CHRIST our TREASURE: “To you who believe He is precious” (1 Pet 2:7). The word “precious” is not an adjective but a noun. Hence the RV translates it, “For you therefore who believe He is the preciousness.” He is the essence and sum of all preciousness! Cyrus is reported to have said to Croesus, “The […]
“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). As Robert Cleaver Chapman explained this: “Turn everything in life into something to talk to God about.” To use the typology of Leviticus 6:13, “A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.” Charles Wesley expressed this well in this hymn: “O Thou, whose […]
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables…but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Pet 1:16). Amy Orr-Ewing writes: “Sceptics would be surprised by the number of extra-biblical writings which refer to events and places mentioned by the writers of the Bible. These writings come from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds, demonstrating that at […]
“When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don’t you quit!” —Edgar A. Guest We’re told in our decadent Western society that it’s dangerous to be too busy. Some have selected this as their favorite Bible verse: “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, […]
CHRIST the CONQUEROR: “When a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor” (Lk 11:22). Both from the case of the Gadarene demoniac and the one in the synagogue of Capernaum we learn that, great as was the sway of Satan over the bodies and souls of […]
“As your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation” (1 Sam 26:24). Much can be gained in Bible study by asking: How did I expect this to conclude? Your life… valued […]
“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him” (Ps 145:18). William James Taylor, alias Bill Hennessy, alias Ed Lynch, learned he couldn’t hide from God. At the age of three, at his father’s San Francisco bar he grew to like the taste of liquor by dipping his fingers into the used glasses. By […]
“By Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God,…giving thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15). “And when the seventh month had come,…the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem” (Ezra 3:1). For seventy long years the temple site had lain in ruins. The newly arrived inhabitants were using the revived Jewish calendar, with […]