Included in the story of Jesus’s birth is the detail that after he was born, Mary “wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Why does Luke include this detail about his birth? This...
the Old Testament, yet a kind, loving, and gracious God in the New Testament? The short answer is that most people tend to overlook how wrathful God really is in the New Testament. The long answer is that the unity of God is beyond human...
The cross prepares the new creation in which God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, can take up residence. The goal of the forgiveness of sins is God’s perpetual indwelling. Jesus’s blood provides an internal cleansing specifically to prepare a...
The application of this can be summed up in John’s words, “I must decrease, and he must increase” (John 3:30). Jesus is the main character on the stage of the story of redemption in the world, not us. We must be careful not to be tripped up the...
God is in complete control of the future. In the Cross, God went to the greatest lengths to secure your future. You don’t’ have to worry. When you do, you’re being a false prophet. You’re leading yourself (and others by your witness) astray. You’re...
We have in our minds a very romantic view of the nativity. A little shed like structure with a light shining down on it with a single narrow beam. Joseph and Mary are there, looking pensively at the manger. It is full to overflowing with clean straw...
There is no greater praise than the adoration delivered by Mary as she proclaimed what we call the “Magnificat.” Found in Luke 1:46-55, the Magnificat reveals the depth of why Mary declares her praise of God, and it is both personal and historic...
The wise men gave Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Each of these three gifts correspond to aspects of Jesus’s identity and redemptive mission in the world. The gold is symbolic of Jesus’s royalty. Jesus wasn’t the King of an earthly...
First Samuel 1 tells the story of Hannah, who is ridiculed by her husband’s other wife (Peninah) because she can’t have children. It’s likely that the only reason her husband (Elkanah) has a second wife is because Hannah...
Psalms 74 and 75 speak to one another. In Psalm 74 we hear a desperate cry for help. The unthinkable happened when the Babylonians destroyed the Jerusalem temple. The psalmist in Psalms 74 says, Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting...