A WHOLE MAN

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you were able to spend some good quality time with family and friends, reflecting on how Christ came to earth and took on flesh. And as wonderful news as that is, I pray that we have the same sort of yearning that the people had as they waited for the Messiah nearly 2,000 years ago. We too are yearning and waiting for His coming. And when that day comes, he will wipe away all our tears and death will be no more. May we be a people who are not captivated by the trappings and trinkets of the season. May our hearts forever be fixed on our Lord and Savior and may that reflect in how we interact with our family, friends, and neighbors throughout this year and into 2020. And I cannot wait to see you then. I will be taking a short hiatus (long...all of Jan...

“Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old— unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.”  Lamentations 5:21-22  In our last article we looked at the last New Testament book in our Bible in a Year plan, Romans. In this post, we will look at the final Old Testament book in our reading plan, Lamentations. Lamentations is a very appropriate title because it very well summarizes what this book is all about. It is a book full of laments on the state of Judah. And even if you are unfamiliar with the context or occasion for the book, as you read it you get a very clear picture of what is going on in the lives of the people. They had been exiled and the kingdom of Judah has fallen, meaning that Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. This would have been unthinkable in the minds of the people (4:12) because this was the city of God, and their presumption that God would not allow anything bad to happ...

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:9-10 Today we consider the final New Testament book in our Bible in a year plan, Romans. It is a wonderful book to end the year with since Paul very concisely covers a great deal of topics in this letter to a church that he had never visited. And because of the breadth of theological doctrines and topics that are covered, it does a very good job communicating many of the themes that we find all throughout the other 65 books. In fact, if a person only had one book of the Bible available to them to read, I would want them to have the book of Romans. In this letter, we quickly encounter who we are; sinners who stand without excuse denying and rebelling against a just and holy God. And if anyone thinks that they are exempt from God’s judgment in the first couple chapters, chapter 3 makes it abundantly clear that “none is ri...

But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”  Jeremiah 1:7–8  When the prophet Jeremiah was called by God, things were looking pretty good for Israel. The nation of Judah was being led by a Godly king, Josiah, and the threat from the Assyrian empire was gone since it had collapsed. It was during this time of prosperity and peace that Jeremiah prophesied judgment to come. The majority of the book is around the idolatry of the people and the impending judgment from God due to the people’s rebellion against God. And because we are probably watching a lot of Christmas movies right now, we are waiting for the twist. The point in the book when Jeremiah’s message shifts to a hopeful one. Or perhaps we remember in chapter 16 that Jeremiah is not to marry and have kids (16:2) and so we are hopin...

12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.  Philemon 12  The letter of Philemon is a letter written by Paul to…Philemon (1:1). This is a very short letter, 25 verses long, and will probably take you less than 2 minutes to read. In it, we read of Paul sending back an escaped slave, Onesimus, back to his master, Philemon. We do not know very much about the individuals mentioned, but what we do know is that Onesimus was probably not a good guy. For one, Onesimus had ran from his master (12) who was a believer despite most likely having been treated with Christian love (5-7). Secondly, Onesimus had come across Paul while he was imprisoned, this might suggest that Onesimus was put in jail for one reason or another, but we are just not sure. Thirdly, Paul makes mention that before Onesimus was useless to him, but now he is useful to both of them now that he was in Christ (11). Philemon, on the other hand, was a man who was highly commendable (4-7). Somewhere alo...

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8  The letter of Colossians is one of four letters written by Paul that comprise the Prison Epistles (The four letters being Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). Although this is a church that Paul is had not visited (2:1), in this letter we see that he has a very large heart for them and he rejoices over them for their steadfastness in the faith. Although this is a very short letter, Paul emphasizes three major themes in it: the supremacy of Christ, an active guard against false teaching, and instructions on Christian living. Firstly, Paul reminds them of the supremacy and primacy of Christ. He seems to even exhaust the entirety of Greek vocabulary to express the fact that Christ created all things, “in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones o...

15 So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days.  1 Kings 17:15  Today’s passage comes during the reign of King Ahab over Israel, where Elijah the prophet announces a great famine in the land. During this famine, Elijah is commanded by the Lord to go to the Phoenician city of Zarephath and to find a widow who would provide for him. When Elijah does find her, the story takes an unusual and depressing turn as we learn that the widow and her son were preparing their last meals. We see just how destructive this famine was, and we think Elijah to be a bit calloused when he instead tells her to use their remaining flour and oil to instead make him a small loaf to eat. How can Elijah be so rude and unconcerned with the desperate state that this family was in. And without much explanation or buildup, the story comes to an abrupt end. In two verses we quickly learn that she trusted in God’s Word delivered by...

