Blog Search Results

Melchizedek to Jesus: The Divine Thread of Bread and Wine

...with its elements of bread and wine, pointed forward to a greater deliverance. It wasn’t just a historical commemoration but a foreshadowing of the ultimate Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice would bring deliverance from the bondage of sin. The elements of the meal — bread and wine — are steeped in symbolism and divine foreshadowing. The Institution of the Eucharist During the Last Supper, Jesus transformed the Passover meal into something new and everlasting. Luke 22:19–20Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembr...

Where Hal Lindsey and Dispensationalism Went Wrong

...at the “elements” of 2 Peter 3 that would be destroyed refer to the “most basic element of nature” — thus the physical universe. But EVERY TIME in the New Testament that the word “elements” (Greek, stoicheion) is used, it refers to the elements of the old covenant (Galatians 4:3, 9; Colossians 2:8, 20–22; Hebrews 5:12–13). So, what was to be destroyed? — the old covenant, not the physical universe (Hebrews 8:13). Lindsey (p. 180, 181) references Daniel 12 as predicting the end of the world. But Daniel 12 itself says that the “TIME OF THE END” would be when the power of the holy people would be shattered and the daily sacrifices f...

Lent: Day 3 - Mathetes to Diognetus, pt. 2

...or other elements, which may as well mean anything could be god to them, the Word is creator of the elements as is therefore greater and deserving of majesty and worship. There is a lot of emphasis on “the Word” in these chapters, you don't see the name Jesus or the title of Christ, except in a chapter heading, but there's no mistaking who the author is writing about, with some great descriptions of the nature and love of God throughout the remaining portion of this book. There is one small detail which stood out to me near the end of the epistle, and that's when the author gives a small tidbit of information about himself by saying that the things he is...

Lent Day 33: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXII

...t as bare elements, for they are, according to the Lord's declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ; for even though sense suggests this to you, yet let faith establish you. Judge not the matter from the taste, but from faith be fully assured without misgiving, that the Body and Blood of Christ have been vouchsafed (given) to you. Cyril then points to Solomon, saying he hinted at this grace found in the Eucharist in Ecclesiastes 9:7-8. “Go, eat your bread with enjoyment … Let your garments always be white” – receive the joy that Christ gives and press on toward salvation now you have put off the old garment and are clothed with a garment which is alwa...

Lent Day 36: Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 5-9

...if these elements can be changed in nature, then so are we by being born again through the waters of baptism, even though we don’t re-enter the womb to be physically changed. The Spirit is working in us and through us to make the change, just as He does in the elements of the Eucharist. It’s becoming clearer each day we read, that the early church accepted some form of transubstantiation/Real Presence in the Eucharist, but I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you can accept this, if you don’t already. I’ll instead close off with this quote from Ambrose, because whatever we believe concerning these things, we truly are sealed by the Spirit of God fi...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part Two)

...t and its elements. The crucial key to understanding phrases or sentences is found by matching them with their corresponding items in the whole structure. The introverted parallelism of Rev 14:9–11 shows us that the final element in the depiction of judgment is the smoke rising after the judgment has been completed, as is the case in Isa 34:9, 10. The climactic element is in the central position in this structure — the tormenting judgment that destroys utterly. The other two elements in the inversion refer to the intense experience of the judgment as it happens; it’s a full strength outpouring of God’s wrath that leaves no rest or break while it is u...