I Did It Again January 27, 2026
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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In “I Did It Again” S5 / E40 of I Took a Right Turn: We open up with our usual comments on the weather in the Promised Land and other happenings in the world. Our musical portion of the podcast begins with Through It All which tells us how to make it through anything, by knowing God is always there for us. Next a song that tells how the very essence of God holds us up, The Goodness of God. Then comes a song that tells the truth, There is None Like You. Finally, we share another of our homegrown songs: Eye on The Prize.
Looking into God’s holy Word, we explore at Romans 7:21-25 a portion of God’s Word where Paul shares his own experience in following Go0d to help us in our own walk with Him.
After this, we move on to our newest segment of the Podcast, “A Miracle Moment.” In the segment this week, we share a miracle that has a surprising element.
Then Robert reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “If We’ll Let Him.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book.
We want to invite everyone to send us your miracle stories. Everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. We’re very excited about this new segment because we feel God has guided us into this expansion of the Podcast Ministry. Just go to itookarightturn.com and click on “Contact” and use the message system to submit.
The text of the readings form Robert’s book is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
Scattered Seeds January 20, 2026
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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In “Scattered Seeds” S5 / E39 of I Took a Right Turn: We open up with our usual comments on the weather in the Promised Land and other happenings in the world. Our musical portion of the podcast begins with Open the Eyes of My Heart which is a constant prayer here. Next a song that tells the truth and nothing but the truth, God is God. Then a dear old song that speaks of our constant awe and wonder when confronting the majesty of God, How Great Thou Art. Finally, we share one of our newer homegrown songs: The Voice.
Looking into God’s holy Word, we explore at Mark 4:3-8, 13-20 a passage that teaches us about the parables the Lord used throughout His ministry.
After this, we move on to our newest segment of the Podcast, “A Miracle Moment.” In the segment this week, we share a miracle that marked the entrance into an exciting period of God’s ministry.
Then Robert reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “Who’s Your Daddy.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book.
We want to invite everyone to send us your miracle stories. Everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. We’re very excited about this new segment because we feel God has guided us into this expansion of the Podcast Ministry. Just go to itookarightturn.com and click on “Contact” and use the message system to submit.
The text of the readings form Robert’s book is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
Enter Through Faith January 6, 2026
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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In “Enter Through Faith” S5 / E37 of I Took a Right Turn: This podcast begins as usual as we comment on the weather in the Promised Land. Our musical segment opens with an old song that continues to bless I Saw the Light. Next, we share a song that has blessed many for more than a century Amazing Grace, then comes a song that talks about one of the most important things we can ever learn, how to wait on the Lord when we learn this lesson, anything is possible, They That Wait Upon the Lord. Finally, we share another of our homegrown songs: The Book, The Blood, and The Blessed Hope. Then Robert reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “How Do We Get There.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book. Next, we begin our new segment of the Podcast, “A Miracle Moment.” In this new segment, Rosalie shares a miracle so great it has changed here life for all time. We want to invite everyone to send us your miracle stories. Everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. We’re very excited about this new segment because we feel God has guided us into this expansion of the Podcast Ministry. Just go to itookarightturn.com and use the message system to submit. Turning to God’s holy Word, we examine at Romans 5:1-2 where Paul tells us that we are united with God in Christ.
The text of the readings form Robert’s book is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
A New You For a New Year January 1, 2026
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Have you reached the end of your rope only to find out that it’s much shorter than you imagined? Was last year as good as you hoped it would be? Was it as bad as you feared it would be? Does the uncertainty of the future leave you anxious? Has your own mortality entered like a crack in the ice in your youthful belief in personal indestructability?
But wait there’s more…
Does the randomness of good happening to bad people and bad happening to good people leave you wondering if there’s any rhyme or reason to reality? Is looking for answers to these and many other questions like looking for needles in haystacks? Is the quest to find meaning in life like trying to nail fog to the wall?
If you’ve rejected Christ because of Christians don’t mistake the messengers for the message. Christ told his followers to lake His light to the world, and most have spent the last 2018 years trying to build a lamp and pretending it was the light.
The message is as simple as receiving it: Confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.
That’s it.
It’s not about joining the right club or following the right rules. We don’t need a seminary degree or someone with one to walk us through learning the secret handshake or the Abra Kadabra password. And there is no magic decoder ring. We don’t have to read the Bible from cover to cover. We don’t have to wear the right clothes, beard, or haircut. We don’t have to vote for the right candidates. We don’t have to take an oath to believe the same things that everyone else who confesses Christ as Lord does.
