Some people are last minute shoppers while others are on the other end of the spectrum, having already bought their Christmas gifts in early summer. Contemplating the infinite gift of the ages, the eternal God purposed in eternity to give His eternal Son to us (Titus 1:2). Yet the revelation of this Gift was gradually […]
Jeremiah 22:24-30 In what some have referred to as “Coniah’s Curse”, the Lord revealed through the prophet Jeremiah that none of Coniah’s descendants would sit on David’s throne. Early in their history, the Lord had warned Israel about turning from Him to idolatry. After Solomon’s reign the Lord split the kingdom in two, the 10 […]
In this chapter, Paul defends the doctrine of resurrection, describing in verses 13-19 the consequences of no resurrection. If Christ is not risen then our preaching is meaningless (v. 14), the believer’s faith is futile (v. 17), they are still in their sins (v. 17), the dead in Christ have perished (v. 18) and all […]
In Matthew 12:31-32, the Lord says, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not […]
Not only now during this pandemic but always it is helpful for the believer to know what the Bible says about our responsibility to obey the authorities. We read in Romans 13:1-4a, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are […]
In Part 1, we noticed God makes one New Covenant solely with Israel. Now let us consider four spiritual blessings the Church receives and relate them to God’s future enactment of the New Covenant with Israel. First, every believer in Christ has been born from above, imparted with a new nature in Christ. Born spiritually […]
Romans 9:4-5 lists the unique privileges that Israel enjoyed as a nation. Among these were the covenants. Therefore, the covenants “pertain” or belong to Israel, not the Church. Prophesying of the New Covenant Jeremiah 31:31 says, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of […]
Isaiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be a “light to the Gentiles” and bring “salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). In the New Testament, Simeon having been promised by the Spirit that he would see the Messiah before his death, recognized that the Child Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy […]
“For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:7) The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, declared all slaves in the Southern Confederacy to be free.1 However it was dependent upon the North winning the on-going Civil War. In Romans 6:7 we have the believer’s Emancipation Proclamation grounded […]
Three biblical words are used in the New Testament to identify men overseeing the spiritual matters of the local church. Though each word describes the same role, they individually highlight specific features of their responsibility. The first word is “elder” (presbuteros), literally meaning an older man1, underlining his competence (Acts 14:23; 20:17; 1 Tim. 5:17; […]