A viewer sent me a quote by the famous 19th century preacher and writer Albert Barnes who, though he wrote a still-referenced commentary on the Bible, never understood God's eonian purpose. For the rest of his life, he mentally and physically writhed over a God who, although certainly capable of saving the world, refused to do it. By all accounts, Barnes died having studied the Scriptures his entire adult life ("forever learning"), yet was "not at any time able to come to a realization of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7).

This story is both shocking and thrilling to us, realizing that God chooses "nobodies" in this world to whom He unveils His greatest glories. With simple yet profound translating corrections, God's Word unveils a plan and purpose of so satisfying a nature that Albert Barnes himself, upon hearing it, will collapse happily in a puddle of his own relief. This moment yet awaits him.