Jesus has so far affirmed Pharisee soteriology. God first loves an individual. In response to God’s love, the individual cares to keep God’s Law. If a person keeps God’s Law, that person is righteous. God’s love is what brought the person into righteousness (i.e. saved the person). When the person kept the Law, that was... Continue Reading →
Have you ever seen God? Some of you will answer by telling me how you see God working or how you see God in nature or people. Those things are not God Himself. I will venture to guess that you have never seen God. Yet, we believe He is. A vast majority of people on... Continue Reading →
In these notes, I first show the point of John 3:1-2 by offering a biblical apologetic for Jesus as having the authority of a prophet to reveal new revelation. Then, I explore the theological environment of First Century Judea in order to provide historical context for Jesus's conversation with Nicodemus. It is no surprise that... Continue Reading →
From the debates between Paul and the Gnostics through the ancient dialogue between Augustine and Pelagius to the exchanges between Luther and Erasmus or Calvin’s disciples and those of Arminius to the more modern upheaval between the New Calvinists and Free Willists, the doctrine of election has dominated Christian discussion. Election is the doctrine that... Continue Reading →
Hurt is hard. I realized in the last month that it has been more than a year since I have done any serious writing. I had given up on ministry and started my own business because, frankly, I was done being hurt. At the beginning of 2023, a friend of mine (a couple, actually) told... Continue Reading →
After God instructed Israel to craft all of the specialty, custom items for the tent of meeting, He reveals that He has gifted certain individuals by His Spirit for the purpose of crafting these pieces artistically. God takes the credit for gifting His people for craftsmanship according to His own plans for the production of... Continue Reading →
v. 22-33 God instructs Moses to have the perfumers create a special anointing oil. With this oil, the tent of meeting and its furnishings were to be consecrated along with the priests. The application of the oil signified that these things were to be holy, set apart from common use for the purpose of ministry.... Continue Reading →
Aaron and his sons are to burn incense perpetually at the tent of meeting, make an annual atoning sacrifice for Israel because of the nation’s sin, and wash themselves so that they will be pure before the Lord and will not die. I think some of this is practical. Incense would cover the stench of... Continue Reading →
Earlier, we saw the table of presence given as a reminder that God intended to eat and drink with His people. With the sacrifice of Christ, God would pull His own mercy seat up to the table because the veil would be torn. This eating and drinking imagery permeates all of the religious practices God... Continue Reading →
Today, we think of animal sacrifices as somewhat barbaric, but they were meant to depict the unrighteousness of people and remind us of God’s sacrifice in Genesis 3—when He covered the shame of Adam and Eve and promised that Eve’s descendants would receive life even though all people earned death by sinning in the way... Continue Reading →
andrew paul cannon 