Volume 1: You Are My Beloved Son
For a variety of reasons which might include using natural wisdom, a desire for sensationalism, needing to get 'man' back in control, or whatever, the human race comes up with weird, clever, mystical, ordinary, 'insights' concerning Jesus Christ: who he 'really' was, how he 'really' lived, where he 'really' came from, what he 'really' taught and did! So, here is a light volume which aims to put the focus back on the Jesus Christ revealed in the canon of Scripture - of whom 'a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son"' (Luke 3: 22).^ Top
Volume 2: I And My Father Are One
When I was in Ireland someone said to me in a voice confident with learned
intellectual certainty, “Of course, Jesus in the Holy Bible never claimed to be God.”
My immediate thought was, wait a minute, Jesus did say, “Most assuredly, I say to
you, before Abraham was, I AM.”(John 8: 58): this being His name that the LORD told
to Moses (which therefore meant that Jesus was claiming to actually be JEHOVAH!).
With more time later to look, this light volume is dedicated to considering the question
‘does Jesus claim that He is God?’.^ Top
Volume 3: I Am The Lord - That Is My Name
Part 1 – The LORD of hosts, the Ancient of Days, seems largely to have lost His
position of power, authority, dominion and glory in these ‘enlightened’ days,
especially in western cultures which tend to view God as being somewhat like
Charlton Heston wearing a long grey Hollywood beard – and probably considered just
as relevant to daily life!
Since the idea of having any ‘fear’ of the LORD (that is awe, respect, reverence of His
holy name) has generally become redundant in our societies where man is ‘god’ and
(imagined) master of his or her own destiny, together of course with the plethora of
gods featured in the variety of ‘world religions’ which exist, this light volume (1 of 2) is
intended to be a reminder of Old Testament revelations regarding the character and
nature of the one true God who is LORD in Holy Scriptures.^ Top
Volume 4: I Am The Lord - That Is My Name
Part 2 – New Testament Scriptures continue to reveal the nature and character of God, including His extraordinary mercy, grace and love for humanity, as well as the judgement He will bring upon all who reject the salvation offered through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Despite all we think of ourselves, Scripture makes it clear that, these are the ‘last days’, with the age of the Gentiles running out its course absolutely according to God’s plan. Comparing this light volume (volume 2) on an equivalent page number basis with its parallel companion volume 1 gives an indication of the integrity, unity and totality of the Holy Bible: Old Testament prophecies and inspirations becoming fulfilled or explained in New Testament revelations.^ Top
Volume 5: All Power In Heaven and On Earth
Wrapped in grave clothes, the brutalized and crucified dead body (confirmed by 'expert' Roman soldiers) of Jesus Christ was laid in the unused cave tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, its entrance then being sealed with a heavy stone. Three days later (as prophesied in Holy Scriptures) Christ's dead physical body could not be found, despite desperate temple guards having been present. Risen from the dead and in a glorified body, Jesus Christ subsequently met with His disciples to tell them that, not only was His restored life an eternal life, but God the Father had given Him, "All power and all authority in heaven and on earth" (which is 'a lot of power' I once heard someone remark). This volume explores Jesus Christ's sevenfold expression of power - of which His redemptive power must be the centrepiece and pinnacle of God's mercy and grace towards the human race.^ Top
Volume 6: Come And Let Us Walk in the Light of the LORD
View English Volume | View Hebrew Volume
These two volumes contain Scripture texts in English and Hebrew (with covers and formatting as appropriate for English or Hebrew use). The LORD God of the Holy Bible made an unbreakable covenant with Abraham, that from him would come a nation who would be God’s own people. This nation, Israel, was intended by God to be a holy people, a people who walked in faith with the LORD, a people who revered God and lived according to the Law and commandments that He gave to the Jews through Moses – an example to the whole world of existence in continuous daily fellowship with the one true and living God. Of course, Israel failed and continues to fail to do this. Israel even rejected, and crucified, their promised Messiah, and still largely denies that Jesus Christ is God’s Anointed. The story of Israel reflects the story of mankind itself: Old and New Testament pages deliver both God’s appraisal and God’s judgement. But, in the latter days when Messiah returns, ‘out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.’ (Isaiah 2: 3). Israel will then walk again in the light of the LORD.^ Top
Volume 7: The Sun of Righteousness (Part 1)
God the Creator made a perfect world: in it He made man and woman with the potential to be perfect also. But, with very little persuasion, they disobeyed their Maker, choosing rather to rebel in sinful pride against the LORD – and the whole human race continues to suffer the consequences of inevitably following in their footsteps. The Holy Scriptures make it clear who has been, and still is running the present world and its systems: however the LORD, the Most High God actually so loved mankind that He provided a Saviour to redeem us from the bleak iniquity of our sins – His own beloved Son, Christ the Lord.^ Top
Volume 8: The Sun of Righteousness (Part 2)
The apostles who followed Jesus of Nazareth, and Saul of Tarsus (Paul)
who met Him on the Damascus road, finally understood the good news – that by God’s
grace we are saved from eternal death through faith in the finished work on the cross
of the Son Christ Jesus. These all gave their lives as Christ’s witnesses, knowing they
had been redeemed to eternal life by His shed blood. Now this whole fallen world
awaits the return of God the Son, who will rule in righteousness for a thousand years –
until He sanctifies a people for whom He will make all things new and everlasting.
Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!^ Top
Volume 9: Blessed Is He
Part 1 – The first of two companions, this volume considering the One who ‘cometh in the name of the LORD’ according to Holy Scriptures. These identify Him as a blessing to the world: seen long before His birth by Old Testament prophets, claimed by Jesus of Nazareth, explained by New Testament apostles, finally revealed by the glorified Christ.^ Top
Volume 10: For He Cometh
Part 2 – The second companion, this volume considering now the One who Holy Scriptures say is ‘coming to judge the earth’. Again, the whole canon of Scripture refers to God’s righteous Judge – Jesus of Nazareth claimed that He would return suddenly,‘as a thief in the night’, to bring the LORD’S judgement upon mankind’s apathetic disinterest, or outright hostility, towards the Saviour of the world.^ Top
Volume 11: Whoever Denies ME Before Men
Christ (Heb. Messiah, God’s Anointed One) – God the Son – stepped out of eternity, set aside His glory and majesty, humbled Himself to become a Man obedient to death (even though He was without sin and spotless) to pay the price required by God the Father to buy humanity out of its bondage to sin. While this time of grace lasts, whoever believes in the Son’s work of atonement has a way, the only way acceptable to the Father, to come into God’s presence washed clean of sin by His Son’s precious blood, and clothed in His Son’s perfect righteousness. Now the Son says to us all, “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Each of us must choose – and the choice made will determine how and where the eternal soul of each of us will spend eternity!
^ Top
Volume 12: He Who Has The Son, Has The Life
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” God has given to each one of His higher creations the personal choice of where and how their immortal soul will spend eternity – either ‘alive’ in the light with Him or ‘dead’ in darkness and always separated from Him. God has chosen to provide one way to come into His presence, one way only to receive His light of everlasting life: Scripture states simply, ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.’^ Top
Volume 13: Messiah - Who Is He (Vol 1)
Primarily concerned with Old Testament (Heb. Tanakh) revelations of this mysterious figure about whom the prophets wrote – yet could not understand. The same Anointed One from God was to come into the world as a Servant, but would also rule the nations with a rod of iron! He would save and redeem a holy people, but would also condemn multitudes to destruction! This One was Eternal God, yet He would be born of a woman to die as God’s sacrificial Lamb.^ Top
Volume 14: Messiah - Who Is He (Vol 2)
The New Testament (Heb. B’rit Hadashah) pulls aside the veil to reveal Messiah (Gk. Christ) clothed in humanity as Jesus of Nazareth at His first coming into the world – not with glory and power, but humbly as a an obedient Son, totally committed to the Father’s work of providing forgiveness for human sin and the means for reconciliation with God. As He left the world having accomplished redemption, raised back to life by the Father’s power, the promise of His return – His second coming – was confirmed. Then it will be with absolute power to judge the ungodly who reject Him, and finally to establish God’s eternal kingdom in a new heaven and a new earth which He Himself will create.^ Top
Volume 15: And The Slain Of The Lord Shall Be Many
Both the Old and New Testaments speak clearly of God’s righteous judgment against iniquitous humanity, and of His abiding wrath against mankind’s rebellion and love of sin. The LORD judged Israel severely for its spiritual unfaithfulness, but He then also brought His anger against its attackers for bringing reproach on His holy name. The Lord, Christ the Lamb, who is revealed in the last book of the Holy Bible comes wearing garments stained with the blood of many battles, with the greatest – Armageddon – used to cleanse the world and restore it to God.^ Top
Volume 16: Before They Spring Forth
The Scriptures contain numerous prophecies foretelling future events as determined by God’s plan for mankind and for the world. Many Old Testament prophecies refer specifically to the coming Messiah (Christ) and to His life, death and purpose. Others concern God’s responses to our behaviour in the world, and to the very future of the world itself. Since the odds are staggering against multiple prophecies being fulfilled ‘by chance’, especially by one person, this volume considers 50 prophetic writings from many centuries before Jesus Christ’s birth in terms of actual events that subsequently transpired according to historical record.^ Top
Volume 17: I Am He
When Moses asked God His name he was told to tell the children of Israel “ ‘I AM’ has sent me to you”, thus revealing God’s covenant name as the eternally existent One. Old Testament prophets foretold a Messiah who would be ‘God-With-Us’, that the Eternal One Himself would be born of a virgin in the small town of Bethlehem – and the ‘I AM’ entered the world as Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus, the Christ, showed the extraordinary meaning of the name ‘I AM’ in a number of profound claims including, ‘…before Abraham was, I AM.’ Jesus Christ was last seen by the world nailed to a Roman cross in abject humiliation, but His apostle John saw the exalted Christ, ‘I AM’ the Almighty, prepared for His second coming to bring the fury of the wrath of God on the world of sinful mankind.^ Top
