<\/p>
Listening to Jim Jordan\u2019s tapes on Daniel has helped me to put some pieces together in Luke. Jim discusses the \u201cremnant covenant\u201d at some length in the first couple of tapes, and points out some of the main features of that period of Israel\u2019s history. In many respects, these features are brought out also in Jesus\u2019 ministry: <\/p>\n
1) Elijah and Elisha form a \u201cchurch\u201d independent of the temple. Jesus does the same, offering forgiveness and atonement and cleansing apart from the temple ritual, and gathering a people whose main activities are not sacrifice but hearing and eating\/drinking. (The food theme is prominent also in the Elijah-Elisha narratives \u2014 check a concordance for the word \u201cbread\u201d in that section of Kings.) <\/p>\n
2) The geographic movement of Jesus\u2019 ministry matches that of the remnant period. Elijah and Elisha minister in the North, but, as Assyria arises as a threat to Israel, the remnant church that they ministered to is invited to move South by Hezekiah. Likewise, Jesus begins in Galilee and moves to Jerusalem, arriving just in time for a Passover. <\/p>\n
3) The remnant church is a suffering church, persecuted by the religious and political leadership of the time. This culminates in Jeremiah, who embodies the remnant church in the time just before the exile and is the immediate fulfillment of Isaiah\u2019s suffering servant. Obviously, suffering is central to Jesus\u2019 ministry, and when He arrives in Jerusalem He condemns the temple (as Jeremiah did), offends the established religious leaders (as Jeremiah did), and is put to death (as Jeremiah\u2019s opponents wanted <\/em> to do to him). <\/p>\n In Luke 8 specifically, this helps to enrich Jesus\u2019 point about teaching in parables. Here I rely on Mark Horne\u2019s excellent recent commentary on Mark: In Isaiah 6, which Jesus quotes to defend His use of parables, the point is that this is preparation for looming judgment on Israel. Isaiah was living near the end of the \u201cremnant church\u201d period, and prophesying of an apostasy and judgment that would lead to exile and ultimately a new covenant. Jesus is telling parables in the same situation: His ministry of gathering a remnant has met with opposition, and He begins to speak in parables; this is a sign of the looming destruction of Israel. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Listening to Jim Jordan\u2019s tapes on Daniel has helped me to put some pieces together in Luke. Jim discusses the \u201cremnant covenant\u201d at some length in the first couple of tapes, and points out some of the main features of that period of Israel\u2019s history. In many respects, these features are brought out also in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-luke"],"yoast_head":"\n