Genesis Chapter Eleven, Part 4

11:12 Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah
In the previous verse we learned that Shem lived 600 years; 350 years less than his father Noah. He was 100 when he begot a son. The son begotten to him, Arphaxad, was a mere 35 when he had his first son, and lived only 438 years. The lifespan of men was decreasing, and this drop in longevity was immediately noticeable after the Flood. In three more generations the life expectancy of mankind was hovering around two hundred years of age (in Peleg’s case). By Joseph’s day the life expectancy had plummeted further—110 years of age—if his age at death was any indication, Genesis 50:26.

Genesis Chapter Eleven, Part 3

11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language
If we look back at verse 3 we will see our Lord using the same language the people did when they considered how to cast off His yoke from them. This verse also briefly reveals a conversation within the Godhead as God speaks to Himself, saying, “let us go down.” The plurality of God was an ill-concealed mystery in the Old Testament that was brought to full light with Jesus Christ. One of the most profound and simple passages in the Old Testament that testifies of God’s triune nature is in Isaiah.

Genesis Chapter Eleven, Part 2

11:4 whose top may reach unto heaven
In the King James or New King James versions of the Bible the words “may reach” are italicized. This indicates that those two words were not in the original Hebrew text. The verse then reads: “whose top heaven.” Many skeptics have ridiculed this passage for its apparent foolishness. “Were they trying to build a tower all the way to Heaven?” No; they weren’t. They were building the tower, in fact, to worship the host of heaven in the form of astrology. This chapter of Genesis bears the origins of modern (and ancient) astrology. The tower as described in verse 3 was a ziggurat. These pyramidic structures permeated the ancient world from Egypt to Peru, and all bear uncanny resemblance one to another. Archeologists have studied these ziggurats extensively and discovered the signs of the Zodiac engraved atop many.

Just Thoughts

This is a letter I received months ago regarding a conversation I had with my mother. She wrote partly to unbelievers as an exhortation, partly to believers as an admonition, and entirely to the glory of God, for His exaltation. I love listening to her talk; would that you could hear it in person; she is animated and alive with the Spirit of God. The rest of the Post is entirely her. God’s blessings!

Genesis Chapter Eleven

We come at last to the final chapter of our study on Genesis. As per usual, before we commence grooming the word of God I would like to begin with a few words in defense of His inerrant word. There are many Christians today that regard the opening chapters of Genesis as allegorical or (worse, if possible) mythological.

For the Love of Christ Compels Us

I was musing very recently about Jesus’ ceaseless care for the Jews, and for anyone else that crossed paths with Him during His ministry on earth. It was said that even when He went to find rest apart from the crowds that they followed Him, and when He saw them He had compassion on them. If I could ask Jesus to sum up what He was doing for the crowds with this kind of tireless ministry, I wager He might have said, “Loving them.” For Jesus, love was a constant state of selfless, self-sacrificing, self-abasing action that transformed Him into a servant to meet the needs of all who encountered Him. Now that, I have to say, is an amazing picture of love.

Faith, Hope, Love, These Three…

Why abide faith, hope and love? More so, why is love the greatest of these three? The statements regarding faith, hope, and love are found in 1st Corinthians 13, a surprisingly controversial chapter of the New Testament. It is controversial in the sense that many within the body of Christ do not want to read what Paul clearly says concerning the fate of certain gifts.

The Everlasting Gospel, Part 6

There is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved, Acts 4:12. Faith in Jesus provides redemption for sinful men that no amount of good works or lawful living will ever do, Acts 13:39. Solely by the grace found in Jesus Christ are we saved, Acts 15:11. It is as clear as glass: the gospel is the message of the Coming One who would undo the sinful state of man’s present condition by His victorious death, Romans 5:17-19; 1st Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49.

The Everlasting Gospel, Part 5

Joel speaks of the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will follow the Lord’s arrival, Joel 2:27-32. Micah predicts the very town that the Messiah will hail from, and that the Messiah is the eternal God, Micah 5:2. Zechariah talks not only about the Messiah’s entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey, but how the Messiah will be pierced by those He offered Himself to; in fact He would be pierced by God! Zechariah 9:9; 12:10; 13:7.