Volume 18: The Foolishness Of God
God’s ‘foolishness’ is only foolish to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to those who are being saved by the preaching of the cross – because the ‘foolishness’ of God is wiser than men. And God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise; and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.^ Top
Volume 19: Days Of Completion
The Scripture (Genesis) tells us that God created the heavens, the earth and all its inhabitants in a ‘first’ seven days, and that everything made had the potential to be perfect. However, one small test of obedience to our Maker’s will revealed both human and angelic rebellion – plunging the whole creation into corruption. Despite this, the Almighty already had a plan in place to redeem His creation and humanity with it, through the dispensation and fulfilment of a ‘second’ series of seven days that ultimately will bring about the consummation of all things.^ Top
Volume 20: In Righteousness He Judges
The LORD has spoken through the prophets of Holy Scripture to confirm that His promises to the world and its peoples are true, and will be accomplished. Jesus Christ, the Son of God will judge the nation Israel, and He will judge all the Gentile nations – and His judgments will be righteous, true and final. The Father gave His beloved Son to die for the sins of the world. His Son’s shed blood is the only acceptable propitiation to the Father for human sin – and only those who accept God’s gift of grace to stand before Him clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ will escape the judgment of God’s wrath against human sin.^ Top
Volume 21: Witness of the Light
NOTE: Some decorative fonts and illuminated pages have been used in this volume that may require extra study – hopefully enjoyable! Chapter one of John’s Gospel tells us that there was a man (John the Baptist) sent by God to bear witness of the Light – that is the Light of God Himself come into the world as its Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth. So Scripture was fulfilled, and the voice of one crying in the wilderness was heard. Throughout the Holy Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, this true Light of God is both promised and revealed.^ Top
Volume 22: THY WORD IS TRUTH
Beginning with the first man and woman, humanity consistently disobeys God’s holy law and rebels against our Maker – and we’re promised that ‘the wages of sin is death’. Yet God’s grace offers the whole human race forgiveness and redemption through the Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to ‘call sinners to repentance.’ But God’s patience is not endless and the time of His judgment of sin will come – His word promises it!^ Top
Volume 23: SOUNDING OF THE SEVENTH ANGEL
The Creator gave Adam and Eve authority, rule and dominion over His creation, but they wilfully and rebelliously handed that authority to the ‘Serpent of old’ and enabled him to become the ‘ruler of this age’. However, God’s plan to take back the world and the whole created order through the power of His Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, is revealed in the Book of Revelation, when all things and all humanity will be judged!^ Top
Volume 24: HALLOWED BE THY NAME
Throughout the Scriptures men and woman have recognized and rejoiced in God’s great power, mercy and awesome glory – and expressed their joy and worship to the Lord in ‘doxologies’ (hymns and psalms of praise to God). Praise, wonder and rejoicing culminates when Christ redeems creation and restores it to the Father – then dismisses the old corrupted order so as to create the new!^ Top
Volume 25: CALL HIS NAME IMMAN'UEL
The Holy Bible is the story of one person – the second person of the Trinity. It is He who stepped down from eternity and into the world as Jesus of Nazareth (God-with-Us) to save His people from their bondage to sin and death and to bring us back into relationship with the Father God of eternity. Scripture abounds with the many names, titles and descriptions that the Father has chosen to confer onto His only Beloved, so as to reveal His Son – Jesus Christ the Lord.^ Top
Volume 26: ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM
The LORD God of Scripture is One – He is one being, there is no other God. Yet the Holy Bible reveals God as one being in the three persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (difficult to comprehend isn’t it!). Indeed, the Holy Bible claims to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is identified (Genesis chapter 1) as God’s instrument of creation – this Word, the Creator Himself, having been ‘made flesh and dwelt among us’ (John chapter 1) as Jesus of Nazareth the Lord and Christ (Messiah).^ Top
Volume 27: CHRIST THE LORD
Jesus Christ made the exclusive claim, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14, verse 6]. Thus, the incarnate Son of God declared the Father’s final position on the means by which humanity must be saved from bondage to sin and death, so as to be restored to fellowship and communion with God. Christ is the Lord from heaven, who stepped out of eternity into the world of time, to purchase forgiveness from sin and give the gift of eternal life to those who believe in his name. ^ Top
