The Attributes of God:

When actions speak louder than words. Esther 1 “And let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she.” The event that happens in the world and in our lives often seem to be governed by the winds of luck While we think we can manage our lives and the circumstances we face, daily we are confronted with the reality that we have little control over the events that shape our lives. An insignificant decision we make today may have a significant impact on what happens tomorrow. The arbitrary acts of others can change the course of our lives in the future. It is little wonder that French biochemist Jacques Monod, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on genetics wrote: “Pure chance, absolutely free and blind, at the very root of the stupendous edifice of evolution: This central concept of modern biology is no longer one among other possible or even conceivable hypotheses. It is today the sole conceivable hypothesis, the only one that squares with observed and tested fac...

The New Name Read Revelation 19:11-19 “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.”               The Christmas story is one filled with wonder and amazement. We are confounded that the God of the universe would be born as a baby in a manger. While the arrival of Christ was announced through the dramatic appearance of the angels, the birth of Christ presents Christ in his humility. It should always cause us to stop and reflect when we read the narrative that the God of the universe would appear as a tiny baby in the manger. Christ came to bring salvation in the first advent, and he was seen in humility. Jesus as a baby, is safe, one that we can identify with for his weakness and vulnerability. He is a person we can identify with. However, as C.S. Lewis reminds us in the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan (who represents Christ) is not safe but...

Jesus:  The Word Read John 1:1-17 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”               When we think of the Christmas story and the birth of Jesus, our thoughts go immediately to Matthew and Luke and the story of the Wisemen and shepherds. We turn to the passages that tell us what happened on that incredible night. However, John 1:1-17 is equally focused upon the birth of Jesus. While Matthew and Luke tell the of the event, John focuses more on the importance of the event. He begins by announcing not the birth of Jesus but the arrival of “The Word.” In this name or title, John connects the person and activity of Christ to the person and action of God.             The first thing that strikes us is the phrase “in the beginning.”  These words point us back to the very beginning of time and God's creative w...

The Title Lord Philippians 2:1-11 “And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father.”               Of the names and titles used of Christ, none was more unexpected and astounding than the title “Lord.”  To understand the significance of the name, we must go back into the Old Testament. Since the New Testament was written in Greek, we must also go back to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament (commonly referred to as the Septuagint). In the Old Testament, two Hebrew words are translated by the title “Lord.”  The first is “Adonai,” meaning “lord, master, or owner.” When it was used of God, it focused on the authority and majesty of God. The second word translated as “Lord” is the name used most frequently of God, and that is the name “Yahweh” (which means “He is” taken from “I am” In Exodus 3:14). Throughout the Old Testament, this became known as “t...

The Christ Luke 2:1-20 “For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”               On that night, shepherds were gathered together, unaware that everything would change. As they tended to their flock, it started as an ordinary evening, uneventful and nondescript. Yet, unbeknown to them, everything would change, and they would be forever celebrated in the Christmas pageants. Suddenly the calm of the night was interrupted by a dazzling display of God’s glory as an angel stood before. Surrounded by the flaming glory of God, they were terrified. We can only imagine the thoughts that must have swept through their mind as their night went from the mundane to the startling to the terrifying and then to the subline. But the most amazing event was not the appearance of the angel but the announcement he made. The statement that would bring wonder to the world is found in verse 11, “th...

The names of Jesus Read Matthew 1:18-25 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.”               In Matthew 1, we find the angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph. The reason for the focus on Joseph is that it was revealed to him that the name to be given to his firstborn is the name “Jesus .”For the Jews, this name was nondescript. It was a common name that people would give their sons. For the Jews, the name Jesus would be comparable to someone naming their son John. It was a popular name. The popularity stemmed from the background of the Old Testament hero, who bore the same name. The name Jesus in Hebrew would be pronounced Jeshua, thus connecting the name to the Old Testament personage of Joshua (Hebrew: Jeshua), the great military leader who led the nation in seizing possession of the land promised to Abraham in the covenant god made with him.   ...

Man’s sin and God’s faithfulness Nehemiah 9 “But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and you did not forsake them.               In his classic work, the Existence and Attributes of God, Stephen Charnock describes our sinful aversion to God and our misrepresentation of him. Because of our sin, we have no desire to converse with God. Instead of pursuing towards him, in our sinful state, we do not long for him. Thus Charnock writes, “Not his dawn sword as a God of judgment, nor his mighty power as Lord, nor his open arms as the Lord their God could move them to turn their eyes and their hearts towards him. The more he invites us to partake of his grace, the further we run from him to provoke his wrath: the louder God called them by his prophets, the closer they stuck to their Baal. We turn our backs when he stretches out his hand, stop our ears when he lift...