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With the new Star Wars movie setting records, it is a good opportunity to note the connections between Star Wars and the Bible. We can readily see the following parallels between the Star Wars epic and the Biblical story: There is a cosmic battle going on between the forces of... Read More →

How are you doing in your walk with God? During the exile (6th century B.C.), the Israelites realized that they had done quite badly. They had strayed from God, broken God’s commandments, and as a consequence had fallen prey to the Babylonian Empire, which had destroyed the... Read More →

One of the prophetic images that we often lift up during the Advent season comes from Isaiah 52. It is the image of watchmen standing on a city wall, who see a messenger coming, bringing good news. The image reminds us of how people were expectantly watching for the Messiah, and... Read More →

There is much in our world that can cause us fear. Whether we look at the troubling happenings around us, or whether we look at the troubles and threats in our own personal lives, we have almost endless reasons for anxiety. The Bible gives us the answer to fear. One of the most... Read More →

How can you be thankful when the world is full of bad news, or if your life is full of bad news? From the Biblical prophets—who lived in the midst of bad news and yet were thankful to God—we can learn the following principles: Take note of the good that you have! We so often... Read More →

Some situations look hopeless. The Middle East. The Browns. Maybe some situation in your personal life. Things looked completely hopeless for the people of Israel during the Exile, when they had lost just about everything. They were in such trouble and despair that in one of the... Read More →

Does your wallet have holes? It may seem that way! The Bible uses exactly that sort of picture to describe our personal finances. Our wages “go into a bag full of holes,” says the prophet Haggai. (Haggai 1:6) With our finances tight, there is not much available to give for God.... Read More →

Last weekend we had twin holidays with opposite symbols—Halloween, with symbols of fear and death, and All Saints Day, with symbols of faith and promise. Halloween is the legacy of a Druid festival in which ancient people sought to ward off deathly spirits. The elements of... Read More →

The blessings of God are free, but they are not cheap. Human beings tend to get confused on both sides of that equation. On the one hand, we so often get caught up in grasping after things in this world which we think will bring us happiness, but which leave us unfulfilled. As... Read More →

Is it possible to find peace—in our personal lives, and in our world? Peace may often seem elusive. Yet the prophets lift up remarkable visions of peace, created by the working of God. The visions of the prophets come to their fulfillment through Jesus Christ. Jesus brings us to... Read More →

Finally this week we are getting rain! Though not welcome for our outside activities, it brings much needed refreshment to drooping plants on thirsty ground. In the Bible, water is a major symbol of the life-giving power of God—how God can refresh, cleanse, and restore us. So the... Read More →

Human beings suffer from division—from God and from one another. Christ comes to us as the One who can restore us to a right relationship with God and who can reconcile us with one another. Christ fulfills the prophetic vision of “the repairer of the breach,” as He brings healing... Read More →

If we get off track in life, is it possible to change—to get onto the right path into a good future? The prophet Ezekiel—who wrote during a time when the people of Israel were in great trouble because of how they had strayed from God—answered that question with a resoun... Read More →

If there is any parable of Jesus that encapsulates the gospel, it is the parable of the prodigal son (see the story in Luke 15). The parable likewise encapsulates a key set of themes that run throughout the Old Testament prophets, namely: Human beings tend to wander away from... Read More →

Is life frustrating? Do you find yourself beset with obstacles and setbacks? Then you can identify with the prophet Ezekiel. At the very moment when Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet—to speak God’s word to the people of Israel—he was also told by God that no one was going... Read More →

Does it seem that the problems of the world are endless and overwhelming? It certainly seemed so to the first readers of the book of Daniel. They lived during very dark times, when the faithful were persecuted. In Daniel chapter 7, the prophet Daniel describes a vision in which... Read More →

What does it profit, my friends, if people say they have faith but do not have works? If someone is destitute of food, and one of you says, “Go in peace, be blessed” but you do not give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is it? Thus faith by itself, if it... Read More →

How do you feel when you hear the day’s news—when you hear about brutal killings, or people running roughshod over the environment, or people being cheated and exploited? You likely feel anger, a sense of moral outrage! Given the fact that human beings are continually doing... Read More →

Do you feel at times that God is distant? Do have trouble at times understanding God? The prophet Ezekiel (600 B.C.) dealt with both issues. Disaster had fallen upon him and his people, and it seemed that God was far away. Then he had a vision, recounted in Ezekiel chapter 1. The... Read More →