During the course of this past year we published well over a hundred blog posts here and on our sister site.

The list below gives the twelve posts that were most popular on this site, so check out the list to see how it compares with your own favorites and to see if you missed any of these popular posts ...
 



Seeing Double   

Jumping to Conclusions  

Context Is Everything  

When Your Upset Becomes Your Downfall  

The Christian and twitter  

The Other Side of Honesty  

Pay Attention!  

Borders – Did God Create Borders?  

Fulfilling Three Goals at One Time  

A Window and a Mirror  

One Feather at a Time  

The 'Terminator' Tells a Very Old Story – and it's Good News


You might also like to see the parallel list of most popular posts this year on our sister site  LivingWithFaith.org which was published this past Wednesday (12-26-2018).
​

​Biblical genealogies are things most of us read, accept, and then move on in our reading.  But the genealogy Matthew gives for Jesus at the beginning of his Gospel has a particularly interesting aspect.  Matthew divides the “family tree” he constructs for the promised Messiah into three sections of fourteen generations each, saying: “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah” (Matthew 1:17).

But if we look back into the Old Testament lists of the ancient kings of Judah who were among the ancestors of Jesus, we find that Matthew actually omits  three individuals between the kings Jehoram and Uzziah (Matthew 1:8): Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:25), Joash (2 Kings 12:1), and Amaziah (2 Kings 14:1).  In other words, there were actually seventeen known generations between David and the exile, rather than fourteen as Matthew states.

How can we reconcile this apparent contradiction in the Scriptures?  First, we must understand that Matthew follows a common ancient practice in structuring the genealogy he gives into clear units which were more easily remembered and taught.   That Matthew omits some individuals in order to accomplish this pattern is not surprising because if we look back to the very first verse of his Gospel, he does that to an even more striking degree in saying “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” – where the practice of “jumping generations” is clearly utilized to make his point: to stress that Jesus was the descendant of David (who is actually named first, before Abraham).

When we remember Matthew’s stress – both here and throughout his Gospel – on Jesus being the son of David, we can consider another fact.  The Jewish audience for whom Matthew primarily wrote had no numerals of the kind we use today. Instead, the Jews gave numerical values to certain letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  In this way, a given word could have a numerical value as well as a phonetic one.  “David” was written with the letters dalet (4), vav (6) and dalet (4), giving a total numerical value of 14. So fourteen was a number associated with the name of David, and it is certainly possible that Matthew structured his genealogy of Jesus in a pattern of fourteen generations in order to stress, in a literary or symbolic manner, the connection between David and Jesus, the “Son of David.”

We must remember that precisely because Mathew wrote to a Jewish audience, he knew that his readers were familiar with the king lists of the Hebrew Scriptures and that they would understand he was “jumping generations” in Matthew 1:8 in exactly the same way he did in Matthew 1:1.

We can see this fact in another way.  Ancient genealogies usually omitted women in their reckoning, but Matthew includes four women who were Gentiles or had Gentile connections (Matthew 1:3, 5-6), even though he did not include the four great matriarchs of the biblical tradition – Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel.  The reason is clearly because another theme of Matthew’s Gospel is the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s plan for humanity. 

​Matthew adjusted the details of his genealogy of Jesus in order to make the points that were vital for his story.  So, rather than contradicting Old Testament accounts, Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus is carefully constructed to stress Jesus’ descent from both King David and from several Gentile ancestors – which gave him the genealogy to be not only the King of the Jews, but also the King of all mankind.

​Have you ever travelled through an airport and seen unclaimed suitcases sitting on or next to luggage carousels?  We might think that it would be hard to forget a suitcase after a flight (depending on how bad the flight was, of course), but astonishingly, millions of bags are unclaimed each year worldwide – sometimes after being misdirected but other times just forgotten and left in the airport to which they were flown.  Unclaimed luggage in the United States over the last few decades has included bags containing incredibly valuable things such as a 40.95-carat natural emerald, a 4,000-year-old Egyptian burial mask, and even an Air Force missile guidance system.

Perhaps even more amazingly, what is true of luggage is also true of many people’s money.  People forget that they have old or dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, bonds or other financial holdings, and these funds often go unclaimed after their owners’ deaths,  despite the fact that they may sometimes represent very large amounts. In fact, it is estimated  that in the United States alone there are over thirty billion dollars of such unclaimed funds at a given time.

