The Lampstand Magazine

In this three-part series of articles, we explore the idea of holiness and what that means for us in the information age. We all share a common goal: to grow in holiness before God. Why? Because our God, who has revealed Himself to the world through His Word—the Bible—has offered everyone ete...

The fifth seal (cont.) The Caesars – Summary Diocletian wanted a return to the former glory of the empire though he adopted an Eastern title, dominus, for himself (the period is known by historians as the Dominate). Diocletian was influenced by his generals Galerius and Maximian&nb...

A social worker in Warsaw, Poland, during the Nazi occupation, Irena Sendler organised a group that smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. As a result, nearly 2500 children were saved from certain death under the Nazis. The Warsaw Ghetto was created by the Nazis to concentrate th...

Romans 3  v21. As a matter of fact, not that it is different from the Law in that sense, but the very Law itself witnessed, along with the prophets that there was to come another form of righteousness which the Law could not give mankind. The Law then is not in opposition to God. God’...

The Scriptures never cease to amaze us, and sometimes Yahweh speaks as powerfully by what He has chosen to exclude from the record, as by what He includes. This is especially true of the books of Chronicles, a record of the ‘acts left out’. As the Chronicler shifts his focus from the genealog...

The brethren in James’ time were suffering under the oppression of rich men (James 5:1-6). These Jews were more focused on heaping up treasures in this life than caring for their neighbours. As a result, they were unmoved by the cries of their workers, whom they were defrauding. Living lives of ea...

In Matthew 6:33, our Lord speaks these well-known words, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. There are two elements in this statement—the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God. They later become the basis for the go...

In Proverbs 6:6-8 we are exhorted to observe the amazing life of ants and be wise: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest”. Navigation expert, Eric Cassel...

This series is an abridged version of the notes for the Australasian Youth Conference to be held in April 2025, God willing. May we all encourage our young people and each other concerning the topic of 1 Timothy. The fifth chapter of 1 Timothy focuses on the ecclesia as a family and the role of e...

The Spirit at work in our lives We have established that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives through the power of God’s Word to transform our thinking and behaviour. We have learned that we can’t separate God from His Spirit. It is simply Him at work, breathing out of Him, developing a...

At the conclusion of the Olivet Prophecy, our Lord spoke about the state of our world at the time of the end in Luke 21:25-36. Before this, he spoke of the collapse of the Jewish State in AD70, and then in verse 24 predicted that “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of...

If you or an interested friend need evidence, external to the Bible, that our bodies were “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa 139:14), this book will erase all doubts of God as our Creator. As mentioned in the introduction of the book, the evidence within the human body“present[s] a compelli...

The fifth seal (cont.) Rest for a little season As mentioned in the previous article (10), Psalm 94 talks about the blessed state of the person who meditates on God’s law and learns from the discipline they experience in life. These will view death as a “rest from days of trouble” (v13 E...

In 2012 a series of excavations was undertaken in Jerusalem, in the region known as the Ophel near the southeast corner of the Temple Mount1. The excavations were led by the late Dr Eilat Mazar. During that dig a number of large, broken pithoi (storage vessel) pieces were discovered embedded in a...

An extensive stone quarry has been discovered in Jerusalem’s Har Hotzvim1 neighbourhood by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). It is the largest quarry uncovered from the Second Temple period (the return from Babylonian exile to AD70) in the region. Extensive building projects were undertaken ...

None of us are going to be around here very long, so we should not get too attached to things. The Bible uses many metaphors to describe the brevity of our lives. We read that our life is like a mist, a breath, a wisp of smoke, a flower of the field, a morning cloud, as the early dew, and as smoke o...

Romans 3 v1. Having said that then, you may ask me, “Well, do we have any advantage at all in being Jews? Are we to cancel out all the privileges that the Old Testament says that we have?” v2. No, I believe you do have advantages. But those advantages are a great responsibility because the...

Sojourning in Moab In the previous article, we saw how the opening phrase, “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled,” powerfully sets the scene for the book of Ruth. The horrific events that happened in Bethlehem in the book of Judges stand as a striking contrast to examples of ...

It is true to say that the books of Chronicles contain many names; however, those names, inserted by Ezra through the Spirit, are merely a sample of the millions of names that existed in the nation of Israel throughout time. The genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1–9 were not intended to be a successive ...

Our struggle each day can be summarised in this way: “Do we follow our own will, or do we follow the will of God?” Our Lord Jesus went through this same struggle, a contest outworked in his final hours in the Garden of Gethsemane. As he faced the terror before him, conscious of the weight of ...

There are four occasions in the New Testament where the words, “Lord, Lord,” appear, and the context of each provides a sober reminder of the grave responsibilities we have in Christ. The first occurrence is in Matthew 7:21-22. Jesus is bringing his discourse on the mount to a conclusion. He ...

A recent article appeared in Vox magazine, written by its environmental correspondent, Benji Jones, which explores the uniqueness of a particular vine found in South America. These are the main points drawn from his article. “More than a decade ago, a plant ecologist named Ernesto Gianoli went ...

This series is an abridged version of the notes for the Australasian Youth Conference to be held in April, 2025, God willing. May we all encourage our young people and each other concerning the topic of 1 Timothy. Summary The fourth chapter of 1 Timothy warns Timothy of the impending dangers o...

Truth versus Church teaching Our series has established that the spirit of God works in diverse ways. These have their common origin in God, being “breathed” out of Him. The spirit power of God enabled people to do supernatural things at particular times in history to accomplish God’s will....

The History Saudi Arabia has traditionally stood united with its Arab peers in their protest against the Jewish state. They even participated in the War of Independence in 1948, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against Israel. But out of the blue, Saudi Arabia has put up their hand and expressed a ...