Art by Patrick Murphy Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now…
Category: The cross
Eight Days a Week
I had the following article published in our local paper last week *** Most of us work Monday through Friday. Then the weekend. We take a break from regular employment. Many also worship on Saturday or Sunday, depending on their faith. Individually, socially and culturally we find ourselves moving to this weekly rhythm. But why?…
Fruitful Hostility
So Isaac left there, camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there. Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father…. Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there” (Gen. 26:17-19). Isaac lived in the realm of king Abimelech. But as…
Struggle
But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: ‘Two nations are in your womb; two people will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other,…
The Hebron of God
“Burial of Sarah” by Dore Genesis 23 opens with the death of Sarah. Abraham, being a foreigner, asks the Hittites to sell him the cave at Machpelah for a burial site. The Hittites offer to give Abraham the land because he is “a mighty prince” but Abraham insists on paying the full price (Gen. 23:6,…
WAKE UP!
I just watched “The Matrix,” a film set in a dystopian future. People create artificial intelligence, which turns computers and machines against us. We lose a war with the machines. They start farming us and using our bioelectricity as a power source. To keep us unconscious and compliant, the machines wire everyone to a neural-interactive…
Bereavement’s Provision
In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Gen. 22:2). There is tenderness in the way the phrasing builds from…
Two Cities, One Gospel: Christ and Revolution
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” This unforgettable phrase opens Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities. Set in England and Paris, A Tale of Two Cities takes place just as the French Revolution gets going. On one side are the French commoners. They are enraged by the economic…
Bah! Humbug!
It’s Christmastime again. Besides music, colored lights, trees sprouting indoors, and avalanching sweets, there’s another cue to the season: snide comments about commercialism. Commercialism is a real problem. I don’t deny that. Humanity’s loyalty has long been divided between God and mammon (Matt. 6:24). As they say, nothing is sacred. Consumption and material…
A Cut Above the Rest
“This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you” (Gen. 17:10-11). Genesis 17 introduces circumcision. The flesh of…
The Voice of One 