AUSTRALIA - A HISTORY (Review)

As I migrant to Australia, I always enjoy learning about our wonderful country. Tony Abbott has done a great job of helping to add to our knowledge. As one might expect from a former Prime Minister of Australia, his book, Australia – A History – How an ancient land became a democracy, focusses much on the historical development of Australian politics.

In the Author’s Note, Tony Abbott writes, “I am not a professional historian and this is a personal account based on existing sources. My hope is that a history by someone who has tried to shape it, however briefly and imperfectly, could have an appeal that a more academic exercise might lack.” p. 5. The sources are well referenced with a plethora of endnotes for each chapter, the bibliography is well-stocked, and an A-Z index is included to help find where to look in the book for anything from Abbott government to Zeewijk (ship).

Ex-Prime Minister Abbott, thank you for doing the hard yards of research and for giving us a very readable presentation of what has gone into our nation’s becoming a great democracy!

EXPOSED FLESH

                                                                EXPOSED FLESH

“For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh” Galatians 6:13.

Introduction

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    Do you know the story of George and the dragon? Well, George, apparently, was born in Cappadocia, which is just east of Galatia. He died around the year AD303. Anyway, the story goes that there was a dragon terrorizing a town in Libya. The locals had tried to appease the dragon by feeding it sheep. However, the dragon, apparently, wanted to get its teeth into some human flesh. So, the villagers drew lots, and the lot fell upon the king’s daughter. So, she was taken out in the open to await the dragon. But lo and behold! George showed up, slew the dragon, saved the king’s daughter, and converted the whole town to Christianity! – or so the story goes.

Now then, the Apostle Paul is encountering a dragon of sorts at Galatia. The main difference is that he’s already converted the town to Christianity, which is to say that God has used Paul in His conversion of the town. However, there’s a dragon at Galatia, and like George’s dragon, he too is after a piece of the villagers’ flesh!

As you know, this dragon, or these dragons, wants to see the Galatian men circumcised. However, Paul the Apostle is having none of it. The whole of this Epistle to the Galatians is a record of Paul fighting this dragon. And, as you read through this letter, you see him deftly run-it-through many times. Clearly, he’s lanced this erupting boil to death!

Now then, in Galatians 6:13 he’s doing what David did to the dead Goliath. He’s doing what I did to a dead snake I found on my garden path. He’s severing the dragon’s head. He’s making sure the thing is dead! And now, in this verse, he’s holding up its severed head to show the Galatians, once more, the true nature of the beast!

And what is the true nature of this beast? Well, the true nature of this beast is that it is clearly anti-Christian. The false teachers at Galatia under the guise of true religion were introducing false religion. Paul, in the verse we’re looking at, is blowing their cover! He’s exposing their false religion for what it is – anti-Christian. And by anti-Christian we mean that which is either against or in place of Christ. False religion is anything that replaces the cross of Christ as the means of salvation.

Paul then, in this verse, is lopping the head off the anti-Christian, false religion of the Judaizers. The false teachers are not about the business of saving the Galatians. Instead, they are feeding them to the dragon through the mincer of circumcision. Hence, Paul wants to show these Galatians who these false teachers really are. He even wants the Galatians to, as it were, examine their legalistic entrails!

The Perception

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The perception the Galatians had of these false teachers was that they loved God’s Law. On the surface they looked like model Christians, i.e., perfect law keepers. However, false teachers may seem so sincere while being so sincerely wrong. Now, this creates a bit of a difficulty, because one of the signs a person is a Christian is that he loves God and the things of God – including His Law.

Paul the Apostle tells us of his love for God’s Law where he says, “I delight in the law of God” (Rom. 8:22). And the Apostle John says, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).

So, you would agree with me, that one indication a person is a Christian is his desire to keep God’s commandments, i.e., his love for the law? What Christian do you know says that it’s right to worship false images? What Christian says it’s good to murder, commit adultery, steal, lie and covet? ALL Christians love the law of God. However, the Judaizers, who were pestering the Galatians, seemed zealous about keeping the Law, even the part of the Law that had been abrogated, i.e., the ceremonial law.

Now then, don’t miss the frank boldness of what the Apostle is saying in this verse. At the moment I’m referring in particular to the first half of the verse. “For not even those who are circumcised keep the law...” (Gal. 6:13a). Think about those words. Since Abraham’s day circumcision had been the sign and seal of God’s covenant with His people. It was the sign and seal of God’s Covenant of Grace, i.e., God’s conditional promise of eternal life.  Everlasting life was promised to “whosoever believes” in the One to which circumcision pointed. Circumcision then, was a signpost directing all Old Testament traffic to Christ, the Promised Messiah, for salvation from the penalty of their sins.

