Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
And He cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when He had cried out, the seven thunders spoke their voices (Revelation 10:3). In Revelation 10 John sees Jesus come down to him from heaven with a little book in His hand. Jesus cries out with…
The numbers found in Genesis 5 & 11 display characteristics that indicate a complex and meticulous symbolic schematization operating at several levels. Because these numbers are so potent symbolically, unbelieving scholars have universally (as far as I know) treated them as artificial. Believers take them literally, but believers must also…
And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east [sunrising]. (Revelation 16:12) The kings from the east in Revelation 16:12 are generally assumed to be enemies of…
During my brief sojourn as a pastor during the 1980s, I had several occasions to be involved in settling disputes between men in the congregation I served. A typical dispute went like this: Two men formed a company to do business. After a few years, the business went sour, and…
The two harvests of Revelation 14:14-20, of grain and of grapes, are most often understood as symbolic of God’s judgment against the wicked, or against Babylon, as amplified in chapters 16 & 17. Some commentators, however, notice that the gospels speak of the grain harvest as a reaping of the…
(Conclusion of Chapter 16 in the previous Biblical Chronology Article) Month 3, 2513 According to Leviticus 23:15-16, Pentecost was to be observed 50 days after the sabbath after Passover, or 49 days after the Feast of First Fruits. I initially based my reflections on the Jewish tradition that the Law…
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C hristian often focus on the intense physical suffering Jesus endured on the cross. During crucifixion, a victim’s body was torn with nails and his limbs stretched, as he slowly suffocated. Think of Matthias Grunewald’s angular, contorted Jesus. The gospel writers pay little attention to Jesus’ pain. They understood that…
F rom the cross, Jesus cries, “ Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani !” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s from Psalm 22, but the Jews say He’s calling for Elijah. Are they so dull they can no longer recognize Scripture? More likely, they mean it in mockery.…
R ichard Sorabji observes ( Time, Creation, and the Continuum ) that there have been disputes among philosophers concerning the goodness of philosophical perplexity. Wittgenstein compared it to a fly trapped in a bottle, which suggests “it would have been better . . . never to have suffered perplexity at…
K arol Berger ( Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow ) sets out to reassess what we mean by “modernity” in music. For Berger, that involves discovering a caesura somewhere between Bach and Mozart. They are not, he argues, to be considered part of a continuous tradition of classical music; rather, they…
O liver O'Donovan ( Desire of Nations , 262-3) points to the difficulty in the concept of equality. A purely formal doctrine is uninteresting and thin. A theory of equality must be capable of posing a challenge to “alleged distinctions which may be supposed to justify differences in the way…
W ise words concerning shifts in Christian teaching on the family from Oliver O'Donovan ( Desire of Nations , 266-7). He points out that Jesus' teaching on the family is mainly critical, assaulting the family's “claims to religious and social loyalty.” The apostles “re-envisage” the family “in a manner appropriate…
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