A Prayer of the afflicted when he is weak and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Psalm 102 NASB Complaint – You’re praying. You feel oppressed and downtrodden. You acknowledge your total dependency on God. You’re weak; He’s strong. You kneel before Him—His servant, His child. And you complain? Before we tackle the noun “complaint” we…
The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39 NASB Is like it – Why does Yeshua say that the commandment to love your neighbor is hómoios aute (like it)? How can any other commandment be like the first one: to love God will all your heart, mind, and strength? …
You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!” Lamentations 3:57 NASB Near – Lamentations is not high on our list of “good reads.” It’s basically a funeral dirge coupled with tragic poetry about God’s absence. It’s depressing. We would rather read Psalms. Furthermore, since sin is the cause of all this…
To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:3 NASB Righteousness and justice – Jewish religion in the Old Testament (yes, I know that’s a Christian denotation) is all about sacrifice, right? At least that’s what most of us were taught (along with the classification “Old” Testament). And sacrifices—all that killing and blood…
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 21:22 NASB No temple – As you know, I rarely write about verses from John’s apocalyptic vision. The reason is simple: Apocalyptic literature is filled with ambiguous images, symbolic words, and suggestions. This is intentional since apocalyptic literature is not predictive…
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.’” Leviticus 1:2 NASB Of you – Many years ago I hiked in the Cascade mountains of Washington State on a…
He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:12 NASB Fear God – It’s an ancient but very important story. Christianity sees it as a type of the…
. . . So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin. Leviticus 5:6b NASB Atonement – Baruch Levine emphasizes one of the most important characteristics of the Hebrew view of law when he says: . . . the laws of the Torah did not permit Israelites to expiate intentional or premeditated…
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1 NASB Sacrifice – It’s all about blood. I know that most of us are squeamish about blood. When we see blood we think, “Pain!” …
“He shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.” Leviticus 1:9 NKJV Burnt Offering On November 12, 2015, Skip wrote: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them,…
