The Death of John the Baptist
The wine flowed freely throughout the lavish banquet hall. The occasion was the pagan birthday celebration of Herod Antipas…
Peter Colón
The Legion of Martyrs
In the year AD 286, the elite Theban Roman legion of more than 6,600 Egyptian youths was dispatched to Gaul for action. The amazing fact about this…
Unconfused!
Paul and Peter wrote 59 percent of the New Testament’s 27 books. Paul wrote 14 (some people believe he also wrote Hebrews), and Peter wrote two…
Under the Shelter of His Wings
“You’ve got cancer.” The doctor’s words felt like a sucker punch. Surely he must have gotten my lab results mixed up…
Gordon’s Calvary
There is a distinctive, rocky outcropping north of Jerusalem that, in 1842, Otto Thenius, a German preacher, proposed to be the actual place of Christ’s crucifixion…
‘It Is Finished!’
It was 12 o’clock noon in Jerusalem, the time for the Passover sacrifices to begin. An unusual darkness covered the land (Mt. 27:45; Mk. 15:33)…
The Fascinating Hebrew Calendar
It’s easy to become confused with the dates for Jewish holidays because they are not based on the solar calendar we use…
Behold the Lamb!
Many non-Jews think Hanukkah is every Jewish person’s favorite holiday. But they would be wrong. Hanukkah is not the Jewish equivalent of Christmas…
Getting Serious About Talking to God
The doctrine of coming judgments is not popular. Most Christians don’t like reading or hearing about it. They say it’s scary…
Advice From Vance Havner
As we move closer and closer to the Rapture of the church, the world will grow more and more godless. Believers will become…
No Satisfaction Eccl. 4-6
In the 1960s, the English rock group The Rolling Stones shot to stardom with a song titled “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” This thought easily could…
He Is Risen, Indeed!
The apostle Paul believed in the resurrection, not because he was a Christian, but because he was a Jew. Faith in the reality of revival from the dead was part of his training…
Judaism 2.0
On a radio call-in show some years ago, a listener asserted the world “would be better off without Jews.” Another listener called in…
A ‘Taste of Heaven’ Sabbath Song
The prophet Elijah is perhaps the most beloved prophet in the Bible. He is the forerunner of the Messiah and the…
The Gold-Box Idol
During the closing period of the judges, the Israelites embraced wicked beliefs in their worship and view of God. God had confirmed Samuel as His spokesman and true prophet, but the Israelites refused to obey….
The Tyrant Who Tried to Kill Jesus
King Herod was a complex man. He was a brilliant builder and politician, yet a ruthless and brutal tyrant. He makes a brief appearance in Scripture as the cold-blooded killer of baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding areas…
Coming for His Bride
Townspeople lined the street as the handsome young bridegroom rode slowly by on a donkey. He looked like a king—dressed all in white, with a gold cloth wrapped around his waist. A white, Bedouin-style cloth covered his head; and he wore sandals (more like slippers) decorated in splendid, ornamental lace.
The Unbroken Line
Even the most unlikely situation can become a vehicle for God’s grace, as it did with Tamar. The story of Tamar as recorded in Genesis 38 is both sordid and tragic. Many readers consider the narrative indecent, and some even suggest it should never…
Rebels Without a Cause
It didn’t go well for Korah and crew when they complained against God. In fact, the ended up in what people today might call a giant sinkhole. Anyone who knows a little Yiddish probably knows the word kvetch. It means complain and whine habitually.
Message in the Wall
Sounds of gunfire, soldiers singing “Jerusalem of Gold,” and the faint sound of a shofar were heard over the army wireless. It was June 7, 1967, and the Israel Defense Forces paratroopers had just liberated the Temple Mount and Western Wall.
