Covenant Theology: Transitional Prophets

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Malachi 3 & 4 prophesy over a string of prophets who, like Christ & unlike the other prophets. exercise the 3 sets of keys that correspond to the 3 Offices of Christ.   They prefigure Christ Himself.  

Each of these individuals has one foot in an old covenant administration & another foot in a newer one.  Within the Covenant of Grace, each of them appears at a time of major declension to which God responds with covenant renewal & expansion. 

They are: 

Adam: Covenant of Works & Adamic Administration of the Covenant of Grace 

Noah: Adamic & Noahic

Abraham: Noahic & Abrahamic 

Moses: Abrahamic & Mosaic

Samuel: Mosaic & Davidic

John the Baptist: Davidic & Johannine 

Certain things happen in each covenantal era.  Here is a representative list: 

0 - Each prophet is associated with a figurative &/or literal mountain(s) or hill(s) which correspond to the temple either directly or indirectly.  They are also associated with one or more literal &/or figurative bodies of water. 

Eden is positioned atop a mountain at the junction of 4 rivers  (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates).  

The ark rests upon Ararat after the Flood (Genesis 8).  

Abraham journeyed to Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac & was relieved of his burden there by a ram sent by God (Genesis 22).  He is associated with the Jordan River (Genesis 13), & a well ( Genesis 21).   His vision of the stars serves as an instance of a vast sea.  He initially hears God in Ur, which would be analogous to Babel & its ziggurats.   He moved to the hill country near Bethel.  While living in Canaan, he receives the Law & Gospel as a series of promises.

Moses received the Law on Sinai.   He is associated with the Nile, the Red Sea, & Sinai (Exodus) & Nebo (Deuteronomy). 

Samuel served in / at the tabernacle at Shiloh, which is set upon a hill.  Later, the temple was built on Mount Moriah.   He is associated with the tabernacle which contained a laver within its courts (I Samuel). He is also associated with the Jordan River (1 Samuel 13).  

John was born into a priestly family & is associated with both the Temple Mount & any number of  hills & mountains in Israel.  He baptized in the Jordan River.  

1 - The LORD publishes or republishes the Law & Gospel. The first five, in my opinion are self-explanatory.   Samuel & John the Baptist require some explanation. 

Adam  (Genesis 1 - 3)

Noah (Genesis 6 - 9)

Abraham (Genesis 12, 15, 17)

Moses (Exodus, Deuteronomy) 

Samuel -  In 1 Samuel 3, God reveals Himself to Samuel. He informs Samuel about the historical situation (declension in Israel that runs through Eli & the priesthood)). He proclaims what He intends to do on the basis of His Law & Gospel.  The document clause consists of Samuel’s testimony to Eli, & the LORD, Samuel, & Eli serve as witnesses.   I Samuel 12 is a callback to Moses in Deuteronomy.   All the elements of a suzerain covenant appear.   

John’s lawsuit rests upon the Law & Gospel in each Gospel. 

The writer deploys the suzerain covenantal form several times in John, one of which is here: 

Shema :  The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

Historical Situation & Stipulations: This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 

Document Clause & Witnesses: I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”  And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

2 - The transitional prophet acts as Christ’s representative relative to all 3 sets of keys & all three mediatorial offices — without being the Redeemer - Mediator.   That is reserved for Yeshua only (1 Timothy 2:5 - 6).    

As to Prophet 

In the Bible, prophecy involves both the discursive & non-discursive use of words.  It can also answer witchcraft, divination, sorcery, etc. via the use of objects. Sign acts & sacraments are both instances of discursive & non-discursive prophecy.  Prophets largely teach, anoint, & intercede. 

Adam - exercises dominion by way of being entrusted with the instruction of Eve.  He names the animals.  He anoints the animals verbally, and he anoints his wife with the name “Eve.”  God figuratively anoints them via their clothing which is made by animals whom the LORD sacrificed Himself.  