Volume 28: THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL
This world contains a proliferation of ‘gospels’ – man-made, man-centred religions and philosophies that promise much but deliver nothing of eternal value. But there is one true and Everlasting Gospel, inspired by God himself: That the Son of God became a man so as to bear the punishment for our sins; he died in our place so that the human race might be forgiven, justified and reconciled to God by grace; he rose from death and returned to glory as the ‘first-fruits’ of all who will believe in him as Saviour and acknowledge him as Lord.^ Top
Volume 29: THE DAYS FASHIONED FOR ME
It is a historical fact that the Canon of Scripture known as the Holy Bible was written in different languages over a period of some 1500 years by at least 29 different writers from a variety of backgrounds. Yet it is a coherent narrative with a single theme: God’s plan to redeem a human race lost to him and consigned to everlasting separation by the wilful trespasses and sins of us all. What we discover in the Holy Bible is that God uses people to accomplish his purposes. These servants of God are to be found in all of its sixty-six books – usually ordinary people called to ‘extraordinarily’ use the days fashioned for them.^ Top
Volume 30-1: DECLARE HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS
Everything that exists, including the plan that he is now unfolding in Creation, will ultimately be to God’s glory. The consummation of everything will demonstrate God’s absolute holiness, his ultimate power, his unsearchable wisdom, his unequalled creativity, his infinite love, his unfailing mercy, his unchanging determination to redeem humanity, his Son’s right to rule over all, his spotless righteousness and his irrefutable justice as Judge of heaven and earth.^ Top
Volume 30-2: THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH
Everything pertaining to this fallen created order is corrupted by human sin; all is temporal and will pass away when Jesus Christ dismisses it. God who created all things has determined that a people will be reconciled to him by believing in the death of the Son of God on their behalf, and his resurrection to eternal life at the right hand of God the Father. For his people Christ has prepared new bodies that will be immortal, incorruptible, no longer subject to sin and decay, suitable for everlasting life in the new heaven and new earth which he will create.^ Top
Volume 30-3: BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD
The second person of the divine trinity entered this world born of a virgin and lived a perfect, sinless life as a man always in obedience to the will of God the Father. Because it was God’s will to redeem fallen humanity from bondage to sin and death, the Son of God was slain on behalf of humanity as the sacrificial Lamb of God. He bore the punishment for the sins of the whole world, in our place. His blood was shed and his life given on behalf of others. All the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to this once-for-all sacrifice. The death of his Son nailed to a Roman cross was sufficient to appease God’s wrath against human sin, and everyone who looks to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour receives both God’s forgiveness and his perfect righteousness.^ Top
Volume 30-4: I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH
The perfect righteousness of the Lamb of God is imputed to everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ. God the Father no longer imputes a believer’s sins to him, but sees them clothed in his Son’s spotless righteousness. The saints who believe that Jesus Christ has died and risen for them become members of his ‘body’ in the world – the church that he promised to build. At the moment of being born again, every believer receives the free gift of eternal life – God’s very life inside them (the Holy Spirit).^ Top
Volume 30-5: LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE
Scriptural ‘hope’ is without uncertainty, and is described by the apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 8, as follows; ‘Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit [that is believers in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord], even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.’^ Top
Volume 30-6: HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER
The Scriptures reveal that the One who was pierced (crucified) for us will step back on to the earth at God’s appointed time. The return of Jesus Christ will initiate his thousand years kingdom on this earth. Then he will put down all rebellion against God, judge the Earth and Cosmos that he created, and ultimately create a new heaven and a new earth characterised by righteousness and ruled forever by him. And the world will not be ready for the King’s return for he will come unexpectedly ‘as a thief’! His instruction to his people is to, “Watch!”^ Top
Volume 30-7: THE WRATH OF THE LAMB
