In the letter to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13, we read the second of two letters that contains only praise and encouragement from Jesus for the church. Although the church in Philadelphia looked weak, it was actually strong, because it had done the one simple thing that all churches and all Christians must do: keep Christ’s word. Jesus’ instruction to them (and to us) was correspondingly simple: hold on to what you have.
The final parable in our summer series appears in Luke 18:1-8. Like last week’s parable, the Parable of the Unjust Judge focuses on the...
Only in John 18:28-19:16 do we find details of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. We hear Jesus’ opponents making statements about him that are much...
Irony occurs when a situation turns out to be the opposite of what is expected. Dramatic irony is when the author and the audience...