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Bible Reading Contest: Win an ESV Reader’s Bible 6-Volume Set!

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I believe in reading the entire Bible quickly, and I think the ESV Reader’s Bible 6-Volume Set is out of this world. So today I’m opening a contest to encourage the former with promises of the latter.

Due to the generosity of Crossway, I have 2 copies of the 6-volume set to give away. And I can assure you: This is not a contest with impossible odds of winning. If you enter, you will not be up against hundreds or even thousands of entries.

Rules:

  1. You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but I’m trusting you to be honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable.
  2. You may not begin until January 1, 2017, and you have until March 31, 2017 to finish.
  3. To enter the drawing, you must email me at peter.krol@knowableword.com (or contact me through the web form) with the date you finished and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy it.
  4. On or around April 1, 2017, I will randomly select 2 winners from those who have emailed me their entries. And there’s no April Fool’s joke here; I’m just giving everyone a fair 90 days to enter. I will email the winners to get valid shipping addresses.
  5. If one or more winners are outside the US, and I decide international shipping costs are prohibitive, I reserve the right to email a $30 Amazon gift certificate instead of the 6-volume set. I understand this won’t cover the full set, but unfortunately it’s what’s in the budget for this contest.
  6. Unfortunately, missionaries with DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the contest.

I look forward to hearing from you. I hope you have as much fun with this sprint as I do, and may the Lord draw us all nearer to him through it!

Don’t be a Second-Hander

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In this short clip, John Piper describes his experience reading commentaries: often helpful, but rarely igniting his devotion to the Lord. To learn from the Book, you’ve got to look at the Book—and keep looking! Don’t go elsewhere for all your material.

https://vimeo.com/189824100

This year, may we be a people motivated daily by the best source material in existence. May we look and look and look and not let go until the Lord blesses us.

Check it out!

A Bible Reading Plan for Readers

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This is a great time to consider a new reading plan. While it requires discipline, it can also be great fun. The following article describes the speed-reading Bible plan I’ve followed since 2011. This article first appeared at The Gospel Coalition.

With the new year approaching, prepare yourself for the onslaught of Bible reading advice. “Slow down.” “Savor the Scripture.” “Whatever your plan, stick to it for the whole year.”

Such advice sounds good for those who prefer Peter Jackson to J. R. R. Tolkien or who would choose a locally anesthetized lobotomy over any sort of reading assignment. Non-readers show courageous faith when they commit to regular patterns of Bible reading at predictable intervals, and I laud their desire to draw closer to the Lord.

Leland Francisco (2011), Creative Commons

Leland Francisco (2011), Creative Commons

But what about those of us who enjoy reading? Why limit ourselves to a few chapters (or a few verses) 10 minutes a day?

Perhaps you were one of the geniuses who devoured Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows within two weeks of its publication. Maybe a Kindle deal puts a spring in your step. You always have one or more books going, and you have to set boundaries so blogs don’t overrun your life.

You, like the non-readers mentioned above, love the Bible as God’s Word. And you think following Jesus is more than a passing fad. You love to read, and the Bible is a book.

Here’s my advice: Read the Bible.

Go for It

Just go for it. Read all of it. Read the Bible like you would watch the Olympics. Delightfully. Astoundingly. In large doses over a few weeks. As though your hope of world peace depends on it. With an eye to the spectacular drama.

I dare you to read the entire Bible this year, and to read it as fast as you can.

I’ve done it annually since 2011, and I plan to keep doing it. My practice has been to drop all recreational reading (fiction, non-fiction, magazines) on January 1, at which point I read nothing but the Bible until I’ve finished it. My goal is to finish more quickly than I finished the previous year, or by all means to beat the first day of spring. (After that point, I don’t set the Bible aside but reinstitute a more measured pace and reintroduce other books into my literary diet.)

For each year’s sprint, I’ve read a different translation. I’ve used a different reading sequence (chronological, historical, canonical). I use a mobile-compatible app—I like YouVersion—so I can read anywhere at any time and be able to pick up where I left off. For the last two years, I made use of the terrific ESV Reader’s Bible (Amazon | Westminster), which made the reading experience more attractive than ever. This year, I can’t wait to enjoy my speed-read with the hot new ESV Reader’s Bible, 6-volume set (Amazon | Westminster).

