To imagine what it would have been like for those who, in the first century, received the books of the New Testament which had just been written and sent to them is beyond comprehension. Before the books were written, there were apostles and prophets who could tell them about Jesus, about His life and the new way of living He revealed. However,…

Perhaps as we meditate, we should spend more time with Jesus in Gethsemane. On the night of His betrayal, that garden was filled with intense emotions. Do not just read what happened there but take time to feel the emotions: the emotions of the sleeping disciples whom Jesus rebuked; the emotions of Judas as he betrayed the Lord; the emotions of the…

The saints of God have often found themselves in dire circumstances. In the first century when God’s just judgment was about to come against the Jewish nation, it was preceded by wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes. Christians were in the midst of all these troubles. What hope did they have? In addition to this, their faith in God created…

One of the thoughts we find most comforting is summed up in that song which has the phrase, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” Each verse then talks about how He has “you and me brother” and “you and me sister” and “the little bitty babies” in His hands. The very concept that we are cradled in the hands of…

It is easy for us think of our omniscient God in a general sense. God knows the actual weight of the earth and measured the entire universe with the span of His hand (Isa. 40:12). We know that the heavens show this wisdom and glory to all men. However, sometimes it is not easy to think about what God knows about us…

A children’s game from long ago involved getting all participants in a line, and one individual was selected to be the leader. Every person was to keep watching and doing everything the leader did. If he took giant steps, everyone in the game had to stay in line and take a giant step at the very place he did. There was a…

Jesus’ words in the parable of the ten virgins have a great application in the way we live our lives. Those virgins who failed to bring enough oil for their lamps found themselves unprepared for the arrival of the bridegroom. When he came, the wedding celebration began, and they were not included. His words? “And the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10). The…

The events which followed the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel are recorded in the seventeenth chapter of Second Kings. The Assyrians moved many of the Jews, who were part of Israel, and sent them throughout the Assyrian world. Then, they brought men from other nations and settled them in Israel. This was an attempt, largely successful, to destroy the ethnicity…