Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On Sunday I mentioned that I’d like to take a bit more time in 2nd John than I had originally planned because I wanted to spend some time helping us as a congregation think through the doctrine of Christ. It is crucially important to the Apostle John in 2nd John. He goes so far as to say that if we do not continue on in the teaching of Jesus (and therefore the teaching about Jesus), then we do not have God (2 John 9). Pray for me as I prepare for Sunday. I want us to make sure we know our Savior, because I want us to have God.

The doctrine of Jesus Christ is so important and wonderful and mysterious. Let’s prepare our hearts as we prepare to consider what Stephen Charnock said about this great doctrine,

“What a wonder it is, that two natures infinitely distant, should be more intimately united than anything in the world; and yet without any confusion! That the same person should have both a glory and a grief; an infinite joy in the Deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity! That a God upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle; the thundering Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man, are such expressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love, that they astonish men upon earth, and angels in heaven.”
–Stephen Charnock, “On the Power of God” in The Existence and Attributes of God, vol. 2 (Robert Carter & Brothers, 1853), 63–64.

Warmly in Christ,
Mike