1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.” I love the “North Star” statements of Scripture. The North Star is clear and unmoving and—no matter what else may be happening—if you follow that star, you will be heading North…Similarly, […]
John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome [comprehended] it.” An interpretive question we must ask when we come to this passage is what we understand “κατέλαβεν” (translated either “overcome” or “comprehend”) to mean. The word appears again in John’s gospel only in 12:35 where the meaning seems to
Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” The knowledge (intimate, personal knowledge—same word used for the way a husband and wife “know” one another in marital union) the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. By saying that knowledge of the Holy
Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Test me and know my anxious thoughts! See if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” If we have known God in Christ by the Spirit, we will not try to “hide” any aspect of our life
This animation is the second in an “Easter Trilogy” trilogy considering Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday (the animation dealing with Good Friday is here.). In “Holy Saturday,” I try to help us spend some time contemplating the strange and beautiful truth that, in Jesus, YHWH is “God With Us” even in the grave….and
Holy Saturday – An Animation Read More »
Proverbs 8:23, “Ages ago I was set up [or, “poured out”], at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” The word that the ESV translates as “set up” in verse 23 is used 26 times in the Old Testament and 23 of those times, it has to do with the outpouring of an offering.
Exodus 33:20, “…man shall not see me and live.” When Moses asks to see YHWH’s glory on Mount Sinai, the Lord responds by telling Moses that he cannot see His face, since to see the face of God means death for a sinful human. However, John tells us that—with the incarnation of the self-declaring Word
Psalm 19:5, “[The Sun] comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and , like a strong man, runs its course with joy.” The created universe is filled with images and shadows of God in Christ. This is not because creative people invent these connections, but because the actual meaning given to the text
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” For the risen Christ, time is not an issue. To Him 1,000 years or 10,000 years pass like a vapor, while simultaneously,
Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What our heart loves is where our heart lives. And where our heart lives determines everything about us, since from it flow all the streams of our life (Prov.4:19). May we—by the Spirit—be enamored with the crucified and risen Lord and so
Luke 12:4-7 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. but I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” Imagine that you
Luke 11:34, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.” “Eye” here means something like “perspective” or “mindset” or “way of perceiving and assigning value to the world.” Jesus is
Proverbs 1:20-22, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy street she cries out… ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?’” At first it seems strange that Wisdom would speak to people in the “noisy streets” and “markets” and bustling of
Colossians 2:17, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.” The translation I typically read from renders the last part of this verse, “…the *substance* belongs to Christ.” And that is accurate, it gets the point across. But while looking at this verse
John 19:5, “Behold the Man.” The word used for “man” here can also mean simply “human” (recall that, until recently, “Man” / “Mankind” could mean all of the human race…the same is true for the Greek word here translated “man”). When God Incarnate stands before the judgment seat in the tattered regality of His mock-robe
Colossians 1:20, “…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” The same all things that were created in and through Christ as their source and ground, the same all things that exist for Christ as their telos (Col.1:16), and the
John 19:14, “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover.” John mentions no account of Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples. He does, of course, recount a lengthy discourse Jesus had with His disciples at a supper (13:1-2), but we never get a traditional account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper
Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally brothers, as much as is true, as much as is honorable, as much as is just, as much as is pure, as much as is lovely, as much as is admirable, if anything is virtuous and if anything is praise worthy, think on these things. And that which you have learned
Romans 9:20-21, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?…Has the potter no right ver the clay…?” Dark-veiled, the hand of Sovereignty Does fashion all aright And from the clay, humanity Is well-formed in His sight But we from vantage creaturely Cannot His purpose know Why one is formed for dignity
John 20:27-28, “[Jesus] said to Thomas…’see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Sometimes we read this passage and think that Jesus presents His wounds to Thomas as proof that He really has been raised from
