The World and Everything in It: December 5, 2025

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NICK EICHER, HOST: What a great week it’s been for our New Donor Drive. We’re grateful for the response. The week isn’t over, but I want to take a moment to thank you if you’ve already made your first-time gift. Your support has encouraged us—and it strengthens our work. So thank you.

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Join the many who have already made their first-time gift—and join that fifty-thousand-dollar challenge gift that kicked things off. Just goes to show: Nobody here gives alone. We go together.

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BROWN: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday, President Trump’s harsh words about political opponents—why his rhetoric puts Christian backers in a bind.

AUDIO: Ilhan Omar is garbage, she’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.

EICHER: John Stonestreet is ready to talk.

Also today:

AUDIO: This is our only chance to set things right.

Zootopia 2, the biggest mystery yet.

And later, our Advent series.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 5th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Mark Mellinger with today’s news.

MARK MELLINGER, NEWS ANCHOR: Drugboat flap: Lawmakers’ reactions split » The commanding admiral who saw September’s controversial double strike on a narco-terror boat from Venezuela all the way through says there was no ‘kill them all’ order.

Previous reports indicated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the boat’s entire crew killed before the operation began, but Admiral Frank Bradley testified to Congress Thursday that was not the case.

Some lawmakers have questioned whether the follow-up strike, which took out two survivors of the first hit… was an act of war.

But Republican Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton says the evidence shows the second strike was justified… because, unlike in other recent drugboat takedowns, the survivors were trying to flip the boat and stay in the fight.

COTTON: And in subsequent strikes, there was an example where survivors actually were shipwrecked and distressed, and were not trying to continue on their mission. And they were treated as they should be, as non-combatants.

Another lawmaker in the private briefing, Democratic Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes, maintains the follow-up strike should not have happened…saying the survivors of the initial strike were not in a position to continue their mission in any way.

It is a war crime to kill shipwrecked people in need of assistance and care. But the Trump Administration insists in this case those taken out in the second strike were still acting as combatants.

Putin says he can’t agree w/parts of Trump peace plan » It looks unlikely there’ll be a deal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine anytime soon.

Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said some proposals in the U.S. peace plan are unacceptable to the Kremlin. He refused to say exactly which points of the plan Russia would accept or reject.

The comments come after Putin’s meeting this week in Moscow with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Thursday, Ukrainian diplomats were in Florida to get a briefing on the Putin meeting from Witkoff and Kushner. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, translated through an interpreter…

ZELENSKYY: Our task now is to obtain full information about what was said in Russia, what other reasons Putin found to prolong the war and put pressure on Ukraine, on us, on our independence.

Putin is threatening to take full control of Ukraine’s Donbas region if Ukraine won’t withdraw. Ukrainian and European leaders have accused Putin of merely feigning interest in peace efforts.

Africa peace deal signed » Leaders from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were in Washington, D.C. Thursday, signing a U.S.-brokered peace agreement.

If it holds, the deal will end more than 30 years of fighting between the two African nations. The conflict is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises… leaving millions of people displaced.

The deal formalizes a ceasefire, allows refugees to return to their homes, and calls for justice for those who’ve committed atrocities.

President Trump says the peace deal has also led to new economic agreements between both nations and the U.S.

TRUMP: Today, the United States is also signing our own bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals and provide economic benefits for everybody.

The ceasefire is tenuous. There are still regular skirmishes in pockets of the war-torn region where the two nations have been fighting for so long.

Suspect arrested for pre-J6 Capitol attacks » The FBI has arrested the suspect accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington D.C. almost five years ago.

Investigators say Brian Cole Jr. was taken into custody Thursday morning. He's accused of planting those bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees in the Capitol on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.

The bombs were ultimately disposed of and no one was hurt.

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the evidence needed to crack the case was there all along.

BONDI: Let me be clear, there was no new tip, there was no new witness, just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work working as a team.

Cole is charged with the use of an explosive device. FBI Director Kash Patel says his arrest should serve as a warning.

PATEL: When you attack American citizens, when you attack our institutions of legislation, when you attack our nation's capital, you attack the very being of our way of life. And this FBI and this Department of Justice stand here to tell you that we will always refute it and combat it.

