Joel Johnson | Biblical History & Theology

Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. (Psalm 3) King David wrote this psalm when his third-born son Absalom had rebelled and was trying to take over the kingdom for himself, attempting to kill David and a number of his brothers in the process We read about the narrative of these events in 2 Samuel chapters 15-18, but this psalm gives an insight into how David was feeling at this time. He had numerous enemies as it says in verse 1 - more of the...

I have been thinking about the uniqueness of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, as a memorial event. Now memorial events are reasonably common in our culture – for example, we have Remembrance Day (11 th Nov) in Commonwealth countries and the Fourth of July in the United States. Even birthdays can be thought of as “memorial events”, as we are celebrating the anniversary of our birth. Most of these memorials focus almost exclusively on what happened in the past: there was a significant event, and we want to keep remembering and recognising it. Sometimes there is a small aspect on the relevance of the event today, but it is largely marking the anniversary of a historical date. The Lord’s Supper is different, in that it forms one point on a continuous timeline. It brings together the past, the present and the future at this one point in our lives. Yes, we remember the past: we look back as far as the origins of the Passover in the exodus narrative and the celebrations of the Passover thr...

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...

Today I’m going into a topic which I don’t normally like to dwell on a great deal; and that is sin. However, in order to build up high, we first need to dig very low. We read in Psalm 25, verse 11, “For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” (NIV) The reason that God forgives our iniquity is because of his character; because of who he is. However, there’s even more to it. I really like the way that the ESV puts the second line of this verse. It has, “pardon my guilt, for it is great.” That is the reason our sins need forgiveness – because they are so great. It’s not something that we can fix up through some other actions, or set up a payment plan to pay off our crimes. It’s like we’re trying to pay off the $35 trillion national debt of the United States, and all we have is the savings in our piggy bank. J.C. Ryle describes this situation using the phrase “the exceeding sinfulness of sin.” Sometimes we fail to fully grasp how exceedingly sinful si...

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” (Mt 27:46) At this point, Jesus had been on the cross for up to 6 hours (Mk 15:25; Mt 27:45-46 but see Jn 19:14). The previous night, he had suffered such extreme agony and stress in the garden that He began to sweat blood – a rare medical condition known as hematohidrosis. Modern medical observations have found that this condition is often caused by extreme distress or fear. The fine capillaries near the skin burst and haemorrhage into the sweat glands. As a result, blood actually comes out with the sweat. Although it does not normally cause a significant amount of blood loss, it has the effect of making the skin fragile and tender. Before daybreak, he was spat upon and struck in the face while blindfolded at the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:67; Mk 14:65; Lk 22:64). The ch...