How were people saved in the Old Testament?

Posted on January 15, 2026 by RC

The only way there is to be saved, by trusting in the work of Christ alone. Because God is just, sin must be punished. Because we are sinners, that is bad news for us. God’s promise to Adam and Eve, however, was that the Seed of the Woman would have His heel bruised. While He crushes the serpent’s head. God took the man-made coverings our first parents fashioned and gave them animal skins for cover. Thus foreshadowing the need for the shedding of blood by a substitute.

These shadows continued throughout the Old Testament. With each passing generation, however, the shadows of the promise began to recede. The gospel, in its most nascent form, was given in Genesis 3, but it grew in clarity. Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, Joseph’s multiple deaths, burials, “resurrections,” Moses striking the rock pointed to the substitute. The sacrificial system God gave His people made the promise still more clear.

We are all, however, given to confusing the sign with the thing signified. Animal skins did not redeem Adam and Eve. The blood of bulls and goats saved not a soul among the Israelites. Were such sufficient, Christ would not have needed to come. Instead they pointed to the future hope, the future hope that secured redemption for those who believed. The work of Christ that was to come redeemed the saints in the Old Testament. This they appropriated by faith. As we look backward to His finished work for us, and rest in it, so they looked forward to His coming work for them, and rested in it.

For Adam and Eve the object of their faith was that first simple promise. They likely had no deep understanding of what the promise meant, but I believe they believed it was their only hope. For the earlier generations in the Promised Land the object of their faith included a better understanding of what the sacrificial system meant, and they believed it was their only hope. With the prophet Isaiah the meaning of the promise became more clear still, as he described for God’s people the suffering servant who would be bruised for our healing.

There is but one people of God, those covered by the blood of Christ. These became such through the one way to peace with God, resting in the work of Christ. There is but one gospel, the promise of God that He has reconciled us to Himself in pouring out His wrath for us upon Him. As they looked forward through the sacrifices, so we look backward through the table of the Lord. To rest in either would be deadly. To rest in the One each represents is to be at peace with the living God, to be adopted into His family, to eat as His children at His table. There are not two ways into the kingdom, just one.

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Lisa & I on Noah’s Wife; Blindspots & Race; and More

Posted on January 14, 2026 by RC

This week’s all new Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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And It Came To Pass: The Tapestry of Providence

Posted on January 13, 2026 by RC

I was not, as a kid, a particularly gifted athlete. It’s true I enjoyed sports, however, and so my hours were determined by the seasons: football, basketball, baseball. I realized early on that my gifts were limited, while my desire to compete was boundless. My solution- will. I determined to will myself to victory, to be the dog in the fight with the most fight in the dog. The Rocky movies resonated with me. I would take a punch, and come back for more.

That same perspective survived my childhood, and is still with me. But it has matured. I went against Goliaths on the gridiron, faced Apollyon staring me down from the pitcher’s mound, but before the hand of God I have been humbled. My will wilts before His. As one wise theologian has been wont to say, “You have free will. God has free will. Whose will is more free?”

God’s revealed will is found for us in the Bible. He commands, and we are to obey. He forbids, and we are to abstain. His hidden will, however, is unhidden through circumstance. He not only commands what He will, but brings to pass what He will. Pharaoh’s army defied God’s revealed will in chasing after God’s people. But the tumbling walls of the Red Sea defied Pharaoh’s defiance. God won.

He always wins. When the Son of Glory hung in shame upon the cross, He won, just as much as He won when the Son walked into a garden, the firstborn of the new creation. In circumstances that are not going the way we wish, when providence frowns upon us, there is no shadow on Him. Not because He is disconnected, not even because the light will defeat the darkness, but because these are His ordained means.

History, whether as narrowly conceived as how my day is going, or as broadly considered as the rise and fall of nations through all time, is God ultimately moving all the pieces on the chessboard. How such relates to evil is a great mystery. We must never besmirch His character. Neither, however, may we negotiate away His ultimate, absolute control over all things.

We are called to pray both as Jesus taught us, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” which reminds us of our duty to submit to His revealed will, but also as Jesus prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” It is here that we remember and rest in His sovereignty, remembering that nothing comes to pass that He does not ordain (Lamentations 3:37).

God brought famine in the land, and Elimelech fled to Moab. Elimelech and his sons went the way of all flesh, leaving behind three widows. Dark providences indeed. But Boaz spied the young woman as she gleaned. Boaz awoke from his slumber on the threshing room floor. But Boaz and Ruth begat a son, who begat a son who begat a son, whose “son” and Lord would be both the Son of David, and the Son of God. Do not lose heart in the dark providences. He brought us from death to life. He will do the same with our lives, in His timing.