Bondi said more charges are likely...but she did not elaborate.

SCOTUS backs Texas redistricting map » The Supreme Court says Texas’s redrawn Congressional maps will be used in next year’s midterm elections… a major win for the Trump administration.

On Thursday, the justices paused a lower-court ruling that blocked the maps for discriminating on the basis of race. The Supreme Court said the lower court likely ruled against the maps in error, failing to honor the presumption of legislative good faith.

The High Court was acting on an emergency request from Texas, where Monday is the deadline to file for candidacies in the new districts and primaries are set for March.

Texas lawmakers redrew the maps this year at the request of President Trump, who’s hoping the new boundary lines could net the GOP five more Congressional seats.

Van Epps sworn in to Congress » The U.S. House’s newest lawmaker is officially on the job.

Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Republican Tennessee Congressman Matt Van Epps Thursday. Afterward, Van Epps delivered his first remarks on the House floor.

VAN EPPS: I come to this distinguished body as a Christian, a husband, and a father, and an Army special operations helicopter pilot with nine combat tours who has seen firsthand what makes this nation exceptional.

Tuesday, Van Epps won a special election to hold retiring Congressman Mark Green’s seat for the GOP. He defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn by 9 points.

Political heavy hitters from both parties got involved in the race, including President Trump and Kamala Harris.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. A review of Zootopia 2. Plus, reflections for Advent.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, December 5th. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday! Joining us is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Good morning John!

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: John, this is one of those moments that frustrates even a lot of the president’s own supporters. There’s a legitimate issue on the table — in this case, the documented fraud scandal in Minnesota’s Somali community, which even the Wall Street Journal editorial page says was massive and long ignored by state officials.

Trump starts there. But then — as he often does — he dials it up to an eleven.

The context is a cabinet meeting this week with the media present. And according to The New York Times and the raw audio transcript, he goes way past the fraud story and launches into a broad tirade about Somali immigrants. He says their country “stinks,” that they “contribute nothing,” that they “came from hell,” and that he doesn’t want them in the United States.

Here’s a clip that captures the escalation:

AUDIO: We’re at a tipping point. We could go one way or the other — and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage, just garbage. Her friends are garbage.

Now, Ilhan Omar is an open anti-Semite. Her insults are profane and nasty. But then the president goes off and turns her into a martyr, and the policy issue is gone. Suddenly the whole debate is over his insult, not the underlying problem.

What’s the story here for us, and what’s a good way for Christians to think about this pattern?

STONESTREET: Well, I think this is another example that any time in history we have tried to advocate even or define in any way human dignity along the lines of any other foundation, other than the fact that humans are made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore value and worth is intrinsic to who we are, not something that we earn, or something that we acquire, or something that we’re born into or born out of, anytime you base that, even if you’re trying to advance human dignity, but you do it without that solid ground, you’re going to go wrong. You’re going to end up leaving certain people out.

Now there have been times that the President’s concerns have aligned with those who believe that every human is made in the image and likeness of God. We see that in some of the pro life things that he did, but we also see the opposite, that it did not align with some of the other things that he has advanced. For example, quote, unquote, fertility in the name of IVF or whatever else.

Why is it that we align on some things and we don’t align on other things? It’s because we believe that humans are made in the image and likeness of God. And the President might say that, in fact, he has said that in a speech which was pretty moving when we heard it. But it’s not where he’s coming from in his worldview. He’s not coming from that perspective.

And anytime you advance any understanding of human dignity or human worth or human value, even if you’re trying to reacquire it, you know, for a group of people, and in this case, I think for the presidents, the American citizens, those who’ve been defrauded, he might even be trying to get to the right end here, or a right end here, but he’s not doing it based on the right foundation. And this is what’s so dangerous about an untethered conservatism.

This is why so much is at risk within the conservative movement right now. When you talk about the Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson incident and all that it represents from those on the right who are basically on the right as nihilists, they’re coming from a Nietzschean perspective, that the goal is power and the goal is to get what one wants by any means necessary, and it’s not grounded on any principle. It’s not grounded on any eternal truth.

