Category Archives: Bible Commentary

Love Like Jesus–A Storm and a Wedding: Mark 4:37-39

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Love Like Jesus Calm the StormA Storm Hits a Wedding Ceremony

I went to this wedding once where the person who took charge of planning the wedding had a beautiful vision for it. It was going to happen outside and it was going to be done in a very particular way so as to make the setting spectacular. The only thing was, everything was geared for outdoors. The venue was an outdoor venue, so the wedding and reception depended on dry calm weather. And whenever the person who was planning this thing was asked what she would do if it rained, she simply said: It won’t rain.

Well guess what?

A storm came through, and it rained.

And the weather outside wasn’t the only storm happening that day. With no indoor venue or arrangements made whatsoever, the wedding planner just shut down. Panic and pandemonium ensued as the bride, the bride’s mother, and many others frantically attempted to put something together.

Then in stepped these two women who were friends of the bride’s mother. In a very gentle and gracious manner they just sort of, took over. They found a gym they could use at a Christian high school. They figured out how to arrange the outdoor tables and chairs to accommodate the guests, even though the gym was much smaller than expected. They found a place for the caterer to set up. They improvised with the decorations designed for the outdoor venue. They were amazing.

It wasn’t long after these two engaged the problem that the storm subsided and a calm came over the bride and the rest of the wedding party.

How Jesus Loved People

When the disciples took Jesus across the sea of Galilee and the storm came, there was panic and pandemonium. The disciples in the boat were freaking out–because of a storm–so Jesus calmed it.

How to Love Like Jesus

Jesus loved the disciples by calming their storm. You and I can’t command the wind and the waves, but there are other storms we can calm.

Just like Jesus, God has put you in a boat with a group of people. They’re the ones in your family, in your workplace, in your circle of friends. And just like the disciples in the boat, they’ll experience storms. And sometimes, like the two ladies at the wedding, you’ll have the power to calm those storms.

When someone you know is freaked out, maybe you’re just the right person to bring them peace. Maybe their storm is a computer that’s down, or a car that won’t start, or the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job.

You just might be uniquely qualified to calm the wind and the waves.

Jesus calmed the storm for the disciples.

When you see an opportunity to calm someone’s storm, calm it.

Jesus did.

You can too.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. -Mark 4:37-39

[Image via Green Destiny - Creative Commons]

Love Like Jesus–Even When It’s Less Than Ideal: John 19:26-27

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Mothers Day Love Like Jesus Honor your mother

Mothers Day Meal

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. -John 19:26-27

How Jesus Loved People

They just scourged him. They just pressed the thorny crown into his head. They just made him carry his own cross, as far as he was able, up the hill called the place of the Skull. And he was just crucified, they just nailed him to the cross, I mean, he’s actually hanging there, on the cross, between two criminals. And in the midst of all that, Jesus had the presence of mind to arrange for his mother to be taken care of after his death. (John 19:1-27)

How to Love Like Jesus

I’m guessing your circumstances are better than Jesus’.

Go and honor your mother.

[Image via Andy Ciordia - Creative Commons]

Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 5): Isaiah 53

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Jesus in the Old Testament Isaiah 53

Christ’s wounded hand, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France by John Kroll – Creative Commons

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. -Isaiah 53:5-6 (You can read Isaiah 53 in its entirety at the bottom of this post)

Isaiah 53 Written After Jesus’ Death and Resurrection?

Isaiah chapter 53 is so descriptive of Jesus Christ it seems out of place. There’s just no way this should be here. It should come after the New Testament, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, not before. Continue reading →

Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 4): Daniel’s Prophecy

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Jesus in Old Testament Daniel Prophecy

The prophet Daniel from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.” -Daniel 9:25-26

This prophecy from Daniel predicts the time when Messiah would present himself–as Messiah–to the nation of Israel. At the time this prophecy was given by Daniel, Jerusalem was in ruins. The “sevens” God speaks of when He says, “seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’” are seven year periods. So the time frame we’re talking about here is:

Seven times seven years, plus sixty-two times seven years.

or, written in numerals,

7 x 7 years + 62 x 7 years.

Which equals 49 years + 434 years.

Which equals a total of 483 years.

Both the Hebrews and Babylonians of Daniel’s day used a 360 day calendar. So taking that into account, when you multiply the 483 years times 360 days you come up with 173,880 days.

483 years x 360 = 173,880.

Which equals 476+ years on the modern calendar.

Artaxerxes, the Persian emperor, decreed Jerusalem to be restored and rebuilt in the 20th year of his reign, around 444 BC. (Nehemiah 2:1-8) That’s what started the clock for this prophecy.

