Results tagged “jesus”
While We Were Still Sinners (05/08/09 - 7 Comments)
This morning I came across the name Jason Dunham and spent a few minutes reading about his life and death. In 2004, Dunham was a twenty-two year-old Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Iraq. He became the first Marine since 1970 to earn the Medal of Honor--the nation's highest award for battlefield heroism--for actions in combat. On April 14, 2004, he was manning a checkpoint near Karabilah when an Iraqi man whose...
He Lives! (05/01/09 - 4 Comments)
This morning I cracked the cover of a new biography--one I spied while browsing the book tables at The Gospel Coalition Conference. It is titled The Life of Rowland Hill: The Second Whitefield and is written by Tim Shenton, a school teacher in England who has several previous biographies to his credit. Dr. Joel Beeke wrote the Foreword and he says this: "Here is biography at its best. Shenton marvellously brings Rowland Hill to life...
Eternity Without a Mediator (04/26/09 - 24 Comments)
In his little book Fear Not!, an examination of death and the afterlife from a Christian perspective, Ligon Duncan writes about the horrors of hell. Having done so, he offers a final reflection on the ultimate difference between heaven and hell. And, though I've read extensively, I do not recall ever hearing someone express it quite like this. These are words that are worthy of some reflection. Though he has already discussed hell, there is...
Behold the Man Upon a Cross (04/10/09 - 4 Comments)
As seems to be the case with most boys, my friends and I went through a stage where we found great joy in tying people to things. In second or third grade we would take turns being the guys who would grab the skipping ropes and twist endless knots, fastening one of our friends to a tree or fence or flag pole. And, of course, we would take turns being the unfortunate one who was...
The Cross He Bore - Outer Darkness (04/10/09 - 3 Comments)
Today is Good Friday and, not coincidentally, today we finish reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. It has proven, I think, a valuable read leading to those days we set aside to particularly remember Jesus' death and resurrection. Today's text is Matthew 27:45: "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." Here is a short quote: ***** At Bethlehem, when the Saviour was born, the...
The Cross He Bore - The King Among Bandits (04/09/09 - 3 Comments)
There is just one day remaining in our thirteen-day read of Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore. Tomorrow we will finish just on time to remember the death of Jesus on Good Friday. Meanwhile, today's text is Luke 23:33: "And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left." Leahy looks at what it means that Jesus...
The Cross He Bore - Satan's Cup Refused (04/08/09 - 4 Comments)
Today we come to the eleventh chapter of Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore, a book many of us are reading to turn our hearts and minds toward the cross as we prepare to remember Jesus' death and to celebrate his resurrection. Today's text is Mark 15:23: "And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it." Leahy uses this chapter to look to the cup Jesus refused and to compare...
The Cross He Bore - Outside the Gates (04/07/09 - 3 Comments)
Good Friday is fast approaching and, not coincidentally, we are drawing near to the end of our reading of Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore. Today, in chapter 10, Leahy looks to John 19:17 which reads "So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha." In this chapter Leahy looks to the significance of Jesus being taken...
The Cross He Bore - The Crown of Thorns (04/06/09 - 2 Comments)
Today we come to chapter 9 of The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. And today the author focuses on the words of John 19:5 and the crown of thorns. "So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, 'Behold the man!'" Leahy looks to the shame, the significance and the wonder of this brutal crown. ***** There he stood, his face bruised, swollen and bleeding, and...
The Cross He Bore - The Butt of Mockery (04/05/09 - 8 Comments)
A week from today we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Today, those of us who are reading through The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy are focusing on the mockery he first endured on his way to the cross. The text is from Matthew 26:67,68: "They spit in his face, and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, 'Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?'. I will share...
The Cross He Bore - Sentenced to Death (04/04/09 - 3 Comments)
We are now a week into our reading of Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore. We are also, of course, just a week away from remembering Jesus' death and celebrating his resurrection. Today's text is Matthew 26:65,66: "Then the high priest tore his robes and said, 'He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?' They answered, 'He deserves death.'" Here is just a...
The Cross He Bore - Taking the Oath (04/03/09 - 4 Comments)
This is day six of our thirteen days trek through The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. Today's text is from Matthew 26:63,64: "And the high priest said to him, 'I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus said to him, 'You have said so.'" In this chapter Leahy continues to look at the farce of a trial Jesus was subjected to by the...
The Cross He Bore - The Dumb Lamb (04/02/09 - 11 Comments)
This is day five of our thirteen days spent reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. Today's text is from Matthew 26:62,63: "The high priest stood up and said, 'Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?' But Jesus remained silent." What stood out to me in Leahy's description of this event in the life of Jesus was that his silence was not merely part of his...
The Cross He Bore - Satan's Hour (04/01/09 - 4 Comments)
This is the fourth day of our thirteen days spent reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. Today's text is from Luke 22:53: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." In this chapter Leahy looks to the sovereignty of God and his foreknowledge of all that would come. "This hour was predestined, and because predestined it was prophesied: prophecy depends on predestination." And so all that happened to Christ this night was...
The Cross He Bore - Strengthened to Suffer (03/31/09 - 7 Comments)
This is the third day of our thirteen days spent reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. Today's text is from Luke 22:43: "And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him." In this chapter Leahy writes about the angel who comforted Christ and shows that the angel not only brought comfort, but that he strengthened Christ for the greater pain and torment he was about to endure. "The angel's presence served...
The Cross He Bore - Prayerful Submission (03/30/09 - 4 Comments)
This is day two of our thirteen-day trek through Frederick Leahy's The Cross He Bore. Today Leahy looks to Jesus' words of submission to the Father. "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will" (Matt 26:39). Here is a favorite quote: ***** How clearly the true humanity of Christ is seen in Gethsemane, more so than in much of our standard dogmatics!...
The Cross He Bore - Man of Sorrows (03/29/09 - 7 Comments)
Over the next thirteen days, I will be reading one chapter each day of Frederick Leahy's book The Cross He Bore: Meditations on the Sufferings of the Redeemer. I know that many of you will be reading along as well. My plan is simply to post a favorite quote or two, or perhaps a small reflection on the chapter. I will then open it up for discussion if you have something you'd like to add....
Awakening to Grace (12/12/08 - 15 Comments)
There's always an element of frustration when I read the gospels. I read of these men who traveled with Jesus, who followed him month after month, who drank in nearly every word of his earthly ministry. And yet somehow they just did not get it. Somehow the full reality of who he was and what he would do escaped them. It was only in hindsight, only after all was unmistakably clear, only in the book...
A Righteous Man (11/11/08 - 13 Comments)
Every believer carries a measure of the guilt for Jesus' death. Was it not for our willful disobedience to God's perfect Law, we would have no need of a Savior. We acknowledge in song that it was our hands that drove the spikes into His and sometimes speak about driving the nails into Jesus' hands every time we sin. We speak figuratively, of course, knowing that although we were not present at the time of...
I Love You This Much (10/29/08 - 60 Comments)
Last week I spent an evening reading Rick Warren's soon-to-be-published book The Purpose of Christmas. It is a mostly-original work that, while it draws heavily from The Purpose Driven Life is at least not entirely derived from it. An evangelistic gift book, it is meant to be given as a Christmas gift. I have written a review of it that I will post a little closer to the release date. For now, though, I wanted...