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.

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?

Do humans have free will to make decisions? Or does that take away from God's power and sovereignty? These are some of the biggest questions of our faith, and there's no simple answer. But taking a look at some earthly examples, as well as breaking down exactly what God's sovereignty is, can lead us to some interesting conclusions.

There's quite a lot of debate about the origin of the world, even among Christians. But whether you hold to an old earth philosophy or believe the earth is rather new, there's one question that still nags - was there death in this world before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit? Can a world that was "very good" exist with death? On the other hand, can a world without death of any kind truly be considered good? Let's take a look.

You've probably seen the movies or heard rumors of the rapture. But what is the rapture, really? Is it in the Bible, and do we know when it will happen? 

One of the core doctrines of Christianity is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are central to the gospel accounts. It was at the heart of the apostle’s proclamation and writings. And for most of the history of the church these core doctrines were seldom questioned.

Yet today there are many within the Christian community who question the reality of these events and the necessity of believing in them. This article will take a quick look at evidence for Jesus’ death and resurrection as well as why they are so important to us.

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Circumcision is a through-line in the Bible. Old Testament believers performed this act as a sign of their devotion to God, and New Testament believers debate the "circumcision of the heart." But why is this medical act so important in Scripture? What does it mean, and is it necessary for believers today? 

Many people automatically look to connect any large-scale disaster to Revelation and see in it a sign of the end. But should we? This article will look at this virus and its relationship to Revelation. And then at how, as Christians, we should respond to it.

The gospel of Matthew, like the other three canonical gospels, tells the good news about Jesus. They are not biographies in the modern sense. They tell us very little about his early life. Rather they focus on what he did and said over the last three years of his life. The primary emphasis for all four gospels was Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, spending a significant portion of their story on that last week of his life.

But each of the gospels also has its own individual emphasis and target audience. For Matthew, his target audience seems to be Jewish. And his emphasis is on demonstrating that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Jewish Bible. Matthew repeatedly references Old Testament passages and identifies their fulfillment in Jesus’ life and ministry. The intent of this article is to look at Matthew’s use of the Old Testament in affirming Jesus as the Messiah.