To God Be The Glory
“1
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.
2
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
3
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.”
i woke up this morning with this praise on my mind…
if there ever was a “magic” hymn, this is the one – singing it (and believing it) is guaranteed to move your heart and mind closer to The Kingdom – if you don’t know it, there is recorded online singers singing, “To God Be The Glory” – versions both humble and grand
I have often said, or come close to saying that I think that pre millennial, pre tribulation dispensationalism is almost as harmful to Christianity as is the Word Faith movement (note that I am not saying they are not Christians – just harmful to the faith).
I have brought up in the past that the promises to Abraham are misread and that Paul continues to properly teach those promises — that the promise to Abraham is not for a tiny strip of land in the Middle East but the promise is of the whole world.
I am working on a little excursus for future studies in Matthew 23 / 24 that will attempt to highlight to my class why what they will hear on local Christian radio and the big Christian TV networks is wrong, and not only wrong but an attempt to do harm (otherwise they would not continue).
I continue to notice that Paul is a master a de zionizing those prophecies. We have the constant teaching of a new 3rd temple to come. I can’t keep track if we are expecting a 3rd or we are expecting a 3rd (before the return of Christ) & 4th (the supposed millennial temple). But Paul takes all of that away – he not only identifies us, Christians, the Church as the new, 3rd temple but in doing so totally decommissions the existing, still in operation 2nd temple — how can you have 2 temples at the same time? From the 3rd chapter of first Corinthians – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (note the present tense)
As for the land promise – Paul deals with this also in the same chapter v9 where he sums up “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” We (the you of the phrase) are God’s field – we are God’s land. Who??? The Church. not some geographical spot in a land far away.
Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology… yet they continue to control the airwaves.
It’s a bit uncomfortable but we are hearing a lot more sirens than we have in the past. In the past few weeks the house next door to us which is still unoccupied had the stove stolen. Yesterday at 4:00 p.m. four doors down thieves broken the oval decorative glass on the front door and robbed the place.
I suspect drug users (meth) have become quite brazen in their attempts to get things they can sell so they can get their next fix.
Last week a meth lab blew up not too far from our police department and at the same time a man was about half a block down holding a rifle. He was apprehended.
I’m used to seeing the local news each day reporting crimes in cities not too far from us. Just yesterday a 10 year old girl was shot in the head as the shooter missed the person he was aiming at.
At times it seems like we are sitting on a powder keg that we might not be prepared for. I’m sure others here live in areas where things are much worse.
It’s difficult to see these things continue to unfold as innocents are victimized in various fashions.
Erunner, you are reminding me of my previous apartment before moving into the house we are in now. My wife and I both grew up in pretty rural areas, so it took a little bit of time for us to realize that the sound of gunshots in the distance was not a normal sound to be hearing in the city. On the other hand, we often marveled at how safe we felt in our community… the local newspaper used to update a yearly homicide map on their website so that we had a visual representation of the neighborhood we lived in. We literally lived within two blocks of one of the most violent areas in the city (within a mile of another), and it almost never encroached on our life, if you looked at the map, it was like we lived in a bubble.
Just an odd observation.
I will say that I am not sure whether it is just increased availability to information or reality, but it has seemed like my Google Now feed has been loaded with local instances of violence, drugs, suicides, and all kinds of depravity lately.
“I have often said, or come close to saying that I think that pre millennial, pre tribulation dispensationalism is almost as harmful to Christianity as is the Word Faith movement (note that I am not saying they are not Christians – just harmful to the faith).”
>comment: you are wrong, but that doesn’t preclude folk going to seed on sensationalism
“I have brought up in the past that the promises to Abraham are misread and that Paul continues to properly teach those promises — that the promise to Abraham is not for a tiny strip of land in the Middle East but the promise is of the whole world.”
>comment: it would be difficult to get a population numerous as the stars in the sky into geographic Israel… population density to the max
“I am working on a little excursus for future studies in Matthew 23 / 24 that will attempt to highlight to my class why what they will hear on local Christian radio and the big Christian TV networks is wrong, and not only wrong but an attempt to do harm (otherwise they would not continue).”