Noah - published God’s activity & called people to repent (2 Peter 2:5) while building the ark.   God baptized the world with water. (1 Peter 3:20 - 21)

Abraham receives the covenantal documents & enacts them as witness administrator (Genesis 12, 15, 17)

Moses - In Exodus 4 Moses encounters God directly.  God identifies Himself & republishes His covenant with Abraham.  He later commissions Moses & Aaron, signaling the expansion of the Abrahamic Covenant into the Mosaic.  In Exodus 20 and beyond, God reveals the Decalogue (the Prophetic Code), a Civil Code (Exodus  20 - 24), & the Priestly Code (Exodus 25 - 40).  Leviticus expands upon the covenantal material in Exodus, & Deuteronomy is a gigantic repetition for the next generation.   

As to Priest

The Bible keenly associates the sacrifice & intercession, & anointing with the office of Priest. 

Adam is depicted as a priest who makes intercession as a member of the generation of Abel as well as Seth.  His toil & sorrow anoints the world with the sweat of his brow & the tears of his wife of whom he is her kephale (source).   God is one who killed the animals for Adam & Eve’s clothing.  The concept of sacrifice appears again & again as Genesis unfolds, & in the story of Cain & Abel in particular.  

Noah’s makes sacrifice to the LORD.  He also judges the nations in his sons, thereby anointing them with his words.  The LORD anoints the world with watery judgment.  The dedication of people to the LORD, as well as to the Enemy appears in Genesis 6.  

Abraham dug wells & built altars & sacrificed upon them.   He also anchored the official use of circumcision as an act of inductive prophecy & sacrament.  

Moses was charged with anointing Aaron & the initial generation of priests.   By way of his intercession, he feeds the people he & the LORD judge.   His intercessory prayers appear in Exodus 32 - 34, Numbers 14, & Deuteronomy 9. 

Samuel was an Ephraimite by birth, but he was reared by Eli, and he served in Shiloh where the tabernacle was located.  He served as both a prophetic & priestly judge over both Saul & David, in whom were all of the Israelite monarchs.  He anointed them both.  He directed Saul relative to sacrifice (1 Samuel 15) & he himself made intercession timed with sacrifice (1 Samuel 7).  He also engaged in sacrificial activity) when he first met & anointed David (1 Samuel 16). 

John anoints via baptism.   As a member of a priestly household, he sacrifices via his recognition of Yeshua as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29 - 34).   He inherits his priestly office through both Zechariah, who was a priest, & Elizabeth, a daughter of Aaron.  He anoints via his words & his baptismal ministry.  As a priest, he administers the mikvah.  

As to King 

In the Bible, kings govern & dispense justice (Deuteronomy 17, 1 Kings 3, 2 Kings 23 - 24)

Adam as head of the species is king in the Garden & priest king & judge.  As the first human being, he is our federal representative in the Fall, but not redemption.  He is the figurative leader of God’s non-angelic army through which God periodically conquers His enemies.  The Seed will one day crush Adam & Eve’s enemies.  

Noah performs a similar function in his generation as the lead federal representative of his people (Shem, Han, Japheth).   His judgment of his 3 sons is an act of dispensing justice. 

Abraham, after he leads the assault that rescues Lot, is recognized as a king by the 5 warring Canaanite kings.  He engages in kingly activity by way of forging a treaty with Abimelech.   He intercedes for Sodom & Gomorrah and is pictured as a kingly figure able to send his messenger - servant away to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. 

Moses was reared in the royal household in Egypt.   He is depicted as a prophet-king who superintends the Aaronic priesthood, & he leads all Israel as the LORD’s kingly proxy.   He makes war on Pharaoh with the LORD on behalf of his people.   

Samuel serves as Israel’s last major Judge, & he presides over Saul’s Monarchial reign.  He, while literally anointing him, he figuratively anoints David as king & directly appoints him king on God’s behalf.  He directs Saul to go to war with the Amalekites.  

John the Baptist functions as Judge by way of winnowing the people, preaching his message like Abraham, Moses, & David, all of whom journey-wandered through the wilderness.  He also speaks truth to priestly, prophetic, & kingly power.   

