God's Love for us

Why Did Jesus Say Father Forgive Them on the Cross Of all the seven last words of Jesus from the cross, seven recorded statements that He made during the six hours of His crucifixion, none is more stunning, more theologically rich or more personally challenging than the very first one. Luke 23:34 records it simply: "Jesus said 'Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.'" Think about the context for a moment. Jesus had been arrested in the night by an armed mob. He had been subjected to a series of sham trials before the Sanhedrin, before Herod and before Pilate. He had been flogged, a punishment so brutal that it frequently killed men before they ever reached the cross. He had been mocked, spat upon, stripped of His clothes and forced to carry the instrument of His own execution through the streets of Jerusalem. Nails had been driven through His hands and feet. And as He hung there in agony He looked down at the soldiers who had just nailed Him t...

Why Did Jesus Cry at the Tomb of Lazarus The shortest verse in the entire Bible contains only two words: "Jesus wept." John 11:35. Two words that have stopped readers in their tracks for two thousand years. Two words that say more about the character of God than pages of theological explanation could convey. Two words that answer one of the most pressing questions any suffering human being has ever asked, does God actually feel what I feel? Does He care about my pain? Is He moved by my grief? The answer, standing at the tomb of Lazarus with tears streaming down His face, is yes. Completely and undeniably yes. But why did Jesus weep? That is the question that deserves a deeper answer than most people give it. Because Jesus knew, before He ever arrived at Bethany, before He saw the tomb, before He witnessed Mary and Martha's grief, that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. He knew the story was going to end in resurrection. He knew that within minutes of standing...

Why Did Jesus Choose 12 Disciples When Jesus began His public ministry in Galilee He did something that every rabbi in Israel did, He gathered disciples. But the way He chose His disciples and the specific number He chose were anything but ordinary. Most rabbis waited for students to come to them, for young men who had demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the Torah to seek out a teacher and request to study under him. Jesus did the opposite. He went to fishermen on a lake, to a tax collector at his booth, to ordinary men with no formal theological training, and He said simply "Follow me." And they left everything and followed Him. And the number He chose was deliberate and deeply significant. Not ten. Not twenty. Not one for each region of Galilee. Twelve. The same number as the tribes of Israel. The same number that structured the entire covenant history of God's people from Jacob's sons through the wilderness wandering through the settlement of the Promised Land. ...

What Does the Parable of the Prodigal Son Teach Us It has been called the greatest short story ever told. In fewer than 500 words it encompasses the full range of human experience, rebellion and repentance, shame and restoration, extravagant love and bitter resentment, the far country and the father's house. It has been painted by Rembrandt, set to music by Prokofiev, referenced by poets and novelists across centuries and preached from pulpits in every language on earth. And yet for all the attention it has received the Parable of the Prodigal Son, told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32, continues to surprise, challenge and move everyone who encounters it with genuinely open eyes. Most people think they know this parable. The younger son demands his inheritance early, wastes it on wild living, ends up feeding pigs, comes to his senses and returns home where his father welcomes him back. That is the story everyone knows. But the parable Jesus told is far more radical, far more theological...

What is the Significance of the Empty Tomb On the morning of the first day of the week while it was still dark Mary Magdalene went to a tomb in a garden outside Jerusalem. She expected to find a sealed stone, Roman guards and the body of the man she loved most in the world. What she found instead changed the course of human history forever. The stone had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. And nothing, not the political order of Rome, not the religious establishment of Jerusalem, not the grief of the disciples, not the power of death itself, would ever be the same again. The empty tomb is the most contested and most consequential fact in the history of the world. More has been written about it, more has been argued about it, more lives have been transformed by it and more civilizations have been shaped by its implications than by any other single event in human history. Skeptics have spent two thousand years trying to explain it away. Believers have spent two thousand years living ...