Optimism

Christians need an optimistic view of God’s kingdom. We need to know that Christ’s opponents—including satanic conspirators who manipulate currencies, use COVID and its vaccinations for political purposes, and otherwise attempt to rule the world—will fail. False religions, and false doctrine within the church, also war against the kingdom of…

God poured out the Holy Spirit during Israel’s feast of Pentecost. This provided the church with the power necessary to fulfill the Great Commission (Acts 1:8). That commission contains two parts. First, Jesus commands his disciples to “teach (Gk. mathēteuō) all nations” (Matt 28:19, KJV). The word “teach” means “make…

Recent posts in our Mediations in Matthew series have looked at Jesus’ accomplishments in his death, burial, and resurrection (Matt 27–28). Through these events, he erected a new Temple (here) and redefined Israel (here). In our last post (here), we said Jesus accomplished the true Exodus.  Paul authorized the comparison…

Matthew 22 shows a theological battle between Jesus and the apostate Jewish leaders of his day. The skirmishes comprise four rounds of Q&A. They occurred on Tuesday of Passion Week in AD 30. We have seen two in previous posts. We will review these before looking at the other two. Question 1…

A few days ago a reader sent me an interesting message. He said, “As I read through your blog … I was struck to ask you one single question—so what? So what if what you say about Jesus in Matt 24 is real, what does it mean for us?” Other…

Matthew’s gospel emphasizes the kingdom of heaven. “The central emphasis of the book is found in what is designated (uniquely in the Gospels) as … ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ (Matt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; cf. 26:13).” To understand the gospel, we must understand the kingdom. In Matthew 19, Jesus uses four…

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” — Prov 29:18 (ESV) Prophecy leads God’s people to obey their Lord. But, several ingredients must be present. First, God must give us a vision. When Samuel was young, “the word…

As the apostles were writing the New Testament, God was bringing the Mosaic age to a close. He was also establishing the messianic-age kingdom of God. Matthew’s gospel emphasizes this age change. John and Jesus had announced the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt 3:2; 4:17). Jesus had taught…

The New Testament gives a surprising report of Roman centurions. It mentions six, each a “commander of 100 men in the Roman army.” They all had a positive connection to the kingdom of heaven. Matt 8:5–13 presents the New Testament’s first centurion. His perception of the kingdom caused Jesus to…

Jesus did not preach a theoretical kingdom. Centuries earlier Daniel declared God would set up his kingdom in the days of the Roman kings. It would consume all other kingdoms (Dan 2:44). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1–7:29) Jesus shows the tangible nature of that kingdom. The context…