In the previous article, we considered the life of Jesus. He perfectly fulfilled the Father’s will – even in His death. This article will focus on the death of Jesus and what we should understand about it.
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September 14, 2016
The Death of Jesus
September 7, 2016
The Life of Jesus
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In this statement, John was referring to Jesus who came to earth to live among men. This was necessary in order to fulfill His mission through His death on the cross (Hebrews 2:14). We will examine the death of Jesus in more detail in a future article. In this article, we are going to take a broad look at the life of Jesus and see what we can learn and apply to our lives.
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May 4, 2016
What Christians Need to Know About the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses are commonly known for their zeal in evangelism – going door-to-door and trying to teach people what they believe to be the truth. Many people, even if they do not personally know anyone who is a Jehovah’s Witness, have encountered them through these unannounced visits to their home. Those who personally know any members of this group will probably acknowledge that they are good, moral people who also have some peculiar beliefs.
It is good for Christians to have at least a basic understanding of what others believe in order to be better equipped to teach the truth and defend against their errors. In this article, I will not attempt to make an exhaustive rebuttal to the beliefs and practices of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Rather, I will simply attempt to highlight some notable beliefs and explain how these are contrary to the Scriptures.*
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April 1, 2015
Is Divine Revelation Ongoing Today?
“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief” (Ephesians 3:1-3).
Paul told the Ephesians about the mystery he received by revelation. He was referring to divine revelation – a message that came from God. As an apostle (Ephesians 1:1), the Holy Spirit guided him “into all the truth” (John 16:13) so that he could say, “The things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14:37).
Does this type of divine revelation still occur today? Many people claim to receive messages directly from heaven. But does God reveal His will directly to people today like He did with Paul and others? It is important that we know the answer to that question. So let us consider it here.
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July 16, 2014
When Will the Lord Return?
The “end times” are an intriguing topic to many people. They wonder what will happen and speculate about when the end will be. Throughout the years, some have even tried to predict the date of Christ’s return; yet every one of these dates has come and gone. This is not a sign that the end of the world will not happen, just that there are false prophets who erroneously claim to know the “secret things” of God (Deuteronomy 29:29).
The Scriptures do not provide us with a date for the Lord’s return, nor are we given signs to look for that will signal that the end is approaching. However, the New Testament certainly provides a description for when the Lord will return. So in this article, we will use the Bible to answer this question: When will the Lord return?
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July 2, 2013
Audio: The Fall of Babylon
The United States is becoming more of an immoral and godless country. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for further acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” is another example of this.
Some have speculated that this ruling moves the United States one step closer to God bringing about its downfall. A growing acceptance of sin may mean we are closer to the downfall of this nation (Proverbs 14:34), but we should be careful about speculating too much about what God is actively doing because of what we are told in the book of Amos: “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). But sin certainly has consequences, even though not all of them are the result of God’s direct action.
This lesson examines the fall of “Babylon” in Revelation 18 and the important lessons it teaches us today.
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November 20, 2012
The Sixteen Apostles
You may be wondering about the title of this article. After all, were there not just twelve apostles? That is what children learn in Bible class. That is the number that immediately comes to mind for most Bible students of any age. If you count the men that Jesus chose during His time on the earth, there were just twelve apostles. But if you count every person mentioned in the Bible as being an apostle, you find not twelve, but sixteen.
Before noticing who these sixteen are, let us remember what the word apostle means. It is from the Greek word apostolos, which means one who is sent. In the context of Scripture, an apostle was one who was sent out on a divinely ordained mission with a message that came from above. His duty was to proclaim the good news of salvation.
So who were the sixteen apostles? We typically think of the twelve that were chosen by Jesus: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 10:2-4). Besides these, we read of Matthias (Acts 1:26), Paul (Romans 1:1), Barnabas (Acts 14:14), and even Jesus Himself (Hebrews 3:1) being called apostles.
Not every one of the sixteen was the same type of apostle – Barnabas and Jesus particularly were distinct in different ways, as we will notice. But what they all have in common is that their apostleships help explain how God has chosen to reveal His word and how He desires that it be spread. So with this in mind, let us consider the sixteen apostles.
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