Jan 21, 2024 | GPS by Pastor Bob Spicer
December 2021 GPS
So far in our study of names, we have looked at the way names reveal something about the nature/character of the one who bears the name. Since Christmas comes in December, it seemed appropriate, in our study of names, to focus in our study for this month, on what Mary and Joseph were told about Jesus’ names. We will begin by looking at the name “Jesus.”
When Mary was informed about what would happen to her, we read, “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:30–31, ESV) When Joseph was told about the conception and birth of Jesus, the angel added an explanation for the reason why the name “Jesus” was chosen. Speaking of Mary, He told Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” (Matthew 1:21, ESV) It is generally known that the name “Jesus” is a Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” Furthermore, it is known that the Hebrew name “Joshua” means Jehovah (Yahweh) is salvation. So, when Joseph is told that Mary’s Son will be called Jesus, he was also told the reason why He was to be given that name. “He will save his people from their sins.” As I noted above, one of the functions of names was to denote the nature/character of the one being named, whether humans or God. That is exactly what the name “Jesus” did when applied to our Lord. He expressed by His life and by His character the fact that the LORD is salvation. He is the One who saves. To “save” is to deliver or rescue from something. From what does Jesus save (deliver/rescue) His people? The angel told Joseph exactly from what Jesus saves His people. He saves (delivers/rescues) them from their sins. What kind of a being would it take to accomplish that deliverance since all human beings have sinned? All of us are caught in the quagmire of sin. None of us stands on solid ground so that we can rescue anyone else. We need someone who is more than human. The rest of the messages, received by Mary and Joseph, give us the answer to that question.
When Mary asked how it could be that she, a virgin, could conceive and then give birth to a son, “The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35, ESV) After Matthew recorded the angel’s message to Joseph explaining why “Jesus” was to be the child’s name, Matthew added that this was to be a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He wrote, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:22–23, ESV quoting Isaiah 7:14) These two passages tell us that Jesus, the Savior, was more than a mere human. He was the God/man. When the angel told Mary about how she would conceive in her womb, what he described was a miracle because of which the child to whom she would give birth would be called the Son of God. This name would describe His character/nature. He would be human, for He would be her son. He would also be deity, for He would be God’s Son. As such, He would have characteristics of a human (without sin) and characteristics of God. When the angel told Joseph about the child Mary would bear, he said that His name would be called “Immanuel,” “God with us.” This name also would describe His character/nature. He was in reality God with us, with human beings. God was dwelling among human people! Because He was not only human but also divine, He was able to do what no mere human could possibly do. He was, and is, able to save (rescue/deliver) people from their sins.
What does that deliverance entail? We often think only of deliverance from the guilt and penalty of our sins, and that is certainly included. That is not all that it involves, however. It also includes being delivered from the power of sin. He is able to give us the strength to resist temptation and live godly lives. It also includes deliverance from the very presence of sin. One day, when we see Him and are made like Him, we will no longer sin at all. All of this is ours if we have come to faith in Jesus as our savior (deliverer/rescuer). No wonder we sing, “His Name Is Wonderful”! That is indeed His nature, His character! In the next few months we will look at the significance and use of names in the Bible, especially God’s names. For example, what does it mean to take God’s name in vain? What does it mean to make a request in Jesus’ name? What does it mean to give a cup of cold water to someone in Jesus’ name? What does it mean to baptize someone in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Jan 21, 2024 | GPS by Pastor Bob Spicer
November 2021 GPS
In the August GPS, we saw that one purpose for names in the Bible was to identify the origin/nature of the subject under consideration. In the September GPS, we looked at how two names of God revealed aspects of His nature or character: “I am” and “God Almighty.” This month we will look at two other names of God. The first of these is “Lord [or God] of Hosts.” Either one form or the other of that phrase is used 242 times in the Bible. An example is: “For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!” (Amos 4:13, ESV) The noun behind the word “host” is used of great numbers of various beings or things. It is used to refer to inanimate heavenly bodies: “And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:19, ESV) In some cases it refers to humans: “And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army [in Hebrew “host”], to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?”” (Judges 4:7, ESV) It may refer to great numbers of heavenly beings, which I think is the idea behind its use in this name for God: “And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;” (1 Kings 22:19, ESV) “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45, ESV) “The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the LORD is his name.” (Amos 9:5–6, ESV) This name is usually understood to refer to God as the leader of the armies of heaven. Obviously, the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth does not need the support of anyone else to accomplish His purposes. When He is depicted as the commander of a vast number of heavenly beings, the effect is to dramatize His mighty power in a way that human beings can begin to grasp it. We can see an example of this at work in 2 Kings 6, when the army of the king of Syria had surrounded the city of Dothan where Elisha “the man of God” was staying. “When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:15–17, ESV) The LORD of hosts, our God, is invincible.
