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How the Old Testament Fits into the Bible

(Read Time: 7.5 mins)
As goes Adam, So goes Israel

         Since February I have read the Old Testament and as  I look over my time there certain themes emerge over and again. The First Testament by itself creates a compelling narrative about God and the journey of his people. In many ways the story almost seems to end appropriately with a reunited people once again returning from exile trying to understand who they are as a people of God. Like a postmodern film, the story ends much the same way it begins. The story arches only to land in a place of familiarity, the characters have changed but they live in the same unresolved conflict of those who came before them, stuck in an inescapable cycle. They continually find themselves positioned and purposed by a God, who loves them, to become the people he promised they could become, but instead of living up to who they were meant to be they take misguided shortcuts (Micah 2:1-5), and the result is a failure to launch. 

If the First Testament were to end on that note we could easily draw an Ecclesiastic meaning from the Israelite saga, but it doesn’t end there. It finishes with the hope of a Messiah, and in order to understand how the plight of the Israelites contributes to the overarching story of the biblical message we have to see their story not as anticlimactic. Instead it must be understood as the build up to the most climatic event in all of history; the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the hope of the Israelites and all mankind. 

Mark’s Prayer to the Crucified Christ

Jesus, you cry out

my God, my  God, why have you forsaken me

well, I ask you the same question

Jesus, my God, why have you forsaken me

like Adam I ran naked from the garden where you were betrayed

exiled to this Valley of Dry Bones

waiting on you, the Son of Man, to rise up

and here you are, the Great Servant, raised above all

sitting on a throne with a crown adorning your brow

truly I am not surprised that criminals sit in the seats of honor

but is death truly your answer

is death the only relief for a servant

does the widow with only two coins return home to share this fate

does a man loose his demons only to face this end

your cup is too bitter to drink from

Christ, may I too drink from your cup

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Son of Man (part 4)

When Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man he is claiming to have great authority. The context in which he uses the phrase gives us insight into the intended use of his authority. 

Mark is my favorite gospel, and this is one of my favorite passages in Mark. Perhaps because it so clearly explains what it meant for the disciples to follow Jesus.

In Mark 8:31 – 9:1, we see Jesus describe what the role of authority will look like when “the Kingdom of God arrives in great power!”

For the author of Mark this is critically important for his readers to understand. This is what it means to follow Jesus and to lead others in the fashion that Jesus does.

"Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!”

Following Jesus had its risks. The disciples only had to look as far as John the Baptist to realize this. But there is more to this passage than simple risk.

This passage follows immediately after Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah. That is why I think Jesus “began to tell them” what it meant to be the Son of Man plainly and without metaphor.

To better see how the “Son of Man” phraseology helps us interpret Jesus’s words let’s look at what N.T. Wright writes about this passage:

”’The son of man’ in Daniel 7 represents God’s people as they are suffering at the hands of pagan enemies. He will eventually be vindicated after his suffering, as God sets up the kingdom at last. Jesus is both warning his followers that this is how he understand his vocation and destiny as Israel’s representative, and that they must be prepared to follow in his steps. “

In this passage we also see that even Peter, one of Jesus’s closest followers, is capable of missing the point of the authority and leadership that has been given him.

How much more does this come as a challenge for us to not only think but to live from God’s viewpoint in a world where servant leadership is seen as unproductive at best and more often as simply foolish?








Check out my upcoming book at www.adhogan.com

Son of Man - Being a Leader who Responds

Son of Man (part 3)

So far I have established that when Jesus used the phrase Son of Man to reference himself, he was not only illuminating his humanity but also his authority. To better understand the weight of authority carried by claiming to be the Son of Man read Part 1 of this series discussing Daniel 7.

In several places in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man not only to establish his authority as the Messiah but also to display the type of leader and ruler he will be (which is much different than the authority his disciples expect). Since Christ can be understood as the fully functional image of God, as image bearers we should take serious how he demonstrates his authority.

Mark 2:23 -28 offers us another great insight into the leadership of the Son of Man.

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”

Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God(during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

Then Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people. And not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”

Again Jesus makes a very serious claim in this passage about the extent of his authority. Not only does his draw attention to himself by claiming to be the Son of Man he uses a very specific example by comparing himself to David. He references a time in David’s life when he is running from Saul. David has been already anointed to be King but yet to be enthroned. Like Saul, the current leadership doesn’t want a new kingdom to be inaugurated in His name.

As Jesus establishes the strength of his authority he also demonstrates the nature of how he will rule. He recognizes that the laws and standards already created are designed to meet the needs of his people. His interest in allowing the people a system has always come out of his heart to serve and to lead people toward God’s intended will for them.

