MANMADE RELIGION DOES NOT PLEASE GOD What a convoluted story this is! It begins with Micah’s confession that he had taken 1,100 shekels of silver from his mother, who had consequently put a curse on whomever had stolen it. When his mother heard his confession, she blessed him, and told him that she had dedicated
DO YOU SEEK THE SIGNS OR THE SAVIOR? This was the first of seven “signs” that the apostle John recorded in his gospel. John calls them signs and not miracles because signs point to something other than themselves. On a trip a few years ago to see the Grand Canyon, I noticed “Grand Canyon”
A PRAYER FOR ONE OVERWHELMED WITH TROUBLE The inscription above this psalm describes it as a “prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble.” Certainly, there is a need for concrete language to truly capture the condition of such a one. The hurting are in need of words of expression that they might lift up to the
THE ONE WHO CAME AFTER YET LONG BEFORE John the Baptist was born three months before Jesus (see Luke 1:36). So, in that sense, Jesus came “after” John. Yet the Spirit had revealed to John that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, therefore He had existed “long before” John and had preference or
WHAT WAS WRITTEN MUST BE FULFILLED The risen Lord Jesus opened His disciples’ understanding of the Scriptures, so that they might see the necessity of Christ’s suffering and resurrection, in order to fulfill the Scriptures. And not only that, but the necessity that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to
DO YOU REALLY KNOW HOW SOMEONE ELSE FEELS? John Donne wrote that “no man is an island,” illustrating his conviction that we should recognize the unity and commonality of all humanity. Yet, the Proverb teaches that there is within a man that which cannot be fully shared nor understood by another. For the depth of
CHRIST’S FINAL PROVERB As Christ was being led away by the soldiers to His crucifixion, he turned to the weeping women following Him to offer this proverb. He cautioned them to save their tears for themselves, for if such things could be done unto Him, as a green, living and innocent tree, imagine what terrible
TELL ALL THE NATIONS THAT THE LORD REIGNS The psalmist encouraged God’s people to spread the message among the nations of the world that the Lord reigns. The Lord God is King over all. Therefore, the world and its peoples shall not be moved apart from His righteous judgment. Viewed through the lens of
WHAT BECAME OF THE LAST MAN HEALED BY JESUS? The last man that received the healing touch of Jesus was one of the men that came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemene. According to John, the man’s name was “Malchus” (John 18:10), a servant of the high priest, and it was Simon Peter
STOP THE MERRY GO ROUND! The book of Judges is marked by a repetitive cycle that makes it painful to read. It’s difficult to see generation after generation forget the lessons of their forebears and repeat the same mistakes. A vicious cycle soon becomes apparent: 1) Sin (Rebellion) – “Once again the Israelites did