2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said ’Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” At creation, God’s Spirit hovered over the abyss and His Word gave form to chaos. So too at our […]
Zechariah 9:11, “…because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” See also Luke 22:21 and Hebrews 13:20 Long Thoughts: I was reading in Zechariah 9 this morning and noticed again the similarity between verse 11 and Hebrews 13:20, “…the God of peace…brought again
2 Corinthians 3:16-17, “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” “The Lord is the Spirit” means—I think—that, post-ascension, the Lord (typically Christ in Paul’s writings) is seen and known and received and communed
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1 Corinthians 15:21, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.” When Paul speaks of the resurrection—as we will see in verses 35-42, and even more clearly in Romans 8:18-25 —he has more in mind than just the resurrection of believer’s bodies. Ultimately the
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1 Corinthians 15:28, “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.” At first the “when / then” logic in this verse can be a bit confusing. It makes it sound
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1 Corinthians 13:2, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Jesus died and rose again so that we might be folded into the life of God, which is a life
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Haggai 2:9, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former…” The people have begun to rebuild the temple and many of them lament over its seeming lack of glory…it is “as nothing in [their] eyes” (2:3). This must have been especially discouraging since they thought that this would be it….It
Colossians 1:15-17, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities — all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and
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1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Two things to consider here. First, Jesus gave His Church the elements of bread and wine as images, symbols, signs, proxies of His Body and His Blood. The body and
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Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” I realized after I’d already started in on today’s picture that it is almost an exact duplicate of a picture I created last March….ah, well….what I like about this particular set up (and I remember now, what I liked about
Matthew 20:21-22, “‘[Let] these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and one at your left in your kingdom.’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you ask.’” Matthew 27:37-38, “‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’ Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one at the right and one at
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Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Many of you probably recognize this, but today’s picture is built on Plato’s famous “analogy of the cave”. Briefly, the analogy presents a cave in which people sit facing the back wall. The bright
Habakkuk 3:5, “Before Him went pestilence, and plague followed at His heels.” Habbakuk’s Prayer in chapter 3 starts by recalling the way that YHWH has revealed Himself to His people in the past through His work (the exodus and surrounding events seem to be view). Building on this, Habakkuk asks the Lord to now
Hebrews 10:19-22, “…since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near…”
1 Corinthians 6:19, “You are not your own.” The simplicity and counter-intuitive nature of this sentence is amazing…. You Though this word is plural, Paul seems clearly to be addressing each individual Corinthian. When he says, “You,” he means, “each one of you.” And so, the word means, everything that is themselves, everything
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Romans 8:28, “…we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
Matthew 26:64, “I tell you, *from now on* you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Jesus seems to be implying that humanity begins to see the divine Son of Man enthroned in the sky and coming in power when He
Nahum 1:6-7, “Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him. YHWH is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.” The first thing to
Psalm 147:4-5, “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; and gives to all of them their names.” The hands that fashioned the heavens are the same that heal the broken-hearted…. How heart-calming is it to consider that the same God who placed the stars in
Matthew 23:38-39, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” What catches my attention here is the “for I say to you…” This phrase is introducing the explanation as to why
