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51 results for “Worship”
Clear searchJ. C. Ryle · Doctrinal and pastoral essays · 1874
…canism, and his polemical judgments—especially concerning Rome, sacraments, ministry, and worship—can be severe. Read him appreciatively but not uncritically: distinguish the biblical principle from its nineteenth-century application, check every argument in context, and test Ryl…
View recommendation →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…lvation and universal allegiance to Him. This is not merely a rule that Israelites should worship their own national deity. It is a claim upon the nations because He alone is God. The God who declares, saves and forgives Isaiah 46:9–10 connects uniqueness with God’s declaration o…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…but profoundly related. The Church receives Israel's Messiah, reads Israel's Scriptures, worships Israel's God, and shares in blessings mediated through covenants made in Israel's history. Its first members were Jewish, and believing Jews remain full members of Christ's body. Ge…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…ophy, human tradition, the “rudiments of the world,” ascetic regulations, visions and the worshipping of angels (Colossians 2:8, 16–23). These features have produced several reconstructions of the teaching Paul opposed. The argument here does not depend upon identifying it precis…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…describes a "man of sin" and "son of perdition" who exalts himself above every object of worship and sits "in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). His career is marked by deception, false signs, rebellion, sacrilegious self-exaltation, and…
Read article →Ezekiel 20, child sacrifice, and the judgement of being given over
…mind.” —Jeremiah 19:5 That is an emphatic rejection of the claim that God prescribed such worship. Jeremiah 19:5. Nor does the requirement to give God the firstborn establish a command to kill firstborn sons. Exodus explicitly distinguishes the treatment of sacrificial animals fr…
Read article →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
…ells the religious history of Israel in approximately this way. The patriarchs originally worshipped the Canaanite high god El. Yahweh was a separate deity from the southern wilderness—perhaps Midian, Edom or Seir—whose worship was later brought into Israel. Over time, the two go…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…ness and carried faithful humanity through death into resurrection life. Precision serves worship Asking whether Jesus had a human soul can sound like dry theology. It is anything but dry if we understand what is at stake. Without a human mind, He did not truly grow in wisdom. Wi…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…as an end in itself. Technical formulas can be repeated without understanding, charity or worship. A person can pass an examination in Christology while remaining cold towards Christ. But the best doctrinal formulas arose because Christians discovered that familiar words could co…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…the divine Son. They commonly ask where Jesus said the exact modern sentence, “I am God; worship me,” as though Christ’s identity depended upon His reproducing a formula chosen by His questioner. The Qur’an itself rejects both the deity of Christ and divine Sonship (for example,…
Read article →Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
…s spiritually circumcised? Yes. Paul tells believers: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." —Philippians 3:3 He also speaks of a "circumcision made without hands" in union with Christ (Col…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
…at picture. Paul declares: "God that made the world and all things therein ... Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:24-25). God is not sustained by worshippers. He gives life to t…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…ssumed. Trumpets in Scripture summon assemblies, signal movement, announce war, accompany worship, and proclaim royal arrival. "Last" means last within the sequence or purpose in view. The contexts differ: In 1 Corinthians 15, the trumpet accompanies resurrection and instantaneou…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…alvation, the authority of Scripture, heavenly hope, doctrinal precision, non-sacramental worship, premillennialism, or distrust of corrupt institutions. If all these things are Gnostic, then parts of the New Testament begin to look suspicious. A label that explains everything ex…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…igion which had displaced Israel. Jesus and the apostles were Jewish. The first believers worshipped in Jerusalem, appealed to Israel's prophets, and proclaimed Israel's risen Messiah. Thousands of Jewish believers formed the first Christian community. The inclusion of Gentiles c…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
