John 13:4, “He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.” When Jesus dresses Himself for service in the upper room, He is re-enacting the incarnation by revealing the same inclination of God’s heart that moved the Son to lay aside the outer garments of manifest glory and […]
Ps 139:16, “…in your book were written—every one of them—the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” This picture comes from an idea that Courtney shared with me. As I think most of you know, Courtney is an author and has—for the 10 years we’ve been married—always
Romans 3:21, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” The Law leaves us on the the “outside,” as it were, of God’s righteousness….It sets up a temporary veil of ordinances that preserves God’s people from destruction, but simultaneously bears
Psalm 119:45, “…I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.” Our natural mind tells us that doing “whatever we want” is the path of freedom, but that is like the man with an anchor tied around his neck saying that true freedom is to follow wherever his anchor leads….Not
Isaiah 2:2, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of YHWH shall be established as the highest of the mountains…and the nations shall flow to it.” John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Jesus is
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2 Cor 7:10, “…godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” Short Thoughts: In the midst of grief over our sin, may we not fold inward toward self-destruction, rather, may we turn outward and fall in blood-bought repentance on Him who bore all sin and grief
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Psalm 109:17-18, “He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!” Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us…” I recently talked to a group about the “imprecatory Psalms” (the Psalms that pray curses down on enemies of YHWH and His people). The question was,
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Exodus 2:24-25, “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” “…and God knew.” The Hebrew word for “know” here can mean simply “to know” or “to be aware of”, however it can also mean “to know by experience.”
2 Corinthians 1:5, “…just as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, so through Christ our comfort also abounds.” The phrase, “just as” at the beginning of this verse refers back to what Paul has been talking about in the preceding verses, namely, the afflictions which he and others believers suffer. This is important
Psalm 104:24, “O YHWH, how manifold are your works, in wisdom you have made them all…” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “Christ crucified…[is] the wisdom of God.” The wisdom of God IS Christ crucified. Archetypical wisdom is not merely God the Son abstracted from the man Jesus Christ, rather it is God the Son proclaimed as
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1 Corinthians 15:20, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Just as the first rays of morning on the Eastern horizon mean day is at hand; just as the first buds on the trees tell us that Spring has come; and just
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Luke 1:52, “…he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate…” When Christ is exalted in His humiliation on the throne of Calvary, He re-defines greatness, and so shatters the proud thrones of the world while lifting the humble to the throne of God.
Psalm 97:9, “For you, O YHWH, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted for above all gods.” YHWH is exalted above all other gods, and we see this most clearly when YHWH incarnate is lifted up (exalted) as the wrath absorbing sacrifice for His people. The bloody wood of the cross
1 Corinthians 6:19–20, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” One of the foundational beliefs in the present Western world is “I am my own,” or in other terms, “autonomy.” “I can do what I want with my body”; “I can do what I
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1 Corinthians 8:1-3, “This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (I’ve given you three levels of complexity on this right up, so, read which ever version
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Psalm 116:3,6, “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish…YHWH preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me.” /// When sinking down, in chaos bound And ‘compassed round with fear To Him I look, who chaos took And so, in
Psalm 116:7, “Return, O my soul, to your rest, for YHWH has dealt bountifully with you.” /// Return, my soul, my weary soul To Him who is your rest His wounded side, now glorified, A refuge in His breast
Psalm 116:8-9, “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before YHWH in the land of the living.” /// My soul, my eyes, my feet, my life Delivered now from woe And with the one who bore my strife I’ll walk in joy,
1 John 4:18, “…perfect love casts out fear.” As we receive the love of God in Christ and are transformed into that same image of self-giving love, fear is cast out. What is fear? At its roots, fear is the belief that our story will end in darkness, that we will be finally cast
John 1:14, “The Word became flesh” At the center of the Christian faith is the doctrine of the incarnation, which confesses that the Second Person of the Trinity has taken human nature to Himself, binding humanity to divinity “inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly and inseparably” in perfect union to the Person of God the Son. One
