17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (LUKE 11:17-24)
Though the Bible records the fate of only Judas Iscariot and James, early church leaders said most of the others died as martyrs-killed for preaching about Jesus.
SIMON PETER. “Crucified at Rome with his head downward,” wrote Origen, a church leader in the AD 200s. This seems to fulfill what Jesus told Peter would happen: “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands . . . ‘Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God” (John 21:18-19).
ANDREW, PETER’S BROTHER. Crucified on an X-shaped cross, according to the Acts of Andrew, a book written in the AD 200s.
Continue reading HOW DID THE DISCIPLES DIE?
This plague against Egypt-the turning of water into blood-covered all of the water sources of the land. Included were the Nile River, other flowing streams, irrigation canals, and ponds that held water for the watering of animals and for irrigation purposes.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (ALL THE POOLS OF EGYPT)
Temples built for polytheistic worship; many pagan temples predated Solomon’s temple and some had similar designs. The earliest excavated temples from the Chalcolithic Period (4600-3300 B.C.), such as those uncovered at Eln Gedi in 1961 and Eshtaol in 2013, illustrate the ubiquitous nature of pagan worship in Canaan prior to the arrival of Abram (Gen 12:5). The culticsite at Eshtaol contained a standing stone, 1.3 meters in height, smoothed on all sides and erected facing east. The standing stone could be used as a monument but often represented
Continue reading DEFINITON OF THE DAY (PAGAN TEMPLES)11. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.
12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be disolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (2 PETER 3:11-16)
This verse refers to the humiliation of the nobility of Judah by the army of Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem. Were these princes, or nobles, executed and then hung up by their hands as a public example? Or were they tied and hung up by the hands as a form of torture? We don’t know.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (HANGING BY THE HAND)
The Gospel writer Luke precedes his account of Jesus’ birth with that of a lesser (though still prominent) figure in Jewish prophecy: the forerunner who would prepare the way for the Messiah and announce his arrival.
The circumstance of this forerunner’s birth were memorable. His mother, Elizabeth, was a relative of Jesus’ mother, Mary. His father, Zechariah, served as a priest in the temple. One day the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce that he and his wife would have a son. When Zechariah asked how that could be possible, since he and Elizabeth were well past the age when most people become parents, Gabriel told him he would be mute until his son was born because of his unbelief (Luke 1:5-20).
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (JOHN THE BAPTIST: LIVING LIKE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE)2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (MATTHEW 2:1-15)
COMPANIONSHIP – Whereas the creation of male and female mankind was “very good” (Gen 1:31), the creation of the male alone had not yet fulfilled God’s purpose for man as the image of God (Gen 2:18). This expresses no failure on God’s part; instead, it instructs us that a male creature alone is not the perfect creation that God had in mind. Adam needed a wife to be all that God intended him to be, as is normally the case with all men unless God grants otherwise (Matt 19:10-12; 1 Cor 7:6-7). The same, of course, would be true of the woman whom God made for the man (1 Cor 11:9).
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (MARRIAGE “COMPANIONSHIP”)
The Bible is a historical book as well as a spiritual one. As such, it contains many important historical leaders and describes their impact on the nation of Israel. These people are not often used as symbols in the Bibles, but their influence on the history of God’s people carries symbolic importance because of the particular interactions they had. The Jews look back on these leaders as people who operated under the sovereign will of God either to help them as an instrument of mercy or to test and punish them as an executor of his just wrath.
Continue reading SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF THE BIBLE (XERXES THE GREAT “and Other Significant Rulers”)