3 - The Enemy visits.   The tempter was in the Garden.  In Noah’s time. were doing sorcery & dedicating children to idols, & whatever demons and pseudodeities were drawn to that kind of activity.   The Enemy appears to Abraham via Berra, who was there to tempt Abraham like the serpent in the Garden.   Moses went to war with Pharaoh & Egypt’s gods.   The angel of death appears as well.    Jude records a fictional encounter in which Satan contends with the archangel Michael  for Moses’ body (ie Israel in the time of Moses). 

Samuel lived during the days in which the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant & God conquered Dagon.   Demons also accosted Saul.   Samuel was also a witness against witchcraft & sorcery. 

John - Literarily, the Temptation narrative happens while John is still alive.  The New Testament records demonic activity during the Johannine Era. 

4 - There’s an evil empire to conquer.  

God conquers the serpent as well as Adam & Eve in Genesis.   He disposes of the supernatural & human Nephilim in the days of Noah.   The 5 Cities on the Plain make war on each other in Genesis 14 & are representatively judged in Genesis 19.  Egypt, Amalek, & Moab and, in Joshua’s lifetime as Israel’s First Elder - Judge, the Canaanites are Israel’s imperial foils. Samuel was there for the start of Israel’s monarchial period in which the Philstines & Amalek were among their enemies.  During the Davidic Era,  Assyria, Babylon, Media - Persia, the Greeks & Seleucids, then Rome arose as the empire.  Rome occupied Israel in the days of John the Baptist; Magi from the direction of the Parthians came to visit Yeshua, & after the Ascension, as the Law & Gospel spreads as the Way, the land is exorcised, the Greco-Roman gods are conquered, & in the centuries that have followed, the empire of the World & the Kingdom of the LORD & His Christ have been at each others throats ever since.  

5 - Each prophet is alive for one or more major Day of the Lord events, and such events continue in cyclical fashion throughout the covenantal epoch in which the transitional prophet & the generations that follow minister. 

Adam - Adam is present at & as the culmination of the creation narrative.  He is part of the Fall & the LORD’s subsequent judgment.   

Noah - the Flood & Babel 

Abraham - Babel & Ur are literary parallels.   Abraham is alive when God destroys Sodom & Gomorrah. 

In Moses day, God conquers Egypt & their gods via the 10 plagues.  Samuel is Judge when God conquers Dagon.  The land is also enduring calamity as a result of the moral declension of the people.  Although he himself is not alive on Earth at the time, the Exile & the Return both qualify as Day of the LORD events during the Davidic Era.   

The birth of both John & Yeshua within a few months of each other is a Day of the LORD event.  The whole of both their ministries qualifies, especially the events that transpired during the week leading up to the crucifixion & resurrection of Christ Himself, which is followed by both His ascension & the eventual conquest of the Greco-Roman patheon & many others up to the present day. 

6 -  Angels directly &/or indirectly appear in & around the City of God.  There are two guarding Eden.  The sons of God in Genesis 6 include angels as well as other members of the Heavenly Court (Job).   The messengers in Genesis 18 include a theophany & 2 angels.  In Moses lifetime, the angel of death appears in Egypt & Michael contends with the Enemy while the Enemy sifts Israel (Jude 9).   Angels’ direct appearance is conspicuous by their absence in Samuel’s lifetime. However, the LORD performs their function in defense of Israel (I Samuel 5).  In John the Baptist’s narrative,Gabriel announces both Elizabeth’s pregnancy & that of Mary, & angels appear to the Shepherds.  

7 - Temple Imagery - Eden is depicted as a divine temple on a mountain.  The creation itself is apportioned into 3 tiers (Genesis 1 & 2); Noah’s ark contains 3 levels (Genesis 6:16); the tabernacle described in Exodus) has 3 courts.  Sinai is an instance of where heaven meets earth (Exodus 24). Samuel served in Shiloh, & the tabernacle appears several times in 1 Samuel.   During the Davidic Era, Solomon builds the First Temple; Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubabbel, Joshua, & others rebuild Jerusalem & construct the Second Temple; and Ezekiel prophesied a 3rd.  John the Baptist ministered in and around the Second Temple. 

