Studies, reading plans and every single day within them, alongside devotionals and articles. Search by title, book of the Bible, passage or topic.
Chapter study
…in Isaiah 53, and finally a man identified as the Lamb of God in John 1:29. This is foreshadowing of the responsible kind. We are not reading Christ into a detail Genesis never raised. We are noticing a noun the chapter…
Dig Deeper
…carries the theology of the whole chapter: in the stead of his son. John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John the Baptist does not…
Verse study
…in Exodus 12. A lamb led silently to the slaughter in Isaiah 53:7. Then John the Baptist, standing in the same country, says behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. Genesis 22:8 is a promise…
Reading plan
John writes so that you may believe. Watch for the signs he selects and the way each one interprets who Jesus claims to be. Faith Identity in Christ Eternal Life The Gospel never names its author, but early Christian…
Devotional
Matthew 3:8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! WEB John says this to Pharisees and Sadducees who came for baptism, and his next line questions whether they can claim Abraham as a shelter from judgment. Coming…
Devotional
…wilderness. Matthew 3:3 later quotes this passage in connection with John the Baptist. Lamentations 3:22-23 God's mercies are described as new every morning. A different context, but it develops the biblical theme of…
Devotional
…The setting sharpens it. Matthew 11 has cities refusing to repent and John the Baptist in prison asking whether Jesus is really the one. In a chapter full of rejection and doubt, Jesus turns and invites the weary. His…
Devotional
…ram provided in Isaac's place points forward to the substitute language John the Baptist uses of Jesus in John 1:29, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Devotional
…name, and Elijah to come. Luke 1:16-17 The angel tells Zechariah that John will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning hearts, echoing Malachi's closing promise. Matthew 17:10-13 Jesus identifies…
Devotional
…begins with a problem: a sealed book and no one worthy to open it, and John weeps. The song of verse 12 is the answer to that weeping. Worship here is not a mood in a room but relief that history has someone able to…
52 Week Journey
…and fell on his neck, and kissed him. WEB Fruit Worthy of Repentance John the Baptist will not settle for words alone. Matthew 3:8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! WEB Times of Refreshing Peter connects…
Daily reading
Read Matthew 11 whole. The invitation arrives after John's doubt and after towns that refused, which makes the gentleness in verse 29 remarkable. Jesus answers John's doubt with evidence rather than rebuke. Come to me,…
Reading plan day
John the Baptist is given a large role in this chapter only to insist, again and again, that he is not the one people should be looking at. Every true witness to Jesus in this gospel does the same thing: points away…
Chapter study
John 15 is spoken in motion. Jesus has just finished the Passover meal with His disciples, and John 14 ends with the words 'arise, let us go hence.' Many readers take that sentence as the close of a scene rather than as…
Dig Deeper
John 15:7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. Two ifs stand in front of the promise. Read the sentence as a whole and the will in ask what you…
Chapter study
…lay in the worshipper Hebrews 11:4 says Abel offered by faith and 1 John 3:12 contrasts the two men's deeds. Genesis itself pairs the person with the gift in both verses. The third position is the only one Scripture…
Chapter study
…The peace Paul describes is comprehensive enough to guard both fronts. John 14:27 Jesus promises 'my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you,' distinguishing His peace from the world's, which…
Chapter study
…knows the psalm's categories were not left behind in the Old Testament. John 15:1-8 Jesus makes fruitfulness depend on remaining connected to him, and says that apart from him nothing can be done. This is the same logic…
Chapter study
…New Testament then shows Jesus taking the shepherd role for Himself in John 10:11. Psalm 23 is not a coded prophecy. It is a true description of the Lord's care which Christ later stands inside and fulfils, saying the…
Chapter study
…the Lord to bruise him; the Father's purpose in the Son's suffering. John 3:16 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Romans 5:8 God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,…
Verse study
…Greek Meno means to remain, dwell, or stay put; it is used throughout John's Gospel and epistles for continuous, settled relationship rather than a single visit or act. A command that is also a description In Greek,…
Verse study
…He defines love by its ultimate action. This fits a pattern throughout John's writing, where love is consistently tied to concrete sacrifice rather than sentiment. First John 3:16 makes the same move explicitly: 'hereby…
Verse study
…gesturing toward but had never itself been. This is consistent with how John's Gospel uses 'true' elsewhere, of the true light (John 1:9) and the true bread from heaven (John 6:32). In each case something good and real…
Verse study
…plans from Abraham, the same pattern of disclosure Jesus describes in John 15:15. Exodus 33:11 The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, another Old Testament picture of this same intimacy.…
Verse study
…of the world, echoing the same priority of divine initiative. John 6:70 Jesus states He chose the twelve, including Judas, showing that this choosing does not by itself guarantee perseverance. Acts 9:15 God tells…
Dig Deeper
…Christ will stop interceding. Jesus Himself says of His sheep in John 10:28 that no man is able to pluck them out of His Father's hand, and Philippians 1:6 says He who began the good work will perform it until the day…
Dig Deeper
…the psalm's claim about Himself in the most striking way possible. In John 6:35 He says, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger. The lack He removes is the one that matters most and the one no…
Dig Deeper
…is asked by a man who has just killed the brother in question. 1 John 3:16-18 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the world’s…
Biblical concept
…for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 3:2 John the Baptist is the first to use the phrase, calling Israel to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, the same announcement Jesus himself…
