This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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Gideon’s “foolish” weaponry of clay jars and shofars will give way to the Messiah’s “foolish” ways of doing things, for his weapons will be humility, fidelity, and, above all, the word of his Father.
Because of Christ, we find safety and healing in the light. Because of Christ, we do not have to be afraid of the truth that his light reveals.
All the redeeming in God’s Word ultimately points to the first-born, only Begotten, who redeems the world.
This Messiah is not a continuation—He is the fulfillment and the beginning of something new.
Waiting is not easy, but after waiting a long time, one would at least expect us to be ready when the time came.
“The days are coming,” and God said it. God, who kept his promise that Christ would come at Christmas.
The Messenger is coming—must come—because the LORD God has promised, and He is unchanging and always faithful no matter how unfaithful His people may be.
The Word of Yahweh is not a trifling thing that can be visited only when it’s convenient. It’s a book of life, for all of life, that imparts life to those who believe in it and the God of it.
In Christ, all things are new. This is also true in so far as His three-fold office of prophet, priest, and king.
The youths that mock Elisha are representative of Israel’s collective contempt and disregard for all things relating to their One True God.
The Israelites had taken the Covenantal promise and the language of separation and interpreted them to mean the message of salvation and restoration was meant for only them. But this is counter to the reality of the Scriptures.
This text arguably contains the clearest teaching concerning the bodily resurrection from the dead in the Old Testament.