The likelihood of dying because you are a Christian is closer than it used to be for Americans. The freedom from such threats has generally existed in this country for a tiny portion of history (about 400 years). We have gotten used to it. It seems like the way things must be. So our first reaction to the threat that things might be otherwise is often anger.

But that anger may be a sign that we have lost our sense of being aliens and exiles (“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles . . .” 1 Peter 2:11). Perhaps we have settled in too much to this world and this country in particular. We don’t feel as homesick for Christ as Paul did:

“But our citizenship is in heaven…

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This is part 2 of 4 on the incarnation. Part One: What Is the Incarnation?

Jesus has a human body, emotions, mind, and will. And this in no way compromises his deity.

When the Word became flesh—when the eternal Son of God took on humanity—he did not merely become a man in part. He fully became a true human being.

Jesus’ Human Body

It is clear enough from the New Testament that Jesus has a human body. John 1:14: “The Word became flesh.” Jesus’ humanity is one of the first tests of orthodoxy (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). Jesus was born (Luke 2:7). He grew (Luke 2:40, 52). He grew tired (John 4:6) and got thirsty (John 19:28). He got hungry (Matthew 4:2) and was physically weak (Matth…

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Everywhere Paul preached some believed and some did not. How are we to understand why some of those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1, 5) believed and some did not?

The answer why some did not believe is that they “thrust it aside” (Acts 13:46) because the message of the gospel was “folly to them, and they [were] not able to understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The mind of the flesh “is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7). Those who hear and reject the gospel “hate the light” and do not come to the light lest their deeds should be exposed (John 3:20). They remain “darkened in their understanding . . . because of the ignora…

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How awful and awesome to live in the last days—the days between Jesus’ first and second coming. The New Testament speaks surprisingly about the priority of our season of history and the Book written especially for these last days. It is astounding to take the claims of these texts at face value:

• 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11: Now these things [Israel’s exodus and wilderness wanderings] took place as examples to us, that we might not desire evil as they did.... Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
• Romans 15:4: Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endu…

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Very, very few Christian writers are being read widely 100 years after their death. J. C. Ryle, the first Bishop of Liverpool, died in 1900. He wrote the foreword to his book, Are You Ready for the End of Time?, in 1867. One of the reasons for his relevance today is that his work is Bible-saturated, careful, clear, and urgent.

Here is one of those paragraphs that rings clear and true like a bell in our time.

I believe that the widespread unbelief, indifference, formalism and wickedness, which are to be seen throughout Christendom, are only what we are taught to expect in God’s Word. Troublous times, departures from the faith, evil men waxing worse and worse, love waxing co…

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So far, the landmark Something-Zero birthdays—20, 30, 40—have been no big deal for me. But this year, I beg the kindness of my older and wiser friends, because I’d been moping a few months about the birthday due before the end of the year—60. I never knew when I crossed the halfway line of my life, but I do know sixty is definitely on the death side of the midmark of my life span, and I don’t like that thought.

Those feelings changed recently and rapidly, though. A few days ago I was within inches of not ever having a 60th birthday...or our 39th wedding anniversary...or another Christmas....

That afternoon I had the bright idea of checking out the new book outlet and stopping at th…

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Advent is my yearly reminder to sharpen and deepen my understanding of the incarnation. So in this spirit, this is the first in a series of four Advent posts related to the incarnation.

What Is the Incarnation?

The incarnation refers literally to the in-fleshing of the eternal Son of God—Jesus becoming a human being. The doctrine of the incarnation says that the eternal second person of the Trinity took on humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A helpful way to remember the key aspects of the incarnation is John 1:14: “The Word became flesh.”

The Word...

The Word refers to the eternal Son of God who was “in the beginning with God” and who himself is God (John 1:1). From et…

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What’s worse than being a beast? Being like a beast. Animals are supposed to be beastly; humans aren’t. When we become like animals, it’s against our nature; it’s perverse. And we won’t be that impressed with our salvation until we're thoroughly digusted by the perversion we're saved from.

When we are arrogant enough to stand up against God, we make ourselves like animals to him. The Lord made this metaphor literal with Nebuchadnezzar.

As Nebuchadnezzar was walking on his palace rooftop, he looked out and proclaimed:

Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

God was unimpressed. To s…

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The only statement Timothy McVeigh left behind when he was executed in Indiana, June 11, 2001, was a handwritten copy of the 19th century poem “Invictus” by William Henley.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
…

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When huge pain comes into your life—like divorce, or the loss of a precious family member, or the dream of wholeness shattered—it is good to have a few things settled with God ahead of time. The reason for this is not because it makes grieving easy, but because it gives focus and boundaries for the pain.

Being confident in God does not make the pain less deep, but less broad...

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