The miraculous continuity of Scripture

One of the blessings and curses of the internet is the ability it provides us to read many sermons by both contemporary pastors and those of the past. It’s a blessing because there is great wisdom and insight to be discovered. It’s also a curse because of the immense amount of error to be found – especially in teachings found in today’s sermons.

Sometimes I find dogmatic statements by teachers that are wholly untrue. Usually, they are written or spoken to make the erroneous point that something shockingly new, unprecedented and unpredicted in the New Testament – something that represented a complete break with the Old Testament.

Here is one of those statements made very recently by a Pennsylvania pastor who shall remain nameless. (I’m not trying to embarrass any individual, but rather making a point.)

“All throughout the Old Testament there is not one example anywhere of an Israelite addressing God as ‘My Father.’ There were many names for God used, but not ‘Father.'”

Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2018/09/the-miraculous-continuity-of-scripture/#su6bP7ezhe1AHg8R.99

So true! When Jude wrote:

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

He was talking about the truth of the gospel and reiterated what Paul had also said,

Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God.

The truth NEVER changes. But opposition to the truth "is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God."

I was jsut discussing with some friends the *God of the OT* concept we have being that of a harsh, demanding judge.

But as I've been reading through different OT books, especially the major prophets, the love and mercy and compassion of God shines through.

I guess it just depends on what filter you read with. If you've decided already that the *god of the OT * of harsh and condemning, then that's what you're going to see.

But with all God's warnings about the consequences of continued unrepentant sin, interspersed in all those passages are appeals to repent and turn from sin to Him and avoid the judgment.

God never brings judgment without plenty of warning that it's coming.

Exodus 34:6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

2 Chronicles 30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

ehemiah 9:31 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 103:8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 111:4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.

Psalm 112:4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

I was just discussing with some friends the *God of the OT* concept we have being that of a harsh, demanding judge.

It is sad how many people were/are unaware of the mercy and everlasting love of Almighty God. In Luther's Theology of Mary, James Swan relates:

[Christ] became a great source of unhappiness in the cloister…he refers frequently to his conviction that Christ was indifferent to human woes and must be won over through the intercession of his mother, the Virgin. The picture of Christ sitting in judgement on the last day dwelt vividly in his mind, so that he could not shake off fears connected with it. [Luther said,] 'When I looked on Christ, I saw the Devil: so [I said], ‘Dear Mary, pray to your Son for me and still His anger.’[11]

In the Augustinian monastery, meditation on the blessed mother was also a unique channel to make the heart fertile for divine grace. Mary was crowned with a special degree of glory that surpassed others in the divine realm. Bernard of Clairvaux had popularized her through his sermons. He had expounded the degrees of salvation, with Mary at the highest point. Jarislov Pelikan points out, “She was at the same time the personal embodiment of the supreme virtues of which humanity was made capable through the gift of grace: in her, as Bernard said, ‘is every goodness found in any creature.’”[12]

Luther’s frequent mentioning of Saint Bernard speaks of his fondness and familiarity with his writings. Later recollecting Bernard’s influence on his own Mariolatry, Luther looked back on the years before his break with Rome and said,

St. Bernard, who was a pious man otherwise, also said: ‘Behold how Christ chides, censures, and condemns the Pharisees so harshly throughout the Gospel, whereas the Virgin Mary is always kind and gentle and never utters an unfriendly word.’ From this he inferred: ‘Christ is given to scolding and punishing, but Mary has nothing but sweetness and love.’ Therefore Christ was generally feared; we fled from Him and took refuge with the saints, calling upon Mary and others to deliver us from our distress. We regarded them all as holier than Christ. Christ was only the executioner, while the saints were our mediators. [13]

He also recollected, “Christ in His mercy was hidden from my eyes. I wanted to become justified before God through the merits of the saints. This gave rise to the petition for the intercession of the saints. On a portrait St. Bernard, too, is portrayed adoring the Virgin Mary as she directs her Son, Christ, to the breasts that suckled Oh, how many kisses we bestowed on Mary”![14] Luther concluded though, that even in St Bernard’s incessant praise of Mary as she directs the sinner toward Christ, Bernard left out Christ completely:

“Bernard filled a whole sermon with praise of the Virgin Mary and in so doing forgot to mention what happened [the incarnation of Christ]; so highly did he… esteem Mary.” [15]

Thus, young Luther partook in Mariolatry, but the mature Luther looking back saw only the excesses of medieval devotion and teaching on Mary. He saw that she had been adorned with attributes that only belonged to Christ. (https://web.archive.org/web/20140803220104/http://tquid.sharpens.org/luther_mary1.htm)

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