This blog post comes on an important day in the Christian view of history. Today is Ascension Day, the day we commemorate Christ's taking his place at the right hand of the Father. Ponder scriptures like these:

Psalm 47:9, "The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted."

Notice the change from plural to collective singular. The peoples become the people of God. And the military metaphors. The princes of those peoples, by implication, recognize that their power comes from and belongs to God. Their shields belong to God. He is the final authority. 

"Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

When Christians read verses like Psalm 47:9, we recognize that Christ is the fulfillment of that vision. Matthew 28:18 is a good example of the reason why we think so. Indeed, the whole New Testament orients itself around the conviction that Christ is Lord. He...

The start of another new year easily brings out the reflective side of human nature. We naturally think about possibilities, about how the upcoming year will turn out, about what we need to do differently to make life better. Given our human nature, this taking stock and envisioning a desired future comes to us almost as naturally as breathing.

To reach those desired ends, we set goals. What is not so clear is that those goals all flow toward a final one, an ultimate goal. In all our goal-setting is the intuition toward something full, ideal, perfect.

The Christian life has a goal. We easily think of it as heaven, but do we understand the Bible's portrayal of heaven? Where are we going when we go to heaven? We typically ask, "What is heaven like?" but maybe a better question is, "What kind of person will I be in heaven? How will I feel and see and experience life in heaven?" (You may be interested in our free mini-course (4 sessions) on this topic. Go to: ...