It isn’t about being good enough. That’s one of the great miracles of God’s economy. While we were yet sinners Jesus came and died so that we could live.
It isn’t about becoming a religious robot who says the right things at the right time to the right people in the right place. God is the One who created us with free choice, so we’re free to choose. It isn’t about conformity. God is the One who created us to be an individual and He doesn’t make junk. We are who He created us to be. He has placed us in a certain time and place so that we can become all He designed us to be and do all that He has called us to do. And that means what He created, placed, and called you to be, will be different than what He created, placed, and called me to be. You see it isn’t about cookie-cutter, repeat a formula, and follow the rule book club membership.
It’s about each of us individually confessing Jesus as Lord and each of us individually believing God raised Jesus from the dead and then learning to commune with God, to hear Him speak to us as individuals and then doing what He tells us to do.
If the questions at the beginning of this article float through our minds like storm clouds in a cloudless sky obscuring what should be clear. Let’s give up the battle to do it on our own. Let’s surrender and find victory in allowing God to count the victory of Jesus over sin and death to our account.
It’s so easy we can do it right here right now. We don’t need to be in a meeting, at an altar, or in a special building. We don’t need anyone to hold our hand or even know what we’ve done. We will know. God will know. And once we’re in his hand no one can snatch us out.
I confess Jesus as Lord and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the Dead. That’s it. All done. The battle is over. The war between us and God is over, and we are one with Him. Welcome to a new you for a new year.
You’ve Got it All December 30, 2025
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus, writing
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In “You’ve Got it All” S5 / E36 of I Took a Right Turn: For the last time we want to announce the new segment of the Podcast that will start in 2026, “A Miracle Moment.” In this new segment, they’ll share some of the many miracles we’ve witnessed in our more than forty years of ministry. We also invite everyone to send us your miracle stories. Everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. We’re very excited about this new segment because we feel God has guided us into this expansion of the Podcast Ministry. Just go to itookarightturn.com and use the message system to submit. Beginning this podcast, we comment on current events in the Promised Land including the weather. This week we open our musical segment with One More Mountain to Climb an old song sung in revivals for many years. Then we share a song that holds a special place in the hearts of many Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, next is a song that speaks to many who face the tests and trials of this life Got Any Rivers. We finish the music with another of our homegrown songs: Be Ready. Opening God’s holy Word, we examine at I Corinthians 1:7-9 where Paul tells us that we have all we’ll ever need to follow God. Robert then reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “Changes Two.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book.
The text of these readings is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
Understanding the Bible November 25, 2025
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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“Understanding the Bible” S5 / E31 of I Took a Right Turn: Starts out sharing again about a new segment to the Podcast which will start in 2026, “A Miracle Moment.” In this new segment, they’ll share some of the many miracles we’ve witnessed in our more than forty years of ministry. We also invite everyone to send us your miracle stories. Everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. Just go to WWW.itookarightturn.com and use the message system to submit. Following this we share some of what is going on presently in the Promised Land. Next, we play some songs that glorify God and speak of His action in our lives: He Touched Me a timeless classic by Bill and Gloria Gaither. Following this we share a song that addresses God’s very nature and how it impacts us: The Goodness of God, and then we share a song that has touched uncounted people through the years: Farther Along. And finally, a brand-new home-grown song, one that is played here for the first time: The Shortest Prayer I Know. Opening God’s Word, we dive into Acts 17:1-3 where we learn how to understand the Word of God. Robert then reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “Here Today Gone Today.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book.
The text of these readings is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
God Plays No Favorites November 18, 2025
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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In “God Plays No Favorites” S5 / E30 of I Took a Right Turn: Robert and Rosalie start out sharing about a new segment to the Podcast which will start in 2026, “A Miracle Moment.” In this new segment, they’ll share some of the many miracles they’ve witnessed in their more than forty years of ministry. They also invite anyone and everyone to send them miracle stories. And everyone who does will receive one of Robert’s books. Just go to the website WWW.itookarightturn.com and use the message system to submit. This announcement is followed by some rousing songs that make the heart praise God: Put Your Hand in The Hand a song that has sparked outpourings of God’s Spirit in many worship services. Then comes a song that speaks of what we find when we turn to Christ: Just a Little Talk with Jesus, and next they share a newer song by Ray Botz: The Anchor Holds. And finally, one of our home-grown songs: Jesus the Lord. Looking into God’s Word, we turn to Acts 10:34-36 where we learn that we’re all on an equal footing with God, we’re all His creations and He loves us all. Robert then reads another poem from his second book of poetry, Floating Through Time, “Revelation Reveals it All.” Each episode this season includes a poem from this book.
