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You are here: Home / Archives for Peter Krol

Why Was Baby Jesus Laid in a Manger?

December 13, 2019 By Peter Krol

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

This time of year, the words roll right off the tongue. And every child’s first question is: What is a manger? When the teacher explains that it is a feeding trough for animals, the astute youth then wonders: Why was the baby laid there?

Now enters the ancient and hallowed tradition of Nativity speculation. Since we’re supposed to reflect on this narrative for a few weeks each year, we need some way to fill in the gaps left by the gospel narrators. And so we wax eloquent about Mary and Joseph’s poverty. Or the pathetic rejection they faced by the innkeeper. Or the influx of tourism to Bethlehem on account of the census. Or the astonishing degradation to which the Son of God submitted himself in setting aside, for a time, his heavenly glory in order to clothe himself in earthly humiliation—all to win a people for himself.

And every one of these speculations might be true. But in connecting such historical and theological dots, let’s please be careful not to neglect the main reason Luke gives for including this detail in his narrative.

Image by kelseysue2 from Pixabay

Luke’s Purpose

If we read Luke like a book and not simply as a Christmas photo shoot, we’ll realize that we’re only in chapter 2. It was not all that long ago in the book that Luke made his purpose quite clear and explicit:

“…it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:3-4)

Luke writes an orderly account of the early Christian movement, so the Roman official Theophilus can be certain about the things he’s heard about it. This is Luke’s purpose: to provide enough evidence to enable Theophilus to be sure about what he’s heard.

But what is it that Theophilus has heard, of which he ought to be certain? The main point of Luke’s gospel is something along the lines of: “The hope of Israel, God’s plan of salvation for the world, has arrived in Jesus.” (You can find my case for this main point here.) It is on account of this hope that Paul is on trial (Acts 26:6-7), and the facts surrounding this hope ought to lead, Luke believes, to Paul’s exoneration before Caesar from the charges brought against him by the Jews (Acts 24:5-6).

So Luke wants his reader to be certain about this hope, with the aim of exonerating Paul from all charges.

The Manger

Now how does this overall purpose help us to understand why Mary laid Jesus in a manger? I confess it will not be all that helpful in understanding why this woman laid her baby in the manger (we’ll need to employ our venerable Nativity speculation to close that gap). But it will help us in every way to understand why Luke saw fit to tell us she had done so.

Just follow the manger through the passage:

  • The narrator declares: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger” (Luke 2:7).
  • The angel proclaims: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).
  • Finally, the narrator recounts: “And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger (Luke 2:16).

Do you see the flow of thought? Mary lays him there. The angel tells the shepherds they will know they have the right baby when they see him lying there. Then they go to see for themselves, and yes, they find him there, just as they had been told.

So can the shepherds be certain of the things they were taught? Can they be sure that this is the right child?

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:20)

Conclusion

Luke’s reason for mentioning the manger is that it provided for the shepherds corroboration of what the angel said. The detail of the manger serves a clear narrative and persuasive purpose to show the fact (the baby was laid there), the prediction (the angel said they’d find him there), and the testimony (they did in fact find him there, just as they were told).

So why was the baby Jesus laid in a manger? In Luke’s narrative world, it was so that Theophilus (and by extension, you and I) could be certain that these shepherds were eyewitnesses to the birth. They are among the many eyewitnesses from the beginning (Luke 1:2) whom Luke has researched and included in his account to promote certainty. And just as they could be certain, from the sign of the manger, that they had located the right baby, so also you and I can be certain of the same.

And what is it, precisely, of which they and we can be certain regarding him? What is the hope of which they can be certain?

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

This child is the one. He is the one to rescue us (Savior). He is the Messiah, the Chosen One (Christ). He is Yahweh (the Lord) in the flesh.

This advent season, let us, too, “go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And may we, too, return, “glorifying and praising God for all [we have] heard and seen, as it [has] been told [us].”

Thanks for visiting Knowable Word! If you like this article, you might be interested in receiving regular updates from us. You can sign up for our email list (enter your address in the box on the upper right of this page), follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed. 

