Bible

Truth Over Feelings

Judges 21:25 – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Why do younger generations today believe things that their grandparents would have laughed at, thinking it was preposterous and absurd? For example, within a few generations, Western culture has gone from listing homosexuality as … Read more

Jesus is the Greater Gideon

To properly understand the Old Testament, we must connect it to the person and work of Jesus. This should not be done in an allegorizing manner where arbitrary meanings foreign to Scripture are assigned to Old Testament words and images, thereby changing their meaning. Rather, the meaning of the Old Testament includes symbolism and identity … Read more

God Shows up in Supernatural Ways

The writer Mark Twain once said something that sounds a lot like the scene we will now study in Gideon’s life, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”  The time had come for Gideon, called and anointed by God, to lead untrained civilians … Read more

Not by Our Own Might or Power, But by His Spirit

Syncretism is what happens when you worship both God and other gods, obeying some of what God says and some of what Satan says. Jesus will not allow any syncretism in Gideon’s life and does not allow any syncretism in our life. Gideon’s father was a pagan worshiping the demon god Baal and demon goddess … Read more

Gideon Meets Jesus

In Judges 6, Jesus Christ appears as “the angel [or messenger] of the Lord” from Heaven. His visit is to one man, Gideon, who is hiding out, threshing wheat in a winepress. This would indicate absolute poverty, because he must have had little wheat to thresh, in a small walled winepress instead of an open … Read more

Why We Need to Cry Out to the Lord

The Purge is a series of horror movies based on the premise that, for one 12-hour period each year, there are no laws, people are free to commit any crime, and there are no emergency services (e.g., police, fire fighters, and medical care). During this time, people go into hiding to survive, and the evilest … Read more

What is Judges All About?

Paying attention to the following themes in Judges can be helpful in using it as a story to better understand your own heart, life, and culture. Covenant. God is faithful to His covenant people even when they are unfaithful to Him. God’s promise to Abraham, that He would raise up and provide for His people, … Read more

A Vicious Cycle

Judges is closely related to the book of Deuteronomy which prophesies the future events reported in Judges. A Bible commentary says: “…Deuteronomy most clearly expresses [God’s] covenant. Judges is then a sermon on Deuteronomy [with] lessons drawn from history illustrating Deuteronomic principles. This characteristic unites the parts of Judges into a whole. Deuteronomy 7:2 commands … Read more

Why is Scripture authoritative?

Holy Scripture is God speaking. That simple but profound statement is why Christians believe that Scripture is our highest authority by which all other lesser authorities are tested. Practically, this means that lesser courts of reason, tradition, and culture are under the highest court of truth, which is divinely inspired Scripture. By contrast, the Roman … Read more

Should Leaders Be Worshippers?

Judges 5:1 – Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day… Judges 5 is clearly a Holy Spirit-inspired worship song that Deborah and Barak lead the leaders and people to sing in thanks to the Lord for His forgiveness of their sin and deliverance from their enemies. “Then sang Deborah and … Read more

Is God a Pacifist?

Numbers 14:18 – “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.” After the Lord helped Deborah and Barak’s people win their battle, despite … Read more

Does Evil Stop Itself?

Deuteronomy 32:35-36 – Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’ For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none … Read more