Well Andrew,
I guess I'm simply pleased that you think he is supporting your position. To me, that means either that you are sliding away from your Bapterian convictions, or you don't mind inviting folks to read a position that attacks such convictions in the first paragraph thusly:
Those who attend not to the divine purpose in this respect, suppose that God's ancient people ascended no higher than the blessings which were promised to the body. They hear the land of Canaan so often named as the special, and as it were the only, reward of the Divine Law to its worshipers; they hear that the severest punishment which the Lord denounces against the transgressors of the Law is expulsion from the possession of that land and dispersion into other countries; they see that this forms almost the sum of the blessings and curses declared by Moses; and from these things they confidently conclude that the Jews were separated from other nations not on their own account, but for another reason, viz., that the Christian Church might have an emblem in whose outward shape might be seen an evidence of spiritual things.
But since the Scripture sometimes demonstrates that the earthly blessings thus bestowed were intended by God himself to guide them to a heavenly hope, it shows great unskilfulness, not to say dullness, not to attend to this mode of dispensation. The ground of controversy is this: our opponents hold that the land of Canaan was considered by the Israelites as supreme and final happiness, and now, since Christ was manifested, typifies to us the heavenly inheritance; whereas we maintain that, in the earthly possession which the Israelites enjoyed, they beheld, as in a mirror, the future inheritance which they believed to be reserved for them in heaven.
The bold portion is what he says is WRONG about the very position that you have elsewhere advocated, and Coxe, and Welty, and Jewett, and Schreiner, and all the rest. Calvin critiques it a bit more in paras 13&14.
So again, I think the link is great, and I'm pleased you do also.
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Cesar,
Since the covenant of grace cannot decay or pass away, then Heb.8:13 must be referring to a certain outward form--that which dresses the covenant or is superadded to the original--that IS passing away.
Moses, or the Sinai Covenant, presents a show of extreme glory. There is something almost pretentious about the Tabernacle in the wilderness, a kind of back and forth vision of humility and glory. Relative to Egypt's glories it must have looked almost comical to worldly eyes, these ragamuffins chasing about the desert, with their "glory-tent". But look at it in context and its glory starts to become very apparent.
When you get to the land, eventually you see the Temple rise. And once again, in the world's eyes, there is something almost pretentious about it again. Israel is a tiny country, even at the height of its extent. Whether we're talking Egypt again, or Assyria, or Babylon, if Israel gets victory its is always by the Lord, not by her own right hand. But still, if you look at the Temple in context, consider it as the jewel it is, its glory once again is quite apparent.
Indeed, Jerusalem the prophets seem to say is a prize the nations all covet. They see the treasure, the gold, they are envious of these upstart,
uppity Israelites. Who do these little hill-county rednecks think they are? And they think that they can come in, and appropriate the glory for themselves. The old covenant has an
undeniable glory.
The glory that was a seed in the wilderness, flowered in the kingdom. And the lesson is: Glory is hidden in the wilderness of this world, but will be revealed in heaven. When Christ comes, he proclaims the kingdom come--exclusively in his Person. But what does it look like? Suffering and death in the wilderness of the world, followed by glory in heaven.
And Christ promises us... what? Suffering and death in the wilderness of the world, accompanied by his Tabernacle presence, with its flashes of glory, until we arrive at heaven's glories. The true church just isn't that impressive and glorious in this world, even at its very best. Not without the eyes of faith, which see its hidden glory and the promise of the future.
Warning: don't read MORE into what I say next than is actually there.
The Baptist see's the church as "the imperfect (mixed) society of perfect people (saints)." No, they don't think saints are sinless, but they are saints, or holy ones, and
ideally, subjectively--individually and internally--Christians are perfect, and the church is for them. The more "correct" the membership is, the clearer the ideal is rendered visible.
The Presbyterian see's the church as "the perfect (spiritual) society of imperfect people (sinners)." No, we don't think that our worship is sinless! But
ideally it is perfect because our high priest is perfect, and he sanctifies those who approach in faith. Objectively, the things that are outside of us, are perfect, and exist for God. Subjectively, perfection is only for heaven.
