As promised, this is my first installment of my notes from the Gospel Coalition conference that we recently attended in Chicago. The theme of the conference was preaching Christ in the Old Testament. A common challenge to pastors but also every day Christians as we read the Old Testament (some thousands of years before Jesus) and seek to see the significance.
We know Jesus said He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelations 1:8) {read: the beginning and the end}. But does that date Him back to the Old Testament? Read on. We know He claimed to be the God of Abraham (Matthew 22:32) though we read of Abraham in Genesis but not yet Jesus until Matthew.... or do we? Maybe we just need the right lenses to see Jesus in the books prior...
It is written of Jesus that He is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" and that in Him (making him the agent of creation, not an object of it) "all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:14-16).
Furthermore, Jesus dated himself before Abraham (the Father of the Jewish tradition and patriarch of the Old Testament) in his famous (if he were not God, Blasphemous) statement "truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), using "I am" language which early hearers and readers would immediately associate with the name God gave for Himself (I AM WHO I AM ) when he met Moses at the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:13-16).
And if that's not enough, Jesus said himself to men who were well versed in the Old Testament scriptures, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have
eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40)
This is the gold we were saturated with in Chicago. Each pastor was tremendously gifted in different ways and styles of preaching, but they all preached Jesus using scripture from the Old Testament. It was so meaty and rich! I hadn't been spiritually stimulated or taught such significant truths in a long time and I cherished the time there. Thankfully, every talk was recorded and is available in several languages, so if you weren't in Chicago,
be blessed nonetheless!
I'll be posting my notes from each plenary session and the seminar I attended (there were three seminar's with tens of options but I only attended one...napping the other two times. Word.) on Adoption and Orphan Care over the next couple of days.
If you want to download the plenary session talks, enjoy the free downloads on their site, www.thegospelcoalition.org
Anglican Prayer that Alistair Begg led us in before preaching, and my prayer for you as you listen to these great men of God bring it:
What we know not, teach us
What we have not, give us
What we are not, make us.
For your Son's sake, Amen.
Would have loved to be at this. We do love us some John Piper.
ReplyDeleteExcited to get together with you guys this summer and talk about such things :D
Lauren, Piper wasn't a speaker. He was part of a couple small panel discussions that I didn't attend, but that's it. For us the draw was ... well... ALL OF IT! haha! but Tim Keller & Matt Chandler, I'd say, though I didn't even know of Alistair Begg before and he was one of my very favouritist!
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