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101 results for “El”
Clear searchWhat Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
Twelve Thrones and Twelve Tribes What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future Peter once asked the question which many faithful disciples have quietly wondered: what will those who s…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
Why Did Jesus Choose Twelve Apostles? A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance Jesus did not choose twelve apostles because twelve happened to be a convenient number. He could have appointed seven, s…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
Has God Abandoned Israel? What Do the Covenants Say? Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ Israel broke God's law, rejected the prophets, and nationally refused its Messiah. Jerusale…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
Israel and the Church: Why This Series Matters The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God Has the Church replaced Israel in the purpose of God? Some Christians answer yes, a…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
The Restoration of the Nation of Israel Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come Israel's history contains both judgement and preservation. The Jewish people were conquered, exiled, dispersed acros…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
Are Israel and the Church Really the Same? Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose The New Testament teaches a unity so profound that it would have startled the ancient world. In Christ, Je…
Read article →The LORD, Zion, and the meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5
Is Israel Married to the Land? The LORD, Zion, and the Meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5 “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
Revelation or Reception? Sources behind Qur’anic narratives The Qur’an did not emerge in a cultural vacuum. It appeared in a world alive with biblical names, Jewish interpretation, Christian pr…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
Does the New Testament Reaffirm Israel's Promises? Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy The Old Testament repeatedly promises Israel preservation, regathering, cleansing, the kingdom o…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
What Does "They Are Not All Israel, Which Are of Israel" Mean? Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation Romans 9:6 is often used as a definition of spiritual Israel: "For they a…
Read article →Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing
Are Abraham's Seed and the Israel of God the Church? Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing Galatians contains two of the strongest arguments for identifying the Church as Israel. First,…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
Are Gentile Believers Grafted into Israel? The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor Romans 11 pictures Gentile believers as branches taken from a wild olive tree and grafted i…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
No Holy Land? Covenant Discipline, Gentile Blessing, and Israel's Future A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God Michael Horton's essay, “No Holy Land: Does Israel Still Have a Biblical Claim on the Middle East?…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
Was the Kingdom Taken from Israel? The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards Few statements of Jesus appear to support supersessionism more directly than Matthew 21:43: "Therefore say…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
Daniel's Seventieth Week and the New Testament Tribulation Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem The seven-year Tribulation is sometimes dismissed as a…
Read article →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
The Daniel Dilemma The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell Islam calls Jesus the Messiah. It also denies that He was crucified. Centuries before Muhammad, however, the book of Daniel described an…
Read article →Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
Where Is the Church during Revelation's Judgements? Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse The argument that the word church disappears after Revelation 3 is often stated as though…
Read article →Simon Greenleaf · Legal examination of testimony · 1846
Greenleaf's work is worthwhile because it asks readers to take the four Gospel witnesses seriously as testimony rather than dismissing them by prejudice or accepting them without examination. His legal approach draws attention to the difference between contradiction…
View recommendation →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
Do All God's Promises Transfer to the Church? What "yea and Amen" in Christ means for Israel and the covenants Paul makes one of the most comprehensive statements about the promises of God: "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
God's Unfailing Faithfulness Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail Israel's history presents a severe test of theology. God chose the nation, gave it His law, sent it prophets, and brought the Messiah through it…
Read article →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
No Shadow of Turning What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises This series has examined covenants, prophecies, apostles, thrones, tribes, branches, seeds, kingdoms, and the difficult words upon which the deb…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
The Unshaken Truth of God's Promises One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel This series began with a question: has the Church permanently replaced Israel in the purpose of God? The answer cannot be reached by asking whethe…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
Who Are the Elect of Matthew 24? A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light... And…
Read article →Two accounts of judgement, mercy, and the sinner's hope before God
…e sinner's hope before God How will I stand before God? The question reaches deeper than religious labels. We know that our actions matter, that evil deserves judgement, and that our own record is not clean. Many religious systems express this moral accounting through scales: goo…