Tackling Tradition 12 (Folly & Fool)

 “Never answer a fool according to his own folly.”  Have you ever heard the morality police say that?  On the one hand, they operate like the Mean Girls Club.  On the one hand, they feel free to police the local church & community, as if they are practicing divination and locator spells for people whose views disagree with their own & moral problems too.  On the other as soon as you confront Fiona, Diane, & Cordelia, they run to Proverbs to shut you down.  

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:4 - 5)

The fool is one who doesn’t believe what the Bible correctly exegeted, exposited, and understood teaches.

Answer not a fool according to his folly,

lest you be like him yourself.

Don’t answer the falsehoods, poor thinking, & bad doctrine spread by Josephine, by way of her own methods & content lest you be like her with respect to your own gifts & discernment. 

Answer a fool according to his folly,

lest he be wise in his own eyes

Instead of allowing her to continue, answer Josephine’s folly with the Word of God correctly exegeted, exposited, & understood so that her worldly wisdom stands confuted.

Pick & choose your battles.  Remember, God hates spiritual abuse.   It’s a violation of the 3rd Commandment.   

May God bless us all, each & every one, and “Go & sin no more.” 

The Least Of These

The more I read The Christian Post, the more I think that the people who run it are more committed to ideological 21st Century American Conservatism than they are the Bible.  Here’s yet another example of wooly thinking that emanates from their contributors.   Rather than dissect it in full, I’ll offer some representative remarks. 

“Notice that in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, “… inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” So the “least of these” are His brethren.”

Who are Jesus’ brethren? Hebrews 2:11 answers, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” 

Romans 8:29 calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brethren.” 

1 John 3:13-14 counsels us “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you,” but “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.”

These four statements are bundled together & exposited as if the term “brethren” means the same thing each time. 

These texts have 4 different authors.  Just because these texts deploy the term “brethren” it doesn’t therefore follow these authors all mean the same thing.   In using Hebrews to interpret Matthew, the author, John Doane, has committed semantic incest. Whether or not he’s correct about the meaning is irrelevant.   It’s still exegetically fallacious to deploy one writer’s text to interpret a different writer or even the same writer. 

What do Matthew, Hebrews, Romans, & 1 John mean independently of one another?  In order answer properly, the expositor should interpret these 4 texts independently if possible — then harmonize them.   

There are exceptions to this rule.   If one text follows the same outline & content of another so that one is a commentary on the other, using Paul to interpret Moses, to take just one example, is warranted.  Is Hebrews a commentary on Matthew 25?  No; then why do we need Hebrews 2 to understand Matthew 25?

In Hebrews 2:11 the brethren are those who are sanctified.  They are members of the congregation.  They are representationally in (therefore united to) Christ.   His brethren in 2:16 are Abraham’s offspring.   The text draws no distinction between inward members of Abraham & outward members. 

Romans 8 also defines brethren through the language of union with Christ.  In Romans 8:29, the Elect are particularly in view.  

According to 1 Corinthians 15, both the Just & Unjust  are united to Christ or else the members of neither group would be resurrected from the dead.   

1 John 3 analogizes from Cain & Abel to our own love for the brothers.   Cain murdered his biological brother.  We are told not to be like Cain.   We should love Abel insofar as believers are in Abel, but where does the text indicate we ought to hate Cain by putting ourselves first?  Nowhere.   We ought to love our own & others.

Isn’t the author supposed to be answering the question “Who are the ‘brethren,’ in Matthew 25?”  Pay close attention — he takes us on a tour through 3 different books of the Bible & never once tells us how Matthew defines the term?  

Matthew 25:31 - 46 is parallel to Matthew 7:21 - 23.   What does Yeshua say about failure to paraclete people other than ourselves, especially if we refuse to do because they are our enemies?  Matthew 5:41 - 48 comes to mind.   

Why is this important? First of all, this passage from Matthew should not be used for virtue signaling, to drum up support for one’s favorite charity, or to promote a government program. Our salvation is never based on our works, however good they may seem.

