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Israel Research Trip, Post #14
Caesarea Philippi / Banias Continuing our visits to the jewels of northern Israel, we come to Caesarea Philippi (known also as Banias/Banyas and Paneas) on the shoulder of Mt. Hermon east of Tel Dan along highway 99.
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Israel Research Trip, Post #11
Chorazin Jerome Murphy-O’Connor refers to Chorazin as “Capernaum with a view.”[1] The city sat about two miles north of Capernaum at a site known as Khirbet Karazeh (or, Karraza), with which C. W. M. Van de Velde identified Chorazin (Korazim) in the 1850s.
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Israel Research Trip, Post #10
Capernaum The city of Capernaum in Galilee gained its greatest attribute when Jesus chose it as the location of His residence after leaving His boyhood home in Nazareth.
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Israel Research Trip, Post #9
Magdala For myself personally, Magdala provided a new opportunity to visit a site I had not previously visited. I was enthralled with the archaeological finds at this location and enjoyed walking through the excavations.
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Israel Research Trip, Post #8
Sepphoris Excavations at Sepphoris (4 miles north of Nazareth) have uncovered beautiful mosaics (see picture above of the mosaic in a Roman villa triclinium; photo by Todd Bolen, Nov 1, 2006; Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 1, 2012).
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Israel Research Trip, Post #7
Nazareth Most of my posts in this series up to this point have involved sites more related to the Old Testament than to the New Testament. The New Testament alone specifically mentions the town of Nazareth. The town sits about 20 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea and about 15 miles west of the Sea
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Israel Research Trip, Post #4
Caesarea Maritima / Caesarea Palestina Intertestamental Period In the 3rd century BC the Persians gave the area to the Phoenicians who built a small anchorage here and named it Strato’s Tower.
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Jordan Research Trip, Post #11
This final post reporting on my research trip to Jordan includes two sites we visited on our first day. I’ve done so in order to tie together some of the significance aspects of our visit to Gerasa and our later examination of sites in Israel. Elijah’s Hill / Tell Elias In order to identify sites
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: When Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?
This apparent contradiction of the timing of the events involved Jesus’ cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree. Matthew 21:12–19 reports that Jesus cursed the fig tree on the day following His cleansing of the Temple. However, Mark 11:12–24 appears to indicate that Jesus left Bethany (v.
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Shalom Living for God’s People
In 2014, as part of my participation in the ministries of Abraham Lincoln Foundation of Albania (ALFA), Robb Provost (ministry director) asked me to prepare and present a study about “shalom living” from the Old Testament.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Entering or Leaving Jericho?
Earlier we discussed whether Jesus healed one man or two men on His journey between Jericho and Jerusalem (Matthew 20:29–34; Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–43). At least one additional problem presents itself in these three passages. Luke 18:35 says that Jesus was approaching (or, entering) Jericho.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: What Did Peter Say?
The synoptic Gospels seem to put different words into Peter’s mouth when he makes his statement regarding the identity of Jesus.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: How Many Walking Sticks?
In ancient Israel people often used the Persian reed (Arundo donax—a tall reed growing up to eighteen feet or more high; also known as giant cane) for a walking stick.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: How Many People?
Let’s return to the synoptic Gospels’ reporting of the healing of the demon-possessed men (or man?) from Gadara (Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39). We dealt with the apparent geographical contradiction in our first post. At least one more problem exists when we compare these passages.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Misrepresentation of Persons
Matthew 8:5–13 reports the miracle of Jesus healing a Roman centurion’s servant. Matthew seems to say the centurion himself approached Jesus with the request. Luke 7:1–10, however, speaks only of some Jewish leaders coming to Jesus with the centurion’s request.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Authors’ Choices
Both God and men play a role in the production of Scripture. We speak of that factor as the confluent nature of Scripture. Such confluency allows for the human authors to differ in vocabulary, phraseology, literary style, and purposes. God chose each writer for the purpose and means He had in mind.
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The Synoptic Gospels’ Inerrancy: Geographical Realities
Four Gospels, four viewpoints—do they lead to inconsistency in their testimony concerning the words and deeds of Jesus Christ? Apart from all of their similarities, what should readers do when they find apparent contradictions?
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Peace-Loving Believers in an Age of Violence, Part 3 (Final)
Three fairly significant biblical examples appear to support a believer’s participation in the military: [1] Jesus’s approval of a king who waged war against wicked people (Matthew 21:33–41). In Luke 3:14 John did not command them to resign from military service, but to be conten
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Peace-Loving Believers in an Age of Violence, Part 2
Just war advocates normally base their stance upon passages revealing the divine origin and approval of government and its functions. Romans 13:1–7 forms the anchoring text for developing their view of governmental authority in the lives of Christians. The apostle Paul represents
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My Recommendations: Book of the Week, September 24
Photo Companion to the Bible: The Gospels Photo Companion to the Bible: The Gospels (DVD from BiblePlaces.com) offers its users more than 10,000 PowerPoint slides illustrating the four Gospels verse by verse. The photographs represent some of the collections of Dr. Todd Bolen, Dr.
