Category: THEOLOGY

Understanding the Ascension

God has always held ultimate power, and Jesus is God. But Jesus is also fully man. No man (or angel for that matter, including Satan) has ever held absolute power or been the ultimate sovereign over heaven and earth—that is, until the resurrection and ascension of...

Understanding Providence (article in two parts)

Meticulous Providence “Providence” is a theological term describing God’s ruling and governing of His creation. “Meticulous” providence depicts God as ordering and directing everything—every detail in the universe. In Ephesians 1:11 we are told that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”...

What is the Bible?

The Bible is God’s Special Revelation Mankind is dependent upon God for all things, even for the knowledge that God exists. Though God is under no obligation to reveal Himself, He chose to reveal Himself to mankind through creation. God reveals Himself as eternal, powerful, glorious,...

What and When God Remembers

Though the concept may seem strange, the Bible occasionally declares that God “remembers” one thing or another. But we must not assume that God has “forgotten” something for a time—and then suddenly “remembers” it again. When God “remembers,” He has simply determined that the time for...

Understanding the Resurrection

The Resurrection Vindicates Christ’s Claims and Predictions What would you think of a man who, in every visible respect, appeared ordinary yet claimed to be the Son of God? What if he also claimed to be deserving of equal honor with God? What if he even...

You’re Going the Wrong Way!

A few years ago, I was preaching in prisons in Oklahoma. In one of those prisons, I had to go into the meeting location several minutes after the pastor who had invited me. When it was time to go in, the guard opened the iron door...

What was “Reformed” in the Reformation?

If one wants to know what the Protestant Reformation was all about without reading huge volumes of historical literature, it is perhaps most clarifying to look at the theological results. One should specifically note the rediscovery of five critical biblical doctrines that had been obscured from...

What It Was Like: Geography and Culture Make a Difference

I recently returned from a trip to Israel. The purpose for the trip was to create mental images in the minds of my students of that part of the world where so much Bible history took place. As we hiked down Judean hills, traversed the barren...

What We Will See Next

You may wish to know what is next in this world. Let me tell you what is about to come with certainty: Men and women “will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Though that statement was made by a man named Paul who...

Why I Long for Eternity

I love thinking about eternity. My favorite thoughts, however, are not of the heavenly city with its gold streets and jeweled walls (cf. Rev. 21:18-21). That city will be impressive, to be sure, but it is not all there is to our future existence. We are...