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15–16  Aww, the book of Ephesians, what a wonderfully beautiful and encouraging book. It is probably one of the most well-known books in the Bible in terms of its content, apart from the Gospels. We can quickly defend election by Ephesians, stating how God chose us to be His own before the foundations of the world (1:4). And how our salvation is not merited or earned by our own works (2:8-9). We can all quote, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (4:5) and that we should speak the truth in love (4:15). We also have heard how husbands are to love their wives like Christ and wives are to submit to their own husbands at many weddings (5:22-33) and that we should put on the whole armor of God (6:10-17). It is a very memorable book and welcome letter as we near the end of our Bible in a Year journey. Interestingly enough, for as much as w...

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.  Galatians 1:10  One of the most heinous and grievous sins that we still see today is the trafficking of woman and men in the sex trade. And even worse, too many who are rescued and liberated out of this land of oppression find themselves back in it. Having been set free, they are lured back and brought back into captivity into the life that they had struggled to get free from. And as monstrous as it is that there are people who steal the freedom of woman and men now, a worse thing was occurring in the Galatian region. Many of the churches were turning away towards another Gospel and were being persuaded to return back to a life under the law and away from the grace of God. These false teachers were placing on the backs of these Galatian believers the yoke of the law which would only lead to death. As a counter-mea...

Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”  2 Kings 22:13 Just like many movies based off of multi-book series, they tend to divide the last book in the series into multiple movies (think Harry Potter or The Hunger Games). The book of Second Kings can be considered the final book of four (1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings) which chronicles the saga of the people of God and, if it were turned into a movie, could easily be divided into multiple parts. The first part (1-8) would cover the life and ministry of Elisha and it easily transitions us from 1 Kings. After Elijah takes a “ride” to heaven and Elisha sends two she bears to obliterate 42 boys who had called him a baldy (possibly one of my favorite stories in the ...

  "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:9-10 At the time this article will be published, we will have 41 days left in the year. And things can get really hectic towards the end of the year. Not only is there Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year festivities, but I also start prepping my goals for next year, celebrate Monica's birthday, and am preparing for the birth of our son, Augustine. It is going to be a very busy 41 days. Perhaps you too have a lot of activities planned and have very full calendar. For those of you who are on the Bible in a Year journey, those who have joined us along the way, and those who are trying to build and maintain a consistent habit of Bible reading, I want to encourage you to press on. At the same time, I want to encourage you to...

“And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Mark 13:37  I am not sure who coined the phrase ‘there are no stupid questions’, because the reality is that there are some stupid questions. I learned that first hand growing up when a teacher I had, in an effort to get more engagement from her classroom, told us that there are no stupid questions and asked us to ask her any questions we had on the topic we were studying. We were all allowed to write down our questions on a sheet of paper, fold them up, and toss them into a hat. Each question drawn received an adequate response. However, when my question came up the response from my teacher was, “Ok, I was wrong, there are some stupid questions,” and then she proceeded to the next question as if mine was never asked. You can imagine how glad I was that we had written down our questions. And just as there are some stupid questions, the same can be said of certain interpretations of Scripture. For example, consider the passag...

14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”  1 Kings 3:14  I hope that I am not asking for too much as I type this….During the entire month of July, our Old Testament reading consisted of reading through the books of First and Second Samuel. And I really hope that you took some good notes because for the entire month of November, your Old Testament reading will be on First and Second Kings. You will remember, or find in your Bible reading notes, that Second Samuel concluded with David sinning by conducting a census and a great plague being sent by God as a result of it. David then builds an altar to the Lord and pleas to the Lord for his mercy (also echoed in 1 Chron 21). We then read these words at the very end of Second Samuel 24, “…So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel” and then the curtain falls. But the story does not end ...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7  Quiz time! Serving 160 years apart, name the two secretaries of state who never married? What are the two four letter words that have ‘oo’ in them in the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty? In Genesis 4, what name is chosen because God ‘hath appointed me another seed’? Those questions are a few of the final jeopardy questions that Brad Rutter faced during his Jeopardy campaign. Having all that memorized knowledge served him well to the effect that he had earned $4,255,102 or $4,270,102 and a pair of Chevrolet Camaros. And as impressive as that sounds, King Solomon was estimated to have had a peak net worth of $2.2 trillion! And while he too had knowledge and had a lot of dough, what really sets him apart from Brad Rutter (and many other wealthy people) is the fact that Solomon had true knowledge and true wisdom. And much of his wisdom is contained in the ...

