Biblical Theology
Incarnation and Resurrection
Stumbled across some interesting parallels in Luke’s birth and resurrection narratives:
A. An angel of the Lord appears to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, and they are filled with fear (2:8-11).
A’ Two men (angels) appear to the women at the tomb (announcing the resurrection) and the women are afraid (24 5-7).
B. The shepherds ...
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Confessing Christ as King
“To confess Christ as King means that the Kingdom He revealed and inaugurated is not only a Kingdom of some distant future, of the ‘beyond’ and thus never conflicting with or contradicting all our other earthly ‘kingdoms’ and loyalties. We belong to this Kingdom here and now, and we belong to it and serve it ...
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What Comes Out of Tombs?
This past Sunday’s sermon was on the death of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 27:45-56. As I mentioned, there are things that we cannot fully understand about the death of Jesus, but Matthew even includes those puzzling verses, “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the holy ones who had fallen asleep were ...
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Pairs at the Death of Jesus
Matthew 27:45-56 recounts the death of Jesus. Going through the text, Matthew seems to make an intentional use of pairs, whether of words or themes. I am not entirely sure what Matthew’s underlying purpose might be for this, though my first guess is that it acts as a symbolic “double” witness, establishing the veracity of ...
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Chiastic Structure of Matthew 27:27-31
In preparing for Sunday’s sermon on Matthew 27:27-44, the following structure for the first section of the text emerged:
A. The soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters (27).
B. Jesus stripped of his garments and clothed in a scarlet robe (28).
C. Jesus’ head crowned with thorns (29a).
...
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The Substance Is Come, and the Shadow Has Gone
Isaiah 65:17-19: For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice ...
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The Sign of the Seventh Day
I am teaching a Bible class at The Classical Academy in Franklin, and we are presently engaged in a study of Genesis. The students are keeping reading journals to coincide with their studies, and I encouraged them to look for repetitions of words or phrases; rhythms in the text, or changes in rhythm to the ...
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The Bible You Never Read
This looks like it is going to be fun.
The Bible You Never Read...
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Today’s command presupposes yesterday’s gift
I came across this great quote today regarding the end of Matthew 4 and the beginning of Matthew 5 leading up to Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.”
Before the crowds hear the Messiah’s word they are the object of his compassion and healing. Having done nothing, nothing at all, they are benefited. So grace comes before ...
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Two Testings
I came across these thought-provoking comments by S.G. De Graaf in volume three of his work Promise and Deliverance. The comparisons between Adam’s testing in the garden and Jesus’ testing in the wilderness are particularly insightful.
Adam was once our head. He was put to the test to determine whether he truly wished to devote his ...
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