Category Archives: Bible

Preparing the Way of the Lord

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 3:1-12 Matthew skips over nearly 30 years between 2:23 and 3:1 and in so doing he has emphasized for us his priority on the identity and role of Jesus over that of providing mere biographical information. This is further … Continue reading →

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A Sudden Trip to Egypt

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 2:13-23 When we left off, the Magi, because of a message from God in a dream, left the house where the infant Messiah was staying in Bethlehem and returned home without going back to tell Herod where the child … Continue reading →

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The Infancy of Jesus

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 2:1-12 As we have already seen, Matthew ties his story of Jesus together with Israel’s past in a variety of ways in his account of Jesus. Clearly in today’s passage, we can see that, but he does so throughout … Continue reading →

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The Path and the Narrow Door

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Don Merritt

The path of life is not a wide one that is full of traffic and congestion, it is quieter than that.  It isn’t a great highway, it’s more like a quiet country lane… Maybe if your life’s path is full … Continue reading →

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Matthew’s Interesting Use of Isaiah 7:14

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Don Merritt

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 As a Christian reading this verse as translated in the NIV, and then seeing Matthew’s reference to it in … Continue reading →

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The Genealogy of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:6-17

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew continues his genealogy as he moves from the first group of 14 names to the next. The first group culminates in King David, that glorious figure who is “a man after God’s own heart”, with whom God made a … Continue reading →

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The Genealogy of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:1-6

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Don Merritt

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: (1:1) Matthew begins with this verse full of content and contextual implications. It would seem that Matthew is intent on linking the story of Jesus to the … Continue reading →

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The Genealogy of Jesus Christ: Introduction

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Don Merritt

I’ll confess to you right here and now that when I sit down to read the Bible, I skip the genealogies, but when I sit down to study the Bible, I look for genealogies. For many who casually read the … Continue reading →

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A Brief introduction to the Gospel of Matthew

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Don Merritt

It has been a long time since I blogged through a book of the Bible here on this site. If you are new here, you may not realize that this was the main activity of this blog for a number … Continue reading →

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Sunday Sermon Notes: July 28, 2024

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Don Merritt

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 Solomon (a..k.a. Koheleth) sets out his great quest for wisdom in these verses, but all of the wisdom that the wisest man of all time managed to collect, wasn’t worth very much. Here’s an example: Suppose you went … Continue reading →

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