November 9 2025

Singing on the Wall

Nehemiah 9

As we begin Nehemiah 9, which takes place just days after the Feast of Tabernacles, the children of Israel are gathered together and listening to the Word of God again. If we had been in Jerusalem at this particular time, we would have witnessed people dressed in sackcloth, the garment of mourning. We would have also heard their loud sobbing and watched as they refused to eat because they were fasting. They had just confessed and mourned over their sins in Nehemiah 8. They then observed and celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. In fact, it was a time of “very great gladness” (8:17). Why were they grieving over their sins again?

November 2 2025

Bring the Book

Nehemiah 8

While the first seven chapters of Nehemiah covered the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, the concluding chapters have to do with the reviving of the children of Israel. Nehemiah had accomplished the assignment the Lord had given him. We might say rebuilding the wall was the easy work. The difficult work of building the spiritual lives of the people was only beginning. Buildings and walls can be built in a matter of days or months. But building our spiritual maturity and becoming what God wants us to be is a much longer and challenging process.

October 26 2025

Life Inside the Walls

Nehemiah 7

In the building industry the term “beneficial occupancy” is used to refer to when the project is completed and it is time to move in. We might say that is what we have in Nehemiah 7. In a miraculous manner, the wall of Jerusalem has been completed in only 52 days. It is now time for the children of Israel to move into the city.

August 17 2025

King Jesus Is Coming!

Zechariah 12-14

There are two main themes in the book of Zechariah that come into play, especially in its last three chapters. One theme is the city of Jerusalem. Over twenty times in these final chapters, Jerusalem is mentioned. The other theme is the Lord Jesus Christ. While His name is not given in these chapters, it is evident that Zechariah is talking about Israel’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So throughout these chapters, it is “Jerusalem and Jesus.” A reason we read so much about Jerusalem and Jesus in Zechariah’s closing chapters is because God again reveals to Zechariah our Lord’s second coming. We have already noted different prophecies Zechariah made about Jesus’ first coming and predictions that will be fulfilled at His second coming.

August 10 2025

King Jesus

Zechariah 9-11

The book of Zechariah is one of the most fascinating books in the Bible. Among the truths God revealed to Zechariah were prophecies fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus Christ and other prophecies that will be fulfilled at His second coming. Chapters 9 through 14 especially deal with these prophecies. Dr. Charles Feinberg, who was one of the great prophecy teachers of all time, called these chapters “an incomparable treasury of prophetic truth.” Remember, Zechariah wrote these chapters hundreds of years before the first coming of Jesus Christ. Another thing we have to remember as we study these prophecies is that the Old Testament prophets did not make a distinction between the Lord’s first coming and His second coming. T

August 3 2025

Is Your Faith Fast or Feast?

Zechariah 7-8

We have all heard the idiom “feast or famine,” meaning either too much or too little of something. But what most people do not know is that this expression was first recorded in 1732 and was originally “feast or fast.” It was not until the early 1900s that “famine” was substituted for “fast.” What many believers also do not know is that it is possible for our faith to be fast or feast. We see this truth in our study for today. Last week we saw how God gave Zechariah a series of night visions to encourage the Jews who had chosen to leave Babylon and return to Judah (Zech. 1:1–6:15). Through these visions, along with his contemporary Haggai, Zechariah led the people to finish the work of rebuilding the temple

July 27 2025

Visions in the Night

Zechariah 1-6

Haggai and Zechariah both ministered to the remnant of Jews who had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple and city after Judah’s seventy years in captivity. As we saw in our lesson from Haggai, once back in their land, the people met with so much opposition, which turned to discouragement, that they had stopped working on the temple for fifteen years. Though they had willingly chosen the difficult task of returning to Judah, they had become disheartened and downtrodden. In response, God sent both Haggai and Zechariah to encourage them in their work. Haggai was the more practical of the two prophets. He challenged the people to consider their ways and to get back to the work of rebuilding the temple. On the other 

July 20 2025

Take a Good Look at Your Life

Haggai 1-2

At the end of the Old Testament, there are twelve books known as the Minor Prophets. The first nine were written before the children of Israel were carried away into captivity. These prophets warned the Jews that God’s judgment would come and they would be carried into captivity if they did not repent of their sins. The people refused to repent, and so God’s judgment came. First the Assyrians carried the Northern Kingdom away. Then, just a little over one hundred years later, the Babylonians carried off Judah, the Southern Kingdom. But just as God had also promised, after seventy years He returned the people of Judah to their land. This is when the last three Minor Prophets– Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi–ministered. Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries, and Malachi’s ministry came years later. They each came at an important time in the history of God’s people

