Introduction to the New Testament #10

We take the reading of histories for granted, and it is hard to realize that most people haven’t got a clue what it takes to actually write a history....

Introduction to the New Testament #9

Among the earliest Christians, Mark did not command the attention of the Fathers. According to Everett Harrison, they placed Matthew and Luke in the m...

Whatever Happened to the Bible?

When I was a lot younger, I was associated with a church that was, hands down, the most Bible-reading group of people I have ever known. With all of t...

Introduction to the New Testament #8

When you pick up the Bible to begin reading the New Testament, you will commonly start with Matthew. It may come as a surprise to you to learn that th...

Introduction to the New Testament #7

There is little to learn from the order in which the books of the New Testament are presented in the Bibles we have today. There is no evidence that t...

Introduction to the New Testament #6

The New Testament is really an amazing set of documents. It is only logical to ask how it got written in the first place. We have already talked about...

Introduction to the New Testament #5

The New Testament is really a miracle in every way. We now know that most of the books that form our New Testament were written in a short period betw...

About the Old Testament

What did the First Christians believe about the Old Testament? I might as well have asked what they believed about the Bible because, as the faith dev...

Introduction to the New Testament #4

When you think about it, it is a logical question. Why didn’t Jesus write his own book? For that matter, why didn’t an angel hand the prophets a golde...

Introduction to the New Testament #3

It is of some interest that the New Testament church soldiered on for some 20 years before anyone wrote down anything that has remained for us to look...

Introduction to the New Testament #2

When you sit down to read the New Testament, you encounter a strange cast of characters. I say strange—but only strange to us. The New Testament write...

Introduction to the New Testament #1

Imagine that you are in a room, all by yourself. No one else is there. No one else is supposed to be there. You are in the process of carrying out a r...

A Day of Prayer

How to Read the Bible

I forget where I first saw the book title, How to Read the Bible, but I recall a certain, what shall we say, amusement. I thought, Find a comfortable...

Compassion and the State

God forbid we, as a nation, should ever stop caring about the children and about the poor, but real care should lead us to call a failure what it is—a...

The Book of Daniel #8

No word from the Bible conjures up more dread than the word Antichrist. It is kind of unfortunate, because the word is not used in the Bible in the se...

The Book of Daniel #7

Early in the 2nd century BC, a truly vile man came on the scene in the Middle East. What is it about planet earth that our soil periodically brings fo...

The Book of Daniel #6

One of the most fascinating prophecies in the Book of Daniel (and one that raises as many questions as it answers) is the 70 weeks prophecy at the end...

A Forecast for the Future

If you were looking for a resolution for the new year (or the new decade), you'd have to go a long way to do better than this:
Wash you, make yo...

About Christmas

What did the First Christians believe and practice about Christmas? I know in a way that is a loaded question, because the word Christmas is found now...

The Book of Daniel #5

One of the things that puzzles me about the Book of Daniel is the question, Why now? Why did God, at this particular juncture in history, lay out the...

The Book of Daniel #4

What was it about Daniel? Through at least three major administration changes in Babylon, he kept coming out on top. For the believer, it makes perfec...

The Book of Daniel #3

Did you know that Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty king of Babylon, wrote one chapter of the Book of Daniel? Initially, I couldn’t help but wonder why God w...

The Book of Daniel #2

Daniel may be the most important prophet in the Bible. He is easily the most fascinating. And he is the one that most tempts us to offer interpretatio...

A Great King to Come

The prophecies of Zechariah are among the most difficult in the Bible. It’s not only that Zechariah is so rich in imagery and symbols; it’s a strange...

The Book of Daniel #1

Of all the major prophets of the Old Testament, one stands out as the most fascinating. One has had a hold on the imaginations of men from time immemo...

The Book of Kings #26

The last days of Jerusalem and Judah were hard times. When a nation, a people, begin to lose their identity—their sense of who they are and where they...

The Book of Kings #25

Almost any kingdom will get a little tired and old in 300 years. The House of Israel only made it a little more than 250 years. And Israel must have b...

The Book of Kings #24

There are some strange things about the way God works that I am not sure I understand. I know what he does, it just isn’t always clear why he does it...

Taking God Seriously

Should we take God seriously? it may seem a stupid question to ask, in a way. We’re dealing with someone here who could blink his eyes and start the B...

The Book of Kings #23

The Middle East is a very curious place, but I hardly need to tell you that. For instance, everyone learns the parable of the Good Samaritan in church...

The Book of Kings #22

Reading through the stories of the last kings of the house of Israel, I always get a feeling of ineffable sadness. That nation had been served by two...

The Book of Kings #21

It was now 126 years after the death of Solomon and the division of the Kingdom of Israel into two houses—the House of Israel and the House of Judah....

The Book of Kings #20

It is a sobering thought to consider that the Kingdom of Israel was once ruled by a woman—but not a very good woman. To secure her throne, she had all...

Son of Man

Are You Angry?

Are you angry? Are you mad at what is going on in government? If you are a Republican, you are probably mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, y...

The Book of Kings #19

Evil has lasting consequences. Not only was King Ahab corrupt, so were his children, who learned in their mother how to get the things they wanted. Th...

The Book of Kings #18

All through this period of Kings, there is pattern that develops. The people would fall away, go after idols, and suffer all the results of that. In J...

The Book of Kings #17

The days of the prophet Elisha seem to have been somewhat unique in the history of Israel. Prophecy was vital in those days, but most of it was delive...

The Book of Kings #16

I’m still amazed at how many would-be prophets want to take on the mantle of Elijah. I think I mentioned that I have met three or four Elijahs in my t...