Topic Archives: Jesus Christ

The following is an excerpt from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, What Is Faith?, which has recently been reprinted by the Banner with a new, modern typeset and an updated cover. It is impossible to trust God in the Christian sense without holding that he is a free and living person, Creator and Ruler of […]

The following was first published in the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 6, no. 1 (2001): 21-23. It can be found on the Grace to You website here, and was first republished on the Banner website on March 1, 2000. Near the end of his life, Augustine of Hippo meticulously reviewed everything he had […]

Recently reading Paul’s Second ‌Letter to the Thessalonians, I was struck by a word that immediately arrested me. Paul has been writing about the ‘coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Thess. 2:1). He assures the church that the Lord had not yet come, and would not come, ‘unless the rebellion comes first and the […]

In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord, high and lifted up. There had been no king like Uzziah since the golden age of Solomon 300 years before. He had reigned for 52 years—the vast majority of the people did not remember any other king. It was a time of […]

‘See Mary weeping.’ So runs the invitation in the Townend-Getty Easter hymn, See What a Morning. Mary has come to Jesus’ tomb on the morning of the first day of the week and stands outside it weeping. Why is she weeping? She gives us the answer herself: ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I […]

Gentleness is tender strength. Without the tender heart, strength could do damage. Without the strong hand, tenderness could prove ineffectual. Gentleness, then, is a function of strength. There is nothing either harsh or weak about gentleness, but rather pity of heart and power of hand combined attractively and effectively. While it knows nothing of heartless […]

As Machen lay dying on New Year’s Eve, 1936, he wasn’t thinking about any of his many and considerable achievements throughout his life. He dictated a telegram to his colleague John Murray in which his last words are recorded, ‘I’m so thankful for [the] active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.’

Picture life as a journey, a journey from birth to death. We are born, we live, and we die. That’s how it was for Jesus. Life was a journey for him too. When he made our nature his own, he made our journey his own as well. At both the beginning and the end of […]

The following is the second chapter of Rhett P. Dodson’s newest title, With A Mighty Triumph! * * * Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not […]

‘Blessed by my Master’s name, this disorder’ [a violent sickness from which he was just recovering] ‘found me employed in his service. It seized me in the pulpit, like a soldier wounded in the field. ‘This has been a busy summer with me. In about two months I rode about five hundred miles, and preached […]

I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas days in the year; for there is work enough in the world, and a little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas day is really a boon to us, particularly as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once […]

Little does it require proof that Christ is the God of Christians. In the New Testament all divine titles are given to him. He is called God, the true God, the great God, God over all, Jehovah. He is declared to be almighty, omnipresent, immutable, and eternal. He created heaven and earth; all things visible and invisible were made […]

We have made these studies of the so-called Great Heresies because they represent significant false steps in the history of Christian teaching; in each of them a true teaching is distorted, and so becomes false. Each precipitated a crisis that forced the Church to look deeper into the Scriptures and consider the fullness of God’s […]

‘But God,’ -Ephesians 2:4a. God spoke and all things came into being. He gave freedom for man and woman to eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve was deceived and Adam deliberately disobeyed God. And then death came upon all mankind, […]

It came as a bit of a shock, although not a great surprise, to hear a leading Reformed minister say recently that he did not have a proper doctrine of the church for most of his ministry. We have witnessed a recovery of the doctrines of grace over the last sixty years in the United […]

These questions and statements are designed to provoke thought in the area of the sovereignty of God in salvation. The responsibility of man is not emphasized here but should be included in a balanced view of salvation. The fact that God is a sovereign and man is responsible to respond to God cannot be denied. […]

According to Romans 1:18-21 everyone born into this world, including you the reader, knows that there is a God. But many people attempt to suppress these thoughts about God. Here Romans says: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since […]

If I can talk you into believing the gospel, then there is someone else who is able to talk you out of believing the gospel of Christ. But if God convinces you, then it is, in fact, a reality which cannot be taken away from you. So, what is the gospel according to the Bible? […]

Geoff Thomas completed his ministry of over fifty years recently in Alfred Place Baptist Church (Independent) in Aberystwyth, and this was one of his final sermons. 2 Timothy 4:6-8 ‘For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I […]

‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.‘ 2 Corinthians 5:10 Can there be anything more fearful than the prospect of standing before the Lord Jesus Christ and giving a […]

This title may seem a bit odd, and there would be some good reasons for that, I suppose. Firstly, most people – in the West at least – are likely more concerned about what sort of coffee they might buy than what religion they may choose. And of course most folks simply pick up their […]

Introduction In addressing what are called ‘the Great Heresies,’ it is important for us to recall that heresies usually represent what Alister McGrath has called ‘a failed attempt at orthodoxy,’ (Heresy [London, SPCK, 2009] p. 13) an attempt to make sense of the Bible that fails to take into account the full richness of the […]

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9). Theologians speak of both the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. I wish, briefly, to take up the issue of our Lord’s humiliation. He emptied […]

How do we cultivate awe in the presence of God? What is Christian meditation? How will knowing Christ better help Christians in their daily walk with the Lord? Listen below to J.I. Packer and Mark Jones as they discuss some of these searching questions. Also, learn more about Mark Jones’ new book Knowing Christ, which […]

‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). We are considering the perfections of God. When the Puritan Stephen Charnock considers the attributes of God he lines up this beautiful string […]