“Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your saints shout for joy” (Ps 132:9). Psalm 131 was by David, but Psalm 132 is about David. It’s the longest of the Songs of Ascent, and shares with us the historic importance of David’s taking Jerusalem and making it both the civil and religious capital of the nation. God by […]
CHRIST the FATHER of ETERNITY: “And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father…” (Isa 9:6). Certainly one of the most curious titles of the Messiah, the term “Everlasting Father” (Heb, abi ad) is “Father of eternity.” But why should it not be? He provided us with an eternal salvation (Heb 5:9) […]
“Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:5-6). If I were to give a rustic but reliable paraphrase of this two-fold name […]
Vaughn Shoemaker (1902–1991) was a widely-published American editorial cartoonist. He won the Pulitzer Prize not once but twice for his work, and is remembered for creating the character John Q. Public. During World War II, he had the dubious honor of having his cartoons criticized by the German Reichsmarschall Herman Goering, founder of the Gestapo […]
David, whatever else he accomplished, was a worshiper. Here he gives us three keys to worship. We have come to Psalm 131, the third of four Songs of Ascent attributed to David. It presents to us three essential elements for those coming to worship the Lord, at Jerusalem or anywhere else. First, as they were […]
CHRIST my HELPER: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Heb 13:6). Dr. H. Harrington Lees tells about a textile factory where the following instructions were posted: “If your threads get tangled, send for the foreman.” One woman did get her threads all tangled, and attempted to […]
“Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people…. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight” (2 Sam 10:12). Here is a rare bright spot in Joab’s life. David’s army was surrounded by Syrians to the north and Ammonites to the south. Joab enjoined his two divisions to […]
Regeneration means to be born anew. It is the imparting of divine life from above, instantly transferring the soul into the realm of the eternal. It is only used once in this sense: “according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). But the […]
In his play, As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Sounds like everyone’s some kind of fool! I recall hearing of a man who walked the streets of Glasgow, Scotland, with a sandwich board. On the front it said, […]