Atonement

Posted on April 13, 2025 by billbushauthor

How does Jesus’s death cover my sin?

“He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5

Over half of the uses of the word atonement in the Bible are in a single book—Leviticus—where it describes the role of a sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. Atonement basically means that you owed a debt and somebody else paid it for you.

People need a savior. It was as clear in the Old Testament as it is today. What wasn’t clear until Jesus was that such a Savior would suffer on behalf of his people rather than cause suffering for his enemies. The expectation was that the Messiah would conquer Israel’s enemies, not lay down his own life.

Isaiah 53 is one of four poetic portions of the book of Isaiah that have been labeled as “suffering servant” songs (42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12).

In Acts 8, an Ethiopian eunuch, reading Isaiah 53, asked Philip to explain the passage. Philip went on to proclaim Jesus as the suffering servant.

Jesus saw himself as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (Mark 10:45; Luke 22:37) and in each of the gospels spoke of his death as beneficial for others (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:19-20; John 12:24, 32).

Every New Testament author except James and Jude describes the substitutionary effect of Jesus’s death (Matthew 20:28; John 11:49-52; Acts 20:28; Romans 3:23-25; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Galatians 3:13-14; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:22, 28; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 5:9).

There’s a clear and unified voice in the New Testament: through Jesus’s suffering and death, the penalty of our sin was paid. We can therefore live in freedom from sin.

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Wisdom

Posted on April 6, 2025 by billbushauthor

How do I become wise?

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7

Psalm 1:7 is the theme for the entire book of Proverbs.

Wisdom in the Bible is the ability to practically live out God’s truths in a way that brings health you, your family, and your community.

Biblical wisdom always manifests itself in action. Joshua’s wisdom empowered him to lead the people of Israel (Deuteronomy 34:9), Ezra’s wisdom enabled him to administrate a community (Ezra 7:25). By wisdom, Daniel lived ethically in exile among enemies (Daniel 1:4).

Fear is not the opposite of love. Fear and love are frequently lodged in the same verse (Psalm 103:13; 33:18; 103:11). The crucial question is what we should do when we fear someone. The biblical answer is to obey (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10).

As with wisdom, fear of the LORD brings practical and spiritual benefits: Friendship of the LORD (Psalm 25:14); Fearlessness (Deuteronomy 3:22); Comfort of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31); Holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1); Health (Proverbs 10:27; 14:27); Praise for God (Psalm 22:23, 25; 40:3; Revelation 19:5; Psalm 34:7-9).

Solomon, the author of Proverbs, was the wisest man to ever live. Jesus was wisdom itself.

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Blessedness

Posted on April 3, 2025 by billbushauthor

How can I be happy?

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12 (full)

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” – Matthew 5:11-12 (partial)

The longing for happiness is a primal human drive. Jesus presents His path in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He starts with eight simple statements in Matthew 5:2-12 called the beatitudes, containing the word blessed, which means happy, fortunate, or lucky.

What Jesus said will make us happy is counterintuitive.

Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) – Isn’t it true that those with a deep connection with God seem to have peace even without prosperity?

Blessed are those who mourn (5:4) – Isn’t it true that God often seems closer in times of trouble?

Blessed are the meek (5:5) – Isn’t it true that those with humble and quiet strength eventually outlast the boisterous and brash?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (5:6) – Isn’t it true that the passion for righteousness is more gratifying than the passions of the world?

Blessed are the merciful (5:7) – Isn’t it true that people of mercy are often more respected than people of power?

Blessed are the pure in heart (5:8) – Isn’t it true that a pure heart is a reward of its own?

Blessed are the peacemakers (5:9) – Isn’t it true that the Nobel Prize goes to peacemakers over warriors?

Blessed are those who are persecuted…on my account (5:10) – Isn’t it true that those who suffer for following Jesus are on par with those who’d been persecuted for following God?

Jesus presented himself not only equal to God but as the embodiment of God’s Torah. He followed the beatitudes with comments on six specific Old Testament laws: “You have heard that it was said…But I say” (verses 21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44). Moses received the law. Jesus is the law.

True happiness is in Jesus. Loyalty to Jesus offers nothing less than inheritance of the kingdom of God. To know God and follow his commands always leads to the blessed life.

Is it any wonder the crowds stood stunned at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (7:28-29)?

The sermon’s big theme turned culture on its head. Lucky are the unlucky as long as they align themselves with Jesus’s words. Christians are part of an upside-down kingdom where losers are winners, the dead live, the poor are rich, and those who pick up a cross experience resurrection.