Every Hebrew male, child or adult, was to have that signpost applied upon him. Circumcision itself couldn’t save. It was merely the sign and seal of God’s Promise of salvation. Circumcision, if you will, was the mark of Christ. And among God’s Covenant People circumcision remained the mark of Christ from the time of Abraham until the time of Christ. Then, after the removal of our sin at Calvary’s cross (which circumcision graphically depicted), the sign and seal was changed. Bloody circumcision gave way to bloodless baptism as the mark of Christ.

Now then, if you keep in mind that neither Old Testament, i.e., Old Covenant, circumcision, nor New Testament, i.e., New Covenant, baptism, were designed to save, you won’t go too far wrong.

Old Testament circumcision and New Testament baptism are the outward applying of the mark of Christ to a member of God’s Covenant People, i.e., believers and to their children (Acts 2:39). Therefore, to withhold the mark of Christ from any individual was to deny that that individual belonged to Christ. It was to say that that person or persons is a covenant breaker, i.e., one who does not keep the Law. Again, the Apostle is saying here: “...not even those who are circumcised keep the law.” And here’s the rub: in Genesis the LORD said to Abraham, “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; HE HAS BROKEN MY COVENANT” (Gen. 17:14). With a verse like that, can you see why the Galatians might be considering circumcision? The male person who had not been circumcised was considered a covenant breaker. He was considered as one who does not keep the law, i.e., an enemy of God.

Young David asked about the giant Goliath, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Sam. 17:26b). So, when Paul says, “For not even those who are circumcised keep the law”, he is saying that the Judaizing zealots might as well be uncircumcised. Why? Because they are not keeping the law. Yet it is the perception of the Galatians that these Judaizers are keeping the law. But ironically, circumcision is the very place where they are breaking the law! And this is the place where Paul removes the head from the dragon. It’s the place where he uncovers the buttocks of the false teachers. It’s the place where he shames them.

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When we lived in Winnipeg, Canada, in mid-winter sometimes this warning would come across your TV screen: Exposed skin will freeze in one minute! The idea was that it was so cold outside that you’d better not expose any of your skin! The Apostle here is exposing the flesh of these false teachers to the elements, i.e., the Galatians. These false teachers are the epitome of what some call the “frozen chosen”! At least Adam and Eve covered the nakedness of their sin with fig leaves. These false teachers were using the ordinance of circumcision as their covering. But the Apostle Paul is about to yank the towel off them to expose their false circumcision!

The Deception

The false teachers were not keeping the law, in actual fact, they were abusing the law. As Paul puts it, “Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh” (Gal. 6:13b). In other words, it’s not because they love the law that they want you circumcised. It’s because they love the flesh.

This is where he holds up the severed head of the serpent. It’s under the pretext of the law that the false teachers want the Galatians circumcised. But even with their own circumcision the false teachers are not keeping the law. And here’s where the deception lay: They thought that circumcision itself saves you rather than points you to the Saviour – just as many people today think baptism is their saviour rather than the signpost to the Saviour. Therefore, they were glorying in their own flesh. They gloried in circumcision rather than the Savior. They saw circumcision as their Savior – not Christ, who is the meaning of Old Testament circumcision. They failed to see that Christ’s crucifixion was our circumcision. As Paul said elsewhere to the Philippians, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation! For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:2-3).

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The false teachers were putting their confidence in the flesh, not only their own flesh, but also the flesh of the Galatians. As in the legend of George and the Dragon, the king’s offspring was to be sacrificed. The false teachers dreaded persecution. Therefore, they had to appease the ones who persecute. Thus, they sought to offer up the flesh of the Galatians. As Calvin put it, speaking of the Galatians, “They wish to triumph over you, and to gratify their own desire of applause, by offering up your mutilated flesh to the false zealots of the law, as a token of peace and harmony.” (Calvin on Gal. 6:13).

The false teachers, then, gloried in the flesh of the Galatians. Why? Because the circumcision of the Galatians meant peace from persecution. It meant that the dragon, i.e., the false religion of Judaism, would be fed. And it meant that these false teachers would have peace and harmony with the Judaistic zealots who were persecuting the Apostle Paul. But the trouble with false religion is that it has an insatiable appetite. That’s the nature of the beast, but the Apostle’s having none of it. So, he cuts of its head by exposing their flesh. He reveals the fact that their circumcision is phoney. He invites the Galatians to inspect the circumcision of these false teachers.

Their circumcision is not according to the law because they do not keep the law. Their circumcision is simply a mutilation of the flesh. It’s like when a person is baptized and he goes out and lives a life of sin and debauchery. What does his baptism count for with God? Nothing! But what does it count for with man? That’s the question, isn’t it? The common perception is that it does some good. That’s the perception of the world; but that’s also the deception.

