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Tag Archives: Eschatology

John Newton’s Counsel in Hope Based Upon Christ (April 29, 1776)

05 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, John Newton

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Biblical Counseling, Christ, Eschatology, Faith, Hope, Institutes, John Calvin, John Newton, knowledge, letters

Pastoral counseling is not merely correction, but must also be of encouragement. The Christian life can only be lived rightly with a view set directly upon the return of Christ and the joy to follow. To see the importance of such a sight of the end, consider this passage from First Peter:

1 Peter 1:3–17 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

The explicitly eschatological elements have been highlighted. Note that Peter does not dwell upon the mechanics of the eschaton as much as its present effect upon us. It is the basis for our hope — which puts us in a future orientation. Our present holiness demands upon our future hope. We live now in both hope and fear, which Peter lays as the predicate (at the very least the psychological predicate) for holiness.

John Newton in this letter wants to create an eschatological mind in his reader. Note carefully how he does this:

My dear Miss M****, April 29, 1776.

The pleasantries are short; he moves most quickly to blessings enjoyed by this woman. The letter does not disclose the reason for this encouragement, which is well — because any believer can pick up this letter and apply it; the blessings disclosed herein are the common blessings of the believer, the church and Christ.

I thank you for your last; and I rejoice in the Lord’s goodness to you. To be drawn by love, exempted from those distressing terrors and temptations which some are beset with; to be favoured with the ordinances and means of grace, and connected with those, and with those only, who are disposed and qualified to assist and encourage you in seeking the Saviour; these are peculiar privileges, which all concur in your case: he loves you, he deals gently with you, he provides well for you, and accompanies every outward privilege with his special blessing; and I trust he will lead you on from strength to strength, and shew you still greater things than you have yet seen.

Note the blessings: To be drawn by love. This language sounds like an allusion to,

Hosea 11:4 (ESV)

4    I led them with cords of kindness,

with the bands of love,

and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,

and I bent down to them and fed them.

 

When the Father draws the elect (John 6:44), he draws by the cords of kindness, the bands of love. Consider further the movement of the argument: to be drawn is to move from place to another, from one state to another.

Another allusion in this letter is “from strength to strength”:

 

Psalm 84:1–7 (ESV)

1    How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

2    My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

3    Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

4    Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

5    Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6    As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

7    They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

This is a Psalm with an eschatological movement: First, it is a Psalm of travel. Second, it is a Psalm which promises the transformation of the creation (Baca becomes springs. Third, while the immediate reference to appearing before God is likely the earthly sanctuary, we know that the earthly references the heavenly.

Whether Newton chose the Psalm for an eschatological allusion, I do not know. But there is at least a consonance in his thinking: it is where we are going that orients the Christian life.

Newton also praises the work of the church in this woman’s life: both the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) as well as those who able to rightly use the Word of God in assisting the maturity of her soul.

(I know above that I said that the blessings listed in this letter blessings available to every believer. However, sadly, often a local congregation is led by those who are not “disposed and qualified”. That does not mean that the church is not a common blessing of believers. What it does mean is that many sin in the work of ministry, either being unfit for the work by ability or disposition. We must sadly acknowledge this is true.)

Newton now takes an insight from John Calvin’s Institutes, the human being does not rightly know himself until we know ourselves before and in the light of God. While our knowledge of God leads us to greater hope and faith, the knowledge of ourselves leads to a greater sense of our unworthiness:

They whom he teaches are always increasing in knowledge, both of themselves and of him. The heart is deep, and, like Ezekiel’s vision, presents so many chambers of imagery, one within another, that it requires time to get a considerable acquaintance with it, and we shall never know it thoroughly. It is now more than twenty-eight years since the Lord began to open mine to my own view; and from that time to this, almost every day has discovered to me something which till then was unobserved; and the farther I go, the more I seem convinced that I have entered but a little way. A person that travels in some parts of Derbyshire may easily be satisfied that the country is cavernous; but how large, how deep, how numerous the caverns may be, which are hidden from us by the surface of the ground, and what is contained in them, are questions which our nicest inquirers cannot fully answer. Thus I judge of my heart: that it is very deep and dark, and full of evil; but as to particulars, I know not one of a thousand.