July 13 2025

The Painful Price of Revival

Ezra 9-10

Ezra had successfully done the will of God in leading a second remnant of Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon. He had to have been filled with joy to be back in the Promised Land. But his joy was short-lived because he soon received a report of sin among the people. As we will read in the opening verses of Ezra 9, the children of Israel had begun marrying the people of the land. This was something they had been specifically forbidden by God to do. It was because they had a different faith and value system than the people around them. They were to be a separate people. Their intermarriages with these pagan nations only compromised their faith and corrupted their values.

July 6 2025

The Unseen Hand

Ezra 7 - 8

As we study the Bible, throughout we will find references to the hand of the Lord. Sometimes it comes on people negatively as in judgment. But primarily when the Bible talks about the hand of the Lord, it is talking about God’s hand of blessing and power being upon His people. It is describing the providential favor of the Lord. In our lesson today, we are introduced to Ezra. Not only is the book of Ezra named for him, but we will also see he was God’s man for his time. God used him in a tremendous way as a revivalist and reformer. Some people believe Ezra wrote 1 and 2 Chronicles. Others believe

June 29 2025

Against All Odds

Ezra 4 - 6

You will find in the Bible and also in your personal experience as a Christian that while God is a builder, Satan is a destroyer. God’s purpose is to build up and edify. The devil wants to tear down. So, every time God begins to build, you can be sure the devil will begin to do battle. When God’s children commit to live for Him and He begins to bless, the devil will begin to interfere. We see this very thing in our lesson today. A remnant of the children of Israel had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon to rebuild the temple of the Lord. In our lesson last week, we saw they had built an altar to the Lord and laid the foundation of the temple.

June 22 2025

Somebody Is Listening

Ezra 3

The book of Ezra tells us about the return journey of the children of Israel to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. As we saw last week, this return came about when God sovereignly worked in the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia. Cyrus made a proclamation, allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem for the purpose of building the temple (1:1-4). The original temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The return trip probably took about four months because Babylon was almost a thousand miles from Jerusalem. It must have been a long, arduous journey. The Jews’ willingness to return to Jerusalem showed their commitment to serve the Lord their God

May 25 2025

Jonah in the Fish

Jonah 2

Romans 12:2 tells us as believers to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. This verse reminds us that God’s will is good for us. It is also acceptable and perfect. This is why He has given us both His Word and the Holy Spirit. He wants us to not only know His will for our lives but to do it. 

May 18 2025

Jonah on the Ship

Jonah 1

It is one thing for a believer not to do the will of God because he does not know what it is. But it is an altogether different thing for a believer to know the will of God and then refuse to do it. The classic example of this is the prophet Jonah. Scoffers have tried to say Jonah was not a real person, but he was. We are told he was the son of Amittai. Besides the book that bears his name, Jonah is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. 

May 11 2025

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

Daniel 10-12

Have you ever had someone say to you, “Cheer up! Things could be worse!”? While this is not the message of the final chapters of the book of Daniel, we do see that things are going to get worse in this world before they get better. As we have already studied, Daniel has been shown many things about the future. Now in these last chapters he is shown specifically what will happen to his people, the Jews “in the latter days” (10:14).

May 4 2025

The Clocks of Prophecy

Daniel 9

One of the greatest prophecies in the Bible is found in the concluding verses of Daniel 9. It is probably the most comprehensive and encompassing prophecy in the Bible. Because of this, it has been referred to as the key to all Bible prophecy. If we can grasp its meaning, then we can have an understanding of other prophecies in God’s Word. Keep in mind that God has already revealed to Daniel amazing prophecies of world kingdoms

April 20 2025

Christ and the Cross

Matthew 16

If we were to ask people today who they thought Jesus was, we would get a variety of answers. They would include that He was a man who went about doing good things for others, a wonderful teacher, and even a prophet sent from God. It would really be no different than it was during Jesus’ earthly ministry some two thousand years ago.

April 13 2025

Thrones and Kingdoms

Daniel 7

Have you ever wondered why we study Bible prophecy? First, it shows us the fulfillment of God’s Word in the Lord Jesus Christ (cp. Luke 24:25-27, 44-48). It also gives us confidence about the promises God makes to us concerning the future. When we see how God fulfilled His promises in the past, then we can look with assurance to the future. Another reason we study Bible prophecy is to see the tremendous power of God. He can bring to pass what He says will come to pass. He said in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I shall do all My pleasure.” Only God is able to declare the end from the beginning. Only He can predict the future; and, as we will see, this includes prophecies regarding thrones and kingdoms.

