Israel

Understanding the Debate & Differences in How We Put Our Bibles Together (Views on Covenantal & Dispensational Theologies with Brent Parker and Richard Lucas, Ep. 2)

Kirk E. Miller
In this episode, I continue my conversation with Brent E. Parker and Richard Lucas, editors of the forthcoming book, Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture (IVP, February 2022). In this session, we talk about what different commitments or perspectives ultimately underlie the various views, why all of this matters, how it comes to bear in our theology and practice, and how we might construct a path forward in the doing of Biblical theology for the local church.
 
Their book is currently available for pre-order, releasing February 8, 2022.

Access the episode here. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.)

See all other content in this series.

A Survey of How Different Systems of Theology Put the Bible Together (Views on Covenantal & Dispensational Theologies with Brent Parker and Richard Lucas, Ep. 1)

Kirk E. Miller

How should we interpret the promises made to the people of Israel in the OT — are they being fulfilled in the church? Does God have a distinct plan for the nation of Israel separate from the church? How do Christians relate to the Mosaic Law? What does infant baptism have to do with our understanding of the Biblical Covenants? In short, these are all questions asking, How should we put our Bible’s together — and questions that both covenantal and dispensational theologies answer differently, with wide-ranging implications for how we read our Bibles, how we define the church, what we expect of the future, and how we live our Christian lives.

This episode serves as the first installment of a larger conversation on covenantal and dispensational theologies and their divergent ways of putting the Bible together. In today’s episode, Richard Lucas and Brent Parker lead us through a survey of the various view points that exist. In order of those that stress more continuity to those that stress more discontinuity, we look at:

  • Theonomy / Reconstructionism [3:50]
  • Traditional Covenant Theology [9:13]
  • 20th Century Reformed Baptist Theology [24:02]
  • 1689 Federalism [31:02]
  • Progressive Covenantalism [40:37]
  • New Covenant Theology [55:24]
  • Progressive Dispensationalism [1:04:7]
  • Traditional (or Revised) Dispensationalism [1:18:58]
  • Classic Dispensationalism [1:34:36]

Their book, Covenantal and Dispensational Theologies: Four Views on the Continuity of Scripture (IVP, February 2022), is currently available for pre-order.

Access the episode here. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.)

See all other content in this series.

7 Principles Concerning Israel and the Land (John Piper)

Kirk E. Miller

Israel Hamas Conflict

Yesterday Matt Smethurst published a blog post on Israel, Gaza, and the idea of Israel’s ‘divine right’ to the land (originally posted Nov 22, 2012). In it Matt linked to and shared thoughts from one of John Piper’s sermons on that same topic. I was familiar with this sermon; I have listened to it once or twice previously. But I was reminded of it yesterday; and, like Matt, I thought it would be good to share his principles as well as some commentary.

In the sermon, John Piper provides 7 principles concerning Israel, Palestine, the land, ‘divine right,’ etc. I want to share these because 1) this is incredibly relevant right now and 2) I think Piper is spot on here.

1. God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession.

Deuteronomy 7:6 –  The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

2. The Land was part of the inheritance he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.

Genesis 15:18 – On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Genesis 17:7-8 – “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Continue reading →

Israel Trip (Photos)

Kirk E. Miller 2 Comments

About two years ago, my parents had the opportunity to take a study tour of Israel. And about two years ago my parents decided to send me instead of themselves. Therefore, I offer a big thanks to them for providing me with this opportunity. And I’d like to ‘dedicate’ this post to them.

I spent the past 10-11 days on a study tour in Israel. We visited an unbelievable amount of locations (more than are represented in the photos here); and I took a enormous amount of photos (around 1,250!). I’d like to share an incredibly narrowed down selection of those photos. The following are some of my amateur iPhone shots that I took throughout the trip. Enjoy!

**Click on photos for larger images.

 Jerusalem Area

Mount of Olives from Mount Scopus.

Mount of Olives (left) and Jerusalem (right) from Mount Scopus.

Continue reading →

An Ecclesiological Concern with Messianic Judaism

Kirk E. Miller 2 Comments

Let me be very straight-forward (as if that’s unusual).

Messianic Judaism is something that makes me feel… uncomfortable, not for ethnic or cultural reasons, but theological ones. I say “uncomfortable” because, although I’m not sure I could clearly articulate my thoughts very well at this point, I have a sense of theological uneasiness in regards to this movement. I may be able to identify some of my concerns, e.g., Messianic Judaism seems to be a practical outcome of viewing Israel and the Church as two separate peoples of God (clearly an unbiblical concept). But I need to do some more thinking about what’s causing this theological nervousness.

Continue reading →