Daniel’s Prophecy, and Revisiting B.W. Newton
Recently I read (at least most of it) a book co-authored by two well-known Reformed Theology authors, a short book that had been a Logos monthly free offer. Much of the content was decent, general thoughts about Christ, and exalting Him and our giving Him thanks. Then I came to a part where they took an eschatological passage, Daniel 7:13, and turned it completely around — to fit into their theology about Christ’s intercession and ‘reigning now’ — to say that the scene of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven was not at all about His Second Coming, but a reference to the Ascension: Christ coming to His Father (First Coming) after the Resurrection.
In all this discourse, nothing was mentioned about the very next verse — the Son of Man receiving a kingdom. They also omitted the many other later references to this particular passage.
- Jesus’ own reference to the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven in Matthew 24:30
- Christ’s words to Caiphas, that Caiphas would see the Son of Man coming, an indication of judgement
- and Revelation 1:7, which also describes this as future, and that every eye will see Him
Such writing — which sounds very spiritual and God-honoring — shows that even the best of Christian teachers can have blind spots, completely missing the real point of a text in order to advance their own idea of amillennialism (Christ is now reigning) and their desire to fully praise God for all the great, present blessings that we now have in Christ.
It also shows that teachers can be correct and solid in some areas of doctrine, and helpful for some areas of overall Reformed theology. Yet, there comes a time — after having studied Reformed theology to get a good grasp of covenant theology, the moral law and the Sabbath, and the important doctrines taught in the Reformed confessions — to return to the writings of the classic Historic Premillennialists, and particularly to what they said regarding the prophetic passages of Scripture.
It’s been several years since I first discovered B.W. Newton, George Mueller, and S.P. Tregelles, and read a few of their works such as Newton’s “Thoughts on the Apocalypse,” (previous post). So I recently read the online PDF of Newton’s “Babylon: Its Revival and Final Desolation” (part 2 in his series on Prophetic Enquiry).
The historical detail is interesting in itself, but I find Newton’s commentary quite interesting and, yes, prophetic, as he described the world state of his day, over 170 years ago, and considered characteristics of government and economies in the future days of the last events. Remarking on Zechariah 5 and the significance of the ephah, Newton noted the commercial interests of his day, and a then-recent trend, of the commercial wealth, the businesses of society, becoming the controllers of morality:
Few, I suppose, will question that in this country at least, commercial wealth is becoming the great controlling centre of society. The producing power of manufacture, the distributing skill of the merchange, the controlling power of those who trade in money and command the circulating medium of commerce–these, and similar interests, when combined, are able to speak with a voice which no government can refuse to hear. Their will is potent. Legislation and government accommodate themselves to their demands.
Sure enough, this trend has developed, far beyond what Newton saw in his day. We’re familiar with the 1984 Orwellian idea of government being the one censoring and restricting people; and yet Newton, 170 years ago, saw the implications of Zechariah 5 along with the early development of commercial power, and recognized the real power of such censorship. We now see the advance of “big tech” and its “censorship” of contrary ideas. One clear example from a few months ago: a best-seller book that had been out a few years suddenly, one day, completely disappeared from Amazon’s site; and when that company has over 80% of all book sales in the country, it indeed has a powerful influence over which books will be published, and power to suppress the morality that it objects to.
This is just one of several books on prophecy from B.W. Newton, and soon I plan to read the other volumes of his “Aids to Prophetic Enquiry.” At the moment I’m reading S.P. Tregelles’ “Remarks on The Prophetic Visions in the Book of Daniel, another of these great works with plenty of insights, along with observations on the value of studying the Prophetic Word.
The Holy Spirit Series: 37 Topics for Further Meditation and Study
As mentioned in a recent post, I’m now listening to Alan Cairns sermons, and appreciating the teaching. One series of particular interest: 37 sermons in all, about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The sermons were preached in 1986-87, and overall still very relevant now, over 30 years later. I’m now listening to the 19th in the series, so about halfway through.
