Reading 2 Kings

I’ve already posted the background material for 1 & 2 Kings, but recently discovered I’d also put together a chart some time ago for 2 Kings. This may help you understand the flow of this book:

Jonah and his Bible

A note that I should have included in my comments about “Reading Jonah:” he was a man of the Scriptures. In his prayer from the belly of the fish, Jonah either quotes or alludes to 11 different Psalms: 2:2 — Ps. 18:4-6; 30:3; 120:1-3 2:3 — Ps. 42:7 2:4 — 5:7; 31:22 2:5 — 69:1-2, […]

Reading Jonah

Jonah has often been decried as inspirational but mythical. Yet the historical account was authenticated by Christ. Further, the story is ultimately a great demonstration of the character of God and His grace to redeem even Gentiles. Read more about Jonah and its background here. Keith Palmer also preached on the book of Jonah last […]

Some things are not worth knowing

Those who are naive are often mocked for their innocent ignorance. Yet Scripture affirms that there are some things not worth knowing. Even more, knowing them is a detriment to our hearts. That’s why God said to Adam and Eve not to eat from that one tree in the middle of the Garden — the […]

Grab Bag

A few resources I’ve found recently that have been helpful: “Devotions Aren’t Magic” — among other things, regular time with Christ cultivates delight in Him. Biblical Training recently updated its web page — and all the same very helpful resources are still there at no cost — including seminary level training. A great resource. Some […]

Sunday Leftovers (6/13/10)

It is an unfortunate reality that it is possible to be regular in reading the Scriptures and being exposed to Biblical teaching and preaching and yet remain unchanged. The hymn writer said that we are “prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love?” Why is that so? A number of possibilities exist: We substitute […]

A different kind of life

The life of the believer will be different from the life of the unbeliever. There will be transformation into the image of Christ in the life of the believer (he will not be perfect, and there will be differing levels of maturity, but his trajectory will be towards Christ). John Calvin said it this way:” […]

An exhortation to evangelize from an unlikely source

This video has been on the internet for a couple of years, but it is worth watching again. Penn Jillette is no believer, but he is right about what he says about evangelism — “how much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize?” Watch the video:

Help for remembering Israel’s kings

The daily Scripture reading for this morning includes the beginning of the breakup of the unified kingdom of Israel. Instead of one king over the entire nation, as had been the practice under Saul, David, and Solomon, the nation (because of Solomon’s evil sin) was divided into the northern ten tribes and the southern two […]

God, please don’t give me too much

The “fish story” is the poster-child for exaggeration. The longer the fish is dead, the bigger it grows. But fishermen are not the only ones who are prone to stretching the boundaries of a story. A 25-pound weight loss creeps up to 30, then 35 or more. Salaries often “grow” even when there haven’t been […]

Would you be holy?

Thinking about the putting off of sin and the world and the putting on of Christ and grace, I’ve been thinking on the following statement from J. C. Ryle: Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ. You will do just nothing at all and make no […]

Book Review: What is the Gospel?

Title: What is the Gospel? Author: Greg Gilbert Publisher: Crossway, 2010; 128 pp. $12.95 Recommendation (4-star scale): Not all commendable books are long. Not all worthwhile books are complex. Not all valuable books are ground-breaking. Such is the case with Greg Gilbert’s first published work. It is not long (only 128 pages; it can be […]

Wordly or godly?

Sometimes it is difficult to discern worldliness (either because of the complexity of the issues involved, or because of the deceitfulness of our own hearts). Are we expressing appropriate freedom and liberty that God has granted us to enjoy — or are we engaging in activity that is in fact worldly? Or perhaps the better […]

Reading Kings

This morning, we begin reading the book of 1 Kings in our Bible reading. This book was actually written with 2 Kings as one book by the Biblical author (we don’t know with certainty who that was, but Jeremiah is one possibility). Together, these two books are a sad documentary of the sins of the […]

The future punishment of the unbelieving

The past few Sundays we’ve been considering what the life of the unbeliever is like. In many ways, this has been an incomplete consideration, for it has only contemplated what the life of the unbeliever is like now; we have not dwelt on what the life of the unbeliever will be like, because of what […]