend, if we know how to use it. We call using culture to defend and affirm the faith cultural apologetics, and it gets an entire chapter in the book; it is that important. Culture is ubiquitous, so every day we practically we have a myriad of opportunities to strengthen our kids faith as we interact with the culture.

Christian parents will want to read Hunter’s book to get an understanding of where true cultural influence comes from, and why the assault on Christianity has such power in our day. The Gospel Coalition has just published a eBook that takes a look at Hunter’s work five years later:

In 2010, noted University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter published the landmark book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. On the five-year anniversary of its publication, we asked eight contributors to engage the book’s thesis and assess its effect on the ongoing interaction of evangelical Christians with the surrounding culture. The result is The Gospel Coalition’s first eBook, Revisiting ‘Faithful Presence’:To Change the World Five Years Later. You can download the book, for free, to read in your preferred format.

You can find an introduction to the book at The Gospel Coalition’s website, and and links to download it in various formats.

God and the Evidence Agree: Good Old Nuclear Family Still Best

Unless you are wedded, no pun intended, to a left-wing ideological agenda you know intuitively that the traditional family of a married mother and father with children works best for the children. This is simply indisputable, and we can add more recently released studies to further confirm this. One of the study’s authors said, “children appear most apt to succeed well as adults when they spend their entire childhood with their married mother and father, and especially when the parents remain married to the present day.” William Galston at the Wall Street Journal argues that the breakdown of the family is especially problematic for the black family. (more…)

Musician Sir the Baptist: I’m Anti-Religion, Not Anti-God

Musician Sir the Baptist: I’m Anti-Religion, Not Anti-God

There is much talk in American culture about young Christians going off to college or into life and abandoning their faith. I’m sure there are many reasons why this is so, but I think one consistent reason is that teenagers see their parents and people in church live out a faith they simply cannot relate to. I came across an example in a piece about a young rap singer who grew up in a church where his father was a pastor, and while it doesn’t appear that he has completely abandoned the faith, he’s definitely abandoned the “religion” he was raised in. What exactly was it that alienated him? (more…)