>comment: harm? the thing is you have to know how to apply 2 Peter 3
“I continue to notice that Paul is a master a de zionizing those prophecies. We have the constant teaching of a new 3rd temple to come. I can’t keep track if we are expecting a 3rd or we are expecting a 3rd (before the return of Christ) & 4th (the supposed millennial temple). But Paul takes all of that away – he not only identifies us, Christians, the Church as the new, 3rd temple but in doing so totally decommissions the existing, still in operation 2nd temple — how can you have 2 temples at the same time? From the 3rd chapter of first Corinthians – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (note the present tense)”
>comment: my understanding is that the temple that is “rebuilt” in the last days before our Lord comes back is an O.T. temple (needed for the yearly(?) sacrifice which the stubborn Jew has not been able to carry out for 2,000 or so years with all that that entails) – it has nothing to do with the N.T., except as a prophesy to watch out for
“As for the land promise – Paul deals with this also in the same chapter v9 where he sums up “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” We (the you of the phrase) are God’s field – we are God’s land. Who??? The Church. not some geographical spot in a land far away.”
>comment: we are the New Jerusalem as a Body descending from heaven, but that doesn’t preclude a landing place when we get here (that millennium thing)
“Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology… yet they continue to control the airwaves.”
>comment: no they’re not opposed to the rapture, but then neither is it necessary to see it there – as you pointed out, for a saving Faith
Dallas, I shared here about our neighbors being hardcore drug dealers. It became quite scary the things we would see and hear. Thankfully they are gone now but I suspect there were and still are other dangerous folks closer to us than we suspected. There is a lot of gang activity not too far from us as well.
It’s sad as there seems to be so little regard for human life all around us and this is the fruit of that. Without Christ people don’t have a real hope in this world. I pray these people can be reached with the transforming news of the Gospel.
Quiet day.
Em, thanks for your response at #7 – a couple of things
1.) I don’t think the Bible, OT or NT speaks of a temple being rebuilt void of God dwelling there- so I don’t think it will be a bunch of Jews building just to get a fake sacrificial system going. The “temple” described by Ezekiel is future – it is heaven described as a “temple” as that is their only knowledge of a place where God dwells.
2.) The Church is not the New Jerusalem and as the dimensions of the NJ make it about the size of India, I don’t think it will settle in Israel
3.) My last comment “Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology…” – I could have been more clear – the emphasis was on the Zionist theology held by the rapture crowd. I think I showed above that Paul dispensed of any zionist thought.
Today I was teaching in Matt 21 and the stories about the fig tree and the vineyard and the tenants are direct statements by Jesus that he is done with Old Israel and in fact in the tenants story he says even though they own the inheritance, he is taking it away from them (Old Israel) and giving it to someone else (his own newly created Israel – the Church).
Note that he does not split it and share it. If this is to be called “replacement theology, well I guess you need to blame Jesus – as he is doing the replacement.
There’s more going on in this chapter than just the Old Israel/Church distinction.
For example, in the parable of Jesus cursing the fig tree, there’s also a lesson about how God expects His people to produce fruit:
“By cursing a fruitless fig tree, Jesus reveals symbolically God’s judgment against the faithless and fruitless portion of His covenant people.
“Though we are saved by faith alone, producing fruit for God and His Kingdom is not optional. Though faithlessness rightly deserves God’s wrath, God Himself works faithfulness in us and grants a rich reward of blessings.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, you are the true vine. Apart from You, we can do nothing. Keep us united to You, that we produce abundant fruit to your glory. Amen.”
bob1 – very good and I am impressed that you pulled from The Lutheran Study Bible (you need to include the THE in front so as not to confuse it with the ELCA version which is just Lutheran Study Bible) 🙂
The note you quoted is very good but as you can tell by the little symbol, it is a law / gospel application. The note right above it pretty much points in my direction.
Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree is an “enacted prophecy” that foreshadows the judgement will visit on the unbelievers of Jerusalem. Jer 8:13 and Matt 7:1 compare fruitless Israel to a barren fig tree (cf Hosea 9:10). Just as Jesus punished the fig tree, so also unbelieving Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed in AD 70. But even as Jesus acts in judgement against fruitlessness , He also promises great reward for faithfulness. Faith moves mountains and knows that its prayers are heard and answered by God.”
The key phrase in the “fig tree” passage being “And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” – however one wants to describe it Jesus is speaking to his new Israel about the old Israel. The curse is that the old Israel will never be effective again.
The last paragraph is my statement, not part of the note.
I don’t use TLSB much – the printing is too small. (even typing that note was difficult to read and type) But it works out good in my class because many have it and they question me from the notes – so it helps drive discussion.
#12-i don’t think that the “rapture” is a hill to die on… i see it as pretty clearly described, but i’m not a teacher… i will be sorely disappointed (well probably not) if there is no 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ before the final judgement (yes, i know the Kingdom has come 🙂 )
will there be a temple before our Lord’s return for the purpose of restoring O.T. rituals? i think there will be… when or how far away that day is i have no idea…
the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven could well land at the east end of the Mediterranean and extend all the way over to China/Pakistan… haven’t tried to find a footprint for it … you’ve peaked my interest, tho
zionism has been on the move for what? a century now? a beautiful romance through good and evil… i really have enjoyed the story as it unfolds and i have no idea how it ends… i do know that our God is a God of history and it has unfolded according to His plan – whatever that may be, He knows, i don’t
It’s all yours today…
To God Be The Glory
“1
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.
2
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
3
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.”
i woke up this morning with this praise on my mind…
if there ever was a “magic” hymn, this is the one – singing it (and believing it) is guaranteed to move your heart and mind closer to The Kingdom – if you don’t know it, there is recorded online singers singing, “To God Be The Glory” – versions both humble and grand
for instance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-15v9iworAU
but my preference was a group of Christians at an Intervarsity camp on Catalina Island singing it a cappella every morning before Bible study 🙂
#1,
Great lyrics! Thanks for spreading glad tidings around.
I have often said, or come close to saying that I think that pre millennial, pre tribulation dispensationalism is almost as harmful to Christianity as is the Word Faith movement (note that I am not saying they are not Christians – just harmful to the faith).
I have brought up in the past that the promises to Abraham are misread and that Paul continues to properly teach those promises — that the promise to Abraham is not for a tiny strip of land in the Middle East but the promise is of the whole world.
I am working on a little excursus for future studies in Matthew 23 / 24 that will attempt to highlight to my class why what they will hear on local Christian radio and the big Christian TV networks is wrong, and not only wrong but an attempt to do harm (otherwise they would not continue).
I continue to notice that Paul is a master a de zionizing those prophecies. We have the constant teaching of a new 3rd temple to come. I can’t keep track if we are expecting a 3rd or we are expecting a 3rd (before the return of Christ) & 4th (the supposed millennial temple). But Paul takes all of that away – he not only identifies us, Christians, the Church as the new, 3rd temple but in doing so totally decommissions the existing, still in operation 2nd temple — how can you have 2 temples at the same time? From the 3rd chapter of first Corinthians – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (note the present tense)
As for the land promise – Paul deals with this also in the same chapter v9 where he sums up “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” We (the you of the phrase) are God’s field – we are God’s land. Who??? The Church. not some geographical spot in a land far away.
Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology… yet they continue to control the airwaves.
It’s a bit uncomfortable but we are hearing a lot more sirens than we have in the past. In the past few weeks the house next door to us which is still unoccupied had the stove stolen. Yesterday at 4:00 p.m. four doors down thieves broken the oval decorative glass on the front door and robbed the place.
I suspect drug users (meth) have become quite brazen in their attempts to get things they can sell so they can get their next fix.
