Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Consider What Jesus Says Just Before He Ascends into Heaven Jesus’s first recorded words in the Bible are when he’s twelve years old and disappears. His parents eventually find him in the temple. His perplexing answer explains he belongs in his Father’s house (Luke 2:49). With these as his first words, now let’s look at […]
Don’t Place Ministers on a Pedestal It’s sad when it happens, but we don’t need to wait long before another prominent Christian leader falls from his pedestal. Yes, it is usually men. While their moral failings are the reason, we, too, are to blame. With ungodly fervor, we elevate our cherished leaders, hoisting them to […]
Consider How We Honor and Worship God The first five books of the Bible talk a lot about God’s expectations of his people, about what God desires. He gives Moses his laws to guide them in right behavior, both what they’re supposed to do and what they’re to avoid. The Bible also discusses—sometimes in excruciating […]
Jesus Comes for Everyone: All Nations, All People The phrases God’s people, the chosen ones, the chosen, and other similar references appear in multiple places throughout the Old Testament. This designation certainly makes the Jewish people feel special. After all, God chose them to be his people. This must mean he likes them better than […]
Do Not Seek Your Own Good, But What’s Best for Others We live in a narcissistic, self-centered world. We put ourselves first and care only about what’s in our best interest. Too many people live their life with the attitude that “it’s all about me.” In doing so, they miss so much. Instead, we should […]
We Should Embrace Our Homecoming to Eternity After writing his psalms of praise to God, Isaiah continues the positivity by looking forward to the day when his people will receive deliverance from their enemies, about them going home. Though the people view this as a physical rescue, many people today understand it as a spiritual […]
Celebrate Jesus as the Messiah and Savior In our current usage today, many people talk (and think) that Christ is Jesus’s last name, as in Jesus Christ. Though the identifier of Jesus Christ does appear in most of the New Testament, it didn’t start out that way. Christ The label of Christ does not appear […]
When We Do God’s Work, Our Labor Is Not in Vain As Paul winds down his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gives a simple command, followed by some encouragement. He says for them—and us, by extension—to remain diligent doing God’s work. Though we may not see the results of what we do […]
Let God Prune Us So We Can Produce More Fruit Isaiah looks forward to the day when the Branch of the Lord will appear. Branch, with a capital B, is a euphemism for Jesus, who will come to rescue God’s people. Isaiah says this Branch will emerge as awesome and full of wonder, which is […]
We Must Examine Our Church Meetings to Make Sure They Are Truly Beneficial In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he talks about worshiping God and then he talks about celebrating the Lord’s Supper. In between these two topics he slips in a condemning one-liner. He says that their meetings are more likely […]