The text of these readings is posted the day after the release of each episode at www.itookarighturn.com All of Robert’s more than forty books are available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible through Amazon. We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.
Awakenings March 26, 2025
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, church, History, preaching
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In the middle of the Eighteenth Century a series of great revivals swept through the British colonies. Collectively they have become known as the First Great Awakening. This was a manifestation of the great Evangelical movement which was also sweeping the British Isles. Preachers thundered from hundreds of pulpits assuring people that Christ’s millennial return was imminent and that they needed to get right before He came. This great wave of revivals also was marked by mass conversions of colonials, Indians and salves.
While it is a common belief that people came to America to find religious freedom in many cases that was neither the intent nor the experience. It should be remembered that the Europe of that time was preeminently a land of established churches. This had been a part of the peace formula that eventually ended the Thirty Years War. Each sovereign could choose his own brand of Christianity and then everyone in their country was expected to believe and practice the same way. Usually there was a state supported church that everyone paid for with their taxes and which everyone was expected to attend. The church and state were so tightly united that to be a religious dissenter was considered the same as being a traitor to the realm.
It was from such a world that people came to America. Those who did come for religious freedom such as the Puritans did not come for religious toleration. Instead when they set up their colonies they were as intolerant to others as the state church had been to them in England. Where religious toleration was practiced such as in Maryland or Pennsylvania it was very much the exception as opposed to the rule. The whole idea of the separation of church and state was not only foreign to most Eighteenth Century Europeans it was thought of as an aberrant idea which was detrimental to society and the general welfare.
Established churches fostered clergy who were dependent on government for their living and were thus usually compliant when it came to not preaching anything that could be considered as revolutionary or dangerous. Many of the churches even had lectionaries which proscribed not only what scriptures where read at what season but also what the topics of the sermons should be that accompanied those scriptures. To deviate was to invite retribution and often the loss of position. It was on the frontier that change was possible as the people themselves would often band together and build a church bringing in their own clergy who were then not dependent on the colonial government but instead governed by the congregational leaders.
In addition as the century progressed new religious ideas began to circulate. People began hearing of a God who was different than the dour, judgmental God of the Puritans or the lax accept anything God of the Established churches. Instead they began hearing of a God who was rational, a God who loved and a God who was interested in the affairs of men.
Revivals
Revivals have always seemed to flow in waves, a brief intense period of activity followed by a trough of relatively quiet acceptance for the status quo. Revivals are usually sparked by preachers who are good speakers and by ideas which reach out and touch masses of people. Revivals spread by word of mouth and by the traveling of popular preachers to new locals. Revivals are usually emotional responses to emotional pleas. Often they are accompanied by physical manifestations such as the quaking of the Quaker revival.
In the frontier revivals of the Eighteenth Century in America it was often the preaching of the doctrine of God’s grace alone as being sufficient to bring a person to a personal experience of salvation as opposed to religious obligations or monetary giving. The frontier people could readily accept this and could then propose to change their way of life to match what they were taught God demanded of them, clean living and righteous behavior.
Preachers
Jonathan Edwards was one of the primary preachers who sparked the First Great Awakening. He was second generation preacher who had been brought up to be a minister and who took his avocation as a calling from God. He preached many famous sermons which left people emotionally responsive and ready to claim they had been changed forever, this wave of revival sparked by Edward’s sermons swept throughout the North and moved fitfully along the frontier.
As this first great wave of revival seemed about to sputter to a close another famous preacher arrived from England who was destined to have a lasting impact on American society and religion. In England George Whitfield was greatly influenced by reading a book written by Jonathan Edwards entitled A Faithful Narrative of a Surprising Work of God which was his account of the surge of revival which had so impacted the colonies. In this work Edwards not only spoke of how this revival had moved from one area to another he also described the style of preaching and service which had been the catalyst for the religious happenings. These styles were then replicated by many other preachers who saw varying degrees of response but whose emulation created a type of similar experience that was pointed to itself as a sure sign that this revival was from God.
The emotional and sensational (for the times) style that Whitfield developed in response to the reports from America put him at odds with the rationalistic and formulaic patterns of the established church. Whitfield was a dramatic and forceful speaker who was soon drawing immense crowds, crowds too large to fit in any churches so he began preaching in the streets and fields, anywhere he could draw a crowd.