The current establishment thought that if Jesus was going to be a proper ruler he would have to judge right and wrong by the rulebook. After all that is the only way to make a fair decision.

Jesus doesn’t dismiss rules or tradition as bad. He doesn't say they are not worth submitting our authority to. But he does recognize that there are situations when the system, despite its good intent, fails to meet the best interest of the people it intends to serve.

As the leader of the kingdom He is creating and inviting us into, Christ demonstrates the humility and maturity it takes to look into every situation with enough care and respond appropriately in the best interest of his people. 




Check out my upcoming book at www.adhogan.com

Get up and Walk (Why Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man?)

Son of Man (Part 2)

In my first “Son of Man” post I showed that when Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man he is doing more than recognizing his humanity. He is appealing to an image in Daniel 7. He is claiming that he is the one who comes with all authority to rule over ever tribe and nation.

Over several more posts I want to show how when we pair Jesus’s actions with the use of his authoritative claim as the Son of Man we can learn what it means for our own lives to exhibit Godly leadership. To do this I am going to look at passages in Mark where Jesus calls himself the Son of Man.

Mark 2:10-12 – So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.

These verses come at the end of the famous story about a group of friends who cut a hole in the roof of a house to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. (Read Mark 2:1-12) I think Mark uses this story as a signpost to point to the larger narrative of the gospel story. Jesus teaches and heals, he is condemned of blasphemy, and he is vindicated. The paralyzed man is pointed forward to a new kind of resurrected life in Christ. 

Jesus’s use of “Son of Man” is extremely significant for us in this passage. Remember when everyone there hears Son of Man used they think of Jesus as the guy who is going to set up his rule and reign across the world. And he is, but here we are beginning to see how Jesus is going to reshape our ideas about his leadership methods.

Ever seen the movie “The Sixth Sense” or “Shutter Island”? In those movies you think you have a grasp on what going on the whole time until the end of the story. Then a plot twist is revealed at the end that makes you say, “Wait a minute.” It causes you to go back a rethink everything you have scene from a renewed perceptive.

That is a lot like what Jesus is doing when he says, “the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” In one sense Jesus is extending his claim of authority by saying he can forgive sins. No one but God was allowed to do that. But in another sense is redefining the type of leadership his followers are expecting from him.

Jesus’s followers want him to take over the world. That is not going to be easy with the Roman government in the way. But Jesus is saying as chief ruler I am going to rule with forgiveness of sins at the center of my leadership.

Jesus knew that forgiveness changes things. In this case it brought healing to what seemed impossible.

Check out my upcoming book at www.adhogan.com

The Art of Roy

“Art, you going to work that same old desk job the rest of your life?” Roy said staring down the end of his fishing pole. 

“I don’t know. I hope not.” Art reached into the dirt inside the old plastic margarine container to dig out another night crawler. For some reason when he went to gather the worms they always hid directly under the surface of the leaves on top of the dirt, but once he put them in a margarine tub they all hid together at the bottom under as much dirt as they could manage. It was as if they knew the end was near. 

“Hope not? I wouldn’t work that job for a day longer than I had to.” 

“Well right now I have to keep working there to pay the bills. I make good money Roy, real good money. It’s not the kind of thing you just walk away from.” Art found the end of a night crawler and started to pull it out of the dirt. The creature stretched to its full length becoming thin in the middle as Art pulled on what might have been its tail but very well may have been its head. He wondered how a creature so slick and cylindrical provided any resistance to his pull, but every worm always managed to exert an effort to remain in the wet darkness it preferred as if it was holding on with hands and feet that somehow disappeared with the presence of light.  

“Life is too long for all that.” Roy said back. 

“You mean life is too short?”

“Naw. I said what I mean. Life is too long to keep doing a thing you don’t really like. If life is going to draw on like it does day after day you are better off making use of it if you are going to be here awhile. 

- a snippet from a novella I am working on called "The Art of Roy" 

Why does Jesus call himself the Son of Man?

Son of Man (Part 1)

In recent posts I have discussed what I think it means to be God’s image bearer. We have been given

the task to reflect the character and nature of God to all creation.

Jesus came and demonstrated what it means to completely reflect the image of God. In that sense he showed us what it means to be fully human. He became the paradigm for the life we should follow.

In the New Testament Jesus often refers to himself with two different descriptive names: Son of God & Son of Man. What does He mean by these names?

The obvious answer would be that He used the phrase “Son of God” to refer to his divinity and “Son of Man” to reference his humanity. While this is partially true there is more to the story.