…nder Christ. The Christian hope is active and communal Revelation's final vision contains worship, but not passivity. “His servants shall serve him,” and “they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:3, 5). The nations walk in the city's light, kings bring their glory into…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…es. Antiochus is indispensable to the interpretation of Daniel. His suppression of Jewish worship, defilement of the sanctuary and installation of pagan worship provide the clearest historical pattern for the abomination of desolation. The history must nevertheless be stated accu…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…ed, written, collected and transmitted with remarkable stability. Its language has shaped worship, law, civilisation and personal devotion across many centuries. The informed argument is therefore cumulative: Muhammad was not equipped by ordinary education to produce the Qur'an.…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…d God's provision of a substitute becomes the location of Israel's temple and sacrificial worship. Abraham calls the place Jehovah-jireh: "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" (Genesis 22:14)…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
…el, renews the nation, judges its enemies, establishes justice, and brings the nations to worship the Lord, those events will not compete with His glory. They will display it. The worldwide expansion of Abrahamic blessing does not require the cancellation of its particular promis…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…cles are signs granted by God, not evidence that He shares God's identity. He must not be worshipped, and the Christian confession of His deity is treated as a corruption of true monotheism (Surahs 3:45-49; 4:171; 5:72-75; 19:30-36). That is the strongest recognisable form of the…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…d. All things were created by Him (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). He forgives sins, receives worship, gives life, and will judge the world. Hebrews addresses the Son: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” (Hebrews 1:8). Paul says that in Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the G…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…g to His humanity. Similarly, we may say that the man Christ Jesus forgave sins, received worship and will judge the world, because the man is not a separate human person. He is the eternal Son living and acting in the humanity He assumed. This is not theological fussiness. It is…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…kthall). It then tells of young men who believed in God while their people embraced false worship. They withdrew into a cave, where God caused them to sleep for many years. When they awoke, they supposed they had slept only a day or part of a day. One was sent into the city with…
Read article →Why a loaded label does not settle the question
…not prove absence. Yet the change belongs within the cumulative evidence. Heaven contains worshippers, elders, crowns and white robes; judgement unfolds upon the earth; and by chapter 19 the prepared Bride is in heaven before Christ descends. The pretribulation reading does not r…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…rist truly suffered in the flesh, and that He rose bodily from the grave. I value ordered worship, accountable leadership, Christian discipline and fellowship that extends beyond the preferences of the individual. I do not dream of Christianity as a solitary intellect with a Bibl…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…traint dissolves. Frenzy is mistaken for divine liberation, and Pentheus is torn apart by worshippers who have surrendered themselves to the god’s influence—including his own mother. The work is a literary tragedy rather than an impartial historical record of Greek worship. Never…
Read article →Marvin W. Meyer · Historical sourcebook · 1987
…his own Gentile world. Mystery religions Greco-Roman world Paul's Gentile mission Ancient worship Initiation Sacrifice Life after death
View recommendation →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…developing Antiochene crisis. Antiochus inflicted terrible violence upon Jerusalem. Pagan worship profaned the sanctuary and interrupted its sacrifices. Other chapters of Daniel plainly devote considerable attention to Antiochus. Onias is not a desperate invention produced merely…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…that some Christians instinctively recoil from the subject itself. We rightly reject the worship of nature. We rightly deny that human policy can redeem a creation subjected to the curse. We rightly resist movements which diminish the unique dignity of man as the image of God. B…
Read article →Not escape from the body, but its redemption
…ion. Christ alone can transform the body of our humiliation. We care for the body without worshipping it, and we face its decline without surrendering hope. Death is not the end of the Christian story John writes: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear w…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…ims truths Islam denies. Jesus is crucified, rises from the dead, forgives sins, receives worship and speaks of divine glory shared with the Father. The Qur'an would then contradict the revelation it claims to confirm. Only fragments of the Injeel remain This allows a Muslim to r…
Read article →The near was real. The far is still coming.
