Nathan James Norman
  • Blog
  • Writer
  • Pastor
  • Bookshelf
  • Links
  • Contact

Nathan James Norman

Husband. Father. Pastor.
Storyteller. Reader. Comic Fan.
Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Orchard Church

Review: The People, The Land, and the Future of Israel

12/12/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Summary: The People, The Land, and the Future of Israel is a series of seventeen essays exploring the Jewish people, and the land of Israel within God's plan for the world. The essays survey the entirety of the Bible text and also explores issues of interpretation and historical understandings of the Jewish people within the Church.

Review: In the interest of full disclosure, I went into this book as a progressive dispensationalist, so I fully expected to find myself in agreement with much of what was said in this book.

Not only did I find myself agreeing with the vast majority of this book, but most of the essays filled in the gaps of my knowledge. My hat is off to Darrell L. Bock and Mitch Glaser's editorial skills. The book follows a natural progression and for the most part, every single essay rises to a rather high scholarly level.

The People, The Land, and the Future of Israel, coincides with a 2013 conference of the same name. In fact, each chapter features multiple "QR codes" and website links to video presentations and testimonies from the conference. This makes the incredibly robust book even more informative.

The essays are separated into four categories: Hebrew Scriptures; New Testament; Hermeneutics, Theology and Church History; Practical Theology. I appreciated this grouping because it tells a narrative as the data from the Torah through the present day is examined. Over and over Israel and the Jewish people are affirmed throughout the Scriptures as God's covenant people. The Church has not replaced Israel - even though there have been long periods of time where believers thought this to be true.

Additionally, the authors and editors are careful to avoid losing focus on the biblical narrative. Over and over again, The People and The Land are portrayed as chosen because of God's character. Because of God's faithfulness to his people.

Even in a scholarly context, it is beautiful to see God's unconditional hesed portrayed.

Some of the essays are more interesting than others. Some are more engaging. A few fell flat. Overall,

The People, The Land, and the Future of Israel is a great resource for understanding Israel's central place in God's plan... both in the past and the future.

Rating: 4.5/5 (I loved it)

Find it at Kregel here.
Find it at Amazon here.


Picture
Alfred Approved!
Note: I received a physical copy of this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
1 Comment

The Kingdom of God: As Seen on "The Voice"

12/9/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
I came home tonight a little later than usual. I carried in pizza as my wife managed the kids. Last night's episode of The Voice was streaming on Hulu in the background.

I'm not much of a TV watcher. But I was tired, so I picked up my son, sat on the couch and started tickling him.

Then I saw the Kingdom of God break through on national television.

Craig Wayne Boyd took the stage and sang "The Old Rugged Cross." As I bounced my son on my knee, I found myself slowing down. Then just holding him. Then I clutched him.

I can't quite explain it. The performance was technically wonderful. The orchestra was spot-on. But there was more there. Even more than the passion in Boyd's voice.

Toward the end of the song, I could barely contain my tears. I tried not to talk. And then, after the performance coach
Pharrell Williams asked Boyd, "Going through everything that you've gone through to get yourself here at this place, I have a question for you. What does it feel like to be at the top of your game, and to surrender it to God in front of the whole entire world?"

I don't know anything about Craig Wayne Boyd, but that's exactly what he did. He took all his own fame and glory - and he handed it back to God. Back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what Christians do. This is how the Kingdom of God breaks through into the kingdom of the world.

This is shining the Light of Christ in the darkness.

As this was happening it was time to eat. So we sat down. My wife, daughter and I began to pray. I thanked God for the food, for our family, and then I tried to thank him for seeing the Kingdom of God shinning on The Voice. But I couldn't. My words caught in my throat. I tried to push through it and found I could not. I started weeping uncontrollably.

My wife finished the prayer with the thoughts of my heart - thanking God for letting this song bring him glory before the world.

I wept for several minutes.
My daughter laughed at me "Daddy crying." (She's 2. And simply could not understand what was happening to me.)

To be quite honest, I don't know what happened to me. I wasn't sad. I wasn't even happy. It was the glory of the Lord. I caught a glimpse of his glory. Of his fame. Of his Kingdom.

It was just a glimmer and it overwhelmed me.

We are in the Advent season, where believers celebrate the first coming of Christ while eagerly awaiting his Second Coming. At the first advent the Kingdom of God was inaugurated. At the second the Kingdom will be consummated. In between we see moments of the Kingdom of God here on the earth all the time. This was one such moment.

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah , and He will reign forever and ever! - Revelation 11:15

2 Comments

The New VeggieTales Spells Doom for Christians

12/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last week the latest iteration of VeggieTales - VeggieTales in the House - was released on Netflix. Its release has grieved me greatly.

Not because of the show. No, the new show is excellent. It features the uber-talents of Doug TenNapel and Michael J. Nelson. (Two of my favorite living creative-types).

The show features wonderfully updated versions of the vegetables. More than that, the stories are engaging and rooted in biblical truths.

So what's the problem?

The problem has been the way believers have responded to this show. Just head over to the official facebook page and spend a few minutes looking at the comments. They're ugly. They're incessant. And they're petty.

Believers have accused the creators of "ruining their childhood," "being on drugs while designing," and being "disgusting tools."

Most of the comments are not this accusatory, but there are hundreds of hundreds of people whining constantly about the redesign.

If this is what Western Christianity has become - spending our time and emotional energy complaining about cartoon designs - then we are doomed.

This same energy could go into a variety of other things (reaching out to the poor, advocating against modern-day slavery, evangelizing our community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ). But if this is how we choose to respond to an issue that doesn't really matter - we're in trouble. We're the Church of Laodicea whose works are utterly useless and disgust our Lord.

Remember: Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. - Luke 16:10 HCSB
(This was cited on one of the new VeggieTales in the House episodes)

If we can't show grace and Christian charity in this situation, we most certainly won't when the larger issues bear down on us.
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Adoption
    Art
    Axiom
    Beowulf
    Christmas
    Comics
    Drabble
    Flash Fiction
    Foster Care
    Good Friday
    Humor
    Infertility
    Interviews
    Memes
    Music
    Politics
    Practical
    Preaching
    Reviews
    Speculative
    Theology
    Tragedy
    Trinity Watch
    Untold Podcast
    Video
    Writing

    Blog Roll

    Albert Mohler
    Breakpoint
    Christian Humanist
    Christian Geek Central
    Critical Press Media
    David N. Alderman
    Doug Geivett

    Good Book Blog
    Living With Cogan
    Open Biola
    Project Rooftop
    Reasonable Faith
    Running Slowly w/ Kids
    Spirit Blade Underground
    Strangers and Aliens
    The Table Podcast
    This Old Farmhouse

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012