Mary Magdalene and the Mercy Seat

There is an interesting parallel between the scene of the empty tomb as witnessed by Mary Magdalene and the description of the mercy seat in the Old Testament.

In John 20:11-12 we read, "But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying."

Hebrews 9:5 tells us, "And above it [the ark of the covenant] were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat…" The word translated "mercy seat" is hilastērion. This word is also found in Romans 3:25, where it is translated "propitiation."

Paul wrote, "Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation [hilastērion] in His blood through faith. … (Romans 3:24-25)."

Paul portrays Jesus Christ as the hilastērion or mercy seat. The mercy seat was a picture or type of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus was the realization of the Old Testament mercy seat. It could very well be that what Mary saw at the empty tomb that day was evidence of this Old Testament picture of propitiation. She saw the two angels, one at either end of where Jesus' body was laid. The angels in the tomb seem to correspond to the cherubim on either end of mercy seat.

Someone might object saying that when Mary saw these angels, Jesus' body was gone because He had been raised from the dead. However, Hebrews tells us: "… we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:10-14)." Since the sacrifice had been completed at the cross, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God. The earthly mercy seat in the Old Testament was needed for continual sacrifices unlike the perfect, final sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus was offered once and then He was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). When Jesus died on the cross, He said "it is finished!" The hilastērion—propitiation for sins—was complete. The objective of the mercy seat had been accomplished. Now Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father as our throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Dr. David Reagan wrote, "Jesus fulfilled every prophetic type of the Ark."

May God richly bless you as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Because of Calvary,

Bob

* * *

From every stormy wind that blows,

From every swelling tide of woes,

There is a calm, a sure retreat:

'Tis found beneath the mercy seat.

 

Its more complicated than you think -- or is it?

Paul wrote, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3).”

Satan’s first attack upon mankind in the garden was to question the Word of God. He hissed those insidious words into the ear of Eve, “Did God really say (Gen. 3:1)?” His deceptive tactics have not changed much since that first attack in the garden. He continues to challenge the veracity of God’s written Word. He questions the simplicity of God’s good news of salvation. Unfortunately, he uses theologians to distort the gospel.

Dr. Alan Stanley wrote a book entitled Salvation Is More Complicated Than You Think. Dr. Stanley is not the only Bible teacher who thinks that salvation is complicated.

• John Piper wrote: “Saving faith is no simple thing. It has many dimensions. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus’ is a massive command. It contains a hundred other things. Unless we see this, the array of conditions for salvation in the New Testament will be utterly perplexing.”
• Michael Horton wrote: “The New Testament lays before us a vast array of conditions for final salvation. Not only initial repentance and faith, but perseverance in both…”
• R. C. Sproul wrote: “There are all sorts of conditions that must be met for someone to be saved. Chief among them is that we must have faith in Christ. The Reformed view does, in a narrow sense, see obedience as a ‘condition’ (but never the ground) of justification.”

Sadly, many theologians complicate the simplicity of the gospel by not distinguishing the difference between the requirements for salvation and the requirements for discipleship. The requirements for discipleship are not the same as the requirements for salvation. Discipleship is costly. Salvation is free. God’s Word teaches that the only condition for salvation is to believe. The single requirement for salvation is vastly different than the many conditions for discipleship. To be a disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Christ, abide in His Word, love Christ more than your family, etc. The commitments of discipleship should be the result of salvation, not requirements for salvation.

Blessings,

Bob

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Imputed Righteousness
by Lance Latham

There is simply no possibility whatsoever that a person can achieve standing before God on the basis of his own defaced, despicable righteousness. A Christian, therefore, is not merely one who has been through the emotion of a moment, or who has newly purposed or has newly promised. Rather, a Christian has abandoned all hope of his own personal moral credentials and receives as his sole and complete basis for standing before God the finished and complete righteousness which Jesus Christ purchased on Calvary’s cross and imputed to him. To “impute” means to “ascribe,” to “put to one’s account.” Personal righteousness does not save us; imputed righteousness alone satisfies divine holiness and makes the sinner acceptable before God.