Last week a meth lab blew up not too far from our police department and at the same time a man was about half a block down holding a rifle. He was apprehended.
I’m used to seeing the local news each day reporting crimes in cities not too far from us. Just yesterday a 10 year old girl was shot in the head as the shooter missed the person he was aiming at.
At times it seems like we are sitting on a powder keg that we might not be prepared for. I’m sure others here live in areas where things are much worse.
It’s difficult to see these things continue to unfold as innocents are victimized in various fashions.
Erunner, you are reminding me of my previous apartment before moving into the house we are in now. My wife and I both grew up in pretty rural areas, so it took a little bit of time for us to realize that the sound of gunshots in the distance was not a normal sound to be hearing in the city. On the other hand, we often marveled at how safe we felt in our community… the local newspaper used to update a yearly homicide map on their website so that we had a visual representation of the neighborhood we lived in. We literally lived within two blocks of one of the most violent areas in the city (within a mile of another), and it almost never encroached on our life, if you looked at the map, it was like we lived in a bubble.
Just an odd observation.
I will say that I am not sure whether it is just increased availability to information or reality, but it has seemed like my Google Now feed has been loaded with local instances of violence, drugs, suicides, and all kinds of depravity lately.
#4- 🙂
“I have often said, or come close to saying that I think that pre millennial, pre tribulation dispensationalism is almost as harmful to Christianity as is the Word Faith movement (note that I am not saying they are not Christians – just harmful to the faith).”
>comment: you are wrong, but that doesn’t preclude folk going to seed on sensationalism
“I have brought up in the past that the promises to Abraham are misread and that Paul continues to properly teach those promises — that the promise to Abraham is not for a tiny strip of land in the Middle East but the promise is of the whole world.”
>comment: it would be difficult to get a population numerous as the stars in the sky into geographic Israel… population density to the max
“I am working on a little excursus for future studies in Matthew 23 / 24 that will attempt to highlight to my class why what they will hear on local Christian radio and the big Christian TV networks is wrong, and not only wrong but an attempt to do harm (otherwise they would not continue).”
>comment: harm? the thing is you have to know how to apply 2 Peter 3
“I continue to notice that Paul is a master a de zionizing those prophecies. We have the constant teaching of a new 3rd temple to come. I can’t keep track if we are expecting a 3rd or we are expecting a 3rd (before the return of Christ) & 4th (the supposed millennial temple). But Paul takes all of that away – he not only identifies us, Christians, the Church as the new, 3rd temple but in doing so totally decommissions the existing, still in operation 2nd temple — how can you have 2 temples at the same time? From the 3rd chapter of first Corinthians – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (note the present tense)”
>comment: my understanding is that the temple that is “rebuilt” in the last days before our Lord comes back is an O.T. temple (needed for the yearly(?) sacrifice which the stubborn Jew has not been able to carry out for 2,000 or so years with all that that entails) – it has nothing to do with the N.T., except as a prophesy to watch out for
“As for the land promise – Paul deals with this also in the same chapter v9 where he sums up “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” We (the you of the phrase) are God’s field – we are God’s land. Who??? The Church. not some geographical spot in a land far away.”
>comment: we are the New Jerusalem as a Body descending from heaven, but that doesn’t preclude a landing place when we get here (that millennium thing)
“Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology… yet they continue to control the airwaves.”
>comment: no they’re not opposed to the rapture, but then neither is it necessary to see it there – as you pointed out, for a saving Faith
now i’m done – God keep
Dallas, I shared here about our neighbors being hardcore drug dealers. It became quite scary the things we would see and hear. Thankfully they are gone now but I suspect there were and still are other dangerous folks closer to us than we suspected. There is a lot of gang activity not too far from us as well.
It’s sad as there seems to be so little regard for human life all around us and this is the fruit of that. Without Christ people don’t have a real hope in this world. I pray these people can be reached with the transforming news of the Gospel.
Gordie Howe “Mr.Hockey” has passed away at age 88.
