I want to take one post away from my Sermon on the Mount series to let you know about the next several weeks and a few things about Substack.
Thank you
First, though, I’d like to say thank you to all of you who have subscribed or who have regularly come to the site from Facebook or elsewhere. I get to see stats of the numbers who open, share, etc., and seeing those numbers is very heartening to me!
I would love to see comments or have you send me any feedback on my posts. Obviously, I am most concerned for explaining the Bible clearly, but how I present my study is important for you and me in making this site as useful as possible. So please let me know what you like and what you don’t via email or comments.
The Next Three Weeks
This coming Friday, Lynn and I are headed to Israel for two weeks then to Naples for a few days. We’ll be with two other couples. This will be my ninth trip to Israel, but at most once for several of the others. I’ve been following the news of politics and some violence, so we are going with eyes wide open. Since I am the de facto most experienced, I plan on modifying our itinerary as necessary. There are lots of tourists there though so I don’t expect problems. Please pray for us!
During the three weeks, or at least the two in Israel, “In Plain Sight” will focus on our travels in Israel with at least a few photos for every post. At this point, I don’t know what exactly I’ll write (or how often), but I will certainly connect our travels as much as possible with the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Once again comments are welcome!
Changes on Substack
For many of you, this Substack site may be your first. I decided to come to Substack because of its focus on writers and good writing and the ability to build a community of subscribers who are personally invested at some level in the site. Some may be aware that the success of Substack is causing some waves in the internet sphere. No longer can writers automatically post to Twitter.
At least a stated reason is a new feature called Notes.
It is a place to post short-form “notes” similar to tweets. I believe that everyone subscribed to a Substack blog has access to Notes, both to read and to post, from either a web-browser or the Substack App. So as a subscriber to “In Plain Sight” you have total access.
My plan is to use the Israel trip to try out Notes for “in the moment” comments and photos. So check out Notes if you like.
My Plan for “In Plain Sight”
Going forward, I envision—with the Lord’s help—going through the entire Sermon on the Mount, at least passage by passage, and more granular by verse as needed. The SM is at the heart of Jesus’s teachings and relates to so much else in the rest of the Gospels. I’ll have another post or two before Friday, then get started back after Israel.
After the SM, I am planning at this point to dive into the book of Revelation. That dive is of course a huge one, but one I’ve been wanting to take for a while. Some of you have already been in either classes or bible studies I have taught on Revelation, so you may have some idea of my approach. I will likely not get started until at least the fall or beginning of the year, but that is the plan at least.
Once again, thank you and please pray for us in our travels!
An Invitation
Are you interested in learning New Testament Greek? I will be teaching an intensive course with 50 hours of live instruction via Zoom from June to August. Please contact me at jack.painter@gmail.com or go to https://www.rightonmission.org/intro-to-new-testament-greek for more information. I would love to have you!
The Gospel of the Risen Jesus implies everything already written in the Gospels. "The Lamb Standing as though Slain" is a summation of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
One of my biggest concerns about Christian eschatology is my perception (I wonder if you have observed the same thing) that what many mean by a second coming is something radically different than the first. It's often referred to as 'returning in victory,' which is obviously the case--except that the cross is the victory of god. My sense is that the second coming is used as code for a retribution and rectification of things left undone in the first--as though the cross actually represents a failure, and not the fulfillment of divine commitment to our aid. For many, the sermon on the mount is uncharacteristic of (realized eschatology) Christianity. The second coming rectifies our misperception of Jesus, meek and mild. My understanding, in contrast, is that the revelation of Jesus Christ is only a clarification of the veracity and import of his own teaching and example. Something beside, let alone corrective, of the first gospel would be neither orthodox nor even good news.