 

Volunteers & interns are a blessing!

What a blessing it is to live at the retirement center of Ethnos360. Most of us living here spent the majority of our adult lives serving the Lord. As a result, we were not able to save a nice nest egg for retirement. Some of us would find ourselves in very different circumstances right now if it weren’t for this place. Having an affordable place to live in retirement is certainly a huge blessing.

To keep costs at a minimum, the retirement center relies on a lot of volunteer help throughout the year. During the winter and spring months, volunteers from all over the U.S. bring their RV’s and give of their time and talents to lend us a hand. We are incredibly grateful for their support.

Our permanent staff members are short-handed. We have numerous positions that need to be filled. We need a food service director, a chaplain, general maintenance personnel, personal care staff, housekeeping staff, and kitchen staff. Please pray that the Lord would raise up those who could fill these positions.

We are currently offering an internship program for young people who would like to serve the Lord for a couple of months or longer. This internship program is an opportunity at Ethnos360 in Sanford, Florida. It is not a paid position, but the housing is free and there is a food stipend of $100 a week. The minimum age is 18 years old.

Some of the roles include Maintenance, Kitchen, Housekeeping, IT, Contingency, Graphic Design, Social Media, Administration, Communication and more. We offer 3 internship programs in the coming months.

• Summer Internship 2024: May 27 - Aug 2 (10 weeks)
• Fall Internship 2024: Aug 26 - Dec 13 (16 weeks)
• Full Year Internship 2024: Aug 26, 2024 - May 2, 2025 (33 weeks)

The chairman of our Biblical Resources Group taught at the Ethnos360 Bible College for 33 years before he retired here to Florida. He meets with the interns leading a discipleship group. The internship program not only offers an opportunity to serve, but also to learn.

If you know of any young people who might be interested in serving the Lord in this internship program, please direct them to this website:

ethnos360.org/short-term-trips/stateside-internships

Blessings,

Bob

* * *

Child-like Faith

By Randy Kilgore

Years ago, I asked fifth-grade students to prepare a list of questions to ask Jesus if He were to show up in person the following week. I also asked groups of adults to do the same thing. The results were startlingly different. The kids’ questions ranged from adorable to poignant: “Will we have to sit around in robes and sing all day in heaven? Will my puppy be in heaven? Were the whales in or out of the ark? How’s my grandpa doing up there with You?” Almost without fail, their questions were free from doubt that heaven existed or that God acts supernaturally.

Adults, on the other hand, featured a completely different line of questioning: “Why do bad things happen to good people? How do I know You’re listening to my prayers? Why is there only one way to heaven? How could a loving God let this tragedy happen to me?”

For the most part, children live life unfettered by the cares and sorrows that burden adults. Their faith lets them trust God more readily. While we adults often get lost in trials and sorrows, children retain the psalmist’s view of life—an eternal perspective that sees the greatness of God (Ps. 8:1-2).

God can be trusted, and He longs for us to trust Him the way children do (Matt. 18:3).

An intimate walk with God lifts our eyes from
today’s trials and into eternity’s triumphs.

 

The Coming Millennial Kingdom

Our Biblical Resources Group recently finished 2 papers on “The Coming Millennial Kingdom.” In those papers, we contend that this will be a literal kingdom ruled by Christ on planet earth.

Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost explained the need for a literal millennial kingdom on earth: “Apart from the reign of Christ…here on earth…And apart from this rule, God’s purpose for man would never be brought to conclusion. God’s purpose for the earth would be unrealized and the problem generated by Satan’s rebellion would never be resolved. Thus, the physical, literal reign of Christ on the earth is a theological and biblical necessity—unless Satan is victorious over God.”

Why should students of God’s Word expect to see a literal millennial kingdom with Christ reigning on planet earth? To understand God’s Word, we must apply sound principles of Bible interpretation. We must use the tool of consistent, literal, historical-grammatical hermeneutics to arrive at a solid understanding of the text of Scripture. David L. Cooper explained the meaning of literal interpretation this way: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”

The Old Testament prophets wrote extensively about the future kingdom. Those promises of a future kingdom when understood using the plain sense of Scripture demand a literal fulfillment.

