Matthew 16:23, “Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block for me, because you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” What are the things of men, that Jesus refers to (which, notice, are simultaneously the things of Satan?) Well, what does Peter do […]
Rev.12:11, “…they have conquered him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Satan—the Great Dragon—is decisively conquered when the “Male Child” (Christ) is raised to the throne of God (Rev.12:5), which is to say, when He is lifted up
Matthew 15:30, “…they put them at His feet, and He healed them.” Matthew’s language in this section is almost a verbatim reproduction of Isaiah 35:5-6a where YHWH’s coming to His people brings about miraculous healing. And yet, in both Isaiah and here in Matthew, the sort of healing that is recounted—and especially the way
Psalm 36:7-8, “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” In this passage, the steadfast love of the Lord (which is essential to
Isaiah 35:6, “…and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.” The NT understands Isaiah 35:5-6a as referring to the ministry of Jesus (Matt.11:45, etc), but here in Isaiah 35, the miraculous healings that we know are achieved in Christ are
Matthew 14:28-29, “‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ And He said, ‘Come.’ And after getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came to Jesus.” What Peter asks, what Jesus commands, and what Peter—therefore—does, is *not* primarily to walk on water, but *to
Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” At any given moment, the veil that separates us from the unmediated face of the risen Jesus Christ is as thin as a single heartbeat. As long as the muscle in our chest continues to pulse, a thin—yet,
Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God…because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins…” On this Good Friday, as the world scrambles for answers, divides against itself, bows down to it’s own word as law, and numbs its mortal wounds with palliative distractions, may the Lord grant
1 Peter 1:18, “…you were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world…” According to these verses, Christ was foreknown in the mind of God “before” the beginning of creation. But notice specifically how Christ was foreknown: as
Psalm 104:30, “When you send forth your Spirit [or “breath’], they are created…” John 19:30, “He bowed His head and handed over the spirit [or “breath”].” As you may know, the same word is used both for “Spirit” and “Breath” in Hebrew as well as in Greek. This is a fruitful ambiguity. Biblical authors
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Psalm 34:8, “Oh, taste and see that YHWH is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Hebrew poetry often employs a technique called “parallelism” by which the second parallel line in some way restates or comments on the first. When we read Psalm 34:8 in light of this technique, it helps
Revelation 4:5, “And from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Much to say here…perhaps I’ll eventually have a whole dissertation in which to say it. Let me just touch on some
Matthew 10:28-30, “But fear rather the one who is able even soul and body to destroy in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore, do not fear,
Matthew 8:17, “…He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. On the cross, Jesus bears the fullness of sin and its effects in the place of any and all who will hope in Him. This means not only that He bears His people’s sin and the hell it is due, but also that He
3 John 11, “Beloved, do not imitate the evil but the good. The one doing good is from God; the one doing evil has not seen God.” In the context of 3 John, John is contrasting Gaius and Diotrephes. “Doing good” means—like Gaius—to generously receive and to love other believers for the sake of
Job 7:17, “What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?” (c.f. Psalm 8:4) Job here associates his suffering—and, indeed, the sufferings of humanity—with the attention of the Lord. If mankind were not under the scrutiny
Rev. 1:17-18, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I died, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and I have the key of Death and of Hades.” What is John not to fear? The immediate context suggests fear of obliteration before the
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Revelation 3:18, 20, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and a white garment so that you might cover [yourself] and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see… Behold, I stand at
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Isaiah 24:23, “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for YHWH of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.” What does it mean for the moon to be confounded and the sun ashamed? I think we can take this in two ways.
Matthew 4:16, “…and to the ones sitting in the region and shadow of death, on them light shone.” If Death is associated with “shadow,” then what can it mean that a light has shone into that shadow? When you shine light into a region of shadow, what happens? The shadow disappears. Shadow cannot exist
