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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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.
We prefer God to forgive our sin by not paying attention to it. Then our prayer is not for grace but that God would overlook and wink at us from the sidelines.
This is the first direct promise of the Seed who will reunite all mankind to God by defeating Satan on the Cross.
The Holy Spirit is sent, not to talk about himself, but to point us to Jesus.
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.
Sin, death, and Satan may have had more than a puncher's chance to beat us, but when God stepped into the ring, they should have admitted defeat and thrown in the towel.
By his initiative alone, he remakes our hearts to love him and others unselfishly.
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.
This Psalm identifies who the people of the Covenant are, and who they are not, and orientates them in relationship to the LORD God.