December 2011
26 posts
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My Favorite Reads of 2011
How can you compile a “Best of” list unless you have read all them? This is just a list of books that I read in 2011 and really liked.
1. Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir. In depth and readable, this biography helped me to better understand the woman who was probably the best ever British monarch. It also illumined the many personalities around her. The dynamics of Catholicism and...
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What is the Ultimate Message of the Psalms?
From Awake O Harp, to be published in February.
The Book of Psalms is ultimately a message about the Messiah, our Lord Jesus. We find Jesus here because he found himself here. As he walked with two of his disciples on the day of his resurrection, Jesus ‘expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself ’ (Luke 24:27). Later that day he appeared to other disciples and said:...
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Message for the Sunday After Christmas
What do you preach on the Sunday AFTER Christmas? Perhaps an event which took place 40 days AFTER the birth is appropriate. This examination of the words of Simeon in Luke 2:22-35 can offer some seed-starters for your own further reflection.
When Jesus was 8 days old he was circumcised (Lk. 2:21). When he was 40 days old he was presented in the Temple as part of the ceremony of the Redemption of...
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Calvin on the Christmas Message
Comments by John Calvin on Galatians 4:4:
When the fulness of the time had come. He proceeds with the comparison which he had adduced, and applies to his purpose the expression which has already occurred, “the time appointed by the Father,”—but still shewing that the time which had been ordained by the providence of God was proper and seasonable. That season is the most fit, and that mode of...
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God Moved Into the Neigborhood
The Message often paraphrases a verse into something almost humorous, but Eugene Peterson’s rendering of John 1:14 is striking in its simple, straightforward, in-your-face starkness:
“The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
...
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"I Desire to Do Your Will" - Psalm 40
My devotional commentary on the Psalms (Awake O Harp) will be published in February. This meditation on Psalm 40 is excerpted from the commentary, and is appropriate for Christmas.
Much has been written about the Messianic Psalms. Some argue that no psalms are Messianic because they all refer to David or some other psalmist. Others argue that every psalm is Messianic because of Luke 24:44. There...
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Full of Grace and Truth
John 1:14 says that the Word was “full of grace and truth.” This statement is probably a deliberate echo of the great self-revelation of Yahweh in Ex. 34:6: “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Hebrew: hesed and emet). Jesus, therefore, is the embodiment of Yahweh! Later Pilate asked Jesus: “What is truth?” (John...
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Christmas Flesh
The title sounds a bit shocking, doesn’t it? But Christmas Flesh is the real message of the Nativity season. We evangelicals emphasize so strongly that Jesus was DEITY incarnate that we forget to think through what it meant for Him to come in the “flesh” (John 1:14 and 1John 4:2). “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The Word who is Life, the Word who is...
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What Does Hanukkah Have to Do with Christmas?
I often use the word Messiahmas, simply to emphasize the Jewishness of the Christian Natvivity message. But is mixing Hanukkah with Christmas just going too far?
Let me explain. Hanukkah begins on Chislev 25 and continues for eight days. The correspondence with the number of December 25 is only a coincidence and really has no significance because the Jewish holiday falls on different dates on...
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What Was the Purpose of the Magi's Gifts?
Readers of my blog and my students know that I am not afraid to suggest fresh ways of looking at old texts. An upcoming article in the Biblical Archaeology Review suggests a view, however, that in my opinion just stretches my imagination too far to accept. But here is a summary of the contents of the article.
“Were the gifts of the magi meant to save Jesus from the pain of arthritis? It’s...
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The Dark Side of the "Light"
Christmas is a time of light and joy, but a book published last year develops a neglected but solidly Biblical theme: That the original Nativity stories were set in a time of darkness and conflict. A Not So Silent Night by Verlyn Verbrugge (Kregel) uncovers the darker side of Christmas, a side that exposes pain, humiliation, fear, and danger. The author maintains (quite accurately) that until we...
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When God Moved Into the Neighborhood
“Here we come to the sentence for the sake of which John wrote his gospel: John 1:14. He has thought and talked about the word of God, that powerful, creative, dynamic word which was the agent of creation, that guiding, directing, controlling word which puts order into the universe and intelligence into human beings. Now he says the most startling and incredible thing that he could have said. He...
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The Shepherds and the Savior
Today I offer some observations on the role of the shepherds in Luke 2, some of which I have adapted from Ben Witherington.
The episode about the shepherds, which takes up more space than the discussion of the birth itself, has a real historical plausibility to it, since Bethlehem was one of the main areas near Jerusalem where sheep were raised for the sacrifices in the Temple. Due to their...
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Mary's "Firstborn"
I have done a lot of thinking about the Messianic role of our Lord Jesus, and published a book about the subject titled The Messiah: Revealed, Rejected, Received. After nearly forty years studying the Messianic idea I am still discovering wonderful new facets of this subject. To limit one’s study to the individual Messianic prophecies is actually to cover only one area of this great theme. As...
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Mythology of the Mean Innkeeper
The Christmas portions of the gospels are at once the most beloved and the most mythologized texts in the New Testament. Like works of art that have been lacquered with coat after coat of varnish, the details of the original stories are sometimes hard to see clearly. In the last few posts I suggested that a close reading of Matthew’s account (chapter two) reveals that the star may be something...
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When Will the ESV Cease Evolving?
Are you aware that the ESV continues to evolve? When will it grow up? I was sent the link below by a friend today and it troubles me. The document lists nearly 300 changes and this group is only one in a series of revisions that have appeared (quietly) since its publication over a decade ago.
I think that the changes are mostly good, but that is not my point. With this series of almost annual...
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The Mythology of the Magi (3) That "Star"
With the OT background for the Magi that we examined yesterday, what help can also be found in the OT for the correct interpretation of the star? The supernatural character of this brightness is implied by being described as “his star” (Mt. 2:2). I suggest that this unique shining was the glory of God described so often in the OT as the visible manifestation of God’s presence (e.g., Ex.16:10;...
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Mythology of the Magi (2)
Yesterday we looked at a few myths surrounding the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus in Bethlehem. We questioned the ideas about the sources of their knowledge of the star and the “King of the Jews” as lying in astronomical phenomena or in astrological “signs.” What is an alternative explanation for their knowledge?
It is possible that the oracles of Balaam served as the source for their...
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The Mythology of the Magi
The visit of the magi to the Child-Messiah, recorded in Matthew 2:1-12, is one of the most familiar biblical scenes to most Christians. The perception of this event has been unfortunately marred by a large number of popular misconceptions. Some of these derive from the popular song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Consider the following list of erroneous assumptions about the wise men:
1. They...
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Matthew and the Young Messiah
The following sections are five slides from a power point presentation that I give at Christmas. I focus on the way that Matthew develops the four sections of his Nativity account. Maybe it will stimulate your thinking.
I. The Four Sections of Matthew’s Nativity
These four “pericopes” are each anchored by the fulfillment of an OT statement:
Matt. 1:18-25 (Joseph) ...
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Merry Messiahmas and Happy Hanukka
The title of this post is a Jewish approach to what we all know is a quite “Christian” observance. Christmas Day falls within the observance of Hanukka this year (December 20-28). By the way, the Jewish holiday can be spelled about a half dozen ways in English. Please don’t correct me!
The Messianic Hope of the Hebrew Scriptures is not limited to the individual prophecies about...
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The "Best Religious Joke Ever"
This was voted on in the UK as the best religious joke ever. Do you agree?
“Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!”
He said, “Nobody loves me.”
I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.”
I...
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Now What? Public Discourse in Retrospect
Well yesterday was the busiest day for my blog since my controversial post following the killing of bin Laden! Now to reflect a little bit.
It seems that I did hit a responsive nerve in expressing my disgust over the vituperative slandering of our President by evangelical Christians. Almost everyone who responded agreed with me. No one challenged my use of the Bible, and some even strengthened...
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Bad Words About Obama
Frankly I am sick and tired of hearing - on Facebook and in person - expressions of disdain, name-calling, and outright slander of the President of the US, Barack Obama. Yesterday I was surfing some FB posts and I encountered some of the most vile language you could imagine coming from some “friends” calling Obama shameful names. I immediately de-friended this person who calls himself...
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A Tribute to the KJV at 500 (2)
Genesis 4:5 And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
(I know a guy named Jerry Roth, but Very Wroth?)
Genesis 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age,
(This expression appears 19 times in the KJV and has become part of our English idioms. Neither the Hebrew nor the Greek say anything about a ghost or spirit. They just say “he expired.” I like “he...
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A Tribute to the KJV at 500
Over the years I have collected my favorite “KJVisms.” These are usually dated expressions in the King James Version that are odd-sounding to modern ears. In no way do I mean to be critical of the KJV or even of these expressions. As a matter of fact, I absolutely love them for their odd beauty and quaintness. So my tribute to the KJV (1611-2011) follows. I have italicized in each verse my...