The New Attitude Letters, Part 3

Dear Reader,

Morning number one came early. After a mostly sleepless night, I found myself faced with the immediate challenge of physical exhaustion, and on the menu for the main session that morning: Mark Dever presenting the big picture of the entire Bible. I assure you my level of anticipation and excitement was a bit lacking. As good as I trusted the teaching would be, my fear was that in my present mental state I would lose focus before the introduction was complete.

I cannot tell you how glad I was to be proven wrong. Though the message was perhaps less applicable than the rest of the New Attitude line-up, the theology was solid and the message excellently delivered. The basic premise presented by Mark Dever was that the Old Testament is the promises of God made, and that the New Testament is the promises of God kept. With this overview, he delved into the structure of these two components of the Word of God and explained how the Bible is the most important message for everybody in the world.

I want to share in particular two things which Mr. Dever said in the course of his message, though neither were necessarily main points that he was attempting to drive home. The first is this: sacrifices made in the Old Testament were most appropriate when the one sacrificing understood that their sacrifice would not suffice to cleanse them from their sin. The sole purpose of Old Testament sacrifices was to teach the people of Israel to be repentant for their sins, and more importantly to point them toward the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ which would one day truly cleanse them. Simply put, the act of sacrificing was intended to teach God’s sinful people of their need for a perfect Savior.

The second and more applicable of the things which I would like to share with you is this exhortation: “Love the Bible because you love Christ. Do not love the Bible apart from what it reveals.” Simple though it sounds, I found myself thinking over this statement and I felt as though I would do well to meditate on that thought as I read through my own Bible. The best thing about the Bible is that it is one of the primary ways for me to grow closer to the Father. Though there may not necessarily be any serious temptation in me to divorce the Bible from what it reveals, I think it would certainly benefit me to understand that the only reason I read the Bible is because of what it can tell me about God and what God can tell me through it.

I find myself presently short on time, but I eagerly anticipate writing to you once again, as I will be addressing the message delivered by Mike Bullmore on the functional centrality of the Gospel. I pray that I may somehow convey the truth of this message to you so that you may find yourself challenged as I was in the day-to-day application of that single Truth which transforms our lives: the truth of Jesus Christ dying to reconcile us with the Father.

Until then,
Brian Whalen