What does the New Testament teach about baptism? The Holy Spirit begins in the Gospels where the disciples were commanded to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” (Mt. 28:19). Baptism is included in the commission to worldwide […]
The first mention of “the house of God” occurs in Genesis 28 where we find Jacob awakening from his dream with the realization that he has been in the presence of the living God: “How dreadful (awesome) is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of […]
It could be anticipated that the Revelation (or the Unveiling) would pull back the coverings that stand between us and the future, between us and the real world, and take us on a tour of the temple in heaven (of which the earthly models were mere “figures of the true”). What began as a long […]
Fleeing for his life, young Jacob had travelled over the undulating road from Beersheva on the edge of the Negev. Skirting old Salem, he had made it about twelve miles further north before the sun slipped behind the hills and “the Supplanter” bedded down for the night at what the Scripture calls simply “a certain […]
One of the descriptions the New Testament gives for the Church is that of a temple, also known as the house of God. More than just a metaphor, this allusion to the Old Testament temple is meant to stir our imagination to think of that temple–its worship, service, and structure–and to draw applications to the […]
John 10 is one of the great chapters of the Bible. It presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shepherd in a fivefold light: He is the true Shepherd (vv. 1-6); the good Shepherd (vv. 7-11); the only Shepherd (vv. 12-16); the obedient Shepherd (vv. 19-42). Still further, as the Head of the Church, He […]
It is well known that the Ephesian and Colossian epistles are, in large measure, mirror images. Their overall layout is very similar: after a greeting, thanksgiving and prayer, Paul gives a doctrinal section where he discusses the gospel coming to the Gentiles. After that, both letters teach us about Christ and the Church as the […]
My wife and I had occasion recently to visit the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens which sit on a peninsula jutting into Sarasota Bay in sunny Florida. The gardens are noted for their bromeliad and orchid collection (there are 2,500 different kinds of bromeliads in the world, they told us, and 25,000 different kinds of orchids, […]
I have closed my eyes. My shoes are kicked off, and I am wiggling the small bones in my right foot. Exposed, they are half the width of a pencil, and yet they support my weight in walking. I cup my hand over my ear and hear the familiar seashell phenomenon, actually the sound of […]