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What if history isn’t random and we’re actually living in the final chapter? Luke chapter 16, moral line, but when Jesus spoke about condemnation, he didn’t start with a list of outward behaviors, he went much deeper, he went straight to the heart. Jesus pointed to something beneath every sin...

We all want certainty, meaning and something solid to stand on, in a world that feels unstable, but what if the confusion comes from how we think about beginnings? Everything we know has an origin, if God made the universe, then surely something must have made God, but there’s a deeper issue...

Jesus having been crucified and then raised from the dead, Jesus ascended, he has gone up to be in the heaven with God. Heaven is God’s dimension of our present reality, but then Jesus has come down with the gift of the Spirit, making Jesus’ presence a reality to all his followers everywhere...

Adam and Eve forfeited their calling as the Royal Priesthood, but God promised that one of their descendants would be an even better priest, who will defeat evil and intervene on their behalf to restore the blessings of Eden. This descendant would be a Royal Priest like Melchizedek, that Abraham...

Now, through Israel’s story, God raises up many people, who could have been this Royal Priest, like Abraham, Moses and David, but they all fail. Their stories point forward, anticipating the ultimate Royal Priest and this brings us to Jesus. In the time of Jesus, the people of Israel were ruled...

God’s inviting everyone to be priests, like Adam and Eve were priests in Eden. But, it turns out the people are afraid of God, and they don’t want to come close to God’s presence and so, Moses goes alone up to the top of Mount Sinai. Moses famously gets the Ten Commandments, the first two being...

This coming descendant will be both a royal priest and a sacrifice. But as it stands, humanity is outside of Eden and things have spiraled into chaotic violence, but God chooses from the wreckage a couple, Abraham and Sarah. God calls them to journey to the land of Canaan and he promises to give...

The tabernacle was a sacred tent, that the Israelites carried as they journeyed to the promised land. The tabernacle was sacred, because it’s where the heavenly presence of Israel’s God lived on earth. The tabernacle had an important design to show just how special it was. There’s the outer...

Exodus 34:6, “Gracious,” the Hebrew word is “khanun,” which is related to the Hebrew noun “khen.” This word “khen” is often translated as “grace” or “favor.” One meaning of khen is delightful or favorable, Psalms 45:1-2, a skilled poet is said to have lips of khen, that is, he can craft...

Exodus 34:6, “Compassionate,” or in Hebrew, “rakhum.” This word also appears as a noun, “rakhamim” or “compassion.” Both of these words are related to the Hebrew word for womb, “rekhem.” Compassion in the Hebrew Bible, is centered in a person’s core. The word invites us to imagine a mother’s...

What does it mean to redeem something? If we own something, it belongs to us, but things can get lost or stolen, then somebody else ends up possessing what is rightfully ours. How do we get our possession back? We could show some sort of proof of ownership or we might need to purchase it back or...

1 John 4:7-12, ATONING SACRIFICE. God made a promise to Abraham. Somehow, instead of wiping out human beings, he was going to commit to saving them and restoring them and healing them and redeeming them and if God goes back on his promise, then he is not good and he’s not just. It’s this paradox...

Is God merciful or vengeful? In Genesis, God chooses one family, the Israelites, from among the nations, he promises that he’s going to rescue the whole world through this family. But Genesis ends with the family of Abraham in Egypt. Exodus chapters 1-18, God rescues Israel from slavery in...

Exodus 34:6, God is slow to anger, this might surprise some people. Isn’t the God of the Bible mostly angry, striking people down for their sins? In Hebrew, the phrase “slow to anger” is “long of nose.” What does God’s patience have to do with a long nose? The common biblical Hebrew way to say...

Why do humans care so much about justice? The Bible has a fascinating response, humans are set apart from all other creatures as the image of God. God’s representatives, who rule the world by “their” definition of good and evil, and this identity is the bedrock of the Bible’s view of justice...

“Sin” is the translated Hebrew word “khata” or the Greek word “hamartia,” the basic meaning of sin isn’t religious at all, khata simply means “to fail” or “miss the goal.” Like when the Israelite tribe of Benjamin trained a small army of slingshot experts, they could sling a stone at a hair and...

Now, humans aren’t spiritual beings, they are made of the dirt, like the animals. But God calls humans to become something more, he elevates them to live and rule in Eden, the place where heaven and earth are one. They are invited to eat from the tree of life. This tree is an image of receiving...

In the Bible, the idea of holiness, it’s really describing how God is the creative force behind the whole universe. God’s the one and only being with the power to make a world full of such beauty and life, and with all these abilities, they make God utterly unique, which is the meaning of the...

Humans, by the ways that they do what they’re doing in the world, their existence is as a pointer, to bear witness to the Creator. The image of God isn’t separate from glorifying God, but the point of an image is to point to a reality of what it represents. Humans are meant to reflect something...

Exodus 34:6, loyal love, it translates the Hebrew word “khesed,” which is hard to translate into any language, because it combines the ideas of love, generosity and enduring commitment, all into one. Khesed describes an act of promise-keeping loyalty, that is, motivated by deep personal care...