The Very First Christmas Songs
Christmas is indeed a wonderful time of the year. For many folks, Christmas music is an especially enjoyable part of the season. In order to meet this demand, some radio…
The Ultimate Power Struggle
We learned in last week's blog that Christmas is all about the confluence of religion and politics. Christmas is of course religious in that it's a part of the unfolding…
Talking Politics at Christmas Dinner
There's an old adage which says that when you're in polite company there are two subjects which should be avoided - religion and politics. The reason for this are obvious…
Arrested by Jesus
At the precocious age of 21, William Wilberforce was elected to Parliament in 1780. Over the next several years, his meteoritic rise would only continue. Wilberforce's close friend William Pitt…
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…
Another King
How did the first Christians declare the gospel? What words and phrases did they use? And crucially, how does their gospel compare with the gospel we hear in present day…
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…