Images of the Savior (16 — The Birth of Perez)
By pitchford | May 9, 2008
When Jacob had first been driven out of the promised land by the wrath of his brother Esau, the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham seemed in every way to be in jeopardy: for he had received both the birthright and the blessing, and the Abrahamic promises were therefore all bound up in his own future and fruitfulness; and not as yet having any offspring by which the Messianic line could advance, nor any wife by whom he should raise up a seed, nor even any goods and possessions to sustain him in his wanderings, his life was in imminent danger, and the likelihood of his entering again into the land where the fulfillment of the promises was centered seemed very small. It was, therefore, a most gracious and powerful operation of God that some twenty years later, after many trials and dangers had been overcome, he would again enter the land of Canaan with wives, goods, possessions, and twelve sons through whom God had purposed to build a mighty nation, and through one of whom he intended to bring about the One who should fulfill every promised blessing, that is, the Messiah. Until this generation, God had seen fit to pass along the Abrahamic promises to one sole heir of each father, first to Isaac alone instead of Ishmael, and then to Jacob alone instead of Esau. But now, returning to Canaan with twelve sons who should all be possessors of the promise, the question of how the Messianic blessing should be passed on is in some manner changed, and hence becomes, “Which of the twelve brothers shall gain ascendancy over all the rest, and be chosen to bring about the Seed in whom all alike shall be blessed?”. The several histories of this time immediately after Jacob’s leaving Laban have all to do with the answer to that one question. Read the rest of this entry »
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Images of the Savior (15 — Jacob at Peniel)
By pitchford | May 2, 2008
Everywhere in the Law and the Prophets we see Christ and his gospel-work symbolized, prophesied, and foreshadowed in many marvelous ways: but only a very few times, and at the most critical junctures of redemptive history, do we see our Savior, before his advent in Bethlehem, appear in visible form to his saints. Jacob’s encounter at Peniel, just prior to his return to the land of promise, is one of these occurrences; and in this history, we may learn much of our blessed Redeemer, and of the true religion which alone prevails with him. To this end, we now turn our attention to the account at hand. Read the rest of this entry »
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Images of the Savior (14 — Jacob and Laban)
By pitchford | April 25, 2008
As we continue to follow the life of our father Jacob, we see that at every step, God causes him to flourish and increase, no matter what contingencies might face him. So it is that, having been driven out from the promised land by the rage of his brother Esau, God used his sojourn in another land to make him into a great family, which should later issue forth in a mighty nation, and eventually, the Christ himself. And likewise, in every cheat and deception that he endured from Laban his uncle, he always prospered and grew stronger, rather than weaker, due always to God’s particular care and governance. The time that Jacob spent with Laban, although necessitated by a brother’s persecution and marked throughout by hardship and unjust treatment, was the very time when he sprang up in the faith, and began to put forth those buds which would eventuate in the mighty boughs of the Kingdom of God. We would do well to learn from this, for the same mystery is at work even today, among those who are Jacob’s heirs and possessors of the promise. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Personal Manifesto
By pitchford | April 22, 2008
Part One: Principles by Which to Order My Life
1.Life is short, and comprises the only time I have to labor for eternal results. Psalm 90:10; Ecclesiastes 9:10
2.After the brief duration of my life, I must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account of how I used my time. Hebrews 9:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10
3.If I have failed to put my time to eternally profitable ends, but live instead for the present, I will receive punishment and shame. Matthew 25:24-30; Luke 16:25
4.The only way in which I can certainly devise which ends are eternally profitable is by taking heed according to God’s Word. Psalm 119:9-11; 2 Timothy 3:14-17
5.The ultimate end of my existence, and the end to which I should direct all my labors, is the glory of God. Isaiah 43:7; Revelation 4:11;1 Corinthians 10:31
6.The glory of God is best displayed by its being seen and delighted in. John 17:1-7; Ezekiel 28:22; Psalm 32:11; 34:8
7.The glory of God is best seen through the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. John 1:14, 18; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 1:23-24
8.The person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ is the central theme of the Word of God. John 5:39-40; Luke 24:25-27, 44-47
9.Therefore, my time will best be spent in laboring to see Christ from the scriptures, and thus glorifying God and securing my own eternal joy. John 17:24 Read the rest of this entry »
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Images of the Savior (13 — Jacob and Esau)
By pitchford | April 19, 2008
In all the accounts of God’s dealing with the patriarchs thus far, we have been primarily struck with these two things, first, God’s absolute sovereignty in choosing and calling out the subjects of his redemptive blessing; and second, the surprising and unexpected ways in which he does so, which may be seen both in the choice of the vessels which he should prepare for mercy, and the means by which he should bring this mercy to bear in their lives. Thus, God called Abraham alone, when he had many and mighty nations and nobles which he might instead have chosen; he called Isaac and not Ishmael, although Ishmael was Abraham’s eldest son, and begotten of natural and expected means, whereas Isaac was younger and begotten in a most surprising way; and he ensured and ratified the blessing which he had sworn should come through Isaac by commanding that he be put to death on Mount Moriah, before he had been able to extend Abraham’s line. In these and in many other ways beside, we see those two notable truths everywhere confirmed and illustrated. Now, as we look to the account of the next generation of the patriarchs, and observe the early life of Jacob and Esau, we will see again the same truths most admirably displayed. Read the rest of this entry »
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Poems
By pitchford | April 14, 2008
If anyone is interested, I just compiled and self-published a book of poems with Lulu. Quite a variety of poems, mostly lyrical but with a few narratives, and including several hymns such as “Lovely Progression” (which I recently posted here). The download is free, hard copies are $14.95.