Read article →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
Did Israel Invent Yahweh? El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai Yesterday I found myself discussing claims about the origins of Israel’s God with my son. He seemed to regard the essential…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
The Injeel Problem Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm? Islam says that Allah gave Jesus the Injeel. It was a true revelation from God. It contained guidance and light. The Qur'an claims to confirm…
Read article →Michael J. Vlach · Biblical theology · 2023
I recommend The New Creation Model because it gave me a clear, sustained account of the resurrection body and the renewed creation as parts of one coherent purpose. Vlach is especially helpful in resisting the idea that Ch…
View recommendation →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
The New Testament Is a Very Jewish Story Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world To many Jewish people, Christianity appears thoroughly foreign. Its historic centres became Rome, Constantinople, Canterbury, Ge…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
Have Evangelicals Become Neo-Gnostics? History, Heresy, and the Temptation of Private Christianity The accusation identifies real evangelical deformations—secret-key religion, escape rhetoric, elite c…
Read article →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
Beyond the Tunnel of Light Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ Many years ago I read Tal Brooke's The Other Side of Death: Does Death Seal Your Destiny? The book stayed with m…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
Isaac, Not Ishmael The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ Did God choose Isaac or Ishmael? This is not a tribal debate. It is a covenant question. The answer does not require hostility tow…
Read article →Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
…w Paul's description of the inward Jew is often treated as a decisive redefinition of Israel: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart,…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…gotten tension Supersessionism did not appear in one moment through one theologian. It developed as the Church became increasingly Gentile, separated socially from Jewish communities, interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem as lasting displacement, and read Israel's Scriptures p…
Read article →Defining the position before testing it
…er? Defining the position before testing it "Replacement theology" is a useful popular label, but it can also conceal important differences. Many Christians accused of teaching that the Church replaced Israel would reject that wording. They believe that the Church is the fulfilme…
Read article →J. C. Ryle · Doctrinal and pastoral essays · 1874
I recommend Knots Untied because Ryle's excellent Bible teaching and practical approach shine through even when he is handling controversy. He states the question plainly, identifies what is really at stake, and repeatedly brings the…
View recommendation →E. W. Bullinger · Verse-by-verse commentary · 1902
In my view, this is a must-read commentary on Revelation—not because every conclusion should be accepted, but because Bullinger makes the journey through the text so absorbing and so deep. He notices structures, verbal connections, and det…
View recommendation →Edward Burman · Historical survey · 1984
…notorious names or to the Spanish Inquisition alone. Burman shows how the institution developed, how it operated in different places and periods, and how religious conviction, political authority, fear, and coercion became entangled. It is disturbing history, but necessary histo…
View recommendation →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…hat Christians mean when they say that God is one. We have followed Jesus through the Gospels and asked whether He can be contained within the category of prophet. We have considered eternal love, the crucifixion, divine justice, forgiveness and assurance. We have tested the tran…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
Does Matthew 24 Place the Rapture after the Tribulation? The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery Matthew 24 contains the most direct Gospel objection to a pretribulation rapture. Jesus describes Great Tribulation, cosmic disturb…
Read article →Michael Brown, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the public vindication of the saints
When Do Persecuted Christians Receive Rest? Michael Brown, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the public vindication of the saints In his presentation Why I Reject a Pre-tribulation Rapture, Michael Brown identifies 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10 as a decisiv…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
Is the Qur'an a Miracle? Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation Christians are frequently placed on the defensive. Has the Bible been corrupted? Did Jesus really claim to be God? Was He actually crucified? Has the doctrine of the Trinity compromi…
Read article →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…nalism is often criticised by slogans before it is defined. It allegedly began with John Nelson Darby, turns the Church into God's failed contingency plan, ignores the fulfilment of prophecy in AD 70, baptises modern politics, and restores animal sacrifices in competition with th…
Read article →Divine judgement, the character of God, and the promise of escape
