The second part of Tim Chester’s little book Do Miracles Happen Today? that I would like to summarise and reflect on comes in chapter 3.
While insisting that God can and does do miracles today, Chester says that, in fact, they are fewer and lesser in scope than those that happened at the time of the Gospels and Acts.
Some Christians put this down simply to a lack of faith on our part. If our expectations were greater, then so would the provision of miracles.…
Introducing a short series based on sections of Tim Chester’s book, Do Miracles Happen Today? And other questions about signs, wonders and mighty works. The Good Book Company.
In chapter two, Chester discusses the definition of ‘miracle’.
An unusual feat? The success of Leicester City football team in winning the Premier League in 2016 was an extraordinary achievement (they had odds of 5,000 to 1 against them at the start of the season). But it was not a miracle.…
Daniel 7:13f – “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.…
Olivia Graham, recently-appointed Bishop of Reading, has given this short theological introduction about why Christians should care for the environment.
I have watched and listened to the whole thing, and agree with Ian Paul that statements such as the following make one’s ears prick up:
2.48 The incarnation isn’t a single birth, but it began 14 billion years ago with an event we call the Big Bang. At that moment, God poured Godself into the emerging universe…every particle of it charged with the incarnate presence of God.…
1 Timothy 2:9-15 reads (in the New Revised Standard Version):
9 Also that women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11 Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. 12 I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. …
Jesus Christ ‘ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.’
Acts 1:1-11; 2:32-36
We have lots of ways of preparing for and celebrating Christmas and Easter.
But what about Christ’s ascension? For many of us, May 21st 2020 (Ascension Day) probably passed virtually unnoticed.
And yet the ascension is of huge significance. It is just as important, in its own way, as the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.…
(Each reference is given in the NET version and the NIV)
Psalm 68:18 You ascend on high, you have taken many captives. You receive tribute from men, including even sinful rebels. Indeed the LORD God lives there!
18 When you ascended on high,
you took many captives;
you received gifts from people,
even from the rebellious—
that you, LORD God, might dwell there.
Psa 110:1 Here is the LORD’s proclamation to my lord: “Sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool!”…
‘What, we may ask, is the nature of the resurrection body? It is not a speculative or a useless question because the criterion of what is useless and speculative is that there is no teaching on it in scripture; and there is some clear teaching in the Bible with regard to the resurrection body. For example, we read in Philippians 3:21 that the Lord Jesus Christ ‘will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body’.…
It was the joy of the angels of heaven to be subject and serviceable unto Jesus Christ.
(i.) Before the incarnation of Christ, an angel instructed Daniel concerning the Messiah, and how long it should be before his coming. (Dan. 9:24, 25.)
(ii.) When the fulness of time was come, an angel comes to the blessed virgin, and said, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.”…
Without an interest in Christ, we shall have no comfort in any attribute of God. To a Christless sinner, all the attributes of God are against him; as, for instance,
(i.) God is wise: that is the worse for a wicked man; for he knows all that wickedness [which] thine own heart is privy to, (Jer. 17:10,) and much more evil by thee than thine own heart knoweth. (1 John 3:20.)
(ii.) God is holy: and therefore he must needs hate those that are filthy, being “of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.”…
