They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 2 Thessalonians 1:9 As long as the unbeliever is alive, they have hope. What is this hope? Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in "I hope something will happen." This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is "confident expectation." That confident expectation for a believer is the hope of eternal life with

But Yahweh was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; Isaiah 53:10 There is probably no one alive in America today who has not heard someone say God loves you. Some go as far as to say that God loves everyone and He would not send anyone to hell. While that sounds wonderful, it is the farthest thing from the truth. God is love but also a God of justice and vengeance. Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus, declared, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because o

And a roadway will be there, a highway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. Isaiah 35:8 Growing up in the ’60s, I became a fan of Led Zepplin. I owned every album they recorded. Their untitled fourth album contained the hit Stairway To Heaven. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs ever. Least you be misinformed this is not a Christian song. Aidan Schuttler explains the meaning of the verses. The first verse spends its time introducing our main ch

He will swallow up death for all time, Isaiah 25:8 A reference to swallow in the Old Testament refers to death taking someone to Sheol, to the grave. In Numbers 16:32 we read, “and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.” However, here in Isaiah 25:8 we see something different occurring. God is promising that death will be swallowed up forever. This occurred when Jesus died and rose

A yoke is a wooden crosspiece fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to a plow or cart. A yoke allows two animals to share a load and pull together. Yokes were used in Bible times primarily with bulls or oxen to plow fields and pull wagons. The animals yoked together needed to be close in size and weight for the cart or plow to pull evenly. In the Old Testament, the word "yoke" is often used metaphorically to represent a burden, obligation, or slavery. Jesus has

Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Genesis 16:13 El Roi is the Hebrew word for God of seeing. This is the name that Hagar gave to God when He rescued her. Hagar was the handmaiden of Abram’s wife, Sarai. She had given her to her husband to conceive a child since we thought she was barren. However, as you would expect, everything did not turn out well. After becoming p

Then God said to him in the dream, "Indeed, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also held you back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Genesis 20:6 In Genesis 20, Abraham moves his household from the region around Mamre south toward the border of the land of Canaan. Scripture does not tell us the reason for this move. He settles his people in Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. Gerar was south of Gaza, near the coast of

Enoch walked with God; Genesis 5:21b Three men are recorded to have walked with God: Enoch, Noah, and Moses. What does it mean to have walked with God? When Cathy and I were in our thirties and had all five Children under ten, we didn't have much free time or money. But, we made one thing a priority in our lives. We walked together almost every day. We would walk up and down the road between two cul-de-sacs. The kids would ride their bikes or play in the front yard. When we w

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25 If you are like me, you remember things you have done that you are not proud of. You may have lost your temper, stolen something as a teenager, cheated on a test, lied to get out of trouble, or committed countless sins. We might not have forgotten, but if you belong to Christ, God the Father has forgotten them. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Therefore there is