It is easy to read about God in the wrong way. Yes (*yawn*), he is big. Certainly (*stretch*), he is powerful. Absolutely (*droop*), he does stuff in our world. These truths are so commonplace, they sound boring to sinful ears. But this extract from D Broughton Knox’s The Everlasting God unfolds the biblical witness to reveal a God whose power is so immense, it’s frightening. And yet his power is the only guarantee of comfort in a broken world. We pray that you might read this slowly and learn again of the God who is there—the God whose infinite power is directed towards you, his friend.
Tag Archives: God
New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ
Review
New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ
Thomas R Schreiner
Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2008, 976pp.
It seems obvious what we mean when we say “Paul teaches” or “Jesus says”, but what do we mean when we say “the New Testament teaches”? The New Testament is a small library of books by several authors—authors who, it is popularly argued, apparently did not share each other’s manuscripts or they would be more in agreement with one another! While they share a common subject and a common context, is there really a coherence to this group of texts to the point at which we might say “This here is the teaching of the New Testament”? For example, influential Durham scholar James Dunn has argued that the New Testament is more diverse than unified—more a cacophony than a harmony. Many scholars remain persuaded of his case. (more…)
The Bible doesn’t say
Up front, Sola Panel
A few weeks ago, Bobby died. It happened quite quickly. On Thursday, he was sitting merrily on his perch. On Friday, he was shivering and looking pretty unimpressed with life. On Saturday morning, he was standing on the floor of the cage with his eyes half open, rocking back and forth. At lunchtime, when the kids and I took him to the vet, he had decided it would be best to have a little lie down. The vet was kind, but decisive. (more…)
Fallen short
Up front
Psalm 19 is famous and rightly so:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
Just how sovereign is God?
Up front, Sola Panel
I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sear leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.1
In one of his sermons, John Piper tells the story of a couple who approached him one day and shared that they had learned more about God’s sovereignty during six months at his church than in their whole Christian lives previously. Some time later, their family went through a time of terrible suffering. The mother thanked Pastor John with tears in her eyes, saying that they could never have made it through this time without the conviction of God’s sovereignty. (more…)
Is God a mystery?
Up front, Sola Panel
Is God a mystery? I think my answer is “No”, “No” and “Yes”.
No, God is not a mystery in the sense of being a mysterious force—an overpowering Other whom we encounter primarily in the realm of feeling through mystical techniques and experience. We do not merge with the mystery of God by exiting our consciousness or by being absorbed like a drop into his ocean. We can get to know him as a person because that is how he graciously relates to us—person to person, through speaking to us and listening to us. (more…)
God, sin and Christ: why we need all three
What ever happened to preaching the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin? Martin Foord asks whether our evangelism has been rendered worthless by a loss of nerve.
One day my mother discovered a pimple-like bump on her arm. So she went to her GP for a diagnosis and was told, “It’s nothing to worry about”. However, she decided to get a second opinion from a skin specialist, and this time the diagnosis was radically different: it was melanoma, and she was under the surgeon’s knife within several days. Stories like this remind us uneasily of how perilous it is to be ignorant of bad news. If we have a melanoma, it’s critical we know, otherwise we can’t take the appropriate action. (more…)
God: The Man Chaser
There is a best-selling Christian book by American author Tommy Tenney called The God Chasers. If you have seen any Christian bookstore catalogues I’m sure you’ve seen the book or the companion merchandise. It’s been something of a phenomenon. After visiting the US, I was given a copy so I started reading it. Tenney’s pitch seems to be this: there are normal vanilla-flavoured household variety Christians who drift passively along in the slow lane of Christian experience and then there are the God Chasers. They get the scent of God and run him down, passionately pursuing the Lord like hounds on the hunt, like athletes chasing a gold medal. And to the God Chasers comes special blessing because they will not be satisfied with the left-hand side of the peak-hour escalator—they bound heavenward two steps at a time, consumed with overtaking the otherwise out-of-reach Lord.
The Parable of the Bacteria
Why I love Acts 13:48
The very practical doctrine of the Trinity
Thought
The Hard Ask: Blaming evil on society
Everyday Ministry
My friends think that people are fundamentally good and that society is to blame for evil. What can I say to them?