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New Study Begins Next Week, Monday Jan. 19

Posted on January 12, 2026 by RC

Before Christmas we finished a six-part series on our call to be as children. For more on that theme, see my book The Call to Wonder. One week from today, January 19 we will begin a new Bible study called Truth You Can Count On. We will explore together the nature of God’s revelation, how our knowing relates to His knowing, how sin has impacted our capacity for understanding, the role of the Holy Spirit in our knowing and more.

Each Monday our study begins at 7:00 PM eastern time. We stream it on Facebook Live (at the account Lisa and I share, RC-Lisa) for those who wish to attend via the interwebs. You can usually also find a link to the week’s study a day or two later right here in this space. We welcome conversation from all in attendance, whatever form it takes. The atmosphere is casual, though the study itself is serious.

Our goal, however, goes well beyond learning. We also want to grow as a community. That’s why each Monday night we are delighted to feed our local guests dinner at 6:15. We enjoy a time of conversation, and typically, a time of prayer after the study has ended. All are welcome to attend. It would, however, be helpful if you’d let us know in advance so we can be sure to have enough food for everyone.

As much as is possible we meet weekly. Occasionally providence dictates otherwise. Such doesn’t mean, however, that if you miss a week we won’t let you come the next week. Come when you can; come when you like. We have some who have attended for years and some newbies. Either way, all are welcome. Please, plan to join us. We think you’ll be glad you did. We’ll certainly be glad to see you.

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Not a Sin, But Not the Ideal: A Cautious Warning

Posted on January 12, 2026 by RC

We all are prone to both legalism and antinomianism. When we want to do something God’s law forbids, we become antinomian. If we want someone else to not do what we think they should not, we become legalists. We add to God’s law to try to restrain the other guy.

Eve was the first legalist, even before she ate the fruit. She told the serpent she and Adam were not to eat the fruit, true, but also they were not to touch it. False. God said no such thing. She added to God’s law. One could argue that not touching it would have been wise, but not that it would have been sin.

That distinction, “Doing X is not a sin, but it is unwise” or “Doing X is not a sin, but it’s not ideal” likely has some legitimate applications. Were I to live on a diet of twinkies someone might try to say I am in sin by reminding me that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6: 19-20). That argument, I’d argue, would fall to the ground on the basis of Colossians 2:6. There Paul commands us not to judge one another over what we eat or drink. What we’re left with is unwise, or not ideal but not a sin.

This solution carries with it, however, a bevy of dangers that come along for the ride. Too often, “The Bible doesn’t say X is a sin, but I believe X is unwise” translates to “You are in sin, and I don’t need to demonstrate it from the Bible.” I’ve seen it a hundred times. “I’m not saying it’s a sin to divorce an unfaithful spouse, but God hates divorce.” “It’s not a sin to marry someone from another culture, but it’s generally unwise.” “Smoking cigars isn’t a sin, according to the Bible, but it isn’t ideal.”

Though this is decidedly impious, I call this approach being more pious than God. Those who speak in this way are essentially saying, “God doesn’t forbid this, but I do.” We are the Pharisees. Too often we succumb to those who would spy out our freedom (Galatians 2:4). We take on the yokes of men.

Some years ago I received a call from a pastor friend. I was, at that time, serving as editor of Tabletalk magazine. My friend was quite upset with me because I had tapped a man in his presbytery to write an article for us. That man, he explained, was undergoing a divorce that the presbytery had not yet ruled on, whether it was biblical or not. While they spent time trying to answer that question, they advised the man not to do any public ministry.

My reply was simple. First, how could I have possibly known that? Second, where is the sin on my part, or his part? “Well, he didn’t submit to the presbytery” he said. “Oh my,” I replied. “I must have misheard you. I thought you said presbytery advised him to not do any public ministry.” “Yes,” my friend said, “that’s exactly what I said.” “Where then is the failure to submit?” “Writing the article was the failure to submit.” “Did the presbytery,” I asked, “forbid him or advise him?”

I went on to explain to my friend that if the presbytery was unwilling to give the writer a command, they can’t grumble if he doesn’t take its advice. We all want the power to control people without the responsibility of defending it. People are eager to judge others for sins they can’t find in the Bible.

My advice to you. No, God’s command to you is that you not put burdens on people that He does not require. That you not judge others for having differing preferences from your own in adiaphorous places. That when the Bible calls us to prophetically thunder God’s Word, “Thou shalt not…” that we thunder it. Otherwise, judge not.

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Who’s On First? What’s On Second? Christ and His Kingdom

Posted on January 9, 2026 by RC

The one thing I want you to be certain to do is finish reading this piece and brush your teeth every evening.

