When we fully understand how marriage worked in Jesus' time, a wealth of information contained within many of Jesus' words and parables take on additional, significant meaning. Marriage was actually a contract between two parties which consisted of three phases: the betrothal, the nuptials, and the consummation. Betrothal was much more than an engagement. After agreeing upon the terms of the marriage, the parties were legally obligated in an exclusive relationship to each other. But at this time the groom left the bride, sometimes for up to a year or more, to go to his father's house and build an addition to house his new family. You can see the parallel here when Jesus says, "In My Father's house…I go and prepare a place for you".
(more…)

We spend a lot of time looking at the difference between how the world uses and defines words which are at odds with how the Bible defines and uses them. One of the most notable is "love". The things the world emphasizes as characteristics of love rarely align with the whole and true definition of biblical love. But there's another word used here which I think we often just rush by without properly appreciating its full meaning and impact: "commandment". Do you really understand exactly what makes something a "commandment" from a biblical perspective?
(more…)

From a human perspective, if you knew you only had a few hours left before death, it wouldn't seem too far out of line to indulge in a little "me" time. And yet when the very hour has finally arrived around which not only all of eternity revolves, but the very moment to conclude Christ's entire purpose arrives, His example is "He loved them to the end". There's a greater lesson here about how God is just as concerned about HOW something is achieved as He is in its actually being achieved.
(more…)

There are so many verses like this which, in my opinion, are the most valuable when it comes to studying what the Bible calls the "Last Days" because it's not information about an event but a practical application of how we're supposed to live. It's not those who are clever enough to devise a chart representing the time line of all the "things" which are supposed to happen who will ultimately be proven faithful, but those who put His Word into practice. The biblical definition of "faith" is proving one's belief by obedience to His every Word.
(more…)

When we read the biographies of famous historical figures, it's generally a documentation of influences. What kind of family did they grow up in? Where did they go to school? Who were their mentors? It's a documented stream of factors like these that produces a logical list of how that person came to think and act like they did during the opportunities that made them famous. The closest we come to acknowledging a greater power at work in these people's lives is by mysteriously invoking the words "fate" or "kharma" or perhaps "chance coincidence", all of which actually belies our belief that the person was really just in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the opportunities in the right way to become famous. Jesus repeatedly challenges us to test every word and action of HIS life against whether or not it is of God.

(more…)

One of the ways in which the overall Bible could be divided and studied is according to God's works of creation, new creation, and re-creation. There's the initial creation and giving of the Law, followed by its fulfillment in the Messiah and the provision of a new covenant in providing a new creation, and finally at the end of time the new heaven and new earth signal a re-creation. The common principle at work through all three phases is embracing God's Word and ways to the degree that it works new life in us, that we are completely changed and made into His image.
(more…)

Until we hear and respond to the voice of Christ, we're all exactly like Lazarus: Dead. Only by responding to His calling can we pass from death to life.

(more…)