Resurrected and Enthroned Lord: Filling the Earth with New Creatures

March 15, 2023

Texts: Luke 24:30-35; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 1:20-23; Galatians 6:14-16 Days 52-55 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. We can only imagine the despair of the disciples in the crushing darkness of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The Christian calendar calls it “Holy Saturday.” We can only imagine the joy of the disciples on […]


Jesus Pivots Toward the Cross: Revelation, Transfiguration, and Mission

February 8, 2023

Texts: Luke 9:18-22, 28-36; 10:17-20; Mark 10:41-45 Days 40-43 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. At some point near the end of his ministry in Galilee and other northern regions, Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). This comes immediately after his announcement to his disciples that he is the Messiah […]


Israel Redux: The Messiah Begins His Ministry

January 26, 2023

Texts: Luke 3:21-22; Luke 4:1-2a, Luke 4:16-21; Matthew 4:13-17 Days 33-36 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Israel needed a do-over.  Humanity needed a do-over. The Messiah comes to recapitulate the story of humanity through the story of Israel. This lesson is the beginning of the Messiah’s participation in the story of Israel in […]


God’s Gifts to Israel

December 14, 2022

Texts: Romans 9:4-5; Psalm 19:7-10; Romans 3:1-2 Days 20-22 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. God chose Israel from among the nations as God’s own firstborn. As firstborn, Israel was tasked with blessing the nations through their obedience to God (as a light among the nations) and the promises made to Abraham. God equipped […]


On Reading Philemon

September 7, 2017

Philemon is a brief letter with only 335 words in the Greek text, and it appears in the New Testament without any specific context. Philemon and Onesimus, the main characters in the letter’s story, are unknown elsewhere in the New Testament. Many, if not most of the details, are lost to us as readers to […]


The First Advent (Exodus 40:34-38)

June 19, 2015

Mount Sinai must have been an impressive, even startling, sight. Enveloped in darkness with flashes of lightning, Israel heard the thunder and even, on one occasion, the voice of God. They felt the rumblings of God’s presence in tremors that rippled through the earth’s crust. This was Yahweh’s holy mountain. Yahweh descended upon it, and […]


Psalm 2 – God Reigns Over the Nations

August 14, 2013

Psalm 1 counseled wisdom. Worshippers, as they pray, mediate and sing the Psalms, align themselves with the way of righteousness. Psalm 2 assures these worshippers that Yahweh reigns and even the nations must ultimately submit to the God of Israel. Psalm 2, then, as a further introduction to the Psalter, grounds the worship of and […]


Reading Zechariah 9-14 – What? Where? When?

May 24, 2012

My Wednesday evening class–about 25 of us on average–have walked through Zechariah together. We began in January and finished Zechariah 14 last week (May 16). They are a patient bunch! It has been an exciting ride. The good news present in Zechariah is tailored for a disappointed people. Their hopes, dreams and expectations had not […]


Zechariah 14:1-15 – That Day is a New Day

May 15, 2012

The “behold” of Zechariah 14:1 (untranslated by the NIV) begins the second section of Zechariah’s second “oracle” (Zechariah 12-14). The first Section (Zechariah 12-13) was structured around the “day of the Lord” when God will renew covenant with Israel, defend Jerusalem, pour out the divine Spirit of grace, and cleanse the house of David from […]


Zechariah 11:1-17 – Tale of Two Shepherds

April 11, 2012

The idyllic description of a restored (enlarged borders) and united (Judah and Ephraim reunited) Israel in Zechariah 10:4-12 under a peacemaking king (9:9-10) is shattered by an opening lament in Zechariah 11:1-3. The shepherds of Israel lament the destruction of the land of Lebanon and Bashan (or Gilead). While some think the lament envisions the […]