WM 386: Interview: JOSEPH WEISSMAN on Defending the MASORETIC TEXT of the OT (VERITAS HEBRAICA)

 

JTR

The Vision (7.17.26): Murmuring & Manna

 

Image: July evening sky, North Garden, Virginia.

Note: Devotion taken from Lord's Day afternoon sermon on July 5, 2026.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness (Exodus 16:2).

And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat (Exodus 16:15).

Exodus 16:1-21 describes the pilgrimage of Israel after leaving its bondage in Egypt, as they move from Elim to the wilderness of Sin on their way to Sinai where they will receive God’s law.

Here are three spiritual applications one might draw from this passage:

Notice first: The LORD meets their murmuring with manna.

When the people murmur against Moses and Aaron, Moses tells them, “your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD” (v.8). Nevertheless, the LORD did not pour out his wrath on them or abandon them. Instead, he gave them quail in the evening and manna (literally, “What is it?”) in the morning. The LORD is great in grace, mercy, and compassion toward his elect people. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “If we believe not [i.e., if we are not faithful], yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim 2:13).

Notice second: This passage challenges us to consider our confidence in the Lord’s provision for us.

He provided for the Israelites of old even though they murmured. Will he not provide for us in our material and spiritual needs?

In Philippians 4:19, Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

As the Psalmist noted, “the cattle on a thousand hills are thine” (Ps 50:10).

Notice Third: The provision of manna in the wilderness points toward a greater fulfillment of the LORD provision in Christ for spiritually hungry and thirsty men and women.

In John 6, after feeding five thousand physically hungry men, Christ declared,, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

After reminding them that their fathers “ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead,” Christ added, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (v.51).

The Lord did indeed meet our murmuring with manna, even the Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him be all praise and glory!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Beza on the Mark of the True Church

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"The mark of the true Church is the preaching of Word of God in which the Lord is made manifest to us, as the books of the Prophets and Apostles declare Him. And, consequently, we join to the Word the Sacraments and the administration of ecclesiastical discipline, such as God has ordained."

"To conclude, to what place the Word of God is purely preached, the Sacraments purely administered and ecclesiastical discipline conducted conformably to the holy and pure doctrine, there we recognize the Church of God, no matter how few (Matt 18:20; Luke 12:32) or small of appearance in men's eyes (Luke 10:21; 1 Cor 1:19-28; Matt 11:17)."

-Theodore Beza (1519-1605), The Christian Faith, 66, 67.

Beza rejects superstitious devotion to Bread and Wine

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"Moreover, since apart from the act of Baptism, the water is no Sacrament, but plain water, and apart from the administration of the Supper, the bread and wine are no signs of the body and blood of the Lord, but only bread and wine, it follows that superstitious devotees of these things, do not worship even the Sacraments, but only and simply the creations of God. If these could speak, they would doubtless rebuke those who worshipped them for such horrible blasphemy."

-Theodore Beza (1519-1605), The Christian Faith, 52.

The Vision (7.10.26): Christ: The Bridegroom

 

Image: Detail, Roman wedding scene on a sarcophagus, second century, British Museum, London.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Mark 2:18-22.

“And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast” (Mark 2:19).

In Christ’s early ministry he attracted both disciples and critics.

In Mark 2:18 the critics ask, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?” They were essentially accusing him of not teaching orthopraxy, right conduct.

We have Christ’s response in v. 19 with his own question: “Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?”

He poses here a parable or an analogy. Christ is like a Bridegroom who has come. In a first century Jewish wedding, the bride and the wedding party would wait for the coming of the Bridegroom (see Christ’s parable of the wise and foolish virgins regarding his second coming in Matt 25:1-13). When the Bridegroom arrived the wedding celebration began.

