Elucidating Ephesians
In the evangelical world, perhaps no passage of scripture is cited more often than Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this…
The Seed of the Church
Our study of Revelation 11:1-13 is now complete. How can we apply what we've learned? How is this strange passage relevant to Christians living in the 21st century? There's a…
Revelation and Rome
The beast of Revelation 11 most directly corresponds to the Roman Empire. John will later elaborate on the nature of the beast. In fact, he will describe two beasts: one…
Who Is the Beast?
The two witnesses of Revelation 11 represent the church, who've been given the crucial task of prophesying to the nations. God's people must warn humanity that if they persist in…
Breathing Fire
In his beloved novel The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien created some of the most memorable scenes in all of literature. My personal favorite is the mesmerizing conversation between the diminutive hobbit…
The Two Witnesses
The world has seen lots of memorable duos over the years. People of a certain age grew up watching Ernie & Bert on Sesame Street. Younger audiences were delighted by…
Measuring the Temple
We're now on the cusp of Revelation 11, perhaps the most bewildering chapter in the Bible. We've learned about the crucial scroll (introduced in chapter 5) which contains God's plan…
Closing the Canon
Athanasius (296-373 AD) had a remarkable but tumultuous life. His physical appearance was apparently quite striking: he was very short with a dark complexion and black hair. His opponents dubbed…
The Things Fulfilled Among Us
"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the…
The Presence of God
In this series of blogs, we've set out to answer tricky questions raised by the ongoing conflict in Israel. The large majority of Israel's population are, of course, ethnically Jewish.…