Blogs
How could this be? The greatest event in the history of God's dealings with mankind was taking place and the leaders of God's people didn't even know about it. Foreigners who were unfamiliar with the covenants of God perceived what God was doing more than His own chosen people! (Eph. 2:12)
The apparent answer to this is that these Persian wise men were more in tune to the prophecies of scripture than the Jews were. Daniel had been promoted to be the head of all the wise men of Babylon (Dan. 2:48). While in Babylon, Daniel had come through the lions' den victoriously and had no doubt gained the reputation as the greatest wise man of all (Dan. 6).
It was during this time that Daniel wrote the prophecy of Dan....
Let's suppose that Anna was fourteen years old when she married. She would have been 105 years old. Yet she was still fasting and praying night and day! Satan tries to convince us that God won't use us. He may cite things like age or lack of abilities, or failures that we've had. But just like Anna, there are many scriptural examples of the Lord using those who would be considered unusable by worldly standards.
Moses was eighty years old before he began to fulfill God's plan for his life and he worked right up until he was 120 years old. Abraham was in his nineties before he had the son that God had promised him.
Gideon was another one who looked unusable. He was hiding from the Midianites when an...
DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN CAIN KILLED ABLE, HE DIDN'T KNOW THAT HE HAD SINNED? IN FACT, NO ONE KNEW THEY WERE SINNING BEFORE THE LAW, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. GOD GAVE THE LAW TO SHOW PEOPLE JUST HOW BAD THEY WERE. WE SEE THIS IN ROMANS 7:7 WHERE IT SAYS "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." THE LAW SHOWED PEOPLE WHAT SIN WAS AND THAT THEY NEEDED TO CHANGE.
Simeon didn't receive this knowledge through the normal method of learning. This knowledge was revealed to him directly from the Holy Spirit. This revelation knowledge which comes only from God is distinctly different than knowledge acquired through study. Man's knowledge is based on observation. It cannot give perfect instruction about the future. God's knowledge can. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we can know things to come (Jn. 16:13).
When dealing with God, revelation knowledge is essential. The Lord's ways are not always our ways (Isa. 55:8). A fear of trusting the intuitive knowledge that God gives us will cause us to miss many blessings of God.
If he hadn't received it and anticipated its fulfillment, what a...
The Old Testament passage being quoted is from Lev. 12:6-8. There the Lord commanded a lamb and a young pigeon or a turtledove as the prescribed sacrifice. If the woman was unable to offer a lamb, then two young pigeons or two turtledoves were acceptable. Mary would not have offered the lesser offering if it had been in her power to provide the lamb.
This reveals that Joseph and Mary were not well off financially, yet the Lord chose them to be the earthly parents of His only begotten Son.
The Lord doesn't choose the way man chooses. Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).
Mary and Joseph were chosen when they were without: without fame, without position, without money. God...
I KNOW THERE ARE THINGS WE HAVE TO DO, WHEN WE PRAY, TO BE IN GOD'S PERFECT WILL TO HAVE OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED. WE HAVE TO ASK IN THE NAME OF JESUS, BELIEVE THAT WHEN WE PRAY, WE HAVE RECEIVED IT AND HAVE FORGIVENESS IN OUR HEARTS. I SAY THAT BECAUSE OF THESE VERSES:
In another instance, Jesus said He did not come to send peace on the earth, but a sword. Then He prophesied that those who received Him would experience persecution, even from their own family (Mt. 10:34-36). How do these verses fit together?
The peace the angels were singing about was not a peace between men; they were rejoicing that there would be peace between God and man. When Jesus prophesied division and war in Matthew 10, he was speaking of relationships between men.
Through the Old Testament law, God began to release His wrath on man's sin (Rom. 4:15). It wasn't the wrath of Satan that Jesus suffered on the cross.
He suffered the wrath of His Father (Isa. 53:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:21). The Father placed His punishment for our sins on Jesus. This ended the war between...
Jesus did not grow into being Lord and Saviour. He was born that way. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). What a great mystery!
How could Almighty God limit Himself to the form of a man? And even if He did that, how could he possibly start as a baby? These questions defy human ability to fully understand.
At the dedication of the first temple, Solomon said, "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!"
(2 Chr. 6:18) How much less the body of a little child!
Part of the answer lies in the fact that God is a spirit (Jn. 4:24). Spirits are not limited by time and space. In Jesus' spirit, He was the eternal God who...