Theology Summary Bible Class Pt.9: Face to Face

Class #9:  We think that God is working, when we are victorious and everything is going our way.  When tragedy hits, we think that God has abandoned us. That kind of thinking  is dead wrong.  We learned from Jacob’s wrestling with God(Gen 32) and Manoah’s visit from God that we don’t recognize God. We don’t have spiritual receptors. Like Moses we want to see the glory (Ex 33:18). God tells him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v.20). God promises to go with Moses and show him goodness, graciousness, and compassion. The Divine Service proclaims those same promises of forgiveness and Jesus’ presence with His church.  We call that revelation proclaiming “the name of the Lord” (v.19). With that promise revealed to us in the Word, we can face anything, even death.  God is mightily working through suffering and the cross.  Sometime after the fact, we get to see God’s back–where He has been working.

The prophet Moses is unlike any other prophet.  Moses does get to talk with God like a man speaks to his friend face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth. He doesn’t see the essence of God(Jn 4:24), but a similtude or form(Num 12:8).

Handout: Jacob Wonderful Name
Handout: The Name of the Lord Jun 24 2018

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 8: Wonderful

Class #8:  Romans 10:13-15 quotes Joel 2:32, “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” With this phrase, the New Testament and the Old Testament agree that “calling on the name of the LORD” encompasses (1) the entire revelation of Jesus Christ (2) through the pastoral ministry(the preaching of the Word, the divine service, faith, confession, etc.).

In Judges 13, Manoah and his wife do not realize that the angel of the LORD is God Himself.  When they figure it out, Manoah is sure that they will die for having seen God.  In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a man but does not know who He is. The revelation of God which they desire is too wonderful(Isaiah 9:6). That is, it is beyond human understanding. Through Jacob’s clinging to Jesus Christ, God says to him,  “you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” The revelation of God is always centered in Jesus Christ!

Document: Handout The Name of the Lord Jun 17 2018
Presentation: Presentation The Name of the Lord Jun 17 2018

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 7: Yahweh

Class #7:  Exodus 3 is the greatest revelation of God’s proper name, “Yahweh,” in the Old Testament.  Verses 13-14 read, “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

YHWH or Yahweh is the proper name of God and is translated “I am” in most English Bibles. The name Yahweh is not a secret or magic formula, but a revelation of God’s nature and his Gospel promise to redeem His people (Ex 6:2-8).  Yahweh is the God, who remembers His unilateral covenantal promises.

[Unfortunately the last ten minutes of this study didn’t get recorded.]

Document: Yahweh Name Explanation Lord
Document 2: The Name of the Lord c
Document 3: Diagrams

Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 6: The Name of the LORD

Class #6:   Genesis 4:26, says, “And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.” The “name of the LORD” is not one particular name, nor does it simply denote prayer, as if there had been no prayer before Enosh. It is by God’s name that He reveals the nature of who He is and has will toward us. “To call on the name of the LORD” refers to the formal church activities of invocation, profession, and the reception of God’s gifts.

In the New Testament, the Gospel of St. John also speaks this way.  Rather than say, “believe in the LORD,” it says “… He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…” (1:12). We believe in Jesus because of the revelation of God in His Word.  Our prayers are to be in accordance with God’s revelation of His person and His work (Jn 14:13). Finally, the gift of the Holy Spirit also comes through the self-revelation of God through His Word (Jn 14:26).

Handout: The Name of the Lord Handout
Handout 2: The Definition of God Handout b

Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 5: Content to Know In Part

Class #5:  God is incomprehensible and his substance is indivisible. Luther says, “We are at our wits’ end when we try to define God.”1  God’s essence and attributes are not separate.  God is not loving, as if it were a changeable attribute. The Scriptures tell us that “God is love” (1 john 4:8). He can’t be otherwise–and not sometimes, but always.  Furthermore, when the Scriptures predicate something about God, that attribute is not the same attribute when it is applied to a created thing. Though angels are spirit and “God is spirit” (Jn 4:24), they are quite different is substance.

As creatures, we admit that God is unsearchable without His Word. We need to be content with what God has revealed about Himself. Now we know in part (1 Cor. 13:12).  However, what we do know is taught us by the Spirit and we have been correctly instructed in the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We can be sure that we “know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Cor 2:12-16).

Handout: The Definition of God Handout b

  1. Christian Dogmatics, p.439, footnote 72.

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 4: The Definition of God

Class #4:  The Holy Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God.  Written in human language, we use our human reason as a servant to determine what the Scriptural Text says. In our attempt to define God, we find that the rules of human logic, which works well for defining created things, does not help us in defining God.

First of all, God cannot be apprehended by our five senses.  Second, we cannot divide God up into the sum of his intelligible parts.  Third, God does not fit into a category, as He is unique!  Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord is one!”

God is incomprehensible and his substance is indivisible.

Handout: The Definition of God Handout

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 3: Revealed Knowledge

Class #3:  With natural knowledge, we know that God exists, but we don’t know who that true God is.  We know that God punishes wrong and demands righteousness, but we don’t know of His will toward us.  Natural knowledge shows us our great lack and leaves us with unending doubt.

The revealed knowledge of God’s Word provides us a clear testimony from God–where He reveals Himself and His will.  We learn of the Triune God and the reconciling work of His Son, Jesus Christ.  God wills that we would believe in His Son and in this way worship and praise the Father.  Through the hearing of God’s Word, faith is created.  Justified by faith in Jesus Christ we know without a doubt that we are forgiven and receive eternal life.  God has commanded that His Church separate true worship from false worship.  Finally, the Word teaches us to subordinate natural knowledge under revealed knowledge.

Handout: God wills to be

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 2: You Can't Build on Natural Knowledge

Class #2:  Armed with only the truths taught by natural knowledge, man will know neither the essence nor the will of God. Natural knowledge does not create faith in the person and work of the Son, and thus it is impossible to know the Father(Mt 11:27). Ignorant of the promises of salvation in Jesus Christ, a person cannot have the required faith to please Him (Heb 11:6), which is a gift of God through the Word. Therefore, natural knowledge does not provide a foundation on which to build, but teaches us what we do not know: Who He is and what His will is toward us. For those things God has provided the reveal knowledge of His Word (1 Cor 2:7)

The Triune God has given natural knowledge for the sake of discipline(Rom 2:14-15), that we “seek the Lord” whom we don’t know by nature(Acts 14:15-17, 17:23-28) and that “men might be without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20).

Handout: God wills to be known and worshiped

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 1: Natural Knowledge

Class #1:  God wills to be known and to be worshiped(faith, prayer, proclamation). By the work of creation God teaches that He exists. By the conscience grafted into the hearts of all men, He teaches the difference between those things which are honorable and shameful. Due to our sinful nature, this natural knowledge of God is not able to quiet the terrors of the conscience, and thus leaves man unsettled and with horrible unending doubts about who God is and what He requires.

Only through the revealed knowledge of God’s Word is there confidence that we are received into salvation with the Triune God through faith in the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Handout: God wills to be known and worshiped