“I’m not antisemitic; I’m anti-Zionist.” We hear that disclaimer from the progressive political left, the radical alt-right, Muslim apologists, Hollywood stars, mainstream politicians, and even Christian theologians and pastors. “I’m not against Jews, it’s the political ideology of Zionism that I oppose.”

In that coming day, the LORD will cleanse the land and remove its iniquity “in a single day.” From that moment forward, there will no longer be merely a remnant within Israel, but the whole nation — “from the least to the greatest” — will know the LORD. Israel will finally be preserved in holiness as a priestly nation and become an example to all peoples during the reign of Messiah over the earth.

We are living in-between the Cross and the Crown, in a window of mercy opened for the fullness of the Gentiles to enter into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. This is the moment in eternity with the declaration of the Son of Man, “Maranatha,” sweeps across the nations of the earth that, truly, all might be blessed through the promises made to Abraham. And these days, as any, are numbered. This window of mercy will close—because He has promises to keep to Jerusalem, and when the new song reaches her city of origin again, this “present evil age” will finally end.

“Back in the 1980s, broadcasters would occasionally break into a television program with the startling words, 'We interrupt this broadcast to bring you the following important announcement.' The broadcast interruptions not only startled the viewer, but they also shattered the comfortable entertainment illusion the viewer was trying to enjoy. That’s sort of what it was like when God stepped down onto Mount Sinai and spoke the Ten Commandments on the first Pentecost.”

No one rejects Leviticus outright, but it’s hard for modern readers to engage. It just sits there, forgotten… Leviticus is not a description of a world that passed away. It's a vision of a world that is still yet to come. Leviticus is eschatology.

“The message of the Bible has an explicitly eschatological thrust centered on the future redemption of Israel. There is simply no way around it. This message was not only handed down to the Jewish people; it hinges on their own redemption. That is, ‘if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?’”

There is a kind of waiting that wears you down. And there is a kind of waiting that reveals what is in you. Peter is not only addressing a theological question about the timing of Jesus’ return. He is addressing the condition of the heart. What happens in us while we wait?

Do we really have two covenants in opposition and contrast, or rather one eternal covenant with different facets that progressively unfolds and renews itself in order to fulfill God’s purposes and demonstrate His faithfulness?

From the beginning, God has been telling a story of redemption. It is a story that is unfolding on the world stage. It is important that we understand this story. 

No one in this day and age is tasked with creating the fixture that will host the manifest Presence of the Holy. Still, as with so much of Scripture, we can glean from and lean on principles set forth in the stories. This neglected element of the Exodus serves us with something of our own blueprint: To honor the dignity God gives to the creative, beautiful excellence of artisans made by Him to make things that reflect Him, and to provide beautiful means for a nation to encounter the beautiful Truth. Perhaps we need this now more than ever. 

“Abraham staked his entire life—and that of his covenantal son—on the dream given to him through promises: the city whose builder and maker is God.”

“Why would the friends of Israel suffer demonic oppression? Because the Devil never forgets who sides with the Jews.”

“Humility permeates the teachings of Jesus as a conviction of the certainty of God’s coming Day. The table will most certainly be reorganized one day.”

“Such stories matter because they remind us who we are: people of faith, people of the Book, and a people who know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. We lose our way when we fail to distinguish ourselves from the world—that is, from the broader culture. That is how you lose your identity, your faith, and ultimately how we lose our children to secularism and godlessness.”

“The more we long for the return of the Lord, the more we will find ourselves drawn into His purposes among the nations—especially in the Middle East, the central stage of the redemptive drama.”

Passover & the Return of Messiah: The holy plot twist, and what it means for the next time He'll part creation to make a passageway.

“Asking someone to teach the Bible without mentioning Israel is a bit like asking a professor to teach the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe without mentioning Narnia.”

“Jesus tells us that ‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’ He says this right after warning us ‘not to lay up treasures on earth but in heaven,’ and right before saying we ‘cannot serve God and money.’ Is there a direct connection between what we set our eyes on and what becomes our desire, attracts us, and eventually becomes our drive in life?”

If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

“Throughout history, the descendants of Ishmael have indeed become a vast multitude—but they have not yet become a great nation in the purposes of God. That promise still awaits fulfillment before the end of this age.”