Just think, if we lived in Old Testament times, they’d be asking to have their infants circumcised. Why? Well, for the same reason people who don’t even attend church would phone and ask me to baptize their infants. They believe in salvation through baptism just as these false teachers believed in salvation through circumcision. But that’s what false religion is all about. It’s about substituting Christ and His cross. It’s about glorying in the flesh. But look what Paul says in the next verse, “But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). If you’re going to glory in anything, glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, glory in the thing which Old Testament circumcision pointed to – Christ removing our sin.

The perception the Galatians had was that the false teachers were striving to be obedient to God. But that perception was part of their deception. So, Paul exposed their rort. He does this by telling the Galatians that the false teacher do not keep the law. The very point where the false teachers claim they are keeping the law is the very point where they are breaking it.

First off, the Law given to Moses and the People of God at Mount Sinai was not given as a means of salvation. It’s true that many Pharisees, i.e., the false teachers in Jesus’ day, viewed the law that way. Truth be told, there are many in the churches today who view the Old Testament Law that way. But fallen man cannot save himself through keeping the Law of Moses. Neither can he assist in the saving of himself by keeping the Law. This is the Apostle Paul’s whole argument throughout this Epistle. So, when Paul says, “Not even those who are circumcised keep the law,” he is lifting the head off the false teachers’ argument. How is this? It’s because Circumcision was never given with the law in the first place.

Circumcision was given as a sign and seal of the Covenant some four hundred odd years before Mount Sinai. It was the mark of Christ, which is to say that it was the Promise of Salvation made by God to those who would believe in the One to come. In other words, Old Testament Circumcision was the Gospel of Christ in the Old Testament. However, these false teachers are mixing Gospel with Law. They did this by making circumcision part of the Law – and a major part at that.

They’re saying that salvation depends on Old Testament circumcision every bit as much as the Papacy today says that salvation depends on Romish baptism! However, the Lord’s Apostle (in the verse before us) has carved up this beast! No longer need the people of God fear the terrible dragon! For not even those who claim you are saved by keeping the law keep the law themselves. They are breaking the Law by claiming that you need to keep the Law to be saved! For to claim that you need to be circumcised or baptized to keep the Law is to break the Law, because neither Old Testament Circumcision nor New Testament Baptism were given with the Law. Therefore, the false teachers at Galatia were not keeping the Law, because, among other things, they were adding circumcision to the Law.

They were guilty therefore of adding to the Law which is the very thing which the Law forbids. The LORD in Deuteronomy says, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deut. 4:2). In Proverbs, “Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar” (Prov. 30:6).

The Apostle Paul has clearly shown the true nature of the Judaizing Zealots. They are liars! Jesus called the legalistic Pharisees “A brood of vipers” i.e., “offspring of the serpent”. In John 8:44 Jesus told them that they were of their father the devil who was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies. They were around in Jesus’ day and they are still around today, so watch out!

Conclusion

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      Old Testament Circumcision pointed to Christ – the Christ who alone kept the Law perfectly. Old Testament Circumcision pointed to Christ’s cross – the Christ who crushed the dragon’s head. It was Jesus Christ who killed the dragon out in the open at Calvary’s cross! He crushed its head, but the Serpent only bruised His heel. Glory in the cross of Christ. Don’t glory in your own baptism. Don’t glory in the amount of people you’ve converted, i.e., those you’ve influenced to be baptized. Therefore, don’t glory in the flesh, your own flesh, or the flesh of others. Glory only in Christ and His cross, for He is our circumcision and our baptism and our Law Keeper. For He is our Great Dragonslayer! He is the One who sets His people free from bondage and tyranny of Satan and his lies, i.e., false teaching.

Christ is our everything. He is our all in all!

"ENLARGING OUR HEARTS"

 ENLARGING OUR HEARTS: A Discussion for Highland Christians about Palestine and Israel (and my written comments on some of the issues raised in the video).

                                            DEPRESSING DISPENSATIONALISM

After watching the Enlarging our hearts: a podcast discussion amongst Highland Christians about Israel & Palestine video I was inspired to write the following:

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For what it’s worth, Rudi Schwartz and I address some of the issues discussed in the video mostly in our The Kingdom: Every Square Inch book and also in The Unfaithful Bride & The Faithful Groom book.

Bottom line is that Dispensationalism, with its erroneous views of modern Israel (post 1948) and therefore also the Lord’s Church, has caused untold damage to Christianity and Christian politics (USA in particular) regarding the Middle East in general and (contemporary) Israel in particular. The popularity of the late John MacArthur (who has planted churches even in Brisbane!) was the main purveyor of this damaging doctrine in our own day. John MacArthur, on account of his Calvinistic views on certain things, was the crossover point from Dispensationalism into Reformed Christianity. The late and well-respected RC Sproul lent MacArthur credibility in Reformed circles by giving him a platform.