All those who in this life reject, ignore and dismiss the sacrifice of God’s Beloved on their behalf will not, after they die, stand justified before God. They will be eternally punished because they are sinners and did not believe in the name of Jesus Christ – the one means of salvation from sin prepared by God. They will experience eternal separation of their rebellious spirit from God, which the Bible calls the second death, and Jesus the ‘Lamb of God’ will be their Judge! Although there is no need for anyone to undergo this indescribable punishment, at the end of Christ’s millennial kingdom God’s enemies will gather to battle as numerous as ‘the sand of the sea’.^ Top
Volume 31: BEGINNINGS
The Holy Bible claims to be the ‘revealed’ word of God, written about the ‘living’ Word of God, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God – and its claims have never been disproved despite many attempts to do so! It contains some profound and extraordinary BEGINNINGS in the sense of ‘origins’ (for example, of the material universe, of life, of sin, of death). Also, in the literary sense, some of its opening chapters use ‘simple’ language to speak deep wisdom in economical and concise statements. This volume records 20 ‘beginnings’ taken from the 66 books of the Bible.^ Top
Volume 32: HALLELUJAH
This ‘English’ word is a transliteration from Hebrew that means ‘Praise Yah’ (a shortened form of God’s name Yahweh) or ‘Praise the LORD’. The Canon of Scripture has many ‘doxologies’ – expressions of praise for God’s glory, power, judgment, faithfulness, mercy, longsuffering, grace, etc – throughout its 66 books. This volume contains examples by prophets and apostles on earth, the redeemed and angels in heaven, and of the Lord, Jesus Christ himself.^ Top
Volume 33: A THOUSAND YEARS
King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, understood that a thousand years passing for us is, for the LORD of Hosts, like a watch in the night (3 hours) or just yesterday! The apostle Peter understood that, for the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day – that is the eternal God who created time is outside of time. To the apostle John it was revealed that Jesus Christ will return and set up his millennial (1000 year) kingdom characterised by righteousness – after which he will dismiss the present corrupted universe to remake a creation in which there will be no more pain, sorrow or crying. And God will dwell with his people as the thousand years stretch onward into eternity.^ Top
Volume 34: BLESSED
God is the source of blessings and is himself worthy to be blessed (praised, revered, honoured) by his creation – especially humanity. Jesus Christ is the blessed Son anointed by God the Father as sovereign King overall, and in him the Father is ‘well pleased’. And the Lord’s blessing rests on those who are faithful to him, those who hearts are loyal to the great God and blessed Saviour Jesus Christ.^ Top
Volume 35: BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD
God’s name in the Canon of Scripture (both Old and New Testaments) represents and reveals his nature, his character and his attributes. Therein he is called by many descriptive names, for example: Creator, LORD, Judge, Redeemer, Shepherd, Almighty, Rock, Father, King, ‘I AM’ – with variants from both Hebrew and Greek writings. To the ‘I AM’ name that God revealed to Moses, Jesus added seven profound descriptive meanings in the gospel of John.^ Top
Volume 36-1: ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND
These title words were written in the about 1834 by Edward Mote, who clearly understood that the Christian faith is built solely on the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. Anything other than Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and perfect righteousness will NOT justify us before God (‘all other ground is sinking sand’ as Mote succinctly phrased it)! In this volume passages are selected from Scripture to try to illustrate why these title words must apply.^ Top
Volume 36-2: SERVANTS OF THE EVERLASTING KING
As God’s Anointed One, Jesus Christ is set by the Father above every other name in heaven or on earth – so that, as Scripture says, ‘at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord’. And his servants must serve him faithfully in the here and now because, as he said, ‘He who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.’ This second volume is divided into sections as follows: ‘Who is this King of glory?’; ‘His servants shall serve him’; ‘Whosoever shall confess me before men’; ‘You shall be my witnesses’.^ Top
Volume 36-3: IN CHRIST BE RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD
A third volume continues the theme of Christ’s supremacy over all other (man-made) means, avenues, ways or paths to try to get to God! Jesus said to every believer who puts their trust in him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” By God’s grace his sacrificial death makes atonement for the all sins of all those who believe in him, and also by grace his perfect righteousness covers all those who trust in him – so that the Father sees only his Son’s sinless perfection on all those who are ‘in Christ’. This third volume is divided into sections as follows: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty’; ‘For all have sinned’; ‘Accepted in the Beloved’; ‘Bringing many sons to glory’,^ Top
Volume 37: WINGS OF THE MORNING
