When COVID forced me to teach my law classes by video conferencing, I lost part of my connection to my students. Seeing their heads in boxes on a screen was much less informative than seeing their entire person sitting in front of me in the classroom. When Adam and Eve sinned, their next conversation with God, which they tried to avoid, was face-to-face. When their son Cain killed his brother and was sentenced to be “a wanderer,” he had a very interesting regret. In Genesis 4:13-14 he declared that his punishment was “greater than I can bear.” And he explained that part of his unbearable punishment was that “from your [God’s] face I shall be hidden.” Imagine that! Cain regretted losing face-to-face contact with God. Cain’s regret mirrors our situation. We cannot have face-to-face contact with God. Yet God still wants to communicate with us. The way in which He does that is the subject of this series of lessons. Let’s dive into the question of how God speaks to us!...
If I asked you to give the names of some important prophets, who would you remember? Daniel would be first to come to mind for me. Who else? Do you remember anyone from the New Testament? This week we are going to take a quick look at five prominent prophets: Abraham, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and John the Baptist. Does it seem odd to you to call Abraham and John prophets? Let’s dive into our study of the Bible and see what we can learn!...
Are Old Testament prophets different from New Testament prophets, or different than prophets who lived after the Bible was completed? Common sense suggests that they are different. When the only source of information from God on a topic was the prophet (as in some of the Old Testament), it was critical the prophet brought a true message. But as the Bible was completed, followers of God had a reliable basis on which to test whether a person claiming to be a prophet was speaking consistently with the way that God had acted in the past. This is not simply a matter of common sense. Joel 2 seems to describe large numbers of last day prophets which suggests that the relatively few Old Testament prophets carried a heavy responsibility to correctly state God’s will. Let’s jump into our study of the Old Testament prophets!...
When you think about Old Testament prophets you may hear in your mind, “Thus says the Lord.” The belief is that these prophets uniquely spoke for God. If not, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says that the false prophet should die for misrepresenting God’s word. Even if the false prophet escaped the death penalty, Israel was told not to fear what he subsequently said. The New Testament discussion of the gift of prophecy feels quite different. Prophecy is not the top gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s discussion of statements by prophets assumes that not every statement by a person possessing the gift of prophecy is infallible. Let’s dive into our study of the Bible and learn more about this interesting and important topic!...