Why does this actually work? Here’s the secret: happiness comes with having a higher purpose, not possessions or protection.

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Jesus Rejected

Posted on March 30, 2025 by billbushauthor

If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” – Psalm 118:22

Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22 during his final debate in the temple (Mark 12:10), after the parable of the tenants, where the tenants beat everyone the owner sent to check on his vineyard, culminating in them killing the owner’s son (Mark 12:1-12).

The chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders looked for a way to arrest Jesus because they understood He was speaking about them, God, and claiming himself as the Messiah.

Peter quoted it in his first defense before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:11) and later embedded it in his first letter (1 Peter 2:7). Paul referenced it in Ephesians 2:20, describing the foundation of the church.

They argued that Jesus’s humiliation led to his exultation, a universal biblical principal: When people humble themselves, God lifts them up (James 4:10).

Just when his enemies thought they’d rid themselves of Jesus, come to find out, the humiliation they caused was essential to establishing him as kind of kings. Imagine the stir in the spiritual world when his spiritual enemies realized they had been duped into instigating their own downfall.

As followers of Christ, our path is the same—paved with humiliation ordained by God and essential to our exaltation and establishment as keystones in the temple of God—his church.

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Messiah

Posted on March 23, 2025 by billbushauthor

Is there proof that Jesus is the Messiah promised by God?

“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” – Psalm 110:1

Did you know that Psalm 110 is quoted more in the New Testament than any other passage?

The Old Testament has dozens of messianic predictions, so when Jesus burst on the scene, Jews of his day already had an idea of what the Messiah would look like.

When Jesus claimed the title of Messiah without meeting expectations, heads turned and tempers flared.

Only Jesus has fulfilled Psalm 110. He’s a human descendent of David who was anointed as both king in the royal lineage and high priest in the line of Melchizedek.

Jesus used Psalm 110:1 to stake his claim to divinity (Matthew 22:41-46), as did Peter (Acts 2:34-36), Paul (Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1), and the author Hebrews (Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12p 12:2).

When Jesus asked Peter who he thought he was, Peter answered, “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15-16).

The question “Who is Jesus? is the single most important question one will ever answer.

Who do you say He is?

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Good Shepherd

Posted on March 16, 2025 by billbushauthor

If the Lord is my shepherd, what’s my obligation to those I lead?

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” – Psalm 23:1-3

Shepherd is the primary metaphor in the Bible for God as our leader. We see that in Psalm 23. Written by David, who grew up as a shepherd, the great king of Isreal recognized God as the ultimate shepherd.

Old Testament leaders’ rampant disregard for their sheep led to a longing for a better shepherd, the promised Messiah.

Three authors of the New Testament refer to Jesus’s role as a shepherd (Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Peter 2:25; Revelation 7:17).

David risked his life and killed bear and lion to protect his sheep, foreshadowing the Good Shepherd, God incarnate, who laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).

A true shepherd, a true leader, serves not to get something from the sheep but to sacrifice for his flock. Apostles, evangelists, pastors, and elders have the privilege of leading and feeding the sheep if they’re willing to lay down their lives for the sheep.

Shepherding is noble only when we suffer. This is a theological twist that’s incomprehensible to those who don’t know the Good Shepherd—our God who suffered on our behalf.

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Prophecy

Posted on March 9, 2025 by billbushauthor

Is there proof that Jesus was God’s son?

“You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” – Psalm 2:7

Twice during Jesus’s ministry, God paraphrased Psalm 2:7—before Jesus’s baptism (Matthew 3:16-17) and during the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).

The Old Testament predicted a coming Messiah, which simply means “anointed one.”

God referenced Psalm 2 to do more than declare his approval of Jesus; He was affirming Jesus’s deity and regal heritage to the throne of Isreal as the Messiah.

Psalm 2 has two other messianic prophecies besides verse 7. The believer’s prayer in Acts 4:25-26 cites Psalm 2:1-2. Psalm 2:9 is cited three times in Revelation (2:27; 12:5; 19:15).

With over 60 major Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, the odds of fulfilling seven of them is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000—one in one hundred quadrillion, according to Peter Stoner, in his book, Science Speaks.

Stoner explains that’s like filling the state of Texas two-feet deep in silver dollars, painting one red, shuffling them randomly, then wandering the state blindfolded and selecting the red coin. Statistically impossible.

