Psalm 9: A Prayer of the Oppressed for Justice

Posted inPsalms Commentary
This is a psalm about the judgment of God on the unbelieving that saves us, his people, from their oppression. Let’s look at some of its prominent features. 1. The Structure of the Psalm The psalm has three main parts. In the first part (vv. 1–8) David praises the Lord for upholding his right and…

Baptized into Christ’s Suffering

Posted inBaptism
In Mark 10:35-45 Jesus teaches the twelve a very important lesson about leadership and humility. More than once there was competition among them about who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and they needed to learn that pride and ambition for position and glory do not have a place in the kingdom of…

Psalm 100: Four Triple Parallelisms

Posted inPsalms Commentary
In Hebrew poetry the usual form of parallelism is a pair of lines that are roughly the same in meaning (synonymous), or that present a contrast (antithetical). In Psalm 6 we see nine verses in the standard form, and all of these except verse 3 are synonymous. But one verse (v.6) adds a third line…

Praying to Our Father in Heaven for Deliverance from Evil

Posted inLord's Prayer
In the sixth petition we pray for sanctification. Sanctification has two parts. The first is removal of the corruption of our natures, and the second is making our natures holy again. We want more than spiritual neutrality; we want to be positively good, like God himself. Another way to look at it is that we…

Praying for Our Father’s Forgiveness

Posted inLord's Prayer
In the last three petitions of the Lord’s prayer, the Lord teaches us to ask of God everything that is necessary for us. In the fourth petition he teaches us to ask for everything that we need to maintain the life of the body for service to him in his world. In the other two…

Praying that Our Father’s Will Be Done

Posted inLord's Prayer
Praying “Thy will be done” is probably the most difficult of all petitions. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the cup to pass from him, he wanted that urgently. His whole being was recoiling in horror from the God-forsakenness of the cross, but he added “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be…

Praying for the Coming of Our Father’s Kingdom

Posted inLord's Prayer
The Heidelberg Catechims has a very helpful explanation of the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer in Lord’s Day 48. It teaches us that this prayer is very broad in scope because in it we pray for ourselves, for the church, against wickedness, and for the perfection of the kingdom. We pray for ourselves We…

Praying to Our Father in Heaven

Posted inLord's Prayer
Our Lord taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer on at least two separate occasions. The first was in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6 he gave the Lord’s Prayer, but also instructions about it. 1) That we should pray in secret, and not as the hypocrites, on the street corners and in the…

Praying for the Hallowing of Our Father’s Name

Posted inLord's Prayer
One of the important things that Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer is that we should pray as members of his body. That does not mean that we may never pray as individuals. Many psalms are individual prayers. LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.…

Christian Burial vs. Cremation

Posted inCremation
The Reformed Church in the United States has published a paper defending Christian burial against the increasingly common practice of cremation. Magnifying Christ in My Body: Is Cremation a Legitimate Alternative to Christian Burial? A Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Analysis This is highly recommended reading. The paper traces briefly the history of cremation in…