Party Poopers
In Matthew 22, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a monarch who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. In our last blog, we examined the nature of this…
The Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus often used parables to convey his message, some of which are quite disturbing. Once such parable is found in Matthew 22: "Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The…
Kingdom, Present & Future
The death & resurrection of Jesus are obviously the central events of the Christian religion. But evangelicals often fail to grasp the full meaning of these events. Easter sermons frequently…
Seated Beside Royalty
The gospel of Matthew records how Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the final time, knowing that a horrible fate awaited him. At just this moment, the mother of John…
The King Takes the Throne
All three synoptic gospels reach an initial climax by describing Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah. This blog has previously addressed the Hebrew term Messiah and it's Greek equivalent…
Bad Tenants
The theme of fruitfulness is found throughout the scriptures. Isaiah chapter 5 tells the story of a landowner who carefully cultivated a vineyard, anticipating a rich harvest of good grapes.…
The Army of the Messiah
The book of Revelation is a wondrous part of the Bible. But it's apocalyptic literature, full of symbolic imagery that strikes many modern readers as puzzling or even bizarre. Revelation…
Life Insurance
How can a Christian know that they'll be saved? On the day of God's final judgment, can we be certain that we shall be vindicated and welcomed into God's glorious…
Salvation and the Spirit
It's not at all unusual to hear Christians talk about the time when they were "saved" in the past tense. Perhaps this salvation event occurred when they were a child…
Vindication of the Righteous
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells this very brief but revealing parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When…