It has been estimated that 25% to 30% of Scripture was prophetic at the time it was written. Of those prophetic passages in God’s Word, approximately 80% were literally fulfilled at Christ’s first coming. Some Bible teachers would have us believe that the remaining 20% are being fulfilled spiritually or allegorically today. But that is problematic for several reasons.

In the Old Testament false prophets were exposed by the outcome of their prophecies. If their predictions were not literally fulfilled, they were to be stoned to death (Deut. 18:20-22). Allowing for the allegorical method of interpretation would violate the Old Testament test of a false prophet. How could a false prophet be identified if allegorical interpretation were allowed?

In the Old Testament, God staked His reputation on the literal fulfillment of His Word (Is. 42:8-9; Ezk. 37:6, 13-14; Joel 2:27). Allegorical interpretation would undermine God’s reputation.

Since 80% of prophetic passages were fulfilled literally at Christ’s first coming, then why not expect the remaining 20% to also be fulfilled literally? Why would God change the way He would have us understand His Word? Personally, I do not see any reason for God to change horses in midstream with regard to Bible prophecy.

Blessings,

Bob

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Christ’s Literal Return

Justin Martyr (ca. 100-160 A.D.)

But I and every other completely orthodox Christian feel certain that there will be a resurrection of the flesh, followed by a thousand years in the rebuilt, embellished, and enlarged city of Jerusalem as was announced by the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the others.

Kingdom Confusion Abounds - Update

Last month I mentioned a paper I wrote for Ethnos360 called “The Coming Millennial Kingdom.” In the first section of that paper, I began by outlining the battle between God and Satan for the theocratic kingdom. God created man and held them responsible for managing the planet on His behalf. In simple terms, they were the “theocratic administrators” of the whole world. Sadly, they forfeited that position because of their sin. At that time, Satan became the “god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).” Almost immediately after Satan took control of the world system for his kingdom, God delivered a prophecy about Satan’s ultimate defeat (Gen. 3:14-15). God predicted that the Redeemer would ultimately defeat Satan, even though Satan would inflict harm upon Him. This was God’s way of conveying that, as a result of Satan’s actions, the promised Redeemer would experience death as a means to conquer Satan. Later scriptures further revealed that through His sacrificial death, the Redeemer would atone for humanity’s sin, leading to the removal of sin (Is. 53:4-6, 10-12; Jn. 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:24). This, in turn, made it possible for God to reverse the consequences of human rebellion.

Satan had launched an assault against God’s kingdom, aiming to usurp it. For God to retain His supreme authority, He needed to defeat Satan and his kingdom. Not only that, to demonstrate His supreme authority God needed to defeat Satan in the very arena in which the enemy seemingly won his greatest battle against the Sovereign Creator of the universe.

Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost explained: “Apart from the reign of Christ…here on earth…And apart from this rule, God’s purpose for man would never be brought to conclusion. God’s purpose for the earth would be unrealized and the problem generated by Satan’s rebellion would never be resolved. Thus, the physical, literal reign of Christ on the earth is a theological and biblical necessity—unless Satan is victorious over God.”

The children of Johann Sebastian Bach had a unique way of waking him up. They would go to the piano and begin to play a composition. When they would get to the last note, they would stop without playing the last note. He would get up from his sleep, go to the piano, and play the final chord. He couldn’t stand to leave it unfinished. Similarly, we are all waiting for the last note on the final page of God’s song of victory. God will not leave His grand composition without striking the final note. That final note is the messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is a powerful argument against kingdom now theology and for the Premillennial return of Christ.

Your prayers are much appreciated as we continue this writing project.

