2 Corinthians 4:16–5:8 “And he died…And he died…And he died…” (Genesis 5). The repeated refrain reverberates in our ears echoing the dreadful damnation, “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Death is the way of all the earth. Not one of us is free from the talons of this beast. […]
I first met Larry when he was 19 years old. My family and I had moved to a West Michigan Community where I had accepted the call to serve a well established congregation. It was the spring of the year. I was invited to teach the Bible lesson for the Men’s Society which was still […]
“And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.’ And having said this, He breathed His last…” (Luke 23:46) The six hours on the cross are coming to a close. Death is at hand. Jesus has spoken several times while hanging on the cross. He has manifested […]
The teaching of Jesus being a sacrifice by being crucified and pouring out His blood to take away our sins is not very “relevant” to the world today. After all, who is a sinner? Furthermore, we need to get beyond capital punishment as a way to punish and view criminals as victims who need rehabilitation. […]
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” In the telling of Mark’s gospel account, chapter 8 provides a turning point. From chapter 1 to chapter 6 the ministry of Jesus centers on the region of Galilee. As a member of […]
They stoned Stephen. We read in John that they twice attempted to stone Jesus. After Judas led them to the secluded place where they arrested Jesus, they had a company of soldiers; they could have stoned Him then. They had laid the charge of blasphemy repeatedly; they had an explicit commandment for the mode of […]
In this chapter we have the first biblical reference to mourning for the dead and burial. Sarah is also the only woman whose age is recorded in the Scriptures; she was one hundred twenty-seven years old. The marriage of Abraham and Sarah is the first godly marriage the Bible unfolds for us. Sarah had been […]
The final chapter in the life of Abraham ends the same way his life began. In Genesis 12, God began with the promise to bless Abraham; at the end of this passage we see those blessings continued in Abraham’s son, Isaac (Genesis 25:11). God gave Abraham 175 years of life on this earth, and then […]
In each of the stories in our text Jesus responds to a problem. This problem-response motif tells us something about ourselves and about Jesus. It tells us that after our fall into sin, “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). Man’s manifold problems can be traced back to Genesis 3:6. […]
We’re All Going to Die The seventeenth-century Puritans and their more contemporary heirs commonly wrote about “the four last things”: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Earlier audiences were rightly concerned about their future and wanted to learn about their looming eternity. Today, all of these topics have largely fallen out of favor, eclipsed by subjects […]