1 Peter (Program #6) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (4)

Even though Peter’s entire contribution to the New Testament only comprises eight chapters, the scope of his writing was extremely broad.  In his first epistle he incorporates both the prophecies of the ancient Old Testament prophets and the preaching and teaching of the New Testament apostles and links both of these in the Holy Spirit’s application of God’s full salvation upon His chosen people.

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Hosea (Program #4) – On Hosea (3)—The Sins of the Apostate People, the Punishments of Jehovah, and the Return of the Apostate People

Chapters 4 through 6 in the book of Hosea give us many details concerning God chastisement of rebellious people, Israel. For the most part He used the great nations, the great empires of the human history to accomplish this chastisement. Israel had suffered under first the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar and then the Medo Persian empire and the Greek empire and ultimately the Roman empire. And as harshly as Israel had suffered under these four great empires that were prophesied first by the prophet Daniel, still God had used this for good. Because Israel will eventually return to Jehovah and be fully restored. But even more than that God had used these four consuming empires as factors to help in the accomplishment of His great purpose in bringing forth and manifesting Christ

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1 Peter (Program #5) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (3)

In his first epistle, the apostle Peter compared the testing or proving of our faith with the refining process that purifies gold.   Gold, precious and valuable as it is,  is still a perishable commodity.  Yet our faith must stand the test even of eternity.  Surely if something temporary such as gold must pass through the fire of refinement, our faith which is a far more precious possession must also be tested, refined, purified and proved.

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Hosea (Program #3) – On Hosea (2)—The Symbol of a Wife of Harlotries (2)

The Lord used the prophet Hosea to signify His own sorrow and anguish over the unfaithfulness of His people Israel. Jehovah commanded Hosea to take Gomer who was a harlot as a wife and to love her in spite of her adultery. This was to show Hosea that the Lord view His people Israel as an unfaithful wife. Well, Hosea obeyed the Lord and married Gomer. But after he had born children to him, she left again to chase other lovers. Once again Jehovah came to Hosea and told him to receive her back, and to love her again. Here we see that the Lord patiently drawing Israel His people back to Himself. With a clear promise that at the end of this age He would restore her. This age of restoration would be at the coming of the Lord Jesus. The Minor Prophet Hosea gives us both a clear window into God’s heart for His people and also an unmistakable prophecy of the coming age of the kingdom.

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1 Peter (Program #4) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (2)

In his epistles the apostle Peter frequently mentions the matter of salvation.   but he does so in a context that somewhat different than how most Christians normally think of salvation.  For example  in chapter 1:5 he say “a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.”  Of course, our common thought is that salvation was revealed to us when we believed and received Christ as our Savior.  Then in chapter 2:2, Peters says that salvation is something that we grow into.  Once again, the typical thought is that salvation is what we received once for all at the moment we believed.  Well in fact there is a real measure of truth to the salvation that we received when we first expressed our faith in the Lord Jesus.  But, and this is a crucial but,  the salvation that Peter refer to repeatedly in his writings involves much more than just our initial salvation.

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Hosea (Program #2) – On Hosea (1)—The Introductory Word and The Symbol of a Wife of Harlotries (1)

Do you realize that the subject of the two bookends of the Bible is the same?  It is marriage.   The Bible both begins and ends with the loving union of a husband and a wife.  In Genesis chapter two, the couple is Adam and Eve.  In Revelation 21 and 22, the couple is Christ and the church which becomes the New Jerusalem.  In fact the entire Bible is the story of Romance.  A romance between God and His corporate people.  In Genesis, Adam is really a type of Christ and Eve a type of the church.  In Song of Songs, Solomon typifies Christ while the Shulammite maiden represents the church.   In the books of the prophets, the bride is typified by the nation of Israel.  So now we can see truly the Bible is a romance, the story of a divine person pursuing, wooing and eventually winning the delight of His heart.  By Revelation 21, we are told that the bride has made herself ready and that she is spotless and without blemish.  But she was not always so.  As we see in many places in the Bible, like Hosea, this bride needs much work before she can be ready to be presented to the most lovely and attractive One in the universe, the Lamb of God, our dear Lord Jesus, our bridegroom.

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1 Peter (Program #3) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (1)

In the books of 1 & 2 Peter often a single word can add much richness and meaning to what is being said.  For example, Peter begins his first epistle by pointing  us to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.  This word sprinkling was surely used to remind the Hebrew believers that he was writing to of how the sprinkling of the blood of goats and sheep that they were familiar with in the Old Testament Jewish religion was simply or merely a type, a foreshadowing of the real eternal offering of the blood of Christ.  His was the sprinkling that accomplished far more than the temporary atonement of the sacrifices in the Old Testament.  For this sprinkling guarantees our full possession of all the benefits and blessings of the entire new covenant from now and for eternity.

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Hosea (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The book of Hosea begins the final group of books in the Old Testament.  These twelve books call the Minor Prophets may actually been combined into one book in ancient times called the Book of the Prophets.  It was to these and the four Major Prophets that the Lord Jesus Himself refer to in Luke 24:44, “And He said to them, These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled.”  Hosea, like all of the Minor Prophets is a book that is full of the revelation of Christ.  Particularly, Hosea also reveals that it is God’s deep longing to have a love relationship as a husband to a wife with His people.

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1 Peter (Program #2) – The Operation of the Triune God Upon the Elect for Their Participation in His Full Salvation

The story of the Lord’s calling of the apostle Peter as is recorded in the gospel of John includes and intriguing unusual component; he changes his name from Simon to Cephas which literally means a stone. This is John chapter 1: 40-42
1:40 “One of the two who heard this from John and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.”

41 “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ).”

42 “He led him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter).”

Of course nothing of God’s genuine work is accomplished merely in name only. And so the changing of this poor Galilean fisherman’s name from Simon to something so solid and permanent, as Peter, a stone for God’s building is full of meaning. And it implies that God has much more in mind for Peter than simply saving him from his sins. For both Peter’s transformation and the accomplishment of God’s very eternal purpose is hinted at in this symbolic act.

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Hosea (Program #7) – On Hosea (8)—Three Implications Concerning Christ

To every genuine believer the Bible becomes a sheer delight. One of the key elements that usher us into a deeper appreciation of the Bible is when we begin to discover clear, unmistakable passages in the Old Testament that reveal our dear Lord Jesus in rich detail. Some Old Testament passages are well known in this regard and unmistakable in how they reveal Christ. Like Psalm 8 and Isaiah 53 but there are so many other portions not so familiar and not quite so obvious, but once the key to seeing Christ has been provided to us, they are nonetheless full of rich and nourishing revelations of the One who is the central focus of every book and every chapter of the Bible. Such a passage is found on the first 4 verses of the Minor Prophets Hosea in Chapter 11.

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