Troubled Twins
Struggle defined Jacob and Esau’s relationship. It began in the womb, continued when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, and culminated when Jacob stole Esau’s blessing. Though they were twins, the men were…
The Jewishness of Handel’s Messiah
A look at the interesting link between Israel’s holiest holidays and this world-renowned oratorio. My wife and I traveled to Great Britain in 2008. One of the highlights of our trip was our visit to London’s Westminster Abbey…
Résumé of the King
Moses said, “You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lᴏʀᴅ your God chooses” (Dt. 17:15). Here is how God planned to administer His kingship authority over Israel…
The Inquisitors
At the southeastern end of the old city of Jerusalem lies an impressive series of burial caves. Most date to the time of Jesus. Archaeologists recently have taken a closer look at them and have turned up…
The Evidence Trail
I recently attended the Christian Leadership Seminar at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. The Christian Friends of Yad Vashem (CFYV), which hosts…
The Things He Saw
On April 27, 1945, the 12th Armored Division of the United States Army liberated prisoners from a Dachau subcamp called Kaufering IV in Landsberg, Germany. Serving with the…
How Yad Vashem Helps Reunite Families
The flames of the Holocaust destroyed millions of Jewish families. When World War II ended, those who managed to survive had no idea who was living and who was dead…
More Than a Man
Deeply rooted within the consciousness of the Jewish people is the belief in the coming of a Messiah. However, time, traditionalism, and tribulation have clouded…
Psalm 122: Our Joy And Peace
Psalm 122 is the third of the 15 pilgrim songs known in Hebrew as Psalms of Aliyah, meaning “going up.” Traveling to Jerusalem, especially for the three annual Jewish festivals…
Sukkah Shalom: An Invitation
The most joyous season in ancient Israel was that of the Feast of Tabernacles. It fell during the time of year when hearts were naturally full of thankfulness, joy, and expectation…
The Feasts of Tabernacles in the Days of Jesus
The Feast of Tabernacles during the time of Jesus was full of pageantry fueled with great expectation. It was the “season of our rejoicing” because…
A Rock on Which to Build the World
Abraham is the only person in the Old Testament called the “friend” of God (Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23). In the New Testament, he is listed as an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Mt. 1:1) and…
A Heart for Our Needs
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a 19th-century, British Baptist preacher, opened his great Christmas Eve sermon published in 1914 with these words: “He was moved with compassion…
The Garden Tomb
North of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City is a peaceful burial cave called the Garden Tomb. A peasant first discovered it in 1867. In 1874 a German missionary…
Masada
Masada is spectacular. It’s a mighty fortress on a massive rock plateau. The mountain is about 1,500 feet above the shores of the Dead Sea. The fortification is about…
Assault at Gethsemane
After eating His last supper, Jesus and His disciples crossed the Kidron Valley and came to a familiar garden of olive trees known as Gethsemane. Called in Hebrew Gat Shemanim…
Thank God for ‘Reveille’
January 30, 1965, was a cloudy day in London. Silent crowds lined the streets to watch the gun carriage leave Westminster Hall, bearing a coffin. Millions more viewed…
They Found Nothing!
Twenty-five years ago, when my son was 8 and my daughter 10, I nearly traumatized them. We were relaxing at home, enjoying one another’s company, when I looked at the…
A Hill Called Calvary
Was Jesus crucified at Calvary or Golgotha? Would it be shocking to hear it was at both? Both names point to the same location outside Jerusalem. The word Calvary in…
Essentials for the Faithful Jude 16—25
The short epistle of Jude is a scathing denunciation of false teachers and their immoral doctrines. It portrays them as evil individuals who worm their way into churches even though…
The Love of God is Greater Far
In 1096 in the city of Worms, Germany, Rabbi Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai composed a lengthy poem, Hadamut, extolling God. Tragically, that same year the Crusaders came to the city and murdered…
How Much is ‘So’?
Psalm 103:11 is a marvel to meditate: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.” Many people have expounded on this verse to show…
From Rome to the Turks
For hundreds of years, the Roman Empire ruled much of the known ancient world. Most of that time, Jewish people remained in their land. Then two major events occurred that resulted in their…
Buying Back Their Land
Whether or not the Jewish people were faithful to God, their behavior never invalidated their rightful ownership of the land of Israel. Disobedience cost them possession of it from time to…
The British Mandate
World War I (1914–1918) changed the map of the old Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The region was split into two great sections. The northern half went to France (the French Mandate)…
Bulla Lessons From Jeremiah 36
It’s a fact. The deeper archaeologists dig, the more Jewish history they find. With so much physical evidence to support the Bible, it’s amazing so many people remain unresponsive toward…
Shall Not Come to Mind Anymore
Jeremiah 3:16 and John 3:16: The Ark of the Covenant represented God’s presence and His footstool. It was where the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) ceremony was conducted in ancient…
A Night to Remember
Preparations for the evening were ready. When the hour had come, Jesus and His disciples went to an upper room, where they reclined around a low…
Wingate the Zionist
An aircraft suddenly plunged to earth and burst into flames. The cause for the crash near Imphal, India, on March 24, 1944, has remained a mystery. All nine men aboard…
John Henry Patterson
In 1898, English engineer John Henry Patterson was sent to Kenya to build a bridge over the Tsavo River. But two ferocious lions were terrorizing and eating his workmen.
