In this section we see a great emphasis placed upon the word of God spoken. A phrase like thus says the Lord of hosts occurs again and again. In these thirteen verses it occurs eight times. God has spoken, and it is the duty of His people to hear Him. “Again the word of the …
Rumble Tumble Sermons
“Never suffer truths to fall from you pell-mell. Do not let your thoughts rush as a mob, but make them march as a troop of soldiery. Order, which is heaven’t first law, must not be neglected by heaven’s ambassadors” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 77).
The Discipline of Joy and Gladness
As mentioned in the last installment, we have finished the first section of the book of Zechariah. Two great oracles occupy the latter half of the book. The first is contained in chapters 9-11, and the second is in chapters 12-14. But before we come to these oracles, we need to cover the didactic portion …
Preaching Inside a Theology Bubble
“He is great upon the ten toes of the beast, the four faces of the cherubim, the mystical meaning of badgers’ skins, and the typical bearings of the staves of the ark, and the windows of Solomon’s temple: but the sins of business men, the temptations of the times, and the needs of the age, …
All Systems Are Go
The first official chapter in Piper’s book is a caution against a facile adoption of biblical theology over systematic theology as though it were necessarily more “biblical.” A systematic theology can be biblical or unbiblical, depending. And biblical theology can also be biblical or unbiblical, depending. “Most scholars are aware that methods and categories of …
Time of Administration
David Gadbois argues here that FV proponents hold that infant baptism is normative, and somehow marginalize those baptisms which are performed on the basis of a profession of faith. In this course of this argument, he quotes Pastor Bordow, who put it this way: “If you look for a credible profession before baptizing, aren’t you …
Those From Far Off
We now come to consider the conclusion of the first portion of the book of Zechariah. In doing this, we need to make sure we have mastered the import of these visions, so that we will be able to understand the great oracles with which Zechariah concludes the book. “Then the word of the Lord …
Paint More Than the Nose
“It is not true that some doctrines are only for the initiated; there is nothing in the Bible which is ashamed of the light . . . All revealed truth in harmonious proportion must be your theme . . . Do not insist perpetually upon one truth alone. A nose is an important feature in …
Better Christians Than Logicians
After his Introduction, but before his first chapter, John Piper includes a short chapter on the necessity of — given the state of the world — controversy and polemics. He writes this as a pastor. “I am a pastor first. Polemics are secondary and serve that” (p. 27). In short, shepherds are to fight because …
Four Horses
In the previous vision God has spoken about how judgment begins with the household of God. But this does not mean that judgment never comes to the enemies of God. Here we turn to discover that the purposes of God in judgment are consistently displayed throughout the entire earth. “Then I turned and raised my …