Part 1 Christmas is beautiful. Christmas is ugly. Christmas is happy. Christmas is sad. Families rejoin, celebrate, exchange gifts. Families disintegrate into individuals without families, sad and alone. Christmas means babies all dressed in reds and whites. Christmas means babies left on doorsteps, hospital driveways, even in dumpsters. Christmas involves plenty--of food, fun, and fellowship. Christmas involves famine, disease, and nothing to feed the children. Christmas is a time of reunions, restorations, reconciliations. Christmas is a time of families fighting, fussing, … [Read more...]
Christmas Prophecy Fulfilled
This Christmas I am impressed anew that we are seeing biblical prophecy fulfilled before our eyes. Not the kind of prophetic fulfillment about which the sensationalists talk and write best-seller books for the gullible masses -- about Middle Eastern conflict and geopolitics and world banks and bar codes at the supermarkets. No, something far more solid and biblical than any of that! God's word to Isaiah 2,700 years ago has come to pass: "The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope." All you have to do is turn on the radio, or … [Read more...]
the virgin birth and more- 2
Life was not easy for Mary after that visit from Gabriel, the angel who told her that she would conceive a child. Her, a virgin--conceive? Humanly impossible. "How can these things be?" she had asked, quite literally. Since that day, it seemed to Mary, everyone else in Galilee had asked the same question of her--but in another tone of voice. After a while, she had learned to accept the clucking and glances and side remarks. But what of Isaiah 7:14.and its mention of a virgin who becomes pregnant and delivers a son? Didn't anyone think of`that? Apparently not--at least not before the fact. Not … [Read more...]
RULES FOR RICH FOLKS
As we approach this Christmas season--indeed, as we live any day in any year--are there guidelines, principles, or maxims from God to direct our shopping and to guide our giving? Indeed there are, including a healthful cluster of instructions found in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. We might have overlooked them, because they are directed to "those who are rich" and we assumed that meant someone else. However, we need to know that the rich person in Timothy's world, and in most of the world ever since, is any person who is wearing clothes and who owns other clothes they are not wearing. It is … [Read more...]
TURKEYS, THANKS, AND TYPHOONS
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States this year, the holiday is a good time to remember that thanks and giving properly go together. For God's gracious gifts to us, we give thanks. The expression "say grace" means giving thanks. Because we are thankful, we give to others in need. The circle is completed when those to whom we give, themselves give thanks to God. This year we enjoy our Thanksgiving against a world background that includes horrific destruction in the Philippines, resulting in incalculable human suffering and loss. I invite you to join me in asking God … [Read more...]
THOSE WHO WAITING, REST
The calendar weighs heavy with religious and secular significance this weekend, and that's before we even get to birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions made special in relation to family and friends. Tonight, for example, October 31, is "Halloween," short for "All Hallow's Evening," the evening before All Saints' [Hallows'] Day on November 1. Although it is far more difficult to be a saint in the Catholic Church than it is in the Bible, that hasn't slowed down the manufacture of the Catholic brand. As a result, Catholic saints greatly outnumber calendar days, leaving enough day-less … [Read more...]
THE MAGI MEET THE MASTER (2)
"Who were the wise men that visited Baby Jesus? Where did they originate? What does their visit mean?" * * * The Magi seem to have been familiar with astrology but not with the Hebrew Scriptures, suggesting that they probably were not Jews (Matthew 2:2). Their heavenly sign reminds us of the oracle of Balaam the soothsayer, who lived in the days of Moses: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel (Num.24:17). The story of the Magi also brings to mind the prophecy of Isaiah, who revealed with greatest … [Read more...]
HOLDING THE WORLD LIGHTLY
We live during an interim on God's calendar, a defined but unknown period of time that began with a significant event and that will end when Jesus comes again. This is the period of God's conquests, which began when Jesus was enthroned at God's right hand in heaven and will continue until the last enemy, death, has been destroyed (Psalm 110:1). It is simultaneously the period of heaven's reception of Jesus, which will end with the redemptive restoration of all things spoken by the ancient prophets (Acts 3:20-21). In both respects, we live between the Already and the Not Yet. Because the … [Read more...]
JESUS ENTERED HEAVEN FOR US
The following is an excerpt from my booklet titled One Life, Death and Judgment, which summarizes the gospel as found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The entire booklet is free online at my website. * * * "Under the Old Testament economy, only the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place, and he on but one day of the year. On that great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) he entered two times, first for his own sins, then for those of the people. But he entered in simple linen garments, a man for men. He entered only with blood--of a substitute that was ceremonially spotless. And he brought the … [Read more...]
JESUS SAT DOWN IN HEAVEN (2)
"What does it mean that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God in heaven? It seems the New Testament mentions that several times." * * * This imagery of Jesus at God's right hand captures the main point of the Epistle to the Hebrews -- from the Epistle's beginning words right through to its end (1:4; 12:2). Not even angels have a seat at God's right hand, but Jesus does (1:13-14). That main point is that Jesus does not need to make repetitive offerings, for he has taken away all our sins forever by offering his own perfect life to God on the cross, "once for all" -- for all time, for all … [Read more...]