NT Framework 07, Review Partial Restoration

Hi SBC Family and Friends,

Tomorrow will be our last review of the OT Framework. The OT builds our categories for understanding the NT. On this note, a new friend I made recently, Dr Tim Sigler, has recently written an article on how to read the Bible in the right direction, starting with the OT and moving to the NT. This may not sound novel, since it is logical, but most theologians today read the Bible in the wrong direction, starting with the NT and moving to the OT. They claim that the NT interprets the OT. This means that the OT could not be understood on it's own. The NT had to be written to explain it. The end result is that things like the promised land are interpreted as heaven, and even in some cases, as Jesus Himself. Israel is re-defined as the Church. This is not the intended meaning of the OT texts. When the OT text says God promised a land to Israel, it is talking about land and the people descended from Jacob who was renamed Israel. Yet, this kind of confusion is widespread and results in reading the bible spiritually (not literally). They like to tell those who read the Bible literally that they are not reading it correctly. They would have us think that Israel = Church and the land = Jesus. It is presumptuous to re-write God's word in the way they are doing so that God does not mean what He says or say what He means. This is the false church that is spreading all over the world. That is where the Framework comes in and why we build the categories from the OT first so that we can read the NT in light of the OT. Here are some great ideas we have learned from the OT that set us up for understanding the NT.

God and man since Jesus is God and man
The unconditional covenants as God's way of fulfilling His plan to Israel and blessing the whole world that are still in effect
Confession as means of restoring fellowship with God in practical Christian living
Sin and suffering and how God is solving it in Christ (i.e. Messiah)
Substitutionary blood atonement as a setup in the Passover for understanding the cross
The Messiah as the seed of the woman and seed of David showing how the covenants are in effect
The times of the Gentiles as the era in which we live, and not in the kingdom of God
The normalcy of God speaking for awhile and then going silent as a pattern for cessation of the revelatory spiritual gifts
Prayer as a legitimate human endeavor in God's plan
The importance of avoiding compound carnality
God's judgment in history as historical evidence of His plan and purposes being worked out
So many more...

See the attached handout.

Grace to you,
Jeremy

Attachment:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l2ewKVgEKm_TTpMF5ZgLg6TUx37H12d8/view?usp=drive_link