November Musings (11/3/2023)

Riddleblog and Blessed Hope Podcast Updates:

• The latest edition of The Blessed Hope Podcast deals with the use of optimism and pessimism as eschatological categories. My take—they don’t work.

• Head’s up. I will be traveling throughout much of November, so the Riddleblog and Blessed Hope Podcast will go quiet for several weeks.

• I am hard at work editing my exposition of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, “When the Lord Jesus Is Revealed from Heaven,”which will be made available as a free PDF download for those of you who made it through The Blessed Hope Podcast series on these two letters.

• I am also working on season three of the Blessed Hope Podcast, which will be devoted to Paul’s two Corinthians letters. I’m hoping to release the first episode in the new season before the year’s end, but that might be a bit optimistic. We’ll see.

Thinking out loud:

Why do champions of the rapture speak of “buckling their seat belts” whenever they think the coming of the Lord is near? If they are suddenly caught up while buckled in, isn’t it gonna leave a mark?

Some poor Iowan voter looking forward to the upcoming Republican primary was asked about who he was voting for: “Trump, he and Jesus are my heroes.” Poor fellow doesn’t know every much about either of them.

Currently (still) Reading: G. K. Beale, Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation, and New Testament Biblical Theology. I have worked through the section where Beale addresses justification (356-377) and find myself a bit perplexed for reasons I’ll explain later. Other reviewers have expressed similar observations: Perkins reviews "Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology". Yet there is so much here of great value and exegetical insight, so like a fine cigar, I’ll take my time and enjoy it. This is not a volume one should hurry through.

Recently Finished Reading: Finally, a much needed introduction to Theodore Beza’s life and theology! See Shawn Wright’s Theodore Beza: The Man and the Myth. Wright’s biography and survey of many of Beza’s works fills a real need. Hopefully, it will get a wide reading. Beza (1519-1605), who was John Calvin’s successor in Geneva as well as a significant figure in the history of Reformed churches, sadly remains largely unknown to many Reformed Christians who are indebted to him in so many ways.

When John Calvin died in May of 1564, Beza became Moderator of the Company of Pastors of Geneva—which is significant since many who know of Beza (whether favorably disposed to him or not) see him primarily as an academic and speculative theologian, not a man whose primary energy was devoted to the life of the local church. Wright makes a compelling case that Beza is best understood as a churchman and pastor, whose influence over Geneva diminished over time, as the civil magistrates gradually assumed a greater role in the affairs of the church—much to the detriment of the Genevan congregation.

Wright capably addresses the unfounded charge made by many (who should know better) that Beza turned Calvin’s robust “biblical theology” into the sterile theological system we know today as “Calvinism.” Wright surveys Beza’s Christian Faith, a wonderful catechetical work (not to be confused with Beza’s equally important A Little Book of Questions and Responses of 1570). Wright also walks readers through Beza’s Tabula Praedestinationis (not as scary as it sounds), A Learned Treatize of the Plague (1579) which deals with the horrors of the bubonic plague which struck down countless believers, before considering Bezas’s treatise on assurance (Treatize of Comforting Such as Are Troubled by Their Predestination, 1586). Wright also includes a discussion of Beza’s various household prayers.

Beza possessed a brilliant mind and a pastor’s heart. His legacy is great if largely unknown to us. Wright’s book is highly recommended as an excellent introduction to Beza’s life and times.

Links to Recommended Resources:

• Here’s a “review” of Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngey’s outstanding volume, Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present. If you saw my series on A Primer on Reformed Liturgics, you know that it is an invaluable reference for pastors leading and planning worship.

• The “Great Apostasy”? Maybe. The number of “nones” continues to grow

• Chuck Smith has been dead ten years already: Calvary Chapel remembers Chuck Smith

• Where do disgraced pastors go once exposed and defrocked. They plant new churches, of course. But Mark Driscoll has gone one step further. He’s now an on-line “influencer." Caveat emptor.

• John Hendrix at Monergism.com continues to make great stuff available for free. Here’s an Ebook version of John Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians. Please support his work, if you can.

Links to Other Stuff:

• Grandpa tastes like chicken? European cannibalism — an ancient funeral ritual

• That’s gonna burn in all the wrong places! More indications that Guinness is running out of records. Eating crazy hot chilies

• Only in California: Its raining spiders

• And sometimes those spiders raining down land in your ear: Teeny jumping spider found in woman’s ear after days of torturous racket

• I think he needs a bigger boat: Man tries to cross the Atlantic on giant hamster wheel

Previous Musings: Musings and a Bunch of Riddleblog and Blessed Hope Updates

Video: The epic movie Gettysburg is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its release. A great movie, but . . . everyone who sees it comments on the cheesy glue-on beards. The actors didn’t think much of them either!