The Christian believes in eternal truth. It’s not because we want to. It’s not because it works. Although both of those things are true, we should want to and it does work. It’s because it is. It’s because the Christian worldview begins not with something that we think up or imagine or want to accomplish. It begins with what is revealed. And what is revealed is this fundamental truth about what it means to be human.

So whether you like it or not, you have to begin there, and if you begin there, you can’t go down these roads that the President sometimes goes on. And I think that explains why sometimes we align and sometimes we don’t.

BROWN: John, before we get into the story, just a quick note of context. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — or Secretary of War, as he likes to be called — he does have a cloud of allegations swirling around him right now over possible war crimes. Nothing proven, and he should be presumed innocent. We covered that on Washington Wednesday, and I don’t want to pretend it isn’t out there.

But with that noted, there’s another story brewing, and it’s this: According to a memo leaked to the media, Hegseth’s Pentagon may cut ties with the Boy Scouts—or “Scouting America,” as it’s now called. The memo says he’s alarmed by what he sees as the Scouts’ moral collapse: the LGBTQ overhaul, the gender-neutral policies, the whole cultural rebrand.

And assuming the memo is genuine and the reporting on it is accurate, he’s prepared to go further. He may ask Congress to pull Defense Department support from one of their biggest events, the National Jamboree. He actually does have the authority to do that if he believes it touches national security.

So John, you’ve been critical of the Scouts for many years—is this the kind of line-drawing moment we need?

STONESTREET: You know, that’s a good question. I do think it is a line drawing moment in the Department of Defense, and this is something that Secretary Hegseth has done on many occasions. And some people think he’s crossed the line in some ways, and other people think he’s just finally coming through. I tend to lean that way, although I’m not making a statement again on these kind of recent accusations.

I have been a critic of the scouts. Every time I am a critic of the scouts, I get a flurry of emails and letters defending the scouts, and I appreciate those. And I think actually the defensiveness about the scouts and the pushback whenever anyone is critical reflects just how important the scouts have been in the American context, I mean literally, there’s not a better example of what Edmund Burke called mediating institutions, these institutions of civil society that are voluntary, that are non governmental, pre political, and that actually connect us as individuals in ways that the state cannot.

And when they function the way that they are supposed to function, then they produce enormous goods for a society. And you know, it’s hard to measure in the life of scouting what has been done. But what do we have now? We have a real crisis of young men. We have young men who are not doing well by every measure. We have a critique of masculinity, as if masculinity itself is always toxic, without any sort of distinction between the good things and the bad things.

And now we have this rising movement, which I had really hoped was just four or five young men in somebody’s basement, but tends to be a pretty dominant or a rising force within the American right, particularly in politics of young men embracing this kind of Nietzsche and nihilistic vision of conservatism that’s unhinged and untethered, and it’s not built on formation as a man, but is actually itself a reaction as a victim to everything I was talking to some folks this week, and I’m actually convinced that Nick Fuentes is actually a form of radical feminism for men, where vices are turned into virtues and and somebody’s always a victim.

So if we see the rise in this sort of thing, then I think it actually points to the fact that Scouting is not doing what scouting should do. There is a crisis here. And to be honest, whether you like it or not, whether you want to be defensive of individual troops and individual leaders as a movement? Scouting was designed to be one thing and to produce a particular kind of young man. Those things are no longer the case.

And Secretary Hegseth came in with the promise that he was going to remove for lack of a more sophisticated or specific term, wokeness, from the military and from the things the military supports. If that is a priority of his, which it has been, and he’s followed through one, then this would be a logical next step. And again, I think there are wonderful leaders and wonderful troops, but as an organization, it’s just not what it used to be

EICHER: John, Spotify Wrapped dropped this week — that annual ritual where Spotify tells you what you listened to, who your top artists were, how many minutes you streamed, all wrapped up in bright graphics people share online. On a hunch, I went to see whether Apple did the same and, suffice it to say, I'm a classical music fan, I'm also such a big Andrew Peterson fan that I made it into Peterson's Top 500 listeners (how about that?!).

But evidently these personal years-in-review have become such a big deal that not only is Apple copying Spotify, but so is Goodreads, wrapping your reading, food-delivery apps wrapping your eating habits, fitness apps wrapping your workouts, even party-invite apps wrapping your social life. Evidently, I don't have one.