But the certain knowledge of our sinfulness, our darkness is no cause for despair — provided this knowledge comes accompanied by a knowledge of the God in Jesus Christ. Newton’s knowledge of his own poverty causes him to rejoice, because it merely underscores the infinite wealth of Christ.

Before we look to this passage, consider our “normal” response: When we feel badly about ourselves, we seek to solve the psychological, emotional, spiritual stress by bolstering our self-esteem. Newton will have none of it. He does nothing to protect himself, but like a true theologian of the cross (rather than a theologian of glory), Newton looks to Christ for all:

And if our own hearts are beyond our comprehension, how much more incomprehensible is the heart of Jesus! If sin abounds in us, grace and love superabound in him: his ways and thoughts are higher than ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth; his love has a height, and depth, and length, and breadth, that passeth all knowledge; and his riches of grace are unsearchable riches, Ephes. 3:8, 18, 19. All that we have received or can receive from him, or know of him in this life, compared with what he is in himself, or what he has for us, is but as the drop of a bucket compared with the ocean, or a single ray of light in respect of the sun. The waters of the sanctuary flow to us at first almost upon a level, ankle deep, so graciously does the Lord condescend to our weakness; but they rise as we advance, and constrain us to cry out, with the Apostle, O the depth! We find before us, as Dr. Watts beautifully expresses it,

A sea of love and grace unknown,

Without a bottom or a shore.

Imagine a poor soul caught in a sin. Our first response is to come, “You are not so bad.” But the truth is that we are all far worse than our public exposure of sin reveals. We know that in ourselves, that is in our flesh, no good thing dwells. We are a mass of rebellion (whether the vilest sin or the strongest morality and self-righteousness) without Christ. Newton will not come and say, we are not so bad. No, we will only learn more and more of the depth of our sin — But Christ! His mercy, glory, righteousness are only magnified by rescuing poor, helpless sinners.

Newton unites this knowledge with his eschatological hope. Our present good from Christ will only grow as we continue on. We will not come to the end and find the depth of the knowledge, we will only begin. Our present desire will only be met with greater satisfaction and greater desire. We will think less or ourselves and more of Christ — and what a joy that will be to be emptied of myself and filled with Him!

O the excellency of the knowledge of Christ! It will be growing upon us through time, yea, I believe through eternity. What an astonishing and what a cheering thought, that this high and lofty One should unite himself to our nature, that so, in a way worthy of his adorable perfections, he might by his Spirit unite us to himself! Could such a thought have arisen in our hearts, without the warrant of his word (but it is a thought which no created mind was capable of conceiving till he revealed it), it would have been presumption and blasphemy; but now he has made it known, it is the foundation of our hope, and an inexhaustible spring of life and joy. Well may we say, Lord what is man, that thou shouldst thus visit him!

 

The Spiritual Chymist: Meditation 16

25 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Eschatology, Meditaiton

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Eschatology, patience, Prayer, Puritan, The Spiritual Chy, William Spurstowe

Upon a Lamp and a Star

(From William Spurstowe’s Spiritual Chymist, 1666

 

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Such is the disparity between a Lamp and a Star, as that happily it may not a little be wondered at, why I should make a joint meditation of them which are so greatly distant in respect of place, and far more in respect of quality: the one being an earthly, and the other a heavenly body?

What is a lamp or a star in regard of influence, duration or beauty? Haw it any quickening rays flowing from it? Or is its light immortal,s o as not become despised by expiring? Can it dazzle the beholder with its serene luster and leave such impressions of itself upon the eye, as may render it for a time blind to any other objects?

Alas! These are too high and noble effects for such a feeble and uncertain light to produce, and property only to those glorious bodies that sine in the firmament.