…ought back. The wilderness would cease to obstruct their journey. Zion, the city of their worship and covenant hope, would receive them. The later return from Babylon belongs within this biblical pattern. Isaiah 35 anticipates the highway and restoration themes developed in chapt…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
…n according to the flesh and grieved over their unbelief (Romans 9:1-5). Acts records him worshipping in Jerusalem, participating in purification with Jewish believers, and hastening to be there for Pentecost (Acts 20:16; 21:17-26). These actions do not mean that Paul placed hims…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…ed. Yet they did not disappear into the nations among which they lived. Their Scriptures, worship, identity, and hope of return endured. On 14 May 1948, Jewish sovereignty was re-established in the ancestral land through the declaration of the State of Israel. That event does not…
Read article →Two accounts of judgement, mercy, and the sinner's hope before God
…er's hope in different places. The scales direct attention to the final assessment of the worshipper's faith, deeds, repentance, and the mercy he hopes to receive. The cross directs attention to God's completed act in history and invites the guilty to rest in Christ. Christians w…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…lks upon the waters in a manner which recalls the LORD’s mastery of the deep. He receives worship rather than refusing it. He identifies Himself with Daniel’s Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. He claims to possess glory with the Father before creation. He says: “Before A…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…med by oath. Paul concluded his treatment of Israel not with self-congratulation but with worship: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" —Romans 11:33 He then gave the reason every c…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…s a box at all. That truth should do more than answer an objection. It should enlarge our worship. The Incarnation is not merely a difficulty Christianity can survive; it is glory Christianity alone can proclaim. The Maker entered His creation. The eternal Son made our nature His…
Read article →What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God
…on cannot begin by pretending that the Qur'an presents Allah as merciless or that Muslims worship a deity who never loves. Nor can Christianity be reduced to the sentimental claim that God approves everyone regardless of truth, repentance or holiness. The deeper question is not w…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
…from the angels. They are servants and creatures; He is the enthroned Son whom the angels worship (Hebrews 1:5–8). Whatever “begotten” and “firstborn” mean in their respective passages, they cannot mean that the Son came into existence as a creature. Any interpretation requiring…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…hammad preached in Arabia, established a community governed by revelation and brought the worship of one God to Arabian tribes. The reference to Kedar is therefore taken as a geographical marker identifying him. This is probably the most plausible-looking of the four arguments be…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…hardening and future national mercy | | Romans 11:33-36 | Doxology: the argument ends in worship | Romans 9:6 must be read inside that complete case. It is an opening defence of God's faithfulness, not the final definition of Israel. What problem is Paul answering? Romans 9 does…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…Christianity. The emperor chose the books of the Bible. Reincarnation was removed. Sunday worship was imposed. The bishops settled everything by imperial command—and perhaps discussed rosary beads or beards while they were there. These stories differ in detail, but they share a m…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
…gs us to a practical consideration. A sanctuary must be constructed and equipped, and its worship made operational. Scripture does not tell us how long that preparation will take, but its existence at the moment of desecration implies preparation beforehand. Revelation 17:12 desc…
Read article →Trusting God when voices seek to weaken our confidence
…Rabshakeh knew how to speak to his audience. He used their language and referred to their worship. This has led some readers to wonder whether he was himself a Jewish apostate. Later Jewish tradition identifies him that way, but Scripture does not establish his ancestry. The less…
Read article →Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
…s, a beastly ruler, and saints persecuted under him. At the same time, redeemed companies worship in heaven, and the book repeatedly contrasts earth-dwellers with those whose proper dwelling is above. The absence is not the whole argument. It is one feature of a deliberate change…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem." —Isaiah 27:13 Matthew 24:31 speaks of a trumpet and a gathering "from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other". The resemblance…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…a consistent moral company throughout the book: they rejoice over God's slain witnesses, worship the beast, receive deception, and become the objects of judgement. God can preserve His people within judgement. Scripture also repeatedly shows Him distinguishing and removing befor…
Read article →Labour, purpose, and faithfulness in a fallen world
…k becomes an idol when we cannot stop, when success determines our peace, when family and worship are treated as obstacles to ambition, or when failure makes us feel that life has lost all value. The answer is not to despise labour. It is to put it back in its proper place beneat…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…works they deny him" (Titus 1:16). God's name in a speech cannot make injustice an act of worship. We should therefore distinguish religious rhetoric, political benefit to Christians and actual honour to God. A ruler may protect religious liberty for mixed motives; Christians may…
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