CHURCH:
Society of saints--Baptist view of the New Covenant people
Society of sinners--Presbyterian view of the New Covenant people, nothing really "new" here
The New Covenant is not "new" in the sense that NOW we close the walls to the society to all the world
including our children, and crack open the door, and let in one person at a time once we've examined them for perfection (by profession). The society has not been shrunk down to the walls of the Courtyard, and only those who are invited inside are acknowledged as members.
AND, the society has
not yet expanded to fill everything and push out to the periphery of Hell all the excluded ones. THAT is the picture of heaven; that is the land we are looking for, which Abraham was also looking for, and all the saints of Hebrews11.
Two more points. This preacher is almost done.
1) Why was Moses' Old Covenant "glorious"? Apostle Paul explains in 2Cor.3:7-4:5. It was given increasing measures of earthly glory
so that most of the participants would be blinded by that glory.
So that so they would stumble, so as to fall.
So that a whole generation would die in the wilderness mostly without faith, and this pattern would be repeated over and over in the following generations.
Now, there's something that really would be NEW. If we could have more prolific instances of intergenerational faithfulness? Wouldn't that be great? Do the Old Testament promises relating to the New Covenant give us any hopes like that? Anything about children following their parent's faith in greater numbers than in days of old? I seem to recall that being quite a regular theme.
It's interesting to me that in the last verse of the whole Old Testament, in the last promise relating to the New Covenant dawning, we have yet another such instance:
Mal 4:6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
Rather poignant. Almost like this might have been a real burden on the hearts of many, many Israelites. "Why is it so hard to pass on our faith to the next generation?"
Which brings me to my final point:
2) How indeed will the New Covenant age see greater intergenerational faithfulness? Well, the answer to that lies in the CENTRAL distinction between the New Covenant age, and the previous ages. It is spelled out in the key NC-promise texts in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel. It is the subject of Peter's sermon on the text of Joel during the first sermon of the NC age, on Pentecost.
The answer is the pouring out of the Spirit. This is the age of the Spirit, see again for example 2Cor.3&4. The Spirit was always the agent of conversion, the power of God upon his earthly agents in the Old Testament. But in those days he was dripped out and drabbed as with an eyedropper. Now he has been poured out in buckets.
After the completion of Christ's sacrificial life and death and his resumption of his heavenly estate, as the hinge of the Covenant of Grace, the singular and signal promise of the New Covenant is the giving of the Spirit. Because Christ ascended he has poured out his Spirit, and ALL the rest of the blessing of the NC is derivative of this grace.
Because He is present in power, he helps parents to be faithful to use his ordained means to spiritually influence their children, and has apparently elected a great many more of them now as opposed to then. God clearly (and sovereignly) wasn't generally working so powerfully in the Old Testament families. What else can we gather from the explicit examples that we find, like David, who seems to be typical of the weak Old Testament parent?
We can't claim any credit for our children's spiritual success, when the grace to rear them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord came from outside of us, and whatever heart of faith they display also came from the Spirit. But there is no denying that the Spirit of Grace is more present and powerful now among his people for the salvation of their children than in the days of the Old Testament. God has been faithful to his promise.
Conclusion:
What are we? We are the church in the wilderness. But we no longer have a Moses, but the Shekina of cloud and fire alone is our guide. We do not need our Christ to veil his face, to hide the fading glory, for it is glory that cannot fade, and it is transforming our faces as he once transformed Moses'. The earthly glories are stripped down in our worship to bare bones, so to as little as possible in this shadowy world obscure the glory of heaven from shining forth.
We stand with our children, and we say to them, "Look, it's so much clearer now. All the gaudy pomp and show is gone, and you can see Jesus. Listen to his Spirit. Learn to love him." And we pray, "Lord open their eyes, their ears, their hearts."
How much of that is "new"? Not much, just the part about the "glory" being removed, and it has been! Just the fact that the Spirit is powerfully present where the gospel is, and we should believe in the New Covenant promises that were made to our children.
See, the gospel is for sinners. And the church is for sinners. The church has always been for sinners, in need of grace. The church is not only inside the Tabernacle court. It is still "the camp". But we still repair to the Tabernacle to meet our God.
