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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Ezekiel is not called/sent out to be “successful” in his prophetic ministry—he is sent out to be faithful!
As the sin-bearer, Jesus was also the sin-confessor in the psalms.
In the overall context of Lamentations this text stands out as a breath of fresh air, or perhaps more accurately, words of relief after so much dismal lamenting!
Christian hope means always hope in God and hope in Christ simultaneously without distinction.
The fact that the LORD answers Job is a great gift of love and mercy, but He does not provide the answers Job seeks.
God's new planting will keep the ancient Messianic covenantal promise alive and bring it to fruition.
This is the first direct promise of the Seed who will reunite all mankind to God by defeating Satan on the Cross.
We have the Gospel in Word and the Gospel in Sacrament. Both are poised to declare the peace of the Lord, the good news of God’s forgiveness because of the life, vicarious atonement, and resurrection of Jesus the Son.
Does Isaiah find himself in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple, or is this taking place in the Heavenly Temple? Perhaps we might say the answer is “Yes.”
You and I have a God who pardons all our wrongdoing by taking all of them onto himself. He doesn’t zap us into oblivion at the first sign of rebellion.
There is no life when one is separated from the Promised Land because that will be the place where God will send His Messiah.
Israel is all the people who believe in the LORD and gather at His throne. It is no longer a national distinction, it is one of faith.