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Mark 4:26-29  In the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we read four parables related to the Kingdom of God. And all but one parable can be found in one or more of the other Gospels. The parable of the soils can be found in Matt 13:1-23 and Luke 8:4-15, the parable of the lamp is recorded in Luke 8:16-18, and the parable of the mustard seed may be found in Matthew’s Gospel; chapter 13:31-35. However, the parable of the growing seed is unique and exclusive to Mark’s Gospel and its meaning is not explained to us. In this parable, we read about a sower who sows seed in the field and then goes to bed. He seemingly pl...

“Many have taken the Christian faith to be a simple and easy matter, and have even numbered it among the virtues. This is because they have not really experienced it, nor have they tested the great strength of faith.” – Martin Luther  On Thursday, October 31, 2019, we will celebrate the 502nd anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. And for the past three Wednesdays, we have covered a few events and figures which/who have been influential during this much needed reformation of the church. We very briefly touched on the mysticism of the Dark Ages which was leading to the dawn of the Renaissance; a time which is summarized by the catch phrase ad fontes ( back to the sources ). We also looked at some of the contributions made by Erasmus, the Prince of the Humanities, to prepare and awaken the people of the need for reform in the church. But no study of the Protestant Reformation can be complete without also considering Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. Many of us have heard abo...

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  1 Thessalonians 4:1  When you consider the content of Paul’s letters to the churches he wrote, you get the sense that not everything is going so well. To the church at Corinth, he wrote long letters to encourage unity and to call them away from worldliness, immorality, and pride. To the church at Colossae, he encouraged them to not fall to mysticism or legalism, but to be faithful to the Lord. The church at Ephesus was too proud and lacked in forgiveness, the Galatian church were tempted to fall into false gospels and the church at Philippi seemed worrisome and had two cantankerous women in the body. But the letter to the Thessalonicans has a much different tone, one of exceeding joy. Paul and his mates (Silas [Silvanus] and Timothy) had planted this church during his second missionar...

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  Daniel 3:16-18  When I was a kid in Sunday School, many of my favorite Bible stories were from the book of Daniel. I was amazed at how bold four young boys could be in refusing to eat the king’s meals, choosing to live off of water and vegetables alone. It was a boldness that I desired for myself. I was shocked at how the king would throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a fiery furnace for not bowing down to his image, and then in awe at how God had saved them. I remember being in wonder at how God had closed the mouths of lions to preserve Daniel, an obedient and faithfu...

“Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it” –16th Century saying of the people  Just as Switzerland was a neutral country during World War II, Desiderius Erasmus did everything that he could to be the “Switzerland” of the Protestant Reformation. Born in 1466, Erasmus had very humble beginnings as the illegitimate son of a Dutch priest. However, the mark that he left on the world was anything but humble. He was the first internationally famous thinker of his time, he wrote 226 works totaling about 2.5 million copies, and provided the world with a readable Greek New Testament. But why was this “prince of the humanists” so influential in the Protestant Reformation? Let’s start in the year 1499 where we find Erasmus listening to a lecture by John Colet at Oxford expounding the Pauline letters using the grammatico-historical method. It was through the influence of John Colet and Sir Thomas More that Erasmus became eager to master the classical tongues; which he did, and soon be...

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.  Revelation 20:6  Oh no, based on the leading verse you probably can tell that this article is going to focus on the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and what that means. You would be correct, however before we jump into a short exposition on it, I do want to first remind you of the larger purpose for the book of Revelation that I made in the first article (If you have not read it yet, go back and read it). Ok, you’re back? Let’s jump into. In our reading from yesterday and today (specifically Rev 20:2-7), we find that controversial phrase, “a thousand years”. Probably this is the most hotly debated section of the book of Revelation and we really should approach this passage with a measure of humility. Firstly, as Christians we must understand that the book of Revelat...