Even though the neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed much of Israel and Judah by chopping down the tree of the Davidic kings, God promises in Isaiah 11 that a shoot will come up from the severed stump; specifically, a man who will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to put down...
Judah was devastated by Babylon's conquest, but in the resulting exile God promised them that while earthly kingdoms come and go, his word would stand forever. This word has been preached to God's people by prophets who have announced that God is planning to...
The beginning of advent marks the turning over of the Christian calendar, a calendar which – like all calendars – gives order and meaning to our actions. Specifically, the first coming and second coming of Jesus – which Advent celebrates –...
God liberates the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and establishes them as his own kingdom, and calls it good. But even though the Christian church of Paul's day lives under the tyrannical rule of the Roman Empire, Paul calls on God's people to give...
In Colossians 1, St. Paul powerfully describes Jesus as the one who made everything, sustains everything, and controls everything; but on top of that, Jesus is also the one who is determined to win his creation back to himself by redeeming his humans and his world by...
Christians tend to be like everyone else going through an election cycle – worried and even angry about the loss of power and control to those who they believe are opposed to them. But Paul insists in 2 Thessalonians 3 that while there are indeed wicked and evil...
