GOD SPOKE AND MEN WROTE The first five books of the Bible were written by Moses under God’s inspiration. This is how the Bible came to be: God spoke and men wrote. Paradoxically both fully human and fully divine. The Bible contains sixty-six books written by over forty God-inspired human authors of various cultures and
HOW DO YOU TREAT FOREIGNERS? God inspired Moses to write this instruction, including an appeal to the memories of the Israelites. Namely, that they should remember how it felt to be oppressed as foreigners in Egypt. This injunction has at least two motivating factors: First, obey because God said so, and second, obey because you
THE WORD THAT SATISFIES THE TEN WORDS Did you know that God actually spoke the Ten Commandments aloud from Mount Sinai for all the Israelites to hear? Before God wrote the Decalogue down onto stone tablets, He actually spoke them aloud from Mount Sinai for all the Israelites to hear. A literal translation of the
THE ONE WHO SPEAKS TO OUR HEARTS It is the Spirit of the Lord that pursues us. He whispers to our hearts to “come and talk” with Him. He is the one who first seeks us, so that now our hearts seek Him in return. Those who don’t know the Lord may seek His
WHY TAKE NOTE OF NUMBERS IN GOD’S WORD? As they traveled on, the Israelites came to Elim, an oasis located along the Eastern side of the Red Sea near the desert of Sin. It must have been a wonderful sight for the weary travelers as they saw twelve springs and a grove of seventy palm
DOES IT SEEM GOD LED YOU THE LONG WAY AROUND? Why did God lead the Israelites the long way around to the Promised Land? He wanted to give them time to grow in their faith before facing warfare with the Philistines. God led them like a coach preparing an athlete for a contest. He put
JESUS, OUR PASSOVER LAMB Among the many instructions God gave Moses concerning the Passover Lamb was that it must be a male without blemish and that they were not to “break any of its bones” in sacrificing it. God was preparing the Israelites not only for their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but ultimately for
THE SERVANT-LEADERSHIP MODEL OF JESUS When the mother of James and John came to Jesus asking that He give them significant leadership roles in His coming kingdom, He didn’t rebuke them. Instead, He asked whether they were able to “drink from the bitter cup of suffering” that He was about to drink. He wanted them
DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AS OWNER OR STEWARD? This Davidic psalm begins with an announcement of God’s ownership of everything and everyone. Believing that God is owner and that we are stewards, servants of God caring for His creation, is a life-changing principle. Many Christians claim to believe this, yet they behave as if their
WHAT IS THE FORMULA FOR FORGIVENESS? Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother, maybe “seven times?”. Jesus answered, “Up to seventy times seven.” This was another way of saying that Peter should forgive as often as needed. To further help Peter understand, Jesus told a parable. A parable is the use