Author: Jim Cantelon

August 26, 2020

Matthew 5 Salt and Light vv. 13-16 – Part 2 Looking over to his right, seeing the town of Safat on the mountainside, he says his followers will be as conspicuous in the world as a city built on a hill. Their light will shine. Their influence will permeate like salt. They will become critical players on the world stage. Really? Yes, really. History has proven Jesus’ words true. And, apart from a bit of Constatine here and there, Jesus’ followers have not impacted the world through money or power. Rather, their influence has been that of distinctiveness, not conformity. They...

Read Revelation 7

Key Verse: Revelation 7:17 “For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Reading Revelations is like looking through a kaleidoscope. The colours, the patterns, the overall picture keeps changing — it seems in constant flux. Suddenly, the martyrs “under the altar” of 6:9 are now “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in fort of the Lamb” (7:9). Numbered...

Read Revelation 6

Key Verse: Revelation 6:16, 17 “They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?'” The Lamb opens the first seal, releasing the first of seven plagues upon the earth. The imagery of the first four is powerfully vivid: horses of different colours and their riders, all symbolizing war and its tragic results. A white horse appears, its crowned rider holding a bow, and he rides out to conquer (probably representing an invader)....

Read Revelation 5

Key Verse: Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every trice and language and people and nation.” John now sees a “scroll” in “the right hand of Him who sat on the throne” (v.1). It has writing on both sides and is sealed with seven seals. The value of its message is so great that o one “in heaven or on earth” can break the seals and read it (v.3). John laments, but then hears one of the elders say, “the...

Read Revelation 4

Key Verse: Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.” The vision continues. Here we see the “throne room” of heaven. It’s a key description for a number of reasons, not the least of them being that this “throne room” is the main “set” of the drama. For interests sake, you might try drawing the set as it’s described in verses 1-6. Probably you’ll do what I did — you’ll draw in two dimensions...

August 19, 2020

Matthew 5 Salt and Light vv. 13-16 – Part 1 You don’t have to be a scientist. All you do is “Google” the question. “Can salt lose its saltiness?” The answer is clear. “Sodium chloride is readily water-soluble, so if this crude salt were exposed to condensation or rain water, the sodium chloride could be dissolved and removed, and the salt could in effect lose its saltiness.” (askscientist.co.uk). I start with this because there has been debate by Bible commentators over the years as to the permanence of saltiness. Some say salt is salt and will...

Read Revelation 3

Key Verse: Revelation 3:16 “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.” Lynn Harold Hough, in his exposition of this passage, draws our attention to the prophet Zephaniah (Interpreter’s Bible, vol.12, p.397). Consider these words: “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad'” (Zeph. 1:12 NIV.) “She obeys no one, She accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord, She...

Read Revelation 2

Key Verse: Revelation 2:5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…” The New Open Bible, in the prologue to its map, says “Notice that John addressed the churches in exactly the order shown on this map — from Ephesus north to Pergamos, then south all the way to Laodicea. Some scholars believe Revelation was a circular letter that would have been read first by the Ephesian church, then passed on to the next church on the route.” That was a trade route, connecting these vital cities in Asia. In this chapter, the churches...

Read Revelation 1

Key Verse: Revelation 1:17, 18 “…Do not be afraid;…I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Chapter one is fairly straightforward. It sets out to establish the who, what, why, and where of the vision. Relative to the remaining chapters, this one is clear and succinct. First of all, this is a “revelation of Jesus Christ” given to “His servant John”, and the messenger is an “angel” (v.1). The revelation is a “prophecy” with a note of urgency, for...

August 10, 2020

Our government this week warned we may be living with physical distancing and face masks for another two years. The recent surge of Covid infections in countries who thought they had “flattened the curve” has precipitated a major rethink. We are on a precipice. It’s comforting to remember that “this is our Father’s world”. He is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. Nothing surprises him. He has factored Covid into his sovereign design. We will be delivered of it in his time. This doesn’t mitigate the suffering but it does give hope. We continue to pray “thy will...