Exploring the Scriptures Together
II Kings 16:5-9; Isaiah 7-10:4; Isaiah 17 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 Sound familiar? Even if you have never read Isaiah before, it would be hard to have missed this one. We hear it …
Continue reading “June 12 / II Kings 16:5-9; Isaiah 7-10:4; Isaiah 17”
II Chronicles 26; II Kings 15:8-16:4 Today we finally get a more complete picture of King Uzziah (aka Azariah) of Judah. (A couple of days ago, we read II Kings 15:1-7, which gave us only the briefest overview of his 52-year reign. And then we read Isaiah 6:1: In the year that King Uzziah died …
Continue reading “June 11 / II Chronicles 26; II Kings 15:8-16:4”
Isaiah 3-5 For the look on their faces bears witness against them;they proclaim their sin like Sodom;they do not hide it. Isaiah 3:9a What month is this again? Woe to those who call evil goodand good evil,who put darkness for lightand light for darkness,who put bitter for sweetand sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 When you …
Isaiah 6; Isaiah 1-2 Let’s see… What should we talk about today? Maybe we should talk about Isaiah’s glorious vision of the LORD on His throne with seraphim crying, “Holy, holy, holy!” (Isa. 6:3) Or maybe we should “gin up” enthusiasm for missions, with an appeal to Isaiah’s words: “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa. …
Hosea 10-14; II Kings 15:1-7 As we come to the end of Hosea, what’s our takeaway? It’s one thing to gain an academic understanding of Israel’s idolatrous rejection of God and His subsequent pronouncements of judgment, but letting God’s Word penetrate our own hearts is quite another. How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you …
Hosea 5:8-9:17 For they sow the wind,and they shall reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7 If only the people who quote (or paraphrase) this verse had a clue! And if only our own country’s political leadership had a clue! We have the lessons of Israel’s history. We have God’s revelation through the prophets. We even have …
Hosea 1-5:7 Adultery. Harlotry. Whoredom. That is how the LORD describes Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him, and He uses Hosea’s relationship with his unfaithful wife, Gomer, to illustrate the point in dramatic fashion. Israel should be utterly devoted to her one true God — as a wife to her husband — but she is not. Israel …
Amos 5:16-9:15 But let justice roll down like waters,and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 Sound familiar? I’d like to think that we know this verse because we all read our Bibles all the time. But I suspect that our familiarity with this verse may come more from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quoting of …
Amos 1-5:15 Before we do anything else, let’s note the historical context of Amos’s ministry: The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before …
As we begin to read the prophets, it will be helpful to bear in mind the following: More importantly, we should recognize that the prophets each preach into their own historical and geographical context. Reading these prophets chronologically, together with the corresponding historical narratives, should help us understand that context and thus gain a better …