To be clear, the kind of reading I suggest is not mindless but voluminous, and for a season. The Bible expects us to read meditatively (Psalm 1:2, 119:97, etc.), and while meditation may involve a small chunk of text read at a slow pace, it doesn’t have to. Just as we can meditate on nibbles, so we can meditate on gobbles.

For example, upon reading Deuteronomy in one or two sittings I’m floored by the absolute necessity but innate impossibility of worshiping Yahweh as the only true God. This theme saturates the entire book, and for months after reading it I’m driven to meditate on both my need for a new heart and my hope of glory, Christ in me (Col 1:27).

Happier with Him

I don’t perform this annual romp through Scripture to make God any happier with me; I do it because it makes me happier with him. It does this in a number of ways.

1. It helps me grasp the overall story of the Bible. Though the Bible contains 66 books written by numerous human authors, it’s also one book with one divine author. The story begins well, declines quickly, and builds tension through the Old Testament. It climaxes in Jesus and resolves with much hope. Consuming the whole Bible in a short period keeps the big picture prominent.

2. It reminds me the Bible is a work of literature. All year long, I get plenty of time to analyze short passages of Scripture in detail. But for this short season, I loosen my literary inhibitions and succumb to the glory of the most influential book on the market. I saturate myself in the biblical text, frolicking through it like a well-fed dolphin in open water. I learn to see the Bible more as a collection of books than a collection of chapters, and the rhetorical intent of each human author comes alive.

3. It gets me through the difficult parts more easily. Ridiculing books like Leviticus and Chronicles is pretty hip these days. But with a speedy reading plan, they go by quickly and make more sense in light of the whole. Chronicles tells humanity’s epic tale from creation to Israel’s restoration from exile, and it empowers a new generation to rebuild the nation and re-engage with the Lord. Leviticus shows the wilderness generation how to draw near to God and live in community. A rapid reading plan helps us not to belabor the minutiae, so the “boring” parts of the Bible aren’t all that boring.

4. It heightens my anticipation for Christ. When I consume the Old Testament in large gulps, my spirits rise and fall with the fortunes of God’s people. And there’s more falling than rising, especially in the prophetic books, where oracle upon oracle yields darker condemnation and more violent opposition to the people’s social injustice, rebellion, and idolatry. But the promise of a dawning light pushes me on. When I finally hit the transition from “lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Mal 4:6) to “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1)—I’m not exaggerating to say my heart sings. The four Gospels blaze pure light like a God-man on a mountaintop, and I delight anew in the hottest piece of work on the planet. There’s a reason it’s called “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”

If you like to read, you won’t find a better book than the Holy Bible, the unbreakable Scriptures, the sword of the Spirit, the living and abiding Word of God. Take it for a test drive this year, and see if you don’t have the time of your life.

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The Most Important Component of Children’s Ministry

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In a blog post last week, Russell Moore makes an critical point about “The Cosmic Importance of Children’s Sunday School“:

Sunday school transformed my life.

What I needed was the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. What I sometimes find among Christians is knowledge of systematic theology in one tribe or of biblical moral principles in another—without knowing the narrative of the text itself. Some Christians know how to argue their view of whether Romans 7 describes pre- or post-conversion experience but don’t know the difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, between Abigail and Michal. We would all—as gospel Christians—affirm the entirety of the Bible as necessary and profitable but still might, if we’re honest, think that knowledge of the text’s details—rather than the theology or life principles arising from it—is more about Bible trivia than the Christian life. If so, we are wrong.

Now the exact structure of the education—that is, what we think of as “Sunday school”—is much less important than the form of the education—the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. And Moore nails his point here. The next generation needs to be fed God’s Word. Principles of theology are important, but not sufficient. Lessons in morality are important, but not sufficient.

The Church’s little ones are depending on us to get this right. Please consider what Dr. Moore has to say on this topic. Check it out!

Dear Church: I Dare You to Trust Your Bible This Year

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Wim Mulder (2005), Creative Commons

Dear Church,

Greetings in the name our common savior and only master, Jesus Christ. I remember you often in my prayers, as I beg our God and Father to strengthen your faith, increase your love, and magnify your hope through the good news revealed in the unbreakable Scriptures delivered to us through the mouths of his holy apostles and prophets. We do not serve a silent God. He has spoken to us by his Son (Heb 1:1-2), who in turn has spoken words of Spirit and life (John 6:63). In his limitless mercy, our God has made his will known and knowable to all his people unto the ages.

