Biblical Studies

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel." (Ezra 7:10) We have completed our first year of biblical studies! We give thanks to the Lord for the 20 students that completed both semesters! And thank you for your participation.  I also want to express my appreciation for our instructors this year: Jim Krouscas, Mark Broomell, Jeff Graf, Neil Damgaard, and Loren Rees. It was a privilege to serve with them in this new venture.  We'd love to hear back from you regarding future classes, or evaluation of this past year. We welcome your suggestions. And we'll keep you posted on plans for this September.  Thank you again for your involvement. We are blessed by each of you who have taken the study of God's word seriously! Sandy

This week -- our last week of classes for spring semester -- let me offer this brief reflection on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, taken from Psalm 22, which was written a thousand years before Christ died upon the cross.  THE SUFFERING KING (Ps 22). A thousand years after David wrote this psalm of lament, his royal descendant, Jesus, spoke the first verse of it while he hung upon the Roman cross. Of course, that doesn't mean only that one verse, but rather the whole of the psalm, is about him. The suffering of the Messiah is plainly set forth, as it is also in Isaiah 53. David describes in detail what happened at the cross of Christ. At first reading of this psalm, we observe that David seems to be describing a rejection of his own kingship, and that is likely the context of its writing.  But then we notice things that never happened to David... the dividing of clothing by lots, the pierced hands and feet, and the physical condition of his parched thirst, his b...