The New York Times quoted a woman who said she felt so boxed in by all this saying she can’t tell whether her “taste” is really hers or just the algorithm shaping her choices. What do you think is going on here culturally? Why do these little digital rituals carry so much weight for us, and does it say anything about how technology is forming us?

STONESTREET: Well, I think then my wife might be the most eclectic person on the planet, because my daughters did that for her over Thanksgiving, and she hit every genre that you could possibly hit. And it was pretty impressive. And at least two of my kids would fall into the top 500 listeners of adventures and Odyssey so so there’s some of that stuff going on in our family.

Listen, Aristotle said that we are what we habitually do, that we are creatures of habit and a digital age, our digital habits are those things that are obviously forming us. Because our habits form us. They form us in ways that go beyond what we think or what we say. The problem is, is when we think we actually don’t have freedom over this.

I’m just really stunned by this quote from this woman, because, just because there’s a report of how much she listens to, it doesn’t mean she has to hit play on those same things next year or tomorrow. None of that makes a whole lot of sense, but it does tell us a little bit about kind of how we think about ourselves, that we are fish that don’t know we’re wet. You know, these are the cultural realities in which we swim, and the ability to step outside of those cultural realities is a really powerful and important thing that we’ve got to be able to do.

I also think it’s important at times to evaluate our habits and to say, what are those things that are habitually forming me? I may want something else to be forming me. I may want to read more books, but you never pull on a new habit without taking off an old one. And so you have to decide, I’m going to now re budget my time. I’m going to re budget my energy.

The thing that scripture adds to Aristotle, other than a whole lot of other things, is that we are not just what we habitually do, but what we habitually do shapes what we habitually love and what we worship. And love and worship are used in very synonymous ways. In Holy Scripture, it’s what we give our allegiance our heart to. That’s why the author of Proverbs says to guard your heart.

And so it’s even a little bit deeper than Huh? I wonder. You know, how many times I listen to this particular song, or how big of a fan am I? It really does point to something deep, to what I’m actually giving my time, my energy, my talent to and that’s a question of spiritual formation. That’s a question of what kind of lover I am. Because to be human, St Augustine said, is to be a lover. It’s to love not only loving the right things but loving the right things in the right order.

So, you know, I wouldn’t get too involved in all these things, but they’re helpful, particularly given the amount of time we spend in front of our glowing rectangles on a daily and weekly basis.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center. He is host of the Breakpoint podcast. John, thanks! See you next time.

STONESTREET: Thank you both

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s official! Oxford University Press has announced its 2025 Word of the Year. And if you’ve ever been online, you’ve no doubt been caught up in it.

The word is ragebait. You’re scrolling along in peace until suddenly, a scenario like this, explained by a lexicographer on the BBC:

DENT: We might see a cute kitten and … scroll past it, but then we see something that makes us so angry we engage, … and then it is amplified by the algorithm which maintains that level of anger.

Thus "ragebait", which to me seems a close cousin to last year’s word of the year, brainrot. So it’s clear evidence the algorithm is still working ... it's just gotten angrier.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: I nominate one for 2026, log-off.

EICHER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 5th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a return to a beloved animated world.

Disney’s Zootopia 2 is a sequel to the 2016 animated hit and it’s the biggest global box office opening of the year, the biggest animated global opening of all time.

Here’s WORLD film critic Joseph Holmes.

JOSEPH HOLMES: It’s easy to be cynical that Hollywood has run out of ideas with all the remakes and sequels they keep putting out. But Zootopia 2 reminds us why we keep watching them. It’s not as deep as the first film, but it’s an enjoyable movie with good messages and mostly absent objectionable content for families.

MOOSE NEWSANCHOR: Unlikely duo Judy Hopps ZPD’s first bunny cop, and Nick Wilde, uncovered a conspiracy by Mayor Bellwether today, using a toy carrot recorder pen.

RECORDER PEN: I can frame you to!

BELLWETHER: (Incoherent screaming)

Zootopia 2 follows Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, a bunny and fox who live in a multi-species metropolis called “Zootopia.” After saving the city in the last film, they’re struggling to work together as partners in the Zootopia Police Department. Just when they’re given a final warning by their police chief to shape up or be split up, a snake steals a priceless journal. This leads Judy and Nick on a merry chase to unravel a conspiracy against all reptiles—who haven’t been seen in Zootopia in nearly a hundred years.