Do you see where this is headed? The time frame given in the prophecy, 476 years, added to the starting point given in the prophecy, the year in which Jerusalem was ordered to be restored by Artaxerxes, puts us around AD 33. (In case you were wondering, there is no zero year. The calendar goes from 1 BC to 1 AD. That’s why it’s AD 33 instead of AD 32.)

AD 33.

That’s when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey while the people praised him and received him as their king. (Luke 19:28-42) And shortly thereafter Jesus was put to death–fulfilling the prophecy.

Scholars have different opinions about exactly when the 483 years started. But even so, any way you look at it, Daniel’s prophecy is amazing.

Once again we see that Jesus’ words are true.

Once again we find Jesus in the Old Testament.

Just as he said they were, when Moses and the prophets wrote the scriptures–they were writing about Jesus Christ.

“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” -Jesus Christ, Luke 24:44

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[Resources and related articles: John Walvoord, Daniel (The John Walvoord Prophecy Commentaries), Moody 2012]

[Image via: Missional Volunteer - Creative Commons]

A Matter of Life and Death: The Kingdom of Heaven is Near

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kingdom of heaven is near

“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” -Jesus Christ, Matthew 4:17 (NLT)

Young man: “I just found out my favorite college professor has cancer.”

Old man: “I am so sorry to hear that. You know, I just spoke with my best friend from high school and learned he lost his brother, his mother, his sister-in-law, and his father–all in one year.

Life is so much more fragile than we realize. Life is so much shorter than we recognize. The kingdom of heaven is near.

Turn your heart toward God our Father.

While you still can.”

[Image via mayakamina - Creative Commons]

Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 3): Genesis 5

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They Testify of Jesus

“…they are they which testify of me.” -Jesus Christ, speaking of the Old Testament scriptures.

Genesis Chapter 5 is solely dedicated to a list of Adam’s descendants. (you can read the full chapter at the bottom of this post) Why would God do that? Why devote a chapter to a list of names? We can see why He did it, in Genesis 5 at least, when we look at the first ten names in the order given. Continue reading →

Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 2): Genesis 22

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Jesus Old Testament Abraham Isaac sacrifice

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me…”  Jesus Christ, John 5:39

In our last post we saw Jesus in the story of Joseph. Today we’ll see Jesus in another Old Testament passage: the story of Abraham taking his son Isaac to sacrifice.

Read Genesis 22

Before Genesis 22, Abraham was last seen together with Isaac when he was celebrating Isaac’s weaning. At that time Isaac was somewhere between three and five years old. Genesis 22 begins in verse one with the phrase Some time later… So fast forward to when some say Isaac is now thirty-three years old. He’s been the apple of his parent’s eye for thirty or so years now and even as his name means laughter, he’s provided laughter and joy to both Abraham and Sarah. Which as we’ll see makes the next phrase in our story, God tested Abraham, just about as gut wrenching as you can imagine. Abraham is about to hear what to him must have seemed like a very strange request from the Lord. Continue reading →

Jesus in the Old Testament (Part 1): Genesis 50:15-21

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Jesus in Old Testament
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” -Genesis 50:15

In last Saturday’s post, Looking for the Living Among the Dead, we saw how Jesus talked to the two men on the road to Emmaus who thought He was dead. ”…beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27-34)

Here in Genesis we see what I believe is just one example of how Jesus is found in the writings of Moses and all the prophets. Perhaps Christ even shared something similar with the two on the road to Emmaus.

Joseph’s Response to the Sins of His Brothers

Jacob, the father of Joseph and his brothers, has just passed away. The funeral is over, and the family is back at home in Egypt, trying to return to their normal routine. It’s at this time, all the wrongs Joseph’s brothers committed against Joseph, come flooding into their minds: they hated him because he was their father’s favorite, they plotted to kill him, they tossed him into a cistern, they sold him into slavery, then they lied to their father and told him Joseph was dead.

And now Jacob is gone. And they think Joseph has just been waiting for the right time to settle the score. They think he’s angry. They think he’s ready for revenge. So they throw themselves down before Joseph, the powerful Prime Minister, and beg for his forgiveness. Continue reading →

Why RISK Is Right

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The following is an excerpt by David Platt. To read the full article click on the link: Why RISK Is Right.

In Matthew 13:44 Jesus tells his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

I love this picture. Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life. It is more valuable than all you have now or will ever have in the future.

You look around and notice that no one else realizes the treasure is here, so you cover it up quickly and walk away, pretending you haven’t seen anything. You go into town and begin to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field. The world thinks you’re crazy. Continue reading →