The Reformed Olive Press

Why Covenant Creation Falls Apart: A Detailed Refutation Covenant Creation (CC) proposes that Genesis 1 is not about the physical universal origins of the world, but about the inauguration of a covenantal relationship between God and humanity, often symbolized through temple imagery. While it rightly emphasizes covenantal theology and temple patterns in Scripture, CC falls apart when scrutinized closely—especially when it imposes its framework where the text doesn’t support it. Hosea 6:7 Is Not a Foundation A foundational verse for CC is Hosea 6:7, which in some translations says, "Like Adam, they transgressed the covenant." But this verse is a textual variant, and many scholars debate whether “Adam” is a person, a place, or a poetic figure. Building an entire theological system on one ambiguous verse is dangerous. Yes, Adam was in a covenant relationship with God—but we see this through context clues in Genesis 1 and 2, not Hosea 6:7. The shift from “Elohim” in Genesis 1 to ...

  Killed by a Lion: When We Follow Men Instead of God (1 Kings 13) One of the most chilling stories in the Old Testament comes from 1 Kings 13. It’s not often preached on, and for good reason—it confronts our spiritual laziness, our trust in tradition, and our tendency to follow people instead of God. The story centers around a prophet, a deceptive old man, a deadly lion, and a divine warning that still applies today. The Command from God Was Clear God sent a man of God from Judah to Bethel to deliver a message of judgment against King Jeroboam’s false altar. He came with divine authority and courage, prophesied with accuracy, and performed a sign: the altar split, and the king’s hand withered. Jeroboam was terrified and begged for healing. The prophet prayed, and God restored the king’s hand. The prophet was victorious. He passed the test of the king’s favor. He rejected a royal invitation to eat and drink—because God had given him a very specific command: “You shall not eat bread...

Uzzah's Touch: When Familiarity Breeds Disobedience When we read the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6, our first reaction is often shock. “When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the Ark of God.” — 2 Samuel 6:6–7 To the modern reader, it feels severe. Harsh. Unfair. Was Uzzah not simply trying to protect the Ark from falling? Why would God respond with sudden death? But to understand this story rightly, we must take a step back and remember who Uzzah was, and where he came from. A Life in the Shadow of the Ark Uzzah was not a random bystander. He was the son of Abinadab, in whose house the Ark of the Covenant had rested for twenty years (1 Samuel 7:1–2). When the Ark was brought to his father’s house in Kirjath-jearim, it was because many had already died for treating it lightly...

Why Some Died at Communion: A Warning Ignored—A Wake-Up Call from 1 Corinthians 11 In one of the most startling New Testament passages, the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians: “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:30) The context? Abuse of the Lord’s Supper. People were coming to the communion table not in reverence and unity, but in selfishness and division. And Paul says plainly: some of them had died as a result. At first glance, this might seem shocking. But this isn’t a story of God’s unpredictability—it’s a sober illustration of what happens when people treat the sacred with contempt, even when they’ve been given a chance to change. Communion Was a Sacred Act of Unity In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was more than a symbolic snack—it was a sacred meal of covenant renewal. It was rooted in the Passover, fulfilled in Christ, and re-centered on the shared body of Jesus. The bread and cup represented not on...

G od’s Judgment Always Comes With a Way of Escape One of the most consistent patterns throughout the Bible—often missed in surface readings of judgment narratives—is that God always gave people an opportunity to repent . His judgments were not random outbursts of divine wrath but measured responses to hardened hearts that had rejected clear chances to turn. The God of Scripture does not take pleasure in destruction; He calls people to life. Egypt: The Blood on the Doorframe Take the night of the first Passover. Egypt had endured plague after plague, and still Pharaoh’s heart remained hard. But even then, God offered a clear escape clause: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). Egyptians were not helpless pawns. Any household, Egyptian or Hebrew, that applied the blood to the doorpost could have been spared. But many refused. Why? Pride. Legacy. A belief that they were above correction, or that to follow this Hebrew God would be beneath them. And in that pride, th...

Unmasking Plato: Recovering a Hebraic Christianity from Philosophical Impositions Much of what is considered "orthodox" Christianity today is not purely biblical, but the result of a long entanglement with Greek philosophical assumptions—especially Platonism. Over centuries, church doctrines were filtered through a lens that emphasized hierarchy, immutability, dualism, and a sharp divide between the physical and spiritual. The result? A Christianity alienated from its Hebraic roots. Doctrines like Futurism, Trinitarianism, Classical Theism, the Traditional Pauline Perspective, Patriarchy, Eternal Conscious Torment, and strict Inerrancy are not native to the world of Moses, Jesus, or Paul. They reflect more of Plato than the prophets. But there is a return—a recovery—underway. Through Full Preterism, Biblical Unitarianism, Open Theism, the New Pauline Perspective, Egalitarianism, Conditional Immortality, and a Barthian view of Scripture, many are rediscovering the Hebraic hear...