Filed Under: Sample Bible Studies Tagged With: Advent, Christmas, Context, Luke

The Gospels are Reliable Documents

December 11, 2019 By Peter Krol

Scholar Craig Keener has a great piece at Influence Magazine on the reliability of the Gospels. With clarity and relative brevity, he covers:

  • Four reasons we can trust the Gospels:
    1. Across the theological spectrum, most scholars today recognize the Gospels are ancient biographies.
    2. The Gospels are from within living memory.
    3. The overlap shows their dependence on and respect for sources.
    4. The Gospels retain elements from Jesus’ time and location.
  • Responses to four common objections:
    1. There are differences among the Synoptics.
    2. The Gospels include miracles.
    3. The Gospels include demons.
    4. Jesus made predictions.

If you have questions about whether we can trust these ancient documents, or if you have a friend with such questions, this article is a great place to start.

Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: Craig Keener, Gospels

Context Matters: For Everything There is a Season

December 6, 2019 By Peter Krol

Perhaps you’ve heard that there is a season for everything, and a time for every matter under heaven (Eccl 3:1-8). Perhaps this idea has inspired you to try new things, to make a change, or to find contentment in your situation. Maybe the idea even comes along with fond memories of the 60s—or at least affection for some of its iconic music. But what did the Preacher of Ecclesiastes wish to provoke with this glorious poem? And how ought we to read it in light of the book’s argument?

Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible properly—and not merely as a collection of quotable quotes or inspiring poems—we’ll find that some of our most familiar sayings are more provocative than we at first believed.

Let this song play in the background while you read the post.

The Quest

I refer you to another post where I explore the meaning of “vanity” in Ecclesiastes. To summarize:

  • The Preacher undertakes a quest to discover what we can possibly get out of life (Eccl 1:3).
  • The answer is that all we can get out of life is vanity (Eccl 1:2).
  • He then illustrates what exactly he means by “vanity” with a series of images and propositions (Eccl 1:4-18). By vanity he refers to the unsatisfying, endless repetition of old things that nobody will remember; nothing you do will last, and at the end you die. And you can’t fix it.
  • In short, all we have to gain from life is a puzzling frustration. We simply cannot figure out what God is up to in our daily lives.

This context drives the argument of the book. We should expect the Preacher to show us why life is so frustrating.

The Educational Paradigm

But the end of the book also provides relevant context to help us understand the poem of chapter 3. In chapter 12, we’re told not only about the Preacher’s conclusion, but also about his instructional methods. How has he gone about making his case?

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. (Eccl 12:9-11)

So the Preacher took great care in both studying his material and arranging it. He sought words of delight, not words of doom and gloom. And he wrote words of truth. But observe how he seeks to employ that truth: as goads and as nails.

As goads, his words are meant to poke us. To stimulate us to action. To provoke us, bother us, and disturb us.

As nails, his words are meant to stabilize us. To affix us to God’s reality. To ground us, establish us, and root us in something solid.

So how does this affect the way we ought to read chapter 3? With this poem, the Preacher seeks to draw us in and delight us. He does that so he can nail truth into our minds and disturb and shock us into action. He doesn’t want to lull us into a sense of placid sentimentality. He seeks to inject us with 1.21 gigawatts of electrifying truth so we might be shaken up and moved toward greater delight.

The context of the book’s beginning and the context of the book’s ending should both shape our reading of the text. But there is another context we ought to consider as well.

The Theological Ecosystem

The Preacher does not write his book in a historical or theological vacuum. He names himself “Son of David” (Eccl 1:1), which puts him squarely in the context of God’s covenant with the King of Israel. In this context, he’s constantly alluding back to what God has done for his people, and he hangs on to the hope of what God will yet do for his people.

For example, as the Preacher describes his first particular test—that of seeking gain from pleasure—he cannot do this without evoking images from Genesis (Eccl 2:1-8). Building things, planting things (Eccl 2:4). Gardens, parks, and fruit trees (Eccl 2:5). Pools of water to irrigate the trees (Eccl 2:6). Even silver, gold, and sexual delight (Eccl 2:8). These things hearken back to Eden and the state of affairs before the fall of humanity into sin. The Preacher is trying to reinvent Eden that he might somehow rediscover paradise on earth.

