John 11:21, ‘If you had been here…’ ‘If you had…’ — With these words, Martha’s imagination conjures a state of affairs that she believes would have been better than what has, in fact, happened…If Jesus had been here, Lazarus would not have died, she and her sister would have been spared the pain of loss, […]
Hebrews 12:2, ‘…looking to Jesus, the originator and perfector of faith.’ One of the surest ways to descend into a labyrinth of confusion, apprehension, and spiritual weakness is to make our own faith the object of our scrutiny. ‘Am I really trusting?’ ‘Is my faith sincere?’ ‘Is my faith strong enough?’ etc. Questions like those
Hebrews 2:8-9, ‘we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.’ Notice the
1 Peter 1:5, ‘…who, *by God’s power*, are being guarded *through faith* for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’ Note that in this verse, Peter tells us that it is *God’s power* that guards the believer, but the means by which His power guards them is *their own faith.* The power
Isaiah 6:2, ‘Each [Seraph] had six wings; with two *he covered his face*…’ Isaiah 53:3, ‘He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men *hide heir faces*…’ In the depths of His agonies, Jesus Christ became as one from whom men hid their
Job 23:8-10, ‘Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him; He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him. But He knows the way that I take…’ In verses 8-9,
Isaiah 9:6, ‘For to us a child is *born,* to us a son is *given*…’ In the literary structure of Isaiah 9, the eschatological light, joy, freedom, and peace promised in verses 1-5 are entirely grounded upon v.6 and the brith of this child, the giving of this son. Now, the Apostle John certainly read
Hebrews 11:19, ‘…[Abraham] considered that God was able to raise [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.’ See the place that resurrection plays in Abraham’s faith. In this passage, resurrection is the unexpected—yet necessary—conclusion that arises from the equation of God’s Promises + Death. The Genesis 22 command
John 4:15-16, The Woman: ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty…’ // Jesus: ‘Go, call your husband…’’ At first, Jesus’ response to the woman in v.16 seems a bit jarring. Why does he change the subject so abruptly, answering her request for living water by telling her to call her
Luke 24:50, ‘And, lifting up His hands, He blessed them.’ These are the same hands that Jesus displayed to His disciples in v.39, the hands bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, which is to say, wounds that bear witness to the disciples’ sin and the condemnation due that sin. More than this, in those
Job 14:13, ‘…that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!’ There’s much to see in the first half of v.13, but today’s image comes from a consideration of just those final two words: ‘remember me!’ What does it mean to be remembered by God? There is a sense in which it means
Job 11:7-9, ‘Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is *higher* than heaven—what can you do? *Deeper* than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is *longer* than the earth and *broader* than the sea.’ Ephesians 3:18-19, ‘[I pray] that you, being rooted and
Job 11:7-9; Ephesians 3:18-19 Read More »
Hebrews 3:7-8, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…’ Why does the author of Hebrews cite Ps.95 (and so allude to Exodus 17) in this context? How does this situation apply to his readers? It would seem that the parallel to the ‘voice’ of Ps.95 / Ex.17
John 1:23, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’ John the Baptist’s citation of Isaiah 40 is significant since, in the context of Isaiah, the one whose way is prepared is YHWH Himself. John implies, then, that he is
Job 9:23-24, ‘When disaster brings sudden death, He mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the face of its judges—if it is not He, WHO then is it?’ In this post, I’m not commenting on Job’s evaluation of the situation, only on the
John 17:19, “For their sake I consecrate myself that they may be sanctified in the truth.” Short Thoughts: The Son set Himself apart as a whole burnt offering through the Spirit to the Father (Heb.9:14), that we too might belong wholly and only to God in Him. Long Thoughts: I’m not sure
2 Corinthians 1:5, ‘For just as the sufferings of Christ abound for [or ‘unto’, ‘εἰς’] us, so through Christ also abounds our comfort.’ Because the one and indivisible Jesus Christ is irreducibly the Crucified and Risen One, in Him, suffering and comfort are “hypostatically” (i.e., rooted in personhood) united. Just as there is no Crucified
1 John 5:14-15, ‘And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have (or ‘are having’) the requests that we have asked of Him.’ The Passage
Colossians 3:22-23, ‘Whatever you do, work from your [very] soul, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.’ [author’s translation] Though these words are written to 1st century bondservants, they remain applicable to any Christian who works under the authority of someone
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Luke 22:32, ‘But I have *prayed* for you, that your faith may not fail…’ The word translated ‘prayed’ here might literally be taken to mean ‘bound.’ On top of that, it is passive, essentially telling us that Jesus *was bound* on behalf of Peter. Now, the central meaning here is that Jesus was bound by