You, Church, are the bride of Christ. Do you hear what your Husband has to say to you? You, Church, are a pillar and buttress of the truth. Are you grounded directly in the truth that proceeds from the very lips of your God? You, Church, are the household of God. Does your Master have the final say on all that takes place on your watch? You, Church, are the assembly of the firstborn. Does the only wise God preside over all your affairs? Does your firstborn brother have preeminence? Is his teaching the primary lamp to your feet and light for your path?

I fear for you, that you have listened to so many voices, you no longer trust yourself to hear your Lord’s voice. That, from fear of ignorance, you have relied on experts to mediate God’s words to you. That, from fear of getting it wrong, you have become addicted to being told what to do. That, from fear of disapproval, you have created self-contained, self-congratulatory communities that no longer know how to give other God-honoring, Christ-worshipping, Truth-loving communities the benefit of the doubt.

Let me be clear: I fear that you may not trust your Bible to be enough for you. And if your Bible is not enough for you, it is inevitable you will stray from the truth of the Lord.

As we near the end of this year and prepare for the start of another, I dare you, Church, to trust your Bible this year. I dare you, church leaders, to preach the word. I dare you, teachers, to teach good reading skills at least as often as you teach true content. I dare you, all, to spend more time in the Bible itself than you spend in supplemental works about the Bible.

I dare you to consider some of the following resolutions:

  1. Our pastors will preach the word (2 Tim 4:1-2). When preparing a sermon, they will not read any commentaries until after they have identified a probable main point from the biblical text itself (Ps 119:15-16). Our preachers will not preach every possible point of theology or morality brought to mind by the passage’s terminology. They will preach only the main points of each sermon text, and they will connect those main points to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
  2. Our Bible study groups will study the Bible. They won’t depend on a curriculum. They won’t use a study guide. They won’t read a Christian book together. They will sit down, open their Bibles, read what’s on the page, and discuss what it says (Ps 119:18-19). Group leaders may use study guides to help them prepare, but they will reject any resource that doesn’t show its work (i.e. that doesn’t explain how it reached its conclusions from the text).
  3. Our elder meetings will not allow for any major decisions to be made without explicit reference to one or more specific Bible passages that inform our thinking. We will not excuse our failure to do this by appeals to “broad biblical truth not contained in a single text” or to “general wisdom informed by biblical truth, even if this specific decision isn’t addressed in the Bible.” We will not assume that every church leader knows how to apply biblical truth to real-life situations, and we will reject the lie that it is too elementary or pedantic a task to list specific verses for specific decisions (Ps 119:10).
  4. Our children’s ministries (Sunday school classes, Bible clubs, preschools, etc.) will dedicate time to read a passage from a normal (adult) translation of the Bible at every meeting. We might use children’s Bibles to supplement the instruction, but the children won’t be able to escape without hearing God’s own words unfiltered through a paraphraser (Ps 119:43).
  5. Our youth groups and teenage classes will not need a specialized curriculum to address moral issues facing teens. They will focus on learning how to study the Bible so they can be equipped to apply this old truth to any new problem they happen to face (Ps 119:27-28).
  6. We will train church members to lead their own evangelistic Bible studies. When we encourage them to reach out to coworkers and friends, we will encourage them not only to invite these contacts to church, but also to invite them to read and discuss the Bible over lunch breaks or in their homes (Ps 119:21).
  7. We will in no way communicate that anyone is too young, too immature, too uneducated, or too unbelieving to be able to read the Bible and understand it. We will trust the Lord Jesus to work by his Spirit through the word to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Ps 119:17).

Let me also clarify: Scholars, academics, researchers, professors, pastors, and educators are a great gift to Christ’s Church. Commentaries, study guides, and academic resources have inestimable value. We could not thrive without them. But please remember that while they are mighty assistants, they make poor high priests. We do not need such things or people to mediate our relationship with Christ; we need them to help us see the way to him.

Dear Church, are you willing to trust your Bible this year? Before you reject these ideas out of hand, why not try them for a while and see if they produce pleasing fruit? Perhaps you will do well to pay much closer attention to the prophetic word, as to a lamp shining in a dark place (2 Pet 1:19).