In 1739 Whitfield crossed the Atlantic becoming the first popular celebrity who was able to WOW the crowds on both sides of the Atlantic. He toured from Maine to Georgia speaking in churches and in fields and everywhere he went he created a sensation. He became fast friends with Ben Franklin who in turn used his publishing prowess to promote the English preacher. Franklin was a committed rationalist and didn’t believe in Whitfield’s type of emotional responsive religion but he considered Whitfield to be an exceptional entrepreneur and he appreciated his ability to promote himself. This was a mutually beneficial relationship. Whitfield allowed Franklin to republish his sermons which proved a successful means to increase the circulation of Franklin’s newspaper. As a matter of fact the demand for Whitfield’s sermons in printed form led to a massive increase in the number of pages printed in the next few years.
By the time Whitfield had returned to England in 1741 he had set in motion the religious revival collectively known as the Great Awakening. This was sustained after his departure by a multitude of preachers, many of them on the frontier. This religious revival had a positive effect on the customs and manners of the people. It also inspired many to learn to read so that they could study the Bible. This affected mainly the evangelicals such as the Baptists and the Methodists as opposed to the stricter Calvinists and the nominal Anglicans sweeping masses of new believers into the evangelical churches. The emotional preaching elicited emotional responses and many people were said to dance and sing, to wail and fall under the influence of the stridently emotional and evangelical preaching.
As the revival swept through the colonies it became divisive. The evangelical preachers found themselves denied the pulpit in many established churches. Undeterred these itinerant preachers followed the example of Whitfield and instead began preaching in fields and street corners. In some cases these itinerant preachers began preaching against the established preachers who had locked them out. One is especially well remembered, Reverend Gilbert Tennent preached sermon, “The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry.” In this sermon Tennent indicted the established clergy as being unregenerate. He also said that in many cases they lacked a personal experience with Christ which he and other itinerant preachers said constituted the only credential which gave someone the qualification to preach.
These divisions solidified into what were called the New Lights and the Old Lights. The New Lights were the supporters of the revival movements and believers in the emotional personal experiential type of religion the revivalist preached. The Old Lights rejected the religion preached by the revivalist because it was not rational and too much based upon experience instead of tradition and received knowledge.
A further division was generated within the ranks of the New Lights themselves. This was between the Moderates and the Radicals. The Moderates accepted any minister or church that would accept the Revivalists and their message. The radicals went further than any of the primary preachers themselves stating that organized religion itself was corrupt. They extolled the emotional and physical responses found in the most intense revivals as the only true signs of the working of God. They went so far as to condemn not only the churches and the rationalistic preachers but the government and any other man-made institution claiming that only those who had experienced the divine move of God as evidenced by the emotional and physical signs had any authority.
The radicals soon had the churches bubbling and boiling with controversy. Those who stayed with churches strove to convert these institutions into radical havens for the truly born-again. To do this they sought to expel any they perceived as being unconverted including ministers. Where they constituted a minority they agitated constantly for change. Where they constituted a majority they pushed through their agenda. In many cases this led to church splits as one side cast the other side out. In many Congregational churches when the minority radicals were tossed out they would join the Baptists who had been totally taken over by the Radicals.
In the South
The Great Awakening burned primarily in the New England and the Middle Colonies and along the frontier. It came belatedly to the South. It wasn’t until after 1743 that the revival began to burn bright in Virginia and the Carolinas. In these areas it was the Baptists who carried the torch and set it to the dry chaff of the frontier. They moved swiftly and cheaply. A Baptist minister was typically not an educated or genteel person. They were instead often as common as the people they preached to having been just like them before they had themselves been revived. The Preachers not only moved and lived cheaply, something that couldn’t be said about the established and the denominational preachers who required massive support, they also replicated themselves constantly. Many a town drunk heard the gospel according to the evangelical itinerant Baptist preachers, accepted Christ as their personal Savior and almost immediately began to preach themselves. These fast moving easily replicated preachers spread the Baptist style and brand of Christianity far and wide across the South and it is still evident today, when a full 16% of all Christians in the South consider themselves some kind of Baptist.
The Great Awakening also brought a renewed interest in the conversion of slaves and Indians. Many were preached to and many came forward to accept Chris as their personal Saviort. However, many were also shocked when the discrimination and prejudice that existed between them and the dominant society continued unchanged after their conversion.
As is always the case, soon the fire of revival began to dim. Beginning in the 1740s the moderates among the New Lights preachers made peace with the Old Lights and they once again united with one denomination after another, they basically agreed to disagree about some matters but to refrain from denouncing each other or condemning each other as unbelievers. The Radicals primarily retreated into the Baptist fold while those among the Old Lights who could not abide any accommodation even with the moderates tended to retreat into the Anglican Church with its prayer book and strict liturgy.