Later, the book will speak regularly of the king, the house of God, wisdom and righteousness, the land and the holy place. The argument all throughout is neither abstract nor broadly philosophical. It is closely connected to the covenantal context of Israel in relationship with her God.

So in chapter 3, we’re not presuming too much to expect more of the same.

The Text

Arriving finally at the text of chapter 3, and keeping all this context in mind, what do we see?

We see (Eccl 3:1) a time for every matter under heaven. These concepts of timing and “under heaven” (i.e. on earth) are reminiscent of God’s work in creation in Genesis 1.

Then we see a glorious poem of 14 lines (Eccl 3:2-8). Each line has a pair of opposites or contrasts. Born/die, plant/pluck, kill/heal, break/build, etc.

But looking even more closely, we ought to see that the 14 lines come in 7 pairs of 2 lines. Born/die fit together with plant/pluck (saying the same thing with respect to the animal world and the plant world). Kill/heal fits with break/build, relating the natural world to the manufactured world. It’s not hard to see how weep/laugh and mourn/dance fit together. And so on, all the way to the final couplet of love/hate and war/peace.

So what we’ve really got is 7 couplets describing contrasting pairs of related activities in various spheres of earthly existence. The beauty of the poetry and its structure shows us that the Preacher has in mind all of earthly existence. He’s covered every base in a sevenfold manner, echoing the seven days of creation. Here is all of created existence in both its glory and its agony.

But what is his point? Why is he giving us a poetically comprehensive picture of all of created existence? What does he mean that “there is a season” or “there is a time” for every one of these activities?

Following the poem comes his commentary (Eccl 3:9-15). He makes an observation (to poke us) before delivering two pieces of knowledge (to nail us to reality).

  • Eccl 3:9-11: An observation (“I have seen”): God has made everything beautiful in its time, and eternity in our hearts, so that we cannot find what God has done. Don’t let the poem lull you into sentimentality. Let it provoke you to realize that you have no idea whether love or hate, killing or healing, building or breaking lie in store for you today, tomorrow, or the next day.
  • Eccl 3:12-13: Fact #1 (“I perceived”): Nothing is better than to be joyful and do good.
  • Eccl 3:14-15: Fact #2 (“I perceived”): God has done it this way so people would fear him.

Conclusion

So when you read the poem, or hear the song, be careful not to deceive yourself. Don’t treat it like a food coma after Thanksgiving dinner, with contented lethargy and sentimental complacency taking over. Instead, treat it like a wild bull or a bucking bronco. You don’t know which way it will kick at you next, so you’d better remain fully alert. Not only love, peace, and embracing are part of this life, but also war, hatred, and rejection.

And if you are willing to allow the nails of truth to drive into you, meditate on the outrageous fact that God made the world to work this way. He did it with every intention. So that you might fear him.

The buckingest bronco of all is not this world in which you live, but the God you claim to worship. Therefore, let us find our greatest joy in him and do the good he commands of us.

Context matters.


The idea for this post came out of a few conversations with David Helm, Chairman of the Charles Simeon Trust. The best and most provocative ideas here came from him; any errors in developing them are my own.

For more examples of why context matters, click here. 

Filed Under: Sample Bible Studies Tagged With: David Helm, Ecclesiastes, Fear of the Lord, Joy

Unbelief, and Not Busyness, is What Keeps You from the Word

December 4, 2019 By Peter Krol

Please do check out this piece by Rachel Jankovic on “Lies That Keep Women from the Word.” Nobody neglects to take a shower, eat a meal, or put on underwear because they are too busy to do so. Such things never fail, because we assume that we must do them, like it or not. They are part of life.

So why does “busyness” become an excuse for not devouring the words of eternal life?

Imagine if you thought that in order for a green bean to nourish you, you had to eat it in a calm place with nice lighting and no kids. What if a shower cleaned you only when you had a journal on hand to write about it? Or what if toothpaste worked only in Instagrammable moments?

