Adventist Review Podcasts

Babylon: one of antiquity’s most famous cities, proud of their god Marduk, and ruled in the 2nd millennium BC by the famed lawgiver Hammurabi. Later, Babylon is a world wonder with its hanging gardens, its Ishtar Gate and dominating ruler Nebuchadnezzar. But Babylon is something else too: it’s the inheritor of the Babel legacy, a place where God’s gifts and talents to His children become their weapons against Him. . . ; until the very name becomes synonymous with enmity against God, hostility against His people and the locus of cosmic confrontation between all the forces of good and the human and supernatural armies of spiritual rebellion. What must God do about Babylon now?

Because we know our wretchedness so well, we think that Jesus is repulsed by us as we are by ourselves. If we could run away from us, we would: why wouldn’t Jesus do the same? Why would He willingly elect to stand by us and wrap us in His arms and bear our awful reputation? But grace defines tenacity—a fierce unwillingness to let us go or drift back into cynical aloneness. Grace holds us; calms us; heals us; stays. There is no hurrying the Lord. He will be there when we next rise: He’ll still be there when we next fall. The grace that holds us never lets us go. Allow yourself to be this loved. And stay in grace.  -Bill Knott

NOTE: If you are blessed by GraceNotes, we invite you to subscribe.

When we’ve tried every other way, we give ourselves—with sighs—to grace. We miss its beauty and its joy because we save it as our last resort, a life ring for the drowning. We strive as though the goal was to use as little of God’s grace as possible, like salt on vegetables, or gas when heating homes. But Jesus wants our joy “full-filled”: abundance is the sign of grace. The life that could be yours can now be yours—without delay, without the misery and thrashing. God saves the desperate, but not because He needs us to be drowning. Enjoy His joy—beginning now—and lasting till forever. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

NOTE: If you are blessed by GraceNotes, we invite you to subscribe.

If grace were just for me, and not God’s gift to all in need, I might rejoice in my solo salvation and never be a different soul. But “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all” (Titus 2:11)—for every individual, yes—but also for the whole of us as Jesus’ faithful way to live with and forgive each other. Grace truly known always grows into graciousness: the living shows we’re starting to perceive how great the gift is. When I extend the grace of God, I take it deeper in my life. When I forgive, I learn how much there is in me that needs the Lord’s forgiveness. Grace grows on us, and grows in us, and grows through us. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott.

NOTE: If you are blessed by GraceNotes every week, we invite you to subscribe.

We search—in vain—for things in us that might cause God to gift us grace. It couldn’t be our good behavior; perhaps our good intentions? Perhaps our hot/cold love for God on one day stirred Him to extend the mercy we must have? No; no; and no. Grace has no market counterpart—no trade, no barter, no equivalence. It’s Jesus’ sovereign choice to give us what we didn’t earn, we don’t deserve, and on bad days, we even spurn. Our only claim on Christ is on His unforced choice to love those He created; sacrificed Himself to save; and ever intercedes for. Rejoice, oh heavens! Be amazed, oh earth! And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

In Other Words is the opinion page of Adventist Review staff: wide ranging, as befits the thinking of a group spanning multiple generations and encompassing more than half a dozen nationalities; spiritually earnest, as reflecting the thinking of a team of mature Christian professionals in areas as varied as journalism and technology, education and business, biblical studies and theology; sometimes lighthearted, always relevant. Gerald Kingbeil is the associate editor of the Adventist World magazine. www.adventistworld.org

God’s Judgment of the Living - Once upon a time people thought of God and Santa Claus somewhat alike, except for Santa’s “making a list and checking it twice.” God was nice, they claimed; but lists and checks are too judgmental. Today’s news shows how long evil can stay hidden. People are relieved that there are records that help condemn the wicked and free the just after years and decades of oppression, abuse and suffering. It’s no different with God. He, too, has carefully kept records. He, too, has a judgment schedule.

Reminiscent of the time when part of a family physician’s modus operandi was visiting patients in their homes, “House Call”—a regular column in Adventist Review magazine provides evidenced-based and biblically sound health-related counsel to AR readers and now listeners. Drs. Peter N. Landless and Zeno L. Charles-Marcel, both board certified physicians address physical and emotional concerns from a whole-person health-care perspective—as well as offer the added benefits of biblical wisdom. www.positivechoices.com

There is no grudging in God’s grace—no “Alright, this one time” or “Even though you don’t deserve it.”  He never makes forgiveness hang on promises to not sin again. “He knows our frame,” the Scriptures say: “He remembers we are dust.”  And all our promises—like those who made them—are dusty, broken, unreliable.  God forgives as only a Father can—more eager to restore the relationship than recall the rebellion; more focused on what we may become than what we did to wound Him. Grace flows to us because God’s heart is always love—unstoppable, without a limit.  If you could quantify such love, then you, dear friend, would be much greater than He is—and that is rank absurdity. Receive this love.  And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

Global View is a column of biblical and spiritual encouragement urging listeners to stay close to Christ and His Word as they carry out His mission for the world through the Holy Spirit pointing people to Christ’s soon coming. Ted N.C. Wilson is president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. www.adventistworld.org