One of the things you have to be struck by when you read through the Pentateuch is the sheer complexity of the Jewish religious system. The tabernacle, in particular, is a pretty complicated building, requiring roughly 8,000 Levites to move it around, to say nothing of the offering of sacrifices and such.
We've been in Numbers at church, and we lately covered the responsibilities of the various branches of the Levites. Aaron and his sons were to cover up the ark and the other furniture, for example. The Kohathites were to carry the furniture, but they couldn't ever look at it, or else they would die. The other sons of Levi (the Gershonites and Merarites) weren't even allowed to touch it, or else they would die.
This is a bit strange, but I think it goes to show that the purpose of the tabernacle was to protect the people of Israel from the presence of God. The ark, for example, is covered in blue. The rest of the furniture is covered in blue and then badger skins, evidently so no one would mistake the ark for something else by accident.
It feels as though the artifice of the tabernacle existed in part to insulate the people from God's glory. The revelation of God's glory was a terrifying and destructive force.
In this vein, the lens focuses more readily on the person of Jesus Christ. He is a tabernacle of sorts, housing the glory of God in a way that we can approach and grasp. When he expired, the veil in the temple that separated the ark of the covenant from the furniture (which was further separated by the general court, et c.) was torn in two, signifying that fellowship with God was restored through Jesus Christ.
It is common today for people to complain of Christianity's exclusive claims: Jesus, after all, is the only way to the Father. This is narrow and intolerant. But on the same token, the revelation we see of God in the Scripture is that his glory can only be approached in very specific ways (and often not at all). When Jesus says this, he is not simply making a narrow comment: he is proclaiming good news. Apart from him, there would be no approach to God.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Late Science News
In September 2011, researchers claimed to have observed neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light. This sort of thing is pretty Important, since it would violate one of the long-standing rules of physics (that the universal speed limit is c).
Naturally the findings are rather preposterous and generated a great deal of scrutiny from the scientific community. It's old news, but the experiments were repeated some times in November to help eliminate systematic changes that could have contributed to the results. The conclusions were the same.
It bears repeating that science is essentially observational. As observations improve, so does the scientific understanding of the universe. Likewise, we find that our long-cherished perspectives on how Things Really Work need revision. It is one of my common frustrations with the origins debate that both sides argue using science that will eventually be discredited and replaced. I suppose we can say that this in many respects helps us to develop better science (since most of the arguments are destructive rather than constructive), but I doubt it helps us read the Scriptures any better.
Naturally the findings are rather preposterous and generated a great deal of scrutiny from the scientific community. It's old news, but the experiments were repeated some times in November to help eliminate systematic changes that could have contributed to the results. The conclusions were the same.
It bears repeating that science is essentially observational. As observations improve, so does the scientific understanding of the universe. Likewise, we find that our long-cherished perspectives on how Things Really Work need revision. It is one of my common frustrations with the origins debate that both sides argue using science that will eventually be discredited and replaced. I suppose we can say that this in many respects helps us to develop better science (since most of the arguments are destructive rather than constructive), but I doubt it helps us read the Scriptures any better.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Let us go on to maturity
This has taken quite a while to write. It's been a very busy two months or so. It was tough to get this out by Christmas. I apologize for content that's not exactly relevant to the Advent. –mem
We are in Hebrews in church, and we came upon chapter six today (ed. now a long time ago). It proved a fertile ground for questions, which is hardly surprising: it comes up in eternal security debates all the time. It's practically de rigueur for anyone opposing eternity security, and so most of the conversation about the passage seems to revolve around the subject—especially on the Internet.
If we take a bit of a step back, though, it seems that there's more here than we might usually think. Establishing any sort of detailed context is really beyond the scope of my blog, but I think we can successfully argue that the warnings here are directed primarily to Christian Jews who were tempted to return to their Judaism.
The elementary principles enumerated in chapter six really continue from the rebuke of chapter five ("For though by this time you should be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God," 5:12).
I think we can find parallels to the principles in chapter 6 in the Old Testament. So for example (non-exhaustive list):
We are in Hebrews in church, and we came upon chapter six today (ed. now a long time ago). It proved a fertile ground for questions, which is hardly surprising: it comes up in eternal security debates all the time. It's practically de rigueur for anyone opposing eternity security, and so most of the conversation about the passage seems to revolve around the subject—especially on the Internet.
If we take a bit of a step back, though, it seems that there's more here than we might usually think. Establishing any sort of detailed context is really beyond the scope of my blog, but I think we can successfully argue that the warnings here are directed primarily to Christian Jews who were tempted to return to their Judaism.
The elementary principles enumerated in chapter six really continue from the rebuke of chapter five ("For though by this time you should be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God," 5:12).
I think we can find parallels to the principles in chapter 6 in the Old Testament. So for example (non-exhaustive list):
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