I trust at least two things strike you about this opening sentence. First, it’s a rather odd way to begin. Second, why would I tell you there is one thing I want you to be certain to do and then ask for two things? Truth be told, I am following in the footsteps of Jesus, hoping to better understand our calling to follow in His footsteps. He said, Seek first that which is first, not first and second, but first, the kingdom of God. That would have made perfect sense, had He stopped there. But He didn’t. He said seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That’s two things, or is it?

The Devil over the past several centuries has been trying to pull us off both sides of the horse. He gave us pietism, which was a one-two punch to the church. Pietism first, and most clearly, is a view that sees the Christian faith as being merely about our own personal sanctification. It denies, implicitly, that Jesus has overcome the world, that His reign has implications in every sphere of reality.

The second punch is slightly more subtle — pietism casts a shadow on piety. If we buy into pietism, we fail to press the crown rights of Jesus (we fail to seek His kingdom). If we reject pietism, on the other hand, we tend to reject piety as well, becoming consumed with power politics and cease guarding our hearts. We want to change the world out there while all the while the world in here is in desperate straits. Thus we fail to seek His righteousness.

We will succeed in both realms only when we come to understand that there is only one realm. The world will not change until we are changed. The kingdom comes as His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. We must in turn come to realize that the world out there is changed precisely because of changes in here. Western civilization is not fleeing from its God-honoring roots because Christians are insufficiently politically active. No, we are losing the battle to make known the reign of Christ in the world because we will not have Him to rule over the church and its members.

The kingdom and the righteousness are one because both are Christ. We are seeking the kingdom when we are seeking after Him. And we are seeking His righteousness when we are seeking after Him. We miss this, I fear, because we miss what sanctification really is, thinking of it first as a doctrine rather than a calling. Too many of us would rather talk about what it means than avail ourselves of its means.

If, however, we escape this all too prevalent weakness, we usually fail in another way. We measure sanctification by how many sins we commit and how frequently. That is, we take the law of God, a righteous and compelling set of dos and don’ts, and see what we do and what we don’t do. Out pops our sanctification score. Sanctification, however, is far more about what we are than what we do. We don’t seek to stop sinning in order to be more like Jesus. Instead, we seek to be more like Jesus, and we end up sinning less.

We are called, then, to seek Him, remembering His promise that when we see Him, we will be like Him (1 John 3:1–4). Believers are to look for Him in His Word, remembering again that they are one. Both our Bibles and Jesus Himself are wisely called the Word of God. We are to look for Him in His body, the church. There He who is invisible to us becomes visible, because it is His body. We are to look for Him at His table, where He meets with us, where He feeds us. In prayer we look to Him, remembering that He is about the business of interceding with the Father for us.

In all of these places where we find Him we also find this — His grace. As we see Him in the Word, our sins are exposed. When we see Him in the church, there too our sins are exposed. When we see Him at His table, our sins are exposed. And in each case, our sins are covered.

Sanctification, oddly, comes to pass as we become more — rather than less — aware of our sins. We find both His kingdom and His righteousness only as we confess that we have foolishly sought to rule in His stead, only as we confess that our own righteousness is as filthy rags. Our Father in heaven knows that we have need of these things. And even as He provides rain for the flowers and food for His beasts, so He has provided an alien kingdom and an alien righteousness, both in His only begotten Son.

Though I do indeed hope that you finish this particular piece, and though I do hope you practice good oral hygiene, my true desire for you and for me is this single goal: that we would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Praise His name, He has promised that we will find whom we seek.

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Kids and Their Phones, or, Old Man Yelling at Clouds

Posted on January 8, 2026 by RC

There was a time when I saw every complaint about any technology as an assault on the blessings of liberty. My loyalty to free markets made me suspicious of anyone casting doubt on the marvels of new whiz bang machines. One can, however, hate the idea of government interfering with x and thinking x is maybe not such a good thing. Caveat emptor, “Let the buyer beware” means both “Keep government out of it” and “Beware.”

I did not own a cell phone until 2002 nor an i-phone until 2010. My laptop gets more use than my phone. But I must admit the phone is impressive. I love that meme that shows a picture of a telephone, video camera, still camera, Walkman, notepad, road atlas, laptop, radio, etc. all of which are contained in any smartphone. It rightly amazes.

The trouble is that it messes with our minds. Last semester my college students and I watched The Social Dilemma. There, the very experts who write the code concede they write it not to serve us but to hook us. The whole class quivered, frightened by what they saw. For a day or two. Then they went back to “normal.”

But it’s not normal. These students literally spend half their waking hours on their phones. Whether they are doom scrolling, watching or posting tik-toks, running duck lip poses through various filters, they’re doing it all day. How easy to consider this behavior as just something kids go through, a fad, harmless. It’s not.

The ability of teens to reason carefully, to delay gratification, to think creatively plummets with increased use of smartphones. Perhaps we should call them dumb phones. And this doesn’t even touch on how social media works fiercely against biblical sexual morality. We are only scratching the surface of the long-term impact of the ubiquity of porn on the internet.