Here are four psalms (1, 19, 119 & 139 – the latter from which the title of the volume comes) that illuminate God, exalt his word, and connect humanity to divine wisdom and truth. Some images are used to give colour to ‘mornings’.^ Top
Volume 38: ORACLES OF GOD
The written word of God, the Holy Bible, has been inspired or breathed into its writers by the Spirit of God (so the apostle Paul tells us in II Timothy 3: 16). Many ‘unveilings’ are given in the pages of Scripture, to unfold for us God’s plan of redemption and the ultimate destiny of humanity.^ Top
Volume 39: OUT OF DARKNESS
Behold, God is great, and we do not know him; nor can the number of his years be discovered. For he draws up drops of water, which distil as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from his canopy? Look, he scatters his light upon it, and covers the depths of the sea. This volume contains Scriptures and images intended to juxtapose word and natural light.^ Top
Volume 40-1: GOSPEL - MATTHEW
Matthew wrote primarily for a Jewish audience – probably believers, with the intention of presenting historical evidence to confirm Jesus of Nazareth as Israel’s anticipated Messiah and rightful King promised in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) – which we know as the Old Testament. Matthew’s opening genealogy documents the credentials of Jesus as coming from David’s kingly line, and he confirms that Jesus fulfilled many prophecies regarding the long-awaited ‘King of the Jews’.^ Top
Volume 40-2: GOSPEL - MARK
Mark was a close companion of the apostle Peter, who referred to him as ‘Mark my son’ [I Peter 5: 13]. He is also referred to as ‘John whose surname was Mark’. The early church fathers recognised that Mark probably recorded the memoirs of Peter. His target audience was Roman Gentiles, to whom he presented Jesus Christ as the Servant of God who came to suffer for the sins of many. Mark’s approach is fast-paced and action-oriented, demonstrating the human side of the incarnate Son of God.^ Top
Volume 40-3: GOSPEL - LUKE
Luke was an educated Greek and the only Gentile to write books of Scripture (his gospel and the book of Acts). He was a companion of Paul on some of the apostle’s missionary journeys, was referred to as the ‘beloved physician’, and his style is scholarly, with meticulous attention to detail. He addressed his gospel to a broad Gentile audience, presenting Jesus as the Son of Man – the God-Man – rejected by Israel, and then offered for the whole world. Luke states that his knowledge came from careful compilation of eyewitness accounts of historical events.^ Top
Volume 40-4: GOSPEL - JOHN
John was one of the twelve apostles closest to Jesus, with Peter and James, and a witness of the earthly ministry of the Son of God. John, being aware of the other three ‘synoptic’ gospels, wrote his record of Christ’s life and work in a different way. John’s gospel emphasises the deity of Christ, highlighting particular miracles that Jesus performed, and he declares that he wrote his gospel ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name’.^ Top
Volume 40-5: GOSPEL - REVELATION
The book of Revelation is a ‘prophetic’ Gospel, penned by the apostle John, to reveal both the glorified Christ and the consummation of God’s eternal plan of redemption. At his second advent Christ will judge the world in righteousness. His human weakness has become divine omnipotence. He establishes his thousand year earthly kingdom, then takes the created order on into its eternal state as God intended, with the destinies of both the righteous and the wicked determined forever by him.^ Top
Volume 41: GOSPEL: Under Irish Skies
The good news (or ‘Gospel’) of the Holy Bible is that God entered our world in the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from bondage to sin and death. In September 2016, after a visit to Ireland, it seemed an excellent idea to juxtapose scriptural ‘light’ from the word of God with some unique and special Irish light in photographic images.^ Top
Volume 42: THE MOST HIGH RULES
The omnipotence, omniscience and faithfulness of the Most High God are revealed throughout the Holy Bible. This volume contains testimonies of God’s unchanging power, presence and eternal plan given in, (1) the books of the law and prophets, (2) the psalms, (3) the Gospels and New Testament epistles, (4) from the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of revelation.^ Top
Volume 43: VII LETTERS TO THE CHURCH
While in the Spirit on the Lord’s day on the island of Patmos, the apostle John was told by the risen and glorified Lord Jesus Christ to write seven letters to seven churches. With eyes like a ‘flame of fire’ Christ individually identified these churches as loveless, persecuted, compromised, corrupted, dead, faithful and lukewarm! The persecuted and faithful churches he comforted and strengthened – the others he warned!^ Top
Volume 44: IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK
A passage in Psalm 40, reiterated in the epistle to the Hebrews reads, “Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart.” To the Jewish religious leaders who were questioning him, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.” Both Old and New Testaments prophesy of the Coming One, Messiah the Son of God – Jesus Christ.^ Top
Volume 45: THE SHEPHERD, THE SHEEP & THE LAMB
