Isaiah’s Amazing Cyrus Prophecy — The Context in Isaiah

Posted on 28 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

In Isaiah 39, written around 700 BC, King Hezekiah of Judah was told that his people and his sons would go into captivity in Babylon.  Beginning in Isaiah 40, Isaiah prophesies the deliverance from that captivity, a prophecy fulfilled around 535 BC, some 150-175 years later.  In that prophecy, he actually names the ruler who God would use to release the children of Judah from their captivity, Cyrus of Persia, as seen in chapters 44 and 45.  I discussed that prophecy in an earlier article.

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Bible in the British Museum — British Museum Links

Posted on 25 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

My “Bible in the British Museum” series (series summary here) has a lot of links to the British Museum website.  Whenever I have used one of their pictures the picture itself is a link to their site, as well as other links.

Unfortunately, I’ve just learned that a lot of those links are broken because of changes to their site.  Since this is a popular series and people go back to it for reference, I intend to correct those links, and I’ve done so for the Cyrus article to which I linked in yesterday’s post.  But this will take some time, so I apologise if anyone hits broken links — feel free to let me know about them and I’ll try to get them fixed!

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Isaiah’s Amazing Cyrus Prophecy — Cyrus Named

Posted on 24 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

Many Christians are familiar with Isaiah’s prophecy, written around 700 BC, which describes and names Cyrus the Great, the Persian emperor who would come to the throne 140 years later.  There was more to this prophecy than just the name, but we’ll start with the name.

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A World Prepared

Posted on 20 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

Genesis 1:2

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

When God created, the earth was formless, empty, and dark.

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Boring Numbers? What About Those Offerings of the Princes?

Posted on 18 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

II Timothy 3:16-17

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Some people think Numbers is boring and has some things that are of no value to believers today.  In an earlier article, I looked at the numbering of the people, in chapters 1 and 26, and pointed out some valuable lessons to learn from the account.  I’d like to turn our attention now to Numbers 7 and the offerings of the princes.  If THAT chapter is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and/or instruction in righteousness, maybe II Timothy 3:16 is true after all!

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The Verse That Divides — One Way of Salvation

Posted on 15 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

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Boring Numbers? Maybe Not

Posted on 12 October, 2019 by Jon Gleason

II Timothy 3:16-17

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

In Numbers, we have two accounts of the number of the children of Israel — the first in chapter 1, and the second in chapter 26.  Why?  And what’s the value to us of knowing how many men of fighting age there were in the tribes of Israel?  How is this “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness?”  Isn’t it just a bunch of boring numbers?

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