Eschatology Matters
Eschatology, or the doctrine of the last things, is not a mere add-on to our Christian walk.
Neo-Calvinism is especially defective about the nature of the saeculum, which is the age between the advents of Christ. Greenbaggins invoked Vos to explain the peculiar character of the period when the ministry of word and sacrament defines the church, in the words of the Confession of Faith, as “the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the... Continue Reading
Hell: They Have No Bowels
In the ancient world compassion was associated with the bowels.
Take a look at Colossians 3:12. It says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts…” Now, a literal translation of compassionate hearts will read a bit differently. It will actually translate oiktirmou splanchna as “bowels of compassion.” And that’s not the only place we find this expression in Scripture. I’ll give one further... Continue Reading
“Love Your Bibles”
Here are ways Scripture motivates us to start reading.
Scripture is the words of God to you. Open the Bible anywhere and the words there could be introduced with “the Spirit says” (Heb 3:7). These words are bread for our soul (Deut 8:3). They bring life. Over the past year, I have watched how they bring this miracle of life. I have seen it in... Continue Reading
When Temptation Holds Out Pleasure
When Jesus triumphed over death and sin, he finally cleared the path for our feet to walk into joy.
What’s difficult for me, and perhaps for you, is that though I am a new creature, though I am no longer a slave to loving dead things, I am still tempted to believe at times that they, and not God, will provide the joy I want. That obedience to God would kill, and not increase,... Continue Reading
Refreshed In Chains
The gospel refreshes us even through the actions of others.
When Paul sent off Onesimus with this commendation and request, the gospel ensured that though Paul was left behind in chains, in a far more profound way, Paul himself was hand-delivering his own letter. This truth, that Paul’s identity was enveloped in and expressed through Onesimus’, is a profound fruit of the gospel truth best explained... Continue Reading
Here’s Why We Must Never Preach Legalism
The Bible is not law-centered, but it is Christ-centered and gospel-focused.
Some wrongly pit the Old Testament against the New Testament, asserting that the OT is law-focused and external while the NT is heart-focused and internal. Even a cursory reading of the OT makes clear that true righteousness always involved internal faith and a transformed heart. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart... Continue Reading
Judah’s Scepter
Jesus is that great Judean son.
Although peace was established by Judean kings such as David and Solomon, their reign could not establish it universally where “the obedience of the peoples” (v. 10) belonged to them, nor could they bring about a kingdom prosperity that provided eschatological abundance (vv. 11–12). They were a picture of a greater son of Judah, the... Continue Reading
Why Is God Upset with Threshold Jumpers?
This is actually exhibit A to display the depth of the Israelites idolatry.
They went to great trouble to adhere to the most minute detail of superstition and yet they trampled upon God’s law and ignore the most fundamental aspects of it. Their lives were controlled and patterned by “laws” that weren’t prescribed by God. It was evidence that they were receiving instruction from their surrounding culture instead of... Continue Reading
The Incomparable Conjunction of Love and Wrath
The Son becomes the object of the commingling of the love of the Father and the unmitigated wrath of the Father.
We must distinguish between the two kinds of love that the Father had for the Son. The first is that immutable, “infinite love that flows out from the Father to the Son because of the intrinsic relationship that they sustain to one another” (75). The second is “the love of complacency that flowed out with... Continue Reading
The Overgrown Tree of False Theology
As men look to this tree for wisdom, they receive superstition rather than revelation.
The only way that we can turn away from this tree is through the Word of God and the means of grace that the Lord Jesus Christ provides for growth in true theology. The Word of God must fill our minds and our hearts, and that must be with more awe and more reverence than that... Continue Reading