Tag: Jesus

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Bible

The Error of the Pharisees

In The Error of the Sadducees and Pharisees, it was noted that the Pharisees’ mistake was adding to the Bible and then esteeming their additions as more important.

Jesus notes that they break God’s commands in order to keep their own, man-made traditions (that is, the religious rules they added to the Bible).  He then gives an example and quotes Isaiah, deeming it as worthless worship.

While most God-loving people would shutter at the thought of doing this, their actions often belie their intentions.

Consider being fixated on what a certain scholar says about the Bible and knowing his or her work better than the Bible or jumping on the bandwagon of the latest “hot” author, pouring over his or her writings with great fervor, while relegating the Bible to second-class status.

Studying scholars and writers who point us to God can be a positive and helpful thing, which should not be dismissed.  However, giving them undo importance, or diminishing God and what the Bible says about him in the process, is never good.

It is the error of the Pharisees.

[See Matthew 15:3-9, Mark 7:5-13, and Isaiah 29:13.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Are You High?

Do you ever wonder what God thinks of you?  Unfortunately, I suspect that most people who consider such a question reach the wrong conclusion.

But what if an angel were to show up and provide a supernatural perspective about you?

It’s happened:

An angel tells Daniel that he is “highly esteemed.”  This doesn’t just happen once but is said three times on two different occasions.  As a result of being highly esteemed, great insight into the future is revealed to Daniel.

A few centuries later, an angel tells a young girl that she is “highly favored”; her name is Mary.  As a result of being highly favored, Jesus is born and the world is forever changed.

Although we can’t earn our salvation, we apparently can be esteemed and favored by God for our actions and dedication; implicitly, the opposite must also be true.

While we may never have an angel visit us to say what God thinks of us, the Bible does reveal this truth.  But to find out, you can’t read it as a legal document or an instruction manual; embrace the Bible as a narrative, God’s narrative to you.

[See Daniel 9:23 and 10:11&19, and Luke 1:28.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

A Curious Thing

The ninth chapter of Daniel records a curious prayer of Daniel.

One thing that is strange is Daniel confesses things he never did.  He personally accepts the errors of former generations, identifying with the wayward actions of his country.

It is as if Daniel, though innocent in this regard, takes on himself the faults and failures of an entire nation, personally confessing them and seeking God’s deliverance on their behalf.

If that sounds a bit familiar, Jesus did the same thing, but on a much grander scale and with universal and everlasting impact.

Daniel’s humble prayer foreshadows Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.

[See Daniel 9:1-19 and check out 2 Corinthians 5:21.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

As part of your Christmas celebrations, don’t forget what Christmas is all about — Jesus.  Read or re-read the Christmas story.

May you and your family and friends have a wonderful Christmas.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God’s Spirit To Be Poured Out On All People

Many passages in the New Testament of the Bible quote parts of the Old Testament, which was written hundreds of years before.  In some versions of the Bible, footnotes — added by the translators — refer us to the original text.

One verse, however, cites the source from the text.  It is in the book of Acts, where Peter directly references what the prophet Joel said.  Here’s what happened:

Jesus tells the disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit to them to help and guide them.  The Holy Spirit shows up and things get crazy: there’s the sound of a strong wind, the appearance of flames of fire, and the disciples start preaching in other languages.

The people freak out and blame it on too much wine.

Peter sets things straight by showing that this was foretold by the prophet Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.”

Joel says it would happen, Peter and his buddies experience it, and things are forever changed: the Holy Spirit is given to all.  Yes, all.  That means them and it means us — you and me; all.  As a result crazy things can happen for us, too!

[See Acts 2:1-13, Acts 2:16-18, and Joel 2:28-29.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Zephaniah and the Flood?

A quick read of the beginning of the book of Zephaniah sounds a lot like Noah and the flood: “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

“I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.  The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

Aside from the minor issue that fish won’t likely be destroyed by a flood, the main problem is that this passage foretells a future event, but Noah and flood happened centuries before.

The flood was God’s judgment over rampant evil in the world.  The righteous were saved, the wicked were not.

According to Zephaniah there will be another time of judgment.  Jesus talks about this, too.  Although God promises he will never again destroy the world with a flood, he doesn’t preclude using other means.

