Kingdom of God
The Sermon on the Mount is, perhaps, the most famous discourse on record from the Lord Jesus. Snippets of this sermon appear in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, but the fullest treatment, of course, occurs in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5–7. Spanning three chapters [...]
As we look around at the general troubles of the world and at the specific trials we face in our own contexts—ravaging wars, ethnic strife, poverty, pandemic, and persecution—we may wonder if God is really reigning [...]
The book of Hebrews begins with a divine self-exposure in which the God who “spoke to our fathers” by the prophets of the Old Testament reveals himself to be the God who “has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). That is to say, the Christ of the New Testament is not only central […]
When our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday (see John 12:12–33), there was already a plot against his life and a price on his head. From that day on, the Jews made plans to put him to death. . . . The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that […]
Prayer is not some battering ram by which we gain entrance to God’s treasury,” wrote Herschel Hobbs in his commentary on Matthew. “It is a receptacle by which we receive that which He already longs to give us.” So far, our Lord, in such simple profundity, has given us a systematic theology of prayer. We […]
Since the Council of Trent, theologians have argued that the Roman Catholic Church is the realized kingdom of God on earth, the reunification of the human race, the mediator and manager of the treasury of merits, and Christ’s continuing incarnation. Reacting against the inflated ecclesial ego of Roman Catholic and “high church” traditions, generations of […]
Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard, a mustard seed, virgins, a king who held a wedding feast, and a master who left his home. Revelation 21 talks about walls of jasper and cities of pure gold, with the foundations of the walls adorned with every kind of jewel and each of the […]
Just weeks before, their hopes had been dashed. Now everything had changed. Back then, two of them had sadly explained to a fellow traveler that their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet, had been repudiated by the leaders of Judaism and crucified by Roman authorities. “But we had hoped that he was the one […]
The Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28 and in Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection teaching in his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles foretells the global expansion of the reign of God under the scepter of the exalted Messiah. In Matthew’s narrative Jesus declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given […]
In our first study in Acts (Modern Reformation, January/February 2011) we observed that the title “Acts of the Apostles,” which became attached to this book by the end of the second century, is only partly accurate. From the opening lines of this theological history, Luke sent the signal that Jesus, the exalted Lord, would be […]
Following the four Gospels within our Bibles is the ‘Acts of the Apostles,’ in which the New Testament shifts from the accounts of God, present among us in the person and work of Jesus the Son, to the Son’s presence among us’with the Holy Spirit’in the persons and works of the church. Sorely neglected (save […]
Jesus died for our sins, but he’s not on the cross anymore; he’s seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling the universe. Despite the overwhelming importance of Jesus sitting in heaven (mentioned around thirty-three times in the New Testament), it is an aspect of his work that is often overlooked in the church. […]
Jesus’ reign as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (Rev. 19:16) is an essential aspect of the gospel we believe. He is the God who has come with might to reign for the Lord and satisfy the deepest needs and longings of his people (see Isa. 40:9–10). Throughout redemptive history, the Messiah was revealed […]
It is common for Christians to think that there was far greater demonic activity “in Bible times” than there is today, but this isn’t exactly true. It is rather the case that a spiritual clash with demons occurs in a narrow window of time, namely, the early ministry of Jesus between his baptism and his […]
If you are opening up a new business nowadays, soft openings are a common way to go. With this soft opening, you can work out the kinks and begin building some hype. Then after a few months, the grand opening extravaganza explodes with sales and balloons. The soft opening gives the business time to get […]
