Righteousness in the Old Testament
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Righteousness as understood in the OT (Old Testament) is a thoroughly Hebraic concept, foreign to the western mind and at variance with the common understanding of the term. The failure to comprehend its meaning is perhaps most responsible for the view of OT religion as “legalistic”…but thanks largely to recent German scholarship, this important motif of biblical faith has been clarified.
A Message on Restoration and Return
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008(With quotations from Thomas M. Raitt’s A Theology of Exile, Fortress Press, 1977) The prophecies of Zephaniah, as is true with all the prophets of Israel, speak not only to the present condition and immediate future of the nation, but also its eschatological future and end. So one is warned of the Babylonian judgment then […]
Prophetic Reflections for the Last Days
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Concern about decaying environmental, economic and political conditions is moving the world toward global unification. Safety and self-interest will likely take precedence over ideological distinctions between nations, just as doctrinal differences between major church bodies will be eclipsed by the overriding interests of peace and unity.
Some Comments on Netanyahu’s Election in Israel: A Prelude to Coming Disaster?
Thursday, February 7th, 2008While the upset victory of Benjamin Netanyahu may astonish, shock or delight one faction or another, what significance can it hold in effecting any real change in Israel’s perilous situation?
The Necessary Death and Resurrection of Israel
Thursday, February 7th, 2008As with the prophetic “son of man” of this dread and glorious chapter, so also are we, the “prophetic” people of God, required to be set down in the midst of a valley full of dry bones.
The Lord’s Coming in the Clouds
Thursday, February 7th, 2008Without in any way questioning the literalness of this eschatological glory, I suspect, as is often the case, that it contains an allegorical and spiritual meaning as well perhaps a necessary principle pertaining to the coming of any revelation of the Lord in fullness: namely, a ‘coming’ or revelation of the Lord that must, somehow of necessity, be preceded or accompanied by ‘clouds.’
Israel’s Restoration:
Thursday, February 7th, 2008The eternal wisdom of God, demonstrated through the Church, as the necessary prelude to the Messiah’s coming
Exploring Israel’s Deliverance through Zion
Thursday, February 7th, 2008I have long been intrigued by the phrase, “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer.” Clearly Israel’s deliverance is a final, eschatological, closure event. But how is it to be effected?
God as a Factor in the Secular Affairs of Men
Thursday, February 7th, 2008I don’t know if anyone has noticed lately, but God, so long restricted to mere Friday through Sunday religious acknowledgment, is threatening to become a factor in the more serious affairs of men where He is usually excluded.
Crying Wolf
Thursday, February 7th, 2008Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, is quoted by Eric J. Greenberg in a September 19, 2003 article of the Jewish Week as citing Mel Gibson, producer of the film The Passion, as “spouting classic anti-Semitism.” My personal fear is that a too frequent reiteration of that cry will ironically serve to provoke the feared phenomenon itself.
Contemporary Worship: The Malady of the Church
Thursday, February 7th, 2008Whatever is self-initiated, however well-meaning the motive, is not of God. He alone is the Creator-King who disposes from the Throne what He wills when He wills.
Anti Semitism: A Little Considered Root
Thursday, February 7th, 2008From time to time one reads of how Jewish commentators are chafed by the world’s holding of Israel to a higher standard or account. Their irritation evidently stems from a secular and rational mentality that does not regard Israel as in any way exceptional with regard to other nations, and therefore not deserving of any criterion for judgment than that by which all other nations are held.
A Plea for the Serious Consideration of God
Monday, February 4th, 2008A message, especially but not exclusively, for our Jewish kinsmen as we approach the end of the millennium Be still and know that I am God…(Psalm 46:10) There is a connection between the strange providences of God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in […]
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