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So Jesus comes as the Christ, announcing the Kingdom, and calling individuals to follow Him as disciples. How does this discipleship fit and what is involved?
Let’s begin with John’s statement that if we believe that Jesus is the Christ, we will have Life (John 20:30-31). And as we saw last week, when Jesus appeared as the Christ, He called individuals to follow as His disciples. Does that mean that we have to be His …
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So, when the Christ shows up, what does He do, and what kind of response does He require?
Well, two emphases dominate Jesus’ ministry from the very beginning.
Matthew and Mark summarize the first of these with the statement that Jesus began to proclaim that the Kingdom of God was at hand (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15). Our minds tend to interpret this in light of our modern Christian experience, and probably envision something along the lines …
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So far, this little journey to understand what is going on in Hebrews 10 has turned into an expedition that is in its seventh week. Seems like we have been talking about this forever. In fact, it’s hard to remember why we are here, or where we are going. Wait. What was the question?
Oh, yeah. We are talking about the “pleasure of God’s soul” in Hebrews 10:38-39 –
“But My righteous one shall live by …
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(Note – Some of the material in this article is taken from the previous article – “Looking For ‘The Kingdom’”, and presented here, in the context of the flow of the story.)
There is much background behind Hebrews 10. But we are making progress.
Beginning in the Garden, and moving through Noah, God’s covenant with Abraham, and most recently, His covenant with Israel, given through Moses, we have seen several key developments in the Story –
The …
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Yep. Hebrews 10 is still our destination.
In our re-examination of the story, we have moved from the Garden, through Noah and the Flood, to God’s covenant with Abraham. At this point in the story, we have learned that The One Who Is Coming to crush the Enemy will indeed bring, not simply relief from the curse, but, in it’s place blessing.
And so, Abraham begets Isaac, and Isaac, Jacob. Jacob is renamed “Israel”, and it …
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The “pleasure of God’s soul” – There is something unsettling, yet compelling about that phrase. Unsettling because I don’t think of God as having a “soul”. Clearly, He is Spirit (John 4:24). But the idea of Him “having a soul” is somehow foreign. Unsettling also, because it seems that I might have something to do with this pleasure . . . and compelling for the same reason. Also compelling because it seems like a …
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In our examination of the question of whether our pursuit of social justice will determine our eternal destiny, we have been looking at the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:31-46. So far, we have:
Set the discussion of this judgment in the context of the Olivet Discourse, which was given in response to the disciples’ question of the timing of Jesus’ coming and the end of the age (Part 1).
Seen that there …
In Part 2 of our look at the Olivet Discourse, and the question of whether our pursuit of social justice will determine our eternal destiny, we began to examine the judgment spoken of in the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats, that will mark the end of the age.
As we compared the judgment in Matthew 25 with other judgment passages in the New Testament, we discovered that there are three distinct judgments spoken of, and …
In Part 1 of our look at the Olivet Discourse and the question of whether our eternal destiny will be determined by our pursuit of social justice, we overviewed the Discourse, and made the following observations:
The Olivet Discourse answers the disciples’ question about the sign of Christ’s coming and the end of the age.
During the interval between Christ’s First and Second Comings, His disciples should expect disaster, war, false prophets and apostasy.
Immediately preceding His return …
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About 5 years ago, I was sitting in a meeting with many other Christian leaders when a person with a certain celebrity status was given the opportunity to address the gathering. His role was to call the church out for its lack of involvement in global social issues, such as AIDS in Africa, poverty, and social justice. The primary Biblical basis for his challenge was Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46. He argued that Jesus …
