February 5
Luke wrote more of the New Testament than any other author, including Paul. There has been no shortage of critics to call in question the historical veracity of his writings. For example, he calls Iconium a city in Phyrigia. Scholars disagreed, saying that Iconium was in Lycaonia, not Phyrigia. They declared the Book of Acts unreliable. That was until 1910, when Sir William Ramsay (1851-1939), looking for evidence to support this long-held claim against Luke, uncovered a stone monument declaring that Iconium was indeed a city in Phyrigia. When reviewing the writings of Luke, British...
Read MoreFebruary 4
Joseph Scriven, the author of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” was born in Dublin in 1820 and moved to Canada when he was 25. Although born in wealth and refinement, he chose a humble path of service for Christ after the drowning death of his fiancée the eve before their wedding. One day he was seen walking down a street in Port Hope where he lived, dressed in work clothes and carrying a saw. One observer said to another: “Do you know that man? I need a sober, hard-working man to cut some wood for me.” “You can’t get that man; that’s Mr. Scriven.” “Why not?” “Because you’re able to pay for...
Read MoreFebruary 3
When asked to write a comment in someone’s album, C.H. Spurgeon would often write: “E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.” Early in his ministry at the Tabernacle he said: “I received, some years ago, orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the Cross until He came. He has not come yet; but I mean to stand there till He does. If I should disobey His orders, and leave those simple truths which have been the means of the conversion of souls, I do not know how I could expect His blessing. Here, then, I...
Read MoreFebruary 2
“So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word” (Ps 119:42). In the spring of 1947, a Bedouin was searching for a lost goat near the shore of the Dead Sea at Qumran. He threw a stone into a cave which contained not his goat but jars filled with manuscripts. Hearing a jar break, he thought he had found treasure, little realizing what it was. What made the Dead Sea Scrolls such a remarkable find in confirming the reliability of the Old Testament was the fact that prior to their discovery the earliest text in Hebrew dated only to the 10th century ad. Biblical...
Read MoreFebruary 1
It is true that salvation is based on certain historical facts: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor 15:3-6). “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). But we should remember that salvation comes not simply in accepting certain facts; it is found in receiving a...
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