Philippians 3:10-11, ‘That I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’ Jesus Christ is essentially and irreducibly the crucified and risen one, and so, to truly and intimately […]
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Ephesians 4:15-16, ‘…grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’ That is a complicated sentence,
Matthew 10:1, ‘And He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority…’ Matthew 10:16, ‘Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves…’ Summary Thoughts: To wield the authority of the Lamb who slays the Dragon through His death is to walk as sheep in the midst of wolves,
Hebrews 13:5, ‘Be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you.’ Why are the recipients of this letter to be content with what they have? Because God in Christ has promised always to be with them, never to forsake them. The groaning of discontentment is a
Numbers 16:45, ‘Get away *from the midst* of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.’ Numbers 16:47-48, ‘So Aaron…ran *into the midst* of the assembly…he put on the incense [onto his censer] and made atonement for the people.’ And he stood between the dead and the living…’ In Hebrew, the same word
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Luke 14:33, ‘…any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.’ V.33 is the summarizing statement for vs 25-33…and these are hard words. ‘So every one of you who does not renounce / send away / take leave of all the things he possesses cannot be my disciple.’
Ephesians 3:18-9, [That you] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul does not explain the dimensions that he mentions in this
Psalm 46:4-7, ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts. YHWH of
Isaiah 60:20, ‘Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for YHWH will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.’ (also v.4) Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, and I was asked by my Sister-in-Law to create an image based on Isaiah 60:20 that
Colossians 1:15, ‘…πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως…’ (the Firstborn of all Creation). I won’t get into this one too much now for the sake of time….suffice it to say that, though the Son of God is eternal and uncreated, the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, is not eternal since His humanity is created. So, according to His humanity,
2 Corinthians 12:9, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for [my] power is made perfect in weakness.’ The weakness that Paul speaks of here—weakness in which the anastasiform (resurrection-shaped) power of Christ is brought to completion—are the very same weaknesses that Christ bore in Himself on the cross (Is. 53:3-4). That is to say, they
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Numbers 6:24-26, YHWH bless you and keep you; YHWH make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up His face upon you and give you peace. In this blessing, for God’s face to shine upon His people is presented as the supreme blessing they can receive. However, in Ex.
Psalm 46:2, ‘…though the earth gives way…’ In Psalm 46, we see that YHWH God Himself is the unshakable refuge for those who have fled to and hidden themselves in Him. To emphasize this point, the Psalmist employs catastrophic language about the earth itself being shattered, the mountains being hurled into the sea, or the
John 13:3, ‘Jesus, [knew] that the Father had given all things into His hands…’ These same hands into which all things have been given are the hands that would be pierced by Roman nails. Yes, part of the ‘all things’ delivered into the Son’s hands is the suffering, sorrow, death, and damnation of His people,
Matthew 1:25+21, ‘And he called his name Jesus…for He will save His people from their sins.’ Matthew 2:2, ‘Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?” Matthew 27:37, ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’ The Magi’s question is never answered in the immediate context. Yes, they find Jesus and worship
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2 Corinthians 11:2-3, ‘I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.’ Paul is doing a lot in these two verses. First,
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Isaiah 42:13, ‘YHWH goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.’ Like a warrior who roars a battle cry as he plunges into the opposing force, throwing himself into his foes with a might
Luke 12:50, ‘I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!’ The ‘baptism’ in view here is the crucifixion. Much could be said about this passage, but all I wanted to consider in today’s post (and picture) is that Jesus knew what was set before Him
Colossians 3:1-3, ‘If, then, you were raised in Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on the things above, not on the things of earth, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God…’ Ch.2 concludes with a
Colossians 2:23, ‘These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.’ What is the ‘indulgence of the flesh’? Certainly something like lust, illicit sexuality, drunkenness, and various forms of addiction come to mind.
