Jesus’ second coming will be a revelation. He will appear. We shall see him as he is for we too shall be made like him (1 John 3:2). He will reveal His person in the full majesty of His glory. He shall descend in the same way that He ascended—visibly and upon clouds of glory... Continue Reading

We’ve never witnessed an entire kingdom harness all its collective wealth and skill to put on a once-in-a-generation tribute to the glory of its leader. The extravagance communicates the importance of the person and his position. Royal weddings, no doubt, have their splendor, but the ascending of a new King to the throne, and that... Continue Reading

Over the years, I have found long lists of disciplines (whether twelve or fifteen or twenty or more) to be more discouraging than helpful. What I needed was to press in through the particular practices and find the God-given principles at work. One way I’ve found to capture the matrix of God’s grace for the... Continue Reading

When we think of angry people, we think of people who get drunk and verbally or physically abuse others. True. But this is only one form of anger. Anger is a multi-headed monster that shows many disgusting facial expressions. Someone who is passive-aggressive, for example, is an angry person. Instead of having the boldness to... Continue Reading

When it comes to matters of faith, I’ve become increasingly convinced that there is a conviction you can hold that simplifies everything else. It’s one decision of faith that brings into perspective all other decisions of faith. It is, in fact, the central point of decision for moving forward with Jesus. And you can phrase... Continue Reading

There may be some irregular sorts of missions and church planting efforts through which the Spirit is pleased to act. It is not our business to tell the Holy Spirit where and when he may act. It is our business, however, to be faithful to God’s Word. We know what God’s revealed will and Word are from... Continue Reading

Remember that some in Corinth thought that sexual fulfillment came not from marital sex but from sex with prostitutes, and that others thought that we’d all be better off without sex. Paul doesn’t like either view. He’s neither “anything goes” nor is he a prude. Rather, he believes that sex in marriage is beautiful. It’s... Continue Reading

The letter of James is about the importance of living out a consistent Christian faith and the sad tendency for all Christians to contradict our faith by the lives we that we live.  And in this sobering passage, James (one of Jesus’ younger brothers) exposes one of the most common and most troublesome ways in... Continue Reading

If a person believed God did not exist (or at least did not intervene in the world), then they would view the probability of a miracle as very, very low. And they’d be right. In a Godless universe, we would have to assume that Jesus of Nazareth died and rose from the dead naturally. The odds of that... Continue Reading

Believers under the Old Testament, i.e., meaning in every epoch of redemptive history prior to the New Covenant, were all looking forward to Jesus’ coming. They were all trusting Jesus, who was revealed to them under types and shadows (Col 2:17; Heb 8 [all]). Types and shadows were revelations of future realities that we veiled... Continue Reading