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The Hebrew word for light is “or” and look at the word play in Torah. T”or”ah, let your light shine, we are the embodiment of the Torah.

The calling to live in reality by the teachings of Jesus is itself a part of and a result of a response to this transformational work that God’s doing in the human family and so, it’s God’s work in us and it’s our work with God. If we’re open to letting Jesus work in our minds and our hearts...

Jesus is saying, continue faithfully to be his ambassadors, his heralds, his salt and light in the world, be who we are and stop being something that we’re not. We are the embodiment of the covenant through which God’s long-lasting promises to his people are going to move forward, we are the...

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...

Throughout the gospel of Matthew, the word mercy and it’s connected words imply that merciful action is the concrete expression of our loyalty to God and what God demands is not so much activity directed to God, but loving kindness directed towards other people. The good life belongs to those...

God is the one who searches the heart, Proverbs and Psalms talk about this, this is about why God tests people, to discern what is in us. God in his wisdom and generosity will be just and fair and generous with how he evaluates people, but he’s evaluating us. We can see James and Paul reflecting...

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...

Now, Paul and some of the other New Testament writers, what are they constantly talking about? That righteousness doesn’t come by the law. It comes by this person, Jesus. That person, that second person right there is God, he is wisdom, he is the word, he is the angel, all these things that we...

To be pure of heart means, that our behavior, that’s observable to others, is doing right by God and doing right by others and that it’s matched completely by our internal lives and motivations that are doing right by God and right by others. We can fake it, while manipulating others, Jesus is...

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...

Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus began to announce, a summary of Jesus’s teaching is in one sentence, Matthew gives it to us, Jesus is announcing, to turn around. In Hebrew, repent is literally “to turn around,” there’s something happening, that requires you to go in a different direction, the...

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...