The Lord is my shepherd – so says the well-known Psalm 23. “I am the good shepherd”, so said Jesus (in John’s gospel). As for humanity: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him (the Lamb of God) the iniquity of us all. The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”^ Top
Volume 46: THE KINGDOM, THE POWER & THE GLORY
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.^ Top
Volume 47: THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is so described in John’s gospel – and thereafter in Scripture.^ Top
Volume 47-1: THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
Biblical justification (that is being declared ‘not guilty’ of sin and being found righteous before God) is by faith in Christ’s finished work and not by additional works of the (Mosaic) law – which in fact negate salvation by grace alone offered through Christ. Knowledge that was previously a ‘mystery’ to Old Testament saints, is that the Gospel of Christ Jesus declares the Gentiles to be fellow heirs and partakers with the Jews of all God’s eternal promises. Thus, all believers in Jesus Christ are equal before the Lord and fellow citizens of his eternal kingdom.^ Top
Volume 47-2: THE GOSPEL OF FAITH
Christ, the Son of God, is a perfect and eternal High Priest seated at the right hand of God. By his intercession he is able to give believers direct access to God the Father - through the forgiveness from sin that he alone has been able to provide by his sacrificial atoning death. Stand faithfully on this word of God with uncompromising obedience. Practice spiritual ‘fruitfulness’ which is the only true and practical measure of genuine faith.^ Top
Volume 47-3: THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH
Jesus is the Word of God, the promised Messiah, the I AM, who came into the world to offer the gift of God’s salvation and forgiveness for sin to humanity. Each of us will either accept or reject this offer, and thereby determine our eternal destiny. Have no tolerance for false prophets who pervert the divine truth of Scripture. Love the true God (and other believers); recognise the essential need for obedience to God’s Son the Lord Jesus Christ; and rejoice in the certain hope and security of the true Faith.^ Top
Volume 48-1: REVELATION IN THE WORD OF TRUTH
The Holy Bible is one Canon made up of 66 books, and the God of the Scriptures is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is revealed in the Jewish Tanakh (become the Christian Old Testament) as a God of Law. In the New Testament he is revealed as a God of grace – because no natural human could keep his holy Law.^ Top
Volume 48-2: REBELLION IN THE HUMAN HEART
The first man, Adam, knew God face-to-face. He was told by God that the whole of Creation was his to enjoy - except for one boundary that must not be crossed. Adam revealed and crystallized the human heart of rebellion against God by wilfully choosing to disobey. And every one of us would have, and do, prove God’s judgment of humanity to be correct.^ Top
Volume 48-3: REDEMPTION IN THE HEART OF GOD
God is omniscient – so from the beginning he knew humanity would sin against him and die spiritually. Thus, it was his plan from the beginning to redeem a people. Not by the Law (given to Israel through Moses) that no one could keep, but by sending a Redeemer into the world to live as a perfect man and then die an acceptable atoning death on our behalf. All who believe in the Son of God’s sacrifice on their behalf will stand justified before the Creator.^ Top
Volume 49: THE WITNESS OF JOHN
John (the brother of James) was a fisherman that Jesus chose to be one of his 12 disciples. He spent 3 years being instructed by the Lord, and he witnessed the transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. He was the last Apostle to leave the world, and under inspiration of the Holy Spirit he penned the Gospel of John, 3 epistles and the Book of Revelation.^ Top
Volume 50-1: EVANGEL
The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, disbelieved and disobeyed their Creator – and in doing so brought sin and death into existence. But God determined to reverse this state and make a way to restore humanity. Evangel, the Gospel, the ‘good news’, is that by God’s grace we can be set free from sin and death through faith in the finished work of the Son of God – Jesus Christ.^ Top
Volume 50-2: YESHUA
God’s plan of redemption required that propitiation be made for ALL human sin, if our severed connection with our Maker was to be restored. Since no descendent of Adam (that is the whole human race) was able to make such an atonement – God came into the world in the person of his Son, the man Jesus of Nazareth (Heb. Yeshua – Saviour), to live and to die a perfect sinless life on our behalf. The Holy Bible is his story!^ Top
Volume 50-3: APOSTASIA
The world, the liberal/humanistic culture is already generally without God – therefore the idea of humanity needing a ‘redeemer’ invokes various negative responses. We don’t need God; we don’t want God; we’re in charge of our own lives; God is irrelevant in this ‘enlightened’ age. Sin, judgment and accountability are figments of the imagination, since our ‘science’ has proven God doesn’t exist – hasn’t it?!!^ Top
Volume 51: WRITTEN IN THE BOOK