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Premillennial Dispensationalism has a great deal to do with the Ben Shapiro/Tucker Carlson dispute. Ben Shapiro has been annoying me for a couple of years now, as has Mark Levin. I like Mark Levin when it comes to help in understanding the intent of the American Constitution but have been left wondering why he and Shapiro don’t just pull up stakes and leave the USA and move to Israel which, by their weird fixation, they prove beyond any shadow of doubt, they obviously love more than America! Why? Well, it’s the same way why some Christians love Israel more than they love Christ's Church on earth! Error! Yes, Zionism for the first (i.e., the Jews) and Dispensationalism for the second (i.e., misguided Christians). Both are the same thing when it comes to politics. Both are bad theology. Of course, as soon as you say anything like this you are likened to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. That’s the bit I don't understand. I care for the present nation of Israel as I care for any Western democratic people. I worry about Israel being surrounded by Islamic nations that hate them. However, I don’t view present-day Israel as the land of God’s chosen people (or the present-day land as the chosen land).

Ye olde Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” applies, of course, to Abraham and ultimately to Christ, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20), and, importantly, those who are the true sons of Abraham, i.e., those who are in Christ, Christians. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29) and “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Gal. 3:9). Therefore, if the present-day faithless Israel is indeed a Jewish State, and if Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin are practicing Jews, then they are Christless. They are outside of Christ. Therefore, they do not bless Abraham. They certainly do not bless Abraham’s promised Son, Christ the Messiah. And they do not bless those who are in Christ. Thus, Dispensationalism stunts the advancement of the Gospel by its worship of Israel instead of Israel’s Son, Jesus Christ. Its Rapture Theology hands this world over to Satan, instead of winning it for Christ.

Instead of Christ and His New Testament Church on earth being seen as the continuation of His Old Testament faithful people, through Gentiles, i.e., nations other than Old Testament Israel, being grafted into the same olive tree, Dispensationalism accuses Reformed Theology of being Replacement Theology, as in the Church replacing Israel. “And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in” (Rom. 11:17-19). One olive tree, not Israel and the Church. The middle wall of partition has been removed. “At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Eph. 2:12-16).

How long is a piece of string? If Old Testament Israel is a long piece of string, Dispensationalism removes a chunk out of the middle and reattaches the string with present day Israel in the Middle East. The bit that Dispensationalism removes it calls the Church. The dissection it calls The Rapture. Instead of keeping its eyes on the Lord, Dispensationalism is fixated on present-day Israel. That is where it looks for signs for its supposed immanent return of the Lord. The Church is then removed from earth and the string gets rejoined so that the Lord can get on with more important things!

Dispensationalism was popularized in the early 1800s by John Nelson Darby and was even more popularized in the early 1900s by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield in his (in)famous Scofield Reference Bible. John MacArthur (1939-2025) furthered its debilitating influence on the Lord’s Church in our own age. Instead of Christians rolling up their sleeves and getting on with the work of Christ’s Kingdom, we are now hoping that Christ will return to save us from this evil generation! News about present-day Israel helps us determine when we will be “Saigoned”, (see, Americans at the end of Vietnam War). This, of course, impacts our understanding of the Great Commission, which in the Dispensational system, is doomed to depressing failure and not to success. Thus Satan, not Christ, wins the world!

The following is from The Westminster Directory for Publick (sic) Worship (Of Public Prayer before the Sermon). Note that we are to pray for “the conversion of the Jews" and deliverance from the cruel Turk (i.e., Islam), yes, and we are even to pray for Australia!, and for the removal of heresy, (such as Dispensationalism):

“To pray for the propagation of the gospel and kingdom of Christ to all nations; for the conversion of the Jews, the fulness of the Gentiles, the fall of Antichrist, and the hastening of the second coming of our Lord; for the deliverance of the distressed churches abroad from the tyranny of the antichristian faction, and from the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of the Turk; for the blessing of God upon the reformed churches, especially upon the churches and kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, now more strictly and religiously united in the Solemn National League and Covenant; and for our plantations in the remote parts of the world: more particularly for that church and kingdom whereof we are members, that therein God would establish peace and truth, the purity of all his ordinances, and the power of godliness; prevent and remove heresy, schism, profaneness, superstition, security, and unfruitfulness under the means of grace; heal all our rents and divisions, and preserve us from breach of our Solemn Covenant.”

HEIR CARE

                                                                         HEIR CARE

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“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:26-29).

