Ancient Words, Modern Message

The Old Testament book of Daniel is one of the books that many people know a little about, but few people know much about.  While there is considerable familiarity with some of its “stories” which hold the attention of children and adults alike, there is so much more to these twelve chapters, the content of which could be considered epic in its scope. World history, from the earliest days of human...

Most Gentiles know about the major Jewish holidays and observances throughout the year:  Passover, Hanukkah, and even Yom Kippur and Purim.  However, there are numerous other special days on the Jewish calendar which are not nearly as well known. Among these is a special day observed by many Jewish people each year in the summer months:  Tisha B’Av. Indubitably, no race, no ethnic group has ever e...

It is widely accepted by the rabbis and the Jewish people whom they lead that the Old Testament Prophetic Scriptures clearly indicate that the coming Messiah will be a descendant of King David from the Tribe of Judah. However, what is not widely accepted is that the “Son of David” whose coming is foretold is the One who has already come, namely Jesus. In this series, “Songs of Jesus in the Tanach,...

While the spectrum of subjects and events presented in the Old Testament Scriptures is very broad indeed, there is a recurring theme that appears from the first chapter of Genesis to the fourth chapter of Malachi; that theme is God’s redemptive plan for lost mankind.  That plan has at its very center the person of God’s anointed one, His Beloved Son, the Messiah. And so it is no surprise that a ca...

The recent Prime Video series on the public ministry of Jesus, The Chosen, does a credible and effective job of presenting not only His deity, but also His humanity, a balance not often achieved in such media. A comprehension, albeit incomplete, of both dimensions of the person who is the Unique Son of God adds to the depth of our appreciation of everything we read about Him in the Gospel accounts...

The Apostle Paul, in writing to his son in the Faith, Timothy, observes, “And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.”  (1 Timothy 3:16) This great mystery includes the truth of the incarnation, that over two millennia ago Jesus entered the world as fully God and fully man.  Many of the 150 psalms in the Old Testament Scriptures predict this dual nature of Jesus, demonstrated in hi...

The second in this series entitled, “Songs of Jesus in the Tanach,” draws our attention to another of the many Messianic Psalms in the Old Testament, Psalm 22. Though written a thousand years before Jesus’ day, the Holy Spirit inspired King David to describe his own experiences of suffering in exaggerated terms which would, in fact, provide an extremely detailed and accurate first-person descripti...

This first episode in a new series of “Ancient Words, Modern Message” is scheduled to launch on the day after Palm Sunday at the beginning of “Holy Week” which culminates in Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. What a perfect time to begin a study of six of the numerous Psalms which look into the future and point to Jesus and His redemptive work for mankind through H...

In this, his ninth “Bagel-side Chat” Hebrew Christian Fellowship Director, Roger Wambold reflects on decades of ministry as a pastor and as a mission director.  This episode is quite different from the previous eight, providing “time-travel” to a church-pew in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a young pastor preaches from 1 Samuel 24 in a sermon entitled, “Loving Until It Hurts.”  Join us as we listen...

Imagine a job posting on LinkedIn or Ziprecruiter with the following description:  Excellent opportunity for a career prophet demonstrating exceptional communication skills, interest in employment longevity, and a willingness to commit to a task leading to disappointment, minimal affirmation, and near-total failure. Clearly there would not be a long line of applicants for such a position, and yet...

There are those who dismiss the relevance of the Bible to twenty-first century Americans, calling it archaic and obsolete.     However, a careful reading of the observations and pronouncements of the Old Testament Prophets leads one to the sense that they could just as readily be spoken in the United States of America today.   Nowhere is this more evident than in the Book of Isaiah in its record o...

It wasn’t easy being an Old Testament prophet whose job it was to speak on God’s behalf in denouncing the disobedience and rebellion of his own Jewish people and declaring the certainty of divine judgment if they did not repent and turn from their wicked ways.   Sometimes the prophet turned to an unorthodox style to make his point, using metaphors, object lessons, and even a song. Such is the case...

