Thought for the Day

(Revelation 11:10) And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. The Book of Revelation is rich with intriguing figures that have profound spiritual significance. In the eleventh chapter are described two powerful witnesses of God whose testimony serves as a torment to men. There has been much speculation as to the identity of these two witnesses and some have suggested...

2Ch 3:15 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. 2Ch 3:16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 2Ch 3:17 And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz. ...

Thanksgiving Day in America has a noble history of national pausing to give thanks to the Creator for His benefits. But the reverence and humility once associated with the custom has been considerably displaced by what is now truly important to our culture: pleasure (long weekend, football, feasting, shopping). Pleasure in and of itself is not evil, but when it becomes the summum bonum of a nation, watch out! The Governor of nations (PSA 22:28) still reigns on high. When warning imperi...

The festive occasion known as Halloween is now taken for granted. It is a time of curious, rather morbid activities for children and adults alike when some of the darkest themes of a sin-burdened creation are exhumed from history's graveyard for public display and for the profit of carnal merchants who promote the entire affair. Yet how many people (especially Bible-believers) have given honest, serious consideration to the nature of this seasonal celebration? Following is a summary of the reasons why ou...

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Peter was an apostle to the circumcision (GAL 2:8) and his epistles had a special relevance to Jewish Christians who were part of that nation which once received an inheritance in earthly Cana...

Esther 3:5-7 (5) And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. (6) And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. (7) In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and fr...

Num 7:1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them; Num 7:2 That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered: Num 7:3 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for ...

(Leviticus 16:14) And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. (Leviticus 16:15) Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: (Leviticus 16:16) And he shall make an...

Num 7:1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them; Num 7:2 That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered: Num 7:3 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for ...

If a judge factually told a prisoner that the law demanded that no matter what he did he would never get out of jail for the one crime that condemned him, what good would it do the prisoner to believe that that crime could be erased? It is commonly said that believing that Jesus Christ is one's personal savior is what causes a sinner to become regenerate and acquire eternal life but unbelief that Jesus is one's personal savior is the one sin that God won't forgive. Now if a sin be unforgiveab...

Genesis 4:3-8 (3) And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. (4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (5) But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (6) And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (7) If thou doest well, shalt thou...

(Genesis 8:22) While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. My calendar tells me that April 22 is Earth Day, the genesis of which was in 1970 at a time when global cooling with extensive glaciation was a trendy environmental “crisis du jour.” How things have changed (viewpoints, not earth's fate)! There are legitimate concerns about the environment, not from the standpoint of humans violating a perceived sacredne...

(Acts 2:26) Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: (Acts 2:27) Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. The Easter season with its days of Lent, eggs, rabbits, fish, etc. has come and gone again. But good protein does not equate with good doctrine. While Christians can and should rejoice in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, how much better would that r...

(Genesis 13:11) Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Lot was hardly a model Christian. Peter tells us that he was a just and righteous man (2PE 2:7-8) but you would be hard pressed to conclude that from his conduct and choices in life. Our text today is speaking of the time when Lot made his ill-fated decision to choose the environs of Sodom (a bountiful place, GEN 13:10), “But the m...

Matthew 12:38-40 (38) Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. (39) But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: (40) For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Today's text sets forth the definitive sign to th...

Deuteronomy 23:12-14 (12) Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: (13) And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: (14) For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away fro...

(2 Kings 9:37) And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. Jezebel was one of the most wretched women in Scripture. She was the wife of vile King Ahab whom she stirred up to idolatry and wickedness (1KI 16:30-31; 1KI 21:25-26). Her only usefulness to this earth was her ignominious death and disposal: she was eaten of dogs and became fertilizer (2KI 9:30-37). That we may know how little...

(1 Kings 14:10) Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. The Holy Ghost in both testaments uses candid, vulgar and sometimes graphic terms for both holy things and hellish things. Whether it be sexuality, human anatomy, anatomical function or anatomic...

(Hosea 4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:7) As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. (Hosea 4:8) They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. (Hosea 4:9) And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I wi...

(John 19:26) When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! (John 19:27) Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. Today's text sets forth one of the most touching scenes in all of history. Good mothers long to see their sons lifted up over others, but not like this! Mary's unique son was born to controversy, “...set for the fall and rising again of...

(Mark 16:15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The apostles were here given a monumental task. The glad tidings of the saving work of Messiah had “...from the beginning of the world...been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (EPH 3:9), hidden considerably even to Israel due to the shadowy nature of the Law (COL 2:16-17; HEB 8:5; HEB 10:1). It was obscured to that nation which was “...kept under the law, shut up unto the faith whic...

(Psalms 23:5) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (All word definitions from Oxford English Dictionary) In what may be the best known psalm, David here considers the anointing of his head with oil one of his blessings. It was a sign of fullness and favor and assumed to be a proper way of receiving a good guest (LUK 7:46). To anoint means, “1. To smear or rub over (medicinally or cosmetically) with oil or ...

(Hebrews 9:13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (Hebrews 9:14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? By way of short review, we have seen that the Numbers 19 details about the ashes of a pure red heifer mingled with running water was for the ceremonial purification of so...

(Hebrews 9:13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (Hebrews 9:14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Let us return once more to the following portion of Numbers 19, that chapter in Moses' Law which commanded a Water of Separation infused with the ashes of a pure red ...