Introduction

God’s Law was given to drive us to faith in Christ, just as it drove those who lived from the time of Moses to faith in Christ. The threefold use of the Law, i.e., the Ten Commandments, is a) To restrain sin by promoting righteousness in society as well as in the individual, and b) To bring a man under conviction of sin and therefore point the man to Christ, and c) the Law is to be used as a rule of life for all believers.

In the following we’re looking at some of the benefits we have by being in Christ, i.e., by being Christians. Before Jesus was lifted up and transported into heaven, He told His disciples “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And you are My witnesses” (Luke 24:47-48). Then the LORD said to His disciples, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power on high” (Luke 24:49).

And the story continues in Acts 1:4-5, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’” (Acts 1:4-5).

The reason I mention these passages should be obvious from our text which is Galatians 3:26-29). The baptism in verse 27 is the baptism of the Holy Spirit of which only Covenant Baptism is the picture. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27). To have “put on” or to have been endued with Christ is to have the Holy Spirit come upon you. To have the Holy Spirit come upon you is to receive the Promise of the Father. And to receive the Promise of the Father is to be an heir according to the promise.

The Heir

The Return of the Prodigal Son
after wasting his inheritance.

The heir we’re talking about is not the ‘air on your ‘ead! No! We’re talking about a legal heir as in one who inherits an inheritance. And according to our text, WE are heirs according to The Promise.

Paul has been going to great lengths to remind the Galatians that they are heirs according to the Promise. Back in Galatians 3:2 he asks the Galatians, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” And, of course, they received the gift of the Spirit by faith alone and not because of their own works.

Up till now Paul has been proving to the Galatians that it was the same for Abraham. Abraham was saved by grace alone through faith alone. Abraham was promised an Heir who would come from his own loins. “In you [Abraham] all the nations shall be blessed.” Abraham (in Genesis 15) was concerned about an heir. He told the LORD that since he was childless one of his servants was his heir. His servant was his slave and this servant was to inherit all that Abraham had. So the LORD said to Abraham, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body will be your heir” (Gen. 15:4). Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).

Now, don’t think for a moment think that all Abraham believed was that he was somehow going to produce a son from his own loins. Of course, he didn’t understand the full implications of this all at once. But there are too many Scriptures that tell us Abraham had his eye on the Promised Seed, i.e., Christ. Eg, Jesus says, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).

Abraham then saw the Christ to come even when God blessed him with a son, Isaac. Abraham knew that the Saviour was on His way to crush the serpent’s head. Indeed, Abraham believed in the Promise of God, and he is called the father of all believers! “Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7). And in Galatians 3:26 of our text we read, “For you are all SONS of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26).

I don’t have to tell you that we live in an age when some women read that and immediately label the Apostle Paul as sexist. To jump to that conclusion the feminist misses, along with the immersionist, the beauty of God’s Covenant of Grace. The Galatians were having problems with circumcision. It was only male believers and their children who put on or were clothed or endued with the sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament. Only the son received the promise of the father, i.e., the promise of his inheritance. Read the parable of the Prodigal Son who squandered his inheritance. But it was only the male child who was promised the inheritance.

Male circumcision was the sign and seal of the inheritance God promised to Abram and to the sons of Abraham. “He who is born in your [i.e., Abraham’s] house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant” (Gen. 17:13-14). “And he [i.e., Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe… For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:11a, 13).

In this we see then that male circumcision is the sign and seal of God’s covenant. It is God’s promise to who qualify to receive and therefore receive the sign and seal of the covenant that they are adopted sons of God, and as such, are heirs along with father Abraham. What was Abraham’s promised in heritance? That he would be the father of all who believe AND that he was heir to the world!

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As all the Presbyterian and Reformed know, Old Testament circumcision has been replaced by New Testament baptism. E.g., “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried[1] with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Col. 2:11-12).

Circumcision of course symbolized the removal of the sinful flesh. But it was also a reminder of the Promised Seed who was in the loins of Abraham, then Isaac then Jacob all the way down to... all the way down to whom? Who is the Father of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is the Son of God, isn’t He? God is His Father but Mary is His mother. And isn’t Jesus the Seed of the woman even in the Gospel promise of Genesis 3:15?

Now then, we know that in the Old Testament the son was promised the inheritance and not the daughter. And we know that circumcision was a picture of the promised inheritance. If baptism replaces circumcision, then why are women receiving the sign and seal of the Covenant? There’s no command in the New Testament to baptize women. Then why are we baptizing females? Well, I’ll tell you! It’s because all of us are heirs according to the promise – not just the blokes! That’s what Paul is on about where he says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). All who are in Christ the only begotten Son of God are heirs with Him.

So, what is the Promise of God the Father? It is the Holy Spirit, isn’t it? And upon whom is the Holy Spirit poured? All flesh, which includes females. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). As many of you upon whom Christ has poured out His Spirit (as pictured in Covenant Baptism) are clothed in Christ. If you are in Christ, then you are an heir of the Covenant Promise. And according to 2 Corinthians 1:20 all the promises of God begin and end with Jesus Christ. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20).

So then, is Paul sexist when he says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26)? Of course not! He is calling both males and females “sons” because we have had Jesus Christ put on us.

When God looks at you and me He sees His Heir, i.e., His only begotten Son. He doesn’t see a Scotsman or an Aussie, or a man or a woman! Again, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). When God looks upon you who are baptized by His Spirit (as illustrated by Covenant Baptism) He sees His Son.

In Covenant Baptism, the sprinkled or poured out water on the recipient’s head is the sign and seal of the covenant. The picture is that the poured out Spirit has taken the poured out blood of Christ and has affixed and applied the promise of its benefits and blessings to the recipient. In the Old Testament God treated as sons those who had the sign and seal of the Covenant on them. And in the New Testament He treats as sons those who have the sign and seal of the Covenant on them. The blood-sprinkled doorposts and lintels of the households at the first Passover pictures the same thing, which is the protection of the firstborn, i.e., the heirs. Thus, baptism, like circumcision before it, is a sign and seal of God’s covenant promise.

As it was in the Old Testament, so it is in the New, the outward sign of the Covenant, is simply an outward sign of what needs to take place inwardly. In the Old Testament, the LORD told them to “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts” (Jer. 4:4a). And Moses told the people of God, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deut. 10:16). Therefore, if you fail to see the continuity from circumcision to baptism, you will, with the feminist and with the immersionist miss the beauty of the Covenant.

We are Abraham’s seed only because Christ came through the loins of Abraham. Christ is the Seed (Gal. 3:16), and it was Christ who received the Promise of the Father. The Father poured the Spirit upon Christ from heaven after John the Baptizer anointed Christ’s head by water baptism. And every time you see a Covenant Baptism performed, you are seeing a picture of someone, male or female becoming an heir!

Indeed that’s what the name Christ means  “anointed,” i.e., Messiah. John anointed Jesus with water while the Father anointed Him with the Spirit. In Luke’s gospel Jesus says, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke i4:18a). And come the Day of Pentecost Christ baptized or anointed His Apostles with the Spirit and fire. They were anointed to preach the gospel to all the ends of the earth. They were to go into all the world making disciples of all nations. The Spirit was doing invisibly what the Apostles were to do visibly. They were to baptize the nations because the promise was for all.

Acts 2:38-39 records these words, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord will call” (Acts 2:38-39). Yes, the promise is to you AND to your children! For through water baptism people are received as members of the visible church. But only through Spirit baptism are they received as members of the invisible church. Therefore, all we’re doing in water baptism is showing the promise of the Spirit in physical terms. We’re just illustrating what Christ does invisibly, i.e., even baptizing whole nations into His Church according to promise. Therefore, we who have been baptized by Christ who poured His Spirit upon us, are sons and heirs according to the promise.

The Care

The LORD looks after His Seed. We’re told in Galatians 3:29 that we are Abraham’s seed. God made the promise to Abraham and his seed, yes, "the promise is to you and to your children" (Acts 2:39). The Promise was made to Abraham and to Christ and to those who by faith are in Christ.

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In Genesis we read, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Gen. 15:1). A whole sermon could by preached just on the meaning of the “shield” in this verse. What is the meaning of this word shield? It speaks of an actual shield that is used in battle. Which speaks of a protection, a covering. “I am the one who “covers” you Abraham!” One theologian has argued convincingly that the word has in its meaning “Suzerain.” Suzerain of course means “sovereign lord.” Perhaps like the Angel who revealed Himself to Joshua as Commander of the LORD’s army Joshua 6:14. But, in my mind at least, it all amounts to the same thing. The One who is the “Shield” is the LORD Himself. And He is Abraham’s exceedingly great reward. The LORD Himself has Promised Himself to Abraham.

The LORD has made the promise to care for him and his children. In short, the LORD has covenanted with Abraham and his descendants, yes, even you me. For we’re told in Galatians 3:29 that, if we are in Christ, then we are Abraham’s seed. Therefore, we need to have “put on” Christ in order to be identified with Him. And this of course is referring to Spirit baptism. And since the Father has Promised the Spirit to believers and their children (Acts 2:39), we of the Reformed Faith baptize with water believers AND their children. In other words, it is through baptism that ALL who are in the church on earth are to identify themselves with Christ.