JUDY: Okay. We need to set another meeting with the chief, promise we’ll be better…

ZEBROS: Haha, Zebros.

JUDY: You talk back less, maybe not at all.

NICK: Or we go with my playbook and just lay low.

JUDY: We cannot prove ourselves if we’re stuck in that room.

NICK: And if we complain to chief beef he’ll just make us stay longer. Play it smart, stay off the radar, and don’t let it get to you. Okay? Because we are the dream team!

Zootopia 2 is a fun ride. Judy and Nick, as always, have infectious chemistry. And they are once again performed to perfection by the ever-brilliant Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman. Judy’s hyperactive determination and Nick’s deadpan wisecracks create an enjoyable push and pull to their obvious mutual affection. The Zootopia world is an endless sandbox of creativity, and it’s fun to see new places and animal types—like the world of reptiles in this film—as well as old favorite characters—like Mr. Big and Duke Weaselton. A lot of the jokes land, giving plenty of wholesome laughs.

NIBBLES: Conversing with these beautiful sea creatures is like talking to anyone a little different. It just takes open and respectful communication. Hey bub.

WALRUS: Hey bub.

NIBBLES: Hey bub.

NIBBLES: Bubba bubba bubba

WALRUS: Bubba bubba bubba

(More Bubba noises)

NIBBLES: Seen Zeus?

WALRUS: Yup.

There are lots of positive messages as well. The Zootopia franchise is about different animal species living together, so it likes to use that to remind us to love groups of people who are different from us. This film also forces Judy and Nick to learn to accept their own individual differences from each other, and take responsibility for their own flaws. Likewise, the film praises the heroes who expose the truth of a century-long cover-up regardless of personal cost.

GARY: This is our only chance to set things right. And when I do, my family will finally be able to come home.

That said, the film doesn’t quite reach the same heights of the first Zootopia. The thoughtful commentary and clever jokes about what it’s like to live alongside very different people groups are mostly replaced with surface-level animal puns. And Judy and Nick don’t have quite as well-developed character arcs as they did in the original.

JUDY HOPPS: We’ve been official partners for almost a week. (Happy anniversary!) And we’re functioning fine! Better than fine. And we did kind of save the city. So, us being here seems like a big misunderstanding.

FUZZBY: Notice how she answered first, did not allow her partner to speak, and taps her foot when she’s expressing discomfort.

NICK: Ha.

FUZZBY: And notice the source of her discomfort. Represented by the disconnected affectation of her emotionally insecure partner.

The film is safer for families than a lot of modern kids' content. But it still has a few things parents might want to know going in. Characters are frequently in danger or being chased by bad guys with tranquilizers or lethal poison weapons. The Shakira-voiced Giraffe pop star swings a lot of Shakira-inspired hips during her singing. An initially masculine-looking sheep gets sheared to look more feminine and loves the look. Parents may also be concerned that the movie continues the trend of films like Frozen 2 and Wicked with plots that hint that the culture you live in—specifically one that is very America-coded—is predominantly based on lies.

JUDY: Please! You don’t have to hurt him!

GARY: Hurt him? Snakes never hurt anyone. We aren’t the bad guys. They are.

All in all, Zootopia 2 is a reminder why, when you create good characters and a good world, it’s worthwhile revisiting. It might not be as good as the first one, but when you’re revisiting old friends as a family, it doesn’t always have to be.

I’m Joseph Holmes.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. In years past we have ended each week of December with the music of Advent. This time around, we’re doing something a little different. In 2014, pastor, church-planter, and author Peter Mead published an Advent devotional titled: Pleased to Dwell: A Biblical Introduction to the Incarnation.

BROWN: With thanks to Christian Focus publishers, we’ve condensed that book down to four radio presentations.

Our goal is to encourage you in your faith, no matter how you mark the Advent of Christ.

Today, Part I from Peter Mead:The Anointed Deliverer.

PETER MEAD: This time of year we feel a great tension between two striking images of Christ.

