“You shall call His name Jesus”

From John Broadus on Matthew 1:21: It is familiar fact that Hebrew names were commonly significant, a natural and pleasing custom. This being no longer a usage with us, we often give names of great and good men who have lived in other days. Sometimes heroes of fiction. This too is beautiful. Names often make […]

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 […]

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 […]

Sunday Leftovers — He knows our troubles

We know that Jesus did not sin. But we can wrongly infer from that truth that life was easy for Him. It wasn’t. He felt the troubles of life as no other man has ever felt them. And that means that not only has He experienced the trials of life Himself, but that He really […]

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 […]

Sunday Leftovers: the deity of Christ

From the opening verses of John’s gospel, a number of truths about Christ are readily apparent: Jesus Christ has eternally existed. Jesus Christ has eternally existed alongside God the Father. Jesus Christ is Himself God, with the Father. Jesus Christ is the originator of all things. Jesus Christ is life and is the source of […]

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 […]

He is worthy

We know that God does not share His glory with another (Is. 42:8). But a careful reading of that verse reveals that the Father is not saying that He does not share His glory with anyone else, but that He does not share His glory with another besides His chosen One, His Servant, the Messiah […]

At Last

Jared Wilson reflects on the joy of a groom seeing his bride for the first time on their wedding day: The first song ever sung (by man, anyway) is a love song. Smitten by the vision of his bride for the first time, music erupts from his mouth. And there is the foretaste in this […]

The terror of Jesus Christ

Read many contemporary books about Jesus Christ and they will paint a picture of One who is a friendly buddy, or a permissive and non-threatening boss, or a kind, passive, and undemanding husband. But the apostle John paints a different picture of Christ in Revelation 1. He: is the faithful witness (v. 5) is the […]

Remember Jesus

I am afraid it is true. I have done some time in jail. I was young. Very young. And by the grace of God, the time I did was short. I did five minutes as a six-year-old first-grader. We had gone on a field trip to the county jail, and to give us a sense […]

A better sacrifice

A small boy was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. His father met him in the living room and said nothing. At dinner […]

He’s sitting down

It is a regular temptation to overvalue certain possessions. When we drive a new vehicle off the car lot, we forget that within a few years, we will certainly be driving it back onto that lot with a certain measure of discontentment, seeking a new and better source of transportation. Similarly, we are prone to […]