This morning, I read the story of Jacob, his sons, daughter Dinah, and the men of Shechem. It’s not a…
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Bible Study
Asking The Way to Zion
I just finished reading the book of Jeremiah today, and was very blessed by a couple verses from chapter 50. I pray you will be, too!
“They shall ask the way to Zion…saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 50:5, emphasis mine)
Am I asking about the way to Zion today? And wow…we have been given that everlasting, perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten now! We now possess what the Jews back in Jeremiah’s day had to look forward to! Praise the Lord!
“Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land…” (Jeremiah 50:34)
Our Redeemer IS strong. And I am so, so thankful!
Book Review of the ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible
Well, I’ve broken a reviewing record now. One thing I have never done before is request a review copy of a Bible. But, when the chance came up recently, I was intrigued by the idea: A study Bible with its sole focus on the gospel, and how all of scripture proclaims the gospel? Being the central focus of our faith, I was more than a little excited when I found out I had been accepted as a reviewer!
This was definitely one of the harder reviews I’ve ever written! How do you contain the power of the Bible in a few paragraphs?—impossible! And even something written about the Bible is difficult!
For years, as I’ve read through the Bible, I’ve tried to correlate the Old Testament with the New. Finding the foreshadowing and types and figures, and then seeing how the Lord Jesus fulfilled each one. And while I know Jesus is spoken of often in the Old Testament when it comes to prophecy, how can things like the Book of Esther show elements of the Gospel? And what about the New Testament? Obviously, without the gospel of the Lord Jesus itself, there would be no New Testament! But how can we apply some of the things spoken of in 1 Corinthians, for example, or James? How do they share the gospel, and how do the words there reflect and reinforce gospel principles?
It’s All From Jesus: A Bible Verse Study
Last Sunday, I started reading through Ephesians, and one thing I noticed in the preface to the book in my study Bible was the mention of the words “in Him” or “in Christ” in the book. And, since I absolutely love discovering (or rediscovering!) patterns in the Bible, I though it would be fun to copy all the instances out. They were a great encouragement to me to meditate on this week, and perhaps they will be to you, too.
Due to the amount of verses (I just counted up, and there are 33 references!), I’ve limited the quotations to just the ones dealing specifically with our relationship with Christ.
There’s still a lot, though. 🙂
“…blessed us with all spiritual blessings…in Christ…” (Eph. 1:3)
A Well of Life
Work mornings often find me sitting at the kitchen table, gulping down my breakfast and hot cup of coffee while I read a couple chapters of the Bible for a little spiritual refreshment before the day begins. Today was one of those, and even though I might not get the chance to sit and savour the Word like I would like to, I was blessed by several precious minutes before I had to head out for work.
One of today’s chapters was Proverbs 10. I appreciate the wisdom in Proverbs so much, but sometimes I feel like I can read a lot and not glean anything. Other times, like this morning and even with the limited time, the Lord blessed me with several verses:
“The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” (Prov. 10:11)