After his crucifixion, death and resurrection, Jesus told his disciples: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.” And the (human) dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. “Do not seal the prophecy of the words of this book (Scripture and Revelation), for the time is at hand.”^ Top
Volume 52: THE EXISTENCE OF EVERYTHING
The origins of time, matter, life, light and order – and also of death – are described and detailed in the pages of the Holy Bible, without any theorizing and with no apologies for ‘brevity’ where causality is concerned! Neither ‘chance’ nor human involvement are mentioned or required! But Scripture points out, ‘The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”’^ Top
Volume 53: HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK
God’s words to humanity occur throughout the Scriptures – and come from both God the Father and God the Son. God will speak peace to his people and to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth or the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. ^ Top
Volume 54: THE WAY OF TRUTH
A long time ago, in fact at the very beginning, the Creator offered Adam and Eve (and with them the whole human race) two ways to go. God’s own choice was: freely choose to love, honour and obey me and I’ll give you and your offspring a Paradise to live in. Strangely, we said: “No thanks! We’d rather do what we think is our ‘own way’! And what do we care about dying in our sins!”^ Top
Volume 55: AT THE NAME OF JESUS
When the Son of God decided to enter the world as a man, he chose to come the same way we all do – that is ‘born of a woman.’ Since God is holy and separate from sin, no human father was involved in his conception – his mother was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God. Though he entered the world as Jesus of Nazareth, he always had been, was then, and always will be the eternal God. As such he has many names, ‘Saviour’ is probably the sweetest, ‘Lord’ is the one to whom every knee will bow.^ Top
Volume 56: IN THE CONGREGATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
It is certainly apparent that many people – rich and poor, great and small, clever and simple – choose to not believe in God, nor that Jesus Christ is both God and Creator. So no real surprise to realise that their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. However, there is a group who will be shocked to discover this fact, about whom Jesus said they will say to him, “Lord, Lord have we not done many things for you?” To which he will respond, “I don’t know you (you have not loved me)!”^ Top
Volume 57: ABOVE THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah had this to say about God: Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth useless. The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.^ Top
Volume 58: THE WORD WAS IN THE WORLD
The Apostle John had this to say about God in his New Testament Gospel: In the beginning [of time] was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh [the man Jesus Christ] and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.^ Top
Volume 59: I AM THE FIRST AND LAST
Jesus Christ had this to say about himself in the Book of Revelation: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." I, John [the Apostle], was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and, "what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."^ Top
Volume 60: FOR EVERY IDLE WORD
The 3rd Commandment given by God to Moses, to give to Israel, to give to the world was: ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD God in vain.’ And Jesus said, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of judgment.” [Matthew, 12] ^ Top
Volume 61: ONE FAITH ONE HOPE
“Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, this is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [Acts, 4] ^ Top
Volume 62: THE FATAL SIN
Scripture’s claim is that God himself, in the person of the Son, entered the world as a real man born of a woman. Why? So that Scripture would be able to testify: ‘The wages of [our] sin is death.’ But, ‘By [God’s] grace you have been saved [from death] by faith [in Christ’s substitution for us].’ Reject grace and you rely on your own righteousness to satisfy God! ^ Top
Volume 63: THE WAY OF LIFE
This volume is the second (with volume 62) that considers why God – as Emmanuel – entered his creation literally as a man born of a woman. God so loved the world – but it hated him; and Christ’s claim ‘I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life’ are volume headings. ^ Top
Volume 64: THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD
Two main hypotheses are contending for the origin of everything! Either random chance, billions of years and ‘survival of the fittest’ – (nobody x nothing) – made ‘everything’. Or a very big, powerful, eternal and infinitely complex Creator made it all – and he did it in 6 days (Genesis, 1 & 2)! ^ Top
Volume 65: HEAVEN OR HELL? This Age of Eternal Decision
From the time that Jesus Christ suffered a sacrificial death for all the sins of humanity, two ‘ages’ have co-existed – this present evil age and the age to come. As he builds his Church in the world, each of us has an eternal decision to make, namely, believe in him as Saviour and Lord or reject God’s offer of grace for every repentant sinner. ^ Top