Here in Mark 2:19 Christ speaks about his first advent or first coming. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world to claim his Bride, the people of God, the Church. Those who are his disciples are “the children of the bridechamber.” They are part of the wedding party. The coming of the long-expected Bridegroom (the Messiah) is a time of joy and celebration and gladness. It is not a time of “affliction” of the soul and fasting.

This is Christ’s response to these critics. There are times for feasting and times for fasting. Weddings are not funerals. The Bridegroom has come. Joy and gladness are in order. This was the proper response of his disciples.

Christ then adds in v. 20 what is essentially a prophecy of both the cross and his ascension: “But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.” The disciples will be filled with great sorrow over all these things.

An underlying point is being made. Christ is taking to himself the title of being the Bridegroom. If you look at the Old Testament, you will find a rich treasury of references to the one true God of the Bible as being the Husband or Bridegroom of his elect people, his Bride. Consider just one example:

Isaiah 54: ⁵ For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

⁶ For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

⁷ For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

When Christ declares himself to be the Bridegroom, he is declaring himself to be God. His first disciples thus confessed, “Jesus is Lord.” They were filled with joy at his first advent, and his disciples on earth will be filled with joy again at his second coming when we are called to “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9). Christ is the Bridegroom!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Beza on the timing of the fruit of Word and Sacrament

 

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"As the seed, however good it may be, does not produce its fruit at the moment which it is sown, but must necessarily remain in the ground, so it is not proper to restrict fruit and efficacy of the Word to the same hour in which it is sown, nor that of the Sacraments to the moment in which they are administered. For the fruit manifests itself in the hearts of the elect at the time determined by God."

-Theodore Beza (1519-1605), The Christian Faith, 48.

The Vision (7.3.26): Follow Me

 

Image: Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew (close-up), c. 1599.

Note: Devotional article based on last Sunday's sermon on Mark 2:13-17.

“And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him” (Mark 2:14).

The early ministry of Christ on earth involved the calling of his disciples. In Mark 1:16-20 we have the call of two sets of fisherman brothers: Simon and Andrew, James and John. In Mark 2:14 there is the call of Levi (also known as Matthew), the publican (tax collector). The description is minimal. No doubt Christ knew this latter man and had spoken previously with him. The Evangelist Mark describes the moment in which action was demanded, a command given, a response required. A call goes forth. This is the effectual call to faith and the call to apostleship.

To Simon and Andrew Christ said, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (1:17).

To Levi he said, “Follow me” (2:14). This is the call to discipleship, to enroll in the school of the Lord Jesus Christ, to become his apprentice, to learn from him.

Paul said to the Corinthians, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1).

Peter called upon men to follow in Christ’s steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Christ himself said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

To follow Christ means you can’t follow the crowd. You can’t follow anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is a jealous God. And Christ is a jealous Christ. Christ himself said, “No man can serve two masters” (Matt 6:24).

If you follow Christ, you have to deny yourself. You have to leave some things behind.

I spent a summer after college leading young men on weeklong backpacking trips in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. The night before we left for the trip, we had the boys lay out the things they wanted to take, and then we usually had to cut that into at least half. We had to get the weight lower to avoid blisters, fatigue, and dragging behind.

As Christians, we have a race to run, and we cannot get bogged down with needless burdens that will hold us back from following Christ. We must certainly never turn back. Christ said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

The response of Levi is also simply and minimally recorded: “And he arose and followed him.” Christ is honored when our obedience to his call is similarly prompt and sincere.

Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Beza on Regeneration and Good Works

 

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"In that our regeneration is never completed here below, -- there is always the battling of the flesh against the Spirit (Gal 5:17), there is yet, I say, deep darkness in our understanding (1 Cor 13:9-12), and great rebellions in us against God (Rom 7:15-24), -- it follows that the best work which can come from the best man in the world, if he were examined with rigour, would be found to be nothing other than a polluting of the graces of God. It is thus that we see a clear pure stream is polluted when it passes through a dirty vile place."

-Theodore Beza (1519-1605), The Christian Faith, 30.