But yet this great inequality between the one and the other serves to make them both more meet emblems of the offering estate of believes in this and the other life, who is Scripture — while they are on this side of heaven — are compared to wise virgins with lamps burning; and when they come to heaven, to start shining, which endure for ever and ever.

Grace in the best of saints is not perfect, but must, like a lamp, be fed with new supplies that it go not out; and be often trimmed that it be not dim. Ordinances are as necessary to Christians in this life as manna to the Israelites in the wilderness (though in Canaan it ceased). And therefore, God appointed his Word and Sacraments to drop continually upon the hearts of his children, as the two olive trees upon the golden candlestick.

What mean then those fond conceits of perfectists, who dream of living above all subsidiary helps and judge ordinances as useless to them, as oil for a star or snuffing of the sun to make it shine more brightly [treating the stars and sun like oil burning lamps]?

It is true, when we come to heaven such things will be of no more use to our souls, than meat or drink will be to our bodies; but yet while we are earth, the body cannot live without the one, nor the soul without the other.

Do thou therefore, Holy God,
Preserve in me a due sense of my impotency and wants
Whose light is fading,
As well as borrowed;
That so I may daily suck supplies from thee
And acknowledge that I live not only by grace received
But by grace renewed
And while I am in this life
Have light only as a lamp in the Temple
Which must be fed and trimmed
And not as a star in Heaven

The Sweet By and By 

09 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Eschatology, Uncategorized

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Eschatology, Heaven, Johnny Cash, Michael Bird

It is a distressly common thought among professing Christians that we are aimed for a “heaven” which oddly disconnected with this present age. Thus, our life now has no real bearing on our life after the Resurrection. Yet, this runs counter to the Biblical witness. After Jesus has been resurrected, Thomas can touch the scars from the cross (John 20:27).  Our current distress “is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). There is a connection between sexual immorality now and the resurrection (1 Cor. 6:14).

As Michael Bird helpfully explains in his Systematic Theology:

Such a hope is focused on Jesus Christ and the consummation of his kingdom in the future. This is not an escapist theology that looks for something radically different to the present reality we experience. For the renewed creation will be a resurrection of the present order of things. There will be a continuity between this world and the next one. Thus, what we do in this world and in this life will carry over into the future realm of a transformed heaven and earth. That’s why the church is busy with mission rather than being bored with waiting. As the people of God shine like stars (Dan 12:3; Phil 2:15), they radiate before the world a glimpse of what the coming glory will be like. The church, as God’s children indwelt by the Holy Spirit and living under the lordship of Jesus Christ, is a living preview of the final state of the universe: glory.

An Evening of Eschatology

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Eschatology

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Douglas Wilson, Eschatology, Jim Hamilton, John Piper, Sam Storms

Doug Wilson, Sam Storms, John Piper, Jim Hamilton discuss eschatology:

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/an-evening-of-eschatology-09-27-09.mp3

The Good of Meditation

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Meditation, Richard Sibbes, Spiritual Disciplines

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Eschatology, Faith, Kingdom, Meditation, Memory, Richard Sibbes, The Saint's Safety in Evil Times

It is therefore Christian wisdom, to fix our souls on good meditations, to have them wedded to good thoughts, to have those comforting thoughts, befitting Christians, that may lead us comfortably in our way to heaven. Let a man think of God’s deliverances past, and that will strengthen his faith for the future deliverances. Let him think of future deliverances, and that will lead him to a kingdom, to praise God; and this praising of God will stretch his soul, for ever and for ever; as if there were no time sufficient to glorify God, that is so excellent and glorious. What a blessed condition is this, to have God’s Spirit warming our souls and perfuming our spirits with holy thoughts, continually putting us upon the employment of heaven, till at length it hath safely brought us thither.

Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1, “The Saint’s Safety in Evil Times” (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 329.