Water baptism as was circumcision is the sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. All who are truly in this covenant are heirs of the Promise of this Covenant. The Promise in brief is everlasting life through the merits of Jesus Christ alone. These merits, or, if you will, this righteousness, are accredited to us by the Father. The Holy Spirit is the One sent by the Father and the Son to apply, i.e., SEAL the blessings of the Covenant to the believers and their children. Just as the Israelites were Passed Over by the destroying angel in Egypt because they had the blood on their doorposts, so are we shielded by the blood of the Lamb.

Christ, our High Priest, sprinkles His blood upon us just as Moses sprinkled the blood of the Covenant upon the people of Israel. “Then he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the   people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold, the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words’” (Exo. 24:7-8).

It shouldn’t take an Einstein to figure out that what Moses performed here is virtually the same as that which takes place in Covenant Baptism. God has made Promises to us. His promises are in the Bible, i.e., the Book of the Covenant. The Word of the LORD has come to us, not in a vision as with Abraham, but by His Spirit speaking in the Scriptures. He promises to look after us. He is our SHIELD. And we in turn, promise to love and to obey Him. Sounds just like a marriage, doesn’t it? Christ is the husband and His Church is the bride.

So then, Christ takes care of His bride. His bride is most precious to Him. He purchased His bride with His own blood. It is with this blood, His blood, the blood of His marriage, His covenant with us, that cleanses us of all our sins. As in a marriage, the two become one, we in Christ and Christ in us. To be in Christ is to be justified. To have Christ in you is to be sanctified. Therefore, to have Christ at work in us and in our midst means He is looking after us.

Now then, since we are in Christ, this means that whatever belongs to Christ belongs also to us. Jesus was baptized by John, and then He was baptized by the Father. And please, get this dunking business out of your head or you’ll miss the beauty of the Covenant!

So, the picture then, is one of John anointing the Anointed. Or, if you will, John christed the Christ. And of course, Jesus had John baptize Him to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). In other words, it was done out of obedience to the covenant. But just after John had anointed Jesus with water, the Father anointed Him with the Spirit. Then, as I mentioned earlier, Jesus began His ministry saying, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus’s anointing took place at His baptism. John baptized with water but He will baptize with the Spirit (Matt. 3:11; John 1:33).

Now then, it was the Father who gave the Son the gift of the Spirit at His baptism, and since we His Church are in Christ, then we have received the gift of the Spirit also. At His baptism with water and the Spirit the Father spoke from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in who I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:18). The Father identified with the Son and the Son with the Father through baptism and the Holy Spirit witnessed this Covenant.

When we “put on” Christ, as is pictured in Covenant Baptism, we are putting on His Covenant every bit as much as Abraham “put on” His Covenant through circumcision. In baptism the LORD identifies Himself with us and we with Him. And because we are in Christ the Father sees us as His Son. Therefore, when we are being baptized the Father is saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26).

We are “sons” because God doesn’t see us as male or female, Jew or gentile etc. But He sees us as His Son. And does the Father care about His Son?

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        I hope you can see how the feminists who see the Bible as sexist miss the beauty of the Covenant. But on a sadder note, it breaks my heart when I talk to those Christians of a Baptistic mindset. They trot out all their little proof texts to defend the indefensible. E.g., Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12, “Look!” they say, “Buried with Him in baptism...” Matthew 3:19, “Then Jesus when He had been baptized, came up immediately out of the water,” “See!” they say, “It says Jesus came up out of the water!” And as the trot out their well-worn proof texts all the while they are missing the beauty of the Covenant!

And the thing that is even sadder is that fewer and fewer in the Reformed Faith are showing an interest in the LORD’s Covenant. All the confessions of the Reformers that came out of the Reformation were all written in light of God’s Covenant of Grace. The Westminster Standards, i.e., the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms etc., The Canons of Dordt, The Belgic Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, The Second Helvetic Confession, The Thirty-Nine-Articles etc. But all of these Confessions have been put on the backburner it seems to me. Instead we read books on secular psychology, stress in management.“How to Love the Job you Hate”, “Developing Your Prophetic Gifting”, “Breaking Intimidation”, “Developing the Leader within You”, “The Winning Attitude” – these are just a sample of what Christians are reading! Wouldn’t it be nice to see a renewed interest in the LORD?

At the moment the Church is consumed with its own self. But as Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing!” He cares for the heirs but do the heirs care enough about Him? I’d like to see the Christian book shops inundated with books showing the beauty of God’s Covenant. For God has cared enough about us to have perfectly preserved the Book of the Covenant. We need help to understand the beauty of the Covenant. It’s my belief that if you catch even so much as a glimpse of the beauty of the Covenant of Grace, then you’ll begin to hunger and thirst after the righteousness that is revealed therein.

Conclusion

Let’s finish with a couple of verses from Psalm 25, “Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psa. 25:12-14).

