This is another passage full of hope for a devastated people. The prophet is speaking to a woman, but the context of the surrounding chapters suggests that the woman stands for the whole nation of God’s chosen people, or perhaps the city of Jerusalem.

The book of Isaiah has sometimes been called the 'fifth Gospel' because of its foreshadowings of the story of Jesus. It's here at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, describing John the Baptist in his proclamation of the coming Mess...

The Sermon on the Mount covers Matthew 5–7. It's the longest block of teaching in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), and contains some of Jesus' most challenging teaching – and his most comforting.

In the first part of Matthew 6, Jesus tells his hearers that they shouldn't make a show of their religious duties in public, but keep them between themselves and God.

For those of us who grew up going to Sunday school, it’s hard to read these verses without thinking of the teaching song, ‘The wise man built his house upon the rock’. It’s catchy – but it misses the point, which is that while both the men ...

While Jesus’ calling of his first fisherman disciples looks almost random, his calling of Matthew is quite deliberate – but again, it’s not because he was particularly qualified. He is a tax collector, or employed by one. As such, he’s aligne...

Matthew 10 contains Jesus’ operational instructions for his disciples in their mission to their fellow-Jews. Their message is to be that ‘The Kingdom of heaven is near!’ (verse 7).

There’s something quite wistful or plaintive about John the Baptist’s message to Jesus. He is in gaol, having offended the powerful Herod Antipas. John the Baptist is an authoritative, charismatic figure, like Elijah, but Elijah, plunging into de...

There are indications in the Gospels that Jesus’ family were worried about and even hostile towards his ministry. Perhaps they have come to him on this occasion to try to talk him out of his mission. His words about family are quite startling even ...

This is another parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. The world is a very mixed bag: there’s good and evil, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Good people don’t get what they deserve, and neither do bad people – it all sometimes seems a bit random.

Pink Floyd's most famous song is a challenge to the kind of system that forces people into pre-determined roles whatever their individual gifts and talents: 'All in all you're just another brick in the wall'. It's a call to l...

Peter's letter was written in the context of persecution and trials. But he always has in mind a wider context: that this world doesn't have the last word, and that the sufferings and sacrifices we make now will be crowned with glory in God...

The mark of the believer, John says, is love – but it's also doing what is right. He goes so far as to say that 'None of those who are children of God continue to sin, for God's very nature is in them' (verse 9). Does he mean th...

If you’ve lived for any length of time you’ll have experienced a variety of leaders and leadership styles. Over the years, you’ve no doubt formed an opinion about the effectiveness of what you’ve seen. But what makes a good church leader?

The letters in Revelation 2–3 display Christ’s presence with his churches, his complete knowledge of their spiritual condition and his desire for their wholehearted commitment to him. Each church is addressed specifically but also told to ‘hear...

Peter is very specific about how we should respond when we are misjudged and attacked. These attacks could come from outside the fellowship of believers, but he starts this section by urging Christians to 'love one another as brothers and sister...

Peter compares what the lives of believers ought to be with what he sees around him of the lives of 'pagans' – those who aren't Jews, but who worship the old gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome or the Eastern divinities.

The first chapter of 2 Peter is about what being a Christian means for the believer's conduct and character. God has given us 'very great and precious gifts' by which we can 'come to share the divine nature' (verse 4), and t...

This is a very fierce chapter. The writer takes aim at 'false prophets', and doesn't spare them. They teach 'destructive, untrue doctrines' which lead them and their followers into immorality; they are 'bold and arrogant...

At the end of his second letter, Peter reminds his readers of something fundamental. The world they think is secure, in which tomorrow will be the same as yesterday and any change is likely to be for the better, isn't really like that at all.