John Gifford Bellett (1795-1864) was the premiere devotional writer in what is called the “Brethren movement” of the 1800s. His sweet peaceableness filters through all his writing. In an age of doctrinal combat, we read Bellett and hear the apostle’s gentle whisper, “And yet show I unto you a more excellent way.” Bellett was born […]
Dispensationalism is renowned for its masterful defense of its sincerely-held theological convictions. In the past, its loyal detractors and critics usually lay outside its theological camp. Now, however, one of the strongest and most concerted challenges to traditional dispensationalism has come from within. An increasing number of former traditional dispensationalists are now proposing substantial changes, […]
The Palestinian Authority issued a commemorative stamp in May featuring the Wye River Accords with a picture of Yasser Arafat and President Clinton signing the document. The scene is from a photograph taken at the event, held at the White House last October. But Benjamin Netanyahu, recently defeated Prime Minister of Israel, who was in […]
What does the New Testament teach about baptism? The Holy Spirit begins in the Gospels where the disciples were commanded to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” (Mt. 28:19). Baptism is included in the commission to worldwide […]
The first mention of “the house of God” occurs in Genesis 28 where we find Jacob awakening from his dream with the realization that he has been in the presence of the living God: “How dreadful (awesome) is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of […]
It could be anticipated that the Revelation (or the Unveiling) would pull back the coverings that stand between us and the future, between us and the real world, and take us on a tour of the temple in heaven (of which the earthly models were mere “figures of the true”). What began as a long […]
Fleeing for his life, young Jacob had travelled over the undulating road from Beersheva on the edge of the Negev. Skirting old Salem, he had made it about twelve miles further north before the sun slipped behind the hills and “the Supplanter” bedded down for the night at what the Scripture calls simply “a certain […]
One of the descriptions the New Testament gives for the Church is that of a temple, also known as the house of God. More than just a metaphor, this allusion to the Old Testament temple is meant to stir our imagination to think of that temple–its worship, service, and structure–and to draw applications to the […]
John 10 is one of the great chapters of the Bible. It presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shepherd in a fivefold light: He is the true Shepherd (vv. 1-6); the good Shepherd (vv. 7-11); the only Shepherd (vv. 12-16); the obedient Shepherd (vv. 19-42). Still further, as the Head of the Church, He […]