Bart Byl on Joel 2:1-2, 10-11, 18-19, 25-32.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The 'day of the Lord' is the climax of wrath and judgment that will end history. And since judgement begins with the household of God, this day calls all of us to search our hearts and repent and return to God. For those who have pure hearts before God realize that God's judgement means salvation.

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Bart Byl on Hosea 1.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

God tells the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman, as a visible enactment of God's tempestuous relationship with faithless Israel. And when Gomer runs off to live with another man, God sends Hosea to find her, pay off her debts, forgive her betrayal, and renew his vows to her. The prophet's marriage (and all of our own marriages) point to the lengths Christ is willing to go to redeem and purify his bride, the church.

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Bart Byl on Daniel 2.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The seer Daniel pulls back the curtain on the cosmic battlefield to show us the supernatural forces of darkness and light battling over the fate of humanity. Empire succeeds empire, all different manifestations of the beast — but in the end every human kingdom will fall and Christ alone will reign in love and justice.

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Bart Byl on Ezekiel 47:1-12.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

No prophet acted more strangely or received more psychedelic visions of God than Ezekiel. In the aftermath of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, Ezekiel is shown the glorious future Israel's God has planned for her — a new temple, and from underneath the temple, a river that flows toward the dead places and turns everything lush with life.

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Bart Byl on Lamentations 4:11-13, 5:1-22.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

Lamentations is a collection of five poems in which the poet (traditionally, Jeremiah) grieves over the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 BC. Not all suffering is deserved, but this affliction is: God is punishing Judah for her wickedness. Will God relent and show mercy? Lamentations ends with uncertainty, but thank God the coming of Christ will give us sinners boldness in the face of judgment.

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Bart Byl on Jeremiah 37-38:13a,28.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

More than any of the OT prophets, Jeremiah gives us a sense of the agony of the prophetic call. He was called to experience the suffering love of God for his sinful people—but also to fully share the suffering of Israel under judgement. Jeremiah is thus a powerful Old Testament witness to the Incarnation of Christ.

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Bart Byl on Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

The prophet Isaiah penned a soaring vision of God's transcendent majesty and the restoration of Israel — and through her, the redemption of the nations and the renewal of all creation. But at the heart of his prophecy is the announcement of the Suffering Servant who will bear the sins of his people and open the floodgates of divine salvation.

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Bart Byl on Song of Songs 2:3-13, 8:6-7.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

At the most obvious level, this poem is a celebration of erotic love between a man and a woman. Their desire is physical and sensual; it is not merely sexual but involves the burning desire of one person for complete union with another. It's a celebration of God's gift of embodied, marital sexuality. And married love at its best points us toward "the flame of the Lord"—the divine Eros that is the love of Christ for his Bride.

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Bart Byl on Ecclesiastes 1.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

Someone observed that if you’re depressed you should read Ecclesiastes. You’ll still be depressed, but now you’ll be depressed biblically. The author of Ecclesiastes tears away the pretensions and illusions that shield us from facing the absurdity of life. His one great certainty is that we’re all going to die — this little vapour of life, this wisp of air, is going to dissipate. We Christians are not exempted from experience of futility, frustration, and death — but we are children of the Resurrection.

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Bart Byl on Proverbs 8.

Series: Christ in the Old Testament

In the Book of Proverbs we hear the voice of a good father advising his son on how to live life well. All of us are invited to embrace wisdom and learn how to operate skilfully in God's reality. Christ, who is the wisdom of God and the living blueprint of the cosmic order, came into this world to be the listening son who heeded his father's voice and grew in wisdom and stature. And he offers his own wisdom to all who acknowledge him as Lord.

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