Inability to speak. In the OT muteness is traced to God (Exod 4:11). God made Ezekiel mute (Ezek 3:26) in response to Israel’s failure to listen to his message. Later He restored Ezekiel’s speech (24:27; 33:22) as a sign of the people’s receptiveness to hear. Daniel became speechless in response to the appearance of a heavenly messenger (Dan 10:15).
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (MUTENESS)
The idea that particular angel is assigned to each person or believer was popular during the medieval era but suffered under the theological housecleaning of the Reformation. Only one distant reference to the possibility occurs in Matthew 18:10.
Continue reading DOES EVERYONE HAVE A GUARDIAN ANGEL?
The church in Corinth split probably for the same reasons modern-day churches do. Some people identified with the ministry style of Peter. Others were drawn to Paul’s personality. Still others felt a connection with Apollos. We rightly learn from the insights of spiritual leaders, but crowing about one’s own leader and criticizing all others is wrong, petty, and immature.
Continue reading WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FACTIONS SPLIT A CHURCH?
As the biblical authors address the ethics of political leaders and believers in general, they state that it is the treatment of the most disadvantaged members of society-the orphans-that is to distinguish them as God’s people. The Lord paved the way of this moral high road by identifying himself as the one who is the provider of food and clothing for the fatherless (Deut 10:18). He is the helper, defender, and father of the orphan (Psa 10:14, 18; 68:5; 146:9).
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (ORPHAN “FARTHERLESS” PT3)
God declared that His choice for a new king would be “a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14) Not that David was perfect, but his attitudes and inclinations were in the right direction-toward praise and faith in God as an almighty, all-caring sovereign. One glance at David’s life can’t miss the glaring mistakes he made, but David never tried to blame others or make excuses for his sins.
Continue reading WHAT MADE DAVID ONE OF HISTORY’S OUTSTANDING LEADERS?
Ezekiel loved his wife, but God told him not to grieve publicly when she died. This was to be a living message to the people concerning their abandonment of God. Yes, grief would come to them, the grief of captivity. They would suffer at the hands of Babylonian conquerors, and their homes, lands, and precious temple would be destroyed. Would they be as mute as Ezekiel, or in grief repent of sin and return to the worship of God?
Continue reading WHY WAS EZEKIEL TOLD NOT TO GRIEVE THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE?
The mechanics are unclear, as always, but the result was a special sense of divine help and presence that enabled the leader to do God’s will. In very few places in the Bible is the coming of the Holy Spirit described in any detail (Acts 2), but the spirit descends, fills, and empowers according to God’s will and purpose.
Continue reading HOW DID THE SPIRIT OF GOD “COME UPON” ANCIENT LEADERS?
John 8:58-59: Jesus said unto them Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed by.
This name that Jesus called Himself is the equivalent of the name with which God identified Himself to Moses at the burning bush.
Continue reading NAMES OF GOD (I AM)
It is official membership community. When the world divided into nations, citizenship became the certified recognition of privilege and accountability to the laws and leaders of the nation granting it. Paul invites Christians to think of membership in God’s kingdom in the same way-a relationship of privilege and responsibility. This latter citizenship supersedes and qualifies all other memberships so that the Christian, while loyal to the state (Rom 13:1), is not unconditionally so.
Continue reading WHAT IS CITIZENSHIP?
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, traveled from his home area to bring his daughter Zipporah and her two sons back to Moses. After a joyful meeting, Moses told Jethro all that God had done to Egypt’s pharaoh and for Israel. Jethro praised God and recognized that He was above all other gods. Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE “JETHRO: WISE FATHER-IN-LAW”