I bought the coupons a couple of days ahead, in person. Smart move, actually, because that made the morning go smoother and also got me "over the hump" of being away so long. If a year is long.
We toured to acclimate, Chris & I. Their bookstand offered a Jim Wallis book, a bit of a surprise. Conservative, yet on the side of the social gospel? Pick&Choose.
The morning of, I was late - impossible not to be - but not perceptibly so. Even took my seat before most others. Opened my notebook to find it full, to the last page. After two years, you think? And I came close to tossing it but doing the first week of study jogged a memory, of a note:
Alas, sinful nation,The study question reads, "Reflect on why ... God describes Himself with the title ... It connects with God's message to His people through Isaiah. ... this is who God is today."
People weighed down with iniquity,
Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who act corruptly!
They have abandoned the LORD,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away from Him.
Now, my note: "the Church is Christ's Bride. If Christ has a bride, does the Father have a wife? Yes, Israel. Cf. Hosea." My note is taken from Kay Arthur's video on Revelation, Part III. My notes aren't clear which lesson but perhaps Lesson 8 or 9 or 11.
What does dispensational theology do to the doctrine of the Trinity?!
I'm not the only one to notice this wrinkle in dispensational theology.
This is taken from an open reply to John MacArthur in the wake of his comments at some important conference1:
Earlier I posted a comment like the one above to Tim Challies blog and saw someone respond by saying:So, do I continue here, with this undercurrent? I don't want to overreact but, to my mind, it poses a serious challenge to the doctrine of the Trinity, at least as I understand it.
"Actually, separating Israel from the Church does not make Christ have two brides.
Israel is the wife of YHVH (God the Father) as depicted in the book of Hosea. The Church is the Bride of Christ (God the Son)."
I seriously hope this is not the answer of most Dispensationalists.2 But this is a fancy dance if I ever saw one. ... To somehow say that God the Father has one bride and Jesus has a different bride makes for a breaking up of the Trinity in, what I would argue is, a radical biblical departure. So this answer truly makes no sense and can only make one wonder.
Amillennialists would affirm that Christ has one bride, the Church, which comprises both Jews and Gentiles of all time. So we must conclude therefore that Gentiles did not replace Israel but God was simply expanding upon it, fulfilling His promise to Abraham. monergism.com (by John W. Hendryx)
1 Which I don't exactly care about.
2 It seems to be what Kay Arthur's teaching.
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