So when we last saw Jacob, he had finally arrived home after 20 years away. His relationship with God has been restored, his relationship with his brother Esau has been restored, and so now he is free to continue the job his father and his grandfather began: the task of claiming the country God has […]
In the beginning, we are told, God created the heavens and the earth. And we are not told many details about the life that exists in other parts of the universe, because the Christian bible is the story of God’s relationship with the earth in particular. And that is why, when we catch our first […]
Welcome to Genesis, Book 12, Episode 2. The first episode, last week, began with family politics and ended with betrayal. Basically, this is what is going on: Jacob has 12 sons, but only one of them can inherit the Head of Household position when he is gone. The oldest three sons have disqualified themselves, leaving […]
So, a few weeks ago the Lord began speaking to his gathered people from the top of Mt. Sinai, outlining the conditions of the covenant that he wants to make with his people. Essentially, God has been writing the constitution that will govern his new nation. He is spelling out the foundational values and laws […]
As the city of Jerusalem gets ready for lockdown, Habakkuk the prophet wrestles with his fears and his faith. Paul tells us to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,” but what did he mean by that? To answer that question, we have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and […]
Okay, we are catching up with Jesus here at the end of a very long day. It started at the beginning of Chapter 11, when Jesus’ disciples saw him praying and asked him to teach them too. At that point, Jesus confirmed what he had only hinted at before: that God is not just Jesus’ […]
As we pick up Luke’s story of Jesus, it is important to remember that the narrative tension is rising toward a confrontation between Jesus and all the rulers of Jerusalem, including Satan. And everyone is feeling it. See, the Jewish people understand from their ancient prophets that when the Messiah arrives at the gates of […]
When Daniel was just a boy, back in Jerusalem, his father would have taken him to the temple for worship at certain special times of the year. Daniel would have stood there with his father and brothers and uncles and cousins, singing the psalms and hymns of his people, watching while the priests performed the […]
Way back at the very beginning of scripture, as Cain is making his plans to murder his brother Abel, God tells Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” God was warning Cain that sin is not just a matter of human will, sin is […]
Okay, so just a reminder of the bigger picture that is going on here: Jesus has been training his disciples in Kingdom Management. He had to take a break from the course for a while so he could help the Pharisees understand that they really really have been fired. At the beginning of Chapter 16, […]
After God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, the garden remained there: in a valley on the holy mountain of God, its gates guarded by angels armed with swords, the glory of God’s presence shining within. And during the generations that followed, some people stayed nearby the mountain. They believed God’s […]
In the beginning, we are told, our world was an unformed wilderness, full of wild animals and wild plants, waiting for someone to come and cultivate the earth and bring creation into a state of peace and proper order. And so, to answer this need, God formed mankind from the dust and they became his […]
Some time ago, a church planter went to Turkey to plant churches, a bit of a risky business. But he was very successful. He would plant a church in one city, and then the local people would catch on to what he was doing and they would try to kill him, so he would move […]
Last week, on “Echoes of a Far-Off Country”: King Xerxes of Persia: “I want to be called ‘the Great’, like my father was, and his father before him. Whatever shall I do to accomplish this? I know! I shall conquer the Greeks! Everyone, come to my party. Let’s get really really drunk and then plan […]