Gathercole Read All 1658 Pages

29 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in N.T. Wright

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Election, Eschatology, Justification, N.T. Wright, New Perspective, Paul, Paul and the Faithfulness of God

Wright is brilliant, maddening and, as in the case of Paul and the Faithfulness of God, able to write extremely long books:

Let me begin by stating the fact that most obviously strikes the recipient of a copy of Paul and the Faithfulness of God (henceforth, PFG): it is 1658 pages long. At one point, probably about a third of the way or half-way through, I had a feeling which – unprompted – interpreted itself in words similar to those of John Newton’s Amazing Grace: ‘When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun | We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, as when we first begun’. I felt at this stage at the book that, having read hundreds and hundreds of pages, I still had as many to go as I did when I first begun. One of the chapters is over 250 pages. But I did make it all the way through to what I assume was the George Herbert allusion at the end. –

Someday, I hope to have the time myself

 

Edward Taylor, Raptures of Glory.7

30 Friday May 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Edward Taylor, Glory, Literature, Praise

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Crowns, Edward Taylor, Ephod, Eschatology, Exodus, glory, High Priest, Hope, poem, Poetry, Praise, Puritan Poetry

The previous post in this series may be found here:

Having seen the beauty of Christ and the coldness of his heart, Taylor prays that God would stir-up his heart. In this eighth stanza, Taylor uses an image which has no particular place in the Bible, but which would make sense of Taylor’s circumstances. His notebooks date the poem November 1685, in the midst of the Little Ice Age. You can almost feel the frozen poet trying to warm his body as he looks out on the winter snow and ice.

The stanza asks God to row golden oars to warm his heart. He seeks a flame which will melt the frozen lake [of his affections]. He calls God’s love the sun — which Taylor saw all too little in cold November.

Lord may thy priestly golden oars but make
A rowing in my lumpish heart, thou’lt see
My chilly numbed affections charm, and break
Out in rapid flame of love to thee.
Yea, they unto thyself will fly in flocks
When thy warm sun my frozen lake unlocks
.

The next stanza requires some knowledge of the High Priest’s clothing. In Exodus 28, God sets out garments for the High Priest. He was required to wear a vestment decorated with precious stones. The names of the tribes of Israel were written on the stones, so that when Aaron (the first High Priest) came before The Lord, he would “bear their names before the Lord”:

9 You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,
10 six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth.
11 As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree.
12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance.

Jesus, under the New Covenant, is final High Priest:

1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. Hebrews 8:1-2

His name is to be buried in the “pearly rocks” — the jewels upon the ephod. This is a reference to the doctrine that one who comes to true saving faith is counted by God as crucified with Christ (buried) and now alive with Christ:

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3-4

Be thou my High Priest, Lord; and let my name
Lie in some grave dug in these pearly rocks
Upon thy ephod’s shoulders piece, like flame
Or graved in thy breat plate-gem: brave knops.
Thou’lt then me bear before thy Father’s throne
Rolled up in folds of glory of thine ow
n.

The last stanza picks up another image of the eschatological hope of the Christian. First, he uses the image of a crown, which is a picture of the rewards to be received by those find in Christ (see, e.g., 1 Peter 5:4). He then addresses the glorious praise of those who see Christ in the end:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, Hebrews 12:22

And:

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:6-14

One of these gems, I beg, Lord, that so well
Begrace thy breast plat, and thy ephod clever
To stud my crown therewith: or let me dwell
Among the their sparkling, glancing shades forever.
I’st then be decked in glory bright to sing
With angels Hallelujah to my King
.

Not to be separated

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Ascension, Christology, Quotations, Theology

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ascension, christology, Eschatology, New Creation, Quotations, The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of Our Lord, Theology, William Milligan

He [Christ], in His human as well as His Divine nature, has been, is now, and will ever be, the centre not only of the natural but of the redeemed creation….Our Lord, in short, was exalted, not to be separated forever from a world which crucified Him, from a world with the weakness and sorrow and sins of which He was once in contact, but that He may apply to it His ample and free forgiveness, together with the inexhaustible resources of His power.