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[1] Buried here does not mean being lowered into a six-foot hole in the ground as we do in the West. This is alien to the text! Rather it is speaking of being entombed with Christ. “When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed” (Matt. 27:59-60).

THE DEVIL AND KARL MARX (A Review)

The Devil and Karl Marx by Paul Kengor, though an overall beneficial read, was a bit of a struggle for me in some places. This is because it is written from a Roman Catholic perspective, all Popes and RC-isms and jargon. It should therefore appeal mostly to those who, unlike me, are of the RC persuasion.

Kengor, in his chapter of Acknowledgements, writes,

I thank the saints for a heavenly place to turn to each night for peace of soul. And to them and the entire cloud of witnesses in the Church, I ask for intercession and prayer for me, for my family, and for the souls of every person mentioned in this book. And yes, that certainly includes Karl Marx as well. p. 405, paperback edition.

As far as we know, Karl Marx never repented and believed in the Gospel as commanded by Jesus (Mark 1:15). Therefore, don’t waste your time praying to those already dead or for a man (Marx) presently burning in Hell. Pray for your own soul!

That being said, Kengor does supply much useful information from careful research into the darkness of Marx and Marxism, including how this twisted worldview has evolved, morphing into today’s Cutural Marxism via Saul Alinski, Barak Obama et al.

MEET AT THE TOWN CLOCK

                                                            Meet at the Town Clock

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    It is said that a stopped clock gives the correct time twice a day. But how do we know the correct time unless there is another clock to measure time by? If fallen man is the stopped clock, then God is the other clock. For God is the measure of all things. Try as hard as I could to remove and replace the battery on my own, in the end I had to take my stopped watch to a specialist. We need to come to God to remove and replace our stoney hearts.

Jesus said to His disciples, “When He, the Spirit truth has come, He will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13a). And Jesus said to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Thus, as seen in this brief example, the Sanctifier, i.e., the Holy Spirit, works with God’s Word in the believer’s heart. God’s Spirit is the power and God’s Word is our measuring device, i.e., the truth that sets us free. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

God speaking in His Word is the “Greenwich Mean Time” by which all truth is measured and calibrated. You heart is giving a wrong reading if it has not been renewed by God. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2).

I couldn’t even remove the back from of my watch never mind change its battery! A watch smith has special tools. God’s special tool in heart-renewal is His Spirit. The Spirit also has a specialist tool. He works with His Word. However, one of His special instruments is His Church, as in Christians. Indeed, the Spirit of God delights in using means such as Christians on buses and boats, trains and planes, in cafés and cocktail bars, yes, everywhere Christians find themselves. The idea is for Christians to spread the Word of God at home, at play, in school, at college, at university, at the domino club, etc., wherever a conversation can be struck up. This is how the Spirit works with the Word.

I was one of those who the Spirit converted while reading His Word. The Word is the instrument. However, God may use specialist tools to remove the back off the watch to access the batter as it were. The Christian Apologist does this by defending the Faith. The Christian Preachers and Teachers are also specialist tools in the hand of the Holy Spirit. These are used by the Spirit of Christ to set the new watch to its original factory setting. The truth, i.e., God’s Word, has set you free, including your so called “free will” which was dead to God by being in bondage to fallen self, i.e., sin and Satan. The Spirit working with His Word sets your will free and resets it. Christians “synchronize watches” each Lord’s Day where and when the Preacher expounds and applies God’s Word to them. Therefore, church attendance is imperative.

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Solomon says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun” (Eccl. 3:1). Peter, under inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, says, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Christian “Revival comes when and where the Spirit works with the Word. We have seen the Spirit delights in using human instruments, from those who are gifted at prising the backs off broken watches (people) to those who are gifted at resetting it to the correct time and to keep Christians accurately synchronised.

        I’m glad to be alive during one of those fruitful seasons in the sun, one of those “times of refreshing.” It can be somewhat depressing watching Western nations gong under on account of removing God from their homes, schools, lawcourts, sports, music, literature etc. However, what Christian does not glory in God when we see His Spirit at work with His Word in individual hearts, families, towns, and even whole nations, yes, including even backslidden Western nations?

Pray that God will pry the back off your broken watch, remove the old dead battery, and replace it with a new one fully charged by the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to synchronise you with the truth of His Word by helping you find a Bible-believing church to attend every Lord’s Day to recalibrate. Pray that your family will become a Christian family. Pray that your town will become a Christian town. And pray that your nation will become a Christian nation.

Let us all meet at the town clock. You already know where the town clock is. It is church on a Sunday morning. Let us synchronise our watches at Sunday worship. And who knows, maybe God, in His perfect timing, will be pleased to use even us as instruments for His glory!