Similar to the way Jesus filled the role of image bearer he also filled the role of Son of Man. The phrase “Son of Man” recognizes more than that the fact that Jesus experienced the struggles and joys of being human. It was a loaded phrase for those who heard Jesus speak in his time. In fact, it was the phrase “Son of Man” not “Son of God” that cause the Pharisees to tear their cloths and send Jesus to his death.

So what would have come to mind for a first century Jew when they heard the phrase “Son of Man”? And what would it have meant for the role Jesus was fulfilling if He chose to give himself this title?

Most Biblical scholars agree that when Jesus’s hearers heard the phrase “Son of Man” used it would have immediately brought an image to their minds from Daniel 7. To understand why this was such a big claim for Jesus to make and why it would have caused controversy with the officials let’s take a look at what Daniel 7 says about the Son of Man.

Daniel dreaming...

13. "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed...

...27. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.' 28. "This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself."

When Jesus called himself the Son of Man he wasn't just claiming to be human. He was claiming authority over all humanity. He had come to establish a kingdom that was to rule all other kingdoms. The Jewish and Roman officials had lots of reason to be angry about this, and the disciples had lots of reason to be excited about following this man on his way to becoming a world power.

Do we think about Jesus in this light? Do we consider the future scope of his kingdom as He uses us to establish it? His followers certainly did. 

In the next few upcoming posts on the "Son of Man" I plan to look at the passages in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus refers to himself this way. His followers wanted and expected him to lead the world in power and greatness. I want to look at how Jesus uses the phrase "Son of Man" to establish and reframe what true greatness and Godly leadership should look like.




Check out my upcoming book at www.adhogan.com 

Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, and Why "Spontaneous" Baptisms make Us Feel Weird?

It has been in my Facebook and Twitter feed a dozen times over the last two days. Steven Furtick, the

lead pastor of Elevation church in Charlotte, NC, has been criticized in news for a document called. “Spontaneous Baptisms How-To Guide.” To give you an idea of how successful Furtick has been at convincing people who didn’t expect to come home wet from church into doing so, in the summer of 2011 his church baptized 2158 people in two weekends.

Praise Jesus! Right?  

It’s hard to get excited when you read the document. Here is the news story that is covering the controversy. But this isn’t the first time he has been in the news for controversy. In November he came under attack because the Elevation’s lack of transparency concerning their financials. In the Spring of 2013 he was in the news, because he bought a 1.7 Million dollar home on 18 acres.

When it comes to what makes me uneasy about this guy it is hard to find a place to start. I would like to air on the side of grace, but there are red flags everywhere that make it difficult. Here are three for starters.

1. The church’s “Code” screams narcissism.  Check out #4 on the list

2. If there is any truth to these coloring pages that have appeared online yesterday from the church’s children’s program we have to be worried. Propaganda anybody?

3. The baptism guide goes way beyond the traditional Southern Baptist invitation, which itself is worthy of critique. Many would call Furtick’s approach emotional manipulation.

I want to be clear that I don't think Furtick is all bad. If you hear him preach he really does seem to love Jesus. But a friend of mine, referring to Furtick’s methods, nailed it on the head when he said, “Nothing like trying to give the Holy Spirit a little help. It’d be a travesty to leave things completely up to him.“

He is right. Furtick has created a pipeline to make “getting saved” so easy that there seems to be little need for prompting by God.

But Aubrey is it really that bad? People are professing to be believers in Jesus. Truth is I can’t argue one way or the other. I don’t know if peoples’ lives are being changed, but I do know that the decision to follow Jesus is nothing to be made on a whim.

I think the problem is bigger than Steven Furtick, but he does provide a great example of how an unhealthy cultural ideology can be adopted by the church. Elevation Church has adopted what I would call extreme pragmatism as their approach to the gospel.

Pragmatism is not the enemy. I identify myself somewhat with pragmatic philosophy. In fact, it is America’s greatest contribution to Western philosophical thought.  But it is built on an Ends-justify-the-means approach to logic. This can be very unhealthy if taken to an extreme.

Yes the “ends” matter.  We want people to find a genuine faith. We need to let God use us to do whatever it takes to help people get there.

But the “means” matter too. Our journey back to Jesus is important. Journeys aren’t spontaneous. God softens hearts. Sometimes he moves quick. Sometimes he moves slow. 

Extreme pragmatism has led us to believe that we should do things simply because we can. Sometimes this leads to great accomplishments. For example, when Edmund Hillary was asked why he climbed Mount Everest he said, “Because it’s there.”

But is that a reason to step into a baptism pool or take the sacraments…because some guy with a big grin made it easy for you?

#9 on the Elevation Code list says they “unapologetically set goals and measure progress.” I’m all for goals and progress, but how we get there matters. If our worldview is not reflective of the character of Christ we may need to apologize to Him for imposing our ideals onto his plans.