Many Christian women do without the word of God. We have set our standards so unbiblically high for the moments in which we will read the Bible that we have devalued the word itself. The value of the Bible is not in the accessories we bring to it. It is not in study guides and long talks with friends. The nourishment of the word is not found in our organization, or in our self-discipline, or in our achievement of any kind. The word has priceless value without us — and we are invited to partake of it all the time.

At its heart this issue is not an issue of whether we will make time for God’s word. It is an issue of what we believe God’s word to be and do.

If you have recognized yourself in any of this, I would like to invite you to make a change. Not a change of increased intentionality or thoughtfulness. A change to start believing in faith that the Bible really is what it says it is. We call ourselves Christians — and Christ himself said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

As Ryan has written, you have enough time to study the Bible. We always do what we want to do. And Jankovic will help you to address the underlying beliefs that get in the way.

Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: Bible reading, Rachel Jankovic

Why 2 Chronicles is the Most Underrated Book in the Bible

November 27, 2019 By Peter Krol

Andrew Wilson has a thought-provoking piece at the Gospel Coalition on “Why 2 Chronicles is the Most Underrated Book in the Bible.”

Second Chronicles is the most underrated book in Scripture.

Partly this is because its prequel gets off to a slow start. The lengthy genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1–9 is extremely boring for most modern readers, even though it plays a crucial role in the author’s overall project. The final chapters of 1 Chronicles also go into extensive detail on priestly and musical responsibilities, which take a fairly committed theologian or animated worship leader to get enthusiastic about. So by the time people reach 2 Chronicles, they are ready to regard the chronicler as a pedantic, laborious bean-counter who cannot seem to get out of the weeds.

And partly it’s because it seems to repeat the content of 1 and 2 Kings, but with Elijah and Elisha taken out. (Elijah does make a brief appearance in 2 Chronicles, but there is no Mount Carmel, no still small voices or miraculous meals or stolen vineyards or fiery chariots ascending into the sky.) The temple building is still there, and the ups and downs of good and bad kings are still there, but the action heroes have been edited out. A dismissive reader could think the chronicler is trying to make life difficult for us.

This setup explains why 2 Chronicles is easy to overlook, but Wilson goes on to explain the glorious themes of redemption through priest, king, and prophet woven masterfully through the book. For example:

Priests lead the people spiritually by leading them in worship, through music, song, praise, and prayer. And they guard the presence of God as gatekeepers, preventing people from unauthorized entry to the sanctuary, whether to offer sacrifice (like Uzziah) or to pilfer the gold to buy off their enemies (like Ahaz). Elders have a lot to learn from the way priests carry out their duties, and from what happens when they don’t.

There is much here worthy of your consideration.

Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: 2 Chronicles, Andrew Wilson

5 Ways to Read More of the Bible

November 20, 2019 By Peter Krol

J.A. Medders has some terrific advice to help you read more of the Bible. At its core, his essential counsel cannot be improved on: Just read the Bible. But we have so many expectations regarding what Bible reading time should look like, that we often fail to read simply because we can’t meet our accumulated expectations!

So Medders offers 2 rejections and 3 practices to encourage you to just read.

  1. Reject needing the Instagrammable scenario (you don’t need an undistracted 30 minutes or a perfect cup of coffee; just read).
  2. Reject the checkbox (you don’t need to wait for enough time to complete a predetermined selection of text; just read).
  3. Read on your phone (make use of technology and downtime; it is no less valuable or spiritual).
  4. Read without study speed bumps (just keep going and don’t feel like the time is wasted if you don’t look into every curiosity).
  5. Read in community (“teamwork makes the dream work”).

This is great and encouraging advice. Just keep reading, and God will use it.

Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: Bible reading, J.A. Medders

Announcing Our 2020 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge

November 15, 2019 By Peter Krol

We’re giving away a copy of the ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set: With Chapter and Verse Numbers and a one-volume reader’s Bible. To win one of these prizes, you simply have to prove you’d know what to do with it.

If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you’ve probably been expecting this post. Here I come, like the sun rising, going down, and once again hastening to its place to rise again. Like the wind blowing round and round, north, then south, and back again. Like streams running to the sea, and yet the sea is still not full. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

If you’re new to the blog, you’ll be delighted to know we do a reading challenge here annually. And we try to get the best prizes we can think of to reward your toil at which you toil under the sun.

