In the last week as I have watched and prayed and cried regarding things in Israel, I could not help but think of John’s closing vision in Revelation. Here are two sections of that vision: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride […]
There is a meme going around that shows a Bible page with a highlight of Deuteronomy 28:43-44, which reads: “43 The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, […]
A popular song asks what Mary knew. But as is often true in the Bible, the people in question knew much more then we think, sometimes more than we ourselves know. For example, have you ever wondered why so many women are named Mary in the Gospels? The name Mary comes from the Hebrew “Miriam” […]
God’s interest in justice flows out of His interest in and love for His Creation. This is at the core of the uniqueness of God’s revelation to the Jewish people. The Greco-Roman world pictured justice as a blind-folded maiden with a scale and a sword. The Torah presents Justice as emanating from an All-Seeing God with a Heart of Compassion.
As Jews and Christians both wrestle how to fit Jewish Believers in a convenient box, it becomes evident that we have forgotten the central question of the New Testament, Can a Gentile be saved? And if so, how? This was question was on the mind of Jesus’ Disciples as the Messiah spoke to a woman […]
Growing up, I was told “Jews don’t believe in Jesus.” Though I was hearing this from the vantage point of Judaism, many Christians have believed, been told, and said the same thing. But the first thing that struck me about the New Testament, when I first read Matthew 1:1 was that this was a Jewish […]
After centuries of confiscating and burning copies of the Mishnah and Talmud, Christians had not only lost the ability to read and understand the language of the Tanakh (the Old Testament) , they also lost the trust of the Jewish people who might have taught them Hebrew. After driving God’s Chosen people from their countries […]
When Jesus went to His “Father’s House” to “prepare a place for us” He was not simply going there to dust the furniture and change the sheets. He had come to earth to make sinners fit for Heaven. He has returned there to get Heaven ready to receive sinners, to receive us…
The logic behind the idea that Moses could not have written Deuteronomy is simply because it’s too accurate. As its author, Moses would have prophetically spoken of things that would happen 900 years later. If our assumption is that prophecy doesn’t occur, Deuteronomy must be a later composition. If we are going to accept the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy we will need to be open to miracles or at least vast coincidences.
If Matthew chapters 1 and 2 are an encapsulation and re-enactment of the drama of the Old Testament, Matthew 3 begins where the Old Testament left off. John the Baptist is the promised Elijah who would warn the people before the “great and terrible day of the LORD.” (Malachi 4:5) The elements of Malachi 4 […]
