Armies break things and kill people. But Cyrus wants the Jews to return, rebuild, and refurbish the temple. Imagine this! Cyrus the Great was not only a king but an empire builder. His armies subjugated people, smashing their fortresses and pillaging their treasures. He had done it scores of times. According to Rüdiger Schmitt, professor […]
CHRIST the SEED of the WOMAN: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen 3:15). Consider the glorious achievements of our Lord as the Conqueror of the devil, promised in the first gospel sermon ever […]
“When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps 61:2). Christian realism has a dab of pessimism but a dollop of optimism. Listen: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can […]
While speaking on the Bible’s inspiration and the many prophecies fulfilled by the Messiah, one detractor advanced the theory that Christ planned His actions based on the Messianic program. I replied: “Did Judas arrange to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to fulfill the prophecy (Zech 11:12)? And after Judas hanged himself, who arranged […]
Cyrus welded together the world’s first true super-power. But this one letter was more important than that! The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are parts of one continuous history. In fact, the Hebrew Bible had them bound together as one scroll. Although Ezra and Nehemiah seem to be doing very different work—one restoring the temple […]
CHRIST the AMEN: “These things says the Amen…” (Rev 3:14). “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Cor 1:20). Paul has just explained to the Corinthians that, in seeming exception to Christ’s own instructions, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and […]
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). What a practical two-pronged request! Lord, get me back on track, and then help me to keep going on it! This petition is crucial, for, as H.A. Ironside says: “This is the secret of so many unanswered prayers. […]
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). About the year 1900, evangelist Peter Bilhorn received a song, “The Bird with the Broken Wing.” Using the idea that “The bird with the broken pinion Never soars as high again,” it warned that a “life that sin had stricken, Never soared as high again.” […]