Can Leviticus Actually Be Good News?

It was said of Willie Mays that his glove was the place where triples went to die. I suppose it could be said that Leviticus is the place where Bible reading plans go to die.

Many a person has begun a Bible reading plan at the start of a new year with high hopes and the best of intentions. Things generally begin well. The stories found in Genesis keep things moving along and the mighty acts of God in Exodus usually keep the reader on track. 

Then something happens. That something is Leviticus. With all of its detail and minutiae regarding ceremonial law, many a reader simply loses interest. What, after all, does all of it have to do with the Gospel?

Against the backdrop of this reality comes a new commentary on Leviticus  by Dr. Jay Sklar from IVP's Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. Jay is Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, where I took two semesters of Hebrew from him. As unbelievable as it may seem, each class period could truly be classified as a devotional experience. If a man can turn the study of Hebrew into a devotional experience, he can no doubt show us how the Gospel sings in Leviticus. That, after all, is what it is intended to do. 

He begins by pointing us to a vital, though often overlooked fact: Leviticus can only be properly understood in light of the story that immediately precedes it.

The story immediately before Leviticus is one in which the Lord redeems the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and enters into covenant relationship with them. They are to be his ‘treasured possession’ who are to fulfill a special role: being a ‘kingdom of priests and a holy nation’, and in this way spreading the Lord’s kingdom of justice, mercy, goodness and love in all the earth. What is more, they are to do this with the Lord himself dwelling in their midst in the tent of meeting. If you were an Israelite, all of this would lead to some burning questions: How in the world can the holy and pure King of the universe dwell among his sinful and impure people? How can he live here, in our very midst, without his holiness melting us in our sin and impurity? And how can we live as his people in such a way that we really do extend his holy kingdom throughout the earth?

Leviticus answers these questions.

But that’s not all Leviticus does.

(I)t also casts a vision that takes the Israelites back to the Lord’s intent for humanity from the beginning of the world: to walk in rich fellowship with their covenant King, enjoying his care and blessing, and extending throughout all the earth his kingdom of justice, mercy, kindness, righteousness, holiness and love.

And all the while Jay reminds us, “If what we see in the Old Testament  is an acorn, what we see in Jesus is a magnificent oak. This is especially true for the themes of Leviticus.”

I am very thankful to have this commentary on my bookshelf and I highly recommend that you do the same.

Fellowship in the Gospel

For those of you who (like me) are in eastern Michigan and love to fellowship with brothers in Christ as we bask in the glow of the Gospel, let me alert you to what is sure to be a great event May 3rd and 4th. Fellowship in the Gospel is a two day conference hosted by Berean Baptist Church in Livonia, Michigan, and it is dedicated to the idea that the Gospel is the key to preaching and teaching, the key to relationships, and the key to an ongoing life of transformation.

This year's keynote speaker will be Dr. Bryan Chapell of Covenant Theological Seminary. During my time at Covenant, Dr. Chapell did as much as anyone to increase my understanding of and appreciation for the grace of God and the good news of the Gospel.

The schedule includes three plenary messages from Dr. Chapell, as well as three elective sessions. For those interested, there is also a pre-conference workshop by Brian Vickers focusing on Abraham's Sanctification by Faith.

Click here for information regarding registration.

Reflections on Covenant Theological Seminary

Rev. Joe Novenson, lead teaching pastor at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and seminary board member, shares some reflections on Covenant Theological Seminary.

New President Coming for Covenant Seminary

This evening I saw the following announcement from the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary:

At our spring stated meeting of April 27-28, 2012, the Board of Trustees of Covenant Theological Seminary voted to approve the transition of Dr. Bryan Chapell from President to Chancellor, effective June 1, 2012. The Board appointed Dr. Mark Dalbey, currently Vice President of Academics, as interim President. In addition, the Board announced the formation of a search committee to assist the Board in selecting the next President. More information will be forthcoming.

To my knowledge, Covenant has not had a Chancellor in the past, so I'm not sure what exactly this means in regards to Dr. Chapell's responsibilities. That being said, I am sure that Dr. Dalbey will provide wonderful leadership in the interim, while Covenant searches for it's next President. Please join me in praying for the seminary during this period.

Dane Ortlund on Staying Christian in Seminary

You may have noticed in the right sidebar of my blog that there is a section called "Most Popular Posts." At the top of the list, you'll find that of all the posts I've written, the one that has gotten the most traffic is my post entitled Seminary Doesn't Need to Kill Your Faith. It was a response to a series that Desiring God had started entitled How to Stay a Christian in Seminary and focused on the fact that far from being a place of spiritual turmoil, Covenant Theological Seminary was a sweet foretaste of heaven for me.

