What Gary DeMar misses

After studying Zechariah for a exegetical paper for the Prophets class at WTS - I came across Gary DeMar's treatment of Zech 12. In his treatment Mr. DeMar insist that the fulfillment of Zech 12 comes in the story of the Book of Ester. He further insisted that biblical prophecy is not always about the end-times and that Zech 12 is no exception.
What I believe Mr. DeMar misses is that in every case of Old Testament prophecy there is a near historical Horizon that indeed the prophets had in view and there is a far eschatology horizon that the prophets sometimes did not have in view. He dismissed the interpretation of the Prophecy as referring to the church throughout the time from the resurrection to Christ and His second coming. Although he did allow that to be an application of the text. After he accused every other commentator of importing his own prophetical expectation on the text - he then goes on to insist the meaning of words in obscure context bolster his position. For example, he claims that "In that day" formula is never used in the OT to refer to the Second coming. Though I would agree that they did not refer to a "Second" coming, I would certainly say that the formula is almost universally recognized as a pointer to the Day of the LORD. A coming day of both judgment and blessing. Its not until the revelation of Christ that we see that there is a dual aspect of the "Day of the LORD".

Basically Mr. Demar is not wrong in seeing a historical fulfillment. Even his interpretation of verse 10 were God is said to be pierced is not off base - For indeed the Jews did pierce God in there disobedience and it is not wrong to assume that God did open up a fountain of cleansing to the House of David. The real problem is the short-sideness of Mr. Demar's understanding of prophecy.

If we wanted to press Mr. Demar further we could question the accuracy of the images of the Cup of Staggering and the Stone of offense as well as the blind/mad horses. All of these pictures of judgment were once designated against Judah and Jerusalem themselves (Deut. 28:28; Jer 25; Isa 51) but know have been applied to the nations. Not only that all of these judgment signs are repeated and consummated in the Lord Jesus himself (who drinks the cup of God Wrath, is the stone of stumbling, whose death darkens the whole earth for 3 hours ). These pictures are not meant to have a one-to-one correspondence with history so that they have only one meaning. Like the prophets frequently speaking about the sun going dark and the moon filling with blood etc. Or even the Day of the LORD - which manifest itself in all of the historical judgments against Israel. If Mr. DeMar is willing to see that not all the pictures are fulfilled in Ester - then why must he insist that they only can be referring to it?
One other historical note: if Ester is the fulfillment of Zech 12 - then why is the Name of God absent from the story? Even if you take the acrostic of the chapters as spelling (hwhy) Zech 12 describes quite a different reliance on God and subsequent repentance.

Another concern comes from the grammar. Many commentators note the difference of Zech 9-14 from the first eight chapters. The common consensus is that this comes from the eschatological focus of the later chapters on the whole. though this does not mean that the first eight chapters are not concerned with things on an eschatological scale, it is a recognition that there is a greater effort to push beyond the immediate horizon and grasp and the final horizon in the later part of Zech. In Chapter 12 the burden particularly states that this vision is of Israel but the speaks only of Judah and Jerusalem. Then it establishes that the God who is speaking this fantastic work of encouragement is none other than the creator. By drawing on the image of creation Zech give the reader the confidence in unfolding events as being nothing short of a re-creation. It should also be noted that the second part of Zech (9-14) contain a dense proportion of passages specifically applied to Jesus in the NT. The NT writers hermeneutic was clearly to see these texts as eschatological.

However, I can't get to bent out of shape when he brings up the inconsistency in the Dispy interps.

Perhaps if I get the time I will more formally address the problems that I see, but for know a quick response will do.

DMOZ before I die!

I know this blog is pretty much for my theological musings and it does not make sense to post web development stuff here. But I am mostly ranting to get things out of my system anyway.

DMOZ listing is it worth the wait?

I have alway been under the impression that listing your website with DMOZ open directory (run by AOL) is a must for SEO. However, I have not been very happy with the amount of time it takes for DMOZ to list sites. In some cases the other tactics I use for SEO have gotten me the desired results before the editors working on the DMOZ directory ever get around to looking at my suggested listing.

Why can't DMOZ use robots?

So the seemingly eternal wait for the precious DMOZ listing may or may not be worth it. In the mean time though, I wonder why DMOZ doesn't simply have spiders crawl sites submitted for listing and then notify the editor if the site is go? Heck, you would think the spiders could even categorize the sites in the most appropriate ways based on content. Wouldn't that speed things up?

Other SEO tactics.

I suppose for now my solution is simply to use other SEO tactics and not worry to much about this one listing.

Don't worry I'm back to theology after this one!

More about Five Elephants

Deck builders are a dime a dozen, so how do you find a good one?

I would submit that the best way to find a good deck builder would be to get to know him or them personally. A person cannot help but convey himself personally in what he does creatively. So if you want a deck to look and feel like grumpy, just do enough to get paid, disinterested grunt, then you can find yourself any number of deck builders who want to express themselves this way. But if you are hoping for sophistication and humor, or maybe even rugged and daring, where will you go?

You need to reed what they say about themselves. Interview them as persons not just as skilled robots. Pay attention to their websites and their About Us pages.

Decking How-To's reveal confidence

Another great way to get to know your future deck builder is to see if he/they is willing to give how-to advice. This reveals not only a good deal of confidence in their own skill - but also the genuine desire to see others succeed.

Deck builder for Colorado Springs and Monument

If you live in Colorado Springs or Monument, I would recommend you take a look at Five Elephants Decking and see if you can appreciate the character that would be expressing itself into the details of your deck and outdoor sanctuaries

Anyone for a Deck?

I have just created a website for my brothers decking company Five Elephants Decking.
Would love to hear some feed back from anyone. Before you say, "It needs more pictures..." let me say that the gallery will be coming soon.

enjoy!

Has Seminary made us Spiritual??

I am not sure why the feeling of awe has receded. Here I am at the cusp of leaving the seminary life and entering the ministry, and I am mostly frustrated with conversations with friends who have not changed their theological positions still after 4 years of seminary.

Why should that matter? After all - its not likely that they will be part of my presbytery or church (should the Lord grant me a call). So why do I care?

I suppose it is partly because I want consensus at the higher levels in order to be justified in thinking there can be consensus on lower levels of Christian engagement. How will I manage 10 years of frustrated ministry to people unwilling to change?

I know I am not the one to change anyone - and the Spirit must do the work. I know that the work of the ministry is also not measured by growth in theological alignment to the confession. But still, it is an issue worth wrestling through.