Blessings,

Bob

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Christ’s Literal Return

Christ will come again to this world with power and great glory. He will gather the scattered tribes of Israel, and place them once more in their own land. As He came the first time in person, so He will come the second time in person. As He went away from earth visibly, so He will return visibly. So also will He come, literally set up a Kingdom and literally reign over the earth, because the Scripture has said it shall be so.  — J.C. Ryle

 

Kingdom Confusion Abounds

Among Bible teachers there are various views of the kingdom that was predicted by the Old Testament prophets. For example, the amillennial view claims that we are living in that promised kingdom today. But when you compare the promises in the Old Testament about the kingdom with the conditions on earth today, it does not seem possible that we are living in that predicted kingdom. Floyd Hamilton (amillennialist) conceded, “Now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures. That was the kind of Messianic Kingdom that the Jews of the time of Christ were looking for, on the basis of a literal kingdom interpretation of the Old Testament promises.” Another amillennialist, Oswald Allis, admits that “the Old Testament prophecies if literally interpreted cannot be regarded as having been yet fulfilled or as being capable of fulfillment in this present age.” In order to get us into the kingdom today, the amillennialist must abandon the tried-and-true literal interpretation of prophecy.

Other theologians say that we are living in an “already / not yet” form of that promised kingdom. They claim that Jesus is sitting on David’s throne in heaven, and we are living in an inaugurated type of the millennial kingdom. However, nowhere does Scripture say that Jesus is currently sitting on David’s throne in heaven. According to the Book of Revelation, Satan will be bound with a chain during the millennial Kingdom. If we are in the Kingdom today and he is bound, then he must be on a very long chain.

Today confusion abounds in Christendom regarding the millennial Kingdom. Therefore, our biblical resources group decided that we need to right a position paper on this topic. As we began that project, we realized that it would be better to do a two-part series entitled The Coming Millennial Kingdom. In part one, we will cover:

1. The Battle for the Theocratic Kingdom.
2. Some Views of the Millennial Kingdom.
3. Some Consequences of Erroneous Views.

In part two, we will examine some difficult passages of Scripture relating to The Coming Millennial Kingdom.

Your prayers are much appreciated as we tackle this writing project.

Blessings,

Bob

***

Literal Interpretation

About the time of the End, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation in the midst of much clamor and opposition. —Sir Isaac Newton

What Is Justification?

The book of Zechariah has an interesting account of a high priest named Joshua. He was “standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him (3:1).” It is no wonder that Satan, the accuser of the brethren, was ready to indict this high priest. We are told that “Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel (3:3).” Those standing near Joshua were told, “Remove the filthy garments from him (3:4).” Then Joshua was told, “I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes (3:4).”

This is a beautiful picture of what happened the moment that we trusted Christ as our Savior. Our sins were removed, and we were clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Paul explained it like this, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (1 Cor. 5:21).” Some have called this “The Great Exchange.” Jesus, the Sinless One, took our sin upon Himself and gave us the righteousness of God.

This “Great Exchange” is the doctrine of “justification.” Some have said that justification means “just as if I had never sinned.” But that is only half the story. When a person trusts Christ for salvation their sins are removed (expiation) and they have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them (imputation). Justification has a two-fold aspect. We could say that justification equals expiation plus imputation.

Expiation is the negative aspect of justification. It is the principle of subtraction. Dr. Ryrie wrote, “Expiation is the removal of impersonal wrath, sin, or guilt.”

Imputation is the positive aspect of justification. It is the principle of addition. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). We were guilty of sin, and we owed a debt of sin. When we were justified through faith in Christ’s death on the cross, God not only wiped out that debt of sin (expiation), He also added the righteousness of Christ to our account. Dr. Ryrie explains, “The remedy for … sin is the imputed righteousness of Christ. The moment anyone believes, Christ’s righteousness is reckoned or imputed to that individual. As … believers are in Christ, and being in Him means that His righteousness is ours.” It is that basis upon which we are “accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).”

Blessings,

Bob

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Accepted in the Beloved

by C.H. Mackintosh

All believers, are accepted—perfectly and forever accepted—in the Beloved. God sees them in Christ, and as Christ. He thinks of them as He thinks of Him; loves them as He loves Him. They are ever before Him, in perfect acceptance in the blessed Son of His love, nor can anything, or anyone, ever interfere with this their high and glorious position, which rests on the eternal stability of the grace of God, the accomplished work of His Son, and attested by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.