Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Genesis 6:14)
Jesus says that
The word translated ark is תֵּבָה tebah and it means a box or chest, which is why it came to English translations in this fashion; ‘ark’ derives from the Anglo Saxon ærc for casket – as clearly, God only tasks Noah to build a sea-worthy vessel, not a boat or ship.
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Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) *
Jesus’ agony on the cross was for all to see, the spectacle of suffering was the deterrent the Romans intended; but Isaiah says Jesus endures spiritual torment. Can it be that Jesus suffers even as he is glorified?
The word translated ‘anguish’ is עָמָל amal which means trouble, labour or misery. It intimates a sustained burden from which there is no escape.
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Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. (Matthew 28:16-17)
Now the Greek word in this passage that is translated as doubt is the verb διστάζω distazo, which means literally two-fold or double stance. To be caught between two positions, to vacillate.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? (James 2:14)
Many of a Calvinist persuasion object strongly to Jesus’ half-brothers linkage of faith and works, some even advocate the epistle be removed from the canon of the Bible, Read more
Hell is not a subject for polite conversation. Surely, in these modern times, free of superstition, the concept of eternal damnation is not only offensive but ludicrous? Of course, for any that are atheist, Hell has no meaning. But for the Christian, on what do they base this assessment of irrelevance? If the Bible is wrong on Hell, then how is ‘right’ on Heaven or Paradise? Some Christians avoid speaking about Hell, while others deny Jesus’ teaching on the subject. In this post, I examine what the Bible has to say about Hell.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. (Titus 2:11)
The word in Greek that is translated as ‘salvation’ is σωτηρία sótéria (Strong’s 4991). In Titus, Paul uses the adjectival form, and the sense is of deliverance; this begs the preposition, ‘from’. From what is anyone delivered or saved? God offers through Christ, His grace personified, to save individuals from a terrible judgment and ultimate expulsion from His communion.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. (2 Peter 1:10)
God is faithful and keeps his promises – even when humankind cannot. To save his creation, he had to make a covenant and populate both sides of the agreement. Jesus was God made flesh to ensure God the Father had no cause for default, but the cost was the separation, expressed in the Cry of Dereliction. To understand this process, it best to look to the previous biblical covenants, only then will the radical design of the ‘New Covenant’ emerge.
Is life a mere accident? Does human life have meaning, if so how and through whom? Science has answered many questions about the ‘how’ but not the ‘why’. But as beings that seek identity and purpose, failing to answer why there is life is more than unsatisfactory, for it leaves humankind in an existential vacuum that few can bear. Attempts to fill that vacuum include the accumulation of wealth or experiences, frenetic activity or developing addictive, destructive lifestyles. But nothing ultimately works – the gaping hole remains a chasm at our very core.
In this post, I attempt to explain that only when we face the fact that we are creatures and we have a creator, and moreover, wish to restore the relationship with our creator that life has meaning.
While warrior cultures like that of the Vikings sought a heroic death, today death is feared or ignored. Western medicine is given over to the pursuit of protracting life, even at the expense of its quality. For humankind, however, death was not and is not God’s intention but is the result of men and women’s rebellion.
God Breathed Words 