The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of Our Lord, William Milligan, D.D., 1892. Pages 43-44.

Edward Taylor, My blessed Lord, art thou a lily flower?

29 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Colossians, Edward Taylor, Meditation, Puritan, Song of Solomon

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1 Peter, 1 Peter 1:23–25, art thou a lily flower?, Christian Meditation, Colossians, Colossians 3:3-4, Edward Taylor, Eschatology, glory, James 1:21, Lily, Meditation, My blessed Lord, Poetry, Puritan, Puritan Poetry, Romans 8:29, Song of Solomon, Spiritual Disciplines, Word

My blessed Lord, art thou a lily flower?

My blessed Lord, art thou a lily flower?
Oh, that my soul thy garden were, that so
Thy bowing head root in my heart and pour
Might of its seeds, that they therein might grown.
Be thou my lily, make thou me thy knot:
Be thou my flowers, I’ll be thy flower pot.

My barren heart thy fruitful valley make:
Be thou my lily flourishing in me:
Oh lily of the valleys, for thy sake,
Let me thy valley, and thou my lily be.
Then nothing shall me of thyself bereave.
Thou must not me, or must my valley leave.

How shall my valley’s spangling glory spread,
Thou lily of the valley’s spangling
There springing up? Upon thy bowing head
All heaven’s bright glory hangeth dangling.
My valley then with blissful beams shall shine,
Thou lily of the valleys, being mine.

The significant aspect of Taylor’s meditation is not a bare desire for Jesus. Such desire is certainly present:

My blessed Lord, art thou a lily flower?
Oh, that my soul thy garden were

However, it is not a mere desire to somehow possess Jesus (the lily flower) but to be transformed by Jesus. He first expresses this desire with the imagery of seeds scattered:

that so
Thy bowing head root in my heart and pour
Might of its seeds, that they therein might grown.

The imagery of seeds is used in the NT of the Word of God as “seed”. Jesus famously gives the parable of the sower in which the scattered seed is the gospel proclamation (Mark 4:1-20). James, while not expressing saying “seed” writes of the “implanted word, which is able to save your souls” James 1:21. Peter writes of being born of seed:

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:23-25.

Thus, scattering of “seed” would be seeking a transformation.

Taylor then speaks of the lily making the valley (the poet) fruitful (line 7).

The reason he desires the transformation is given in line 9, “for thy sake”. This seems to come from nowhere and may easily be missed in importance.

The Christian seeks to be “conformed to the image of” Christ (Romans 8:29). This process will lead to “glory” (Romans 8:30). This transformation process is wrought by Father through the Spirit to glorify the Son, “that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). This doctrine could be drawn elsewhere, but the point is plain: Taylor seeks transformation to glorify the Son, hence this is sought “for thy sake”.

The glory and beauty of the Christian is all of Christ. In forensic terms, it is an “alien righteousness”, that is, a righteousness which derives from and belongs to Christ. In Colossians 3:3-4, the image is that our life and glory are in Christ:

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Thus, the life and glory of Christ becomes ours and make us radiant to the glory of Christ:

Upon thy bowing head
All heaven’s bright glory hangeth dangling.
My valley then with blissful beams shall shine,
Thou lily of the valleys, being mine
.

Thus, Taylor’s desire is not merely for himself, but rather for the glory of Christ, in which glory Taylor may participate.

Ecclesiastes Comparison and Contrast.23

28 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah

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Ecclesiastes, Eschatology, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36, future, Isaiah, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 48, Isaiah 65, Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, Memory

Ecclesiastes 1:10-11 (nothing new):

10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

But God will bring something new:

8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 42:8-9.

6 “You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.

Isaiah48:6-8.

A new heart and spirit:

30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

Ezekiel 18:30-32.

A new covenant:

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 31:31-33. A new heaven and earth:

16 So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.

Isaiah 65:15-19. Note that the forgetfulness which is an evil in Ecclesiastes 1 will become a blessing when the world passes away and the new world comes.

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