You may have already heard that John MacArthur who has been the anchor of reformed biblical teaching and who has nurtured millions of people in the Lord over his 56 years of ministry, was received into glory on Monday, July 14, 2025. The New York Times called him “a culture warrior” but it is a term that MacArthur would have denied. “A good sermon should be relevant 50 years after it is preached,” he once said, “It isn’t time-stamped by any kind of cultural or personal events. It’s not about me. And it transcends not only time, but it transcends culture.”
A friend who had encouraged him to compile his years of teaching into what would become The MacArthur Commentary said of him, “He is the dean of expository preachers.” Indeed, the standard he held for himself was that the Bible should explain the Bible. With these principles, he started the Master’s Seminary that has trained thousands of men and women of God, was the senior pastor of Grace Community Church influencing the spiritual atmosphere of southern California where it is located, and taught on his radio program “Grace to You” to a world-wide audience.
Naturally, he was not a man without controversy because he was not a man without fault. His straight-shooting style and often dismissive manner had landed him in disfavour with people who champion women in ministry, and his stand on the pandemic had created clashes with people who had taken government cautions about gathering seriously. More than half a century of ministry will land you into hot waters with a good number of people. In a world of gender equality and the face of friendliness in controversial issues, MacArthur stood out as one cutting his own path.
Surprisingly, the loudest voices of dissent against his ministry came not from the non-Christian world that he called passionately to repent from sin and turn to Jesus, but from among fellow believers in Christ who fought with him over non-essential doctrines. The ministry of a man who declared that the teaching of the Bible “is not about me” came under the criticism of people who felt that the Bible is about “being sensitive to me.”
As I considered these things at MacArthur’s homecoming to the glories of heaven, I see not the 86 year old man with white hair and many wrinkles wrapped in criticism and bent over with the pneumonia that ushered him from his temporal life. Instead, I see a young man full of vigor holding forth the Word of Life, running to his Saviour, as he comes humbly to the Throne to hear the words, “Well done, John. Enter to the joy of My rest.” And then I hear a still small voice that asks each one of us who still walk here on Planet Earth, “Are you willing to walk in My Truth with perseverance despite your weaknesses and despite the oppositions? Are you willing to continue in your calling as a disciple of Jesus regardless of how rough or how long the journey?”
I think of a secular world which defaces statues at Queen’s Park or changes the names of subway stations and universities just because we disagree with the weakness of people in leadership. And in the midst of this world’s din, I caution believers in Christ: “Love one another. He who doesn’t is blinded by the darkness around him” (1 John 2:10-11). At his funeral, his friends read the verse from Paul’s letter to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). May that be said of all of us. Let’s walk well. Let’s finish strong.
Just Church
At Just Church, we are committed to live the life Christ called us to live, and to teach others to do the same: “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
