Topic Archives: Jesus Christ

John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan once said of F. W. Robertson of Brighton: ‘Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connection or other with salvation.’ This vague ‘mystification’ covers all the heretical and erroneous views of the atonement being mooted today. Indeed, F. W. Dillistone tells us enthusiastically: ‘there has […]

It was a perfect world, and a perfect universe, that God made. The whole work of creation was a clear demonstration of his greatness – in particular, of his infinite power and his infinite wisdom. As soon as the angels were created they could look at what God had done and at once discern a […]

Too much has been made of the fact that Jesus is never said to have smiled or laughed. That fact has been linked to his description as ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.’ The picture is developed making Jesus’ life joyless and stressful. That is a gross over-simplification. For one thing, a joyless […]

The day before John Owen departed to be with Christ (23 August 1683), he dictated his last letter to a friend: ‘I am going to him whom my soul has loved, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, – which is the whole ground of my consolation.’ The following day, William Payne […]

Never was a more bitter or blasphemous accusation made against the Lord Jesus Christ than the one reported in Luke 11:15: ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.’ During Jesus’ ministry the attitude of the religious authorities towards him had mushroomed from curiosity, to annoyance, to rivalry, to envy, and now to […]

Let me begin with a question (not a trick one!): ‘What is the principal exercise of faith?’ It is a straight-forward question and a very important question. For John Owen, the great English Puritan divine, the answer was instinctive: ‘The contemplation of the glory of Christ.’ Saving faith unites the believer to the Lord Jesus […]

Most Christians all over the world confess their faith in worship using one of two ancient, historical creeds: The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. When we confess the faith using one of these creeds, we not only confess those things we believe, but we remind ourselves that Christianity is a lot older than we […]

Church growth experts tell us that Christmas Eve surpasses Easter as the time when people are most likely to go to church. It’s a recent development but should not be surprising. Religious practices have caught up to cultural preferences. Santa Claus has always won out over the Easter Bunny. It’s an important piece of information […]

The child in the manger in Bethlehem, for whom there was no room in the inn, may have seemed powerless, but he was the Son of God. The angel had told Mary, his mother: ‘That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God’ (Luke 1:35). Thus, while he […]

How did awareness of heavenly councils between him and his Father shape Jesus’ sense of earthly mission? Every phase of our Saviour’s life was shaped and styled by his self-conscious sense that he had come from heaven ‘not to do (his) will but to do the will of him who sent (him)’ (John 6:38). Indeed, […]

Over the past weeks I have been reading through The Letter to the Hebrews. It has, as ever, been a fascinating, sobering and richly encouraging read. The Letter, as you will know, was written to Hebrew Christians who had become influenced by false teaching and were under pressure to give up on Christ and return […]

Some selections by Mack Tomlinson of Texas from Rutherford’s The Loveliness of Christ.1 The great Master Gardener, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with his own hand, planted me here in this part of his vineyard; here I grow and here I will abide till the great Master of the […]

Samuel Rutherford lived and preached in the first half of the seventeenth century and yet his life and work are still held in high regard. First published in this form in 1909 this beautifully presented little book is one to treasure and keep close for referring to continuously. These short pieces taken from Samuel Rutherford’s […]

to proclaim … the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8 Recently four teenagers, three of whom were entering their last year at high school, were killed in a car accident. I cannot imagine the grief and heartache of the parents of these young people, knowing that their children’s lives were snuffed out at such a […]

Christ is our sufficiency. This statement is true on the highest and most vital level of our lives. Only Christ has regarded us in all of our unworthiness and unloveliness and has loved us to the uttermost, giving His life as a ransom for us. Only Christ can cleanse us of the guilt, heal us […]