Your servant and co-laborer in the word of truth,

Peter

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Don’t Freak Out Over Translational Variations

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Earlier this year, Dr. George Guthrie wrote a wonderful piece with “6 Reasons We Shouldn’t Freak Out over Word Variations in our Modern Translations.” He addresses the concern often expressed about whether we can trust the Bible in English when there are so many differences in various translations. Yes, there are differences. Yes, sometimes the differences should concern us (when they are careless or unfaithful to the original language). But most of the differences are so minor as to be of little concern.

Guthrie gives 6 reasons for his recommendation:

  1. They are translations, and translations have various ways to express an idea accurately.
  2. Modern translations generally follow one of two main methods of translating.
  3. Our primary English translations are consistently very good, for which we should praise God.
  4. Variants in the manuscripts behind our translations do not affect the message of the Bible, neither the theological truths, nor the exhortations and commands for living.
  5. All the variations in wording can be studied by any person willing to learn.
  6. Variations in wording keep us humble, seeking God for understanding, growing in our study of God’s Word.

In addition, Guthrie offers this marvelous advice:

In reality, there is no such thing as a strictly “literal” translation, since all translations involve interpretation, all translations must render Greek and Hebrew grammar in ways that are understandable in English, and all translations have places that are “functional” in nature. At many points a literal rendering of Greek and Hebrew word order, for instance, would sound like gibberish in English!

If you’d like to understand Guthrie’s reasons better, see the full article. Check it out!

Exodus Plague Cycle #1: Yahweh our Judge

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Moses has undergone training to be qualified as God’s mediator. He’s prepped and ready for the big fight with Pharaoh. The plagues make up the first three rounds, followed by a fourth round (Passover), and then a fifth (Red Sea). What does God want to teach us in round #1?

Observation of Exodus 7:14-8:19

Most repeated words: Lord (19 times), Nile (16x), Pharaoh (13), said (13), frogs (12), Moses (12), water (12), all (10), Egypt (10).

  • This is somewhat unusual, but the repeated words don’t immediately highlight major themes for me. I need to look elsewhere.

Purpose or result statements: the plague narratives are packed with them.

  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness” (Ex 7:16).
  • “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood” (Ex 7:17).
  • “…and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile” (Ex 7:18).
  • “Let my people go, that they may serve me” (Ex 8:1).
  • “Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God” (Ex 8:10).

Structure:

  1. First plague: Nile waters turn to blood, making the Egyptians weary (Ex 7:18) so they have to work harder for stuff to drink (Ex 7:24).
  2. Second plague: Nile swarms with frogs and Moses asks God to take them away, so Pharaoh would know there no one like Yahweh our God (Ex 8:10).
  3. Third plague: When the Egyptian magicians cannot replicate the dust becoming gnats, they declare this to be the finger of God (Ex 8:19).

At the end of all three plagues, we’re told that Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and that he would not listen, as Yahweh had said (Ex 7:22, 8:15, 8:19).

Interpretation of Exodus 7:14-8:19

Some possible questions:

  1. Why are there so many purpose or result statements?
  2. Why do these first 3 plagues have these results?
  3. Why do all three plagues end with nearly identical statements about Pharaoh’s heart (which, looking ahead, are not repeated identically after the rest of the plagues)?

My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):

  1. The narrator communicates his message not so much through what happens as through why it happens. For this reason, I wonder if it’s misguided to try to identify which specific Egyptian god or goddess is under assault in each plague. Of course, we can’t miss the obvious connections to some of the most revered Egyptians gods in the first (Nile) and last (Ra, the sun-god) plagues. And, yes, God does say that on Passover night he will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12). However, we should be careful to note that, other than in Ex 12:12, the text nowhere draws attention to specific Egyptian deities. Instead, the text draws attention to why each plague happens, and to what result God desires from it. In addition, we must get the purpose behind the Exodus. God does not want to move people from slavery to (unqualified) freedom, but from service to Pharaoh to service to God. Let my people go, that they may serve me.
  2. The first plague makes the lives of the Egyptians harder with hard service; this is a just payment for how they’ve treated the Hebrews (Ex 1:11, 13-14). In Ex 5:2, Pharaoh wanted to know who Yahweh was, such that Pharaoh should obey his orders to release these people. The second plague begins to give Pharaoh a clear answer to his question (Ex 8:10). The third plague brings the magicians to the end of their power, causing them to declare the work of God.
  3. As highlighted in the prologue (Ex 7:13), God’s word must be vindicated. God has remembered his covenant (Ex 2:24-25). God told Abram he would bring judgment on Egypt and deliver his people with great possessions (Gen 15:14). God told Moses he would have to strike Egypt with a mighty hand to secure plunder for his people (Ex 3:19-22). God assured Moses that many miracles would not be enough; God would have to strike Pharaoh’s firstborn (Ex 4:21-23). God also said he’d have to harden Pharaoh’s heart to multiply his signs and wonders so Egypt would know he is Yahweh (Ex 7:3-5). In other words, God’s word is at stake. This is why we are told repeatedly that Pharaoh hardened his heart, as Yahweh had said.

