He did this by setting aside His prerogatives and privileges as a member of the Godhead, the Trinity, and becoming human. John describes the possibility of seeing the glory of God in Jesus (John 1:14), while Paul assures us that divine glory was joined to human particularity when Jesus took the form and nature of man- and a commoner at that.
Continue reading HOW COULD JESUS GIVE UP HIS DIVINE PRIVILEGES?
Because most people in the ancient world constantly lived on the edge of starvation, obesity was neither an option nor, for most, something to be avoided. Only the rich could afford the luxury of being fat, and for this reason fatness became a mark of status and wealth.
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (OBESITY)
Jerusalem was not Israel’s first capital. Shiloh was-for at least a century.
A high plains village nearly half a mile above sea level and thirty miles north of Jerusalem, in Israel’s hill country, Shiloh was where Joshua and the Israelites pitched the tent of God, or the worship center called the tabernacle. This is where the Israelites came to offer sacrifices to God and to celebrate religious holidays.
Continue reading A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT (SHILOH)
The prophet Ezekiel is addressed as “son of man,” a title used for him over ninety times throughout the book of Ezekiel. The title shows the contrast between Ezekiel, a man, and the almighty Lord. This name would portray Ezekiel’s human limits and weaknesses in contrast to the glory and greatness of God.
Continue reading WHAT DOES “SON OF MAN” MEAN?
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (LUKE 11:5-13)
After Jesus launched His public ministry, He began to preach and baptize in the same area where John the Baptist was working. Jesus invited at least two of John’s disciples to join His ministry team. One of these was Andrew, the fisherman and brother of Peter. The other is unknown, but many people think he was the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. If John the Baptist objected to these disciples leaving him to follow Jesus, we see no hint of such an objection in the biblical account (John 1:35-39).
Continue reading JOHN CONTINUES TO HONOR JESUS
God’s final act of creation on day six was His greatest achievement. Now that the physical world was in place and He had filled it with animals and plants, He created Adam, the first human, to serve as its caretaker. The Creator account contains several clues that show Adam’s special status.
Continue reading THE ORIGIN OF HUMANKIND
1Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (JEREMIAH 10:1-15 “IDOLS AND THE TRUE GOD”)
During Old Testament times, the Jews divided the night into three “watchers” or divisions of time (read Exodus 14:24). But after the Romans occupied their territory, they adopted the Roman pattern of the four-watch night.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (NEW TESTAMENT WATCHERS)
Jonah stands alone among the prophets of the Old Testament. Certainly he was the only one (that we know of) to spend three days in the digestive tract of a fish. In the bigger picture, though, he was the only one (that we know of) to flatly refuse an assignment from God.
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (JONAH “RUNNING FROM GOD”)