“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.” (Exodus 2:23-25) So far in the book of Exodus, we’ve seen some of the Israelites’ enslavement in

“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children…” (Eph. 1:5a) “…but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15b) True believers in Jesus Christ are part of God’s family. They make up the family of God on the earth. They have been redeemed from under the law that they might receive the adoption of sons, and because they are sons they have been given the Spirit of God’s Son, crying Abba Father. (Gal. 4:4-6) When they pass from th

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues...Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” (Revelation 18:4, 10b) The book of Revelation is a complex, seemingly mysterious work, but when you peel back the metaphor and intense imagery and come to terms with the fact that it’s technically a first-hand account of a second-h

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him, he hath put him to grief...” (Isaiah 53:10) How does the greatest humiliation and suffering of the Father’s dearly Beloved bring Him the highest pleasure and glory? The statement “It pleased the Father to bruise Him and put Him to grief,” seems to be incongruous with what we know of the Divine character. How can it be that God, Who takes no pleasure in the suffering and death of wicked sinners, Who takes no delight in the necessary chas

“…and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” (Mark 10:46-48) It is significant that as Jesus and His disciples, now in the f

“…I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.” (Judges 11:35) In Jephthah’s case there were good reasons for going back. He had made a rash vow, and such things are much better broken than kept. If a man makes a vow to commit a crime, the vow is in itself a sin, and to carry it out makes it doubly sinful. Jephthah had vowed to the Lord that if the Lord would deliver the Ammonites into his hands, upon his return home, whatever should come out of his house to me

“For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.” (Romans 14:7-8) Paul writes that no one lives or dies to themself. Christians are not meant to exist in a vacuum. We cannot wall ourselves off from the Lord or other believers. Whatever we do, we belong to the Lord. No Christian lives to gratify his or her inclinations or ap

“…there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall.” (Nehemiah 4:10) Before Nehemiah and his team of wall-builders could proceed with the important work of rebuilding the walls that once protected the holy city, there was much rubbish that had to be removed. Heaps of powdered bricks, charred wood, and other debris had been cleared for the rebuilding of the temple and other structures that were by this time completed, but the rubble still remained around the pa

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalm 42:11) Most of us know something about seasons of depression. They can be a sore trial, and how to deal with them can seem a herculean task. Notice the words that the writer uses to describe himself: “cast down” and “disquieted.” The first looks backward, the second looks forward. The godly man had be

“…there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build.” (Nehemiah 4:10) Jerusalem had been totally laid waste by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, and what that destruction meant may be determined by the vast heaps of rubble that was the sole memorial of what was once the glorious and beautiful city of God in the mountain of His holiness. So magnificent had been her situation with her glistening towers, and royal palaces, and strong bulwarks! But after the Babylonians razed h

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” (II Corinthians 4:8-10) As believers, we are afflicted wherever we go; always sure to meet with trouble of one kind or another. That’s just the straw Paul’s readers drew. Wherever the devout are in the w

“Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak thou what thou knowest.” (Job 34:33) It is never wise to dispute with God. Anyone who does so is essentially saying, “The Judge of the whole earth is wrong, and it should be according to my mind.” The speaker here in this chapter is asking all complainers against providence, “Wilt thou condemn him (God) that is most just?” (Vs. 17) He had just ma

“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:11-12) In a recent article, I told the story of Baby Moses who was sent adrift on the Nile out of fear of the threats against male Hebrew children that the Eg

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (I John 1:3) The Apostle John states the purpose for which he wrote this Epistle in the last chapter: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have sternal life...” (Ch. 5:13) Here in the prologue of the Epistle he sets forth what makes th

“And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:16-19) Jesus is describing the severe persecution His disciples will endure in this life. Among other things, religious leaders will falsely imprison them, harshly judge them, and even try t

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Rom. 8:16) Can I know that I am saved? How can I know that I am saved? These questions are of the utmost importance. Among religious folks we might hear either of two answers that are of opposite extremes, neither of which have solid basis. Many today have a “know-so salvation” based on something they have done - perhaps a certain prayer they said, or a decision they made, or even a feeling

“But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” (1 Samuel 15:9) Earlier in the chapter, God commissioned Saul, the current King of Israel, to attack the Amalekite people. His instructions were extremely simple: they were to beat back the enemies and destroy everything in their c

“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59) “…and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” (Acts 7:58b) At the Holy Spirit’s direction, we have in these verses the names of two most remarkable young men, Stephen and Saul. Stephen was a young standout in the early church. He was a devout believer, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. (Ch. 6:5) He was also full of wisdom - able to

“And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.” (Exodus 2:1-3) In Exodus, the land of Egypt (where the Israelites are enslaved) has r

“Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3) It is a trick of Satan to turn our attention away from the most vital and consequential matters to trivial considerations. He managed to turn the eyes of our first parents away from the tree of life, causing them to lust after the deadly fruit of the forbidden tree. Thieves and robbers know very well the advantage that the art of decept