…rld. The apostles endured imprisonment, violence, loss, and martyrdom. Across the world, believers still suffer precisely because they belong to Christ. Pretribulationism must never turn into a promise that Christians will escape ordinary discipleship. The question is narrower: i…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…and outside because I love much of what I find within her, yet cannot call every later development apostolic. There is a particular accusation made against evangelical Christianity that I feel more deeply than might be expected. We are told that we are rootless individualists: Ch…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…icitly teaches the event. The Lord descends from heaven; the dead in Christ rise; living believers are changed; and together they are caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54). The question is not whether Christians should believe in that…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…lation Rapture Without Biblical Basis? A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation In an article published by the Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff argues that the pretribulation rapture has no biblical basis. He presents it…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…efore our gathering. First Corinthians 15 places the resurrection at the "last trump". Revelation 20 calls a post-Tribulation event "the first resurrection". John 6 promises to raise believers "at the last day". None is trivial. None requires the abandonment of pretribulationism.…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…from the material world. The creation groans for the return of its rightful King, the revelation of the sons of God, and the righteous reign of Christ with His saints. Recently, Emma Ruth Rundle's song God's Picture and its accompanying video gave me food for thought. The artist…
Read article →Why a loaded label does not settle the question
Secret Rapture—or Biblical Distinction? Why a loaded label does not settle the question “The secret rapture is unbiblical.” The phrase is repeated so often that it can sound like an argument. It is not. Pretribulationists do not claim that Christ…
Read article →A quiet invitation to draw near to Christ
…“Look not upon me…” “Mine own vineyard have I not kept.” — Song of Songs 1:6 These words belong first to a love poem about a woman and her beloved. Yet her reluctance to be looked upon gives us a familiar picture. Shame makes us want to turn away. We assume that being fully seen…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
He Who Has Believed Has Eaten Does John 6 Teach the Literal Eating of Christ’s Body? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life.” —John 6:47–…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
…Matthew 5:8); “we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2); and “they shall see his face” (Revelation 22:4). The difficulty begins when this truth is made to carry the whole weight of Christian hope. Eternity can then be imagined as a disembodied soul engaged in motionless contemplat…
Read article →The event is explicit; the real dispute is its timing
Every Christian Should Believe in the Rapture The event is explicit; the real dispute is its timing The rapture is often treated as though it were an eccentric event invented by dispensationalists. That framing con…
Read article →What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God
Two Revelations of Divine Love What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God Love is easily claimed. Its character is revealed by what it does when the beloved is undeserving and the cost is…
Read article →Seth D. Postell, Eitan Bar & Erez Soref · Messianic biblical theology · 2017
…mmend Reading Moses, Seeing Jesus because it treats the Torah neither as an embarrassing relic nor as a covenant code which the Church must simply re-enact. The authors read its narratives, patterns, promises, and commandments as a coherent witness whose goal is found in Yeshua.…
View recommendation →C. I. Scofield · Pastoral sermons · 1915
I value The New Life in Christ Jesus because Scofield combines genuine theological depth with direct, unpretentious language. The chapters build upon one another, adding layer after layer of biblical truth while speaking to both the mind an…
View recommendation →Samuel G. Green · Historical survey · 1904
…the other. He writes from a Protestant background but is consistently measured and fair, helping the reader understand why developments occurred before asking for a verdict upon them. This is an older work and its language, emphases, and available historical sources reflect its p…
View recommendation →R. V. Sellers · Theological biography and history of doctrine · 1928
…ld in which Christian language about Christ was still being argued, tested, and refined. Sellers shows that councils, bishops, imperial favour, personal conflict, and genuine theological conviction were closely entangled. Eustathius himself emerges as a man of heart and zeal, det…
View recommendation →How the Law reaches its goal and appointed end in Christ
…than Romans 10:4: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." —Romans 10:4 Does Paul mean that Christ terminated the Law? Is Christ the goal towards which the Law was always moving? Does end mean fulfilment, completion, or abolition? The que…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…ways sought to pass beyond the boundaries of ordinary consciousness. Across cultures and religions, people have reported visions, overwhelming sensations of unity, encounters with spiritual beings, the loss of their ordinary sense of self, and feelings of being absorbed into a gr…
Read article →Marvin W. Meyer · Historical sourcebook · 1987
I recommend The Ancient Mysteries because it gives an excellent view of the Gentile religious world in which Paul preached. Rather than leaving the mystery cults as vague names in a textbook, Meyer lets their surviving texts show what their adhere…
View recommendation →The glory philosophy could not contain
…n the Temple of the Philosophers, I argued that the Incarnation does not become absurd merely because it exceeds the limits of our created experience. The God who made the universe is not imprisoned by it. He is not merely outside our box; He is the reason there is a box at all.…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
Not Just a Prophet The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels Islam honours Jesus in ways which Christians should acknowledge accurately. The Qur'an calls Him the Messiah, describes Him as a word from God, affirms His virgin birth and attributes ex…
Read article →How an openly transmitted text survived copying, criticism, and centuries of examination