He was one tough hockey player who played until he was 52.
Howe was the Babe Ruth of hockey.
The lack of coverage of his death and muted celebration of his immense legacy is shameful.
Jesus wepts. And Jesus weeps.
Quiet day.
Em, thanks for your response at #7 – a couple of things
1.) I don’t think the Bible, OT or NT speaks of a temple being rebuilt void of God dwelling there- so I don’t think it will be a bunch of Jews building just to get a fake sacrificial system going. The “temple” described by Ezekiel is future – it is heaven described as a “temple” as that is their only knowledge of a place where God dwells.
2.) The Church is not the New Jerusalem and as the dimensions of the NJ make it about the size of India, I don’t think it will settle in Israel
3.) My last comment “Everywhere you turn, the scriptures are opposed to the rapture – Zionist theology…” – I could have been more clear – the emphasis was on the Zionist theology held by the rapture crowd. I think I showed above that Paul dispensed of any zionist thought.
Today I was teaching in Matt 21 and the stories about the fig tree and the vineyard and the tenants are direct statements by Jesus that he is done with Old Israel and in fact in the tenants story he says even though they own the inheritance, he is taking it away from them (Old Israel) and giving it to someone else (his own newly created Israel – the Church).
Note that he does not split it and share it. If this is to be called “replacement theology, well I guess you need to blame Jesus – as he is doing the replacement.
There’s more going on in this chapter than just the Old Israel/Church distinction.
For example, in the parable of Jesus cursing the fig tree, there’s also a lesson about how God expects His people to produce fruit:
“By cursing a fruitless fig tree, Jesus reveals symbolically God’s judgment against the faithless and fruitless portion of His covenant people.
“Though we are saved by faith alone, producing fruit for God and His Kingdom is not optional. Though faithlessness rightly deserves God’s wrath, God Himself works faithfulness in us and grants a rich reward of blessings.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, you are the true vine. Apart from You, we can do nothing. Keep us united to You, that we produce abundant fruit to your glory. Amen.”
— Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1628
bob1 – very good and I am impressed that you pulled from The Lutheran Study Bible (you need to include the THE in front so as not to confuse it with the ELCA version which is just Lutheran Study Bible) 🙂
The note you quoted is very good but as you can tell by the little symbol, it is a law / gospel application. The note right above it pretty much points in my direction.
Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree is an “enacted prophecy” that foreshadows the judgement will visit on the unbelievers of Jerusalem. Jer 8:13 and Matt 7:1 compare fruitless Israel to a barren fig tree (cf Hosea 9:10). Just as Jesus punished the fig tree, so also unbelieving Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed in AD 70. But even as Jesus acts in judgement against fruitlessness , He also promises great reward for faithfulness. Faith moves mountains and knows that its prayers are heard and answered by God.”
The key phrase in the “fig tree” passage being “And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” – however one wants to describe it Jesus is speaking to his new Israel about the old Israel. The curse is that the old Israel will never be effective again.
The last paragraph is my statement, not part of the note.
I don’t use TLSB much – the printing is too small. (even typing that note was difficult to read and type) But it works out good in my class because many have it and they question me from the notes – so it helps drive discussion.
#12-i don’t think that the “rapture” is a hill to die on… i see it as pretty clearly described, but i’m not a teacher… i will be sorely disappointed (well probably not) if there is no 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ before the final judgement (yes, i know the Kingdom has come 🙂 )
will there be a temple before our Lord’s return for the purpose of restoring O.T. rituals? i think there will be… when or how far away that day is i have no idea…
the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven could well land at the east end of the Mediterranean and extend all the way over to China/Pakistan… haven’t tried to find a footprint for it … you’ve peaked my interest, tho
zionism has been on the move for what? a century now? a beautiful romance through good and evil… i really have enjoyed the story as it unfolds and i have no idea how it ends… i do know that our God is a God of history and it has unfolded according to His plan – whatever that may be, He knows, i don’t