Already But Not Yet

Scripture often speaks of salvation in two different senses—the already and the not yet. In 1st century, Jewish eschatology focused on two different stages, the present evil age and the age to come (Ladd). The present evil age is dominated by sin and death, and yet in the age to come the Creator God would [...]

Scot McKnight and preterism

Recently I found this article by McKnight on Matthew 24-25, a difficult passage indeed.  McKnight is a preterist on this text.   Interesting article.   Check it out.   He tells a pretty funny story about Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill.

The kingdom of God

Last week Matthew and I were having a discussion about the nature of the thousand year reign of Christ in the book of Revelation.  A question that I’ve always had is, “Where do the unregenerate folks that rebel against Christ at the end of the 1,000 years come from?” 
I thought of a couple of other texts [...]

Wright on the question of Israel

As much as I like NT Wright, I found this podcast interview with Wright unconvincing.  In it, Wright argues that God, for the most part, is done with ethnic Israel.    This doesn’t make good sense to me since so much of Wright’s work has focused on how the end of exile plays into the New [...]

Ezekiel and the end of the exile

Ezekiel 38 and 39 have always been just a big mystery to me.  Let’s face it.  Ezekiel is not exactly ideal devotional material.  He was kind of a weird dude, shaving his head, running around with a frying pan, cooking over poop.    But when I realized just horrible the exile must have been to him [...]

Ezekiel’s dry bones

So last Sunday I preached on Ezekiel seeing God’s shekinah glory in chapter 1.  This week my text will be Ezekiel 37.  This is one of the most familiar passages in the book, and yet it’s not quite about what most folks think it’s about. 
Ezekiel sees a vision of resurrection.  He sees the dry bones of [...]

Bauckham on the millennium

Millennium theology has always been a source of disagreement in Protestant circles.  Right now the Evangelical Free churches are debating on opening up their doctrine statement to allow amil folks into their fellowship.  The Berean Fellowship,  which I’m a part of, is decidedly pre-mil.  We’re of the dispensational variety, not of the historical classic variety represented by folks [...]

A world anew

Notice what Jesus says in Revelation 21:5.  He didn’t say, “Behold, I make all new things.”  He says, “Behold, I make all things new.”

more artwork

I found some artwork on the OT prophets. Check it out.   

More resurrection songs? 2

Matthew pointed out another popular hymn about the resurrection.  Unlike “I’ll Fly Away” and “This World Is Not My Home,” this hymn “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder” actually mentions the resurrection as a part of its future hope.  That’s right on.  The problem is that its resurrection hope centers on heaven, not the new [...]