The next name for God that we will consider reveals a completely different attribute of our God. It is “the God who sees me.” When Hagar fled from her mistress, Sarai, who was treating her harshly, we read: “The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.” (Genesis 16:7–14, ESV) Although she was only a servant, all alone in the wilderness, fleeing from her mistress, Sarai, God saw her and comforted her. In Psalm 139, David sings of God’s comprehensive knowledge of us as well. He is not only mighty, but He is also attentive to each one of us. He is the God who lives and sees us.
Jan 21, 2024 | GPS by Pastor Bob Spicer
September 2021 GPS
In last month’s GPS we saw that one purpose for names of people in the Bible was to identify the origin/nature of the subject under consideration. This month we want to look at how that purpose is reflected in God’s name.
When the Lord commissioned Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt we read the following interchange between them. “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exodus 3:13–15, ESV) It is not surprising that Moses would anticipate that his people would ask who this God is that has promised to deliver them from captivity for throughout the ancient near east all nations were polytheistic. God identified Himself to them in two ways. He tells them what His name is and that He is the same God that their ancestors had worshipped and who had made promises to those ancestors.
Moses is to tell Israel that His name is “I AM.” Then, in verse 15, Moses is instructed to say to Israel, “The LORD… has sent me to you.” It is important to understand that “I am” in Hebrew is a form of the same verb that lies behind the English word “LORD” when it is in all capital letters. If the Hebrew word behind “LORD” [normally pronounced “Yahweh” in Hebrew] were actually translated it would be “HE IS,” which is the correct response of the people to the declaration of God’s name as “I AM.” If, as I wrote above, one of the purposes for a name in the Bible is to identify the origin/nature of the subject under consideration, what does the name I AM” tell us about God? Obviously, it does not tell us about His origin because He does not have one. He has always existed. It does tell us something about His nature, however. Old Testament scholars have made a number of suggestions about its significance such as that God is saying He is eternal or self-existent or that He will be what He will be. In my opinion the simplest explanation is that God is simply declaring that He is a being who really exists, which is something that cannot be said about any of the other gods of the ancient world. None of the gods of the Egyptians or of the Canaanites had objective reality. They were no gods, but Yahweh (He is), did and does exist.
Throughout the Bible several names are ascribed to God in compound forms, such as “the LORD is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6) and “the LORD of hosts” (1 Sam. 1:3). I plan to look at some of these in the coming months.
Another name of God which provides information about His nature is, in Hebrew, “El Shaddai” which is usually translated “God Almighty.” It means exactly what it says. He is all powerful. We find the first occurrence of it in Genesis 17, where the Lord again confirms His covenant with Abram. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”” (Genesis 17:1–2, ESV) I believe that God identifies Himself with this name because He is going to reaffirm His covenant with Abram for the third time after having given it to him in chapter 12, and He wants to use a name for Himself that was designed to strengthen Abram’s faith in the reliability of God’s promise of a son. Furthermore, we are told that Abram was ninety-nine when this promise was given and that he was one hundred when Isaac was born (Gen. 1:5). It would take an almighty God to fulfill this promise. The second use of that name is when Isaac sends Jacob away to Laban’s home to find a wife. “God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”” (Genesis 28:3–4, ESV) Isaac knew that it would take an almighty God to fulfill his request. The third use of this name was when God appeared to Jacob after Simeon and Levi had dealt treacherously with the Shechemtes. “And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”” (Genesis 35:11–12, ESV) Again, it would take an almighty God to fulfill the great promises He made to Jacob that day. He is and He is almighty. Next month we will look at what some other names of God tell us about Him.
Jan 21, 2024 | GPS by Pastor Bob Spicer
August 2021 GPS
In the Bible God makes it quite clear that His name is important. One of the Ten Commandments forbids using the name of
the Lord in vain. Jesus said that if we ask anything in His name He would grant the request. He taught that the phrase,
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is significant. He also said that His followers should baptize people in
the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Paul said that Jesus has a name which is above every name and that the day
will come when at the name of Jesus every knee will bow. Why does God attach such importance to His name? What is
involved in the meaning of “name” in passages such as the ones noted above?