In our former days, most excellent Theophilus, we issued a 90-day Bible-reading challenge that had to begin on January 1 and end by March 31. But many folks have told us they would like to be able to get started over the holidays. While many are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or chasing a spirit of stupor, we hear that you—the readers of this blog, the champions of the covenant, the heroes who shine like stars in the midst of a present evil age—would prefer to redeem the time when you already find yourself away from your usual responsibilities.

And though there were some kinks to work out with this new format last year, we’re happy to grant what you wish—only up to half our kingdom, mind you—for the second year in a row. This year’s Bible reading challenge may commence immediately. In fact, perhaps it already commenced for you, and you’re just now realizing it.

Here are the rules:

  1. You must have a continental United States mailing address to win one of the stated prizes. Residents of other countries will receive a $35 (US) Amazon gift card via email.
  2. 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 we’re trusting you to be honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
  3. You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
  4. The last day of that 90-day period must be between today and March 31, 2020. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
  5. To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read 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 your speed-read.
  6. Any submissions to the form below that don’t meet the requirements or have the appearance of being fabricated will be deleted. For example: multiple entries with different data, date of completion not between November 15, 2019 and March 31, 2020, “What I thought about the experience” has nothing to do with Bible reading, or date of completion is later than the date of entry submission (please don’t try to enter the drawing if you plan to read the Bible; only enter once you have completed reading it).
  7. In the first week of April 2020, we will randomly select 2 winners from those who have submitted the form. We will email the winners to get their shipping addresses. If a winner does not respond to our request for a shipping address within 1 week, a new winner will be selected in their place.
  8. The first prize winner (if US) will get their choice of the ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set: With Chapter and Verse Numbers or a one-volume reader’s Bible in the translation of their choice. (While these are not your only options, we have reviews the following: ESV, CSB, NIV.) The second prize winner (if US) will get whichever option the first prize winner didn’t choose. Any winner outside the continental US will receive a $35 Amazon gift card via email.
  9. Unfortunately, missionaries with DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

We will occasionally post links to the submission form on the blog between now and March 31. But you might also want to bookmark this page for easy access when you’re ready to submit your entry.

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. I won’t bother to update the dates, as I don’t know which day you plan to start. But the checkboxes can provide signals to make sure you’re on track to finish on time.

  1. Canonical Order
  2. Chronological Order
  3. NIV Sola Scriptura Order

Or here is an iOS app that can help you track your plan.

We are grateful for the generosity of Crossway in providing the grand prize for this year’s giveaway. You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

Filed Under: Announcements Tagged With: Bible reading, Contest, ESV Reader's Bible

Preaching the Work of the Holy Spirit

November 13, 2019 By Peter Krol

The campus ministry I serve, DiscipleMakers, recently held its annual Fall Conference in Harrisburg, PA. Our topic this year was the Trinity, and our keynote sessions worked their way through Ephesians 1.

Of particular note was the talk on Eph 1:13-14 on the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is often either the most forgotten or the most misunderstood member of the Trinity. And my colleague Dave Royes did an exceptional job explaining the person and work of the Spirit from this text in Ephesians.

This talk is exceptional for a number of reasons. David’s presentation, of course, is compelling. And his handling of the text (his skill in Bible study) is both expert and imitable. You can, in fact, try this at home in your own Bible study:

  • He observes the grammar and structure of the passage, landing the weight of his interpretation where the author places weight.
  • He takes his observations and interrogates them with insightful interpretive questions to figure out the meaning.
  • He correlates the text with many other Scriptures, particularly following the organic connections signaled by allusion or echo.
  • He applies the text quite personally and specifically to head, heart, and hands.

Here is world-class Bible study, which I eagerly commend to you for both nourishment and imitation.

You can find more audio and video from the conference here. Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: David Royes, Ephesians, Holy Spirit

New and Old Garments

November 8, 2019 By Peter Krol

There are parts of the Bible I’ve read so many times that I’m prone to mistake familiarity with them for understanding of them. But once in a while, when I set my familiarity aside, I can take a look at what’s actually there. This happened to me recently in a study of Luke 5.

