"He is altogether lovely" Song 5:16 What is beauty? What makes something beautiful? Our society tells us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that beauty is relative, and we must categorize persons or things as beautiful based on our own personal preferences....
A young city girl was in the country for the first time and looking up into the night sky commented, “Oh, mother, if heaven is so beautiful on the wrong side, what must it be like on the right side!”1 Indeed, how can we possibly know what God’s dwelling place is like...
O Little Town of Bethlehem is one of the most beloved carols of the Christmas season. However, it is much more than a sentimental story that took place in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a small quaint town, about 6 miles (10 kms) south of Jerusalem. Throughout its long and...
Many will remember the famous prize fighter Muhammed Ali, and his larger than life persona. We mainly recall his continual onslaught of statements claiming to be the greatest. There is something in our culture that enthrones greatness, yet most people have widely...
For the past 150 years, the evangelical church has given great emphasis to God’s promises to the nation of Israel. Christians were those who rejoiced the loudest when Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. Evangelical Christians understood that God would be faithful...
It was on May 14, 1948, that David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. On the same day, United States President Harry S. Truman also recognized the new nation. It was an improbable event in the world’s eyes. After centuries of exile, the...
It is not uncommon in our day to hear people say that prophecy is not important. They insist that we ought to focus on more important matters like evangelism or discipleship and not waste precious time on secondary matters like prophecy. While I empathize with their...
The people of Israel were reeling. A tsunami of locusts had swept through the nation and ravished the land from one end to the other. In the wake of this devastation, the prophet Joel has been assigned the unenvious task of letting his wayward countrymen know why it...
Israel is not the church, and the church is not Israel. But Scripture gives the church warrant to learn from Israel. For example, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10: Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things...
Some view Christians as being brainless zombies who simply believe whatever their religious authorities tell them. While this observation may characterize Christendom as a humanized form, the Bible encourages people to diligently seek understanding and commends those...
The believer continually has the blessed opportunity to gaze upon Christ in God’s Word, the glories of our Lord progressively transforming us into His likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Let us look into the face of our Lord Jesus from a few selected passages. He is the Son...
I was saved by grace through faith in Christ in my late teen years and began my Christian life with no biblical foundation. When I first encountered the concept of election and predestination as a young convert, I naturally consulted with Christian leaders in my...
Paul’s gospel, like his theology, is God-centered. God is magnified and manifested in His Son. God and Christ work together. “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all...
Ronald Gregor Smith supplies the world’s answer to this question: “So far as historicity is concerned...We may freely say that the bones of Jesus lie somewhere in Palestine, but the Christian faith is not destroyed by this admission”1 Yet, contrary to this conclusion,...
Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day are two days that rarely come together on the calendar. It happened in 1956 and again in 2018. There is an appropriate verse in the Bible for such a rare occasion: “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how...
When Naomi and I were engaged to be married, a brother in Christ offered us this advice: “The world will work relentlessly to separate you.” This warning alerted my wife and me to our need for constant maintenance of our relationship. Since the Scriptures use marriage...
Isaiah 53 is the gospel in the Old Testament. Many Jews and most rabbis will not read it. In fact, they are forbidden to read it.1 It concerns the vicarious sufferings and death of Jehovah’s Servant who we know and believe is Christ Jesus, our Lord. As a nation the...
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.””Luke 2:13-14 The birth of a child was a very special occasion in Israel, particularly if the...
The purpose of all patterns and types in Scripture is to declare the glory of God through metaphoric form. The pattern of order for the Church to follow is for this purpose—it declares God’s wisdom and grace in the Church (Eph. 3:9-11). God is presently using the...
In chapter 15 of John, the Lord Jesus Christ gives believers a powerful exhortation when he says, “Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples” (John 15:8). We are told that we are to glorify the Father and bear much fruit if...