As noted early in this series, and I think still true today, this tends to be a neglected teaching in modern Protestantism / evangelicalism, with relatively few sermon series — and none I’ve found that are of this length, exploring so many aspects of the Holy Spirit. The 37 lessons are described by Cairns as ‘introductions,’ each of which could be a springboard to further study and meditation. These include a broad range of Old and New Testament scriptures, with teaching on the ‘first mention’ as well as a few interesting word study topics along the way. The earlier sermons start with the basic, general activities and operations of the Holy Spirit — such as the personality of the Holy Spirit, inspiration of scripture, regeneration, indwelling, sanctification, the fruit of the Spirit, and move on to additional specifics such as Adoption, the Earnest of the Spirit, Assurance in the witness of the Spirit, and later topics such as the Leading of the Holy Spirit.
Among some of the highlights:
- Genesis 1:1-5 is the First Mention of the Holy Spirit. A.W. Pink taught the importance of the first mention, the last mention, and the main mention. Accordingly, the very last in this series, is on the Final Mention of the Holy Spirit.
- On the leading of the Spirit: Those who are led by the Spirit must first be indwelled, filled by the Holy Spirit. In our day (in 1986 and still true), so many people talk about how they want “the Spirit’s leading,” but they are living carnal lives, not walking in the Spirit, not focused on the things of God.
Here, Dr. Cairns noted the sequence of Jesus’ ministry. FIRST, Christ was given the full measure of the Spirit, the public event of His baptism and the appearance in the form of a dove. THEN, He was Led by the Spirit — and the leading was into the wilderness, into hardship and physical suffering.
- Seven Symbols of the Holy Spirit
- Dove — Ref. Genesis 8.
- Wind — Speaks to God’s Sovereignty. Ref. John 3: the wind blows; we cannot control it
- Breath — vitality. Adam’s body that was created, before the breath put into it, can be likened to churches and schools that are without the Spirit
- Fire — potency. The baptism of the Holy Spirit with fire — reference Acts 2, Pentecost.
- Water — outpouring of the Spirit . The Spirit overflowing and spontaneous, here especially, what makes Christians useful in service to others. Reference John chapters 3, 4 and 7, Isaiah 44:3; and Ezekiel 47, the water that becomes deeper and deeper
- Oil — anointing oil, authority in service; unity; and necessity of the oil—virgins with oil in their lamps
- Fury of the Spirit — reference Revelation 4:5, the seven torches of fire; fury of the Spirit. Old Testament references include the torches of Gideon.
- Sanctification: Galatians 5:22-23 lists nine fruits of the Spirit, and we can think of these in three categories of three each. The first three relate to God: love, joy, peace; the next three deal with our relationships with others: patience, kindness, and goodness; and the last three have respect to our circumstances of life: faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
It’s an interesting and helpful study, with many more topics, and each generally a stand-alone topic, yet all within the overall, encompassing truths regarding the Holy Spirit, to help understand more about the role of the Third Person of the Triune God.
The ‘Failures’ of the Reformation
From my listening to various messages from Alan Cairns, here is an interesting one, from a 2004 ‘Reformation’ conference: The Failures of the Reformation. Informative, and not quite what I had expected, Cairns here first addressed many supposed ideas that modern folks have, about the failures of the Reformation–in terms of the leaders and their actions and behaviors, judging from our 20th and 21st century cultural sensibilities. These include the doctrine of infant baptism, their views of the State and the Church, and criticisms regarding the Reformers’ treatment of heretics. After addressing these ‘supposed failures,’ with the details of the historical situation and the nuances often lost today, Cairns mentioned what he actually considered the failures: the failed Reformation in France, as well as the failure of the Reformation in Poland. More on that later in this post, after the supposed failures.
Of note, he does not address the more-recent ‘failure idea’ introduced by John MacArthur in 2007 (three years after this message), that the Reformers failed to reform their millennial view and just imported it from Roman Catholicism. In light of what Cairns did say regarding these other supposed errors, my observation here would be that the Reformers did not ‘import it’ from Roman Catholicism, as they certainly had no great love for the Pope; more to the point, I would say, they continued it from the later views of Augustine. And it is also noteworthy that premillennialism, or chiliasm, was already making a ‘comeback’ by the early 17th century (for example, Joseph Mede)–so not in the initial Reformation but soon after, and before the English Puritan era began.