Following a number of recent natural disasters in various parts of our country there has been a careful examination of the effectiveness of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It could well be said that the FEMA of the Old Testament Period consisted of one person, the Old Testament Prophet who was commissioned by God to identify the crisis which posed an emergency, along with managing a...

The Jewish prophets of the Old Testament period whose names are attached to the record of their ministries in Scripture were indeed a “rare” bunch, “rare” in so many ways. What we must remember is that each of those prophets addressed the challenges and opportunities of his own specific time. However, without exception, each of them also was given a message to proclaim concerning events that would...

The eighth century B.C. prophet Isaiah was commissioned by God to confront his own Jewish people in the Southern Kingdom of Judah with their deplorable spiritual and cultural condition, calling upon them to repent and avoid the consequences of His judgment. Then, as now, the question begs to be asked:  “If my sinful condition is so extreme, then how can I possibly be cleansed and forgiven?” It is...

In just a few days people in the United States and around the world will be celebrating Christmas 2024, but as that celebration concludes in the evening of December 25, Jewish people around the world will be beginning their observance of the eight-day Festival of Lights, Hanukkah.   In this episode of Ancient Words, Modern Message, you are invited to join Roger Wambold, Director of Hebrew Christia...

While it is fashionable and generally inoffensive—as well as correct—to speak of God as being a God of love, it is incorrect to neglect the equal truth that God is holy and just and therefore a God of judgment.   It is the balance between the demonstration of God’s mercy and grace, and his holiness and justice displayed in judgment against sin, that is the theme of both the book of Jonah and the b...

The previous series of studies in the book of Jonah closes with the account of God sparing the Assyrian Empire from His judgment of destruction because of their response to the preaching of Jonah, the reluctant prophet.   A “companion” book to the book of Jonah among the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament is the little three-chapter-book of Nahum which again focuses on Ninevah over a centu...

Sadly, there are those who maintain that the God of the Bible is a God of vengeance and wrath who seems to enjoy condemning and punishing people.  This could not be any further from the truth, as expressed in both the Old and New Testaments.   Ezekiel 33:11—Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. ....

The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah reminded the Jewish people of his day that God’s ways are very different from man’s ways as God spoke through him declaring:   For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)   Nowhere is thi...

Arguably one of the more flawed characters in the Old Testament Scriptures is the prophet Jonah who, in the candid words of some commentators, appears in the text, “warts and all.” While we would expect that a “man of God” would always respond obediently to God’s call, immersing himself in prayer, Jonah is the antithesis of this expectation as he runs away from the divine call of duty and uses pra...

In 1968 Frank Sinatra recorded a song which quickly became his signature musical theme.  It was an immediate hit and was later recorded and released by Elvis Presley with similar reception by listeners around the world.  No doubt the song’s rapid climb and enduring presence on the charts, including induction of Sinatra’s version to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000, was due to the compatibility of t...

The autumn of each year is a very important time for Jewish people around the world as they observe one of the most festive days on their religious calendar, followed shortly by the most solemn day on their religious calendar.   In this episode of “Ancient Words, Modern Message,” Roger Wambold, Director of Hebrew Christian Fellowship, invites listeners to put a “shmear” of cream cheese on a bagel...

The title of this six-part series of studies in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, “True Grit, Great Glory,” is a spin-off from the 1969 film, “True Grit,” starring John Wayne in the role of Rooster Cogburn, the living embodiment of “true grit,” getting the job done, no matter how difficult.   Arguably the best example of “true grit” in the Old Testament Scriptures is the prophet Ezekiel who “got...

There may not be many folks within the sound of my voice who are old enough to remember the television western series, “Death Valley Days,” but I am! The series, first aired in 1952, was set in what has been identified as the hottest place on earth in the summer, a place where dry, lifeless, parched bones are scattered, a reminder of the irreversible nature of death. It was to such a place that th...