Life's Inanities and Ironies

There’s just something about that name. In a little nowhere town called Nazareth , an angel walked into the life of a teenage girl and forever changed history with eight words:   “Thou shalt call his name JESUS .” That name was no afterthought. It was no suggestion. It was the eternal decree of God. Seven centuries earlier, Isaiah had already seen it coming: “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace ” ( Isaiah 9:6 ). The angel simply delivered the invoice Heaven had signed before the foundation of the world. Jesus. Yeshua . Jehovah saves .   The only name under heaven whereby we must be saved ( Acts 4:12 ). The world this Christmas will shout a thousand other names: Santa , Rudolph , Amazon , Eggnog . But Bible believers know there is only one name that makes hell shudder, demons flee, and guilty sinners sing.   That name was promised in the prophets.   That name was pronounced b...

 Imagine the serene tropical dawn breaking over the azure waters of Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, on a quiet Sunday morning in 1941 . Palm trees sway gently in the breeze, sailors stir from their bunks aboard mighty battleships, and the scent of salt air mingles with the hum of routine naval life. Then, without warning, the sky darkens with the thunderous roar of 353 enemy aircraft—waves of Japanese Zeros and bombers unleashing hellfire. Explosions rip through the air like apocalyptic thunderclaps, black smoke billows like demonic clouds, and the once-proud USS Arizona erupts in a cataclysmic fireball, her hull groaning as she sinks into the oily depths. In mere moments, paradise turns to pandemonium: 2,403 American heroes perish in the flames and wreckage, over 1,000 more wounded, their cries echoing across the harbor. This wasn't just an attack; it was a seismic jolt that hurled the United States into the fiery crucible of World War II—a "date which will live in infamy," as ...

For decades Zacharias and Elisabeth prayed the same prayer: “Lord, give us a child.”   Year after year the altar of incense rose with their cry, yet the womb stayed shut. They watched younger couples dedicate babies in the temple while their own arms remained empty. They were righteous. They were blameless. They walked in all the commandments of the Lord. Yet heaven was silent. If you have ever prayed for revival and seen only apostasy,   if you have begged God to save your children and watched them walk away,   if you have pleaded for healing, for deliverance, for a move of God while the church grows colder,   then you know the ache of Zacharias and Elisabeth. We call it “the problem of unanswered prayer,” but the Bible never does. Scripture treats long silence not as a problem to explain away, but as a womb in which God is doing His deepest work. Look at Luke 1 again. 1. God’s delays are not denials      The angel said, “Fe...

 We remember Pearl Harbor . We remember 9/11 .   But there is one night in human history that deserves to be remembered with far greater sorrow and awe: the night Judas kissed the door of heaven shut, and armed men dragged the sinless Son of God into the darkness. This was not just an ordinary arrest.   This was the creature assaulting the Creator.   This was the blackest, most infamous act the world has ever seen. Four portraits of infamy stand out in Mark’s account : 1. The Kiss of the Ultimate Insider      Judas—one of the Twelve—leads the lynch mob. He had seen the dead raised, eaten the multiplied loaves, and called Jesus “Lord” to His face. Yet for thirty pieces of silver (the price of a crippled slave), he sells the Savior.      Church membership, baptism, preaching, miracles—none of it saves without a new heart. Religious privilege without regeneration = treachery. 2. The Violence of Religious Hypocri...

“And they all said the same.”   That’s the line in Mark 14:31 that always chills me. Not just Peter , but every last disciple stood there on the way to Gethsemane and declared, “Even if I must die with You, I will never deny You.” Hours later they were all gone, scattered like smoke. Peter, the boldest of the bold, was swearing he never knew the man. We love to shake our heads at Peter. “How could he?” we say. But if we’re honest, we’ve stood in the same place. Maybe not in a courtyard warming our hands by a fire, but in our hearts we’ve said: - “I would never compromise on doctrine .”   - “I would never look at pornography again.”   - “I would never let bitterness take root.”   - “I would never walk away from the faith.” Never say never. Pride is the original sin, and its favorite lie is “I’m the exception.”   Samson thought Delilah could shear-proof.   David thought one look wouldn’t cost him.   Solomon though...