Though “high above all the peoples,” He came down to dwell “between the cherubim” (Ps 99:1-2). As we look for patterns in nature and art, so the Bible is full of exquisite design. Psalm 99 shows first the pattern of a repeated conclusion, a one-line chorus. Section 1 (vv 1-3) ends with “Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He […]
JESUS RAISED UP: “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high” (Isa 52:13). The word for “exalted” means to be raised up; the word for “extolled” means to be borne up; but to be “very high” has no movement in it. God’s Servant has reached the pinnacle; […]
“Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are” (Jn 17:11). After telling the story of the martyrdom of Perpetua the Roman matron, and the slaves Revocatus and Felicitas, in the beginning of the third century, Professor Henry M. Gwatkin says: “There is something […]
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4). The believer has a fearsome enemy but remarkable weaponry. The word panoplia is used twice in the NT. In Luke 11:22, the Lord described His ability to defeat the strong man, taking away his panoply in […]
The Lord blessed my wife and I with seven children. It’s easy enough to talk theoretically about how many children we’d like to have, as if selecting what size caffè latte I need to jump-start my morning. But once we have them, know them, love them, which ones would we send back? I suppose we’re part […]
One of the “marvelous things” God has done is to offer salvation to “the ends of the earth” (Ps 98:1, 3). I hope you don’t find this repeated pattern of praise boring. Like these seven festal psalms, I have seven children. When a special day comes, each one expresses love to me. No doubt there’s some repetition. Do I […]
JESUS the FAMILY MAN: “I and the children whom God has given Me” (Heb 2:13). William Grimshaw (1708–1763) was ordained many years before he was saved. A “blind leader of the blind,” he was eventually brought to Christ through the death of his wife. Then, “with a slice of bread and an onion for his […]
“Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord…” (Ps 119:108). Hosea calls them “the calves of our lips” (14:2). Why the NKJV changes the Hebrew par (meaning “calf” or “young bull”) to “sacrifice” is beyond me. A similar idea is found in Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the […]
Joseph Tremblay of Quebec, ordained a priest in Rome, was serving in Chile, where, he writes, “One Sunday I chose as my theme: ‘Religious Hypocrisy,’ and used the text: ‘Not every one that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…I will profess to them, I never knew you; depart from […]