Covenant Presbyterian Church

The final section of the Book of Revelation serves as an epilogue. These final words accomplish a great deal in a short amount of space. There are three main themes to be found in the epilogue: (1) the truthfulness of the entire book, (2) the immanence of Christ’s return, and (3) the promise of blessing […]

Throughout Scripture, we see that God is very invested in our growth in godliness. Passage after passage talks about how to live as followers of Christ. Because we are sinners, that instruction includes a lot of emphasis on our need to change – change our behaviors, words, thoughts, and ultimately our mindsets. If you are […]

After seeing the church in her glorified completion, John is shown the new creation in which the church will dwell. And like the vision of the church, the new Jerusalem, this vision of the new creation is highly symbolic. It draws heavily from the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. In his vision of the new […]

John’s vision of life in the eternal age to come continues on with the sort of symbolism that is so typical of apocalyptic writing in general, and the Book of Revelation specifically. What John sees in this portion of the vision strains the capacity of human language. He sees a city so massive it is […]

The first eight verses of Chapter 21 serve as both a conclusion to what has been going on so far in Revelation and a beginning of the final two chapters. Six times in chapters 19 and 20 John uses the words “Then I saw.”  Now for the seventh time, beginning in Chapter 21, he uses […]

At his first advent, Christ established his kingdom on the earth. Even as wickedness proliferated, the kingdom of Christ advanced progressively and has continued to do so. During this time, Satan is bound from deceiving the nations (vs. 3) and that means the light of the gospel would finally break through to the nations. This […]

Christ is the reigning King over all creation. His great millennial kingdom consists of the period between his first advent and his glorious return. During his earthly ministry, though weak from the viewpoint of the average onlooker, Jesus nevertheless repeatedly declared that in him the kingdom of God had now arrived. And indeed, the signs […]

In his vision, John now sees another angel descending from heaven, seizing, chaining, and locking the dragon away in the pit for a thousand years. This is done, we are told, to keep the dragon from deceiving the nations for a particular period of time. In verses 4-6 John sees thrones and the souls of […]

In Christian history, this passage has almost universally been taken as an account of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Lord is depicted as returning in his regal glory, no longer a lowly servant but the reigning King. The dragon and the beast are cast into the lake of fire, along with all those […]

The last few chapters of Revelation have shown us both the wickedness and ultimate destruction of Babylon, that deceiver of nations. In so doing, a choice is pressed upon us. It is a choice between masters. Will we follow the beast or the Lamb? Will we seek our home in Babylon, the great prostitute, or […]

The angel continues to unfold a vision begun in chapter 17 of the destruction of Babylon (see also 14:8; 16:19; 17:16). Here the focus is on Babylon’s economic collapse. Those loyal to Babylon wonder in horror at the complete devastation of the once mighty power. The economic impact is devastating for all who boasted in […]

The Book of Revelation is full of challenging passages, and none more so than chapter 17. In this portion of the vision, what John hears becomes progressively more prominent than what he sees. The section is dominated by an accompanying angel who explains to John what he is seeing. This pattern will continue through the […]

The way to get ahead in the world is to either be born into the right family, right social status or right caste, or (and this is predominantly in the U.S.) you work really hard and take advantage of opportunities that come your way. That may be true in the world when it comes to […]

A benediction is a good or blessed word. It is a prayer for God to bless the recipients in particular ways. Paul concluded most of his epistles with a benediction to his readers. There are benedictions in the Old Testament as well, perhaps most famously that which Moses instructed Aaron and the other priests to […]

The account of Jesus' crucifixion completes the passion narrative and fulfills the Lord's earlier prophecies concerning his suffering and death (Matthew 20:19). Jesus told his disciples that he would be "mocked and scourged" by the Gentiles and then killed. His death fulfilled the Messianic Psalms concerning the righteous martyr (Psalms 22 and 69).

We shift gears this week and begin a short series through a well-known portion of the Gospel of Matthew. As we anticipate Easter, we will consider the historical record of the highest imaginable offense: the trial and crucifixion of the Messiah. At that time, the high council in Jerusalem, known as the Sanhedrin, had been […]

The Book of Revelation is not a coded forecast of 21st-century geopolitics. As John writes in verse one, the entire letter is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is written in the highly symbolic language of prophetic apocalyptic literature and, in keeping with the method of apocalyptic literature, Revelation pulls back the curtain on earthly […]

The title of the sermon is taken from the auto-biography of Frederick Douglas as he considered his grandmother, a slave, who, after years of cruel captivity, was sent off to die alone once she was no longer useful to her master: “Will not a righteous God visit for these things?” It is the question that […]