The New Exodus
Holy week is already upon us since Easter comes relatively early this year. The method used to calculate Easter Sunday is quite confusing: it's the Sunday following the first full…
The Tears of God
The book of John is partly constructed around a series of miraculous signs performed by Jesus. The apostle describes seven such signs prior to Jesus' death & resurrection. The number…
The Nations Shall be Your Inheritance
Last week we began investigating the concept of Christian nationalism. We've looked at two pertinent passages in the book of Daniel which help us understand the Jewish expectation for the…
One Who Shall Arise to Rule Over the Nations
I recently read an article by Russell Moore entitled "Christian Nationalism Cannot Save the World." In this article, Moore offers the following definition for Christian nationalism: "the use of Christian…
The Mysterious Allure of Royalty
This past weekend the United Kingdom celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Elizabeth began her reign on February…
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…
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…