“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 …
The Life Invasion
“This means that God has spoken Himself into a very imperfect and broken world, and He has done so perfectly. What are the implications of this? This could not happen without bringing the world to life” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 44).
In the Works Now
“The striking thing about the Second Coming is that it will be the culmination of what is happening right here, right now. The new humanity is going to be finally and completely formed and born, but it is this world that is pregnant with that glory. The relief will be great, but it will be …
Pies, Heavenly and Earthly
“We have two directions in which we may look, and they are as follows. From the vantage point of our present suffereings, we may look back at the old creation, a creation which ends in the death of all living things. We may look to the way of the flesh, but the days of the …
What Abraham Saw
“Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ, and he was glad in it. But Abraham did not just rejoice to see a Christ with no particular job description. He rejoiced to see the Christ who would be the fulfillment of God’s promise to him, the promise that Abraham was going to inherit the world” …
Getting Good Back Into the Good News
[Concerning Gal. 3:8] “It says that he believed God. The gospel, as it was declared to Abraham, was that the heathen would all be converted. That is the gospel. That is what Abraham believed. That is what Abraham saw” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 32).
Two Mistakes
“Of course, there are two mistakes to avoid. We are talking about a complete transformation — not a minor refurbishment. One mistake is that of thinking this creation will be burnt to a cinder and not replaced, or replaced by something completely unrelated. The other mistake is that of thinking that this creation will simply …
Heaven As a Colonial Power
“How you take the line of the story matters a great deal. Many Christians believe the cosmos has an upper and lower story, with earth as the lower story and heaven as the upper story. You live the first chapters of your life here. Then you die, and you move upstairs to live with the …