The great agrarian Andrew Lytle once argued that the demise of the American family could be blamed on the rise of central heating. Before its advent, families all gathered around the fire, and had to get along. Once the house was all one temperature, people adjourned to their rooms. Until, of course, the television brought them together again. But now we all have our own televisions in our pockets. Even when we are together we are apart. Each of us bows our head before our idol wrapped in otterbox.

For parents, please watch the movie and if you haven’t already, give more serious and prayerful thought before handing down to your children your idol 13 because you want a shiny new idol 17. If necessary, get them a dumb phone, or a gizmo. For young adults, please watch the movie and do a little research on the impact your phone is having on you, body and soul.

Older adults, we too can be impacted. Watch the movie, and come up with a plan to make sure you use your smart phone as a tool, rather than it using you as a tool. Set yourself a reminder to check how you are doing in a month or two. Getting free isn’t easy. But it is good for you.

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Sacred Marriage, Trump, Venezuela and Ethics, and More

Posted on January 7, 2026 by RC

This week’s all new Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Preaching Power: Standing On and Under the Word

Posted on January 6, 2026 by RC

That we in the church have been infected by the consumerist mindset is a given. It is a buyer’s market, with sellers of every imaginable stripe vying for our attention. In the mindset of too many churches, and too many church members, entertainment rules the day. But even here I run the risk of boring my audience, the risk that you will click away from this piece and turn to other things if I merely rehearse the ills of the church-growth movement. It’s just another stale take, “Blah, blah, blah, those other people, blah, gurus, blah blah, inch deep, blah.”

If, however, we are among those few who yet worship in churches free of clowns on unicycles and assorted other circus freaks, we are not necessarily home free. If we are in the market for meat instead of milk, we are still in the market. Our problems aren’t solved, in other words, if we cater to the right demographic. Some may have better taste than others while everyone tends to feed the self.

What is missing isn’t just depth. What is missing is authority. Crusty, prickly Reformed folk who spend their Lord’s Day sitting like an Olympic judge, waiting for the pastor to slip up theologically are, in a sense, hardly better than the smiling evangelical who rates his pastors’ sermons with a laugh-o-meter. They both sit in seats of judgment. They simply have different personal standards.

While we are commanded to have the spirit of the Bereans, while we are to test the spirits, it is the spirit of the age that looks at the sermon as something to judge rather than as something by which to be judged. We come to the sermon not ultimately to measure it by the Word of God but to be measured through it by the Word of God. We come as those under authority, bondservants of the King.

While from one perspective it is only that clumsy sinner who is filling the pulpit, from another legitimate perspective, what we are hearing is the Word of God preached. And for those who fill the pulpit, we are not there in our own authority, or for our own glory. And we too need to hear the Word preached.

If we would regain in our day the power of preaching, if we would see our selves, our families, our churches, and, from there, our culture remade by the power of preaching, those who listen must come not as those who are hearing a sales pitch but as soldiers being given marching orders. And those who preach must recognize that they are delivering not just a message but the very words of God.

Sound preaching wounds us, heals us, and sends us back out into the battle. When the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts appears, there is no dickering. There are no negotiations. Instead, there we receive the commands of our King. From there we go forth as more than conquerors. May we, by His grace, be given ears to hear.

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What’s Coming Up For Your Next Bible Study?

Posted on January 5, 2026 by RC

So glad you asked. Before Christmas we finished a six-part series on our call to be as children. For more on that theme, see my book The Call to Wonder. Two weeks from today, January 19 we will begin a new Bible study called Truth You Can Count On. We will explore together the nature of God’s revelation, how our knowing relates to His knowing, how sin has impacted our capacity for understanding, the role of the Holy Spirit in our knowing and more.

Each Monday our study begins at 7:00 PM eastern time. We stream it on Facebook Live (at the account Lisa and I share, RC-Lisa) for those who wish to attend via the interwebs. You can usually also find a link to the week’s study a day or two later right here in this space. We welcome conversation from all in attendance, whatever form it takes. The atmosphere is casual, though the study itself is serious.

Our goal, however, goes well beyond learning. We also want to grow as a community. That’s why each Monday night we are delighted to feed our local guests dinner at 6:15. We enjoy a time of conversation, and typically, a time of prayer after the study has ended. All are welcome to attend. It would, however, be helpful if you’d let us know in advance so we can be sure to have enough food for everyone.

As much as is possible we meet weekly. Occasionally providence dictates otherwise. Such doesn’t mean, however, that if you miss a week we won’t let you come the next week. Come when you can; come when you like. We have some who have attended for years and some newbies. Either way, all are welcome. Please, plan to join us. We think you’ll be glad you did. We’ll certainly be glad to see you.

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