Author: Jim Cantelon

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...

August 5, 2020

Matthew 5 A Summary Comment Many years ago I had the honour of interviewing John R. W. Stott for a television show. I brought my copy of his classic, “The Message of The Sermon on the Mount” to the studio. He graciously singed it. As we waited for the crew to make the final lighting adjustments, we talked about the “sermon”. I’ll never forget his summary of the beatitudes. I can’t quote him directly, but this is what I remember of what he said: The first four beatitudes are about our attitude towards God: We are poor in spirit, our bankrupt souls are dependent...

Read 1 John 5

Key Verse: 1 John 5:12 “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God doesn’t not have life.” John says things as they are. He knew that the “whole world” for a period of time was “under the control of the evil one” (v.19). He also knew that “the evil one” can’t “touch” the believer who puts his trust in the “One [Christ] who was born of God” (v.18b). He knew that one sin could separate man from God eternally (the sin of unbelief — 16c), and only one act could forever unite man with God...

Read 1 John 4

Key Verse: 1 John 4:21 “And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” It was John, in his gospel, who gave us those immortal words of Jesus, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). Now, in this chapter he says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v.10). “God is love”, says John (v.16b), and He loved us long before we loved Him (v.19). And because God loves us “we also ought to love one...

Read 1 John 3

Key Verse: 1 John 3: 19, 20 “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in HIs presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.” Before commenting on this key verse, allow me to make a few observations about two verses which can cause more than a measure of concern to the eager-to-please reader — consider verses 6 and 9. You read these verses and exclaim, “I’m in trouble here! Because I’m sinning every day.” Let me help you. In both verses, sin is described...

Read 1 John 2

Key Verse: 1 John 2:17 “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” As stated in the introduction, John was concerned about the effect of heretical teaching on his “dear children” (v.1). These heretics (known as “Gnostics”) were spiritual “elitists” who saw the Gospel as being too simple, and they longed for the “depth’ of the mysteries of God. Some of them saw the biblical account of creation as inadequate; they believed in a king of spiritual evolution whereby the world arose through generation...

Read 1 John 1

Key Verse: 1 John 1:3 “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father with His Son, Jesus Christ.” In the poet Browning’s “A death in the Desert”, the apostle John lies dying in the presence of some of his followers. When my ashes scatter, says John, “there is left on earth No one alive who knew (consider this!) –Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands That which was from the first the Word of Life. How will it be when none more saith, ‘I saw’? John...