April 6 2025

Can God Deliver?

Daniel 6

“Can God deliver?” This is a great question, and we find not only the question but the answer in Daniel 6. You may recall in our studies in the book of Daniel. Daniel as a captive came to Babylon, which is modern Iraq, when he was just a young man. He was placed in a special training program to prepare him for government service. He then served faithfully in the Babylonian empire for possibly sixty years. Then when Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, Daniel continued his government service in the Median-Persian government. His life is a reminder of 1 John 2:17, which says, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Daniel, ever faithful to God, continued even when empires passed away.

March 30 2025

Weighed and Wanting

Daniel 5

Daniel 5 is one of the most exciting, dramatic chapters in all of God’s Word. It records for us the downfall of the great Babylonian empire. If you remember, in Daniel 2 when God gave Nebuchadnezzar a vision of the kingdoms of the world through the dream of a great image, Nebuchadnezzar was told that he was the head of gold (cp. 2:38). He was also told that his great kingdom of Babylon would cease to be and other kingdoms would take its place (cp. 2:39). Now chapter 5 is the account of what God said would happen, happening exactly as He said it would.

March 23 2025

The Conversion of a Dictator

Daniel 4

There are some wonderful conversion accounts recorded in the Bible. The conversion of Saul, who had been a persecutor of the early church but became the great apostle Paul, is probably one that comes to mind for most people. It is truly an amazing conversion story and is even recorded for us three different times in the New Testament (cp. Acts 9:1-18; 22:3-16; 26:9-18). But there is another conversion story in the Bible that is likewise remarkable. It is not the conversion of a persecutor but of a dictator and is found in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. It is the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar and is told by Nebuchadnezzar himself. As he tells us how he became a changed man, he gives testimony to the greatness and wonders of God. As we study Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony in our lesson today we will see the remarkable series of events that God used to bring this dictator to faith in Him. We might even say that Daniel 4 is Nebuchadnezzar’s personal testimony booklet, distributed and told to the whole world.

March 16 2025

Profiles in Courage

Daniel 3

In 1957 the late President John F. Kennedy, then a senator, wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage. It shared short biographies of eight United States senators who refused to yield to public opinion but were willing to suffer the consequences of doing what they believed was right. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, could likewise be entitled Profiles in Courage. It is a story that pulsates with drama and is a thrilling example of courage and non-compromise. You will recall in Daniel 2 that God had revealed through Daniel a dream to King Nebuchadnezzar about a magnificent image. Daniel told the king that the image’s head of gold represented him. Nebuchadnezzar

March 9  2025

There Is a God in Heaven

Daniel 2

On the morning of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln met with his Cabinet in Washington. They were waiting for a report from the campaign of General Sherman who was pressing the cause of the Union forces in the South. As they waited the President shared with his Cabinet that he had been having a recurring dream. He shared that this dream came before “nearly every great and important event of the War.” It was about an indescribable vessel that was moving rapidly toward an indefinite destination. He wondered what the dream meant. Before the day was over Abraham Lincoln was mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth, and he had moved his life’s vessel to the shores of eternity. His recurring dream not only had a tremendous impact upon him personally, but also upon the nation and eternity. The Bible tells us of another leader who also had a dream. It was Nebuchadnezzar, who in the opening chapters of the book of Daniel

February 9 2025

Love and Truth in Perspective

2 John 1

Sodium is an active natural element found only in a combined form. In other words, sodium inevitably links itself to another element. By contrast, we find another
natural element—chlorine. Unlike sodium, chlorine is a poisonous gas. Have you ever smelled a bottle of bleach? The terrible odor is chlorine. Interestingly, both sodium and chlorine are highly poisonous but when combined, the result is sodium chloride—that is, common table salt.

February 2 2025

Living Like a Child of God

1 john 5

How do we know we are living like a
 child of God? Do we have clear 
instructions? Are there any sure birthmarks which show us to be genuinely born again and resting in 
the Savior’s arms?

January 26 2025

What Christianity is All About

1 John 4

We learned in chapter two that John’s main interest in this letter was to assure young believers how to stay strong in the faith. Already “antichrists” were actively seeking to deceive and entrap weak believers into the snare of false teaching. Above all John wanted to address this watershed issue