Sermon Illustrations

Category: Stephen Sizer

  • Jesus’ Kingdom is not about

    Jesus’ Kingdom is not about geography The kingdom would , in inaugurated in contrast to their expectations, spiritual in nature, international in membership and gradual in expansion. And the expansion of this kingdom throughout the world would specifically require their exile from the Land. They must turn their backs on Jerusalem and their hopes of…

  • Jesus redefines the boundaries of

    Jesus redefines the boundaries of the Kingdom of God to embrace the whole world. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes a promise made to the Jewish people concerning the land from Psalm 37, and applies it to his own followers anywhere in the world (Matt 5:5) Stephen SizerClick to Tweet Available…

  • The land had served its

    The land had served its purpose, like an airport runway, to provide a temporary residence for the ancestors of the Messiah, David’s greater Son; to host the incarnation, a home for the Lord Jesus Christ; and so be made ever holy through the shedding of his innocent blood upon it. The land provided a base,…

  • Bruce Milne in his helpful

    Bruce Milne in his helpful commentary on John 15, notes that ‘Israel has failed God in the long trem role she was called to fulfil, that of being "a light for the Gentiles (Is49:6), to bring God’s salvation "to the ends of the earth".’ Stephen SizerClick to TweetFrom the book “Zion's Christian Soldiers?” Available on…

  • The church of Jesus Christ

    The church of Jesus Christ therefore brings together in a unity of faith and love his children under the old and new covenants, Jews and Gentiles who trust and believe in Jesus, the one looking forward, the other looking back to his first coming and upward to his second. Stephen SizerClick to Tweet Available on…

  • Those who hold to a

    Those who hold to a Covenant Theology see in the process of redemptive history a dramatic movement has been made from type to reality, from shadow to substance. The Land that once was the specific locale of God’s redemptive working served well under the Old Covenant forms as a picture of paradise lost and promised,…

  • Ironically the Old Testament gives

    Ironically the Old Testament gives no hint about a 1000 year millennium on earth. The constant emphasis in the New Testament is upon the absolute nature of the Second Coming of Christ, a finality which allows no further work of salvation on earth. Stephen SizerClick to TweetWebsite: www.cc-vw.org/articles/dispen4.html

  • In his letter to a

    In his letter to a predominantly Gentile church in Ephesus Paul applies the promise of the inheritance of the land specifically to Gentile children of Christian believers who are obedient. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honour your father and mother"–which is the first commandment with a promise "that it…

  • It must also have been

    It must also have been the idea in the minds of the disciples, when, before the ascension, they asked, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6. John Calvin comments, "There are as many mistakes in this question as there are words." Jesus reply shows him correcting not…

  • Teaching about the Land is

    Teaching about the Land is conspicuous by its absence in the teaching of Jesus. There are four or five explicit references to the Land in the Gospels and these are indirect. The strongest is found in the Beatitudes. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus quotes from Psalm 37:11. The blessing of the meek and the inheritance of…