“His authority is extended by spiritual means and not by political means. It has political results, but His kingdom does not advance in the same way that other kingdoms do” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 130).
The Whole Point
“Jesus did not come in order to try to save the world, if the uncooperative world would only let Him. He came to save the world; He will be satisfied with nothing less than a saved world. That was the whole point” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 127).
Glombing Onto or Glooming Under
“We have to be careful not to fall into an either/or hole here. You have a cousin in Oklahoma who, with regard to Cadillacs and Leasr jets, is busy ‘naming and claiming’ every gaudy thing he can think of. And you have another cousin in Grand Rapids, this one a historical pessimist, who is living …
How Faith Functions
“Suppose a precocious young boy, after his father has finished saying grace over the evening meal, asked something like this. ‘Dad, how do we know that God gave us this food for blessing? Couldn’t He just be fattening us up for the day of slaughter?’ The father’s answer is simple: ‘We know because the Bible …
Humanity, Part Two
“It is possible to talk about the final judgment and the lordship of Jesus Christ in such a way that makes it clear that He is only lord over those areas that secularists are happy to let Him have — the afterlife, for example. Who cares if Jesus is Lord in ways that never make …
Mother of Cities
“The Christian church is far more than mother of the faithful. She is called to be mother of cities. And where shall the root of these new cities be planted? Where the Word and sacrament are. If God grants a genuine reformation, it will be one like that which was granted in the sixteenth century, …
No Retreat, No Compromise
“Christian worship is the declaration that God is creating a new humanity in Christ, and wherever that new humanity gathers, a new center is constituted, a new public square is established. We reject the ghetto-izing of the faith, which wants to worship God without actually creating a city . . . we also reject the …
Which Is Why They Don’t Make Sense Outside the Story
“The Ten Commandments begin with ‘once upon a time'” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 116).
What Happened Right After
“Virtually all the books of the New Testament have an expectant air about them. They are all waiting for something drastic that will happen soon, and not one of them even mentions the most cataclyismic event in Jewish history — the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 — as being past. That event was the …
If the Curtain Went Up, Why Can’t We See Anything?
“It is indeed unfortunate that we by our sloth have made a revelation into one of the most obscure books of the Bible” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 107).