Dan Lee
John 17:9-13, For the Joy of God's Elect

Jesus’ first petition for His disciples is found in these verses. Jesus prays that the Father would keep them in His name. Jesus prays for a special people, His disciples and He does so because He was about to physically leave His disciples. What He would no longer be able to do in His physical absence, He asks the Father to accomplish. May the Lord grant to us a greater work of His Spirit to draw us to walk in Jesus’ ways and thus live with His joy evermore in our hearts.

Dan Lee
John 17:6-8, Two Realities of Salvation

Jesus describes the salvation of His disciples from two perspectives, one from heaven and the other from earth. In heaven, salvation was the product of the intratrinitarian transaction between the Father and the Son. On earth salvation was the product of divine revelation through the word of God and the hearty response of faith on the part of believers. The heavenly realities evoke worship, humility, and thanksgiving. The earthly realities compel us to take seriously every word of our Lord Jesus Christ and act upon them by faith.

Dan Lee
John 17:3-5, Salvation for the Glory of God ...

In His prayer, Jesus defines eternal life for our benefit. Contrary to popular belief, eternal life according to the Son of God is a reconciled relationship with God that begins in the present and stretches out to eternity. Jesus also reveals to us that He is the God of eternal glory which is demonstrated through the cross which He was about to bear. In the cross of Christ, the glory of God’s grace shines brilliantly so that all the redeemed and all the angelic host would glorify God forever and ever.

Dan Lee
John 17:1-2, Salvation for the Glory of God

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 begins with a focus on the glory of God. Jesus prays that His impending death will ultimately glorify the Father and that this would come about through the granting (gifting) of eternal life to His elect. What Jesus’ crucifixion puts on display is the glory of God’s grace in salvation.

Dan Lee
Deuteronomy 27-34, Two Ways to Live

As Moses closes his final message to the children of Israel, he focuses on the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He does so by setting down before them two pathways: the pathway to life, good, and the blessing, and the other pathway to death, evil, and the curse. Along with these options for their future, he reveals to them their future in apostasy, judgment, and even a restoration afterwards. The Pentateuch closes with an allusion to the prophet like Moses to come, the Lord Jesus, who speaks from the LORD and all the people ought to hear. The call to choose life echoes throughout the ages, calling all to be reconciled and restored to God and to enter into His blessing through the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11 The Anticipation of the Church (Part 2)

The believers’ resurrection and the rapture will coincide with another eschatological event: the day of the Lord. Given the total unpredictability of these events, “the day of the Lord” in this text points to the commencement of the tribulation period. All three events converge to abruptly usher in the judgment of God upon this world and the millennial kingdom of Christ thereafter.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11 The Anticipation of the Church

The church is to live in eager anticipation of the coming of her Lord. This is the attitude God wants for His people in this age. In this multipart series, we examine 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thess. 2:1-17 to firmly grasp the next biblical prophecy for the church in God’s eschatological timeline, namely, the believers’ resurrection and the rapture.

Ephesians 2:19-22 The Biblical Church [Part 2]

The church’s supreme authority is the Lord Jesus Christ. Church leaders minister under His headship, not as arbitrary agents carrying out their own will, but as stewards carrying out the will of the owner of the house (God). And what does God want for His church? That we be prepared for Christ, as a bride beautifies herself for her groom, to be holy and blameless and full of good works.

Various - The Biblical Church

The book of Ephesians gives us a divine perspective into what is the church. The church of God is, first of all, comprised of the children of God, true believers who are beloved of God and have been transformed by God. In terms of their relationship to one another, the members see each another as fellow bricks that are growing together into a holy temple in the Lord.