It’s as if the author has yet to grasp the 3 uses of the Law! The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:24 - 33 reminds us that people experience anxiety about the necessities of life, like food, clean water, & clothing/shelter.    

Reading the text as if the 3 uses of the Law & Gospel are irrelevant results in a reductionistic perspective that conduces to a species of works righteousness, as if all we need to do is accomplish our quota of spiritual duty (rigamorole) & God will provide.   On the contrary, the text teaches that ecclesiastical institutions & secular governments have a moral responsibility to address these issues in order to alleviate anxiety about the fundamentals of life so that all living beings — and the Created Order generally — can thrive & survive. 

The author also draws attention to his own reductionistic view of Matthew 25 & Matthew 6 by accusing his rhetorical opponents of virtue signaling if they dare point out what Matthew 6 actually has to say about resource development, distribution, & consumption.   

Secondly, notice that the passage in Matthew 25 is part of the so-called Olivet Discourse starting in Matthew 24 where Jesus spoke to his disciples in private. In that context, Matthew 25: 31-46 gives His brethren, His disciples, a way to distinguish between others “blessed of My Father” (v. 34) and those deserving of “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41).

Mr. Doane seems to be reasoning from Matthew 24’s statement that Yeshua taught these words privately to the disciples to a definition of “the least of these, my brethren” as those who experience unjust literal privation of goods  and who are also His disciples.  I’m unclear on how that follows. 

Matthew 25 draws on the text of Genesis in which judgment came to those who were marrying & given in marriage.   The setting is the time of the Noahic Covenant.  With whom was Noah’s Covenant made?  According to Genesis 9, it is with all living things.   

On what basis does the text of Matthew 25 draw distinctions between the sheep & the goats?  On the basis of whether or not they intellectually believe in Christ or are regenerate, justified people?  No, the Lord draws distinctions between those who paracleted Him via their love for those who are the least of these in particular & their neighbor in general.   Those on the left appear to be believers as well as unbelievers who are told to depart into exile.   Too often this text is treated as if it only applies to the final judgment at the end of the Age, when Christ returns.  In truth, it applies to the judgment at the end of every age, properly defined as the covenantal cycles & any other time in which the Lord might choose to yank our souls up into heaven via pneumatic exchange in order to get our attention.  

Our priority is always our own household (1 Timothy 5:8) and our brothers and sisters in the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). When we help our persecuted brothers and sisters we exhibit our love for Christ, since Christ dwells within each believer (Colossians 1:2 and 1:27). Unbelievers do not have that love, because suffering for the name of Christ is foolishness to them. It is God Himself who puts that love into our hearts, so it is no cause for boasting.

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Where does this text instruct us to prioritize our households before those of others?   The focus is on the qualifications for elders & deacons.    The text enjoins us to practice a degree of equity.   We ought to do our best to provide for our relatives in general & our own household in particular, given the bare fact that the world is watching.   

When the Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22), that doesn’t mean that we are to love our own first then others.  It means that we are to remember that as sinners, we habitually put ourselves before God & other people, therefore the cure for that sort of selfishness is that we are to love each other before ourselves.  At the corporate level, we are to put other households before our own — not the other way around.   In other words, the paraphrase RC Sproul, we ought to live our lives with JOY - Jesus, Others, Yourself in that order (Philippians). 

The text also speaks to the ecclesiastical use of the Law & Gospel.  Churches aren’t commanded here to prioritize their members first then all others second.   That would be favoritism, as if the citizens of mighty Rome come first & their vassal states are next, with the slaves at the bottom of the barrel. Likewise, Governments are to behave in a similar fashion.  

The prioritization of the household/member/citizen over the least of these in general is the way gluttony & injustice operate in families, ecclesiastical institutions, & whole societies.   As time marches on, whole communities of people are systematically marginalized, resulting in God’s judgment — a judgment in which we are commanded to replicate & restore to those we have wronged.  That’s what Matthew 5:41 - 48 is addressing. 

God bless us all, each & every one, and “Go & sin no more.”