Crumbs from the Master's Table

Luther praying confidently in faith: O God and Father, I do not doubt that the things for which I have prayed are promised, not because I p...

The audio and video from "Finishing the Mission" are now available at  Desiring God .  Sessions 2, 4, and 7 are particularly worth...

David Wells on worldliness : Worldliness is not simply an innocent cultural escapade, still less a matter merely of inconsequential breache...

Luther praying for help against temptation: We are weak and sick, O Father, and the temptations of the flesh and the world are great and ma...

Em and I are taking a short vacation with Em's brother in Minneapolis this weekend. The occasion: the global glory and cause of Christ. ...

See Pastor Steve Brandon's post  on these two views of marriage when the going gets tough. Here we have the ugly over against the beauti...

What is plot ? According to Aristotle, it is a continuous sequence of events or actions with a beginning, middle, and end. He says, "A ...

Expounding the doctrine of the Spirit from 1 Cor. 2, John Owen asks, "Who is this Spirit?" He answers, of course, with scriptural ...

Q: What did the crucified Christ purchase for his people? A: "The Holy Ghost immediately communicates to us the thing purchased by co...

One of Luther's prayers: Lord God, heavenly Father, I ask for and need assurance that my petitions may be nothing less than yes and ame...

C. H. Spurgeon on the ministry of ministers of the Gospel: "Our business as ministers, when the young lambs are brought in, is to remem...

Well, I'm rounding off the series on "Calvinism Everywhere" with this post. We shall never leave our subject matter, however; ...

Speaking of "the society or family of the three," Jonathan Edwards speaks of realities with which we should all be caught up with ...

Is the doctrine of the Trinity important? And how important is it? Well, here is the witness of at least one robust trinitarian (with whom I...

Dinner time discussion in Christian homes should be rich and upbuilding. One important way for this to come to pass is for the head, the man...

Expounding Psalm 29, C. H. Spurgeon speaks sanely of God's wondrous works in the world: "Natural causes, as men call them, are Go...

We read in 1 Chronicles 29 of the freewill offerings of the people of Israel for the temple project. Apparently, they gave rather wonderfull...

Here is a good summary of Jonathan Edwards' trinitarianism from his Discourse on the Trinity (Works , vol. 21, Yale, 131): This I suppo...

A striking recounting of Saul's death is retold in 1 Chronicles 10. Striking, because we're told two truths side by side: that Saul ...

How might one summarize succinctly the work of the Holy Spirit? In his Discourse on the Trinity , Jonathan Edwards does well, I believe. He ...

Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost ...

Q: What is God's holiness? A: God's holiness consists in "God's infinite love to himself. . . . As all creature holiness ...

A strong statement of God's sovereignty and of free human agency comes to us in 1 Chr. 6:15: " YHWH sent Judah and Jerusalem into...

Pastor Doug Wilson's  post  addressing Michelle Bachmann's flubbing the questions coming her way regarding submission ought to be re...

Now we find ourselves in Chronicles in this series of posts on "Calvinism Everywhere." And I want to point to two answered prayers...

Commenting on 1 Jn. 4:16, Jonathan Edwards says this of the Spirit: The Apostle tells us that 'God is love; and he that dwelleth in lov...

Charles Spurgeon: Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen th...

Here's an assertion made by N. T. Wright regarding common readings of the gospels: "Many 'Christian' readings of the gospel...

Rounding off the book of Kings, I want to begin with an assertion about the book from Richard Hess: "Foremost in the book of Kings is t...

We've seen in the history of Samuel and Kings that the LORD often saves Israel from foreign superpowers. But I think it's fair to sa...

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the rem...

In 2 Kgs. 9:1, we read that Elisha has one of the sons of the prophets head for Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, as king ov...

As I move into 2 Kings for this series on " Calvinism Everywhere ," I'm going to turn a corner and back away from trying to in...

Moving forward through Kings, 1 Kings 22 relates Micaiah's prophecy against Ahab. Really all one needs to do is read it, meditate upon i...

