Obadiah 16-17, ‘…all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy…’ It seems like a strange metaphor to modern ears, but Scripture occasionally presents God’s judgment as a strong […]
Ezekiel 16:6,8, “When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’”…When I passed by you again…I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into covenant with you, declares YHWH
Heb.13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. How crucial is the grace of faith that looks into the past and sees who God has declared Himself to be in the Passion of His Son, and that turns toward the impenetrable veil of the future and believes He will always be as He
Lam. 2:15-16, ‘All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?’ All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth…’ Jerusalem
Lamentations 2:15-16 Read More »
Lamentations 1:14, ‘My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by His hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck…’ Jerusalem’s punishment from the Lord is nothing other than their own sins against the Lord poured back out upon them. Consider what it means to say that the horrors of the
Jeremiah 33:10-11, “Thus says YHWH: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’…there shall be heard again the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride…” Joy will sing in the *very place* where sorrow now holds
Psalm 45:13, “All glorious is the Princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she is led to the King…” Revelation 22:9-11, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb…the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God…” The Bridal
Psalm 45:13, Revelation 22:9-11 Read More »
Mark 13:31, “The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Jesus words are more enduring, and in that sense we may say “more real,” than the heavens and the earth. And when the heavens and the earth pass away, when the mountains are overthrown and turned to dust,
Jer. 30:12-13,15,17 — “Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous…[there is] no medicine for your wound, no healing for you…Your pain is incurable.” /// “…*I will* restore health to you, and your wounds *I will* heal.” The wound referenced here the wound of and the wound dealt by YHWH’s people’s turning from Him
Jeremiah 30:12-13, 15, 17 Read More »
Ps 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” “Table” implies rest, rejoicing, supply, and—perhaps most important—fellowship, while “in the presence of my enemies” conjures images of threat, danger, tension, and enmity. It is not natural to set the experience of table fellowship and the immediate presence of enemies
Ps 30:4-5, “Sing praises to YHWH, O you his saints, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may remain for the night, but rejoicing comes with the morning.” Notice that verse 5 supports verse 4, meaning that what
Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of YHWH has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but YHWH will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” First and foremost, these words are about Jesus Christ, who—as
Jeremiah 4:30, “O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain do you beautify yourself.” Isaiah 60:9, “…the Holy One of Israel…He has made you beautiful.” Like painting makeup on a corpse, any and
Jeremiah 4:30 + Isaiah 60:9 Read More »
Rev.12:11, “…they have conquered him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Satan—the Great Dragon—is decisively conquered when the “Male Child” (Christ) is raised to the throne of God (Rev.12:5), which is to say, when He is lifted up
Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God…because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins…” On this Good Friday, as the world scrambles for answers, divides against itself, bows down to it’s own word as law, and numbs its mortal wounds with palliative distractions, may the Lord grant
Rev. 1:17-18, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one, and I died, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages, and I have the key of Death and of Hades.” What is John not to fear? The immediate context suggests fear of obliteration before the
Revelation 1:17-18 Read More »
1 John 4:14-15, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.” John is here saying the same thing in two complimentary ways. To confess Jesus
John 8:12, “I am the light of life, the one following me does by no means walk in the darkness, but has the light of life.” Jesus says that the one who follows Him will have the “light of life.” I’m taking that to mean “the reality-illuminating revelation of who God is, whom to know
Proverbs 12:18, “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” As those created in the image of the one who creates reality by His word, our words also have real power to alter what is around us….especially regarding the internal world of others.
Through faith-union to God the Son, wrought by the indwelling Spirit of God, a once scattered and rebellious people have become the unified and sanctified Bride of Christ. Because of the incarnation of God in Christ, the Church truly is bone of God’s bones, and flesh of God’s flesh, united in one Spirit with her
The Gospel – VII – Consummation Read More »
