Three thousand five hundred years ago, Moses led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, an event known as the Exodus. Moses wrote this about that night, the night of the Exodus; he says, “That night was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring his people out of the land of Egypt; and […]
If we were to go back to the oldest parts of our bible, to the Book of Exodus, we would see that it opens with the description of a nation living in brutal slavery under the rule of the ancient Egyptian empire. Now, unfortunately for the Egyptians, this particular nation was descended from a man […]
In the beginning, scripture tells us, God created the heavens and the earth — that is, he created the unformed raw materials he was going to use for the rest of his creation project. Then, as we discussed briefly last week, he spoke and created a house-like structure: the surface of the earth was like […]
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the first chapter of the bible tells us how he brought the earth into proper order, day by day, and piece by piece, to serve as a temple, a holy place where he could descend and live with his children: human beings that he […]
So the sun rises on Judgement Day. Before sunset, it will all be over: the Messiah — God’s anointed king, the Son of David — will have arrived in Jerusalem, he will be seated on his throne, and the Judgement of the world will begin. This is how Daniel the prophet describes the scene: “A […]
So today we come to the end of the Song of Songs. We have followed this young couple’s relationship from its beginnings in the countryside, to their marriage in the city where their relationship was severely tested and almost destroyed. It survived only because the man and the woman both decided to trust in the […]
So, we are going to jump right back into our story here: We are still in the garden of Eden. At the serpent’s suggestion, the man and the woman tried to make themselves more like God by eating the fruit of knowledge. God arrived, conducted a brief trial, and then Judgement Day began. He cursed […]
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters — These are the first sentences in the bible, written by Moses more than 3500 years ago. […]
Paul starts his letter with a praise song focused on one thing: who we are related to defines who we really are. And this makes all the difference! Paul continues his praise song with a prayer that his friends will continue to grow up and discover just how rich they already are. Paul’s friends think […]
At the height of the Roman empire, 2000 years ago, the island of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean Sea was perfectly positioned to operate as a way station for shipping. Massive grain cargo ships travelling northward from Egypt to Rome, ships carrying copper and tin from Britain to the coasts of Asia in the east, […]
Okay. So here we are, starting into Part Three of Luke’s mini-series about God’s Law. Last week, in Part One, we met a lawyer who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus’ answer was, essentially, “Show compassion to everyone, regardless of race or religion, and you will inherit eternal life.” […]
So last week we talked about the massive cultural changes that were sweeping across the Roman empire 2000 years ago, during the time when Paul wrote this letter to Titus. We focused especially on how Roman law had emancipated Roman women, especially upper-class women, in some significant ways. We also noticed how these changes in […]
For 40 years the people of Israel have been wandering in the wilderness east of the Jordan River, without city walls to protect them, without farmland to feed them — and yet they have thrived. God kept them alive with bread from heaven. He made sure their clothes did not wear out, not even their […]
Last week, a desperate Hebrew mother gave her child up into the hands of the God of Israel, in order to save him from the gods and government of Egypt. Now, the gods of Egypt moved quickly to make sure the child fell directly into the hands of the Egyptian government, so that he would […]