Over The Brook Kidron

Qæstio :  How shall a poor, wretched sinner come to Christ? Must he come in some special way? Must he come in love? Is coming in fear of sin and death self serving?  Iudicium :  Dubium,  We deny. Disputatio : Holy wisdom ( sophia ) speaks like this: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Prov. 9:10) It is from this point that all else proceeds. Christianity, the only and true Religion, rests upon a proper understanding of the creature to his relation with the all holy, omnipotent, righteous God. The creature is subordinate. The creature is the lesser. And since the entry of sin into the world, the creature is polluted with it. God is too pure to look on sin (Hab. 1:13). How shall we be wise? When we see ourselves as we really are (1 Cor. 13:12), as helpless, destitute sinners ready to perish without a savior. It is not sin itself we fear, nor its immediate effects in this world (for sin, beloved, is exceeding...

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3.

Below is an exegetical paper delivered upon the text of John 7:52-8:11.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. As the Apostle John wrote in chapter 1 of his gospel, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . And also, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . So it was always John’s preference to describe Jesus in these terms. As the Word, it is signified that Christ bears witness of the father in the world. John had another idea in mind as he wrote. He speaks of that which is physical...

The material below is the result of a question posed to me: how many years passed between the proclamation of Cyrus and the ministry of Haggai the prophet? Using heathen sources, I attempted to track down the answer, ultimately relying on the bible for my final answer. Ezra chapter 5 opens with this event:   וְהִתְנַבִּי חַגַּי נְבִיָּא וּזְכַרְיָה בַר־עִדּוֹא נְבִיַּאיָּא עַל־יְהוּדָיֵא דִּי בִיהוּד וּבִירוּשְׁלֶם בְּשֻׁם אֱלָהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲלֵיהוֹן Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. (Ezra 5:1) This event is noted in proximity of the letter sent to King Darius by Tatnai, governor Beyond the River , and his Persian overseer, Shethar-Boznai. They attempted to thwart the Jews from building the temple upon their first return from Babylon, after Cyrus II (The Great) sent them home. Recall that the return of the Jews was committed into the hand o...