Bible Commentaries

Genesis 26:1-5 — interpreted this word as a specific reference to One, a fact almost universally denied in our day, but yet true."H. C. Leupold, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1942), p. 719. "Because Abraham obeyed" Those who fancy that Abraham was saved by "faith only" should read this verse. God's fulfillment of his promise to Abraham was here said to have been "because," that is, as a result of, Abraham's OBEDIENCE. The sequence here is not that God saved Abraham, and then Abraham obeyed because God saved

Genesis 50:22-26 — 24:32). Of course, the same conviction motivated and sustained Jacob throughout his whole life, appearing dramatically here in these final chapters of Genesis in the dying patriarch's requiring an oath of Joseph that he would bury him in Canaan. This faith was continued throughout the history of the old Israel. However, it may be doubted that they understood fully the spiritual purpose of God in bringing in the Messiah through them. Nevertheless, despite their focal attention upon the land promise,

Exodus 40:1-38 — (See the Introduction for an elaboration of this.) Except for his ill-advised use of the word "tradition," the following quotation from Napier is priceless: "In the Book of Exodus, tradition has created an inspired masterpiece. We who come to it with faith find that it is also our history, our torah, our institution… all gathered up and fulfilled in Him who even now brings us up out of Egypt into life with God. We can affirm with Exodus, and with greater conviction because of Exodus, that in

Job 2:7-10 — God never asked any man to serve God "for naught." And whatever Job's motives might have been, he certainly did not serve God for naught. Job's wife advised him to renounce God and die; but Job decided to go on living. "And he did so because of his faith in God, and because he was strong enough to endure all that Satan could heap upon him."R. B. Sweet Publishing Company, No. 216, p. 18. Keil referred to Job's rejection of his wife's evil proposal as his repelling the sixth temptation.C. F. Keil,

Psalms 14 overview — of mankind, as categorically stated in Revelation 15-16, fulfilling the prophecy of the apostles that, "Wickedness would wax worse and worse" (2 Timothy 3:13), and the searching question of Christ himself, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). God has already revealed what his response to the fourth and final hardening of the Adamic race will be: namely, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ; and contrasted with the first Advent, which was a mission of mercy, his

Isaiah 14:1-2 — Revelation 3:9 in which God foretold that racial Jews would "come and worship before the feet of the Church in Philadelphia," not literally, of course, but as beautifully explained by James Moffatt's Translation of the Bible (1929). Throughout the ages many faithful Jews have received Christ, and they are still doing so. Thus, in what Moffatt calls, "The grim irony of providence,"James Moffatt, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 367. "What the Jews fondly expected

Isaiah 43:1-7 — Let it never be forgotten, however, that God's "chosen people," from the very beginning never applied merely to people who were physically descended from Abraham, but always signified that "remnant" of the fleshly Israel who believed in God and tried faithfully to walk in God's ways. Jesus Christ elaborated this truth in John 8 in the New Testament. The past tenses here: "I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, etc.," are verbs of prophetic certainty; and they have the same meaning as

Isaiah 53 overview — JESUS CHRIST, GOD'S SERVANT We should not be surprised at this title assigned to the Holy Messiah in the Sacred Scriptures, because there is a magnificent profusion of names and titles bestowed upon the Son of God by the inspired writers of the Bible.

Isaiah 53:4-6 — sacrifice sufficiently adequate to atone for the sins of all mankind. Note here that the prophecy states that Jehovah laid the sins of all men upon Jesus. This corresponds with Paul's statement that "God set forth his son to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood" (Romans 3:25). Thus the initiative lay with God in the sufferings of Jesus upon the Cross. (1) God so loved the world that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. God was not the only one, however, who had a part in Jesus' sacrifice upon the

Isaiah 55:1-3 — supposing that the wonderful blessings of the grace and mercy of God are unconditional! Another error is that of limiting the conditions to conform to human theories of salvation, as did Archer: "The price for admission into eternal life is repentance and faith plus nothing"!Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 640. What about the new birth? of which Jesus said, "Except ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." What about holiness, "without which no man shall see God"? What about "eating the

Daniel 7 overview — taken upon themselves to deny everything in the Bible that contradicts their godless prior assumptions forces them to deny a book like Daniel. Keil stated that the true understanding of Daniel prevailed until about the end of the last century; but when faith in the supernatural origin and character of Biblical prophecy was shaken by Deism and Rationalism, the prophecy of the Roman Empire under the figure of the fourth best was denied. On what grounds? Here is the logic (?). Since there is no such thing

Matthew 16:18 — repudiation of this text; and why repudiate it if, as some say, it makes Peter the rock on which Jesus built the church? He that has eyes to see, let him see! What, then, is the rock upon which Christ proposed to build the church? It is the supreme fact of faith just confessed by Peter, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. A moment later Christ mentioned Peter, giving him (and later the others) the keys of the kingdom of heaven, thus making him, not the foundation, but the door-opener

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 — (Deuteronomy 31:6-7). This commandment, delivered first to the people and a moment later to Joshua, has been the marching order for God's people in all ages. "Paul seems to have borrowed this in 1 Corinthians 16:13, where we have, `Stand firm in the faith, play the man, be vigorous,' - act like heroes."Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Deuteronomy (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), p. 819.

Mark 16:17-18 — And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the

Romans 1:29-32 — in the present life and the suffering of eternal death in the life to come — only with this provision, that if, in the prospect of his deserved earthly punishment, the criminal truly seeks forgiveness in Christ through repentance and obedient faith, the latter and greater of the two penalties might, through God's grace and mercy, be averted. And precisely here is one of the benefits of capital punishment, that the shock of it, as the grim prospect of it is realized by the sinner, may lead

Romans 8:37-38 — compel one to stop loving God; if he quits, he does it of his own accord. Love cannot be destroyed by force of imperial command, but it may wax cold. Some even depart from their first love (Revelation 2:4). Paul recognized that people depart from the faith, but he was persuaded that no evils coming on us from without could destroy the love of God. R. L. Whiteside, op. cit., p. 193. Whiteside's point is well taken; but it is God's love for man, not the other way around, that Paul primarily had in view

Hebrews 1:2 — there could be any prophet, leader, or any other type of seer in the Christian dispensation, with a valid message from God. For God to communicate to mankind through any such persons would be a reversion to the old system. As declared in Jude 1:1:3, the faith was "once for all delivered"! THE KING'S SEVEN-FOLD CREDENTIAL The superiority of Christianity over Judaism is set forth in the opening lines of Hebrews and with an emphasis that makes the superiority overwhelming. The new revelation came,

Hebrews 13:17 — be attached to the last of these, if used as a title. Paul referred to himself and to others as "stewards of the mysteries of God," making such persons a class of men and declaring that "It is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). Moreover, he said of an "elder," called "bishop" in this verse, that "the bishop must be blameless as God's steward" (Titus 1:7); and the apostle Peter extended the terms to include,

Revelation 20:4 — sat upon them … This is another proleptic vision of the blessed state of the dead in Christ, introduced for the encouragement and support of suffering and persecuted Christians. It was by this device that this prophecy "strengthened the faith of those who were suffering persecutions by giving them a vision of the final triumph of Christ and of the blessedness of his followers." James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House,

Revelation 3:22 — said: The only aspect of this interpretation that may have some virtue is the interpretation of Laodicea. It seems that lukewarmness and indifference will mark the church at the end of the age, particularly indifference to the great doctrines of the faith and unwillingness to defend them. Wilbur M. Smith, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1063. THE INTRODUCTION AND KEY TO REVELATION These seven letters are a marvelous introduction to the whole prophecy because: