As the Magi leave and Joseph hurries his family to Egypt, there is suffering left behind. We look at the deaths of the innocent children and immediately we cry out, “how could God?!” Yet the real question is “how could humans?!” God is not the one who holds the sword or the knife – it […]
Suffering and “God” Read More »
Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, when I will cut a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah … this is the Covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will put My teachings [TORAH] in their inward parts, and
Intimacy, the Physical and the New Covenant – 5th Sunday in Lent Read More »
With all the Good News, joy and peace accented during Christmas, it is a bit of a jolt that immediately following this holiday comes a remembrance of “The Slaughter of the Innocents,” the children two years and under around Bethlehem whom Herod had put to death [Matthew 2:16-18]. It can make one uncomfortable because the
The Magi and Suffering Read More »
One of the most enigmatic characters in the Ballet of the Heavens is Herod. As noted previously, when the Persian cavalry (Cataphracti) appeared, as they escorted the Magi, it must have filled him with fear. Both he and his father had on previous occasions run for their lives from their invasion of Palestine. But was
What Did Herod Understand? Read More »
But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) [Ephesians 2:4-5] The Old Testament Lesson [Numbers 21:4-9] presents an extraordinary picture of what St Paul is saying in
Just One Look – 4th Sunday in Lent Read More »
The last post identified my disappointment that the heavens did not have an elaborate Sky Ballet for Jesus’ death, but they rather were quite muted in comparison to that first Christmas show. What had happened to me was that my focus was subtly changing. The heavens were meant to be a signpost that pointed to
Predicting the Future Read More »
The tendency is that as we look at the exceptional correlation between the Christmas Sky Ballet with the Bible, we want an encore – in fact, just like with every audience, if the production is really good, we would wish for encore after encore if we could (although I don’t know if that works so
The Ballet – The Corrective Read More »
“Surely Jehovah is in this place – and I did not know it!” Genesis 28:1 I had spent many years working on my Covenant study and finally was determined to get it finished and published. One day, at an assisted living facility where I worked as chaplain, I was talking to a resident’s son, who
Surely Jehovah is in This Place – 2nd Sunday in Lent Read More »
For the moment, we are going to pick up the thread from a number of posts back which had identified that the Magi were of the Persian empire and that this empire had given Herod severe stress (both he and his father had to run from its invasions). The Romans really did not appreciate the
Why Persia Never Conquered Read More »
Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” [Genesis 22:8] This chapter is one of the most amazing in the Old Testament, on one side because it clearly described what God would do with His own Son, and on the other hand, because this happened so far back in
Abraham’s Four Windows – 1st Sunday in Lent Read More »
