Ed Jarrett

It would be easy to read this and see a God who was caught off guard by how sinful humanity had become. A God who became so angry that he decided to wipe out the whole mess and start over again. But it is hard to reconcile that with a God who is omniscient, who knows the future. A God who had chosen Christ as our atoning sacrifice before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20). And who had chosen me in Christ at the same time (Eph. 1:4).

Satan is a figure from the Bible who has entered into popular culture. He is often pictured as a red, humanlike creature with horns, a tail and carrying a pitchfork. The ruler of Hades and the demon hordes. The tormentor of lost souls.

In our modern culture, satan is more of a cartoon character than a real entity. But the Bible is clear that Satan is real and is the enemy of God’s people. But where Satan came from is shrouded in mystery, and the Bible does not have a great deal to say about it. This article will examine what it does say, along with his purpose in creation.

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God’s expectation is not just that judicial justice would prevail. But that acting justly toward others would also be a priority. That we would be doing what is right in our dealings with other people. Rather than taking advantage of those who are weaker than we are, we should be using our strength to elevate them.

Jesus demonstrated his authority in many ways: over the Scripture; in forgiving sin; in healing and casting out demons; and over the creation. We might be led to believe that the exercise of authority is all about the use of power. But, in the kingdom Jesus is establishing, there is a twist. The power to rule within the kingdom is not what we would expect.

The first hint in Jesus’ teaching of this upside-down nature of the kingdom comes at the beginning of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the Beatitudes, Jesus declared several different types of people as being blessed, or happy. Our natural world looks at most of these people as being insignificant or undesirable. But Jesus says of them that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I do not believe there are any “coincidences” in the Bible. I believe that the author of the Bible, God, is intentional in what he includes. And that much of the Old Testament is only understood fully in light of the New Testament and in Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets.

We often think of Revelation as a book that just focuses on the end of the world. But Revelation was written to believers near the end of the first century, to encourage and challenge them. We see this in the two cities named in this book, both how it applied to readers in John's day, and for us now.

It's a well-known fact that we all die. And the Bible assures us of an ultimate resurrection, when we believers will live with Christ in the New Heavens and the New Earth. But, what exactly can we expect in between these events? Will we just be "asleep"? Or will we get to be with Christ during that time as well? Let's take a look at what Scripture says.

Sometimes we will hear people describe the Kingdom of God as being "now and not yet." Aren't those opposites though? How can we be experiencing something now, but also not yet? To answer this, let's take a closer look at what the Kingdom of God is, how Jesus describes it, and what it looks like for us.

In the book of Job, the author mentions two incredible beasts: Leviathan and Behemoth. The descriptions of these creatures is mind-boggling and doesn't relate to any animal on earth, today or in historical record. So just what were these creatures, and do we know if they were real or not?