Biblical concept
John the Baptist points at Jesus and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Lamb is sacrificial language. It means a death in place of the guilty. The phrase takes away is one word in Greek…
Word and phrase
Repentance is a change of mind that produces a change of direction. John the Baptist and Jesus both open their preaching with the same call: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance is not mere regret. 2…
Biblical concept
…10:12 One sacrifice for sins forever, and then He sat down. When John the Baptist points and says behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), he is not reaching for poetry. His hearers had…
Topic study
…15:17-20 what would be true of hope if Christ had not been raised. John 3:3 the new birth Peter says is the beginning of this hope. When your hope feels thin, check what it is resting on. If it rests on an outcome that…
Biblical concept
…which is the force of the image: nobody arranges their own birth. John 3:8 compares it to wind. You see the effect and you do not control the source. 1 Peter 1:23 says the means is the living and enduring word of God.…
Biblical concept
…picks up: bread given by God, not earned, arriving fresh every day. John 6:35 I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall never hunger. John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Deuteronomy 8:3…
Biblical concept
…only of what he is told. Scripture also speaks of self-deception. 1 John 1:8 says that if we claim to have no sin we deceive ourselves, and Galatians 6:7 says God is not mocked, because a person reaps what he sows.…
Biblical concept
…and responsibility kept. NT James 1:14-15 The sequence stated. NT 1 John 2:16 Three kinds of desire named as belonging to the world, echoing Genesis 3:6. NT Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ are said to have…
Word and phrase
Eternal life is more than life that never ends. John 17:3 defines it directly: this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It is knowing God, not merely surviving…
Word and phrase
…but it does not introduce a different God. Genesis 6:8 Exodus 34:6 John 1:17 Because grace is free, how I live afterward does not matter. Paul faces this exact question in Romans 6:1-2 and answers it as strongly as he…
Bible question
…are not by themselves repentance. Compare Peter, who wept and returned, John 21:15-17. Scripture calls this the sorrow of the world that produces death, 2 Corinthians 7:10. Many people have been told to repent without…
Bible question
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.…
Bible question
…existed. The New Testament writers, especially Matthew, Peter and John, quote it more than almost any other Old Testament passage precisely because it answered the question the disciples themselves had: why did the…
Bible question
…said and done. Memory is a means of grace, not a distraction from one. John the Baptist in prison Matthew 11:2-6 The man who announced Jesus sent from a cell to ask whether he was the one after all. Nothing had gone as…
Bible question
…with diligence. Grace comes first and effort follows, in that order. John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain…
Bible question
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” WEB Read three passages before any argument. One is a claim Jesus made, one is what his hearers understood by it, one is what a disciple said to his face. John 8:58…
Bible question
1 John 5:14 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. WEB Before anything is explained, hear God speak about your prayers in his own words. 1 John…
Bible question
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. WEB Let God answer this before anyone comforts you or frightens you about it. 1 John…
Bible question
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater…
Bible question
John 17:17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. WEB Read what Scripture claims for itself before reading anyone's argument about it. The claim is unusually direct. 2 Peter 1:16-19 For we did not follow…
Bible question
…for credibility, this is not how they would have been written. Thomas John 20:24-29 He heard from the other disciples that they had seen the Lord, and said he would not believe without touching the wounds. Jesus came,…
Bible question
…Ephesians 4:28 gives sharing as the purpose of working hands, and 1 John 3:17 asks how God's love is in someone who closes his heart to a brother in need. The promise of supply Philippians 4:19 Every need supplied…
Bible question
…continuing to hold a debt God has already cancelled is not humility. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The forgiveness…
Bible question
…transactions. Saving faith trusts a person, not merely facts about him John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not…
Bible question
…consistent posture toward guidance that claims to come from God. John 10:27 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.' In context this follows Jesus teaching about the Good Shepherd; hearing his…
Bible question
…is expected to be convincing, which is why fruit is the test. 1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By…
Bible question
…you fall, not a week later Hebrews 4:16 says come with boldness, and 1 John 1:9 promises cleansing on confession. Delay adds nothing to repentance and gives the pattern time to settle. Is being tempted a sin? No. Christ…
Bible question
…asked him three times whether he loved him and gave him work to do, John 21:15-17. A repeated fall in a single night did not end his calling. Restoration came through being asked a direct question, not through being…
Bible question
…Old Testament remains authoritative and finds its completion in him. John 5:39 Jesus tells the Pharisees that the Scriptures testify of him, warning against studying the Bible thoroughly while missing the very person it…
Bible question
…to The New Testament verb includes commitment, not just agreement. John 2 uses it of Jesus not entrusting himself to men. Believing in this vocabulary means handing yourself over. Trust distinguished from self-reliance…
Bible question
…of them watched Jesus praying and said, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples. Jesus gave them the pattern again, in slightly different words from Matthew's account, which shows it was a model…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.