“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” (Joel 2:25 ESV). The prophet Joel announced to Judah that the Lord would soon discipline them with a devastating locust plague. These “locust years” represented more than agricultural loss; they were a sign of covenant judgment, seasons where the consequences of sin
“‘I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?’” (Hosea 13:14 ESV). Hosea delivered these words to the northern kingdom of Israel in the years just before their collapse to Assyria. Chapter 13 is a somber announcement
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5–6 ESV). The psalmist composed Psalm 126 as one of the Songs of Ascents, intended to be sung by Israelite pilgrims
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6 ESV). In the days of the prophet Hosea, God delivered a piercing word of accusation
“Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:5 ESV). The prophet Hosea wrote to the wayward northern kingdom of Israel during a season of deep spiritual unfaithfulness.
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12 ESV). The apostle John wrote this letter to believers in the late first century, correcting false doctrine and teaching them how to have assurance of salvation. In this verse, he
“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1). This psalm of David is one of the fifteen “Songs of Ascent,” a collection arranged in the Psalter for pilgrims to sing as they journeyed upward toward Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. These songs prepared worshipers
“I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16 ESV). The apostle John wrote this letter to believers in the first century to strengthen their assurance and warn them against loving
“These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (Daniel 7:17–18 ESV). The prophet Daniel, writing during Israel’s exile in Babylon, interpreted this vision to his fellow Jewish exiles, offering them