Prayer is not as easy as it looks, especially when we are completely confused about those things for which we ought to ask. That was the situation in which the disciples found themselves. When they said to our Lord, “teach us how . . . Continue reading →
After the fall, believers wandered. They were pilgrims, looking for a another city whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11). They were looking for a heavenly city. Under the old, Mosaic covenant, believers were given colorful pictures of heaven and even the . . . Continue reading →
I grew up on the Plains. It is not easy for Plainsmen to ask for help. The Plains are the home of rugged individualism, which was a very useful trait for settlers who turned over ground for the first time. Farms were . . . Continue reading →
Recently I watched a film about the extension of the telegraph from Omaha to California. It was the original Twitter. Telegrams were short, stylized forms of communication but they were immensely powerful. Like the extension of the railroads, the telegraph helped to . . . Continue reading →
Our familiarity with the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) might give us the impression that it is rudimentary. It is not. Right at the outset we are confronted with a challenge. The first petition is not quite what we might think. There is . . . Continue reading →
What this all means is that how one understands the kingdom is very closely related to one’s eschatology. This is the often unspoken assumption behind the too-often heated debate over the kingdom in confessional Reformed circles. Most everyone in the contemporary intra-Reformed agrees that Christ is reigning now, that he is sovereign now, but the disagreement comes over the implications of that reign. We all agree that the kingdom has been inaugurated and that it has earthly manifestations but where we disagree is where to look for those manifestations. Since the late 19th century, those who have been influenced by what has come to be called “neo-Calvinism” (neo is Greek for new) have sometimes argued that Christ’s reign is such that the kingdom is manifested in everything than any Christian does for the sake of Christ. This is a more expansive way of speaking of the implications of the kingdom of God than was traditionally used. Those who take the narrower view, tend to associate the manifestation of the kingdom of God on the earth with the visible institutional church. Continue reading →
We have already seen some of the difficulties that come with both an over-realized and under-realized eschatology. In contrast to both we should see that the Gospel of Mark presents our Lord Jesus as proclaiming neither a fully realized, earthly kingdom nor . . . Continue reading →
One of the most striking moments in the gospels is our Lord’s prayer in Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:39–46). For one thing, in those moments we are given compelling evidence of our Lord’s true humanity. This is not . . . Continue reading →
We are often tempted to set asking and trusting against each other but, of course, it is a false choice. When a child asks his Dad for breakfast he trusts that his father can provide. It does not occur to him to . . . Continue reading →
One of the most persistent temptations Christians face is that of turning the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. As we pray we must always be reminded that we, who trust in Jesus Christ as our substitute and Mediator, are . . . Continue reading →
In the 19th century Karl Marx (1818–83) diagnosed our most basic problem in material terms. He prescribed a future (eschatological) solution that was entirely material. He himself said that he had turned G. W. F. Hegel’s (1770–1831) spiritual view of history and . . . Continue reading →
Whoever has God for his friend will find Satan to be his enemy. He receives the name of Satan, first, because he is the adversary of God himself; and next, because he is the adversary of those whom God honors with his . . . Continue reading →
We might first associate the word doxology with the song often sung at the close of public worship services but it is, in fact, two Greek words (δόξᾰ + λογία), which was taken over into medieval Latin and thence into English in . . . Continue reading →
There are a couple of expressions that we use, in prayer, almost without thinking. One of them is the word “Amen.” This little term is more important than we might think. In at least one place in Scripture it is used as . . . Continue reading →
Francis, the Bishop of Rome (who claims to be the universal vicar of Christ on the earth) has recently announced his opinion that the translation of the sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer should be revised. Anthony Esolen has published a terrific . . . Continue reading →
This is part three in our series on prayer, Our Father. So far we have looked at what prayer is and why we should pray. In this episode we are considering that for which we pray. It is not always easy to . . . Continue reading →
In this episode we answer a Heideltext and an email. The first is a question about how it is that the Baptists (from a Reformed perspective) confuse the divine decree with the external administration of the covenant of grace. The second is . . . Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark answers eight emails from listeners on where the New Testament repeats the promise, “I will be their God and they will be my people;” Luther’s view of the book of James; what books to use to learn . . . Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark answers Heidelmail and Heideltexts from Chris, about how we should think about the Lutheran doctrine of salvation, is it a middle way between the Reformed and the Lutherans? By the way, the title of which he was . . . Continue reading →
In this episode Dr Clark answers Heidelmail from Kwan about what Acts 2:42 and signs and wonders, from Exile1986 about how to answer a child’s question about why we cannot see Jesus right now, and from Jerome about an expression in Dane . . . Continue reading →