In 1 Kgs. 20:35ff, we read of one of the sons of the prophets who wanted to deceive Ben-hadad, king of Syria (see 1 Kgs. 20:38). So he ...

In 1520 Martin Luther put to print three key works of the Reformation. They were The Address to the German Nobility , The Babylonian Captiv...

The familiar Elijah narrative warrants careful consideration. But this post will only look at those elements that highlight the theme of thi...

In 1 Kings 14, Jeroboam's wife is charged to visit Ahijah, the prophet of the Lord. She meets this word for Jeroboam: "Because I ex...

In the modern West, there is almost universally such a strong sense of progress that the past is incessantly despised or looked upon with co...

So the divided kingdom was ultimately from God (1 Kgs. 12:24). And it would appear that the lion that killed the man of God in 1 Kgs. 13:24 ...

What is murder? Assassination of someone's body. What is slander? Assassination of someone's character. —Colin Gunton, The Christi...

In response to Solomon's request (1 Kgs. 3:9), God was pleased to put wisdom into the mind of Solomon (1 Kgs. 10:24), more it seems than...

I'm taking a one week blog fast. I'm going under for an intensive theology class this week at Wheaton College. When I come up, I...

Here's a pertinent rhetorical question for our land: Ps. 94:20. Never confuse one party or other with the kingdom of God. But never thin...

First Kings 8 records Solomon's magnificent prayer at the dedication of the temple. The depths and heights of biblical theology and typo...

John Owen on the Holy Spirit is quickly proving to be life-changing for me. I don't think I can be the same after working through volume...

So on into the book of Kings. In 1 Kgs. 2:12 we read of Solomon's firmly established kingdom. But how did this come about when Adonijah ...

John Owen on the prominence of the Spirit in the New Testament as an object of our faith: The Holy Spirit, the doctrine concerning his pers...

Yesterday's Lord's Day  sermon  on Eph. 2:1-10, preached by NCC pastor Andrew Fulton, provided liberating food for the dull duty-bou...

Second Samuel 24 begins with God's anger burning against Israel, and so YHWH incites David against them (2 Sam. 24:1). I discussed this ...

Based on Ps. 117, here's a glorious 1719 hymn written by Isaac Watts: From all that dwell below the skies let the Creator's prais...

I bind unto myself today The strong name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three. I bind this ...

Reviewing the names of David's mighty men, 2 Sam. 23:9ff recounts the victories wrought by the Lord: "And YHWH brought about a grea...

In volume 3 of John Owen's works, a discourse on the Holy Spirit, Owen provides his method of proceeding in controversy (and here he is ...

Chapter 22 of 2 Samuel provides a Davidic song that David spoke to YHWH "on the day when YHWH delivered him from the hand of his enemie...

I don't journal. I don't have a diary. A while back I tried. Yet I decided that I'd rather study God's will, works, and ways...

In an earlier post (Part 13) I pointed out David's plea for the Lord to thwart Ahithophel's counsel (2 Sam. 15:31). In 2 Sam. 17:14 ...

It's often said that the book of proverbs contains proverbs from the ANE outside of Israel or proverbs similar to noncanonical proverbs ...

In line with the subject matter of the previous post on Calvinism Everywhere, Part 14, consider also 2 Sam. 16:22-23. In fulfillment of 2 Sa...

Continuing with the fallout of David's sin with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 13ff, in the light of 2 Sam. 12:10-11, let's consider an intri...

Recall 2 Sam. 12:10-11. This prophetic word from Nathan to David comes within YHWH's rebuke for David's sin. We see this terrible wo...

This post  on mothering at Desiring God is salutary stuff. Oh what a high and glorious calling! The highest! Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said th...

"No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, which is the sum and substance of our Christian profession, but by [the Holy Spirit] (John Owen...

A while back I made a beginning at poking away at John Owen's  Pneumatologia . On account of pressing responsibilities and unforeseen ci...