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Images of the Savior (12 — The Provision of a Wife for Isaac)
By pitchford | April 12, 2008
It is altogether fitting that Abraham’s promised Son, Isaac, should be set forth as a type of our Savior in every notable event of his life: for, first of all, his birth was of so miraculous a nature as to reinforce to Abraham the truth that the promised Seed, who would bless all the nations of the earth, could never come naturally, by the efforts of the flesh, as Ishmael came. On the contrary Isaac came by the divine promise, and through the divine power, which is even able to bring life out of death. And so that son in whom was said to be the promised Seed, Christ our Savior, was, even from his birth, a type of the Savior, by virtue of his life which was brought out of death, through the power of God, and in accordance with his covenant promise. And second, in the account of Abraham’s testing, we have as clear a personal type as can be found in all of scriptures, of the substitutionary sacrifice and the rising again of our Savior; by means of which test, Abraham demonstrated his faith in the coming Messiah, whom he knew that God would certainly raise from the dead, and thus received his own promised son, “in a figure,” back from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19). And so, if in two marvelous and unsurpassed ways this man Isaac served to foreshadow the life of our Savior, then we may with some reason suppose that the next notable circumstance in his life, the means by which he obtained his wife, may also convey some truth to us about the coming work of the true Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. In pursuance of which expectation, we will now turn to the account in Genesis, chapter twenty-four. Read the rest of this entry »
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Images of the Savior (11 — The Offering Up of Isaac on Mount Moriah)
By pitchford | April 5, 2008
We have already observed how perfectly fitted the miraculous conception and birth of Isaac was to foreshadow the virgin birth of Abraham’s true promised Seed, Jesus Christ; and now, as we continue to examine the details of his later history, we come to find as well that God was pleased to arrange circumstances in such a way as to make his life prefigure in an astonishing and unsurpassed manner the substitutionary offering of Christ on the cross. This truth, from the outset, should serve to underscore the illimitable worth and precise centrality of the atoning death of Christ: his virgin birth, as sweet and awe-inspiring as it was, had no other end than the bloody death of Calvary which should follow it some thirty-three years later. The virgin birth was a mighty and necessary step toward a great end; but the end itself was Calvary. We see this relationship hinted at also in the life of Isaac, Abraham’s first promised seed, who was given a miraculous birth just to have it taken away from him violently and unseasonably (in a figure) by the very God who had brought him into the world in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »
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Images of the Savior (10 — The Birth of Isaac)
By pitchford | March 28, 2008
Of all the notable things that could be said of the life of Abraham our father, without a doubt the most outstanding is only this: he was promised by the God of heaven, to whom nothing is impossible, that he should be given a Seed who would bless all the nations of the earth, and bring down the very presence of God to mankind. It stands to reason, then, that of all the types that we see displayed in Abraham’s calling, wanderings, the covenant ceremonies he went through, and so on, one of the most notable should pertain to his being given a seed, quite apart from natural human means, as a testimony to the life-giving and promise-fulfilling power of the God who first called him out from his land and kindred. And in actual fact, this is precisely what we encounter in the birth of Isaac, Abraham’s promised heir, and the most remarkable type of the virgin birth of our Savior in all the Old Testament histories. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Threat of Christian Zionism
By pitchford | March 24, 2008
If the phenomenal success of the bestselling Left Behind series indicates anything about the prevailing eschatological mindset across a wide swath of the evangelical landscape in modern America, then we would do well to pause and consider. Where is this fascination with the sensational, and frequently outright bizarre, interpretation of the significance of current events coming from? What is driving the obsession to see end-time prophetic events transpiring in every headline? What connection does this mindset have with the implacable opposition to any measure taken for peace in the Middle East which would leave the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, or any part of Jerusalem outside of the complete control of the modern state of Israel? More importantly, what ideologies, theological convictions, or ways of understanding the bible lie beneath these phenomena, and how much of an impact are they having on the theological moorings of the Church today? I suspect that the impact is significant enough to warrant a strong warning statement about the movement known as Christian Zionism, and the hyper-Dispensationalism which drives it, from the leaders of the evangelical Church. Unfortunately, however, it has not received the united front of resistance with which other threats to the health of the Church have been met with, such as Openness theology and gender-role confusion. Is this because many Evangelical leaders share enough theological convictions in common with the more extreme examples of the movement that they are loathe to give a clear denunciation? Or do they simply not perceive the errors as being a significant or widespread enough a danger to warrant the time and effort of a thoroughgoing rebuttal? Whatever the reason, there seems to be a general lack of attentiveness to a very rampant problem in Evangelicalism. Perhaps it is time to make clear just what Christian Zionism is (as well as all its theological bedfellows), what convictions are driving it, and what results it is tending towards in the thoughts and practice of the contemporary believer. Read the rest of this entry »
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