Daily Meditations on the Bible
… with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Summary: Paul takes us on a quick journey to his theological playground, where he wrestles with concepts like predestination, faith, and redemption.
Continue reading “Ephesians 4:30b – The Day of Redemption”… until the redemption of those who are God’s possession
Summary: In this passage, Paul points us to an important aspect of our present and future condition, and our relationship with God’s Holy Spirit.
Continue reading “Ephesians 1:14b – Believing is Seeing”… in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
Summary: Paul has a detailed way of conveying his thoughts. Sometimes his meanings can be lost in the words. It is worth stopping to ponder what Paul is saying and think about the story behind the words.
Continue reading “Ephesians 1:7c – The Pardon”In him we have redemption …
Summary: What does it mean to be redeemed? When it comes to spiritual matters, we may never fully understand them. But we can know this much; we need it!
Continue reading “Ephesians 1:7a – The Day God Died”
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ …
Summary: Our God is amazing. He is perfect in every aspect. Thankfully, his perfection extends to include perfect love and perfect forgiveness.
Continue reading “2 Peter 1:1d — The Righteousness of God”
Even angels long to look into these things.
Every once in awhile a verse seems to jump out of the Bible at me. This is one of those verses.
Peter is telling us about salvation. Broadly speaking “salvation” in this case refers to several things. It begins with God’s plan for redeeming His creation. Remember the story in Genesis where God says, “… you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die”? (Genesis 2: 16-17)
Interestingly, the current version of the NIV is in the minority here. Thirty-eight of fifty-two translations available at Biblegateway.com use some version of “day,” as in “… in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (ESV) As I understand the text, when Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3, God’s word holds true. They “die” from God’s point of view.
Continue reading “1 Peter 1:12 (b) — Beyond Measure”The story of the birth of Jesus Christ is also the story of John the Baptist. The two men would be bound together in their service of God’s will. When Zechariah is finally able to speak again, Luke records his first words.
After stating, “His name is John,” Zechariah bursts into praise for God, and the praise he speaks tells us about who the coming Christ is and also what God promises through him.
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.’”
Like John the Baptist, Zechariah heralds the coming of Christ. It is interesting, too, how he phrases his prophecy.
‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,Continue reading “Zechariah’s Song”
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.’