What saith the Scripture

  Justification by Faith Alone (The Relation of Faith to Justification ) Dr. Joel R. Beeke Justification by faith alone was Martin Luther's great spiritual and theological breakthrough. It did not come easily. He had tried everything from sleeping on hard floors and fasting to climbing a staircase in Rome while kneeling in prayer. Monasteries, disciplines, confessions, masses, absolutions, good works-all proved fruitless. Peace with God eluded him. The thought of the righteousness of God pursued him. He hated the very word "righteousness," which he believed provided a divine mandate to condemn him. Light finally dawned for Luther as he mediated on Romans 1:17, " For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith ." Justification by Faith Alone (The Relation of Faith to Justification) by Joel Beeke

And so all Israel, etc. Many understand this of the Jewish people, as though Paul had said, that religion would again be restored among them as before: but I extend the word Israel to all the people of God, according to this meaning, When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews also shall return from their defection to the obedience of faith; and thus shall be completed the salvation of the whole Israel of God, which must be gathered from both; and yet in such a way that the Jews shall obtain the first place, being as it were the first-born in Gods family. This interpretation seems to me the most suitable, because Paul intended here to set forth the completion of the kingdom of Christ, which is by no means to be confined to the Jews, but is to include the whole world. The same manner of speaking we find in Galatians 6:16. The Israel of God is what he calls the Church, gathered alike from Jews and Gentiles; and he sets the people, thus collected from their dispersion, in opposition to the

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." ( Matthew 24:35). It has been generally believed that Jesus here meant that even though these physical heavens and earth will pass away some day, that is not true about His word which will never pass away. Whether this physical earth and solar system ever passes away is not the point in this chapter. There is more to this statement of Jesus than meets the eye. Jesus has been talking in apocalyptic language, and heaven and earth passing away could mean here just what He has been talking about - that the heaven and earth of the old Jewish order will pass away, and that His word concerning all this is sure to come to pass. Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away

  Berean Bible Church The Rapture -- Physical or Spiritual? We talked last week about the passing away of the old heaven and earth and the establishment of the new heaven and earth. I stated that we are NOW living in the new heaven and earth. Obviously I don't view the new heaven and earth as physical, we are certainly not living in a physical paradise. I believe that the new heaven and earth is a spiritual reality. I believe that Isaiah 65-66 and 2 Peter 3 and Revelation 21-22 speak of spiritual truths not physical truths. Am I spiritualizing too much of the Bible? Is it wrong to make spiritual application to things or is it the way that things should be interpreted?

Chrysostom (375)"But of wars in Jerusalem is He speaking; for it is not surely of those without, and everywhere in the world; for what did they care for these? And besides, He would thus say nothing new, if He were speaking of the calamities of the world at large, which are happening always. For before this, were wars, and tumults, and fightings; but He speaks of the Jewish wars coming upon them at no great distance, for henceforth the Roman arms were a matter of anxiety. Since then these things also were sufficient to confound them, He foretells them all. Therefore He saith, they shall come not by themselves or at once, but with signs. For that the Jews may not say, that they who then believed were the authors of these evils, therefore hath He told them also of the cause of their coming upon them. "For verily I say unto you," He said before, "all these things shall come upon this generation," having made mention of the stain of blood on them. " (Homilies

THE INVISIBLE REIGN OF CHRIST AND COMING IN THE CLOUDS THE INVISIBLE REIGN OF CHRIST AND COMING IN THE CLOUDS I once received this question regarding the invisible reign of Christ and His coming in the clouds: "I was wondering, since the Apostles have gone to the Lord some 2000 years ago, and you say that Christ promised to come in THEIR generation (by the meaning of the word "generation" you mean the immediate one -- their life times), can you please explain where he is presently ruling, for all eyes to see and all ears to hear on this earth? As in Wherefore, if they shall say unto you. Behold, he is in the desert: go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers: believe it not. Matt 24:26 Are you alluding to some kind of Jehovah's Witness idea that Christ is in fact invisibly ruling the earth or on the earth at this time? Behold he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all the kindred's of the earth shall wail

Henry on the Seven Sayings - by Michael Phillips Seven Sayings, The - Sermon 1 of 7 Tonight, with God's blessing, we'll start a new Puritan study called Matthew Henry on the Seven Sayings. The seven sayings , of course, refer to the words of our Lord on the cross. I'm slow to find symbolism in the numbers of the Bible, but here I think we have some. If seven is the number of ...