We don’t know when this will occur, but there is no need to worry for those who follow Jesus.

[See Zephaniah 1:2-3, 2 Peter 2:5, Luke 17:26-27, Genesis 9:11, and John 12:26.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Error of Edom

The short book of Obadiah is a stinging rebuke to the nation of Edom, not for what they overtly did, but for what they did indirectly: for a failure to act, for smug attitudes, and for capitalizing on the wrong actions of others.

Even though they did not directly do wrong, the outcome is quite clear: “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”

A few centuries later, Paul teaches the same lesson: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.”

Hosea phrases this in the positive: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love”

However, Jesus said it best: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you…For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

More succinctly, in what we call the Golden Rule, Jesus also said: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”

Yes, good words to live by.

[See Obadiah 1:11-15, Galatians 6:7, Hosea 10:12, Luke 6:37-39, and Matthew 7:12.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Give to God What Belongs to God

In Jesus’ parable of the tenants, there is a man who plants a vineyard and rents it out.  When it is harvest time, he sends his representative to collect some of the harvest (which is likely the terms of lease).

Instead of remitting to the owner what is due him, the tenants refuse, mistreating everyone the owner sends, even to the point of killing his son.  The owner then kills the evil tenants and leases the vineyard to others.

Perhaps the first part of this parable is a picture of what God wants from us.  As tenants in his creation, he desires us to give part of our “crop” to him as a form of “rent” for the privilege of living here. This seems simple enough, but often we are greedy, wanting to keep everything for ourselves. 

The implication is that God will then find someone else who is willing give to him what is due him.

This is perhaps what Jesus had in mind when on another occasion says “…and give to God what belongs to God.”

[See Luke 20:6-19 and Matthew 22:21.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Do You Want More?

Here is another thought building on the prior post about one of Jesus’ parables.

To review, the parable is about a noble man who,before going on a journey, entrusts three servants with varying amounts of money to invest for him. 

The first two invest their amounts and earn a good return, apparently doubling their stakes.  The third however, to whom little is entrusted, makes no effort to invest it. 

He lazily does nothing and merely returns the original amount to his master.  This is done under the guise of keeping it safe.  The master takes the money from the lazy servant and gives it to the first servant.  The people nearby protest that this is not fair.

Jesus replies “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.”

The lesson in this seems to be that to those who have been blessed with resources and have been faithful with them, more will be given.  However, to those who have not faithful with what they have, that too will be taken away.  We must be wise and faithful stewards.

A direct application of this may be for the person who is asking God for more, be it for physical provision or spiritual blessing.  Perhaps their felt lack is a result of them having already been unfaithful with what they had been given; therefore it was taken away.

The warning in this is that perhaps we shouldn’t ask God for more if we have misused or squandered what he has already provided.

[See Luke 19:11-27.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

A Hard Man

Doctor Luke records a parable of Jesus.  It is about a noble man who, before going on a journey, entrusts three servants with varying amounts of money to invest for him. 

The first two invest their amounts and earn a good return, apparently doubling their stakes. The third however, to whom little is entrusted, makes no effort to invest it.  He lazily does nothing and merely returns the original amount to his master.

This is done under the guise of keeping it safe, calling his master a “hard man.”  The master judges him accordingly, taking the money away from him and giving it to the first servant.

Although we must guard against reading too much into a parable, the nobleman in this one parallels God.  When the servant declares that the noble is a “hard man,” is this a characteristic that we can apply to God? 

At first glance it is difficult, perhaps even seeming sacrilegious, to call God “hard,” but is there truth that can be gleaned from this?  In balancing the paradox of a God of love with a God whom we fear, does a “hard” God fit somewhere into the picture of who he is?

For those who think God will give them a free pass regardless of how they act or what they do, the image of God as hard, that is a strict God, might be a good characteristic for them to ponder.

However, there are also those who view God as mean and vindictive, just waiting for them to mess up so that he can inflict ill-will upon them.  Their view of God is already way too “hard”; they will do well to focus on his loving nature instead.

Yes, God does have a hard side to him, but that’s not all there is to him; he is also loving and gentle.

[See Luke 19:11-27.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.