The gospel humbles us into the dust and at the very same time exalts us to the heavens.

Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you.

But resurrection is not just consolation — it is restoration. We get it all back — the love, the loved ones, the goods, the beauties of this life — but in new, unimaginable degrees of glory and joy and strength.

Because creation was made in the image of a God who is equally one and many, the human race will finally be reunited and our racial and cultural diversity will remain intact in the renewed world. The human race finally lives together in peace and interdependence. Glory to God in the highest goes with peace on earth.

The gospel is not only the way to enter the kingdom; it is the way to live in the kingdom.

It is because of the doctrine of judgment and hell that Jesus' proclamations of grace and love are so astounding.

The human race doesn't need more books telling them what to do. They need the power to do what they already know.