The Great Reversal in the Divine Court
On the day before Easter, precisely no one thought Jesus was the Messiah. Even his closest followers like Peter, who had previously declared Jesus to be Israel's anointed king, surely…
The Astonishing Triumph
For those who have been following this blog series, I hope you've learned that the gospel was above all else a kingdom announcement. It was a declaration that God was…
The Climax of Israel’s Story
So far in this blog series we've looked at key themes in the Old Testament which help us to understand what the gospel means. For Jews at the time of…
A Voice in the Desert
In seeking to better understand the Biblical term "gospel," we've made excellent progress by working our way through the Old Testament. We've also taken our first steps into the New…
Good News of Great Joy!
Well, it's a couple of weeks after Christmas. Even though we're a little behind the church calendar, we're going to finally arrive Jesus' birth narrative. But first let's review where…
Finding A Man After God’s Own Heart
We've repeatedly emphasized several key ideas in this blog series. First, God made human beings as his image bearers so that they might exercise his rule and reign over the…
Abraham, Israel, and Covenant Blessing
In the last blog, we set out to examine the gospel, and I had proposed that the typical understanding of the gospel in most evangelical circles is too small. As…
Is Your Gospel Too Small?
Gospel is a very "church-y" word. Yes, it sometimes finds its way into every day conversations. For instance, people occasionally talk about the "gospel truth", meaning something rock-solid, trustworthy. But…