The final chapter of 2 Peter has a grim warning, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire 2 Peter 3:7 And since this world will end, we must see … The Importance of Thinking Clearly The Dangers of Denial and Despair The Hope of a World Remade
2 Peter chapter two begins with the chilling words, there will be false teachers among you 2 Pet. 2:1 That reality means … We must learn and live together We must learn to recognise false teachers But we don’t need to be afraid
Facing us, as he does, with a challenge to believe that – in Christ – we have everything we need, that – in Christ – we can build godliness upon faith, and knowledge upon godliness, and on and on, until we love with the love of God, Peter anticipates an objection … how can we…
2 Peter was written as the apostle was facing his own death, and it was written to remind his readers of the hope to which they had been called in Christ. In the opening verses, Peter calls us to remember that, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through…
In the closing chapter of the book of Ezra the Temple (which is what the book seemed to be about to begin with) fades into the background, and the read centre of the story comes to the fore – the people. And the people have sinned, and are deeply and painfully entangled in that sin.…
In Ezra 9 we come to the heart of what is preventing the Jews returned from Exile from being an adornment to the house of God. They have given up on devoting themselves, as a people, to the LORD. They are intermarrying with unbelieving nations and forging secular alliances as the basis of their security.…
It’s one thing to have a dream, it’s another to have the means to make it a reality. Jesus said, Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Luke 14:28 And so, looking at…
Ezra appears first, more than half way through the book named after him. Chapter 7 describes how, 57 years after the completion of the rebuilding of the Temple, Ezra receives a commission from Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to enquire into the degree to which the Law of their God was being observed in Jerusalem. He…
At the end of chapter 6 we finally see the Temple completed. This is the task for which the exiles returned, it is the task the prophets urged them to complete … and yet this is not the end of the story. We need to understand this Temple as: Begun and Completed (by the Word…
After the outburst of excitement and determination that brought back almost forty thousand exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the ruined Temple, resistance and the temptation of an easy life mean that 18 years are allowed to pass without a single brick being laid. Then, as Ezra 5 records, two prophets – Haggai and Zechariah…