Advent of the Messiah
Christmas is traditionally a celebration of the first coming of Jesus the Messiah, when he came as a baby in Bethlehem. This coming was to deal with our sin, and it led to the the Messiah’s death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is good, however, not to ignore the promise of his second coming. The second coming of the Messiah will be very different than the first. It will not be to deal with sin (Heb 9:28), but to rule the world in righteousness. This second......
To Him Who is Able to Establish You
Paul ends his book to the Romans with a doxology, calling for the glorification of the one “who is able to establish you” (Rom 16:25). The verb “to establish” (Gk. sterizo, στηρίζω) conveys the idea of causing something to be inwardly firm or strengthened. In fact, Paul used the same word in Romans 1:11, where he stated that the goal of his writing to the Romans was to strengthen them— “so that you may be established.” This idea is reminiscent of the psalmist’s description of the one who delights and meditates on......