This may seem strange to most of us – especially when we realize that all the owners had to do to obtain their unclaimed possessions was to show two forms of identification to claim what was rightfully theirs. Yet hard as it may be for many of us to understand the huge number of suitcases and the massive amounts of money that go unclaimed each year, we too may be guilty of forgetting to claim some of the spiritual things –  the standing promises found in God’s word –  to which we are entitled.

How many promises does the Bible contain?  Different estimates have been made by different people. Many who have tried to count the Bible’s promises feel that there are well over 3,000 and some feel that there are actually more than 5,000 or even 7,000. The 20th century Bible writer Dr. Herbert Lockyer published a book titled All the Promises of the Bible which claimed that there are actually some 8,000 distinct promises waiting to be claimed between the pages of the Bible.

However many promises the Bible may contain, the point is that there are ones applying to almost every conceivable situation in life. Most of them are clearly stated and waiting for us to claim them.  But biblically, we do need two forms of identification, and many people are disappointed or disillusioned when they try to claim the Scripture's promises without them.

The Bible shows that to claim its promises we must be the people to whom the promises belong and the first identifier is that of obedience.  Notice what the apostle Paul says specifically about this form of spiritual identification needed for promise claiming: “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).   While these words may sound somewhat formal to our modern ears, it is the same kind of formal language found in a passport or other form of identification, and its meaning is clear. To claim God’s promises we need to be as obedient as possible to what God reveals to us regarding his way of life. 

But a single form of identification is often not enough to retrieve your unclaimed suitcase or financial account, and the same is true of biblical identification.  The Scriptures specify a second form of spiritual ID that we need to claim its promises –  that of perseverance.  The book of Hebrews makes this clear: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36 and see also Hebrews 6:12).
​
Just as we may have to wait a little while in the line at the airport luggage office or we may have to wait patiently till we hear back from the bank from which we try to withdraw our unclaimed funds, spiritual promises sometimes require a little patience before they are fulfilled – but a promise is a promise and the God who gave the Scripture's promises knows that better than any of us and he will fulfill them (Numbers 23:19). Our responsibility is simply to know, remember and claim the promises he has given us.

Yet so often we do not claim promises we have been given or utilize them even when we need them.  A historical example comes to mind. In the 1800’s the great warrior chief Isapo-Muxika, or Crowfoot, of the Blackfoot nation in southern Alberta, gave the Canadian Pacific Railway permission to lay railroad tracks through his people’s land.  The grateful railroad officials gave Crowfoot a lifetime ticket to ride the trains, and the chief wore this ticket in a pouch around his neck –  but never once used it –  throughout the rest of his life. 

That is a human trait all of us can display to some degree –  to be aware of promises and perhaps even to treasure them, yet to not always actively claim them. That is why, like many suitcases and bank accounts, there are so many spiritual promises that go unclaimed. But the Bible is clear. As long as we have the two identifications of obedience and perseverance, we are eligible to claim what has been spiritually promised to us and what is rightfully ours.

​By Andy Kind *  

The film that spawned an infinite number of sequels and (bizarrely) a state governor, The Terminator is the 1984 action horror that many have mimicked, none have bettered. And yet the film itself is a pale imitation of a story already told further back along our timeline.  What you may have missed in this epic horror/blockbuster is a surprisingly accurate rendering of the incarnation of Jesus. Come with me if you want to read on.

Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent into our time on a rescue mission by his own son (OK, so the father is sent by the son on this occasion, but stick with it). His mission is to save humanity – starting with someone who doesn't know him. He arrives naked and vulnerable and the weaponry he would otherwise use can't make the leap, so he has had to give up his full power to get here. He arrives in the early hours of the morning and the authorities are quickly onto him (like a thief in the night?). The only witness of the event is a bearded vagabond who asks Reese if he 'saw a bright light?' This homeless man is the John the Baptist figure who testifies to the light coming into the world.

The rest of the film centres on Reese's attempts to get between Sarah Connor and death (Arnie's Terminator). At the climax of the film, he lays down his life for hers, and takes death down with him. Because of the brain-melting paradox of time, Kyle Reese saves Sarah's life in a time before his own physical birth. This is a nice allusion to John 8:58, where Jesus says, 'Before Abraham was, I AM'. The decision to save and rescue predates the incarnation.

Now obviously, plenty of films use the idea of self-sacrifice as a plot device. But they use it because it's a theme that has universal resonance. The theme of self-sacrifice itself has an origin story though, and it's found in the pages of the New Testament. The Terminator is a fictional retelling of a real, historical event.

