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...
Too often I pause and consider the state of affairs in the world and wonder, How in the world did we end up here? How did things become such a mess? Similarly, there are times in my life when I look at the mess that I’ve created for myself and...
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. — Matthew 1:1 It’s not by accident that Matthew’s Gospel is the first of four in the New Testament. This is by design. The book of Matthew—as the first book of the New...
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. — Galatians 1:10 In this era of Social Media, public displays of virtual signaling and moral...
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. — 1 Samuel 16:13 The first two times the word “oil” appears in Scripture, it symbolizes...
The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by...
And why did He call the grace of the Spirit water? Because by water all things subsist; because water brings forth grass and living things; because the water of the showers comes down from heaven — Cyril of Jerusalem Water is one of the most...