by Barry Creamer | Dec 25, 2024 | Devotionals
A veil prevents those who visit every other part of the Temple from entering its holiest space, a chamber in which enormous golden statues of cherubs join wall to wing to wall implying God’s holiness. “The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave. And he made the...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 18, 2024 | Devotionals
Mary’s objection to Gabriel is more right than she knows. “How will this be…?” means “This is not possible.” And it is not. An announcement cannot make a virgin pregnant. Per Solomon’s prayer and Jesus’ own words to a Samaritan woman: God cannot be contained or...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 11, 2024 | Devotionals
The temple provides setting for all 3 opening accounts in Luke’s gospel—John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’ birth, and young Jesus’ return to Jerusalem without his parents. In the temple, Gabriel announces John’s coming birth to Zechariah, Zechariah and Elisabeth name...
by Barry Creamer | Dec 4, 2024 | Devotionals
Some things are hard to believe. Isaiah prophesies that the powerful kingdoms harassing Judah from the north will be overturned within a generation. All Ahaz needs is faith: “If you do not establish your faith, you will not be established” (Isaiah 7:9b). Knowing...
by Barry Creamer | Nov 27, 2024 | Devotionals
Of course, every day ought to be Thanksgiving Day for believers, given not only the New Testament’s variety of admonitions to give thanks always and for all things, but also the Old Testament’s repeated lyric: “Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.” But this...
by Barry Creamer | Nov 20, 2024 | Devotionals
They sit in perfectly disarrayed order unused for the moment: bowls with or without legs or pedestal; jars and cups with and without handle; pots, vases, dishes, pitchers. Each is the product of a loved daughter’s hand—testimony to the creativity and artisanship she...
