Saving Grace

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29  NASB Takes Away– “Take up and carry”?  Or, maybe, “carry off.”  The Greek verb, aíro, can mean either.  “Whether the sense in Jn. 1:29 is ‘to take up and carry,’ i.e., in a…

Hitchhiker’s Guide to Babylon (4)

“Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.   Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.   Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…

Hitchhiker’s Guide to Babylon (3)

“Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.   Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.   Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…

Linear Love

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23 NASB Taken – Genesis 2:23. The seminal verse of the story. “She shall be proclaimed—called—appointed—announced Woman,” says the Man. Then he offers the reason for this…

The Faithlessness of Abraham

He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Genesis 22:2 NASB Take – This verse is universally acknowledged as the pivotal example of Abraham’s…

Recovery

The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22 NASB Had taken from – The purpose of marriage is unity.  Genesis 2:24 tells us that we are joined together in order to become one flesh.  But it isn’t just about…

The Four Spiritual Stages (4)

Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage.  I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  Then I will take you for My people, and I…

Old Testament Heaven?

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  Psalm 73:24  ESV Glory – This verse certainly appears to support an afterlife in heaven, doesn’t it?  If this is so, it is one of the few verses in the Tanakh that indicates a heavenly reward for the righteous.  Of course,…

Clothes Make The Man

The wise in heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will be ruined. Proverbs 10:8 (ESV) Receive – “Without mitzvot one is naked.”  So say the rabbis about the necessity of the commandments (mitzvot).  Heschel points out that Judaism views the commandments as if they were literal things, as if they could be possessed…

Altar Calls

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. Proverbs 11:30 Wins – Of course, we imagine that this verse is a congratulatory pat on the back for those who make the effort to bring others into the Kingdom.  We think this verse is motivation for attending…