The Lord’s Supper as the Origin of Christ-Centered Hermeneutics

July 23, 2018 / davidsschrock

There are many arguments for reading the Bible with Christ at the center. But where do they come from? Are they the product of biblical interpreters? Or is there a source found in Scripture itself?

In answer to this question, the best place to see the Bible’s Christ-centeredness may come from Christ himself. Not only does he say explicitly that all Scripture speaks of him (John 5:39), but in the Passover he interprets the most important event in Israel’s history as his own. As Alastair Roberts and Andrew Wilson note, “Jesus is specifically identifying the unleavened bread as representing his body, . . . and he is telling his Jewish followers to celebrate the Passover in memory of him, not just their liberation from slavery in Egypt” (29). Continue reading →

This is the Day That the Lord Has Made: A Good Friday Reflection

April 14, 2017 / davidsschrock

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
– Psalm 118:24 –

Like many, I learned this verse not from reading it in the Bible but singing it in church. Les Garrett’s chorus, “This is the Day,” is a popular praise song that sets this verse to music. My wife and I have taught this song to our kids, and it is not unusual to find myself singing this little song.

However, as with every verse in the Bible, context determines meaning. And left to itself, Psalm 118:24 and Les Garrett’s modern rendition can make it seem that we are giving thanks to God for the day in which we stand—‘this day”—and not the day that is actually foretold in Psalm 118.

When Psalm 118 is read in its entirety, however, it becomes apparent that the day mentioned in verse 24 is the Day of the Lord. How do we know?

Well, two verses earlier stands another well-known verse, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (v. 22). Picked up in the New Testament (Mark 12:10–11; 1 Pet 2:4–7), it refers to Jesus Christ and his death. Thus, set in the historical context of the work of Christ, the “day that the Lord has made” is not just the day in which we stand—it is the day that God’s Son fell!

In Mark 14:26, the Bible says, “When they sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Previously, Mark records the Lord’s Supper where Jesus broke bread and drank wine, both representing the death he would die on the next day (14:22–25). Thus, the hymn they sang is probably Psalm 118, the closing hymn of the Jewish Seder—the meal commemorating the Passover.

How marvelous it is to consider the placement of this verse in the events around Jesus’ death. As the disciples of Christ concluded their Passover meal, which Jesus transformed into his own Lord’s Supper, this song would be sung to prepare for “the day.” As Psalm 118:23 puts it: “This is the Lord’s doing, how marvelous it is in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

For us, two thousand years removed, the context makes all the difference in how we join in the chorus praising God. Do we rejoice in our day, the one in which we stand? Or do we rejoice in that day when Christ died so that we could stand? Hedonists easily rejoice in the pleasures of a good day, and stoics can convince themselves in the midst of difficulty that something good will come in this day.

But only gospel-loving Christians have a secure reason for rejoicing in any day and everyday. If the physical resurrection of Jesus did not happen, then Christians are to deluded and damned. But because the eye witnesses account for Christ’s empty tomb, we call the Friday that Jesus died “good.” We do not sing songs saying that every day is good; we rejoice everyday because God is good.

good day It needs to be said that the God of the Bible is not the God of Ned Flanders, who might pedantically praise Jesus for even the worst days. God does not call his followers to mindlessly call bad days “good,” to comfort themselves meaningless platitudes affixed to coffees cups, or and to reinforce their joy by songs that grate against reality.

Rather, the message of the Bible, the message of Good Friday, and the message of Psalm 118:24 is this: We can rejoice in any day because the worst day in the history of the world—the day on which the Son of God died—became the best day in the history of the world. Because of this day and the ensuing resurrection of Christ we can rejoice in any day.

As we celebrate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, let us sing with all our might that “This is the Day that the Lord has made,” but remember what day we are singing about. The reason why we rejoice in this today is because of that day when the sky grew black, the earth quaked, the temple veil tore, and the Son died.

This was the Day of the Lord, when Christ Jesus laid down his life, so that sinners could be reconciled to their Maker. This is the good news, and this is the reason why we rejoice and sing!

