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10,045 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
True reformation remains God's own work, accomplished through just magistrates, righteous ministers, and the restoration of judgment among His people (verses 25-27).
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Within this exercise, humility and hope unite with patience and perseverance, producing an agreeable serenity of mind that opposes turbulence of spirit and uneasy emotions.
Romans 9:13 presents a paradox that troubled even Paul himself: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." The writer acknowledges this appears to contradict God's righteousness, yet immediately restrains such questioning (v. 14). Consider the biographical contrast. Esau...
When a man looks downward at his feet, his circle of vision measures mere inches—encompassing only small details and fragmented parts whose purpose remains obscure.
Walking through an orchard one summer morning, I encountered a tree bearing neither leaves nor fruit.
The law permits no negotiation, no partial obedience, no appeals to good intention.
Religious instruction must uphold God's law as supreme, though these three need not contradict one another.
This commission extends to the Christian Church with urgent force.
The prophet itemizes the nation's boasts—their *plethos* (abundance) of silver and gold; their merchant fleet, the ships of Tarshish; their military might measured in horses and chariots; their geographical fortifications in mountain and hill; their engineered defences in towers and...
The righteous possess *phos* — light itself, drawn from Elohim, the "Father of lights." This illumination burns with joy because it originates beyond the soul, inexhaustible as the sun traversing its course without weariness or exhaustion.
These cannot be mixed without destroying the efficacy of grace itself.
First, some say, "I lack the dramatic conversion others profess." Yet Elohim has brought many sons to glory through utterly different paths.
He possessed the intellect, courage, and ancestral fervor to become a leader of the Pharisaic faction—perhaps another Maccabeus or Gamaliel, rallying noble spirits against Rome's armies.
The word *purse* (*zone*) referred to the hollow girdles Jews wore to carry money—yet the disciples were sent out stripped of such security.
We recoil from the depths of human depravity described here, yet the lesson cuts deeper than scandal.
Yet Elohim had a deeper purpose: Peter must become an eyewitness to all of Christ's sufferings, that the Church might know the cost of discipleship.
Consider the empty house: bills posted in windows reading "To let," black windows gaping without blinds or curtains, long matted grass overtaking the lawn, doors creaking on hinges as if reluctant to wake.
Exell's Victorian exposition identifies three characteristics of true humility before Elohim.
A human father could scarcely forgive such murderers; it requires the infinite mercy of Elohim to accomplish it.
When God needed a warrior to accomplish His purposes, He qualified David for the work.
First, confidence in human means stands opposed to this truth.
Man, as a fallen being with alienated affections and distorted views, requires precise Divine direction.
First, the law could not justify or save because human weakness in the flesh rendered perfect obedience impossible (Romans 8:3).
First, the *sources* of our vulnerability: the human heart harbors dormant moral propensities until outward circumstance awakens them.