Biblical numerology is the study of how numbers in Scripture sometimes carry meaning or significance beyond their numerical value. It can be a slippery endeavor. Sometimes it’s clear that a number carries underlying significance, and one is able with relative ease to determine what that is. Think, seven. Other times, however, a number’s significance is…
I have often heard someone say, “I think I am a good person,” or variations thereof: “They are a good person,” or “There are many good people in this world.” Often, this sentiment is paired with the notion that being good is all one needs to secure a place in heaven. This thinking is attractive…
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives…
In Matthew 5:7, Christ said that it is the merciful who shall obtain mercy. James 2:13 states the same truth: For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. The spirit of this beatitude and the passage in James is seen in the Parable of the Unforgiving…
A couple of years ago, my oldest brother, Dennis, broke a toe, and he was sent to a podiatrist. This business is a big, bustling medical facility specializing in treating feet that’s been heavily advertised with a memorable jingle. We started with a positive impression. The parking lot and waiting room were full up; business…
In Joshua 9, we’re introduced to an interesting group of individuals, the Gibeonites. Having heard of the great successes of Israel (verse 3), they put together a scheme designed to save their lives. Verses 4-5 detail the great lengths they took to make it look as though they came from a far country: …they worked…
Please read about the withered fig tree in Mark 11:12-14, 20-25 and consider: Fig trees in Palestine may live as long as four hundred years. A well-cultivated tree should produce fruit for ten months of the year in those locales. However, because of the difficulties of translation, some have extrapolated a point from this text…