by | Feb 3, 2011 | Bible, Books, Preaching, Theology
Christian exegetes have wrestled with the connection of Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones and the doctrine of the bodily resurrection since they first preached on Ezekiel 37 from the light of Christ’s own bodily resurrection. While early exegetes drew a very...
by | Feb 1, 2011 | Bible, Church, Preaching, Theology
In Ezekiel 37:1-14, YHWH promises to raise his people from their graves, just as he miraculously raises the dry bones in the sight of Ezekiel. In v. 11-13, the words YHWH uses to vow his dedication to this task are touching: Then he said to me, “Son of man,...
by | Jan 31, 2011 | Bible, Church, Preaching, Theology
Isaac, Jacob, and Moses all find their wives through interactions at a well. The parallels are fascinating: So that Isaac does not marry one of “the daughters of the Canaanites, (Gen. 24:3), Abraham sends out his servant to find Isaac a wife, and the servant...
by | Jan 28, 2011 | Bible, Church, Theology, Worship
This post is a continuation of On the Efficacy of the Sacraments and Word, Spirit, and Dry Bones, in which I have been trying to get my head around the differences between Lutheran and Reformed understandings of the relationship between the Holy Spirit, the Word of...
by | Jan 28, 2011 | Bible, Books, Church, Preaching, Theology, Worship
In a previous post, I quoted Charles Hodge’s argument that the Spirit of God alone gives efficacy to the Word and to the sacraments: There is, therefore, a strict analogy, according to the Reformed doctrine, between the Word and the sacraments as a means of...
by | Jan 25, 2011 | Bible, Theology, Worship
In Revelation 5, John sees a vision of Almighty God seated on the throne with a book, sealed with seven seals, on his right hand. An angel issues a call to all of creation, challenging, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”, but “no...