The Septuagint: The First of the Bible Translations
Over the centuries, God’s Word has penetrated many nations and cultures through translations that have made it available to people in their native languages. The Septuagint, from the Latin word…
The Gospel According to Isaiah
Many people think the gospel is strictly a New Testament phenomenon. However, the elements of sin, repen- tance, and faith in God alone are con- tained in the book of Isaiah.
Merely Lumps of Clay
Imagine a clay pot complaining about the potter who created it! The thought is absurd. The lump of clay is nothing. In fact, it’s completely worthless until the potter skillfully…
Dilemma and Decisions Esther 4
Ever been between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes? It’s that terrible situation in which both choices that lie before you are bad. Queen Esther faced…
Haman’s Main Problem Esther 5
Haman had it all. Yet Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him ruined everything, as far as he was concerned. That’s because he had two problems many still have today.
Keepers of the Scriptures
If you read a Bible, you owe much to the Jewish people for the extraordinary mea- sures they took to preserve His Word— and much more.
Ancient Writing Tools
A stylus in Jesus’ day was a writing tool made of metal, ivory, or bone. The writer would press the pointed end of the stylus down on a waxed-surface tablet.
God Was in Our Boat
One of my favorite sites in Israel is the Sea of Galilee. It’s a great experience to take a boat ride across its calm and quiet waters. Although we know…
Scrolls, Scripture, and the Savior
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me (Jn. 5:39). Housed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem is a curious…
A Phenomenal Shavuot
Jerusalem was crowded with pilgrims and strangers from all over the ancient world. They came from Mesopotamia, Judea, Asia, Egypt, Libya, and even Rome. It was summer; and Jewish people were gathering…
Service of the Heart
It was to be a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy (2 Ki. 19:3). Assyria, the most powerful military force on Earth, invaded Judah. King Sennacherib demanded Jerusalem’s surrender, all the while mocking…
Silver and Taxes: So What Else Is New?
According to Bible prophecy, an inferior empire (symbolized by silver in Daniel 2:31, 39) would replace the gold kingdom of Babylon. The Medo-Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. According to fifth-century…
The Peace Only Jesus Brings
Inner peace, outer peace. Peace in this world, peace in the next. Everyone talks about it, but few understand what true peace is all about—and how Jesus will change the world.
Jewish Pseudo Messiahs
History is filled with people who envisioned themselves to be greater than they really were. Here are a number of Jewish men who either saw themselves as God’s promised Redeemer…
A Martyr for Messiah
In every generation God raises up men who are faithful to Him in even the most difficult circumstances. One such man was Pastor Isaac Feinstein, a Jewish believer in Jesus who befriended…
An Old Man Wept
Due to the prayers of an old German carpenter named Christian Wolfkes, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, founders of The Voice of the Martyrs, came to faith in 1938. Soon they led Jews…
The Story of Richard Wurmbrand
He endured imprisonment by the Nazis and torture by the Communists to become one of the 20th century’s most inspiring men of faith.
The Coming ‘Perfect Storm’
The Tribulation tempest is filled with wrath. And it’s not God’s wrath alone.
The Key of David
The invention of locks and keys is extremely ancient. But it was the Romans, nearly 2,000 years ago, who refined and developed their use. Because togas normally lacked pockets, they created…
When Messiah Reigns
The grand inauguration of the Messianic Age will begin when Jesus Christ returns to Jerusalem as promised (Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:10–12). The remnant of Israel that will have withstood the Time…
The Marvelous Age of Grace
An amazing grace characterizes the present Church Age. This dispensation began with the Holy Spirit indwelling and sealing the brethren during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, or Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), and will culminate…
Believing Is Seeing
A real but unseen world exists that is controlled by the Lord. Here is a glimpse of it through the lens of the never-changing Word of God.
The Sound of the Trumpet
The apostle Paul used the Roman military trumpet as a metaphor for spiritual battle. First-century historian Josephus wrote that the Roman army did nothing, except by trumpet signals. He listed…
Shavuot: Shadows of the Savior
As Jerusalem and the Temple came into view, the ancient pilgrims sang for joy. It was the Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot. The Israelites carried on their shoulders beautiful baskets filled…
The Unpopular Truth
I’ve been to many churches during my lengthy ministry with The Friends of Israel. Most have welcomed me warmly. But I spoke at one recently that did not. Even the pastor…
Actual or Absurd?
