Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

The seventy were, in a word, ecstatic. Days earlier, when Jesus had told them that they were going to be going out to preach and heal, they had been a bit leery. Okay, they had been terrified. None but Peter felt up to the task. But Peter felt up to anything. He seemed perpetually eager […]

The words of the angel were astounding. I imagine that the women standing there at the breached tomb, mouths gaping, absolutely speechless, in utter shock. Indeed, Matthew couldn’t even describe how the angel departed from their presence, I suspect because none of them could recall. They were too busy processing the revolutionary message which it […]

Matthew 13 is a significant chapter for my study of joy. In it, Jesus is delivering a series of parables, including that of the sower/seeds/soils, the wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed, the yeast, a couple about hidden treasure, and one about a large net. Through it all, He’s trying to explain what it’s […]

Editor’s note: Well, once again, my fingers were running faster than my brain, and I posted this prematurely. So I suppose I had better actually shape it up, cite sources, and make it into a real post. At any rate, today, Stephen G. Bloom, a professor and Bessie Dutton Murray Professional Scholar at the University […]

As I cross finally into the New Testament in my word study of joy, I come, right away, to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (or on the Plain, depending which gospel you want to go with), and in the opening of what is probably the most recognizable speech in history, I run headlong into a […]

Today’s joy reference is Zechariah 9:9. As the prophet takes up the subject of the coming Messiah, he calls on Israelites, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious.” And it makes sense. I mean, the word image which has just […]

Zechariah 8 is the next stop in my word study of joy. Here, it occurs in verse 19, when the prophet declares, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and […]

If you’re anything like me, then you often get confused between the books of Zephaniah and Zechariah. Maybe I’m just intellectually challenged (okay, so strike the “maybe”), but I frequently find myself forgetting which comes first in the Bible and which is the last book of the OT, let alone what they say. Yesterday, though, […]

Continuing on the trend set by Habakkuk yesterday, I have come to Zephaniah 3 and a rather compelling chunk of Scripture in which the word “joy” or “rejoice” appears no less than 5 times in rapid succession. You would expect such a concentration of occurrences in the recollection of a birth or conquest or tremendous […]

Habakkuk 3 is the end of a rather troubling book. After prophesying unprecedented defeat and disaster for Israel, the prophet prays that, eventually, God would come and restore His people. But there is no hint given about the timeframe for that. And to be quite honest, if I were in his shoes, I think I […]