Psalm 144:1, ‘Blessed be YHWH, my Rock, who trains my hands for war…’ Psalm 144 is written from the point of view of the Davidic king in the face of adversity. Its entire structure may be mapped onto—and, indeed, is ultimately grounded in—the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ, who is Himself the true David and […]
Isaiah 26:19, ‘Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of *morning,* and the earth will bring forth her dead. Today’s picture was created at the request of a friend, Izzie Thom (with whom I worked on the most
1 Cor. 15:58, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.’ These words about steadfast laboring form the capstone of chapter 15 which focuses on the resurrection of Christ and of His people in Him. What
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Col 3:5-6 [8], ‘Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. […anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk…] On account of these the wrath of God is coming. The ‘therefore’ at the beginning of this passage refers back to 3:3, ‘you have
Hebrews 7:25, ‘…He is able to save to the uttermost the ones drawing near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede on their behalf.’ The author of Hebrews uses two related words here. The word translated ‘to the uttermost’ is παντελής which combines ‘pan’ (for all) and ‘telos’ (as
Ps 90:12, ‘…teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.’ Much of our culture is designed to prevent us from numbering our days, to prevent us from looking steadily at the absolute reality of our own mortality and the unshakable certainty of our own death. But this is
Matt 9:24-25, “‘…the girl is not dead, but sleeping’…He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.” Jesus does not merely turn back death in this text, He redefines death. When He says, “the girl is not dead, but sleeping,” He—as the Creative Word of God incarnate—names death anew. In
Luke 15:5, “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” This is repentance; this is the foundational reason that the repentance of v.7, and 10, and the “coming to himself” of v.17 take place. If one who has been fleeing from the Lord stops and returns to Him—whatever the attendant
Isaiah 26:19, “You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” Isaiah 26:18-19, “…we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth…Your dead shall