But why do we resonate with themes of rescue, self-sacrifice and redemption. I think because we are wired to respond to them. The temptation at this point might be to say, 'Well, it's not just Christianity – all religions have these themes.' But that's just not true. You will not find any other religion where God offers to rescue you. You cannot find another worldview where you are worth dying for. No other religion says that God is coming to find you, or where death itself can be conquered. With any other God, your cries for help are either unheard or unheeded.

If there is no God at all and atheism is true, then The Terminator is a fictional story about a very real truth – that Death is coming for you. So listen and understand: that Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. The words Reese used to describe the T101 apply absolutely to your relationship to Death on an atheistic worldview.

Maybe that's why the movie is so terrifying. Because on some level we sense the slow pursuit of Death which will one day come for us, whether we are ready or not, whether we think we deserve it or not.

But what if there was a real story about the unstoppable foe of Death bearing down on you...but then a hand grabbing your arm, looking you in the eye and saying, 'Come with me if you want to live'? What if that person didn't just stand between you and death and say, 'Run, save yourself, I'll hold him off as long as I can'? What if the person who offered to save you could not only beat death but offer you 'fullness of life'? What if the relief we feel when Kyle Reese drags Sarah Connor out of the Terminator's line of fire isn't just about the thrill of entertainment – what if we are wired to respond to that story because that's the rescue plan God decided on long before we were born?

What if salvation wasn't just a poorly-rendered spin-off, but the direct sequel to saying 'yes' to that offer of rescue?


*Andy Kind (@andykindcomedy) is a comedian, preacher and writer. This article is reproduced with the author's kind permission.

​A small finger ring found in the ruins of the Fortress of Herodium in Israel some 50 years ago has now been cleaned, studied and identified as very possibly being the ring of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate who governed what was then the Roman province of Judea in the time of Christ from AD 26–36. It was Pilate, of course, who famously tried Jesus and turned him over to be crucified.

The ring was found along with a great many other artifacts in excavations conducted at Herodium in 1968–1969 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but it was not thoroughly cleaned and its inscription read until only recently at the request of the current excavation director, archaeologist Roi Porat.  The results of this cleaning were published just this last week.

In addition to the image of a large wine vessel, the ring was found to bear a simple inscription in Greek – which the Romans used to communicate with the people of the Eastern Mediterranean areas that they controlled. The inscription reads “of Pilate” meaning “belonging to Pilate.” Could this be the Pontius Pilate of biblical fame?  Although the name of Pilate is known to every Christian today, Pilate was a somewhat rare name in the 1st century. The name is derived from the Latin “pilum” (armed with a javelin) and is a Roman cognomen – an extra name sometimes given to Roman citizens.  But there was only one Roman Governor of Judea called Pilate, and it is perhaps unlikely that the ring would have belonged to another individual of the same name.   
 
In fact, only one other artifact has been discovered in Israel bearing the name of Pilate – the so-called “Pilate Stone” – a massive inscribed building block discovered in 1961 excavations at Caesarea which was a Roman headquarters in Judea.   That stone bears four lines of text, two of which read, “[Po]ntius Pilate … [Pref]ect of Juda[ea].”

But what of the newly identified ring – could it be an item personally worn by Pilate himself? The answer is that this is unlikely.  The ring is made of relatively inexpensive copper alloy and its workmanship is somewhat rough (see photo) – not what we would expect of the personal ring of the most powerful man in ancient Judea at that time.   

However, the fact that the ring probably was not worn by Pilate himself is of little importance.  Kings, governors, and other rulers of that era commonly wore signet rings by which they impressed seals on the documents they sent out in order to “sign” them – just as we sign letters or official documents with our names today.  Ancient rulers of that time also often gave, loaned, or had cheaper copies of these rings made for their highest-ranking assistants so that they could issue commands and seal official documents on behalf of the ruler himself (for an Old Testament example, see Esther 3:10; 8:2). 

The newly identified ring is very likely such an assistant’s seal – a secondary ring entrusted to an individual who had been given the authority to relay or issue commands or statements on behalf of Pilate himself.  But this does not make the connection between the ring and the biblical figure of Pontius Pilate any less real.    

The “Pilate Ring” joins the already known “Pilate Stone” as further confirmation of an individual mentioned in the Bible –   in this case, an otherwise little-known Roman governor who, through his mention in the New Testament, would become one of the most famous or infamous Romans of all.