Tag: CONNECT THE TESTAMENTS

  • MERCY AND JUDGMENT

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 32:1–33:33; Revelation 16:1–21; Job 37:9–15 “God is judge,” we like to say—especially when someone is struggling with injustice. When we get to the book of Revelation, though, we might struggle to understand God’s judgment. Yet even as John describes God dispensing judgment, he emphasizes God’s righteousness and loving nature. He tells us…

  • MERCY AND JUDGMENT

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 32:1–33:33; Revelation 16:1–21; Job 37:9–15 “God is judge,” we like to say—especially when someone is struggling with injustice. When we get to the book of Revelation, though, we might struggle to understand God’s judgment. Yet even as John describes God dispensing judgment, he emphasizes God’s righteousness and loving nature. He tells us…

  • PERSIST, DON’T JUST EXIST

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 28:1–29:21; Revelation 13:11–14:13; Job 36:24–33 The phrase “patient endurance” brings to mind the pasted-on smile of a parent regarding a misbehaving child—a parent clinging to the hope that someday this stage will pass. In Revelation the term is used in a much different way. “Here is the patient endurance of the saints,…

  • THE LAST PERSON YOU WOULD SUSPECT

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 26:1–27:36; Revelation 13:1–10; Job 36:13–23 Yahweh is capable of doing anything and everything He pleases. If He were not a good God, this would be deeply frightening, but considering His wonderful character, this is comforting. In Ezekiel 26:1–6, Yahweh describes the sins of Tyre and His plans against the powerful Phoenician city-state.…

  • KINGDOM POLITICS

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 24:1–25:17; Revelation 11:15–12:17; Job 36:1–12 We sometimes jump on the bandwagon with politics. Yet if we put our full trust in political candidates, or believe their rise to power is an indication of our future—a common campaign platform—we’re putting our hope in something transitory. No earthly person or kingdom has absolute rule.…

  • GREENER GRASSES

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 23:1–49; Revelation 11:1–14; Job 35:9–16 When God’s people turn from Him, the biblical story becomes solemn, sad, and explicit. “Now as for their names, the older was Oholah, and Oholibah was her sister. And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters, and their names are Samaria for Oholah, and Jerusalem…

  • THE POWER BEHIND THE DRAMA

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 21:1–22:31; Revelation 10:1–11; Job 35:1–8 The concerns that make up our mini-narratives can sometimes distract us from the great drama in which we have been cast. When a mighty angel appears with a scroll in John’s revelation, the apostle’s part in God’s great redemptive drama suddenly becomes very clear. He swaps his…

  • JUDGMENT: IT’S TRICKY

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 19:1–20:49; Revelation 9:1–21; Job 34:31–37 Judgment is both a curse and a blessing. If you judge others, you might be judged yourself—especially if you judge them incorrectly. Yet if you know how to judge right from wrong, you can discern truth from fiction. Although judgment can be a wretched thing, there is…

  • ABSENSE OF PAIN, PRESENCE OF GOD

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 17:1–18:32; Revelation 7:9–8:13; Job 34:16–30 When life is difficult, we often take refuge in knowing there’s a life to come—one in which we’ll be free from pain and the worries of this world. The thought brings us comfort. During the difficult times, the life to come might even be more appealing than…

  • COURAGE AND THE TRUTH

    Connect The TestamentsEzekiel 16:1–63; Revelation 6:1–7:8; Job 34:1–15 Few people are brave enough to speak the truth when it could cost them their reputation. Even fewer have the courage to speak the truth when it could cost them everything. The prophets, however, set a different example. “And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,…