“God, by definition, has always exercised sovereign control over all the world and over every detail in it. The hair on every head has always been numbered. But in the accomplished mission of Christ, the cross and resurrection, God established a new mediatorial rule in the world. Christ as the eternal Word of God has …
The Intemperate Lynchee
“And we see here a deep irony in the problems that many modern Christians have with the imprecatory psalms and psalms of protested innocence. We think the language is over the top. The man is sitting on the back of a horse, hands tied behind his back, and a rope around his neck. He looks …
The Resurrection Develops the Negative
“We can take comfort in the love of God because the sin we must be delivered from is the sin of confounding the Spirit of God, the comforter, with the spirit of Satan, the accuser. And that is quite a confusion — one that the resurrection dispels entirely” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 54).
Eye Has Not Seen, Ear Has Not Heard
“In thinking about the greatness of the Great Commission, you do not even have to worry about overdoing it” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 52).
Not Done in a Corner
“Jesus was not murdered in private by thugs, only to come back from the dead in secret, with a select band of followers being told to whisper the news to another handful. ”Pssst! Pass it on.’ No, He was executed publicly by the authorities, and He rose from the dead in such a way as …
As Broad As the World
Paul’s “message is a message that topples the princes of this world, and everything that had previously been under their jurisdiction — and this meant the arts, politics, education, scientific investigation, building fences, cooking, and anything else that men might do. Rightly understood, preaching Christ and Him crucified is as broad as the world” (Heaven …
No Way to Hush It Up Now
“Jesus was crucified in a public way, and so His death must have public ramifications. There is no way to be fully faithful to the message of His death and resurrection in private. Private faith in this public event cannot, in the very nature of the case, remain private. The love of God, as displayed …
And No, Not Universalism
“There are two popular choices, both bad. Popular evangelicalism wants the atonement to touch every last man, woman, and child. But in order to get it to do so, the touch is made ineffectual. On the other hand, pessimistic Calvinists want the touch to be potent and effectual . . . for a few hundred …
God Does, But Does Not Try
“The reason Christ came into the world was to save it — and most emphatically His mission was not to try to save it” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 48).
And He Is the One Who Teaches Us
“Our triune God is not one frozen word, eternally stuck. The conversation is everlasting, glorious, swift, and beyond all reckoning. If this conversation were water, do not think of an infinite static ocean, but rather of an infinite cascading waterfall. No top, no bottom, no sides, no back, no front — and falling with infinite …