The End of the Empire (1)

The king reflected and said, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”  Daniel 4:30  NASB 1995 I myself – “Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that…

Copying the Bible

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;  2 Timothy 3:16 NASB By God – Text and transmission.  It seems as if the crucial issue about the authority of the Bible comes down to these two words.  Who wrote it and how did it come to us? …

Civil Obedience?

Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Romans 13:1  NASB Governing authorities – The divine right of kings.  That’s what this verse seems to support.  And for centuries some parts of the Christian Church read it that way,…

Succession Planning

“Now then, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness, do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, which has happened to us, our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and to all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria to this…

Who Says?

And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, just as you have sworn to her.”  Joshua 6:22 NASB As you have sworn – Without the context you won’t see the judicial problem this verse…

Hear-See

All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid  Exodus 20:18a  The Message Experiencing – When was the last time you saw thunder?  Ah, probably never.  We perceive thunder as audible, not visual.  So when we try to translate this particular verse from Hebrew, we run into…

The Politics of All Believers

Then David said, “No one is to carry the ark of God except the Levites; for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to serve Him forever.” 1 Chronicles 15:2  NASB Except – If you grew up in any of the Protestant denominations, you’re probably familiar with the doctrinal statement about the “priesthood of…

A Problem with Authority

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.  1 Peter 2:13-14  NASB Every human institution – Look, Peter is obviously wrong!  If we did what he says,…