When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (Matthew 2:16, NIV) Have you ever noticed that the …
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am.”John 4:26 NIV It’s the middle of the day in the Near East. Jesus has walked all morning with His disciples, and they’ve worked up an appetite. So, while the twelve go off to buy bread, Jesus rests at Jacob’s well. And there He meets a …
“Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2:8, NIV) Age 12: Mom, I think I want an RV. Age 7: Can you get a mortgage and buy me a real Darth Vader suit? Teen: Can I take a two-week class at Cambridge? It’s only $6,000 + airfare. …
For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:14, NIV) In a world in which most religions and philosophies elevate the ethereal over the physical, our Lord gave physicality its ultimate “dignifier”: He enrobed Himself in it. Indeed, the Incarnation and Jesus’s death followed by resurrection and ascension—these all …
[Christ Jesus], who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6–7, NRSV) Last Christmas, my family and I experienced life in a different hemisphere. An alumnus’s family had invited …
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58, NIV) A bush burned and God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM’ has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). Centuries later a baby penetrated …
“The angel answered [Mary, saying], ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:35, NIV) Back in the beautiful orchard on a Friday afternoon, God made male and female in His image. …
“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham . . .” (Matthew 1:1, NIV) Two Gospels, Matthew’s and Luke’s, include genealogies of Jesus Christ. Luke traces Jesus back through Abraham, while Matthew provides the Messiah’s Davidic lineage. But another key difference between the lists is that Matthew’s, …
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth…” (Colossians 1:15–16, NIV). Colonel Henry Lee once described George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Lee was not …
“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’” (John 8:58, NIV). A bush burned and God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM’ has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). Centuries later a baby penetrated time …
