The Choice
Bible scholars have long recognized that Genesis 1 & 2 offer two complementary creation narratives. Genesis 1:1-2:3 contains a comprehensive account of how God formed the entire cosmos by bringing…
The Fruitless Fig Tree
Mark 11 contains an excellent example of a literary "sandwich." The meat of the sandwich is the so-called cleansing of the temple. Many Christians fail to grasp the importance of…
Cleansing Or Curse?
Most scholars believe that the book of Mark was the first gospel written, probably around 65 AD. There is strong evidence that Mark relied heavily on the eyewitness testimony of…
Bearing the Right Fruit
The theme of fruitfulness can be traced throughout the scriptures. In the last blog, we examined Isaiah 5, which contains the song of the vineyard. God the landowner lovingly cultivated…
The Vineyard
Isaiah chapter 5 contains a song about a landowner who made every effort to cultivate a flourishing vineyard: "My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug…
Elucidating Ephesians
In the evangelical world, perhaps no passage of scripture is cited more often than Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this…
Obedience Unto Life
Every year since 1973, the epic movie The Ten Commandments has aired on network TV at Easter. This film was directed by the legendary Cecil B. DeMille & released in…
Purchase and Promise
The death of Abraham's wife Sarah is recounted in Genesis 23. For many Bible readers, this is a very strange chapter of the Bible. Although the Lord had blessed him…
God’s Blessing
Among evangelical Christians, Abraham is quite possibly the most overlooked character in the Bible. He's certainly the most misunderstood. In my experience, not one in a thousand Christians can provide a coherent…
The King of the Psalms
The book of Psalms is one of the most beloved portions of the scriptures, no doubt because these works resonate so deeply with the human condition. For thousands of years,…