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...
What did Jesus come into the world to do? In the final chapters of Isaiah, a mysterious figure called the Servant of the Lord is prophesied. This figure is going to come into the world and bring God’s salvation. And the New Testament writers identif...
Isaiah 49 gives a sweeping, panoramic view of God’s salvation. But immediately following that promise, there’s a fascinating skeptical response. This is the second of the Servant songs, a prophecy about the Servant of the Lord, who the New Testament...
Isaiah prophesies about a mysterious figure called the Servant of the Lord. In the New Testament, the writers identify the Servant of the Lord with Jesus Christ. These prophecies tell us some things about Jesus, about his work, about what he brings,...
If you thought when you became a Christian you were leaving the fight to get into peace and tranquility, Paul says you were wrong. The Christian life is a fight. But now you have divine resources. We come now to the last piece of the armor of God: “...
In the Bible, salvation is a broader term than what we usually use in the Christian church. We’re looking at the armor of God, and we turn now to another piece: the helmet of salvation. A lot of churches use the word salvation in the past tense: “I’v...
Fiery arrows do not come all throughout the battle. When do they come? Right when you’ve decided to storm the stronghold of the enemy. We’re looking at the armor of God—it’s an illustration Paul uses as a way of saying we have everything we need to...
If you’re trying to do anything more important than to just get ahead in life, you’ll know the shield of faith is extremely important. Because let’s face it: the enemy attacks at the front line. Your front line is the place where you go out on a lim...
Paul says a Christian should be characterized by readiness, a spiritual buoyancy that comes from the use of the gospel of peace. We’re looking at the armor of God and we’re in the third part of our examination of the shoes and this one little phrase...
When Paul talks about shoes, he’s talking about a kind of spiritual athleticism. The idea behind the armor of God is that God has given us all sorts of things we aren’t using. The shoes were part of the armor, and the shoes of the Roman soldier had...
