Articles

Exiled hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, Nehemiah was burdened for his city’s condition. In 586 BC, Babylon had ransacked the City of David, taking God’s people into captivity. Even after Cyrus and the Persians overthrew the Babylonians and allowed some of the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem, efforts to rebuild were precarious (Ezra 4:23)—so much so that the city remained in ruins even decades later. If they were to going to rebuild Jerusalem, Israel needed a vision, and a visionary leader—someone to bring God’s truth to bear on their circumstances. And that leader was Nehemiah.

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“What is God’s will for my life?” Few questions have raised more speculation in Christian circles than this one. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit’s ministry involves giving direction. As we strive to devote our lives to God (Rom. 12:1), His Spirit enables and guides our spiritual progress.

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We’ve all been on the receiving end of bad news. It can be tragic, often producing feelings of despair, worry, or burden. This was true for Nehemiah, who lived as an exile in a foreign land far from Jerusalem. Indeed, the book of Nehemiah, which tells in first person the story of the titular figure’s effort to rebuild to the walls Jerusalem after the Jews’ sojourn in Babylon, opens with this startling bit of information:

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Misconceptions about the person and work of God the Holy Spirit abound. His relationship to the Christian is often shrouded in mystery, leaving many confused about His purpose and perhaps even fearful of His work. Thankfully, though, God’s Word clarifies the Spirit’s work for those who would read it humbly and prayerfully.

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Most of us in the West can only imagine what it’s like to be caught up in the toils and tragedies of war. War has been a feature of the world ever since the fall, and both its consequences and its prevention remain key concerns of the high-minded.

But war not only confronts us globally, between people groups; it also confronts us individually, within our very natures. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes Christians as engaged in “a continual and irreconcilable war”¹ between the flesh and the spirit as sin seeks to maintain its hold on our lives.

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Alistair Begg recently sat down with Simon Calvert from the Christian Institute to discuss how believers, and especially church leaders, should respond to challenges to biblical teaching in the form of broadening so-called “conversion therapy” bans. In this interview, he focuses particularly on the role of pastors in preparing their congregations for faithful, Christlike living in the real world.

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From a literary perspective, one of the unique aspects of the New Testament is its frank portrayal of the phenomenal failures of many of its authors and main subjects. This is nowhere more apparent than in the lives of the twelve disciples, and one of the clearest examples is in Peter’s denials of Jesus.

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The Gospel story doesn’t end with a distressed Christ. It doesn’t end with a crucified Christ. Nor does it even end with a resurrected Christ. It ends with an ascended Christ, who is Lord and King, reigning on high from heaven, awaiting the appointed time for His return.

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In the middle of Acts 2, we find the first presentation of the Gospel message to come after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. The Holy Spirit had just descended as Christ had promised, and the disciples were speaking in all kinds of languages. The Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost witnessed all this taking place and were curious about what was happening (vv. 2–13). After responding to the crowd and explaining what they had witnessed (vv. 14–21), Peter told them the essential facts about Jesus:

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The great danger in reading Bible passages that are tied to key events on the church calendar is that we’re often just dropped down into a scene. This is especially the case on Palm Sunday, when we may find ourselves amid waving branches and shouting children without much notion of the meaning of what we’re commemorating. Without the context of the whole Gospel story, we may fall prey to the same misunderstandings as did the celebrating crowd in Mark 11.

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