When it comes to Hosea, the Talmud goes so far as to call him the greatest prophet of his generation. That’s a remarkable statement when you consider who his contemporaries were. Hosea lived at the same time as Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and Joel. Yet the rabbis singled him out. Why? Well, there are some good reasons…
The lack of emphasis and familiarity with the Trei Asar is unfortunate, because their message is every bit as relevant today as it was when these prophets first announced their words to the Jewish people.
The Bible was written in a world very different from our own. Its authors lived in cultures that thought, spoke, and viewed the world differently from how we do today. Yet many of us instinctively approach Scripture as though it were written directly to twenty-first-century readers. As a result, we sometimes miss important details and occasionally misunderstand the author’s intended message. The good news is that there is a way to read Scripture that can greatly enhance our understanding.
Many believers have been taught to think of the Bible as a story about rules and requirements. Yet when we step back and look at the larger biblical narrative, a different picture emerges. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture tells the story of a God who desires a relationship with the people He created. The Bible is not primarily the story of humanity searching for God. It is the story of God pursuing humanity.
Despite how frequently the Bible speaks about sin, many believers struggle to define it. Ask a group of Christians what sin is, and you’ll likely hear a variety of answers. Some describe it as breaking God’s rules. Others define it as moral failure or disobedience. While those answers contain truth, the biblical picture is richer and more profound.
Despite how often the Bible uses covenant language, many believers are unsure what a covenant actually is. More importantly, many don’t realize that covenant is one of the primary themes holding the entire Bible together.
Grace is often understood in ways that unintentionally separate it from obedience to God. Yet when we step back into the Jewish world of Scripture, we make a critical discovery: In the Bible, grace and God’s commandments were never meant to be enemies.
Many believers think of the Kingdom of God primarily as heaven or a future destination. But in the Bible, the Kingdom is far more concrete, relational, and connected to God’s covenant purposes than many realize. In this article, we explore how Jesus and His first followers understood the Kingdom within the Jewish world of Scripture.
Many Christians assume that after Jesus’ resurrection, the earliest believers immediately stopped practicing Torah and began forming a new religion separate from Judaism. But when we carefully read the New Testament, a very different picture emerges.
Many Christians assume Jesus came to abolish the Torah, but the Gospels tell a very different story. Jesus taught from the Torah, lived according to the commandments, and revealed its deepest meaning through His life and ministry. When we recover the Jewish context of Jesus’ teachings, the Bible begins to feel more unified, vibrant, and connected than ever before.
