Review: The Messiah and the Psalms by Richard Belcher

Richard P. Belcher Jr.  The Messiah And The Psalms.  Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor Imprint, September 20^th, 2014. 288 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

This book is on the topic of a Christ and the Psalms by an Old Testament professor at Reformed Theological Seminary.  The author Richard Belcher takes a Christocentric approach towards the Psalms.  If you are interested in the Psalms, Messianic prophecies, hermeneutics and preaching Christ this book might be for you even if you don’t necessarily agree with everything the author has to say.

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Shepherd’s Conference 2017 Notes: Seeing Christ in All of Scripture? Abner Chou

Dr. Abner Chou is probably the fasting speaking preacher during this year’s Shepherd’s Conference.

I tried to write as much down for my notes from his session but missed quite a bit.

Here’s my notes.  When the audio MP3 comes out later this one is worth listening to especially in the end when he walks us through how the Old Testament anticipate Christ.

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Song: Johnny Cash’s “Redemption”

I’m a “Johnny come lately” when it comes to the music artist Johnny Cash.

I just found this song:

I found the lyrics over at Google Play:

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A Biblical Theology of Hands Series: Table of Contents

Over the last month on Sundays we have posted a Short Series on a Biblical Theology of Hands.  Here is the Table of Contents to the Series.

A Biblical Theology of Hands Part 1: What does the Hands of men in the Bible reveal?

A Biblical Theology of Hands Part 2: The hand of the Lord is Powerful

A Biblical Theology of Hands Part 3: The hand of the Lord is Punishing

A Biblical Theology of Hands Part 4: The hand of the Lord is Protecting

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A Biblical Theology of Hands Part 1: What does the Hands of men in the Bible reveal?

Introduction

Police officers are always observing people’s hands.  Are they reaching for a weapon?  The suspects’ hands are clenching-is the suspect ready to strike?  Are they hiding something?  Why are their knuckles bloodied?  There is a reason why when an officer pulls someone over they tell them to make sure our hands are clearly visible holding the steering wheel.  Our hands reveal a lot about who we are.  With what you do in your life what does your hands tell us about you?

The Bible has a lot to say about hands, the word appears in almost every book in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and I believe it all anticipates Jesus Christ.  How?  That is the subject of this series.  I think it does but we must do so taking the Bible in its context and then showing the need of a Savior and how the Savior  accomplished things that are only meant for the Hands of God. Again to state the purpose of this series for the next few weeks on Sundays: We will be looking at what the Bible has to say about hands from Genesis to Revelation so that we would be awe at how the books in the Bible anticipates Jesus Christ as Savior of our sins and we truly trust in Jesus as Savior.

But for today, the purpose of this post is to answer the following question:  What does the Bible has to say about the hands of men?  And from there what does that say about human nature and about us?

1. The hands of man reveal man’s sinful nature
   1. Point: When we look at what the Bible has to say about the hands of men, we see sin and our need for a Savior.
   2. Proof
      1. For the sake of time we will survey only some of the passages in Genesis.  We see that the creativity of what man’s sinfulness is capable of doing is not something new to our times but have occurred for a long time.
      2. First sin of Adam and Eve
         1. Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit in the Tree. It presupposes the use of their hands in sinning.
         2. Note Genesis 3:22 is first reference of hands and what God says about his hand: “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”
      3. The hands of men are capable of murder: Cain murders Abel
         1. First murder is recorded in Genesis 4.
         2. Note Genesis 3:22 is our second reference of hands and what God says about Cain’s hand: “Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”
      4. The hands of men are capable of being used to oppose others: Prediction of Ishmael’s hands against his brothers (Genesis 6:12)
      5. The hands of men are capable of being used to deceive others: Jacob deceives his father with false hairy hands to get his brother’s blessings (Genesis 27:22-23)
      6. The hands of men are capable of being used for violence: Story of Joseph and his brothers’ harm (Genesis 37:21-22, 27)
      7. The hands of a woman is capable of trickery: Story of Tamar’s prostitution and set up against Tamar (Genesis 38:18,20,28-30)
      8. The hands of a woman is capable of seduction and deception: Story of Joseph and Master’s wife (Genesis 39:12-13)

1. Practice
   1. Early in human history Genesis record how sinful man can be; nothing is new today in terms of sinfulness. Do you recognize man’s sinfulness?
   2. Do you recognize your own sinfulness?  What does the actions of your own hands reveal?
   3. If you feel sick reading the book of Genesis with what man’s hands are capable of, then you should have a better appreciate the place for God’s law, Holiness and Wrath.
   4. Yet we must also realize God’s Wrath will be set against us because of what our hands and hearts have done.  We need a Savior who will save us from our sins and the punishment due us for our sins.  That Savior is Jesus Christ.

 

Beginning next week we will see the Hands of the Lord more closely….

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Announcement: Sunday Series on A Biblical Theology of Hands

 

There is no substitute for the Word of God.  As much as we share things related to apologetics, worldviews and theology, we must always give Scripture its important role in our lives.  This thought has compelled me to share more from the Word of God on here.

For the next few Sundays we will be having a series of short posts on “Hands” from the Bible.  I think when we look at hands as a motif in the Scripture and look at its use in the flow of Scripture in Redemptive History, we can learn a lot about human nature and about God.

Stay tune for this series that starts this Sunday!

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