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Messianic Hope and the Gentiles–Thinking Through Romans 15:8-13
Romans 15:8-13 provides us with the apostle Paul’s theology of Messianic hope as founded upon the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible. In this significant text he builds upon the revelation of hope about which he speaks in Romans 15:4.
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Messianic Hope and the Gentiles
Even before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:17–21), God appointed Christ and His perfect sacrifice as the basis for showing mercy to the Gentiles. Through Christ they could experience hope in spite of being strangers to Israel and not being recipients of God’s covenants with
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Identifying the imperatives in Biblical Narratives
Narratives occupy a large portion of the Bible, whether its pages record the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph or the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness, or the events surrounding the judges and kings of Israel, or the stories of Ruth or Esther.
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Identifying the Imperatives in Biblical Narratives
Narratives occupy a large portion of the Bible, whether its pages record the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph or the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness, or the events surrounding the judges and kings of Israel, or the stories of Ruth or Esther.
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Implications or Applications?: Preaching Biblical Narratives
Some preachers produce abundant applications (or, implications?) for their congregations from biblical narratives, whether they are Old Testament historical narratives like Judges 4 or New Testament Gospel narratives like Mark 3. Other preachers insist they should offer only theo
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Pentecost Meditation: The Significance of Christ’s Ascensions
Bible readers often pick up on the apparent fact that Jesus ascended more than one time into heaven following His resurrection. Indeed, there appear to be three different ascensions, each accomplishing different purposes.
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Hebrew Whiteboard
Structural or logical line diagramming serves as one of the chief means by which the exegete can identify verse structure in the Hebrew Bible.
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Biblical Genealogies: Begetting a Devotional Reading
What do you do when you come to the book of 1 Chronicles in your Bible reading? Skip?–Jump over genealogies without reading. Skim?–Read the inserted headings, but not the text. Scavenge?–Read only the narrative inserts, like the one about Jabez. Squirm?–Read with distinct discomfort.
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Biblical Genealogies: Begetting a Devotional Reading
You’ve heard it and maybe even said it yourself, “When I get to a genealogy in my Bible reading, I just skip it.” Genealogies (lists of names telling who is related to whom) can be boring and intimidating—especially if you have to read all those hard-to-pronounce names aloud for
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What Books Do You Recommend Most Highly?–Part 2
As I continue to populate my list of books I most highly recommend, I move now to the New Testament commentaries. See What Books Do You Recommend Most Highly? (click on that title–it is a link that will take you to that first post) for the start of the list and the identification of the Old
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Psalm Inscriptions: Inspired?
Good detectives build a solid case for indictment by gathering all necessary evidence from a variety of sources. Paying careful attention to details can resolve some of the most difficult problems.
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The Crescent and the Cross
At the 2016 Shepherd’s Conference on March 10, I presented a seminar entitled “The Crescent and the Cross: Engaging Muslims for the Sake of the Gospel.” Here are the pertinent documents: PowerPoint (as PDF) Handout Fuller Notes
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20-20 Vision for 2016
The Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites all rose up against Judah to force the Southern Kingdom to submit to pagan control. King Jehoshaphat, however, feared God more than the armies arrayed against him and his people.
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Another Off-Site Blog Worth Reading
In an effort to expand my contributions in the blogosphere, I accepted an invitation to submit an essay to another great biblical and theological website: “Parking Space 23.” My first contribution is “Continuity: Old Testament Truth in New Testament Clothing.” The continuity that exists between the…
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Continuity: Old Testament Truth in New Testament Clothing
Share One of the benefits of getting older consists of gaining perspective, being able to put the past into its proper place in order to better understand the present. Fifty-four years of studying the Bible also has its benefits—primarily in more clearly understanding the continu
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Elihu and Moses (the Book of Job and Genesis)
Starting in Job 33, Elihu, the youngest of Job’s friends, addresses Job, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad regarding their erroneous views about God’s character and Job’s problems.
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Salvation in the Old Testament
In the week prior to Resurrection Sunday, the minds and hearts of all born-again believers turn to the marvelous redemptive work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in His sacrificial death.
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The cost: to finish the task
This sermon is part of the 2010 SummerFest series at Placerita Bible Church. The text for this message is Luke 14:8-30. This sermon was delivered at Placerita Bible Church on June 20, 2010
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Participation in the Military
This message as delivered at the Masters College Chapel on November 11, 2002 from Luke 3:14.
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Global Outreach
This message was delivered at the Masters College Chapel on September 26, 2001 from Luke 5:17-26. In the wake of September 11, Dr Barrick talks about Missions and Evangelism among Muslims.