You’ve probably heard the expression, “familiarity breeds contempt,” but what does it mean and does the Bible have anything to say about it? Let me start by giving you the origins of the phrase.

The idea behind this expression has been around for thousands of years. In ancient Rome, the writer Publilius used the expression. Over a thousand years later, Pope Innocent III repeated the expression. The English writer Geoffrey Chaucer used this expression in his work Tale of Melibee, in the 1300s.  Okay, so it’s been around for a long time, but what does it mean? The longer one knows someone, the more likely it is that he or she will discover negative things about the other person. This can also apply to things...

Reprinted from 2017 Hope Line newsletter

When Irv and I visited London to attend Irv’s niece’s wedding in 2017, we spent some time at the Churchill War Rooms. I have always had a great interest in English history. American history is rooted in English history and my family history is as well. It took every ounce of courage I had as I anticipated the six hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, but it was so worth it. I enjoyed seeing things I had previously only read about and standing in places I had seen in pictures.

One of the places we visited was the Churchill War Rooms. These war rooms are an invaluable part of English history which must be intentionally sought out because they are underground. From these basement rooms, ...

Elsie and I were newly married, but I had not yet become a Christian. Somehow this love of my life convinced me to join her for the Sunday evening service at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, IL. At my request, we sat in the back pew as far away from the pulpit as possible. While we were waiting for the service to start, I noticed a short, balding, moon-faced man greeting people in the pews and shaking their hands. The next thing I knew this same man tapped me on the shoulder from behind and extended his hand to me. In his inimitable voice he said, “Hello! Welcome to Moody Church. I’m Warren Wiersbe. Nice to have you here.” I thanked him and he moved on. I asked Elsie who that fellow was and she replied, “He’s ...

The answer is all three are types of Jesus Christ. This month I want to look at typology in the Bible. We don’t hear many pastors or theologians speaking about typology. A theologian of a former era named Patrick Fairbairn (1805-1874) did. He wrote several volumes on the typology of the Bible. His most famous work was “The Typology of Scripture.”

Before we dive into it, what is a type of something in the Bible? A type is a representation by one thing of another. Adam was a type of Christ (Rom. 5:14) and so was Isaac (Heb. 11:19). The Passover was a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7).  It usually is something in the Old Testament that is brought to life in the New Testament. The old saying is “the Old Testament ...