Merry Christmas… This Means War!
Incarnation as Invasion
Our King is the one who put the world on notice. That babe in swaddling clothes announced to the nations you will either bow down and worship Him or be trampled underneath His glorious feet. The Son of Man, the Prince of Peace, entered brokenness and brought His Shalom. He went raiding behind enemy lines,... Continue Reading
On Satire, Moods, and What We’re Known For
A Response to Kevin DeYoung
Resist the temptation to partisanship. Just because others want to police the teachers who help you love Christ and your family and your neighbors better doesn’t mean that you need to respond in kind. Over the years, I’ve benefited greatly from a variety of Christian leaders, including both Doug Wilson and Kevin DeYoung (and John... Continue Reading
The Desecration of Man
The unique intellectual brilliance of our species has, ironically, deprived us of any sense that we have special significance.
Our fundamental problem today is not that man is disenchanted or turned into liquid, but that he has been desecrated, in part by the impersonal forces of modernity, but largely by his own hand. The answer, therefore, must have consecration at its core. This cannot be legislated. Politicians have no authority over the spiritual imagination,... Continue Reading
Christmas Songs: Mary’s Song
Mary’s rich and poetic words have echoed through the generations.
As you listen to her words, listen to her words not just as a peasant girl, but a girl growing up under the political oppression of the Roman Empire, a girl whose grandparents and parents longed for the freeing of Israel and for the coming Messiah, the King who would rightfully restore Israel.[viii] Mary’s song... Continue Reading
Are You Pugnacious?
It is a negative character trait that must not be true of a pastor, let alone be the title for someone so described by this trait (“a bully”).
Even when we are opposed, we can speak truth firmly but lovingly to others. Are you pugnacious? Christ calls us to a better way. Speak firmly as you are convinced of the truth, and be meek and gentle like our Lord. Not many use the term pugnacious today. Looking at just the word itself,... Continue Reading
I Thought I Could Do It Alone
There is only one who can transfer us from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of light.
There is only one who has the power to deliver us: to overcome our sinful nature and the wrath it deserves. It is only by Jesus that we can be saved. I will then trust in Him and the means He has provided for our growth. He has promised to conform me to His image.... Continue Reading
The Greatest Promise of His Presence
The central theme of the Bible is the relational presence of God. God intends to be with us in real intimacy and vibrant, daily fellowship.
God showed us His desire to be with us in the greatest possible way. He came to us in the person of His Son. He gave this promise of His coming decades before it happened so people would know He was coming—the Messiah, the Deliverer—and they would be assured that He intended to be with... Continue Reading
What Is Eternal Generation?
The Son is not generated after the Father, which would make Him less than the Father, but the Son is generated from the Father and from all eternity.
Scripture refers to the Son’s eternal origin from the Father with a variety of metaphors, including Radiance, Image, Wisdom, Word, and Ancient of Days (each of which I treat at length in Simply Trinity). But one we can consider here is truth. As Jesus Himself says, He is the truth (John 14:6). Was there ever a time when God... Continue Reading
Supernatural Annunciations
After 400 years of silence, with no dreams, no visions, no prophetic voices, what was the first clear sign that God was bringing his redemptive program to a climax?
Heaven-sent messengers appear to Zechariah the father of John the Baptist; to Mary the mother of Jesus, followed by an appearance to her husband, Joseph; and upon Jesus’ birth an innumerable company of angels to shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields (Luke 1:11–20, 26–38; Matt. 1:20–21; Luke 2:8–14). A special star in the heavens guides the magi... Continue Reading
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Our Constantinian Moment
Ali, accordingly, had her own Milvian Bridge moment: Christianity alone, she concluded, had the resources to repair and renew our crumbling civilization, fortifying it against the spiritual vacuum within and the angry hordes without.
As the days darken and we find ourselves increasingly besieged by barbarism both within and without, we are likely to find the lifeboat of the church inundated with more refugees like Ayaan Hirsi Ali—cultural converts who realize that the worldly goods they valued cannot sustain themselves without the aid of Christianity. This may prove either... Continue Reading
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 171
- 172
- 173
- 174
- 175
- …
- 561
- Next Page »