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A Vision Glorious

Exodus 33:18

In this passage of Scripture, the heart cry of Moses is to have God show him His glory. Moses has had enough experience of God, from the burning bush episode which revolutionized and galvanized his life in a new direction, to the contests with Pharaoh in Egypt, to the Passover deliverance, to the escape from Egypt through the Red Sea, to the giving of the Law of God, and we should not forget the on-going rebellion of the people. In all of these, God had so magnificently demonstrated that He was doing something beyond the powers and abilities of man. Moses had certainly recognized the otherness of God. The gods of Egypt were insufficient and puny and had no power (except the power of darkness) against God. Moses had rejoiced in the giving of the Law, as this was surely a revelation of God like no other. Read more →

Right Thinking on Revival

“If we are to obtain a revival, we must go directly to the Holy Spirit for it, and not resort to the machinery of the professional revival-maker.”

Spurgeon – Sword & Trowel, 1866, p. 532

What Do the gods Offer?

It is as Augustine says in his “City of God” that the only cause for the perishing of Rome was that she chose to have guardians that could also perish. Is this not the same for Jerusalem in the days of our Lord? She chose not the Lord to save her, and thus because she trusted in herself and her righteousness – she likewise perished (AD 70). In the same way, what is our country entrusting herself to? Do we not see the influence of pagan idolatry raising once again its ugly head? God has been banished like a naughty schoolboy, but He shall take His vengeance because He is a consuming fire. Great nations perish unless their people (like ancient Nineveh) repent. May we learn this lesson well as Augustine understood it.

The Falsity of Logical Paradox

Let’s just face the issue head on. A logical paradox is logically fallacious. Just listen to the sound of it. It sort of makes you seem important, but in reality it belongs to those pagan mystery religions where you make of it whatever you want it to be. To put it plainly – if God has revealed it – then it can be understood & it must be understood. God is truth & all truth is from him. We are to be sanctified by the truth. Truth is no paradox. Logic can be grasped and comprehended because it derives from God himself. If logic is untrue – then it is not logic. Simple when you think about it. Away with logical paradoxes. Work harder to understand. Apply yourself. Truth is to be understood. The Word is a lamp & a light – walk in it

God Keeps Covenant

All of God’s covenants are eschatological. This means that every covenant that God has made carries within it an eschatological dimension & implications. From the Covenant of Works (or Life) in the Garden with Adam before his fall through to the final all-encompassing New Covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator through his offices of Prophet, Priest & King – all are connected to the future or impact the future. More to come on this.

All or Nothing!

When Jesus calls us to follow him nothing is permitted to come between Jesus & the disciple. Jesus has the last word.

True Disciples

“Is the price that we are paying today with the collapse of the organized churches anything else but an inevitable consequence of grace acquired too cheaply?

We gave away preaching & sacraments cheaply; we performed baptisms & confirmations; we absolved an entire people unquestioned & unconditionally; out of human love we handed over what was holy to the scornful & unbelievers.

We poured out rivers of grace without end but the call to rigorously follow Christ was seldom heard.”

These are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer – how prescient of him! We have sold ourselves down the river as evangelicals by dispensing a grace that we have cheapened. We are reaping the harvest. Countless souls shall be lost but we persuaded them that we were right. It is time to return to the cost of being a true disciple.

Mortification

It is a duty incumbent upon every Christian all the days of their lives to mortify the flesh. Either we kill sin or sin will kill us as the Puritans liked to say. Paul instructs us to not let sin reign in our bodies to make you obey its passions. In verse 13, he tells us that we must not present the members of our bodies to sin so as to be the instruments of sin, but rather to present our bodies to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and we are to yield our members as instruments for righteousness. Read more →