…re copied by hand. Scribes could miss a word, repeat a line, reverse an order, update a spelling, or write a familiar expression where the exemplar had a less familiar one. No serious account of the manuscripts should conceal that. The important question is whether those copying…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…he Limits of Created Perspective, and the Love Philosophy Could Not Imagine “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” — Colossians 2:9 A conversation with my son brought the strangeness of the incarnation freshly before me. Christians have heard the words so of…
Read article →Dave Hunt · Devotional theology and biblical exhortation · 2000
I recommend An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith because it refuses to separate Christian belief from Christian living. Hunt ranges across the gospel, faith, love for God, discipleship, doctrine, the Church, and the believer's heavenly hope, but the recurring appeal is intensely p…
View recommendation →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
…objection is often stated in absolute terms: no Christian taught the rapture before John Nelson Darby devised it in the nineteenth century. The conclusion then follows that pretribulationism cannot be apostolic. Two questions are being confused. Did the early Church possess a set…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
…s about God Before there was a universe, what was there for God to love? There were no angels, no human beings and no created order. Nothing outside God existed. Yet Scripture does not merely say that God became loving when creatures appeared. It declares: "God is love" (1 John 4…
Read article →Eitan Bar · Biblical and historical polemic · 2019
…sufficient knowledge of their Jewish setting. His command of Hebrew, familiarity with Israeli life, and experience discussing Yeshua with Jewish people bring valuable context to questions about messianic prophecy, the New Testament, and rabbinic interpretation. The book is most u…
View recommendation →Brian E. Daley · Historical theology · 1991
…arly Christian thinking about death and the world to come really was. Daley traces the development of the intermediate state, apokatastasis, resurrection, judgment, and the principal eschatological expectations without pretending that the early Church spoke with one settled voice…
View recommendation →Tal Brooke · Christian investigation · 1979
…nd The Other Side of Death because it refuses to treat every extraordinary experience as self-authenticating. Brooke places popular claims about death, consciousness, spirit guides, reincarnation, and the afterlife alongside the Christian revelation and asks what these experience…
View recommendation →Hippolytus · Exposition, prophecy, and polemic · early third century
…ecy. On Christ and Antichrist draws repeatedly from the biblical text and preserves a compelling early discussion of Daniel, the Antichrist, Christ's return, and the future kingdom. His Refutation of All Heresies also records and challenges many competing teachings. Together the…
View recommendation →Dave Hunt · Biblical polemic · 2002
…the passages, read their contexts, and the book becomes a Scripture study rather than merely one side of a theological dispute. This is an unapologetically controversial book, and Calvinist readers strongly dispute many of Hunt's descriptions and conclusions. Do not read it hurr…
View recommendation →Why apantēsis does not settle the timing of the rapture
…ed objections to pretribulationism centres on a single Greek noun. Paul says that living believers will be caught up with the resurrected dead "to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The word translated "to meet" is apantēsis. It is often argued that apantēsis carri…
Read article →Jesus and the fountain of living water
…ould satisfy us have not done so. Success can distract it. Pleasure can briefly numb it. Religion can cover it with activity. None of these can give life. On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus did not whisper to such people. He stood and cried: "If any m…
Read article →Labour, purpose, and faithfulness in a fallen world
…eir worth, and achievement quietly takes the place of God. Others speak as though work itself were an indignity—an interruption to real life which should be escaped as quickly as possible. Scripture presents labour differently. Work is not our god, and it is not the curse. It is…
Read article →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…he Qur'an Christianity and Islam cannot both be correct about the death of Jesus. The Gospel declares that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, died, was buried and rose bodily from the dead. His death is not a peripheral detail which can be removed while leaving Christianit…
Read article →The Venerable Bede · Ecclesiastical and national history · 731
…places, journeys, decisions, failures, and acts of courage. His history shows how the gospel crossed cultures and kingdoms, how political and ecclesiastical interests became entangled, and how fragile the planting of churches could be. It is both a major historical source and a v…
View recommendation →Not escape from the body, but its redemption
…ion Many people imagine the Christian hope as an endless disembodied existence: the soul released from the body, leaving the physical world behind and becoming something more like a ghost than a human being. Christians do have a real hope beyond death before the resurrection. Pau…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
…dict one another, but I did not yet possess the theological distinction that would later help me considerably: the distinction between eternity and economy. So I tried to work the problem out from the text. I wrote three Strong’s numbers across a scrap of lined paper: gennaō — G1…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal Political parties do not merely ask for our votes. Increasingly, they offer an entire identity. Each side supplies its own account of the world: the dangers which matter, the injustices which deserve attention, the exp…
Read article →John Bunyan · Christian allegory · 1678
…ns often know only as abstractions. Bunyan makes conviction, temptation, discouragement, fellowship, perseverance, and hope into places and people that stay in the mind. It rewards rereading because different stages of Christian's journey become more recognisable as our own pilgr…
View recommendation →Matthew, the Hebrew word almah, and a sign whose meaning reaches beyond Ahaz
…rgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." —Matthew 1:23 Critics often answer that Isaiah did not say virgin. The Hebrew word is almah, they argue, meaning merely a young woman. Had Isaiah intended virginity, he would have used…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
…Can a person possess true faith while showing no movement towards godliness? Can someone belong to Christ while remaining settled in the very iniquity from which He came to deliver us? These questions are often answered in opposite and equally dangerous ways. One answer makes our…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
Did Jesus Have a Human Soul? Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body Why this is useful to know: Christians rightly confess that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. Yet if “flesh” is imagined as a human body animated directly by the divine Word, Je…
Read article →Augustine of Hippo · Spiritual autobiography and prayer · c. 397–400
Confessions remains compelling because Augustine examines his own heart with unusual honesty. He traces the loves, ambitions, excuses, habits, relationships, and ideas through which he ran from God, while recognisi…
View recommendation →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…ow: On your walk through life, you will encounter challenges to the deity of Christ from television shows and documentaries, Muslims, Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses—and, if you have children, they may encounter them too, perhaps even through teachers or classmates. Unders…
Read article →Sir Robert Anderson · Biblical and apologetic argument · 1897
…e, prayer, suffering, and the character of the present age. Anderson's explanation is closely tied to his dispensational distinctions and to his understanding of miracles, Israel, the Church, and the apostolic age. That framework must itself be tested rather than assumed. The boo…
View recommendation →Tertullian · Apologetic, doctrinal, and practical treatises · c. 197–220
Tertullian is forceful, memorable, and often wonderfully compelling. His Apology and related appeals confront Roman governors with the injustice of condemning Christians without hearing their case, while his doctrinal works answer opponents with close…
View recommendation →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…anguage we use about Jesus creates a picture in the mind. If that picture presents God merely occupying a human body, Christ’s humanity becomes an instrument rather than a complete human life. If it presents God joining Himself to an independently acting man, the one Christ begin…
Read article →Abraham, Lot, divine wrath, and a pattern that must be used carefully
…ot fall until he had been brought out. Does this establish a pretribulation rapture by itself? No. It supplies a meaningful biblical pattern, but patterns must support clear teaching rather than replace it. Abraham's question concerns God's justice Genesis 18 does not portray Abr…
Read article →John Bunyan · Spiritual autobiography · 1666
…m, together with the fierce inward battles through which he learned to look away from himself to Christ. It gives an unusually honest picture of spiritual struggle and makes The Pilgrim's Progress more intelligible by revealing the experience behind its landscapes. Bunyan's exper…
View recommendation →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
…hout anyone being authorised to calculate its date. The New Testament repeatedly directs believers towards Christ Himself: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." —Titus 2:13 "For our conversation is in heaven; fr…
Read article →Two failures, two responses, and the difference between remorse and repentance
…The excuses fall away, the damage becomes clear, and conscience begins to speak. We may feel guilt, grief, shame, fear, or even disgust with ourselves. Yet sorrow by itself is not repentance. The Bible presents two sobering examples in Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. Both men wer…
Read article →The peace Christ gives in a troubled world
…troubled world There are kinds of peace which last only while nothing disturbs them. We feel peaceful because the bills are paid, the medical result was reassuring, the family is well or tomorrow appears predictable. These are real mercies, and we should receive them gratefully.…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…eism—and why Christians confess one God The Trinity is often rejected before it is accurately defined. “The Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God,” the objection runs. “That makes three gods.” It would—if Christians believed the Father, Son, and Spirit were thre…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…new all things. He suffered, bled and died, although God is immortal. Christians rightly believe all these things because Scripture plainly teaches them. The difficulty begins when we try to explain how they can all be true of the same Christ. It is common to hear that Jesus did…
Read article →E. W. Bullinger · Sermons · 1892
…her than an isolated prophetic curiosity. He ranges across the Law, Prophets, Psalms, Gospels, Epistles, and Revelation, drawing attention to the sheer weight of Scripture devoted to Christ's return. The sermons combine expectation, careful textual observation, and practical urge…
View recommendation →The brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, and an argument of strong plausibility
…is applied to Judas in Acts 1:20. These are not scattered similarities imposed upon an unrelated poem. Taken together, they establish Psalm 69 as an important biblical pattern of the Messiah’s righteous suffering. The question considered here is whether Psalm 69:8 belongs to that…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…context The Qur'an says that the coming of Muhammad was written in the Torah and the Gospel possessed by Jews and Christians: "Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with t…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…re. These stories differ in detail, but they share a method: the surviving records are rarely quoted. That omission is revealing. We do not possess complete minutes of the council, and the eyewitnesses were not neutral modern reporters. Eusebius of Caesarea admired Constantine; A…
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