Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of Glory may come in !
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of Glory may come in !
The "sign of the fish" was an early Christian symbol during the persecutions under the Roman Empire. It was often used to distinguish friend from foe. A Christian might draw an arc in the dirt to represent a simple fish. If a stranger responded accordingly, both knew the other was a Christian.
Why was the fish chosen as the symbol? The Greek word for fish is ιχθυς. Christians created an acrostic based on this word.
ι: first letter in Ιησους
Greek for "Jesus"
χ: first letter in Χριστος
Greek for "Christ"
θ: first letter in θεου
Greek for "God's"
υ: first letter in υιος
Greek for "son"
σ: first letter in σωτηρ
Greek for "savior"
Thus: "Jesus Christ, God's Son, our Savior."
Practical Insights
In Matthew 1:20-21 an angel appears to Joseph, assuring him that he should go ahead with his marriage to Mary and telling him what to name the new child. In commenting on this, Matthew Henry gives some very practical advice when it comes to discerning the Lord's will for ourselves: "Extraordinary direction like this [from an angel] we are not now to expect, but God has still ways of making known his mind in doubtful cases: by hints of providence, debates of conscience, and advice of faithful friends. By each of these, applying the general rules of the written word, we should, therefore, in all the steps of our life...take direction from God, and we shall find it safe and comfortable to do as he bids us."
If you think you know the answer to this question, click here. (December 19, 2009)
In witnessing to Jewish people, does it matter whether you are amillennial or premillennial? The answer is quite simple: Absolutely! Read why in this short article. (January 11, 2010)
Were Old Testament believers regenerated, indwelt, sealed, and filled by the Holy Spirit, or are these exclusively New Testament works of the Spirit? Here is a review of the best book available on the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Book Reviews. (July 3, 2010)
We have another Web site, Messiah Studies, that is devoted to a detailed study of Messianic prophecy. It is a new Web site, and so far there are only five papers posted. It is our goal, however, to develop a series of papers dealing with the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament in historical order. The site is designed for Jewish inquirers, but Christians can gain much from these studies as well. There is also some Jewish music you can listen to, including HaTikvah, Hava Nagila, Jerusalem of Gold, and the Yigdal. Please take a look and send us your suggestions. (July 1, 2010)
Two of the best classic commentaries on the whole Bible are those by Matthew Poole and Matthew Henry. We have just posted Poole's and Henry's comments on one of the most fascinating chapters in the Old Testament (Job 38, where God himself speaks to Job out of the whirlwind) and one of the best-loved chapters in the New Testament (the Beatitudes). Read their expositions of these great passages. You might find that you'd like one or both of these commentary sets for your own library. Click here: Matthew Poole or Matthew Henry. (July 5, 2010)
We now have our own study of the book of Revelation. Carol has written a paper that hits all the important themes, visions, and scenes in this much neglected book. And why is it that Revelation is neglected? Many Christians seem to avoid not only Revelation but in-depth Bible study as a whole because they are not "scholars" and such studies are too difficult for them. Here's what Carol said about that after finishing this paper: "I haven't had any formal theological training, but just look how much you can learn about God's word by reading a few commentaries! This just shows how important it is for all Christians to buy and read commentaries. For some 2000 years now God has been leading scholarly men to study the Bible, study what others have written about it, and then write the results in commentaries of their own. With a few good commentaries and God's blessing, it's amazing how much you can learn about his word!"
God promises a special blessing to those who read and study the book of Revelation, the book he used to close the New Testament canon of Scripture (Rev. 1:3). We encourage you to read Carol's study of the book of Revelation, and also the several lectures on Revelation we have posted from Dr. Joseph A. Seiss' great commentary on this book. (June 6, 2010)
We believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament: it is the word of God. But those words were written by human authors--Moses, David, Isaiah, etc. Did they understand their own message or did they write "better than they knew"? Is it valid to distinguish between the meaning intended by the OT author and the meaning intended by God? These questions come to a head in 1 Peter 1:10-12. Does Peter sanction such a distinction? I firmly believe the answer is no and have written a technical paper that addresses these important issues: How Much Did the Prophets Know: Early Jewish Exegesis and the Hermeneutical Crisis in Evangelicalism. (December 27, 2009)
This question is not as simple as it might seem. See why in "Primeval Chronology". (March 4, 2010)
We have long lamented the lack of depth in the preaching within Evangelical churches today. Many Christians possess only a shallow knowledge of both the Bible and theology. Check yourself with two questions that should be very simple to any Christian who attends a Bible-believing church.
Bible knowledge:The Psalmist wrote, "Sing the glory of his name" (Ps. 66:2). What is his name? What is the name of the God of the Bible, the God you worship?
Theological knowledge: What is the meaning of the word propitiation, which is used, for example, in 1 John 2:2?
The answer to the first question is Yahweh (often misspelled "Jehovah," based on an error made by the church during the Middle Ages). Why doesn't every Christian know the name of God? Part of the reason, no doubt, is that even though it is used about 6000 times in the Old Testament, our English translations foolishly render the Hebrew name Yahweh as "LORD" (all capital letters). However, every minister should be using God's name as he preaches and should also be explaining to his congregation how to recognize when the divine writers of Scripture are using it.
The answer to the second question is appeasement of wrath. That the death of Christ appeased the wrath of God on us is central to the theology of salvation. Why doesn't every Christian know the definition of propitiation?
We hope that the material posted at this site will both increase your knowledge of the Bible and theology and also encourage you to buy and read books by great Christian preachers and theologians. On this Web site we've posted a number of condensations of classical works as well as full-length books by various scholars and theologians. There are also a number of sermons by the "Prince of Preachers," Charles Spurgeon. In addition, you'll find several original, in-depth Bible-study papers written by us. The Site Index shows you everything on this Web site at a glance.
We hope you enjoy this Web site and that it stimulates your interest in the Bible and the theology it teaches. Comments and questions are always welcome.
Please visit our forum and join in the discussions. There's a thread on the pretribulation rapture view and an interesting thread started by Carol called "Picture This," bringing to life scenes and events from the Bible
Carol's "Daily Devotions from the Classics" contains 365 short, insightful excerpts from great Christian scholars and preachers of long ago as well as the recent past. You will be blessed by the writings of these godly men, among them Matthew Henry, Thomas Watson, Charles Spurgeon, and J. C. Ryle. Click here for your "daily devotions from the classics"!
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