In order to understand why God places such importance on His name we need to consider the Biblical function of names in
general. Of course, the most obvious purpose for names is to identify someone or something, but that act of identification
needs further nuancing. What was the purpose behind the choice of Biblical names? In the Bible names were selected for
a number of reasons. Early in the Creation account we see two reasons for a name being chosen. One is that it identifies
the origin/nature of the subject under consideration. In Genesis 2:7 we read: “then the Lord God formed the man of dust
from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” ( ESV) In this
verse, “man” translates the Hebrew word adam which is related to the Hebrew word translated “ground” which is
adamah, designating the material from which the man was created. Throughout this passage the same Hebrew word,
adam, is translated either Adam or man, depending upon whether the translator thought it was a generic term
designating a human being or a proper noun designating the individual Adam.
Similarly, further down in the same chapter of Genesis we read: “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for [other translations have “suitable for” or “corresponding to”] him. Now out
of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man
to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave
names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a
helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and
closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought
her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”” (Genesis 2:18–23, ESV) This paragraph begins with God’s observation that it was not
good for the man to be alone so God would make “a helper fit for him.” Then we are told that Adam gave names to all of
the animals which God brought before him but that there was not found a “helper fit for him.” The names Adam gave the
animals were obviously classification kinds of names, not individual names for each of them. They may have functioned
much like scientific names do today. At the conclusion of what must have been a very long process it was determined that
none of those animals really corresponded to Adam. They were not humans. They were in a different category. When God
brings Eve to Adam, he recognizes that she was “fit for him.” That is, she was a being that corresponded to him. Adam
called her (gave her the name) “Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” In Hebrew, the words for “man” and
“woman” are related very much like the English words are. “Man” is ish and “woman” is ishshah. In both English and
Hebrew the words for “man” and “woman” are related much like “Adam” or “the man” are related to “ground.” In both
cases, the name chosen indicates the origin/nature of the one being named.
A bit later in the Creation narrative we find “name” being used to indicate a different kind of identification. In this case,
“name” the personal identity of the one being named. To do so, the name tells something unique about the subject. “The
man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” (Genesis 3:20, ESV) Although she fitted within
the category of human beings called women, her particular identity within that category was indicated by her personal
name “Eve.” Adam names the woman “Eve,” because “she was the mother of all living” [human beings]. The Hebrew word
for “Eve” is hawwah is related to the Hebrew word for “living,” the adjective hai. Eve’s name reminds us of her
relationship to all later living human beings. Similarly, “Adam” [Hebrew Adam] gets his name from the material God used
to create him, the ground [Hebrew Adamah].
Next month we will look at how this applies to God’s name.
Nov 17, 2020 | Why Are You Here?
Chapter 5. Ways in which God can be glorified today
God has not left us in the dark as to ways in which we He can be glorified today. Some of the ways in which His people have glorified Him in the past, such as praying that He would be glorified, are still to be used today. In this chapter, we will look at ways in which the Bible explicitly says God can be glorified today.
By receiving answers to prayer
Passages in both testaments show the connection between answered prayer and glorifying God. “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”” (Psalm 50:14–15, ESV) In the preceding verses of this Psalm the Lord reprimanded His people for having a wrong attitude toward Him. They had lost sight of the awesome nature of the God, while merely paying Him lip service. They needed to offer sacrifices out of hearts of gratitude because every good thing which they possessed came from Him. They needed to fulfill the vows they had made because of the nature of the One to whom they had made their vows. They needed to call upon the Lord (rather than looking elsewhere) in their time of trouble. In short, they needed to treat Him as their God. In response, He would deliver them, and as a result of that deliverance, they would glorify (praise) Him.
In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus told His disciples, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13–14, ESV) Asking for something “in Jesus’ name” almost certainly means making the request with the authorization of Jesus, or asking according to His will. For our present purposes, the interesting thing is that Jesus says that He will do what is asked “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The point seems to be that if people make requests of Jesus which He grants, the Father would be praised, honored, because of the Son’s connection to Him. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was always bringing glory to His Father. This would continue after His ascension. The point is that when God’s people receive what they request in prayer, they (should) respond by glorifying (praising) God.
By thanking God for His blessings
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”” (Psalm 50:23, ESV) This verse follows up on verses 14-15, which were quoted in the previous section on receiving answers to prayer. Here, however, the statement is applied to any situation in which one has experienced God’s goodness (without reference to whether it is as an answer to prayer or not) and thanks Him for it. God is glorified when His people thank Him because in doing so they give Him the credit He deserves for His blessings.
