The Nature of God–Part One: How the Word was Made Flesh in Jesus
Who is God? That is a simple question. However the answer has become increasingly complicated. And this is understandably so because Scripture has been subjected to various methods of interpretation—some good, some not so good—with some accepted biblical interpretations being formulated in either liberal or conservative traditions, which makes it ever more difficult for people to…
What We Can Know about Melchisedec
Melchisedec was a priest and a ruler of the city of Salem in the land of Canaan during the days of Abraham’s sojourn in the Land of Promise. But to the apostles of Jesus, Melchisedec was a…
The Nature of God–Part Two: Created in the Image of God
When the Apostle Paul taught the oneness of God in contrast to the belief in many gods, he made it clear to the developing first century church that there was only one God, the Father, which affirmed the agreement held by the…
What was the Testimony of John the Baptist?
The Apostle John tells us that the utterance was with God and the utterance was God and in the utterance that was God there was life, and this “life” was the “light of men” and the “true light that..
The Nature of God–Part Three: Genesis of the Last Adam
Moses wrote that in the beginning God created the heaven and earth, and Moses described how the heavens and the earth were ordained and fashioned for the habitation of humanity and the “genesis” of the…
John the Baptist and Christianity’s Monotheistic Paradox
When we examine the monotheistic religions of the world we find that there are three notable religions that claim a common heritage in the patriarch Abraham, whose God is considered to be the God of…
Nicodemus was a member of the Pharisees and a ruler among the Jews who recognized that Jesus was a teacher who had come from…
How Long did Jacob Wrestle with Laban?–Part One
The patriarch Abraham was a prosperous merchant and sojourner in the Middle East who came from the Sumerian city-state of Ur in a land of the Chaldeans. These Chaldeans lived in the lower valley of the Euphrates at the head of the Persian Gulf (Bitter Sea), and they—like other peoples in the region—were caught up in the various warring conflicts among the developing city-states of Mesopotamia…
How Long did Jacob Wrestle with Laban?–Part Two
If we accept the story about Jacob’s wives and the births of his children as it is presented in Scripture, we can certainly understand why some people would attempt to solve some of the inherent chronological problems and issues regarding the number of years Jacob lived with and worked for Laban in Harran…
Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part One
The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread have their beginning in an historical event that took place in the land of Egypt more than 3000 years ago, and they are historically a part of a tragedy for the Egyptians. However, these same festivals marked a time of liberation for the people of Israel, which began with the…
Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part Two
The Apostle Paul admonished the churches beginning at Corinth to “keep the feast” in reference to the Festival of Unleavened Bread. He also reminded the congregation that they were “unleavened” in the context of Jesus being “our Passover.” Such statements doubtless reveal Paul’s unreserved support for the observance of these festivals and…
Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part Three
If we define a day in the context of Scripture, we must be careful that our definition of a day doesn’t arbitrarily change, because in some cases traditional interpretations can reason an earlier time for sunset, which of course loosens the moorings of the day from the calendar date…
Working Through the Unleavened Bread Issues–Part Four
When the time came for the Exodus from Egypt the blood of the Passover sacrifice was carefully placed on the lintels and doorposts of the houses. Then following the Passover meal—hurriedly eaten with unleavened bread—the people of Israel anxiously waited until morning when they would begin their departure from…
The Azazel Goat and the Empty Debate
There is much symbolism to be found in Scripture, and much of that symbolism is understood by analogy, as it is with the paschal lamb that pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. However, some analogies have been cultivated within the evolving development of Christian doctrines, and these analogies…
The Pharisees and Sadducees attempted to disqualify Jesus as the begotten son of God by demanding evidence to prove that he was the messiah, and so “the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him…
Taken to Where the Eagles are Gathered
While Jesus was on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him and asked him about the signs of his coming and the end of this age because they understood from Jesus’ teachings, and from his…
Crossing the Threshold of 6000 Years
We are currently standing at the threshold of a new millennium—or perhaps better said a seventh millennium—of human experience that began nearly 6000 years ago with the creation of the…
Is There a “Place of Safety” for the Church?–Part One
This world is beset with many “wicked problems”—that is interconnected and evolving political and social problems that defy solutions, and where any attempted solutions seem to create more defiant and unforeseen problems—and it has been this way since…
Is There a “Place of Safety” for the Church?–Part Two
By understanding the historical context of the Apostle John’s vision of a “woman” confronted by a “great red dragon” we would have to reasonably conclude that this vision was about the birth of Jesus and an existing…
Is There a “Place of Safety” for the Church?–Part Three
From a biblical perspective the doctrine of a “place of safety” is a cultivated teaching formed from a misleading and questionable interpretive methodology imposed upon certain verses in…
Is There a “Place of Safety” for the Church?–Part Four
Much effort has been made to cite biblical passages that are believed to support the doctrine of a “place of safety,” while at the same time there is an open admission of uncertainty that such a place will exist for the…
When we first read about the three and one-half years and its relevance to the symbolic “woman” of the Apostle John’s vision, we have to admit that John does not place these years in a specific context that allows us to determine…
Cimmerians, Scythians and the “Lost” Tribes of Israel–Part One
Typically some historians attempt to identify the ancient Israelites in later histories by claiming that the name “Omri” is the etymological beginning for the Indo-European Cimmerians and that the name “Isaac” is…
Cimmerians, Scythians and the “Lost Tribes of Israel–Part Two
During Hezekiah’s first year of reign he “opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them” (II Chron. 29:3). And he commanded the Levites to clean up the house of God at Jerusalem, while reminding them of the state of affairs afflicting the Commonwealth of Israel…
Cimmerians, Scythians and the “Lost” Tribes of Israel–Part Three
In bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to the people of Israel the apostles initiated the establishment of congregations within several of the regions where we would expect to find the displaced twelve tribes of…
Kings of the North and South: Taking Another Look at Daniel’s Prophecy
The Apostle Paul argued that the gentiles were—until the time of Christ—outside the Commonwealth of Israel respective to salvation and the national promises afforded to Abraham. But at the time of Paul’s ministry the tribes of the commonwealth…
Assyrian Expansion and the Commonwealth of Israel
King David was a leader who willingly sought God’s direction in expanding the national bounds of ancient Israel, which in some ways was—from a geopolitical view—a measured fulfillment of the…
Psalm 83: Prophecy or Prayer for Deliverance
Perhaps no other individual has gained more attention in the genealogical listings of the book of Genesis than the historical character known as Nimrod. He was the son of Cush and the grandson of…
Prince of Trier and a Myth of Origin
Magistrates from Nuremberg, Germany, commissioned a Benedictine monk named Sigmund Meisterlin of Augsburg to prepare a history and a biography of the city of Augsburg in the 15th century. In this Latin historical treatise…
Will the Prophetic King of the South Emerge from the Arab World?
With the death of Alexander of Macedon the dominion that was his empire became subject to internal conflicts that eventually divided the empire among his trusted guards, regional satrapies, and the…
Samson, Unique Among the Judges
It was the time of the Judges. It was a time fraught with troubles and conflicts for the tribes of Israel. It was also a time that had moments of relative peace and prosperity for different parts of the fading political collective that was the people of Israel…
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