Soli Deo Gloria, ds

Gospel Themes in the Book of Leviticus

February 9, 2010 / davidsschrock

Reading Leviticus can be heavy sledding, but once you get familiar with the terrain, it can be incredibly profitable and encouraging.

For instance, this morning I was reading about the Feasts recorded in Leviticus 23. For New Testament Christians, you should be able to see how these feasts, which were a part of Israel’s yearly calendar, point the way to Jesus Christ. He is the Passover Lamb and his death corresponds to the Passover; Jesus’ Resurrection corresponds to the Feast of the Firstfruits, and of course the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurs on the Day of Pentecost. Clearly, God was giving his OT saints spatial-temporal events to help prepare the way for His Son.

These events just mentioned have all been historically fulfilled in Jesus Christ and recorded in the Gospels and Acts. However, we still look forward to the fulfillment of others, like the Feast of Trumpets and Jubilee (Lev 23-25). Reading the account of the way that Jubilee initiates rest in the land and commands the restoration of all things, provides a hope-giving vision of what will occur at the end of the age, all things will be reconciled by Jesus Christ, things on heaven and things on earth (Col. 1:20).

So reading Leviticus typologically and eschatologically (e.g. with an eye towards Christ and all that he has done and still will do) makes the book come alive. Here are a few other themes to look for in this rich book:

God’s holiness and mercy. Leviticus 19:2 says, “Be holy because I am holy.” Repeated throughout the book is this refrain that God is holy and he expects his people to be holy. If any book in the Bible teaches the utter need to be holy, Leviticus is it. To a Western Church today that minimizes holiness and maximizes assumed relationship with God, Leviticus is a helpful antidote. The holiness codes and endless bloodshed teaches us that God will not relinquish his demand for our holiness. He is just and cannot turn his back on our sin–consider the story of Nadab and Abihu. Nevertheless, his mercy meets the demands of his holiness,
and the book of Leviticus tells us how he does that–through the sacrificial system.
Man’s sinfulness. In the light of God’s holiness and mercy, we see mankind’s sinfulness and selfishness. Nowhere is this more colorfully painted than in the death of Nadab and Abihu, two priests who offer strange fire and are consumed because they fail to treat God as holy. The testimony of their death in Leviticus 10 along with all the laws required in Leviticus, should teach us that we cannot live by keeping the law (Lev 18:1-5), but rather we live by trusting in the mercy and provisionary grace of God himself. He is our life, and his provision of a sacrificial system is the means by which we may live and relate to Him.
Man’s fallen condition. We also learn about our own human nature in Leviticus. For instance, it is not just sin that separates us from God, but our own corrupted physical bodies. Leviticus 13 explains that bodily discharges make us unclean and consequently unacceptable to God, that is we cannot enter his presence with our uncleanness. For human beings preoccupied with self–and we all are–this should humble us greatly. Bad breath, body odor, diarrhea, constipation, skin lesions, dandruff, eczema and all other forms of bodily disfunction should remind us of our fallen condition, our imperfection, and our uncleanness. Under the OT law, these sort of things would keep us from God, whose holiness and cleanliness is absolute. He is pure and we are not. Apart from Christ, even our humanness in its fallen condition separates us from God.
Blood. We also see that blood soaks the pages of Leviticus. So gory is the book, that it should be impossible to read Leviticus without coming away with a greater sense of our sinfulness before God. At the same time, we should be struck by the way that all these blood offerings, where the life of an animal is substituted for the life of a man, remind us of the ultimate sacrifice and the blood that speaks a better word than all OT sacrifices. Because of our sin, God requires blood, and yet he has not abandoned us to our own demise. He has provided a way of re-entry, and every sacrifice is a reminder that God has made a way to be reconciled to him, through the blood of a sacrifice. What is pictured in Leviticus is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

If you are looking for more help with Leviticus, I encourage you to listen to Jay Sklar’s seven-week study on the book. It is informative without being unnecessarily heady. It will give you a greater appreciation for Leviticus, but even more than that, it will help you better understand the work of Jesus Christ and the gospel that is foretold in Leviticus.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss