Isaiah 40 comes on the heels of numerous prophetic denunciations of Israel, the surrounding nations, and a recap of the life of Hezekiah - Isaiah 36-39. He was one of the very few kings who sought to follow Yahweh. But even his reign, for all its religious reformation, couldn’t hold back forever the inevitable exile to Babylon of God’s people; a people who consistently and provocatively worshipped other gods, blaspheming God’s name among the nations.
Read MoreThere is little as magnificent as a sunrise – out of darkness emerges an ever-changing living palate of reds, oranges and yellows that paint the awakening horizon. The sunrise heralds a new day, a new beginning, if you wish.
Read MoreWho would think to start the Christmas story with a genealogy? We wouldn’t but Matthew did. Why? Matthew wanted to establish the credentials of the Messiah before telling the story of the Messiah. He did this by
Read MoreWe marvel at the depth, the height, and the breadth of God’s amazing grace. By this expression of his nature God has brought salvation to us, through Jesus, when we were helpless to save ourselves, so that whatever we do for God is never reciprocated as like for like. There is no spiritual or moral equivalency between God’s act and mankind’s response.
Read MoreIn this pivotal and defining Old Testament text God calls out to Moses, proclaiming his name. He, in other words, is revealing to Moses what he is like, what his nature is, what he intends and what mankind can expect of this God.
Read MoreThe art of plain-speak and its concomitant, truthfulness, is all but a lost art if the present electoral cycle in the US is any indication. Plain questions, leading questions, good questions, just – questions, are blatantly avoided whilst the candidates focus on the failings of their equally evasive opponents.
Read MoreSolomon’s reign brought unrivalled peace and prosperity to Israel. His father, David, would have marvelled at Solomon’s accomplishments. But much of it came at a high cost to God’s people. The works projects for the temple and his own house/palace took twenty years of intensive building...
Read MoreMay I give you some advice? Only give advice when it is actively sought, or a relation exists in which advice is a necessity and/or at...
Read MoreWinston Churchill famously quipped,
‘Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’
Read MoreIf you fly regularly, it is likely you have seen some sort of altercation on board. And, if you haven’t YouTube affords plenty of opportunities (obviously I amuse easily) to view people being everything from silly to reckless.
Read MoreThe inability to make definitive choices is ubiquitous – common to mankind. People find it difficult to make choices due a variety of factors: little self-confidence, having had someone do it for them all their lives, a lack of motivation, fear that their choices will be wrong, etc.
Read MoreIt would be strange when we are young to consider, too seriously, our mortality. Life appears endless with possibilities, which it is.
It would be strange when we are older to ignore our mortality. The signs of its inevitability are all too obvious…
Read MoreThere may currently not be a more important topic to give our attention to than discipling God’s people, to seeing them transformed in thought and action into the likeness of the Jesus of the gospels. Discipleship occupied the full attention of Jesus when he was giving his final words/instructions prior to his resurrection, so should it occupy ours – “Go into all the world and make disciples …” This is our new creation mandate….
Read MoreA place does exist, more easily in Liberal Democracies, for a faith/moral voice in the political realm. But it can never be at the cost of the otherworldly nature and call of the kingdom of God. We are fools if we fail to see that the whole world, and its systems…
Read MoreWorld events that unsettle, unnerve us, often find Christians resorting to various readings of the Revelation of St John (or more precisely, the Revelation of Jesus Christ). The vast, terrifying, apocalyptic landscape of Revelation is read as a prophetic calendar of future events - which in some ways, and consistent with multiple fulfilments of this literary and prophetic genre, is valid. There is something about the grand spiritual themes and battles in Revelation that will last the entire age, in that every era has the possibilities of seeing dragons, false prophets and persecution of the saints…
Read MoreIn this forth foray into the reading of scripture we will look at the New Testament with the Old Testament in view, as it relates to Jesus in John’s gospel. How does Jesus employ the Hebrew Scriptures?…
Read MoreDiscipleship – everyone is talking about it, which is cause for rejoicing. After all, it was foremost in Jesus’ mind when he spoke to the disciples prior to his ascension (Matt 28). Little else ranks as important to the church’s mission as the making of disciples; the history of God’s church rises or falls on how well we make disciples of Jesus.
Read MoreMilitary conscription was my generation’s dread, yet by the time my birthdate was to be subjected to a lottery, conscription was no longer required. We were relieved, to say the least, as being drafted to Vietnam was looming as a possibility. The closest I got to war, or hearing about, it was through my grandfather who had fought in the Pacific arena of WW2…
Read MoreJohn 6.1-21 is a remarkable vignette in the gospels that is easily lost to a metaphorical/spiritual principle reading. We are so used to reading and preaching beyond (almost despite) the historical context/event, we fail to be captured by the enormity of the events themselves…
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