Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

John is given another vision of the war that is taking place between Jesus and his opponents. It is not a literal war – after all Jesus does not ride into battle sitting on a horse. Nor do believers or angels, depending on who his army is composed of. If we interpret this passage literally, we will have to imagine a literal battlefield at which all the opponents are slain by a sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus. Instead what we have here is a description of Jesus and his eventual victory over all his enemies. Several interpreters regard this passage as focussing entirely on the second coming of Jesus, with the Saviour being presented as marching out to the Battle of Armageddon or to the Day of Judgement. It is obvious that the passage ends with a description of a final conflict, but it seems to me that the previous part of the passage is concerned with the age-long spiritual war that Jesus had been engaged in since his ascension and enthronement. The description of Jes...

Matthew continues his record of what took place on the day when he was called by Jesus to leave the tax desk and follow him. Maybe one reason for all the activity was a desire of Jesus to show his new servant the amazing things he could expect to see as he was being prepared by Jesus to serve him. It looks like Jesus was making his way home when the two blind men followed him. There is something ironic here because how could the blind men see the road to follow Jesus. Or maybe Matthew is pointing out that there is more than one kind of following Jesus. There is a kind of following that gets you nowhere and there is a kind of following that gets you somewhere. We have already seen examples of the kind of following that got people nowhere – the following performed by the Pharisees and the disciples of John when they set themselves up as the judges of Jesus. In reality, they were spiritually blind although they had physical sight. In contrast, the two blind men could see spiritua...

Psalm 45 celebrates beforehand some of the significant activities of the Messiah. The author was guided to say who the Messiah is – he is both God and man. He also writes his song from the point of view of the Messiah’s enthronement, which we know occurred when Jesus ascended to heaven following his resurrection. The psalm does not mention all the important events that follow on from the enthronement. In the main, two activities are mentioned – his warfare and his wedding. The story is told of an incident in the life of St Columba when he reached Inverness and was attempting to convey the gospel to King Brude. It happened one evening when Columba and his friends were singing their evening hymns. Several local Druids tried to stop the praise. In response, Columba sang Psalm 45 and did so in such a way that the king and the people were struck with amazement and fear. Columba was known as an excellent singer and his voice could be heard one thousand yards away. While we may not be ab...

This vision is connected to the previous one through the contribution of the heavenly choir who celebrated the events described in each. The connection is made by contrasting the prostitute Babylon with the true Bride. Both are described as cities in the Book of Revelation and the activities of each are summarised – the activities of the city of man is described as immorality and those of the Bride as righteous deeds. The contrast is also shown in the outcome of the lives of the citizens of each city. Those who belong to Babylon are destroyed with her whereas those who belong to the heavenly city are going to a celebration. This celebration is endless. It is common in the Bible to describe the fullness of salvation through the illustration of a wedding feast. In those descriptions, details may differ because they are highlighting different features of the occasion. There is also a possibility that readers are given another reminder of heaven before further descriptions are giv...