Right, just to give you some background as to what the book of Ezekiel is. The people of God in Judah were exiled to Babylon as part of the discipline that the Lord brought them through, and Ezekiel went with them. And he received visions while he was among the…

Christ’s death had its effect first on God, who was hereby propitiated (or, better, who hereby propitiated himself), and only because it had this effect did it become an overthrowing of the powers of darkness and a revealing of God’s seeking and saving love. J.I. Packer, 1973. Source.

We sometimes talk about the third use of the law… The primary use of the law is to convict of sin. The secondary use of the law is to restrain sin more generally. Then the third use of the law is that, as Christians, we should follow the law. But…

The most significant expression of union with Christ is in the local church. Yes, there is a personal aspect—a Christian does come to Jesus individually—but it does not stop there. God has given the church to confirm and strengthen that union. Just like a marriage involves witnesses and a community,…

It is like if there were a prison sentence for robbing a bank, and I was a bank manager whose bank had been robbed. The person who robbed my bank could meet me afterwards, say sorry, and be totally forgiven by me. But the law would still require that person…

If you’ve been reading Matthew 28, then you’re meant to make you think of the transfiguration of Jesus, which appears in chapter 17. We read that Jesus was transfigured before them; his appearance changed; his face shone like the sun; and his clothes became white as light. They’re both scenes…

The turning point of Matthew’s gospel is chapter 16, where Jesus asks his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter says that he is ‘the Christ, Son of the living God’. Jesus tells Peter that if he has seen that, and if the disciples have also seen that,…

Let me give you some background information… Look at verse 1 of Matthew 28. It says that it was ‘after the Sabbath’ —that’s the Jewish Sabbath being referred to, which is Saturday. So it’s after the Sabbath, which is Sunday—verse one— ‘towards the dawn of the first day of the…

My favourite musical is Oliver!, and, if you’ve seen Oliver!, you’ll know that the hero of the play is not Oliver but Fagin is the great comedy character, the great star of the show. But in Charles Dickens’s original novel, Fagin does not live to the end of the story but he…

When I was a teenager, the film Finding Nemo came out, and the whole family went to see it, and my grandad said, “you’re going to see the film that’s set in an aquarium”. Now, if you’ve seen Finding Nemo you’ll know that it does include an aquarium, but that…