“Be Faithful Unto Death and I Will Give You the Crown of Life”

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and

Revelation 2:8–11, Part 1 Introduction to Smyrna the “Crown City” The journey from Ephesus, the destination of Jesus’ first Revelation letter, to Smyrna is about 55km (33 miles) as the crow flies north and slightly west through fertile valleys and over green hills. Over the last rise we would see a panorama of the famous city of Smyrna, “first in

Part 1 The Jews in the first century were under the authority of Rome. They longed for the day that they would be freed from their oppression by the coming Messiah. So strong was their focus on physical deliverance that they rejected God’s deliverance. Even Jesus’ closest followers struggled to understand his mission (Mrk 8:31-32; 9:30). In our time, several

First, a warning. This article is not my usual kind of writing. Nor is it the kind of thing that is normally seen in the Gospel Herald. Stick with it. You will find it biblical and practical in the end. ………………………… My parents were both born at the beginning of the Great Depression. They grew up during that depression and

2nd Peter 1:1-4 1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours,  by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him

2 Peter 1:5-11 Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, God has made us partakers of his divine nature – through his divine power he trains us to grow in the knowledge of our Lord. God desires that we abound in grace and peace as a result of this growth. But what does it mean to grow in the knowledge

2 Peter 1:12-15 In Peter’s second and final book he penned in the New Testament, his words are not only strong and insightful, but also personal and tender. Verses 12-15 of the first chapter along with the first two verses of the second display the latter characteristics. Peter was nearing the end of his life on earth. He had gone

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honour and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom

2nd Peter 2: 1-11 Has it ever seemed to you that God is not doing much at all to curb or to punish evil? That perspective is not new and the injustice of runaway evil is as old as history itself. It seems harder and harder for Christians not to be swallowed whole by a world estranged from God. The

2 Peter 3:3–18 From Genesis 1:1 throughout the ages until now, we are familiar with God’s creation of the heavens and earth around and above us. God asserts and reminds us many times from Genesis to Revelation that He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. In Isaiah 65 and 66, 2 Peter 3 and Revelation 21, however,