. . . God was creating again. He created a new man to get right what every other human had missed. He would be the fulfillment of the story begun in Genesis. God is the Savior, and this new man would save his people from their rebellious failure. To do that, God was entering his […]
. . . Matthew points to three divisions in the story: Fourteen generations from Abraham to David tell the story of a God unlike any known in the pagan world. This is a God known not by his demand for child sacrifice, not by sex rituals, not by someone’s ability to enslave others, not by […]
The fourteen generations from David to Jechoniah are the story of people who repeatedly reject the grace of God. Instead, they choose gods they think they can control to give them wealth and power. The gods they chose were gods of human sacrifice and ritual abuse of young women. These generations were not wavering between […]
. . . The genealogy from Abraham to David is a story of God’s surprising grace to one marginalized person after another. We don’t get far into the generations from Abraham to Jesus before our attention is called to the names of four remarkable women. Their mention in this list is not a small matter. […]
. . . Abraham left the great civilization, the life of trying to build stairways to heaven, and walked faithfully with God on God’s earth. “Son of Abraham” is a term for those who live by faith in God. They believe that God is good and purposeful. They believe that God knows what he is […]
To read this post click here: Good News 3.1 Anointed About this series of reflections If God were to come to us in the flesh–if the Main Character of the story were to walk into our lives–we should recognize him from what he had revealed already. Matthew wrote his Gospel to a people group who […]
To read this blog click here: Good News 2.5 Caring About this series of reflections . . . in his months of silence, Zechariah noticed what God had been saying all along. God works in power to deliver his people out of fear and shame, out of sin and hate. God works in grace to […]
To read this post click here: Good News 2.4 Status About this series of reflections . . . Both Elizabeth and Mary were vividly conscious that God was working these amazing changes in their lives. They knew they were a part of something God had been doing from ancient times, and that they were experiencing […]
To read this post click here: Good News 2.3 Important About this series of reflections . . . Mary was upset and confused by this messenger. She wondered what was really going on. But the messenger said, “Mary, you can stop fearing. With God you find grace.” God is not the kind of authority who […]
To read this post click here: Good News 2.2 Living About this series of reflections . . . The messenger said, “John will announce God, so that the devotion of the ancestors will be poured upon a new generation, and apathetic minds will be fascinated with God’s ways, in order to get a whole community […]
