Be Still, and Know

Before there was a Bible, there was a voice. God did not begin His revelation with pen and paper, ink and parchment. He began by speaking. He spoke to Adam. He spoke to Noah. He spoke to Abraham. For generations, God’s words were heard before they were ever written. Think about the world at that time - I am talking about 1500 to 2000 years before Christ - although writing existed, this was an oral world. Stories, laws, promises, covenants — all of it was spoken aloud, remembered carefully, and passed from one generation to the next. When God made covenants, He spoke them. When He called prophets, He spoke to them — sometimes directly, sometimes through angels. Revelation came as voice long before it became manuscript. Only later do we hear something new. God says, “ Write this down. ” In Exodus 17:14, after the victory over the Amalekites, God tells Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and recount it in the hearing of Joshua.” Write it so it will be remembered. Write it so it ...

Have you ever thought that humans were originally intended to be plant-eaters? Now, this is just an observation. When you read Genesis carefully, we see three phases of the initial world: the world post-creation, the world post the fall of man, and then the world post-flood. And what humans are allowed to eat changes across these phases. Right after the finished work of creation, in Genesis 1:29, we read: And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Not just humans. In the next verse, He goes on to give plants as food for animals and birds as well. Now right before the fall, as God is forbidding the tree of knowledge in Genesis 2:16,17, we read: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall s...

There is a hope inside of you.  If you are a believer, this hope was born in you when you were born again. The Greek word for this hope is ἐλπίς (elpis)  which means "confident expectation". It is the hope that there is life. The hope that death is not the end. The hope that there is eternal life after death. The hope that one day you will meet your Creator face to face. This is the hope of Jesus Christ. Now when this hope is inside you, it does something to you. First — this hope gives you stability in times of trouble. Romans 5:3,4 says, “ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;  and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ” Trouble does not destroy you, it deepens you. It does not shake you, it strengthens your hope. Second — this hope sets you free from fear. Psalm 46:2,3 says, “ Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into th...

Jesus Christ… was born before Christ. Let me explain! Around AD 525 , a monk named Dionysius Exiguus was asked to calculate Easter dates. He didn’t want to keep using a Roman calendar that honored emperors who persecuted Christians. There wasn't even an "AD 525" at that time, they had different calendar systems. So he reset history around Jesus and introduced Anno Domini — the “Year of the Lord.” He calculated Jesus’ birth as AD 1 . But Dionysius made some errors. He didn’t have access to all the historical data we have today. Couple of centuries ago, scholars started seeing the miscalculation. The Bible gives us clearer anchors. Matthew 2:1 says Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great . History tells us Herod died in 4 BC . Matthew also records that Herod ordered the killing of all boys two years old and under in Bethlehem. That means Jesus could have been up to two years old before Herod’s death. That alone places Jesus’ birth between 6 and ...

We see a very strange account in Genesis 6 where sons of God took the daughters of men to be wives. Who are these sons of Gods? There are t hree usual interpretations: Descendants from Cain’s line Pagan rulers who did polygamy Fallen angels  [1] The 1st interpretation is that the sons of God were wicked descendants of Cain intermarrying with godly descendants of Seth. It kind of fits the scene of lust running everywhere. [2] The 2nd interpretation says it refers to powerful human rulers, pagan kings who took many wives and sinned through polygamy, like Lamech who is a descendant of Cain (Gen 4: 17). The problem with these 2 interpretations is that nowhere else does sons of God refer to any kind of human beings. And if they were men indeed, that may not explain much about how giants were born as offspring because of that. Also, these options, in general, do not seem to justify the harsh judgment of flood that follows after this scene. [3] The 3rd and what I feel is t...

Prayer should always be done with a humble approach. Ask God’s will to be done in all that you do, rather than your will being executed by God. There is this preaching that we can demand anything with authority to God - and I just want to warn you how dangerous demanding something from God without any humility can be. Take the Israelites for example. They were given manna from above, but they demanded meat. Read Numbers 11 to see how badly they asked for it.  Now, if you demand something like that, God might give it to you, but it might not end well for you.  God gave them the meat just like they demanded, but they were faced with a plague while the meat was still between their teeth. In 1 Samuel 8 , they demanded a king just like the nations around them, rejecting God as their true King. God had a plan to bring up the King in David’s line, but it wasn’t His time yet.  God even warned them that there would be corruption and immorality if this new king came into ...

If we should not alter God’s Word, how are we OK with translations? (Proverbs 30:6, Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32, and Revelation 22:18–19) The best Bible version is actually the original text in Hebrew, Aramaic (OT), or Greek (NT). But how many of us can read the Bible in that language? The goal of translating is to accurately convey God’s word in a language that people understand. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the original Hebrew Old Testament, formed before Christ. Jesus refers to the book of Isaiah (29:13) in  Mark 7:6–7 while talking about dishonoring God. The words that are m entioned are  from the Greek Septuagint, not the Hebrew language.  Similarly, Matthew 21:16 quotes Psalms 8:2 from the Septuagint . So whether Jesus Himself spoke those words, or the gospel authors chose to write those words, the Greek translation was normally used during the time of Jesus. So are translations OK? Yes, they help you understand God’s Word in a language o...