They don't do much, do they?
Think Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
Think Isaiah 40-46.
Then read the story that appeared on the BBC News website today, entitled Hindu gods [sic.] get summons from court.
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Bible
Leviticus in a nutshell to the glory of God
Baffled by Leviticus? Struggle to see how it is a part of the Christian Scriptures?
David Field has posted a blogpost entitled Leviticus – an eight para intro which introduces, summarises and gives to us the book of Leviticus in just 8 paragraphs.
The last paragraph of David’s 8 shows us how the book points us to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and ends in praise to that God.
Enjoy David’s summary. So enjoy the book of Leviticus. So enjoy the God of whom it speaks.
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Questions arising from Luke 21
This is really a post for any folk from St James who happen to be here.
The sermon from yesterday on Luke 21:5-38 is now available online. The text is available on this site and the audio is available on sermons page of the St James Audley website.
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RT France on Mark 13
I’m hugely enjoying reading R T France’s commentary on Mark 13
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Avoid divisions
“Avoid divisions!”, say the closing three chapters of Romans. And I don’t know one Christian who doesn’t agree with that. We all hate division in church life. It is ugly. It distracts from evangelism. It causes personal pain and grief.
The important thing to notice is that Romans 14-16 offers us two very different ways in which division might arise, and therefore two very different ways of avoiding it.
Version 1
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Does God know the future?
That depends on which God you are talking about.
People who embrace a set of views known as “open theism” like to say that God does not know the future (either his own, or that of his world, or both – there are different versions).
I’m reading Isaiah 41-44 again, and am freshly struck by what is here. God sets out one test or characteristic that will distinguish him, the true God, from an idol or false God.
God can tell you what is going to happen; an idol cannot
Here is the test, for example, in 44:7
“Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
The Jerusalem conflict section of Luke
In Luke 20:1-21:4 we have a section characterised by
- Geographical location of Jerusalem
- Conflict stories between Jesus and the religious hierarchy.
The section is framed by:
- Jesus arrival in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday (19:28-48). The crowds’ cheering has not even died down before he weeps in public over what will happen to the city. The explanation given here for Jerusalem’s fate is her failure to recognise that God has come to visit. He then prophetically enacts this by driving out those who are misusing the temple.
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So why was Jesus baptised?
I don’t know.
But it must be something to do with this:
Mark 1:2-8 leaves us with two expectations of what God is about to do. From Mark 1:2-3 (quoting Isaiah 40), God is about to bring his people back through the wilderness to the promised land; he is about to remake his people. From Mark 1:7, he is “the stronger one than John” who will operate on his people’s hearts by his Spirit to bring about true repentance. There is no clear indication from Mark 1:2-8 that either “the Lord” or “the stronger one” is anyone other than God himself. We’re not looking for a human being (yet).
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Mark's gospel ripped apart
I’ve been doing some work on Mark chapter 1, and what I’ve found is really exciting!
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