From the Book America by Dr. Robert Owens available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
A New You for a New Year January 1, 2025
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, god, Jesus, Salvation
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Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Have you reached the end of your rope only to find out that it’s much shorter than you imagined? Was last year as good as you hoped it would be? Was it as bad as you feared it would be? Does the uncertainty of the future leave you anxious? Has your own mortality entered like a crack in the ice in your youthful belief in personal indestructability?
But wait there’s more…
Does the randomness of good happening to bad people and bad happening to good people leave you wondering if there’s any rhyme or reason to reality? Is looking for answers to these and many other questions like looking for needles in haystacks? Is the quest to find meaning in life like trying to nail fog to the wall?
If you’ve rejected Christ because of Christians don’t mistake the messengers for the message. Christ told his followers to lake His light to the world and most have spent the last 2018 years trying to build a lamp and pretending it was the light.
The message is as simple as receiving it: Confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.
That’s it.
It’s not about joining the right club or following the right rules. We don’t need a seminary degree or someone with one to walk us through learning the secret handshake or the Abra Kadabra password. And there is no magic decoder ring. We don’t have to read the Bible from cover to cover. We don’t have to wear the right clothes, beard, or haircut. We don’t have to vote for the right candidates. We don’t have to take an oath to believe the same things that everyone else who confesses Christ as Lord does.
It isn’t about being good enough. That’s one of the great miracles of God’s economy. While we were yet sinners Jesus came and died so that we could live.
It isn’t about becoming a religious robot who says the right things at the right time to the right people in the right place. God is the One who created us with free choice, so we’re free to choose. It isn’t about conformity. God is the One who created us to be an individual and He doesn’t make junk. We are who He created us to be. He has placed us in a certain time and place so that we can become all He designed us to be and do all that He has called us to do. And that means what He created, placed, and called you to be, will be different than what He created, placed, and called me to be. You see it isn’t about cookie-cutter, repeat a formula, and follow the rule book club membership.
It’s about each of us individually confessing Jesus as Lord and each of us individually believing God raised Jesus from the dead and then learning to commune with God, to hear Him speak to us as individuals and then doing what He tells us to do.
If the questions at the beginning of this article float through our minds like storm clouds in a cloudless sky obscuring what should be clear. Let’s give up the battle to do it on our own. Let’s surrender and find victory in allowing God to count the victory of Jesus over sin and death to our account.
It’s so easy we can do it right here right now. We don’t need to be in a meeting, at an altar, or in a special building. We don’t need anyone to hold our hand or even know what we’ve done. We will know. God will know. And once we’re in his hand no one can snatch us out.
I confess Jesus as Lord and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the Dead. That’s it. All done. The battle is over. The war between us and God is over, and we are one with Him. Welcome to a new you for a new year.
We are accepted November 27, 2024
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, god, Jesus
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Everyone from the greatest sinner to the greatest saint needs the grace of God. Everyone who wanders through the veil of tears that is this fallen world is tested, tried, and assaulted by our adversary, the prince of the power of the air,[1] who goes about like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.[2] Our fallen body and soul are open to him and his minions. And if that isn’t bad enough our own sinful desires lure us into trap after trap.[3]
Surrounded and attacked by all this it seems natural that we would cry out with Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”[4]
There is an answer to this cry. We don’t stand alone before the heavenly court of justice. If we did not even one of us would deserve anything except eternal damnation and separation from God. Instead of standing alone in the withering judgement fire “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”[5] and the fire of His presence becomes for us the life-giving warmth of His love.
We need to praise the glory of God’s grace, His unmerited favor because, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[6] We may have been the worst of sinners. We may have cursed God and persecuted His people but once we turn from the darkness to the light, once we embrace Him and are born again all that changes. We change and the world around us changes.
Peter sums it up well when he says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.[7]”
The author of Hebrews goes into even greater detail showing how the eternal sacrifice of Christ is superior to the shadow sacrifices of the Old Covenant.
“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 1And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”[8]
This is the description of our present state. We are accepted. We have entered our inheritance. Today we “see in a mirror, dimly,”[9] but once this perishable has been swallowed and replaced by imperishable,[10] we shall see “face to face.”[11] For “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”[12]
[1] Ephesians 2:2
[2] I Peter 5:8
[3] James 1:14-16
[4] Romans 7:24 NKJV
[5] I John 2:1 NKJV
[6] Romans 5:8 NKJV
[7] II Peter 2:9-10 NKJV
[8] Hebrews 9:12-15 NKJV
[9] I Corinthians 13:12 NKJV
[10] I Corinthians 15:53-54
[11] I Corinthians 13:12 NKJV
[12] Ibid.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 