Blog

God’s activity during the six days of creation differs from His divine providence or under the radar work outside of Eden. Nahum M. Sarna wrote, “One of the most characteristic qualities of biblical man was a profound and pervasive conviction about the role of divine providence in human affairs.” God is always active outside of Eden, even if His working is unseen—and that’s a good thing, since life outside of Eden is populated with spiritually blind and broken... Read More

In the beginning, when God creates man and woman, He lives in relationship with them, even walking with them in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. He does so, that is, until man doubts God’s goodness, disbelieves His Word, eats the fruit from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and is deported from the Garden. Instead of walking with God in faith and exercising God’s gift of dominion (see Genesis 1:28) over every creeping thing in Eden (including the... Read More

Annual celebrations or holidays reveal brokenness within families and their need of redemption. Hannah’s story is such a story.  Early in Israel’s forty-year tenure in the wilderness, God instructs the community to set aside a number of days in their annual calendar to commemorate His activity on their behalf. Three of those feasts (holidays) require all of Israel to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose” ( Deuteronomy 16:16 ).... Read More

The Bible doesn’t give us a great deal of information about the devil. He appears in the first book of the Bible (Genesis 3), but we only know that it is he from the last book of the Bible (Rev. 12:9). He is the Serpent, the Tempter of Christ (Matthew 4:1, 3), and the leader of the forces that will marshal against God in the end of time (Rev. 20:8). The book that gives us the most information about the devil in the Old Testament, however, is the book of Job. Job gives us insights into his... Read More

  The One Year® Chronological Bible, NKJV (Tyndale, 2013), February 16     Reading Leviticus is like eating dry toast. Boring and seemingly useless to 21st readers. Or not.   Our youngest son is a trend eater. Years ago when he was around eight years old he only wanted four slices of dry toast for breakfast. Without jam. Without butter. For six months. Needless to say, I worried about the quality of his nutritional intake. Until one morning when I... Read More

  Read More

Alexander, T. D. From Paradise to the Promised Land . Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002. Beale, G. K. The Temple and the Church's Mission: A biblical theology of the dwelling place of God . Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,  2004. Benware, Paul N. Survey of the New Testament. Chicago: Moody, 2003. ------. Survey of the Old Testament . Chicago: Moody, 2003. Chatham, James O. Creation to Revelation . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. Chronological Guide to the Bible: Explore... Read More

All chronological Bibles are not created equal! Why do publishers produce chronological Bibles that differ in their chronology? Each publisher has its own team of theologians who construct the timeline of the Bible according to their scholarship. The chronology that they develop is considered intellectual property of the publisher. How do I choose which chronological Bible to read? Tyndale offers three translations in their The ONE YEAR® Chronological Bible (NLT, NIV, and NKJV).... Read More

Have you ever bought a new novel, ripped out the chapters, reordered them, and then tried to read the novel as a story? Could you imagine the frustration? Such an approach makes no sense with a novel, but we have adopted this very method when we study the Bible. It is no surprise, then, that many become discouraged when reading the Bible. What if there was a different way to read Scripture—a way that brought order and understanding? What if you could know the storyline of the Bible... Read More

The year is 930 BC. Forty years of relative stability have ended with a total collapse of government, as over 500 years of resentment and tribal differences have taken their toll on a fractured people. The nation of Israel has divided across lines of loyalty between Jeroboam in the north, and Rehoboam in the south. After a near miss in which Shemaiah the man of God kept Rehoboam from carrying an army northward to take back his kingdom, both kings have settled down to establish their bases of... Read More