Colossians 1:18b, ‘…He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the Dead.’ This is the fifth picture in the planned Colossians 1:15-20 board book. When Jesus walks out of the tomb, the New Creation has begun. But Jesus is not raised from the dead *into* the New Creation (as we are now in union to Him …
Colossians 1:18 ‘He is the Head of the Body, the Church…’ Pic # 4 from the planned Colossians 1:15-20 board book. The Church—all those who have ever or will ever trust in Jesus as Lord, God, and Savior across all of time and space—is the Body of the crucified and risen Christ, and He is …
Isaiah 41:17-20, ‘When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none…I YHWH will not forsake them….I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar…I will set in the desert the cypress…that they may see and know…that the hand …
Song of Songs, 3:11, ‘…look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.’ Now, at first, today’s picture may not seem to fit at all with the chosen text. However, there is a connection that was …
2 Peter 1:19, ‘And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in dark place, until day should dawn and the morning star should rise in your hearts.’ Peter speaks of 3 lights: a lamp, the day, and the morning star. First, …
Job 11:7-9, ‘Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is *higher* than heaven—what can you do? *Deeper* than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is *longer* than the earth and *broader* than the sea.’ Ephesians 3:18-19, ‘[I pray] that you, being rooted and …
Numbers 23:8, 20, ‘How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom YHWH has not denounced?…He has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.’ When Balaam was summoned to curse God’s chosen people, he responds by saying that he could not curse those whom God had blessed. These were the people …
Psalm 46:4-7, ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts. YHWH of …
2 Corinthians 11:2-3, ‘I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.’ Paul is doing a lot in these two verses. First, …
2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘For our sake, [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God.’ The union of Christ and His Bride lies at the heart of the Gospel. We see that here in this text. Why is Christ ‘made sin’? Because He …
Obadiah 16-17, ‘…all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy…’ It seems like a strange metaphor to modern ears, but Scripture occasionally presents God’s judgment as a strong …
Ezekiel 16:6,8, “When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’”…When I passed by you again…I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into covenant with you, declares YHWH …
Heb.13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. How crucial is the grace of faith that looks into the past and sees who God has declared Himself to be in the Passion of His Son, and that turns toward the impenetrable veil of the future and believes He will always be as He …
Lam. 2:15-16, ‘All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?’ All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth…’ Jerusalem …
Lamentations 1:14, ‘My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by His hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck…’ Jerusalem’s punishment from the Lord is nothing other than their own sins against the Lord poured back out upon them. Consider what it means to say that the horrors of the …
Jeremiah 33:10-11, “Thus says YHWH: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’…there shall be heard again the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride…” Joy will sing in the *very place* where sorrow now holds …
Psalm 45:13, “All glorious is the Princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she is led to the King…” Revelation 22:9-11, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb…the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God…” The Bridal …
Mark 13:31, “The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Jesus words are more enduring, and in that sense we may say “more real,” than the heavens and the earth. And when the heavens and the earth pass away, when the mountains are overthrown and turned to dust, …
Jer. 30:12-13,15,17 — “Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous…[there is] no medicine for your wound, no healing for you…Your pain is incurable.” /// “…*I will* restore health to you, and your wounds *I will* heal.” The wound referenced here the wound of and the wound dealt by YHWH’s people’s turning from Him …
Ps 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” “Table” implies rest, rejoicing, supply, and—perhaps most important—fellowship, while “in the presence of my enemies” conjures images of threat, danger, tension, and enmity. It is not natural to set the experience of table fellowship and the immediate presence of enemies …