That’s before calculating in the other fifty-plus prophecies and their probabilities. Our God has given enough evidence to make it easy to believe in Jesus, if we’re willing to examine the evidence. And the cumulative weight of God’s predictive prophecies is overwhelming to the objective observer.

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Finding Happiness

Posted on March 2, 2025 by billbushauthor

Does God want you to be happy?

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.” – Psalm 1:1-3 (full)

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…
But his delight is in the law of the Lord…”

Psalm 1:1-3 (partial)

Have you ever heard the saying, “God doesn’t want you to be happy; He wants you to be holy?”

It’s clever, but not accurate. Happiness and holiness are not mutually exclusive. We just get them turned around.

What father doesn’t want his children to be happy? But a good parent knows a child’s happiness and well-being come from rules and boundaries.

Left to their own “happiness,” children would run in the street, play with fire, and eat candy all day. While those activities might be fun for a while, they will all eventually lead to the destruction of the child.

As an adult, how many of your biggest mistakes/regrets happened because you were pursuing happiness in the moment?

So where do we find happiness? Psalm 1 tells us.

Relationships (Psalm 1:1) – Avoid the wicked, sinners, and mockers.

Meditation (Psalm 1:2) – Delight in God’s Word.

Service (Psalm 1:3) – Being fruitful by helping others brings joy and satisfaction.

As Mark Moore says in Core 52:

“The secret to happiness is in micromoments that turn into habits. Habits continued over a lifetime, become a biography with a very happy ending.”

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Jesus and David

Posted on February 23, 2025 by billbushauthor

Was Jesus a king literally or spiritually?

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” – 2 Samuel 7:12

God promised that David would always have an heir on the throne (2 Samuel 7:12-13; Psalm 89:3-4; Isaiah 11:1). Imagine how shocking it would have been when the gospel writers applied this promise to a peasant carpenter.

The New Testament begins with Matthew listing David before Abraham, showing his importance as king of the Jews.

The Gentile Luke said that God would give Jesus the throne of David (Luke 1:32).

In Peter’s first sermon, he reminded the audience that Jesus was David’s heir (Acts 2:30).

The apostle Paul mentioned Jesus was David’s descendent in both the beginning of Romans (1:3-4) and in his last book written (2 Timothy 2:8).

John affirms Jesus as a descendant of David in the book of Revelation (5:5) and Jesus himself agreed (Revelation 22:16).

Yet, Jesus did not assert his kingship while on earth. The rightful heir to the throne would be anointed by God without ever asking to be and would be installed in God’s timing rather than through his own campaigning.

David was anointed king years before actually sitting on the throne. He was rejected and maligned, abused and attacked, until Saul’s self-destruction inaugurated David’s rule over Isreal.

So, too, for Jesus: suffering was the prelude to enthronement, because he did not assert his rule (Philippians 2:9-11).

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Kingdom of God

Posted on February 16, 2025 by billbushauthor

What does it take to be a great leader?

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7

The original plan for Israel was for God to be its king (Isaiah 33:22), but Israel’s demand for a king was a rejection of God’s rule over their nation (1 Samuel 8:7).

First, God gave them the king they wanted in Saul. He was the right man from a human perspective—tall, strong, capable. Yet none of those qualities qualified him in God’s eyes.

Saul did the exact thing God told him not to do (1 Samuel 13:8-14), made a vow he neglected to keep (1 Samuel 14:24-47), and neglected to do what God had specifically commanded (1 Samuel 15:1-35).

His fatal character flaws included valuing people’s opinions over God’s commands, promoting himself through manipulation rather than waiting for God’s provision, and blaming others after his failures.

God rejected Saul and king as sent Samuel to anoint a new king—David, a young, small shepherd.

David wasn’t a perfect king, flawed on multiple levels, but he became the model leader of Isreal because he left leadership in the hands of Yahweh. He was merely God’s servant to point God’s people to God’s laws.

David refused to kill Saul given the opportunity, even though he had been anointed as the next king. After he committed adultery and murder, he repented. The Bible called David a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

David’s flaws didn’t disqualify him from being a leader, but they did disqualify him from ruling God’s kingdom permanently.

That’s why Jesus came. Jesus claimed a kingdom, but didn’t assert himself as a king during his life on earth. Instead, He submitted himself to God and served those He had helped create.

1 Samuel 16:7 is more a description of Jesus the Messiah than of David the king, and it should characterize our own ambitions as well, if we’re to follow in the footsteps of both.

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