THEME: This is an intricate word study that seeks to biblically unravel mysteries concerning the creation of (layered) heavens. This will include the possibility that the Raqia [“firmament”] was possibly layered in such a way as to allow for divisions of water below the earth as well as above the...
FI Y4 Wk. 26 P. SHEMINI (the eighth day) DEATH OF NADAB AND ABIHU—THE FEAR OF GOD
THE THEME OF THIS DEVOTION IS: REVERENCE FOR GOD “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD...
The Enigma of You
“Trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home,” wrote nineteenth-century English poet William Wordsworth in Lines from Tintern Abbey. His sentiment was that before we were born, we had an existence in God. He could feel something more than he knew something. But we who...
Darkness and Light: Cosmology Intersects the Bible
It may surprise one to know that cosmologists today understand the universe to be composed of two basic kinds of energy, usually described as matter and light. These experts believe this energy exists in two primary “sectors” of the universe—the dark sector and the light sector. The light sector (comprised...
THE FIRST CENTURY MESSIAH: The Issue of Time and Understanding
Jesus of Nazareth split time in two. The Roman Catholic church designated the division as BC and AD, “Before Christ” and “Anno Domini” (Latin for “the year of our Lord”). Since then time measures world-wide have followed this custom, even among nations that were not Christian. In a relatively recent...
Harvest Time
What was Noah thinking when he came out of the ark after the devastation of a world-wide flood that destroyed everything familiar to him and his fellow-survivors? What kind of security could he now expect for life going forward? Indeed, the rainbow was a consolation, but it appeared only during...
Spring into a New Old
Springtime—and fresh air. Sunshine is bright after gray winter skies evaporate into warm clarity. Deer dash across fairways having peeked from nearby forests. Children laugh on playgrounds once more. Sprouts abound, and birds chirp merrily with songs of anticipation. Everything is new. In Matthew 9:17 Jesus said that “Men do...
Seeds and Growth
Tu B’Shvat is a time of expectation. Seeds unseen in the ground are gestating and about to break forth into the sunlight of growth toward maturation and fruitfulness. It is along the line of this cycle that I wish to focus your attention—in an unusual way. What about when expectation...
JESUS AT THE FEAST OF DEDICATION
John 10:22, “Now it was the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (NKJV) Jesus had the people of Judea in a state of frenzy as they tried to reconcile his mighty works against their perceptions of Jesus as a blasphemer. After they took up stones to kill...
Judah and His Brothers
Family leadership can be a messy business. Take the case of Judah who came up with a messy plan to save his brother Joseph from gruesome death at the hands of his brothers: “And Judah said unto his brothers: What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal...