Category: Bible Study
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Study Guide: The Prophecies of Zechariah. Part 1 (Introduction)
Historical Context In 587 B.C., the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the palace of Zedekiah in Jerusalem. The city had been under siege by the Babylonian army for a year, and the Babylonian hordes were only moments away from overwhelming the city’s defenses, capturing Jerusalem, and shipping her inhabitants off to exile in Babylon. The…
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The Divine Pursuit: Seeking Love and Holiness in the Song of Songs (Part 7)
Together Again (Song 4:1-5:1) I took a 6-month hiatus from the Song of Songs, but, fear not, I have returned. Last December, I walked through Song 3:6-11, which depicts a bride and her groom excitedly approaching one another on their wedding day. I suggested that the beautiful moment of unity shared between the two lovers…
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Study Guide: Shedding Some Light on the Book of Jude
Featured image: William Blake, “Enoch”. Lithograph, 1803. © The Trustees of the British Museum The book of Jude is a scathing indictment of false teachers in the Church. Featuring brutal statements and accusations that resemble Old Testament judgment prophecies, a couple of references to sources that are not actually in the Bible, and complete with…
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The ‘Acts Church’ as Fulfillment of the Sabbatical Year
In preaching courses, we are usually taught that maybe 10 to 20 percent of our sermon-prep research makes it into the actual sermon. So, as a general rule, preachers don’t usually get to talk about everything they discovered about the passage they are preaching on. This is simply for clarity’s sake; the small details of…
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Study Guide: Paul’s Letter to Philemon
Reading Paul’s letter to Philemon might take you less than a minute and a half, but don’t let its brevity lead you to think that the letter is insignificant. Philemon is a case study in the gospel’s power to bring about reconciliation in human relationships. Purpose It is generally understood that Philemon lived in Colossae…
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The Divine Pursuit: Seeking Love and Holiness in the Song of Songs (part 6)
“Who Is She?” (3:6-11) This section of the Song seems straightforward on the surface, but the diversity of wildly different interpretations among biblical scholars signals that this may not be the case at all. As with most of the poems in the Song, all is not as it seems. Before we dive in, let’s take…
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Responding to Troublemakers: A Study of 3 John
Introduction 3 John is a very brief book found at the end of the New Testament that gives us a glimpse into the everyday conflict that early Christians dealt with in their churches. Like followers of Jesus today, they were not perfect, and disputes flared up all the time. These ancient letters are so…
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The Divine Pursuit: Seeking Love and Holiness in the Song of Songs (part 5)
Read Part 4 here “Have You Seen This Man?” (Song 3:1-5) Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the reader to the two lovers in the Song and establish (in no uncertain terms) that, 1.) the man and the woman adore one another and are hopelessly lovesick for each other, and 2.) the man and the woman…
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The Divine Pursuit: Seeking Love and Holiness in the Song of Songs (Part 4)
Read Part 3 “Heaven Meets Earth Like” . . . (Song 2:1-17) Chapter 2 opens with the woman’s words: “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” The first home my wife and I moved into in Warsaw, Indiana had a large backyard that was overrun with rose of Sharon. It is…
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The Divine Pursuit: Seeking Love and Holiness in the Song of Songs
Part 3: Love is Lovely (Song 1:1-17) View part 2 here. Structure The first section of the Song of Songs establishes a “He-She-Chorus” structure which frames the narrative of the story from three different points of view: those of a woman, a man, and a chorus of observers. The man and the woman express their…
Kingdom Ethos 