Finding healing from confusion, narcissism and trauma in Christ the Healer

The coming judgment

A foretaste of the gospel

The purposes of God

A Passover that defeats plagues and pestilences

We review ‘Get Real’ by John Gordon (Philadelphia Books, 2019)

Paul Luckraft reviews 'The Gospel of the Kingdom' by Alex Tinson (GospelRevolution, 2010).

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘What’s a nice Jewish girl like you doing in a church like this?’ by Lynne Bradley (Instant Apostle, 2015).

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Plan A’ by Paul Parkhouse (ICEJ, 2017).

Subtitled ‘What modern Israel reveals about the original and unchanging purposes of God’, this short book aims to unpack the reasons behind “an event unparalleled in human history” when “one of the world’s most famous ancient nations suddenly reappeared on the map” (p6, 7). This was not just any nation, but God’s original covenant nation – which makes this event well worth exploring.

Parkhouse’s key concern is to unpack why God’s salvation plan for the world still needs Israel (this may be baffling to some, but for others it is equally puzzling that the common Christian understanding of God’s plans includes no present or future need for Israel).

The author sets out to refute those theologians such as Karl Barth who claim that “The first Israel, constituted on the basis of physical descent from Abraham, has fulfilled its mission now that the Saviour of the world has sprung from it and its Messiah has appeared…Its mission as a natural community has now run its course and cannot be continued or repeated” (p21, quoting Barth’s Church Dogmatics).

This common view is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of covenant, which Parkhouse explores. Jesus initiated the New Covenant in his own body and blood, but not in isolation from the other covenant promises which God had previously made.¹ It is also important to realise that the New Covenant was originally promised to the Jewish people (see Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36). God has to be faithful to all he has covenanted to do if his plan is to reach fulfilment.

‘Divine Delay’

Using the biblical Feasts as a roadmap to guide us through the details of God’s overarching salvation plan, Parkhouse points out that it was always God’s intention that there should be “a long pause between the new covenant being established in Israel and Israel being established in the new covenant” (p68). This ‘divine delay’ comes with a certain amount of irony. Its primary purpose is to allow the Gentiles to come in fully – but it has become one of the main reasons Gentile Christians use to demonstrate that God must have replaced Israel with the Church.

It was always God’s intention that there should be “a long pause between the new covenant being established in Israel and Israel being established in the new covenant.”

Parkhouse makes it very clear that there is no alternative to ‘Plan A’ and that Satan has never been able to derail it, nor will he be able to stop its future fulfilment. It is secure within the purposes of God and we can remain confident that God will see it through.

Invitation to Investigate

The re-emergence of Israel is a sign for our times, and one that must be investigated just as Moses needed to take a closer look at the bush that burned but was not consumed. When he did examine the phenomenon in more detail, Moses discovered that at the centre of the bush was God himself. We are invited to make a similar discovery concerning Israel today.

Overall, the author provides plenty of scriptures and uses them well to bolster his arguments. The book is well written and is of a size and style that makes it useful to give away.

‘Plan A: What Modern Israel Reveals about the Original and Unchanging Purposes of God’ (94pp, paperback) is available on Amazon for £4.99 or from ICEJ. Also on Amazon Kindle for £1.99.

Notes

1 Only one of these (the Mosaic covenant) was superseded by the New Covenant – for further reading on this see for example ‘By God, I will: The Biblical Covenants’ by David Pawson (Anchor, 2013).

Chris Foster reviews ‘The Genesis Genealogies’ by Rev. Abraham Park (2010, re-issued posthumously 2015, Periplus Editions).

The title of this little gem of a book might make one think, at first glance, that the contents will be dry, specialist and unapproachable, but it is actually quite the opposite. Be prepared to be surprised!

Taking seriously Deuteronomy 32:7’s instruction to “Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations,” this eye-opening book from Korean pastor-theologian Abraham Park is a step-by-step, in-depth, chronological study of all the generations listed in Genesis 1-11.

This is the first book in a five-volume ‘Redemption Book’ series, which traces God’s outworking of redemption through the course of human history and which helped to earn Rev Park an honorary doctorate from America’s Knox Theological Seminary. ‘The Genesis Genealogies’ covers the years from Adam to the Exodus.

Illuminating genealogical passages that modern readers frequently skip through or consider tedious, Rev Park’s writing is partly academic but also partly devotional. He argues that the often-ignored details of the genealogies are actually “saturated with historical and redemptive significances”, revealing things about God’s longer-term salvation plan for the whole world.

Names and their Significance

Park painstakingly explores the names listed in the genealogies, looking at their meanings in relation to that period of history and to God’s overarching covenant plan. As a result, the book is full of nuggets of interesting and illuminating information.

Thus, we find that Peleg means “division, separate, split” (p160), because it was during his time that the Tower of Babel was built and the population of the world was divided by God, their languages confused. We also discover that Peleg’s father, Eber, has a name which comes from the same root as the word ‘Hebrew’ and that it means “the one who crossed over”. What did he cross over? He crossed over the great River Euphrates, away from where the Tower of Babel was being built. Not only that, but Park has researched Eber’s life and has discovered that he established and ruled a vast kingdom called Ebla, which seems to correspond with the land promised to Abraham in Genesis 15!

Park does not confine himself only to Abraham’s line, however, but also explores ‘ungodly’ lineages proceeding from such as Cain, Ham, Ishmael and Esau, using this to talk about our own sinfulness and the biblical separation between godly and ungodly. Readers are also invited to cross over, as Eber and Abraham did, purposefully separating ourselves from sinfulness and stepping forward to wherever the Lord takes us.

Illuminating genealogical passages that modern readers frequently skip through or consider tedious, Rev Park’s writing is partly academic but also partly devotional.

A Real Eye-Opener

The book is divided into five parts and inside the cover is a clearly-set-out table showing the chronology of the Patriarchs from Adam through to Joseph, marking their births and deaths in relation to one another and to key events (particularly the Flood). Just studying this table is a real eye-opener. For instance, it’s fascinating to realise that Adam’s grandson Enosh was still alive when Noah was born, and that when Noah died, Abraham was already 58 years old.

Of course, this leads to the question of whether the whole Bible can be believed as an accurate record of human history – an issue which divides Christians today. Park clearly states (p26) that while “Everything in this world changes constantly”, “the living Word of God is eternally unchanging” and true. Moreover, Park exhorts us to pass on to our children and grandchildren the treasures to be found in the scriptures and the amazing mystery of God’s plan of salvation throughout the generations, fulfilled in Yeshua the Messiah.

The biggest weakness of the book, in my opinion, is that as well as a table of the generations, it would have been very helpful to include a map (or maps) showing where the various tribes and people groups moved and settled, to aid understanding. However, I have still learnt a huge amount from this book about themes of which, previously, I had little or no understanding, and have received new insights into the workings of God through the thousands of years that humankind has been on earth.

‘The Genesis Genealogies: God’s Administration in the History of Redemption’ (254pp, paperback) is available from Amazon for £7.13. Also available in hardback and Kindle forms.

Other titles in the Redemption Book series: The Covenant of the Torch, The Unquenchable Lamp of the Covenant, God’s Profound and Mysterious Providence and The Promise of the Eternal Covenant. Find out more about Rev Park (1928-2014) and the series by clicking here.