No menu selected

The Highest Attainment in this Life

Published: 1 April 2015
Written by Dean Davis
2 Comments
Categories: Quintessential Quotes

The highest attainment we can reach in this life is a broken and contrite spirit, arising from a deep conviction of how very disproportionate our best returns are to our obligations, and how far our obedience and holiness fall short of the standard: the revealed law and will of God.

Job was commended by the Lord himself before his great trials came upon him, and in a calm moment he expressed a persuasion that when he was fully tried he should come forth as gold. But when he was at last brought forth, he did not say, “Behold I am perfect,” but, “Behold I am vile.” And the great lesson he learned by his sufferings and his deliverance was to abhor himself and to repent in dust and ashes.

I apprehend they are the most favored and most eminent Christians who come nearest to the spirit with which he spoke these words.

— John Newton

Newton goes on to say that this mindfulness of our deep, native poverty of spirit instructs the sanctified soul to depend continually and completely upon the mercy, grace, and strength of the Lord , wherein lies all hope of victory in the Christian life, and all our joy.

He Leadeth Me!

Published: 2 February 2015
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Devotionals

HE LEADEATH ME!

Reflections on God’s Guidance from the Book of Acts 

In his letter to the Roman Christians, the apostle Paul declares, “As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). What a thought! Can it really be that part of our inheritance in Christ is to be guided by the Spirit of God in all our decisions, just as the Lord Jesus was? Paul certainly seemed to think so! Moreover, as we read through the book of Acts, we find that for the early Church this was indeed the case: In manifold ways, God graciously guided His people in the fulfillment of their mission, and in so doing provided helpful instructions and examples for us to follow.

The purpose of this essay is to spotlight the main ways in which God guides his New Covenant children, and to illustrate them from the Book of Acts. May this brief meditation enrich your confidence for walking with him! You can access it here. 

Critical Mass

Published: 3 November 2014
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Letters

Here is a letter recently published by the Press Democrat. Since tomorrow is Election Day, it is timely to think about these things.

Please join me in praying for God’s mercy upon our nation, and for a new crop of godly leaders. If we must reach critical mass, it would be good to have such leaders at the helm.

Dean

Editor,

In physics, critical mass is the tipping point at which nuclear stuff blows up.

Today we are swiftly approaching spiritual and political critical mass. Activist judges, overthrowing the lawfully determined will of the people, think they can keep adding fissile material to the cultural pot. They cannot. Sooner or later it will blow up in their faces.

Here is Jefferson on critical mass: “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, all according to the laws of Nature and Nature’s God), it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.”

One day soon some brave governor, flanked by his legislature, will declare to the nation: “There is a time for saying, ‘We must obey God rather than man’; for following our conscience, our nation’s founding principles, our state constitutions, and the declared will of the people. That time has come. We will not submit to this Court. We will no longer kill our unborn children, nor sanction homosexual marriage. We do this, not out of hate, but love: Love for what is true, right, and best for America. Here we stand. God help us all.”

Amen.

Dean Davis

How Shall We Interpret OT Prophecies of the Kingdom of God?

Published: 22 October 2014
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Eschatology

Here is a re-worked article addressing the question of the proper interpretation of OT prophecies of the Kingdom.

My friend Shawn McGrath, at his new amillennialism website, has posted it there as well.

I would encourage you to visit this site: It’s slowly filling up with some really helpful articles, sermons, and videos, all explaining and defending amillennial eschatology. To judge from the number of visitors, the Lord is stirring his people’s curiosity afresh about eschatology.

Makes sense: We are clearly RACING towards “the end of all things,” but more than that, to a glorious new beginning of a glorious new World to Come!

 

Life from the Dead: An Exposition of Romans 11:11-36

Published: 20 October 2014
Written by Dean Davis
No comments
Categories: Eschatology

This essay is another extract from my book, The High King of Heaven: Discovering the Master Keys to the Great End Time Debate (Redemption Press, 2014).

Here I attempt an exposition of one of the most challenging texts in the NT, Romans 11:11-36. In this passage Paul discusses one of the great biblical signs of the imminence of the return of Christ and the Consummation of all things: the large-scale conversion of ethnic Israel in the last of the Last Days. 

Paul calls this a mystery, and by my lights it is a great one. I hope you enjoy and profit from my humble attempt to plumb its amazing depths.

To read the essay, click here.