By doing deeds that reflect God’s character
The Bible suggests many ways in which we can, and should, live so that God would be glorified by our behavior. Both Jesus and Peter state the general principle which teaches this. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, ESV emphasis added) In similar words, Peter wrote: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12, ESV emphasis added) Opinions differ about the meaning of “the day of visitation.” In any case, the point is we are to behave in a way that shows the resemblance between our lives and the character of our God and Father, with the result that He will get the credit (glory), for our good behavior. John records Jesus using different terms but conveying the same meaning when He says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8, ESV) As we live godly lives, bearing much fruit, knowledgeable people will see the similarity between our lives and the life of Jesus and give God credit (glory) for what they see.
By growing in love with knowledge and discernment
The Apostle Paul prayed that the Philippians would experience spiritual growth, intellectually and behaviorally, in order that God would be glorified. He wrote, “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9–11, ESV) It is interesting that when Paul states the end of the growth for which he prays, it is not just that the Philippians would be better people, intellectually and behaviorally, but that God would receive glory and praise (again this is probably a hendiadys to emphasize the point).
By using our spiritual gifts in a God-honoring way
As part of a little paragraph which deals with miscellaneous instructions about matters of Christian behavior, Peter includes some instructions about the use of spiritual gifts, abilities. He divides them into two categories: speaking and serving gifts. He writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10–11, ESV emphasis added) By calling the abilities “gifts,” he expresses the fact that those abilities have been given to people by God. That being the case, the recipients have a responsibility to God to be good stewards of what He has given them. Peter elaborates on how we are to do this. If we have a speaking gift, we are to use it to speak words God would want us to speak. If we have a serving gift, we are to use it to accomplish what God would want done (because He is the one who is providing the strength for the task). In both cases, the recipient is to remember that the gifts come by way of God’s grace, so He deserves (and should be given) all the credit, the glory.
By living in harmony with one another
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”” (Romans 15:5–9, ESV)
By using our wealth in a way that honors the Lord
The Bible makes it clear that we can, and should, glorify God by the way we handle our finances. “Honor [Hebrew “glorify”] the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.” (Proverbs 3:9, ESV emphasis added) “In Israel, honoring the Lord with … the firstfruits of all one’s crops was a way of expressing gratitude to Him for His provisions (Deut. 26:1–3, 9–11). It was a way of acknowledging God and His help (Prov. 3:6). “[1] In other words, give God credit for giving you the wealth that you have and for giving you the firstfruits of the harvest, which is both an expression of thanks for what has been received and an expression of faith that He will supply the rest of the harvest. The manner in which one was to honor or glorify the Lord with one’s wealth undoubtedly included what was stated in another passage in Proverbs as well. “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors [Hebrew “glorifies”] him.” (Proverbs 14:31, ESV) Proverbs also explains why the way one treats the poor will either insult or honor the Lord. “To take advantage of poor people is like sinning against God (cf. 17:5) since God is the Maker of all people (cf. Job 31:13, 15) and because He defends the cause of the poor (Prov. 22:22–23).”[2]
The New Testament also bears witness to the fact that the use of finances can bring glory to God. Part of Paul’s purpose in writing 2 Corinthians was to encourage the Corinthian believers to do their part in adding to a collection that was being taken for the Christians in Jerusalem who were suffering from a famine. After mentioning that he was sending an unnamed brother to be part of the group that would take the collection to Jerusalem, Paul adds: “And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will.” (2 Corinthians 8:19, ESV) In other words, the goal for taking this collection and delivering it to Jerusalem was two-fold: It would both glorify God and show the good will which the believers in Europe had toward their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. It would glorify God by showing the love God had placed in the hearts of the mainly Gentile believers in Europe for the mainly Jewish believers in Jerusalem. God deserved the credit for developing this love in their hearts.
By suffering for Christ without shame
An unexpected way in which we can glorify God is by the attitude we have when we experience persecution because of our faith. As he addressed believers who were suffering, Peter wrote, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Peter 4:16, ESV) I think the NET Bible’s translation makes the meaning of the verse plainer: “But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.” (1 Peter 4:16, NET) If that interpretation is correct, the idea is that we should praise God because we have the honor of being called Christians. The early Christians seem to have had that attitude. After being beaten and forbidden
[1] Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 912). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Buzzell, S. S. (1985). Proverbs. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 936). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
