Tagged: Bible Study

“I beheld the apostates with loathing, because they kept not to Your promise.” —Psalm 119:158 Faithful Jews at the time of the Maccabees suffered a cultural and religious takeover by the reigning Greek empire. Many lukewarm Jews renounced their faith, embracing the modern, though sinful, Greek lifestyle (1 Mc 1:15). Faithful Jews were condemned to death and forced to flee for their lives (1 Mc 1:50, 53). Put yourself in the shoes of a faithful Jew. Imagine that your family left home and livelihood to flee the death sentence. Your aunt and cousins were brutally executed (see 1 Mc 1:60-61)...

“These things you are contemplating — the day will come when not one stone will be left on another, but it will all be torn down.” —Luke 21:6 Jesus combined predicting the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. with predicting the end of the world. He did this because there will be marked similarities between the two catastrophes. Also, Jesus’ accuracy regarding the fall of Jerusalem indicates the credibility of His revelations regarding the end of the world. Jesus revealed many more details regarding the end of the world than He revealed about most other aspects of His plan. He...

Jesus “told them a parable on the necessity of praying always and not losing heart.” —Luke 18:1 A necessity is something that we must have or do. Otherwise, we will suffer dire consequences, even death. For example, food is a necessity. If we don’t have it, we die. Jesus teaches that it is a necessity not only to pray but to pray always (Lk 18:1; 1 Thes 5:17). Otherwise, we will suffer dire consequences. How can we pray always and thereby not put our lives in jeopardy? The Spirit “helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how...

“It was much the same in the days of Lot; they ate and drank, they bought and sold, they built and planted. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” —Luke 17:28-30 Jesus’ second coming and the end of the world through fire is certain. However, the exact time of these events is uncertain. Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour (Mk 13:32; Mt 25:13). Nonetheless, Jesus has revealed to us in...

Wisdom “is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty.” —Wisdom 7:25 When you were confirmed in the Holy Spirit, the bishop or his delegate prayed for you to receive the gift of wisdom (see Is 11:2). As Confirmation is vitally important, so the confirmational gift of wisdom is very important. Wisdom is “the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of His goodness” (Wis 7:26). Wisdom “produces friends of God and prophets” (Wis 7:27). Wisdom “is fairer than the sun and surpasses every...