If you have not seen Christ, then you know nothing yet as you ought to know; all your knowledge is like a bridge without a keystone- like a system without a sun. What good will it do you in hell that you knew all the sciences in the world, all the events of history, and all the busy politics of your little day? Do you not know that your very knowledge will be turned into an instrument of torture in hell? Oh, how will you wish in that day that you had read your newspaper less and your Bible more- that with all your getting, you had got understanding- that with all your knowledge, you had known the Saviour, whom to know is life everlasting!
Author: Jojo Agot
Pastor at Victory. Faculty and adviser at Every Nation Leadership Institute (ENLI). MA in Theology and Mission at Every Nation Seminary.
Ominous Refrain in Isaiah
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
—Isaiah 48:22 | Isaiah 57:21
I stumbled over these verses while doing my exegetical paper in Isaiah 53. I know I’ve seen this many times before but it’s only now that I get to feel the ominous and haunting tone of these verses. God have mercy!
Literacy
One of the most important events in the history of publishing took place in the book of Exodus when God put pen to paper — or finger to stone — and wrote and published the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). That day on Sinai, God published, he became an author, and literacy was forever changed.
—Tony Reinke
Substitute
Stellvertretung (taking the place of another). This German word keeps coming up in my readings. Why do Old Testament scholars have to be German?
Barometer of Maturity
Our heads learn faster than our hearts, and that means danger. Just because you can communicate a Biblical truth does not mean you have submitted yourself to it. And if we are not careful, we will mistake the communication part as the barometer of our maturity.
—Jonathan Parnell
Preaching (Calvin)
Whoever faithfully administers the Word will be exposed to a contest with the world.
John Calvin, as quoted by Oswalt
Jojo Agot 