“What is the meaning of ”one is taken and the other left’? This is commonly thought to refer to the rapture — one taken up into heaven, and the other left on earth to kick himself for not praying the sinner’s prayer when he had a chance. On the bright side, there will be a …
Church History as Approaching Spring
“Within one generation, Jesus says the these signs will bud, and the summer (not winter) will be near. He reinforces His words with a strong word — heaven and earth might fold, but His words, never. And everything He said did come to pass within the course of one generation. Far from being an embarrassingly …
The End, Sure, But of What?
“Scoffers have frequently seized on this point, thinking that Christ was obviously wrong about when the end of the world would be. But the problem is that He was not talking about the end of the world at all. He was not asked about the end of the space/time continuum. He was asked about the …
Where the Hope Resides
“We see that the engine which drives this optimistic hope is not some falsely optimistic view of human nature, but rather confidence in the efficacy of the gospel to overcome depraved human nature. In the gospel, God deals with sin” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 98).
Taking Note
“I also discovered the ‘favorite’ books of the New Testament writers. More often quoted than anything else were Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms and Isaiah” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 96).
And So It Was That All My Woes Began
“When I was first working through this, I bought a Bible I could mark up well. I then spent a few weeks looking up every passage in the Old Testament that is quoted in the New. Many Bibles will mark such cross-references in the New Testament, but it is rarely done in the Old. I …
Drive the Textual Nail
“Picture the Old Testament on a single sheet of paper, rolled out on a work bench in front of you. Then take the New Testament as a transparent overlay, and roll it out on top of the Old Testament. Then — if you would learn from Jesus and the apostles — take a nail and …
Something Very Few Anticipated
“They exult as they hang the Messiah of God upon a gibbet, and lift Him up . . . and by their wicked action they accomplished the salvation of the entire world. Their murdering malice was the instrument of my salvation, and your, and not ours only, but also the salvation of all the ends …
And We Follow Him
“The Lord has conquered the world through His faithful despairing” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 90).
The Last Enemy
“The only enemy not destroyed through the advance of the gospel will be death itself (1 Cor. 15:26) — and even that enemy will be in confused retreat (Is. 65:20)” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 86).