Image by Mabel Amber, still incognito… from Pixabay

At the end of the chapter, the Pharisees get upset with Jesus and his disciples for not fasting like either John or the Pharisees themselves. Part of Jesus’ response is a straightforward parable:

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. (Luke 5:36)

The issue (the problem with my familiarity) is that I’ve spent years of my life studying Mark’s version of this story. This is the first time I’ve taken a close enough look at Luke’s account to realize that Luke is saying something quite different from Mark. Check out Mark’s version:

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. (Mark 2:21)

And just for the sake of completeness, here is Matthew’s version:

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. (Matt 9:16)

Observe the Difference

Matthew and Mark are very similar. They talk about cutting an “unshrunk” garment to make a patch for an old garment. The problem is that the new patch will subsequently shrink and tear away from the torn garment, making the original tear far worse.

But Luke is using the same cast of characters to tell a completely different story. He speaks of ripping up a new garment to fix an old one. The problem here is twofold: 1) You’ve ruined a perfectly good (and new) garment, and 2) the fix won’t even match the original.

Why does this matter? What really is the difference between them?

Matthew and Mark are concerned with the damage to the old garment, while Luke is more concerned with the damage to the new garment.

Why Does This Matter?

The epiphany for me was simply to realize I was assuming Luke was telling the same parable as Mark. I needed a jolt to actually look at the text and observe the bare facts of Luke’s presentation. It is so easy to assume I know what a story says. And the unfortunate result of that assumption is that I stop looking!

As for how this affects interpretation: I’m not exactly sure yet, but perhaps you have some ideas. It’s surely related to the extra line Luke adds, which is not found in any other gospel: “And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ (Luke 5:39).” The problem here is that the new thing is damaged to the point of being perceived as undesirable in comparison to the old thing. And this is a little different from the way Matthew and Mark present the situation.

Perhaps you’re already more familiar with Luke’s version, and it’s difficult for you to see what Mark/Matthew has to say. Either way, it’s another example of the danger of hasty harmonization. Let’s make sure to grasp the particular point each author seeks to make, and not lump them together, presuming they’re communicating the same thing!

Thanks for visiting Knowable Word! If you like this article, you might be interested in receiving regular updates from us. You can sign up for our email list (enter your address in the box on the upper right of this page), follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed. 

Filed Under: Sample Bible Studies Tagged With: Gospels, Harmonization, Luke, Mark, Matthew

The Importance of Isaiah’s Servant Songs

November 6, 2019 By Peter Krol

J. Nicholas Reid presents a compelling devotional of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, where he first zooms in to observe each of the four songs before zooming out to consider their impact on the New Testament.

Some of the most memorable questions in the New Testament are answered in relation to the Servant Songs. Whether it is the eunuch asking Phillip if the fourth song is about Isaiah or someone else (Acts 8), or John the Baptist sending his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:20), the significance of these songs cannot be overstated. “Phillip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).

Here is much worth considering. Check it out!

Filed Under: Check it Out Tagged With: Isaiah, J. Nicholas Reid, Jesus Focus

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  • Proverbs
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    Last week, I drew these four "credentials" for wisdom from Proverbs 8:22-31...

  • Sample Bible Studies
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    At a recent pastor's conference on the book of Job, a leader asked the atte...

  • Proverbs
    Do Whatever it Takes to Get Wisdom

    David was Solomon’s chief role model, and here’s what he taught his son. “G...

  • Sample Bible Studies
    Top 11 OT Verses Quoted in NT

    I recently finished a read-through of the Bible, during which I kept track...

  • Sample Bible Studies
    Context Matters: You Have Heard That it was Said…But I Say to You

    Perhaps you’ve heard about Jesus' disagreement with the Old Testament. The...

  • Sample Bible Studies
    Identifying Behemoth and Leviathan in the Book of Job

    In Job 40-41, God introduces Job to two new characters. Behemoth is a power...

  • Sample Bible Studies
    Context Matters: Bear One Another’s Burdens

    What Paul means by "bearing the burdens" of another is not what we usually...

  • Sample Bible Studies
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    The Holy Spirit shows up throughout Romans 8 and helps us understand the ma...

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