In Light of the Gospel

Facebook Twitter Gplus LinkedIn RSS

Free from Logos: “The Godhead of God” by A. W. Pink

Published on May 2, 2012 by in Books

Logos is giving away The Godhead of God by A. W. Pink. Pink explains the book this way: ”The Godhood of God! What is meant by the expression? This: the omnipotency of God, the absolute sovereignty of God. When we speak of the Godhood of God we affirm that God is God. We affirm that God is something more than an empty title: that God is something more than a mere figure-head: that God is something more than a far-distant Spectator, looking helplessly on at the suffering which sin has wrought. When we speak of the Godhood of God we affirm that He is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’ “You can get it here.

 

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

A OT Picture of the New Earth

Published on April 25, 2012 by in Culture

In my 11th grade theology class at Westminster Academy, we are reading David Hegeman’s helpful book Plowing in Hope: Towards a Biblical Theology of Culture. Here is an interesting quote regarding the broad cultural work reflected in the Old Testament:

The tabernacle and temple were both emblematic–on a small scale–of the grand diversity which was to make the global culturative endeavor given to man in the Garden of Eden. And they point forward to the wondrous culturative potentialities which will be released after the consummation, when a glorified, sinless humanity fulfills with perfection the culturative development of the New Earth.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Holy Saturday: Christ in the Tomb

Published on April 7, 2012 by in Death of Jesus

Today is called Holy Saturday. There is a significant connection between this day and the Sabbath Day in the original creation. Just as God rested from his labors on the original Sabbath, the Son of God rested in the tomb on that Holy Sabbath. But the result of Christ’s Sabbath rest is a New Creation, the beginning of the Eighth Day.

Below is Hans Holbein’s painting, “Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb.” The Russian author Dostoevsky saw this painting and was haunted by it. In his novel The Idiot, Prince Myshkin says: “Why some people may lose their faith by looking a that picture!”

 

There is something haunting about this painting. Look at the picture. There is a sense of death permeating it: head tilted back, mouth open, lifeless…Jesus was dead. But He didn’t stay there.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Good Friday

Published on April 6, 2012 by in Death of Jesus

Our Good Friday service is always one of my favorites in the year. The service had moments of silent meditation and singing of hymns that reflect the depth of Christ’s death, such as “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted,” “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” and “Ah, Holy Jesus.”

Thinking about Christ and his death has a certain sense of “weightiness” to it that is hard to describe. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to live through that Sabbath after Good Friday. Thanks be to God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Here is one of Thomas Cranmer’s collects for Good Friday (based on Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11 and John 10:16):

Merciful God, who has made all men, and hatest nothing that thou has made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word: and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reignth with thee and the holy ghost, now and forever. Amen.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Maundy Thursday

Published on April 5, 2012 by in Church Year

I didn’t grow up in a liturgical tradition that followed the church year, so I was well into college before I heard of Good Friday, much less Maundy Thursday. This comes from the Latin Mandatum, the word for “command” or “mandate,” and that day is called Maundy Thursday because the night before Jesus died, he gave his disciples a new command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962)

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Free from Logos: “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners” by John Bunyan

Published on April 5, 2012 by in Books

As part of their Free Book of the Month program in 2012, Logos is giving away Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan. You can get it here.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Vos’s Grace and Glory

Published on April 4, 2012 by in Books

Thanks to Jason Button for pointing out that Geerhardus Vos’s Grace and Glory is available for free download as an ePub, Mobipocket/Kindle, or PDF. Grace and Glory is one of my favorite books.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
1 Comment  comments 

Mark Dever Interviews Greg Beale on Biblical Theology

Published on April 2, 2012 by in Misc

Greg Beale has taught me a great deal about Biblical Theology. His recent book A New Testament Biblical Theology is a book every teacher of Scripture should read. Mark Dever recently interviewed Beale for the 9Marks Leadership Interview. Here’s the description: “Greg Beale gives a crash course on the discipline of biblical theology, assesses recent works on it, and explains what he’s written and why.” Listen to it here.

 

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 

Thinking about Ministry and Personal Mistakes

Published on March 23, 2012 by in Interviews

Tony Payne has a good interview with Phillip Jenson on his experiences in the ministry. The interview is titled, “The Mistakes of Philip Jenson.” Here is one section of it. Tony asks, “Well, knowing what you do now, thinking back over decades in ministry: if you were talking to a young man or woman in ministry just getting started, what would you say to them?” Jenson says,

You’ve got to take up your cross and follow Jesus. So this is no career move for the faint-hearted. This is no career move for someone who wants an easy life or a nice life. You’re not going to be accepted, and you’re not going to be liked: you are following the crucified one.

So grasp that reality before you start. That’s not an invitation for nasty people to join the ministry. If you enjoy conflict you have a spiritual problem. But if you withdraw from conflict, or think you’re going to win people over by niceness, you have a major problem because you’re not actually dealing with Christianity. People like using the suffering servant of the cross as an image of loving service. It is that. But it is also an image of painful martyrdom and alienation and rejection. That’s what Christian ministry is always going to be about.

Secondly then, it’s really important to be at one with your spouse about it. Family life is really important, and without a good wife beside me I could not have survived the years that God has given me in the work that I’ve been doing. Helen’s strength has been massive in enabling me to do what I do.

The third thing is: expect to make mistakes. It’s okay to make mistakes. In fact, it’s good to make mistakes. A person who hasn’t made mistakes hasn’t tried hard enough. You can’t be in a people ministry without making mistakes. You can’t be in something as complicated as Christian ministry without making mistakes. But you’ve got to learn how to deal with mistakes. You’ve got to be able to say, “Yeah, I got that dead wrong. I need to say sorry, and to fix up the things I can fix up, and to leave the rest to God. I have to pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.” Mind you, some mistakes have consequences that you bear for the rest of your life. You can’t avoid that.

 

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
2 Comments  comments 

How an affair begins

Published on March 22, 2012 by in Marriage

That’s the title of an article by Andrée Seu in the online version of World Magazine. She explains:

A friend of mine told me that now she understands how adultery begins.

She went to a woman’s house to drop off a package as a favor to someone, but the woman was not home. The husband was, and they exchanged pleasantries for a few moments. My friend noticed the carpentry project the man was working on and commented on his artistry. She asked him a few questions about it, and it didn’t take much to encourage him to spill forth for an hour and a half about every aspect of the work. It was fun.

It’s an important warning that we should all hear. Read the whole article.

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
No Comments  comments 
© James Grant, 2007-2012
credit