On the one hand, the resurrected Christ who sits in the centre of heaven—lovingly adored as the forever Lord of all. On the other hand, holiday cards, carols, and school programs remind us of Christ at the centre of Christmas—frail and cradled in the tender arms of a young mother.

Heavenly glory and human frailty.

One of the greatest Christmas hymns of all time is Hark the Herald Angels Sing, written in 1739 by Charles Wesley.

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity,
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel…”

What does it mean that God was pleased to dwell with us?

The answer begins in the garden. Where the creator first walked with His creation. As we read through the first few chapters of Genesis we discover language that nudges us towards a relational understanding of God and those made in His image…given dominion over the earth.

Humanity was not made in the image of a power-hungry dictator. The dominion described is not one of conquering and crushing, but of multiplying and caring. The Biblical language is one of generosity to all, of relationality, of genuine unity amidst delightful diversity. But it doesn’t take long for everything to unravel. The great twist in Genesis 3 shocks first time readers of the Book. Here we meet “the index case”…or “patient zero”…the first diagnosis of the disease that has condemned us all ever since. The desire for God-like autonomy and independence. Adam and Eve and all their descendants stand condemned.

The great problem is not just misbehavior; it's the corrupt human heart. We want to be God, not for God to be God. Whether we express this corruption through wild rebellion or through self-righteous obedience, we are all dead in sin.

Yet, in the midst of the dirge of gloom and rebuke comes God’s surprising word of prophetic hope. God took charge of the situation and made a promise. The solution to the devastation of sin and death is not a "what?"—what we must do—it is a "who?". It is the Seed of the woman who would deliver a lethal blow to the head of Satan.

This divine promise-plan is the very spine of the Bible. Throughout the scriptures we discover a God who constantly moves toward His creation to dwell in their midst. The LORD appeared to Abram in person to make the promise of the Seed! He invited people to trust in Him.

As the picture develops, the Seed must fulfill specific roles. First, He must be the Prophet. Moses, who knew the LORD face to face, predicted that God would raise up a prophet like him, fully authorized to declare God’s word with absolute authority.

Second, the Seed must be the Priest. When the priesthood collapsed, God promised a faithful priest who would honor all that was on His heart and mind. But the great surprise of the Old Testament is that this Messianic Priest would offer the greatest sacrifice: Himself. He alone could make the necessary atonement for humanity’s sin.

Next, the Seed must be the King. God made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 of a forever dynasty, a lasting throne, and a Seed who would sit on that throne forever. This greater Son of David is massively significant, referred to explicitly as the Son of God. The prophets sharpened this anticipation: Micah declared that the King would come from Bethlehem, and that His "goings forth are from of old," pointing to His divine identity. Isaiah affirmed this, calling Him “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The King, we come to realize, is actually the LORD Himself.

Finally, the Old Testament leaves us with the profound problem of the human heart that no law or system could fix. So the prophets pointed to a New Covenant. This is God’s glorious prescription, promising sins fully forgiven, the Law written on the heart, and a living heart replacing the stony one.

But here is the climax of our Old Testament journey: the glorious future New Covenant is not just a new deal between God and man. It is a person between God and man. Isaiah reveals that the Servant of the LORD Himself is the covenant. God says, "I will give you as a covenant for the people." All the blessings—sins forgiven, transformed motivation, the Spirit given—are secured because of the coming of the Messiah, the Prophet, the Priest, the King, Himself the covenant—come to dwell with us…in Person.

I’m Peter Mead.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s time to name the crew who put the week’s programs together:

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Daniel Darling, George Barros, Emma Eicher, Andrew Walker, Hunter Baker, Onize Oduah, Lindsay Mast, Erick Erickson, Josh Schumacher, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Joseph Holmes, and Peter Mead

Thanks also to our breaking news crew: Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Daniel Devine, Christina Grube, Travis Kircher, and Steve Kloosterman.

And thanks to the Moonlight Maestros, Benj Eicher and Carl Peetz …

Harrison Watters is Washington producer, Kristen Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler is executive producer, and Les Sillars is editor-in-chief. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

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The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Verses 4 through 7 of Titus Chapter 3.

Sunday’s coming! So make plans to worship with a Bible-believing church on the Lord’s Day and Lord willing we’ll be right back here Monday morning.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.