Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
As the writer to the Hebrews affirms, what makes the Christian gospel so much better is that we are no longer dealing with “types and shadows."
Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
The king has arrived and has already begun his reign forever and ever.
God the Father sent us – his wayward, sinful, and naughty children – his own series of Father Christmas Letters.
Who would ever want all these screamers and haters? It turns out that Christ does.
O weary ones, O long-time waiting and watching ones, O ones who are late to the game, he is your rest this busy season, and always.
We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
We ache in eager anticipation as we see Christ in action and as we take in the snapshots of his life, death, and resurrection.
The epistle text from Colossians 1 declares how the great drama of redemption and human history ends.
We don’t start with behavior and work toward Christ. We start with Christ and everything works out from there.