The Plans I Have For You
Did you know that the book of Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible? True, the book of Psalms has far more chapters (150) than Jeremiah (52). However, Jeremiah…
The Puzzle of Pentecost
Of all the Jewish holidays, by far the most familiar to Christians is the Passover. The Passover (Hebrew Pesach) is also known as as the "Feast of Unleavened Bread." At…
The Righteousness of God
We are finally at the point where we are prepared to directly examine those spectacular passages of the Bible where the Apostle Paul writes about justification "by faith, not by…
The Most Misquoted Verse in the Bible
Misinformation is one of the great themes of our time. Hardly a day goes by without hearing some accusation of "fake news." It must be tough to be a relativist…
No Condemnation in the Messiah
We've been doing some road repair recently. Specifically, the Roman Road to Salvation has some deep potholes that need fixing. Our understanding of Romans 6:23 needed major attention. But much…
Writing the Law Upon the Heart
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus gathered secretly with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. The scene is recorded in Luke chapter 22: "And [Jesus] said to them, 'I…
Restoring Israel’s Fortunes
We noted in the last blog that the true worship of God cannot be separated from obedience to God's commands. Specifically, we looked at two passages from the prophets: Isaiah…
By Faith, Not By Works
Generations of evangelical Christians have been eagerly taught that their salvation is a gift from God. By placing their faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus upon the cross, they…
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…