Joel Johnson

Psalm 49:7 says “No one can redeem the life of another / or give to God a ransom for them”. It underscores a notable point – we cannot redeem someone else’s life from death; much less our own lives. The reason is that the price is too high (Ps 49:8); there is literally nothing of enough value in the world that we can get hold of that would cover the cost. A soul is too costly to be bought with mere gold or silver.  Let’s continue on to Ps 49:10-14. Rich or poor, foolish or wise, death comes for us all. We are all under the curse of death. And there is nothing in the world that can help us. It’s not something that we like to think about; but it’s something that we intrinsically know is true. Our death is just a matter of time. So what are we to do? Our only hope is in the prophetic words of verse 15 (Ps 49:15).  God is the only one who can redeem our lives. We know today that this has been ultimately fulfilled through Jesus’ life and death. Christ is our ransom price, providing...

The entirety of Psalm 1 is a picture of two men; of two paths; of two ways of living. It is a picture of the righteous man, and of the wicked man. The psalm is answering a burning question of the day, and a question which remains just as relevant today. But to find out what that question is, we need to go back a little way. In the layout of the Hebrew bible, the books of the prophets are placed earlier than they appear in our English bibles. Consequently, in the Hebrew bible, the book of Psalms comes directly after the book of Malachi. So when you are doing your read-through-the-scrolls-in-a-year program, you finish the book of Malachi and move straight onto Psalms. Now one of the important questions that people are asking in Malachi is “Who really is happy?” They’ve finished rebuilding the temple, but they don’t feel like God is blessing them, and they’re getting tired of serving God. Malachi 3:14-15 reads, “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keep...

What is the most dangerous place that you can imagine being? I have been looking at a passage recently in Num 16:41-48, which takes place directly after the rebellion of Korah. The Israelites were grumbling against Most and Aaron, claiming that they had been responsible for killing the families of Korah, Dathan and Abiram – who the Israelites described as “the people of the Lord” (Num 16:41). In response to these baseless accusations, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tent of meeting and God told Moses, “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” (Num 16:45). God had promised judgement on the people, and this came almost instantaneously in the form of a plague. It’s not quite clear what this plague was exactly or what it looked like, but it seems that it started in one area and was spreading rapidly and visibly. And in the midst of it, one person was running – but he was running the wrong way. Aaron took a censer with fire from the alt...