Between the two comings of Jesus, believers experience what is often called the tension between the already and the not yet. Jesus’ followers can look back and see that D-day, the decisive strike, has already occurred and now guarantees thorough defeat of the enemy. Nevertheless, the time after the first coming and before the second coming involves ongoing warfare with the spiritual forces of darkness and their terrestrial supporters. V-day has not yet arrived, and so the potential for setbacks and defeats still exists. All too often, God’s people succumb to temptation and score a victory for the enemies of God. Still, the decisive strike at the first coming of Jesus guarantees ultimate victory at the second, and Jesus’ followers fight the good fight with assurance that God who has begun a good work at the first coming of Jesus will bring it to completion at the second.
— Dean Ulrich (b. 1963), Alttestamentler, presbyterianischer Pastor und Autor
Topics: Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Temptation & Struggle
Dean Ulrich
Dean R. Ulrich (* 1963) ist ein US-amerikanischer Alttestamentler, presbyterianischer Pastor und Autor. Er vertritt eine heilsgeschichtlich-christuszentrierte Schriftauslegung und wendet sich gegen moralistische Verkürzungen biblischer Bücher wie Rut oder Esra-Nehemia. Heutigen Bibellesern hilft sein Werk, alttestamentliche Texte in ihrem historischen Kontext und zugleich im Gesamtgefüge des christlichen Evangeliums zu verstehen.
All quotes by Dean Ulrich (12)
I ask myself: what does hell mean? I maintain: it is the inability to love.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
God has put eternity into our hearts and filled it with longing.
John Piper
C.S. Lewis
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
Jim Elliot
Martin Luther King Jr.
Whoever knows Easter cannot despair.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Helmut Thielicke
Charles Haddon Spurgeon