2018 – Volume 29
Jesus’ Early Miracles in Matthew
“Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Matthew’s Gospel begins with a genealogy of Jesus, showing that his legal guardian, Joseph, was descended from Abraham, and from David. In Chapter Two is an account of Jesus’ miraculous birth. In [...]
The Mammon Parable (Luke 16:1-18)
“Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty” (Luke 16:6). This parable concerns a rich man who accused his servant of wasting his goods and demanded an accounting from him. The outcome would determine the steward’s future. After considering the alternatives, the steward decided to at least recoup a portion of what was owed to his master (verses 57). As a result, [...]
Rachel Weeping for her Children
“Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramoth, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not” (Jeremiah 31:15). “The moral is that self-sacrifice ensures life, a paradox which is exemplified by Jewish history” (Soncino Jewish Commentary notes on Ezekiel 16:16). Some of the richest promises for Israel’s restoration are recorded [...]
Woe to the Spoiler
Isaiah 33-35 Bible Students have long appreciated the poetic and prophetic beauty of the 35th chapter of Isaiah. It is the chapter that speaks of the desert blossoming as the rose, the lame man leaping as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb singing. It describes the glories of restitution, resurrection, the highway of holiness, and the ransomed of the Lord returning from [...]
Constantine and Christianity
A remarkable turn of events in 313 AD The Edict of Milan was one of the first documents in the history of the world to promote freedom of religion. It was a boon for Christians who up until that point had been severely persecuted during a ten year policy of intolerance initiated by the emperor Diocletian. The document was beneficial for all parties. It [...]
Nisan 16
“And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Leviticus 23:11). This text speaks of Abib 16 (which we know better as Nisan 16, the month name drawn from the Babylonian month “Nisanu,” during Israel’s captivity). Leviticus 23:5 refers to Nisan 14, when the passover lamb was to [...]
Making Peace
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). What is a peacemaker? There is difference between peacemaker, and a peacekeeper. A peacekeeper wants to keep things quiet — a peacemaker is not as much concerned about quiet, as about ultimate peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus was a peacemaker. In Romans 5:1 Paul said that we are [...]
Hands of the Living God
The Apostle Paul in writing to the Hebrews resorted to figurative language when he referred to “the hands of the living God.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). As we ponder this expression, we wonder what prompted Paul to make this statement. The experience he had in the city of Athens, recorded in Acts [...]
The Council of Arles
(August 1, 314) — World War I (August 1, 1914) Starting in the 1880s, the brethren expected that in 1914, a Great War would bring down the failed Church‑ State systems of Christendom. This dating was later refined to begin with the Civil Year (Rosh Hashanah) in October. However, hostilities for the Great War broke out two months earlier on August 1, not October [...]
The Trespass Offering
“He shall bring for his trespass unto Jehovah a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering: And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done ... and shall add the fifth part thereto: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the [...]
Enoch
“And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:23, 24). Though Enoch lived for the remarkable length of 365 years, by the standards of his day his lifespan was relatively brief. His father Jared would live for 962 years, and Enoch’s son Methuselah would live [...]
Sennacherib’s Cylinder
“He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it” (Isaiah 37:33). Sennacherib’s Cylinder is a six-sided clay tablet discovered by Colonial Robert Taylor in 1830. It was found in the ruins at Nineveh, capital city of the Assyrian Empire. Taylor’s cylinder is presently found in the British Museum. Two [...]