A sense of proportion is priceless. But it can be very elusive. When things go wrong we speak of life getting on top of us. Chips on both shoulders. We can be weighed down with worry, drowning in troubles, outnumbered. It’s us against the world. And the world is winning. Isaiah knows how this feels. […]
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Glen
Here’s a phrase that has morphed from it’s biblical origins. Isaiah wrote about “the wolf dwelling with the lamb while the leopard lies down with the kid… and the young lion” (Isaiah 11:6). Yet, as with a phrase like “Pride goeth before a fall“, it’s the abbreviation that has survived the test of time: the […]
I grew up with Summer Christmasses. Mangoes for breakfast. Cold meats for lunch. Backyard cricket. Swims and BBQs. And I loved them. But, biblically speaking, a summer Christmas is a contradiction in terms. Christmas is not a celebration of our sunny circumstances. Christmas comes in the darkness. That’s what Isaiah prophesied in chapter 9. It’s a […]
A man begs for change. Some throw him coins. Most pass on by. But imagine a true philanthropist (meaning “lover of man”). He doesn’t just reach into his pocket for some change. Imagine he stoops down beside the poor man and sits down in the gutter. Imagine he reaches an arm around the man and […]
What does a spiritual experience look like? Warm feelings? Groovy vibes? Not if you ask Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 6 the prophet has the ultimate spiritual experience. He meets the LORD: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train [i.e. […]
Bill Hicks used to joke: “A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he’s gonna want to see a cross?” Hicks wasn’t original of course. The incongruity has always been there. A method of extreme torture and humiliating execution has become the most prominent religious symbol in the […]
Here’s a really lovely bit of over-translation from the KJB. Six English words render a single Hebrew verb. It’s merely the future 3rd person singular of the verb “to be”. They might have simply said “It shall be”. In fact many times they might have left it entirely untranslated (as many modern translations do). But […]
“She’s pure as New York snow” says the song. That’s to say – not pure at all. New York snow is quickly sullied by the city’s grit and grime. But, for the first hour or so, that white blanket covers over a multitude of sins. Isaiah the prophet knew a people whose spiritual condition was […]
The bible begins with a wedding and ends with a wedding. In the middle Christ comes as Bridegroom to win His bride. Throughout, the LORD is described as jealous and his people are either “faithful” or “adulterous.” No wonder that when Solomon turns from his exercise in spiritual doubt (Ecclesiastes) to pen the “Song of […]
Ben Myers points us to… …the ABC’s new anniversary site for the King James Bible. The site will be featuring loads of good stuff in the weeks ahead, all celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Already you can read Diarmaid MacCulloch on politics and the KJV; Tom Wright on Bible translation (including […]
