In the previous post, we saw that Jesus rules everything and will continue to rule forever. But if Jesus already rules everything, why is the world still such a mess? Why is there still so much evil? Why doesn’t Jesus return immediately and take us home? And when he does, what will home look like? What else will happen?

In the previous post, we saw that Jesus rose, defeating death and bringing new, everlasting life. We noticed that there was a now-but-not-yet aspect to Jesus’ resurrection. He has given us new life in the present, but there’s also a sense that we don’t yet have this new life. He has already defeated death when he rose from the dead, and yet the defeat of death is still to come. We live in an overlap of ages. We experience many good things that arise from what Jesus has accomplished, and yet there are still many things that we don’t yet experience.

Previously, we’ve seen that Jesus came, lived, and died. Often, when people share the gospel, they finish there. But, when you look at the New Testament, you realise that the resurrection really needs a look, too. In fact, when the apostles preach the gospel in the book of Acts, they mention the resurrection 25% more than the cross! So why is the resurrection so important? To unpack this, we need to understand the problem and God’s solution, and then we can get to the reason why this matters. Then, we’ll also take a look at how we should respond.

In the previous post, we saw that Jesus lived a sinless life in full obedience to God. We were told that this would set the stage for the great exchange that we’ll find out about in this post. But first, the problem.

In the previous post, we learned that Jesus came, fully God and fully man. The following post will consider how Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

But what about the stuff in the middle? Why does Jesus’ life matter? Is there any significance in the fact that it was a man in his mid-30s who died on the cross rather than a baby? In this article, we’ll explore the importance of Jesus’ life, which theologians sometimes refer to as Christ’s “active obedience” (distinct from his “passive obedience” on the cross). But before we get into Christ’s life, we must clearly understand the problems that Christ’s life overcomes.

In the previous post, we learned of the bad news of the Bible. We’re all sinners who have rejected God, and this leads to suffering, death and judgment. In this article, we turn to the good news of the gospel of Jesus.

But why does it have to be Jesus who saves us? And why does he actually have to come? Why can’t he save us from heaven? Or, why can’t we save ourselves?

These questions lead us to our problem.

Most of us like to think that we’re good people. “I’m a good guy/gal, right?” Sure, some people like to say they are “bad boys” or “bad girls”, but even when we say that, we don’t really think we’re bad. Sure, we slip up. Sure, we’ve done bad things. But overall, we’re pretty good. Unfortunately, the Bible has some bad news for us. News that we’d probably prefer to ignore.

A few months ago, I was reading through some responses to a questionnaire I gave to the youth at my church. One of the questions asked, “What is the gospel?” Many of the answers said, “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John”, while a couple said that the gospel equals “good news”. These answers aren’t wrong. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are gospels. The word “gospel” does mean “good news”. But what actually is the “good news” contained in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? It occurred to me that I haven’t taught my youth very explicitly what we mean by “the gospel”.  We mention “the gospel” all the time. But it’s been a while since we did a deep dive. 

Someone once told me that if you’re asked to do the Bible reading at church, and you find that the set reading is Psalm 119, you need to run away. It’s really long. Psalm 119 is probably most well-known as the longest chapter of the Bible, with 176 verses and 1065 words in the original Hebrew (Psalm 117 happens to be the shortest chapter in the Bible). This also makes it the longest acrostic poem in the Bible (for other acrostic/near-acrostic poems in the Bible, see Psalms 9–10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 145, Proverbs 31:10–31, Lamentations 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ).

In 410 AD, Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome, sending shockwaves around the world. It was a symbol of the decline of the Western World, shattering the invulnerability of the impenetrable Rome, the “eternal city”. For Christians, this was particularly confusing. Christianity had just been declared the state religion of the Roman Empire by Emperor Theodosius just a few decades earlier, in 380 AD. The status of Rome kind of seemed to be tied to the status of Christianity.

This morning, I was reading Hebrews 8. I was struck by verse 13 (NIV):

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

The Old Covenant is obsolete. This made me pause and reflect. Earlier in the year, I spent a bit of time thinking about Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”

In Psalm 55:11–14 (NIV), David describes feeling betrayed by someone. He writes: "Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets. If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers."

Have you ever wondered why we should bother praying or evangelising when God has predestined everything that will happen? What’s the point of praying when God has already determined what he will do? Why bother evangelising when God has already determined those whom he will save? Is there an inherent contradiction between predestination and things like prayer and evangelism? 

In his book Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, Graeme Goldsworthy reminds us that, “The meaning of all the Scriptures is unlocked by the death and resurrection of Jesus”. Here are ten ways we see Psalm 22 fulfilled through Jesus.

Yesterday, we explored a definition of joy, and considered where we can find joy. Of course, the reality is that sometimes we will struggle to find joy. We won’t be feeling it. What do we do then? What kinds of habits will help? Here are four brief thoughts. Nothing ground-breaking. But also, purely ground-breaking.

Yesterday, I mentioned some pretty confronting mental health statistics. A lot of Australians—especially younger Australians—are dealing with some pretty serious stuff. I then mentioned that Paul has some helpful stuff to say. Especially when it comes to joy. In this post, I want to have a go at defining joy and thinking about where we can find it.

I recently came across the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing. According to this study, in 2020–2022, 42.9% of people aged 16–85 years had experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life

Ever wondered how many volunteers there are at your church, and how many volunteer roles people are involved in? It’s actually harder to count than you might think. But not that hard with some help.

In term 3 at Hope Youth, we’ll be studying at 1 and 2 Samuel at Hope Youth. Here is a basic introduction to the books.

Context

1 and 2 Samuel is set in the period from around 1100 BC to 970 BC.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Robinsons have been a bit busy writing books. I reviewed three books by Levi, my six-year-old son. He likes to remind me that he has composed more books than I have. Thus, it was only fitting that I review his works first. But today, it’s my turn. Though its title lacks the catchiness of Levi Robinson’s publications (most notably Flip It, Don’t Rip It), the title, Augustine, Rahner and Trinitarian Exegesis: An Exegetical Exploration of Augustine’s Exegesis of Scripture as a Foundation for Rahner’s Trinitarian Project and Rule, still gives some clues to what the book is about.