God Running
Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Predella con Leggenda di Santo Stefano by Mariotto di Nardo, 1408

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

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How I Gave Myself To Jesus But Then Gave Myself To Doubt (And Then Found Him Again In The Old Testament)

hebrew_tanakh-wikimedia-commons

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”

John 10:1-2

How Jesus Views The Tanakh

In the verses to follow, Jesus is about to share who he is, using shepherd and sheep imagery from the Tanakh (or Old Testament). Something I’ve noticed about Jesus is his complete belief in the reliability and authority of the Old Testament scriptures. Speaking of the Tanakh he said, Read More

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

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;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his 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. Read More

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

Jesus in Old Testament Daniel Prophecy

The prophet Daniel from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

Daniel 9:25-26

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

Jesus Old Testament Abraham Isaac sacrifice

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness 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 “After these things . . .” So fast forward to when some say Isaac is now in his thirties. 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. Read More

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

Jesus in Old Testament
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that 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 with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things 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. Read More

Looking for the Living Among the Dead

Easter Jesus Christ Risen living among the dead

Why do you look for the living among the dead? -Luke 24:25

A Dead Sparrow

The bird hit the big picture window like a bug hits a windshield. It didn’t fair well. The little sparrow fell to the deck floor some six feet below the point of impact, which was marked with feathers stuck to the surface of the glass. It lay on its side at first, then it slowly rolled over and extended its legs up toward the sky. It was almost cartoonish. The only thing missing were a couple of ‘Xs” over each eye. My kids heard the “THUMP” and ran out onto the deck where the bird lay.

“We need to pray for him dad!” They insisted.

Wow. This is awkward. I had taught my kids about the power of God, and the power of prayer, and the importance of faith. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith. I had faith alright. I had faith I’d be planting that sparrow in the back yard with all our other dead pets. But what could I do? My kids were expecting a miracle.

So we prayed. Read More

Resurrection: Genesis 41:1-40

Jesus Old Testament

Read Genesis 41:1-40

Verse 1: “When two full years had passed…” Wait, let’s stop right there. Two years? Yes, two full years. But that was after Joseph had already been in prison for eight years. So Joseph was left in the dungeon for two full years after his encounter with the chief cupbearer and the chief baker and for a total of ten years. In our last post on Genesis we looked at how Joseph was apparently forgotten and what that feels like. We also saw how Joseph’s life paints a prophetic picture of Jesus. (See previous post Forgotten) In today’s post, we’ll see Joseph resurrected from the dungeon. Read More