Train of thought:

  1. Plague #1: The arrival of the plague proves that Yahweh alone is God.
  2. Plague #2: The removal of the plague proves that there is no one like Yahweh.
  3. Plague #3: Even the enemy sorcerers conclude there’s something special about this God.

Main Point: Yahweh is the only judge of all the earth, who both executes and removes judgments.

ssalonso (2009), Creative Commons

Connection to Christ: Because of his death and resurrection, God the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, Jesus Christ. We now know that this God who executes and removes judgment, this Yahweh, is none other than Jesus (John 5:22-29).

But what differentiates between those who have judgment executed on them and those who have judgment removed from them? We’ll have to wait for the second cycle of plagues to find out.

Application of Exodus 7:14-8:19

If Yahweh is the only judge, all that matters is that I be right with him. I can trust his word of deliverance, even when I feel like I’m living in a pit of judgment. I can’t find life and peace from my employer, parents, teachers, neighbors, or society. Only in Jesus.

And if Yahweh is the only judge, that means I don’t have to be the judge. I don’t have to punish others for their sins, even when committed against me. I don’t have to expose every act of wrongdoing. And I can turn aside from vengeance, letting the Lord have his way with people (Rom 12:19-21). For example, I’m not failing my children if I don’t assail them for every misstep.

And yet, the only judge of all the earth has chosen to share his throne with his exalted people, after a fashion (Luke 22:28-30, Rev 20:4). As Moses represented the heavenly Judge before Pharaoh, so, too, must churches represent their Judge by holding to the Lord’s standards of righteousness and truth (1 Cor 5:9-13). There remains real authority, in its proper social context, to execute and remove “judgment” by teaching, receiving, disciplining, or even excommunicating (Matt 16:18-19, 18:15-20).

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

More on How to Apply Old Testament Promises Today

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As a follow-up to my “check it out” post a few weeks ago, here’s a brief interview with John Piper addressing how to apply Old Testament promises today. Piper starts with 2 Cor 1:20 to show that all the promises belong to us through Christ. Then he explains how the meaning of some promises changes in light of Christ’s work on the cross.

You can listen to the 9-minute recording or read the transcript. Check it out!

How to Understand the Exodus Plague Narratives

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Exodus 5:22-7:7 is like the pre-bout buildup to a championship prize-fight. Moses has his doubts, but his trainer, God, is right at his side. This trainer massages Moses’ shoulders, squirts water into his mouth, and gets in his face with one pep talk after another. By passage’s end, Moses has his gloves tied, his robe draped, and his shoes tightened. He’s hopping from foot to foot, pumped and ready to rumble. He trots down the aisle up to the ring, he enters between the ropes, and the announcer proclaims his presence to the watching world.

The fight of the century is about to take place: Moses v. Pharaoh. Really, it’s Yahweh v. the Egyptian pantheon. Beginning with Ex 7:8, we’re made privy to every round of this legendary collision, and we don’t even have to rent it on pay-per-view.

Peter Gordon (2011), Creative Commons

Peter Gordon (2011), Creative Commons

Common Approaches to the Plague Narratives

Even the most casual reader of the plague narratives in Exodus can’t avoid a basic interpretive question: Why are these narratives so long? And if we treat Passover as a separate section, we’ve got almost 4 chapters of text to ‘rassle. In the ESV, the 9 plagues on Egypt go on for more than 3,200 words. How should we understand and study such an epic narrative?

