As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Read Part 3.
Light is essential for life, and light is a central subject in the Bible. It literally bookends the storyline, from its creation (Gen. 1:3-4) to the point where it becomes obsolete—aside from the light that emanates from the Son of God Himself (Isa. 60:19-20; Rev. 21:23).
“In fact, his humanness having a beginning is absolutely essential to truly being human. Jesus is truly man. Therefore, there was a birth, albeit a virgin birth, but a real birth, thus a real man. So, then, how can Jesus claim, he is the I AM in John 8:58 without deserving execution (Lev. 24:16)?” - Cripplegate
Reposted from a The Cripplegate.
Napoleon Bonaparte delusion is a real thing. When the diminutive Emperor of France was in the heyday of his popularity, people would dress like him and act like him, and some were even institutionalized for their delusion. But what would happen if the real Napoleon ended up in an institution with deluded people who were also claiming to be Napoleon. This is the plot of a novel by Simon Leys, called The Death of Napoleon.
“If you go on Twitter (enter at your own risk) you will see many rebukes of Don Lemon. Many Christians responded in shock at Don Lemon’s claims about Jesus’ imperfections. But I wonder if many stopped to think about what his declaration actually reveals about Christianity at large in America.” - Cripplegate
“We ought to look to the Old Testament concept of forsakenness to rightly understand what Jesus meant when He said that He was forsaken by God on the cross” - Ref21
The questions I’ve raised above are not ivory tower speculations. I believe these questions are important to answer if we are to understand fully the implications Christ’s temptation as well as his victory over temptation for you and me. Consider the following three points of practical application:
The greatest battle ever waged on earth’s soil took place two thousand years ago in the desert of Palestine. There met the champions of evil and righteousness. Satan, the most intelligent and powerful creature ever made and who’d become the archenemy of God, stood toe-to-toe with the Promised Descendant of Eve, Jesus of Nazareth, the long-awaited Messiah and the Son of God. It was a conflict of cosmic proportions. And the final outcome of his battle determined the destiny of men.
“Despite being in the Apostle’s Creed, this doctrine is not universally believed. First, as the Catholic Church begin to drift more and more into sacerdotalism, the descent to the dead gradually morphed into a descent into hell.
A sermon delivered on Good Friday morning, March 29, 1861, by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood” (Romans 3:25).
Discussion