Cynical journalist H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) once said, “What I got in Sunday school…was simply a firm conviction that the Christian faith was full of palpable absurdities.” No doubt many today…
The Resurrection Wrangle
As Jesus taught in the Temple in Jerusalem, representatives from various religious sects came to hear Him. Their intent was to find fault with His responses to their questions. For one…
The Jewish Promise of Resurrection
In a Phoenician town called Zarephath, the prophet Elijah was in the home of a widow whose son fell sick and died. Elijah fervently prayed, “O Lᴏʀᴅ my God, I pray…
For Unto You
In Jesus’ day, herdsmen were held in low esteem. Their honesty and integrity were often questioned, and apparently they could not always observe the rituals or keep the ceremonial laws.
A Star in the Heavens
The Magi were an old, powerful priestly caste that practiced astronomy as well as astrology. Naturally, they would have been familiar with the writings of Balaam the Mesopotamian (Dt. 23:4).
The Most Sacred Day
The most sacred day in the Jewish High Holy Days observance is Yom Kippur. Held in the fall, it is the sixth of the seven observances recorded in Leviticus 23. The words Yom Kippur mean…
A Time to Blow the Shofar
Modern Judaism calls the fifth of seven observances recorded in Leviticus 23 Rosh Hashanah. The words mean “head of the year.” And the holiday—which begins at sundown on September 29—is considered a New Year…
Goodbye, Eli
Eli was basically a good man. However, God pronounced a terrible judgment on his house, and for good reason. Something had gone wrong, and Eli was not diligent to rectify it.
From Shepherd to King
God promised David the kingship over Israel. Yet it took more than 20 years for that promise to be realized. Born in Bethlehem of Judea, David was the youngest of eight sons
Learning to Wait on God
A biblical prophecy is not merely a prediction. It is a sure promise about the future. God is ever faithful to keep His promises, even though He often does so many years down the road.
The High Price of Disobedience
Samuel’s sons did not walk with the Lord. Therefore, the people wanted a king who would rule over them and fight their battles (1 Sam. 8:19–20). They wanted to be just like other nations.
Men Who Believed
Replacement Theology, which strips Israel of God’s promises, has been around a long time. But in every generation, there also have been men who believed, long before 1948, in Israel’s national restoration.
Our God Cares 1 Peter 5:1–11
The Lord of the universe knows everything about you, including your needs. This excellent article explains how you can depend on Him because He is the perfect CARE-giver.
Drama Around the Triclinium
Reasonable, educated speculation based on an understanding of the Jewish seating custom can help us appreciate the drama in the Upper Room at Jesus’ final Passover more than 2,000 years ago.
Expectancy–Prayer
My God, the soul which Thou hast placed in me is pure. Thou hast fashioned it in me; Thou didst breathe it into me, and Thou preservest it within me…
Tidings of Comfort and Joy
At this Christmas season, do you have joy? True joy comes from something you might not associate with it. But once found, it lasts forever.
Facing the ‘Lion’
The lions of Tsavo devoured men. Fierce and stealthy, they showed complete contempt for people, except as food. We, too, face a vicious adversary. And here are our keys to victory.
The Carols of Christmas
Many of us love the strains of the old, familiar songs of Christmas. And you may love them even more after you learn the fascinating stories behind them.
Danger! Lukewarmness Ahead Revelation 3:14–22
God was upset with the church in Laodicea. And He explained its condition using a comparison the Laodiceans would have no trouble understanding.
The Dead Sea Scrolls’ True Treasure
The law of the Lᴏʀᴅ is perfect. More to be desired are they than gold,…and in keeping them there is great reward. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands…
Outrage at Gibeah: A Spiritual and Societal Breakdown
The story of the Levite and his concubine is one of the grimmest in all of Scripture. And its relevance for today may surprise you.
Beware of Today’s ‘Canaanites’
In 1929 a fantastic archaeological discovery was made in the ancient port town of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Hundreds of ancient tablets were found, providing a wealth of information about Canaanite culture.
Awaiting a ‘Song in the Night’ Lamentations 3
The southern kingdom of Judah was in trouble with God. About a century earlier, the Lord had allowed the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. That event should have served as a graphic…
The Exiles Return
God may have removed the Jewish people from their land, but He faithfully brought them back. Learn how He did it and who He used.
The Eastern Gate
The ground in front of the Eastern Gate of the Temple Mount was still soft from the heavy rains. Confidently, the archaeology student stepped back from the gate to capture its entire view…