Some readers take the children’s story Bible approach: Abridge the thing down to a manageable size and land on only the fundamental truths. God is powerful. Egypt got hit hard. Pharaoh would not relent. There is value in this approach, as long as we don’t fall into the trap of ignoring the details. Every detail is inspired by God and there for a reason!

Other readers take the statistician’s approach: Map out the plagues in a large table or spreadsheet, showing all the fine comparisons and contrasts among the 9 plagues. When is Aaron’s staff used vs. Moses’ staff? When does Pharaoh harden his heart vs. God hardening it? How much is Pharaoh willing to grant the Israelites after each plague? Which plagues can the Egyptian magicians duplicate? There is value in this approach, as long as we don’t fall into the trap of ignoring the big picture. Not every detail has deeply symbolic or spiritual meaning; the story as a whole was intended to have a certain emotional impact. Let’s not lose that impact to a statistical analysis.

How I Approach the Plague Narratives

Without demeaning either of the two approaches mentioned above—both have value and provide complementary insights—I’ve found a third approach to better highlight the author’s main ideas and do justice to why the story is given this much space. That approach is to follow the 3 cycles.

The narrator masterfully employs setting to help his readers receive his message. Observe:

  • In plagues 1, 4, and 7, God commands Moses to confront Pharaoh early in the morning (Ex 7:15, 8:20, 9:13).
  • In plagues 2, 5, and 8, God commands Moses simply to “Go in to Pharaoh…” (Ex 8:1, 9:1, 10:1).
  • In plagues 3, 6, and 9, there is no confrontation with Pharaoh. God commands Moses to perform some symbolic gesture and bring the plague unheralded. And these three plagues all have a reasonably short narrative (Ex 8:16-19, 9:8-12, 10:21-29).

What is the point of these observations? The narrative organizes the plagues into three 3 cycles of 3 plagues each. Plagues 1-3 have 3 different settings. Plagues 4-6 repeat the 3 settings in the same order. Plagues 7-9 repeat the settings once more.

This structure is reinforced by the fact that each cycle has a unique and climactic ending:

  • Cycle #1 ends with the Egyptian magicians being unable to replicate the plague and admitting it must be the finger of God (Ex 8:18-19).
  • Cycle #2 ends with the Egyptian magicians being unable to stand before Moses (Ex 9:11-12).
  • Cycle #3 ends with Moses being driven from Pharaoh’s presence (Ex 10:28-29).

This structure has a simple beauty about it, while also serving an interpretive purpose. With each new “Rise up early in the morning,” we hear a fresh start, a new round in the boxing match. And each cycle/round serves as a discrete unit with a particular point to make.

So over the next 3 Exodus posts, I will address the plague narratives in their three cycles. For each cycle, I will ask, what is the author’s main point in this cycle? This approach enables us to hear all the details and consider how they contribute to the unique main point of each cycle. And this approach also helps us not to drown in the details without collating them into a bigger picture.

Preliminary Round

But what should we make of the scene with the staffs and serpents in Ex 7:8-13? This episode stands outside the three cycles by introducing them.

This scene introduces the key players: Moses, Aaron, and Yahweh on one side; Pharaoh, his magicians, and their secret arts on the other.

This scene introduces the key conflict: “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle…'” Pharaoh will get his wish, and in a big way. If he won’t release these slaves without proof of the requesting party’s power, he’ll sure get it.

This scene foreshadows the inevitable outcome: “But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs” (Ex 7:12). Pharaoh and his champions will not win this fight.

This scene also introduces the theme of the vindication of God’s word: “Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said” (Ex 7:13). Let God be proved true, and every man a liar. God’s glory is at stake in the economic status of his people Israel. His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be fulfilled. Therefore God’s glory and faithfulness must be vindicated. Game on, Pharaoh. Ding. Ding.

Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.

5 Ways Loving Your Neighbor Will Change Your Bible Teaching

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To help you teach the Bible more effectively, Mark Ward writes of the basic but crucial matter of loving the people you teach. Loving them will strengthen your teaching in at least 5 ways:

  1. Love will keep you from assuming knowledge they don’t have.
  2. Love will keep you from using words not in their vocabulary.
  3. Love will help you work at finding the best ways to help them take the next step.
  4. Love will give you the energy you need to push them forward.
  5. Love will alleviate improper pressure on you to please others.

Check it out!