Fellow Covenant alum Dane Ortlund wrote a post yesterday entitled Staying Christian in Seminary in conjunction with the Desiring God series. In it he suggests that among the many good words of advice, there are two things in particular that the seminary student should remember:

1. You are justified by another.
2. You are strong in weakness.

In both of these, much is made of God's grace, and our need to be in performance-mode is minimized. If you are a seminary student, I highly recommend you read Dane's entire post. In fact, the gospel-centeredness of this post is so rich that it would benefit you greatly even if seminary is the last place you expect to find yourself.

Seminary Doesn't Need to Kill Your Faith

The other day I saw a blog post from Carl Trueman lamenting the fact that seminaries don’t really do a good job of teaching students to preach.  And then I saw over at the Desiring God blog, that they just started a new series entitled How to Stay Christian in Seminary, focusing on the fact that in the midst of theological study, seminarians often see their faith lose much of its vitality, becoming almost purely academic in nature.

It seems that our seminaries are failing to do the very things they are supposed to focus on. I have heard stories about this from other pastors. The old joke is that there’s a reason “seminary” and “cemetery” sound so much alike. But I am thankful to be able to tell you that my experience at Covenant Theological Seminary couldn’t have been more different.

I say this not as a matter of pride. I am fully confident that I had very little (if anything) to do with it. Rather, it was primarily due to the grace of God, and in large part a result of the seminary I attended. I have not been a student at any other seminaries, but from the stories I’ve heard, I am left to assume that Covenant is exceptional.

I studied the language of Hebrew from a professor who made the classes seem devotional in nature. I was blessed to take a number of classes from (and do an independent study with) a man who I am quite certain is the most Christ-like individual I’ve ever known. I learned about preaching under the man who literally wrote the book on Christ-Centered Preaching. I could go on an on.

Grace is not just something that is taught academically at Covenant, it is the water in which you swim as a student there. And being constantly surrounded by others who were longing to grow and learn and serve God with their lives was an absolute joy. My only regret was that I didn’t get to spend more time there.

I’m sure there are people who struggle to see their faith grow while at seminary. Some of them may even be at Covenant. But if, on the other hand, their time at seminary is anything like mine was, they will look back on their experience 5-10 years later thanking God for the seeds he sewed in their heart during this period, for the influences there that helped shape the rest of their life, and for the sweet foretaste of heaven that they were blessed to receive.

The Slaughter Was Great, and It Was Perpetual. Until...It Was Finished

I received an email yesterday from my alma mater, Covenant Theological Seminary, with this video included.  It includes a brief portion of a message from Covenant's President, Dr. Bryan Chapell, recently given at the spot thought to be the tomb were Jesus was buried.  Please take two minutes and watch it.

Be True To Your School

The Beach Boys once sang, in all of their brilliant harmonies, "Be True to Your School."  It can not be debated; I have heeded this command.

I still follow my high school's football and basketball teams as closely as I can from 568 miles away.  I have read about them in the online edition of my hometown's newspaper, exchanged text messages with friends and family members while they were at games, watched games streamed live on the internet and even once upgraded my TV package so that I would have the station that was carrying a game in which my high school was playing.  As a matter of fact, the color scheme of this blog is inspired by the orange and black of the Webster Groves Statesmen.

I still show the same type of support for my college as well.  Each Saturday during football season, you're sure to find me decked out in my Mizzou black and gold, watching the game if the Tigers happen to be on TV, or listening to the radio broadcast online if that's the best I can do. More Saturdays than I'd like to admit have been made or ruined on the basis of a Tiger football game.

As much as I am committed to my high school and college though, I am perhaps even more enthusiastic in my support of my other alma mater.  I have often told others that my three years at Covenant Theological Seminary provided me with a foretaste of heaven.  Thanks to both the teaching in the classrooms and the atmosphere that is cultivated, an ethos of grace pervades the campus.

Dane Ortlund captured my thoughts perfectly when he recently wrote about Covenant:

Every institution is filled with nothing but sinners. We are fallen, and our schools reflect that. And when I left three years ago, the school's overall sin-meter dropped considerably. But the norm is for institutions, even seminaries, to contain islands of grace amidst an ocean of self. Covenant is the only school I've ever set foot on that contains, in the mercy of God, islands of self amid an ocean of grace.

I shake my head with wonder at God's kindness to this institution.

Covenant recently released a number of faculty videos on YouTube that help communicate what makes Covenant so special.  I've included four below from some of the professors who had a particular impact on me.