Regarding all the supposed failures of the Reformation, Cairns provided the historical background and the nuances often lost today. The Reformers’ view of infant baptism did not come from Roman Catholicism but their overall understanding of the continuity of scripture, Old and New Testament, regarding the covenants of scripture, and the continuation of the Lord’s working in household as He did in Genesis, and again in Acts (ref. Acts 2:39). Cairns said this as a credo-baptist, in a Free Presbyterian Church. (That’s another topic, that the FPC denomination does not emphasize the baptism method distinction, allowing for both, and that most of their preachers are actually credo-baptist — Michael Barrett as one notable actual paedobaptist, who was in the FPC in years past. The credo-baptist preachers in the FPC hold to the Westminster Confession construction of covenant theology, a view that I see as what scripture teaches, as opposed to the 1689 Federalism view of the covenants.)
Regarding the Reformers’ church-state view, Cairns brings out the point that people today typically take a view (at least what comes out in practice, if not consciously realized) of the church and state being at enmity with each other. Yet this is not a biblical view, and the Reformers saw these two entities as complementary, not opposed. As to the Anabaptists, Cairns points out that the Anabaptist movement was very diverse and hard to define, embracing many different ideas and many differing types of people — similar to the rather neboulous ‘New Covenant Theology’ movement today. He notes that it took historical researchers many years to fully document all of what was included in the Anabaptist umbrella, the many different beliefs and activities; and if it took that long for this to be understood, we can certainly understand that the Reformers had far less information. The movement included extreme pacifists, a problem in a society that did not have a regular army, with its military defense as all able-bodied men who lived in the Swiss canton; the Anabaptist pacifists would not do their part in the defense of their own canton, when it came time to defend against the Roman Catholic army. The movement also included dangerous, violent insurrectionists, and heretics.
Now, to some real ‘failures’ — of course these were not failures in the context of God’s Sovereign plan and providence, His decretive will. Yet, from the human perspective of history, these could be considered failures: the failure of the Reformation in France, as well as in Poland. The story of France is better known, as one that started good, but was later suppressed by the French government, with the Huguenots fleeing France and dispersed over other European countries as well as the New World French and English colonies, and others martyred or force-converted to Roman Catholicism. I was not familiar with the 16th century Reformation in Poland. Here are a few links that give more details, regarding the Reformation movement that began well, but then fizzled and came to nothing:
- Wikipedia full article in Polish (select option to translate to English)
- Reformations In Eastern Europe: Protestant, Catholic, And Orthodox
The historical reasons for these failures included the effects of weak leadership, and also a lack of unity among the branches of the Reformation. In Poland, particularly, the Reformation movement occurred only at the higher social class, within a certain group of people and never reached the masses. Cairns here reflected on the overall Reformation’s lack of unity, citing the well-known incident of Martin Luther dividing with Zwingli over the nature of “this is my body” and even refusing to shake hands with Zwingli afterward, and provided general application to the current-day believer’s life, from his own experience in different Christian “camps” such as the Fundamentalists who rejected him as “not fundamentalist enough” and the other extreme of people who would no longer listen to Dr. Cairns because of his association with Bob Jones University, that he would not “condemn” the BJU teachers.
It’s an interesting and informative message, beyond the usual content of “Reformation theme” messages.
Bible Timeline Chart/Map of History
Here is something interesting, which I recently learned of: Adams’ Synchronological Chart or Map of History. It’s available in book fold-out form from book publisher sites such as this one. A gift from an online friend, this fold-out chart shows all human history, from a biblical timeline perspective starting at creation at 4004 BC, up through 1878, a look at most world history up to the last 140+ years. At a glance it shows in parallel, a synchronization, of each century in the timeline (with smaller divisions of 10 years within each century), to show major Old Testament events along with all other known secular history events and the rulers of the Gentile nations in the world. (A major update, to bring it into the 21st century, would be nice, but has not been done as far as I know.)
