Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 14-16.
“Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil” (Job 14:1).
Job, while enduring the degree of hardships that most of us will never face, well understood two facts that are easy to forget when everything is going well.
Continue Reading
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 10-13.
“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him” (Job 13:15).
Job was in a miserable state, unsure why he was suffering as he was. His friends had been telling him this was God’s doing, a divine punishment for some sin Job refused to acknowledge. With nowhere else to turn, Job wanted a chance to appeal directly to God.
But even with the suffering that God was allowing, though Job may not have understood it, he was determined to put his full faith and trust in God. He knew this was the only place of security. Any hope he had for the future rested in the Lord.
Continue Reading
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 6-9.
“In truth I know that this is so; but how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to dispute with Him, he could not answer Him once in a thousand times” (Job 9:2-3).
Far too often, man tries to argue with the Lord. It is not a direct confrontation like what may happen when two people argue over a matter, but it happens. Man believes he knows what is best, what is right, what is truth. Yet when we claim to be right, but are not conformed to His will, Paul says, “Let God be found true,” and “every man… a liar” (Romans 3:4). No matter how wise and discerning we believe we are, we cannot come close to even the “foolishness of God” (1 Corinthians 1:25). Having a thousand chances to prove ourselves right before Him will have the same result every time — God is always right. When we challenge Him, we are always wrong.
Continue Reading
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 1-5.
“Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
It is typically easier and more natural to praise God during times of blessing and prosperity. Yet this was not the occasion with Job. He had just received word that his sons and daughters and much of his wealth was gone. All of this was unexpected. Satan was sure this would provoke Job to curse the Lord (Job 1:11). Yet notice Job’s response to this great calamity:
Continue Reading
It is an inescapable reality that we are involved in a war – not the type of war that nations wage for wealth, resources, or territory; but a spiritual war for the souls of men (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). While the final outcome of a physical war is always unknown, the result of this spiritual war is certain. Notice what the book of Revelation says about the victory of Christ:
“These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).
Jesus will lead His army to victory. There is no uncertainty to this. What is uncertain is which side we will join. Will we choose to be on the Lord’s side? Or will we choose to fight against Him?
Continue Reading
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Genesis 8-11.
“They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4).
This was the reasoning of those who proposed to build what would be called the Tower of Babel. There are several errors of which they were guilty that we could consider. But probably the most notable was in their attempt to reach heaven. They were determined to do it their way, without any sort of assistance from God.* So God put an end to their ambitions.
Continue Reading
Thought from today’s Bible reading from Genesis 4-7.
When Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden, access to the Tree of Life was lost. This meant that Adam, Eve, and all of their descendants would have to face physical death.
This consequence is emphasized in Genesis 5 as the “generations of Adam” are outlined (Genesis 5:1). Over and over, each man was born, fathered the next generation, then “he died” (Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31). There was, however, one exception to this – Enoch.
Continue Reading
What does “propitiation” mean? How is “justification” connected to salvation? What does “sanctification” look like in our day-to-day lives? The Bible uses some powerful words to describe God’s plan to save mankind. However, these words are not always easy to understand, especially when they are not part of our everyday vocabulary. This book explores key Bible terms that unlock the message of the gospel.
Big Words in the Bible examines five important words – Propitiation, Reconciliation, Sanctification, Justification, and Resurrection – using plain language to see how the Scriptures describe these concepts and how the apostle Paul employs them in his letter to the Romans. This book also contains an appendix with eleven additional articles to explore these topics further.
Whether you are new to the Bible and want to grow in your understanding or want a simple way to explain these core gospel doctrines to others, this book will be helpful. With a focus on the Scriptures, Big Words in the Bible helps break down these fundamental topics to shed light on the life-changing message of the gospel and the salvation found in it.
Available in print and digital format.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
If you have further questions about using any of the material on this site, please contact me.