“Where is God in all of this?” This question is often asked in the face of devastating trials, intense persecution, and horrible calamities. Even as believers we can sometimes be tempted to believe that God is distant, unconcerned, or even helpless when disaster strikes. In Acts 12 we see the...
An often neglected, yet absolutely essential, aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ is his ascension. We are familiar with his life, his death, and his resurrection; we are familiar with the Great Commission, Pentecost, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the early church. Yet the ascension of Jesus – that pivotal moment when...
The story of the young man who approaches Jesus in Mark 10:17-26 is a familiar passage of Scripture with a message just as profound today as it was 2000 years ago. Though we may be successful in every possible way – economically, socially, morally, religiously, intellectually – the question still remains:...
One of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables, the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) was told in response to a lawyer’s question of how to inherit eternal life. Rather than giving him the legalistic response he was looking for – a check list of actions and individuals he was to show...
John 14:12 has been one of the most widely interpreted verses in the church, especially in recent years. What exactly does Jesus mean when he says we will do greater works than he did? Are we to believe that the church today should be “outdoing” the miracles of Jesus? If his...
One of the most profound and mysterious truths of the Christian faith is the doctrine of the incarnation – “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). That Jesus was both fully God and fully man while on this earth, and that he emptied himself of his heavenly...
As we came to the conclusion of our Old Testament readings in The Daily Bible, we read the inspiring account of Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild and reform Jerusalem. Yet, just as we have seen with the many other major characters in Scripture, Nehemiah’s life ultimately points us to the...
While it is true that the name of God is absent from the book of Esther, his fingerprints are unmistakably and beautifully apparent throughout the entirety of this story. Here we find one of the most remarkable displays in all of Scripture of Providence: God’s wise, loving, and righteous care and governance of...
In Zechariah 12:10-13:1, God declares: “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only...