Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Theophanic revelation is historically progressive, or eschatological, in character. First of all, in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit appeared inside the creation, sent by the Father. After the creation of man, the Spirit worked and works with humanity to bring us to maturity, from Daughter to Bride to fruitful Mother. He…
On the eighth day of the rite of "filling the hand," Aaron began his service at the altar. His first offering was a "calf" (Heb. `egel ), which served as a purification offering for himself and (apparently) his household (Leviticus 9:2, 8). This is striking for a couple of reasons.…
One of the distinctive items of the high priest’s clothing was the "golden plate" inscribed with the words "Holy to Yahweh" (Exodus 28:36-38). The word translated as "plate" is tsits , which literally means "flower." The verbal and noun forms are both used in Numbers 17:8, which describes Aaron’s rod…
The square, rectangle, and cross shapes appear all over the sanctuaries God reveals in the Bible: Tabernacle, Solomon’s Temple, Ezekiel’s Temple, New Jerusalem. One thing that can be said right away about these designs, and the occasional perfect circle (the lavers), is that they do not occur in nature. They…
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). Some reflections on Jonah’s Big Fish have led to the following essay. Let me…
Citing Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, James Jordan has written that "the name of God in use among the nations was God Most High’" (Hebrew, `el `elyon ; in Through New Eyes , p. 176). In addition to Melchizedek, one could cite the example of Balaam, who invokes the Lord both…
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God’s fiery presence descends from Sinai and no one can enter tabernacle. It happens again when the temple is finished. But when the Spirit falls, the disciples stand in the fiery presence and are not consumed. They have become asbestos. They are Daniel’s three friends in the furnace; burning bushes.…
David’s life recapitulates and predicts the history of Israel. Fleeing from Saul, he goes into exile westward among the Philistines, a repeat of the Egyptian exile. He comes out of Philistia to conquer the the land and take the throne. Later, his son Absalom rebels and drives David out of…
In his contribution to Martin Bucer: Reforming Church and Community (73), Ian Hazlett calls attention to Bucer’s sense of the breadth of the issues involved in the debate over real presence: “for Bucer by now the issue of the presence of Christ in Communion goes far beyond fixing one’s attention…
Ian Hazlett ( Martin Bucer , 78) observes that some Anabaptist groups taught “a radicalized Anselmian doctrine of the all-sufficiency of Calvary, by which Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross effects per se salvation for those who so believe. This reductionist externalization of Christ is then reinforced when it is…
When the angels come out with their trumpets, they “prepare ( hetoimazo ) to trumpet them” (Revelation 8:6). It’s not clear what that means. A warm up, with old jazz standards first improvised by Jubal? Cleaning the mouthpiece or valves? The more important point of the reference seems to be…
Jesus is “first and last” ( protos kai eschatos ) and He says so at the beginning and end of Revelation - at the first and the last (1:17; 2:8; 22:13). “First and last” is the first and last thing Jesus says. In between these two declarations, there are several…
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