Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Leviticus Warns Against Everything Unclean, but Jesus Has a Different Response I’ve never met anyone who likes the book of Leviticus, and many admit to skimming it when it comes up in their Bible reading plan, yet a thoughtful read of this often-tedious book reveals startling insights. Today’s section talks about the unclean: unclean people, […]
Sunday Should Not Be a Day of Restriction but a Day of Freedom and Celebration In the book of Exodus, God and Moses have a face-to-face meeting. That is significant. How cool would it be to have a direct conversation with the Almighty? Certainly, we’d remember what he told us and be careful to follow […]
For Forty Years the Israelites Had Two Signs from God to Guide Them After spending four-hundred years in Egypt, the repressed children of God finally get a chance to leave. This comes under the leadership of Moses. We know of Moses’s meetings with Pharaoh to negotiate the Israelites’ release, of ten plagues, and the people’s […]
God Reveals the Meaning of Dreams to Joseph Joseph (son of Jacob, in the Old Testament) is in a world of hurt. His life has spiraled downward. The favorite son of his father, his jealous brothers stoop to selling him as a slave to some passing traders. Joseph ends up in Egypt, a slave to […]
Lot Is Blessed When Abraham Is Near When Abram went to the land God promised him, he took Lot with him even though he wasn’t supposed to. Abram had to deal with the consequences of his decision. Consider the rise and fall of Lot. For Lot, there were consequences too. When he traveled with Abram, […]
Discover When Our Ancestors Starting Eating Meat Adam was a vegetarian—really, he was. So were Eve and their kids too. In fact, the next several generations likely avoided meat was well. They all had a vegetarian lifestyle. How do I know this? After creation, God told Adam and Eve that they could eat any plant […]
Good and Evil are Not Equal and Opposite Forces In Revelation we read about the dragon and the beast, a great battle, and the tribulation the whole world faces. The Beast Embedded in the middle of this epic tale, we see a curious revelation. John writes that the beast is given power to wage war […]
God Blesses Us So That We Can Be a Blessing to Others God wants to bless us. He loves us and wants to give us his best. This idea of blessing occurs throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, God often ties his blessings to the people’s obedience and to the attitudes of their hearts. […]
The Simplicity of Faith In Peter’s darkest moment, he denies that he even knows who Jesus is. I don’t criticize Peter for this, however. Despite a desire to respond differently, I suspect that if facing death, I could easily do the same thing. Later, after returning to life, Jesus restores Peter to right relationship with […]
If You Are a Citizen of the Kingdom of God, Then You Live Here as an Alien Peter writes his first letter to Christians scattered about in pagan cities. He first calls them exiles (1 Peter 1:1). He also refers to them as foreigners (1 Peter 2:11). Though foreigner is accurate, I prefer the label […]