2025 – Volume 36
Sing to Him a New Song
“Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy” (Psalms 33:3). I have been a singer all my life. My dad was a middle school music teacher and Methodist choir director. I sang in choirs at church and high school, and I sang harmony with a friend at different venues. How grateful I am that the Lord stopped that vain [...]
Selection of a Bride
Rebecca the bride for Isaac, Genesis 24 Our lives are made up of decisions. Some decisions are trivial, others are momentous. The decision to select a bride to marry is a momentous and lifechanging decision. Jehovah selected a bride for his Son. This exceedingly momentous selection involves each of us: “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: [...]
Council of Jerusalem, Acts 15
“My sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Acts 15:19). The Council of Jerusalem addressed a foundational episode in Christian history where the church navigated complex theological and cultural challenges to embrace a universal mission. The resolution reached by the apostles and elders showed both the continuing importance of openness to divine guidance, and the [...]
Daniel, an Additional Historic View
“Go your way, Daniel, for the words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:9-10, NRSV). We propose that the first three chapters of the book of Daniel pertain symbolically [...]
Good King Manasseh?
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign ... he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah” (2 Kings 21:1‑2). The account of King Manasseh in Judah given to us in 2 Kings 21 paints a picture of a very bad King who, ironically, [...]
Languages and Babel
“God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). But Nimrod and those like him rebelled and said, “Come, let us build a city and a tower ... lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:3-4). Therefore, God set about to punish them, or let them punish [...]
Echoes From a Faithful Pilgrim
“Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy” (Psalms 33:3). This 580 page book contains a selection of writings by Carl A. Hagensick, a beloved elder with the Chicago Bible Students for many years and a founding editor of Beauties of the Truth. The bulk of the articles first appeared in The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom magazine and Beauties [...]
Return of the Jews to their Land
“I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God” (Amos 9:15, ASV). For 3900 years, the Jewish people have been at the heart of God’s redemptive plan (Genesis 12:3). From Abraham’s calling to the giving of the Law at Sinai, to the rise and fall [...]
Science Supports the Bible
The Earth‑Moon System and the Breaking‑Forth Seas of Job. “Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?” (Job 38:8). The Bible is the book of God’s revealed word. God’s creative work is written in the book of the stones of nature. Reflection on the record of these two very different books should [...]
The Bride of Christ
“Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife (Revelation 21:9). One of the most beautiful and poetic things in life is the love between a groom and his bride, consummated in a joyful and splendid wedding celebration. Looking to the past, we see a season of courtship in which the bride’s love for the groom grows stronger as they come to [...]
Fullness of Deity Dwells Bodily
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9, ESV). Colossians 2:9 is a cornerstone for Trinitarian theology, as it underscores their belief that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. This is a key aspect of the hypostatic union (the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ). However, we believe that Trinitarians misread Colossians [...]