Author: matt.zoe

WHO in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him. O Lord God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.  (Psalm 89:6–9) This magnificent song shows that the heaven and the earth, the whole world is God’s. He is to be had in reverence by all His creation. His majesty is demonstrated by His power to control the raging of the sea. But did you notice the question: ‘Who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?’ Jesus answered

This is the seventh in a series in which we examine this fascinating Bible book. You can catch up with the previous articles at www.gladtidingsmagazine.org. ACTS WAS WRITTEN in the early part of 62ad and contains an account of the work of some of the apostles from about 30ad to 62ad. Some have suggested that it was written later but dressed up to seem authentic; others suggest that it has been tampered with since it was written so that it is an inaccurate record. One of the ways to test these assertions is to compare the content of Acts with what we know about the world in the period it describes. In Acts we find references to 51 different cities and to at least 20 provinces. Some of these are mentioned only in passing, but others are described in considerable detail. The detail in Acts can be matched up with

ARCHIE was a stray. We have no idea about his life before he came to us, except that it must have been difficult. He was thin, balding, nervous with people and manically aggressive towards other dogs. For the first few months we were the scourge of the neighbourhood, as we towed around our mangy fiend who snarled and lunged at every other dog we came across. But gradually he transformed into the good-natured hearth-rug we now know and love. Why the transformation? Dogs are social animals. In the wild they live together, they have a strong loyalty to the pack and a sense of their place in it. What Archie needed was the security of knowing that he belonged. Belonging People are very like dogs in this respect. We’re social animals. Some are more sociable than others. But we were designed to live in company, and God’s dealings with people

AFTER the Babylonian invasion of 586 bc, Jerusalem and its temple lay in ruins. The inspired writer (probably Jeremiah) knew that these troubles had been allowed by God because of His people the Jews’ refusal to respond to Him. The book of Lamentations contains a series of poems about the desolation of Jerusalem and the sufferings of the Jews. Despised and Rejected Chapter 1 is a sad commentary on the plight of the Jews, who would be despised and rejected by the world, just as God had been despised and rejected by them. The lamentations about God and His people are reflected in the sorrows and sufferings of Jesus. He bore “the yoke in his youth” (3:27) and gave “his cheek to the one who strikes him” (3:30) for the transgressions of others. These are echoes of Isaiah’s great prophecy of Jesus Christ: He was oppressed and he was afflicted,

AS A LOVING FATHER, God cares deeply about the wellbeing of His children. Within the Bible He has provided wise counsel to assist with all the problems of our lives. One of the major problems that afflicts many people is that of anxiety and worry. I am not saying that if you have a problem with anxiety, the Bible is necessarily all you need. Some problems require the assistance of medication or therapy. Reading the Bible will not solve a mental health problem, any more than it will treat a broken leg. The Bible does not deal with mental health, but it does deal with spiritual health. Attention to your spiritual health will solve many of your problems, and help with them all. And attention to your spiritual health will not just benefit you in this life, but it can equip you for eternal life! What Is Anxiety? You may

JEREMIAH lived in the last years of the Jewish kingdom, when the nation was growing increasingly godless and wicked. Judah was under threat from the empire of Babylon. Many Jews at the time wanted to seek the aid of the king of Egypt, but Jeremiah told them to submit to the king of Babylon instead, because this was in God’s purpose. He foretold the overthrow of Judah and surrounding nations. For preaching such a message, Jeremiah was cast into a muddy dungeon and left to die (38:6), but he was saved by a friend. The 70 Years Captivity Jeremiah prophesied a period of captivity for Judah: And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,

CONVERSION is a word that Christians often use. The root meaning of the word is ‘to turn around’. Conversion is about a change of direction. Very often in the Bible the Christian life is described as a journey, following a certain course. We read of ‘walking in the spirit’; ‘running the race’; ‘finishing the course’; ‘pressing forward towards the goal’. Always going forward in a certain direction. Two Ways When Jesus was teaching he directed his hearers’ attention to the fact that there are two ways in which people can walk, two roads along which they can travel, two directions they can choose. Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who

JOHN CHAPTER 6 contains the account of one of Jesus’ most amazing miracles. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee he fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, using only five loaves of bread and two small fish. The miracle was so impressive that the people were fired with adulation, and the situation could have taken a turn which Jesus did not want. “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone” (John 6:15). It must have been a temptation for him to ride the wave of his popularity and use it for his self-gratification. He resisted the temptation and dealt with it, then retreated to be by himself where he could pray to his Father in heaven. His solitary prayers gave him strength, and later that night we see

WHEN WE study the New Testament (the second part of the Bible which deals with the life of Jesus and the activities of the early church), it’s useful to determine the date at which each of the documents in it was written. This is an involved study, but it leads to a very clear picture of how the letters in the New Testament were written and what was going on at the time that each was written. The study of the chronology of the New Testament involves comparing details in the letters with events in the book of Acts, and other historical events whose date can be established from archaeology or reference to ancient documents outside the Bible. The result is that we can be confident of the date of almost all of the letters to within a single year, and many of them to within a couple of months.