When the Jewish exiles got to Babylon, they found a huge city—hostile, big, brutal—and it was filled with other exiles, with different people groups and radically different views. Our culture is not so different. Liberals feel our country is so conse...
We’re not at home. We live in a world that doesn’t sustain or support the deepest needs of our hearts. Martin Heidegger (a fascist sympathizer) and Karl Marx (the father of Communism) were very different, prominent thinkers; yet, they both agreed tha...
In a culture where people really don’t know who they are and what life’s about—in a fragmented culture like ours—the fastest way to still feel good about ourselves is romance. It’s the ultimate philosophical narcotic. “I don’t know what life is abou...
In a fragmented culture like ours, identity formation is a challenge. We decide our own goals and standards, and we get our sense of worth from whether we can achieve them. Jeremiah shows us that there’s something profoundly disordered and sick about...
We live in a fragmented culture. There’s no consensus about the big questions of what’s right and wrong and true. Jeremiah is a prophet in this same situation—he lived and wrote in a fragmented culture. One of the challenges of a fragmented culture...
Jesus Christ says not just “I was resurrected,” but “I am the resurrection.” Present tense. He comes after his resurrection with his arms full of newness. I don’t know why we get into gift-giving at Christmas—I think we ought to be getting into it a...
We’ve been looking at the life of Jesus and we come now to the risen Jesus. At the end of the gospel of Luke, the risen Jesus does four things that change the lives of his disciples forever. And because he’s the risen Jesus, he can do the very same t...
The night Jesus was betrayed has a theme: darkness, night. Right in the middle of the passage, Jesus makes an odd statement: “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” What that must mean is the physical darkness is a representation of something d...
One of the great questions of history is, “Why in the world did the early Christians adopt the cross as their main symbol?” All the other founders of the great religions died old and successful. In absolute contrast, you have Jesus, who dies at age...
The last week of Jesus’ life addresses not just our minds or our wills, but our hearts. We are to see Jesus, to meet Jesus. As Luke shows us the last days of Jesus’ life, all the doctrines and themes will be narratively depicted in the most vivid wa...
If you ask the question, “Why should a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ be passionately involved with the poor?” this text gives you the answers. Isaiah 61 is the last of the Servant songs, a prophecy about the Servant of the Lord. And Jesus C...
This is a text of realism. There are many promises in the Bible about the great blessings Jesus’ salvation brings. In Isaiah 57, we have a reminder that we still live in a world filled with tragedy, difficulty, and suffering. The salvation we get fr...
For some, when they hear that salvation is absolutely free, their first response is to say, “If I really believed that, then I wouldn’t have any incentive to live a good life.” To that, I would say, “If, when you lose all fear of being smacked by Go...
There are two pictures of two different women in Isaiah 54. And they teach us something miraculous. These last chapters of Isaiah are about a figure called the Servant of the Lord who is going to bring God’s salvation to the world. The New Testament...
Isaiah 52 is the best chapter in the whole Bible to explain what happened on the cross. We know that because the New Testament writers were constantly referring back to it. It was the basis for their understanding of what happened on the cross. As I...
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