Five reasons to praise the Lord

Old Testament believers were often (approximately 50 times) called to praise the Lord with the Hebrew word “hallelujah” (which literally means, “praise the Lord”). Yet in the New Testament, that word appears only four times — and all four of those references are in the first six verses of Revelation 19. From these few references, […]

The end has come

The babe in the manger whose arrival more than 2000 years ago we celebrate today was as helpless as any other child ever born. He who created the vast expanses of the heavens and the stars that fill them and the atoms that comprise them was dependent on the care of his teenage mother and […]

Good news the day before Christmas

No, the good news is not of a last minute sale with free delivery by Christmas morning. The good news is that there is rebellion against God and there will be increasing rebellion against God, but that rebellion does not mean that God is overwhelmed. To the contrary, the good news is that God is […]

They deserve it

It is perhaps the most oft-spoken objection against circumstances and God: “That’s…not…fair!” Virtually every hardship will elicit that comment — everything from overcharges in a store or a flat tire to a five-year-old’s cancer or a tsunami that destroys tens of thousands. And certainly it is the primary complaint against God’s judgment of the unrighteous. […]

Two truths about God’s wrath

It seems somewhat inappropriate to think and write and talk about the wrath of God at Christmas time. Shouldn’t we be thinking about gifts, friends and family, food and fellowship, joy and happiness? How can we think about wrath — God’s judgment and condemnation at Christmas? Yet the wrath of God is linked to the […]

They want to get away

It is the nature of the ungodly to seek to escape God. In introducing his important book, The Long War Against God, Henry Morris writes, The denial of God — rejecting the reality of supernatural creation and the Creator’s sovereign rule of the world — has always been the root cause of every human problem. […]

The Lamb and His book

Just about everything we know about the Book of Life is from Revelation (cf. Rev 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; the only other reference is in Phil. 4:3). And here’s what we know. It is a book about life (how’s that for insightful?). It’s not that the book itself imparts life, but it is […]

What do you know about Satan?

If we are not careful, it is easy to be duped into adopting the world’s caricature of Satan — he is a mischievous cartoonish red character with a pitchfork, horns, and a spiked tail who desires us to do wrong, but probably shouldn’t be considered as wholly evil. He is someone to be laughed at […]

Jesus Christ learned obedience

The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8). There has been much debate about what that exactly means. In his recent (and excellent) book, The Man Christ Jesus, Bruce Ware offers two explanations: 1) Although Jesus was a Son, and […]

Will God’s wrath relent?

Reading a book like Revelation can leave one overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught of God’s wrath. Chapter after chapter devastating destruction pours from God’s throne. It is grievous and wearying. Will it ever stop? Will God’s wrath relent? Will suffering cease? Revelation 10-11 provide some hope for the end of God’s wrath and God’s provision […]

He didn’t repent?

I do not remember a time when I have not been in a church. And in all those years of memories, I have seen and heard many tales of perverse sins, both inside and outside of the church — drug and alcohol abuse, financial misdeeds, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, unbiblical divorce and remarriage, physical assault, abuse […]

It’s about to get quiet

Last night we finally decorated our Christmas tree (as usual, the topper is crooked). When we finished, we did what we generally do. We turned out all the lights except the ones on the tree and enjoyed looking at the beauty. We talked a little bit, but we also were quiet and just looked. It […]

Life in heaven

Throughout Revelation, the reader is given glimpses of life in heaven is like. Among these images is one given in chapter 7 during the interlude between the coming sixth and seventh seal judgments. A large multitude of people who had been redeemed from every nation on earth surrounding the throne of God saying, “Salvation to […]

Needed: Bible Intake

It’s one thing to be unfamiliar with Scripture when you don’t own a Bible; it’s another thing when you have a bookshelf full. No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and […]

The great delusion

There are many confusions about God. There are many truths about Christianity that have been confused and perverted so that too many people are deceived and deluded about the realities of God and His Word. But one delusion stands above the rest: God is love and that means that He could never be angry against […]