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…
Bad Tenants
The theme of fruitfulness is found throughout the scriptures. Isaiah chapter 5 tells the story of a landowner who carefully cultivated a vineyard, anticipating a rich harvest of good grapes.…
Salvation and the Spirit
It's not at all unusual to hear Christians talk about the time when they were "saved" in the past tense. Perhaps this salvation event occurred when they were a child…
Abraham and the Apostles
Acts is one of the easiest books in the Bible to read. It has a fast-paced narrative filled with memorable scenes. One such scene is recorded in chapter 3. Peter…
Breathing Fire
In his beloved novel The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien created some of the most memorable scenes in all of literature. My personal favorite is the mesmerizing conversation between the diminutive hobbit…
Measuring the Temple
We're now on the cusp of Revelation 11, perhaps the most bewildering chapter in the Bible. We've learned about the crucial scroll (introduced in chapter 5) which contains God's plan…
The Scroll
Of all the books in the world, the Bible is one of the most difficult. Even a passing knowledge of church history reveals that even professing Christians have often disagreed…
The Other Joseph
The book of Genesis describes the dramatic story of Joseph, son of Jacob. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, he eventually rose to power in Egypt. But there is…
The Hebrew Canon
Here are the closing words of the Torah: "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous…