“Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel…’” (1 Ki 18:36). I don’t know many folks who can call down rain or fire as the need requires. Yet we are reminded that Elijah was of the same […]
The Lord has chosen His priests to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to sacrifice to Him. It’s helpful to note that the religious reforms under Hezekiah recorded in the three chapters of 2 Chronicles 29–31 are only briefly mentioned in 2 Kings 18:1-7. The account in the Kings of Hezekiah’s influence mainly stresses […]
The Lord Jesus Christ dominates the Scriptures as the sun dominates our solar system. As the Eternal Son, He acts through creation and history. As the virgin’s Son, He joins the stream of our race, the tributary destined to unite the currents of Jew and Gentile, and to divide our river into two courses: one […]
“When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office” (Ps 109:7-8). What a strange phrase: “Let his prayer become sin.” This passage is applied to Judas, whose longings led directly to the betrayal of the Innocent One. Beware […]
“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn.” —C.S. Lewis Hezekiah faced a terrible mess. Among other things, his father had not only filled the land with idolatry “on the hills, and under every green tree” (2 Chron 28:4), but had utterly decimated the house of the Lord. He “took part of the treasures […]
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). If New Testament Christianity is to reappear today with its power and joy and courage, men must recapture the basic conviction that this is a Visited Planet. It is not enough to express formal belief in the “Incarnation” or in “the divinity of Christ”; the […]
“Oh, do not forsake me utterly!” (Ps 119:8). Once a week we will visit the longest psalm to consider one of 52 God-inspired prayer requests recorded there. Imagine claiming as our own these Spirit-led prayers that we know exactly match the will of God! This one emphasizes what we may call the Grace Gap—the unmeasured […]
“‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” (Jer 23:29). In Who Says, Fritz Ridenour makes the following observation: “Mighty potentates have raged against this Book, and sought to destroy and uproot it—Alexander the Great and princes of Egypt and Babylon, the monarchs of […]