According to the Puritan Thomas Goodwin, “there were two grand pillars in the Old Testament: one, God’s promise of Christ; and the other, this manifesto of God’s gracious nature [in Exodus 34:6-7]...
John Bunyan describes the power of the word to convict the sinner: “Then the word works effectually to this purpose, when it findeth out the sinner and his sin, and shall...
The tree of life is mentioned exactly ten times in the Bible. The first three times are in Genesis when access to the tree was lost by the fall of man. The last three times are...
In Genesis 3:15, God refers to the seed of the serpent. Many Bible-believing students have seen this as a reference to the antichrist who, in imitation of the virgin birth, will have a miraculous birth. Modern movies have played on the theme of the devil's seed. But the real seed of the serpent will be accepted as the true "Christ" and his birth will be heralded as a wondrous proof of his divine heritage. This viewpoint is seen in ancient myths. According to "The Virgin Birth" by Robert Gromacki (p.212): "Alexander the Great made the priests say that he was a son of Zeus. He denied that he was the son of Philip and affirmed that he was begotten by a serpent cohabiting with his mother. Later, the Roman Caesar Augustus wanted the story spread that his mother, asleep in the temple of Apollo, was visited by the god in the form of a serpent. Conceived, he was later born in the tenth month." As the Bible tells us, "there is no new thing under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
The Book of Numbers is a great book when looking for devotional material. In chapters 1-10 the people seem to be wholly following the commandments of the Lord. However, chapter 11 is the beginning of woes. The very first phrase is "And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord". In chapter 12, we find the murmuring moving up the ranks into the leadership and infecting Miriam and Aaron as they murmur against Moses. In chapter 13, ten of the twelve spies come back with an evil report concerning the land of promise. In chapter 14, we find the people wanting to make a captain to return to Egypt and then wanting to stone Joshua and Caleb for their report of faith. This chapter includes the decision of the Israelites not to go into the land of promise, and then their decision to go into the land of promise after the Lord told them they could no longer go in. The Israelites decide to go against the commandments of the Lord and try to take the land of Canaan on their own, only to be smitten by the Amalekites and Canaanites.
