The word oracle in Malachi 1:1 does not merely mean message. In the original language it means burden, a heavy load. Before a single accusation is leveled or a single command is given, we are told that what God is about to say costs something to deliver. Malachi is...
Step back now and look at all four Beatitudes together as pieces of stained glass forming a single mosaic. You see someone who came from poor, insignificant circumstances. Someone who mourned deeply over the state of the world. Someone who did not throw His weight...
A traveler once told of going an entire day without food while leading a theology seminar. By the end of the day, he said, all the fascinating theological conversations his companions wanted to have meant absolutely nothing to him. He could not focus on anything but...
Meekness is one of the most misunderstood words in the Beatitudes. It is not weakness. It is not passivity. Meekness is quite compatible with great strength and ability. What distinguishes the meek is not the absence of power, but the absence of self-assertion. The...
This Beatitude has two dimensions, and both matter. The first is mourning over personal sin, grief over the ways we have fallen short of God’s holiness, the kind of godly sorrow Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 7:10 as producing repentance without regret. The...