It’s a fascinating view of world history, sometimes referred to as His Story: the work of God through the years, from creation and antiquity, through to near-modern times. For instance, the section on the High Middle Ages will show, at a glance, the names of all the different Kings and Queens of Europe at any given time, a helpful addition to my study (several years ago) through English Medieval history.
The early pages include the lifespans of the major biblical figures, including Adam, Methuselah, and Noah, and show how their lives spanned across so many years from creation, through the flood, until the first several hundred years after the Flood. This link includes a photo (sideways on a computer screen) of the full chart.
Another interesting resource, available also in PDF online, is Floyd Nolen Jones’ The Chronology of the Old Testament: A Return to the Basics. I’ve only glanced through a few sections so far, but it’s a very detailed look at dating the Old Testament chronology, including the ages of the patriarchs and dates of Old Testament events, looking at all the evidence and various views. This work also argues for the creation date of 4004 BC., and (same as Adams’ Synchronological Chart) has the Exodus lasting 215 years; the 400 years of affliction started with Abraham’s seed, before they actually went to Egypt. A few years ago I first came across this idea (up to that time I’d thought of the 400 years as meaning 400 years actually in Egypt), mentioned in this previous post. Another section addresses the Genesis texts concerning Jacob’s age, that he was 77 at the time he came to Laban; I recall discovering this several years ago, from basic math on the years of Jacob’s age at various events.
Here are links to a few other of my posts on creation, with the focus on the earliest writings and early history of the nations:
- “After the Flood” review, about the earliest European historical records which affirm biblical history
- The Sabbath Creation Ordinance, and early extra-biblical history
Judges 2-3, Thorns in the Side, and Experience and Providence
Several years ago when I was referencing a sermon series in 2 Corinthians and the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh, a blog reader here noted the word study and Old Testament references to “thorns,” which gives indication that when Paul used this term he was referring to the Judaizers who were causing such agitation for him; they were his “thorn in the flesh.”
One of these mentions of “thorns in the side” comes from Judges 2:3, the Lord’s pronouncement to the people of Israel, who had broken the covenant with Him. Therefore, the Lord would no longer drive out the inhabitants of the land; rather, they (the peoples dwelling among them) shall be thorns in your side.
As I continue through the book of Judges, chapters 2 and 3 mention the people being tested — a theme referenced elsewhere such as in Deuteronomy 8 and 13 — to know whether the people would be true to the Lord, to walk in His ways, to keep His commands. Here, Judges 2:22: “so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not,” and again in Judges 3:1 and 3:4 — the surrounding nations were left to test Israel. So, the nations were left as a “thorn in the side,” as something that could snare them, and then described also as a test, to see if the people would keep the ways of the Lord, or not.
Then another reason is mentioned for this new providence from God: for later generations to know military discipline and war. The surface level explanation brings to mind the idea of military tactics and actual battles of war. Yet, as George Bush’s commentary points out, this text includes a deeper level of meaning, beyond this first idea that he describes as an inadequate view.
Such a great point made here, and a fuller explanation of this text. Indeed, Judges 3:4 notes that the testing’s purpose was to know “whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord” — commandments (to their fathers by the hand of Moses) which clearly encompassed a lot more than just battle tactics used by Joshua and those immediately after Joshua. We can see the application to our own spiritual warfare–and our great failures, with the bitter consequences of past neglects. So true it is, that we must often learn this way, through sad experience of our failures. God chastens and disciplines His children. (Ref. Hebrews 12:5-6.) Yet, praise God, He does not leave us there. In the book of Judges, the people sometimes were oppressed for many years (in one example in Judges 3, for 18 years), but when they learned to cry out to God, to seek Him earnestly, God again brought deliverance. We learn from these examples (ref. 1 Corinthians 10:11), and likewise seek God, knowing that He will answer us when we call upon Him, in true repentance, as we seek Him earnestly.