Today, we live in a secular age, where belief in God is simply one of many options available to us to improve our quality of life. We live in a distracted age, where we think and live only in materialistic terms, concerned with our immediate comfort and personal fulfillment, viewing this present life as all […]
Psalm 86 is a prayer of David, the anointed king and judge of God’s chosen people, whose life was being threatened by the enemies of Israel (Ps. 86:14). In these final verses, he cries out to be delivered from the hands of the ungodly men who, by opposing him, stand opposed to the God of […]
On the evening before his crucifixion, the true Passover Lamb was surrounded by the most wretched and pathetic of company. One of his disciples was about to betray him; another would deny him three times before morning; and all of them, his friends, would abandon him. Yet despite their pride, their selfish ambition, their failures, […]
The Olivet Discourse comes at the end of a section of Luke’s gospel that began with Jesus entering Jerusalem and pronouncing judgment on the temple (Luke 19:41-44). In this teaching, Jesus is speaking directly to his disciples primarily about the the future fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. He calls them to […]
When asked by the Pharisees and Herodians whether or not it was lawful for Jews to pay tribute to Caesar, Jesus replied by asking whose image was engraved upon one of their coins. They answered him: “Caesar’s.” This set the stage for one of Jesus’ most famous teachings: “Render to Caesar the things that are […]
A parable is a story or saying designed to teach a deeper truth through a comparison with every-day realities. Greg Lanier explains why Jesus told parables: “Like the prophets of old, Jesus used parables to reveal the mystery of the kingdom, to stimulate reflection on sin, to call people to repentance—and to produce the opposite […]
After Jesus’ encounter with the Rich Young Ruler—a man who couldn’t bear to consider the cost of discipleship—he made a profound exclamation: “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” This prompted his disciples to ask who then could be saved, to which Jesus responded: “What is impossible with […]
The story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is one of contrasts. It is the story of the King who came as a lowly servant, on a donkey rather than a prancing steed, not to conquer nations by force but to conquer hearts by love. Yet this is also a tragic story: though his very […]
The successful mission of the seventy-two signified that Satan’s kingdom was beginning to collapse (Luke 10:17-18). The captives and the oppressed were finding liberty, the poor were hearing the good news of the kingdom, the blind were receiving their sight—and it was all pointing ahead to the cross where Jesus Christ would decisively crush the […]
