Category: Bible
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What the Riddle of the Magi Reminds Me to See
Good morning, friends! I’m taking a short break from the Gospel of Matthew series this week, as I am: On tour with 1:11 Ministries, celebrating the birth of Jesus through our production ADORE HIM; and Releasing a novel today! Today is the day Book 3 in The Prophet Trilogy, BELOVED, enters the wider world. I’d…
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“If You Are”: What the Temptation of Jesus Reveals About Our Deadliest Trap
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’” (Matthew 4:1-3, HCSB) For years I…
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Out of the Water: How History Culminates in Jesus’ Baptism
After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven: “This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him! (Matthew 3:14-17, HCSB) This —…
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Getting Real about Wrath: An Invitation from a (Justifiably) Angry God
But when [John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I…
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Preparing the Way: Why “Reconcile” Must Be the Chief Cry of Our Hearts
“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Matthew 3:3, KJV) “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” (Luke…
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Make His Paths Straight: Getting Our Hearts Ready for the King
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”…
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To “Repent” Is to Hope: The Real Meaning of Jesus’ Call to Repentance
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:1-2, ESV) To many of us I think the word “repent” conjures up visions of angry Baptists picketing funerals or rock concerts, or maybe of old-school preachers raining down fire and brimstone…
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The Light
I wanted to see. Should blindness be borne with religious resignation and patience? Perhaps, but I could not bear it thus. At the very least, as I sometimes thought, it ought eventually to become natural to me—a thing as unremarkable as the night which follows day, which always has, which always will. But it could…
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Following the Nazarene: Holiness, Puns, & How to Be a Saint
After Joseph and family left Egypt to return to the Promised Land, “Being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that He will be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23, HCSB) It’s one of…
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Out of Egypt: When God Calls You to Leave Slavery [Safety] Behind
So far in the first chapter of Matthew, Matthew has identified Jesus with Abraham, with David, with the whole levitical system of sacrifices and festivals (see “The Riddle of 13”), and with the people of Israel in exile — and of course, he has identified him clearly as the Messiah and with Yawheh himself. Here,…