Incomprehensible but Knowable: Special Revelation
God is pleased to reveal His glory to Moses, but only part of it.
What do we have that didn’t come from somewhere or someone else? Applied to our knowledge of God: what do we know about God that He Himself has not told us? In a certain sense, theology is a one-way street. We cannot attain to the heavenlies. The heavenlies must come down to us. In Exodus... Continue Reading
You Are Not You Without Him
Die to yourself, and you will find the true you.
The God who made us in his own image has not given us the power to create a self that can survive on its own. From the beginning, our true identity (who weare) has been tied to our Creator (who he is): “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (Genesis... Continue Reading
Sabbath Rest – Part 1
The most detailed revelation on the concept of rest begins after Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.
“I am the Lord your God,” a common recognition formula that God often employs to instruct His people on who He is. When morning came, Moses relayed the command of the Lord to the people to take as much as they could eat, an omer, according to the number of people in each tent. Those who... Continue Reading
Guidelines for Grumbling
What then if I have been guilty of grumbling or have been tempted to guilty gripes and later given in?
If we have a work-for-wages spirit, and think we are more deserving than others, because we have worked harder or longer, we have seriously misunderstood the principle of grace: none of us deserves a thing from God except destruction, hell, death and miseries in this life – any reward that a son of Adam gets... Continue Reading
Honoring God
Honor is so vital that many Scriptures accentuate it.
Romans 1:21 vividly depicts what happens when honor disappears. This clear verse is a mirror that shows what honor is and what it is not and how honoring God is tied to our essential moral fabric. Yes, morality begins with theology. Though the dishonorable retain some spiritual sense, Paul, in fleshing out the doctrine of total... Continue Reading
Marks of a Healthy Church- A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
Tell people with honesty that if they repent and believe they will be saved–but it will be costly.
As one preacher said, “To ‘evangelize’…does not mean to win converts…but simply to announce the good news, irrespective of the results” (135). We certainly hope to see God powerfully move in a person’s heart and save them! However, if you share with someone and they reject the gospel, you have done the work of evangelism.... Continue Reading
The Cross of Christ and the Problem of Evil
There is nothing quite as wonderful as being the object of God’s ill-deserved, glory-maximizing mercy.
In what follows, I provide a brief argument (four propositions and a conclusion) that seeks to make sense of evil in the world. The argument is based on the metanarrative of Scripture—creation, fall, and redemption; together with the revelation of God concerning his overarching purpose for creation and history. I call this the Greater Glory Theodicy because... Continue Reading
A Contrast in Growth
Whereas Jacob was unwilling to release his son – God was not unwilling.
Do you see what Jacob has done? First, as a father he has failed. He seems to be willing to allow his family to die of starvation in order to preserve the life of Benjamin from some unforeseen accident while traveling to Egypt. But as bad as that is there is something far worse. Jacob... Continue Reading
Context Matters: With His Wounds We are Healed
Jesus still bears the wounds that now heal us.
In this post, I’m not able to tackle the full ideology of faith healing, nor do I intend to discuss whether we ought to expect miraculous healings to continue taking place today. These are complex issues that warrant complex treatment. But in this post I will deal one small part: the common appeal to Isaiah 53:5 to... Continue Reading
What Really Happened on the Cross? Part 2
Reconciliation, Redemption, and Conquest
Previously, we argued that the most fundamental characterization one can make of the atonement is that it is a work of penal substitution—the Lord Jesus suffering the penalty for the sins of His people as a substitute for them. Then, we claimed that we might further define this penal substitutionary atonement according to five key... Continue Reading