Posts by Layton Talbert
Nehemiah, Part 1: Restoring Messiah ’s City
Layton Talbert FrontLine • May/June 2007 At a Glance: Ezra Part 1 ♦ Ezra Part 2 This column recently explored the historical and theological significance of the book of Ezra. Ezra’s contemporary and political counterpart was Nehemiah. Persia’s King Artaxerxes commissioned both of these men to return to Jerusalem within a few years of each…
Read MoreEzra, Part 2
Layton Talbert FrontLine • March/April 2007 At A Glance – Ezra Part 1 All history is theological. Human history is the illustrated encyclopedia of the acts of God—a branch of general revelation and applied theology whereby God makes Himself known to any man who has eyes to see it and a Bible by which…
Read MoreEzra, Part 1
At A Glance Layton Talbert FrontLine • January/February 2007 A new year always carries with it the potential for a fresh start, a rededication to building (and in some cases, rebuilding) the work of God in your life. Ezra and Nehemiah are just such books of new beginning and (re)building. God had graciously brought His…
Read MoreThe Synonyms for the Word of God
Layton Talbert FrontLine 1994 Introduction Word, laws, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments-have you ever read passages in the Old Testament and wondered what the difference is between all these words for Scripture? Aren’t they just flowery, poetic ways of referring to the Bible with a variety of terms to avoid sounding redundant? If that is…
Read MoreProvidence in the Incarnation of Christ (2)
Layton Talbert The following is an excerpt from the book, Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God (Greenville, S.C.: BJU Press, 2001). Part 1 recounted the providential context of the birth of Christ in history (politics, commerce, language) and then began discussing providential arrangements of specific circumstances including matters concerning John’s conception and…
Read MoreProvidence in the Incarnation of Christ (1)
Layton Talbert The following is an excerpt from the book, Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God (Greenville, S.C.: BJU Press, 2001). Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle make little sense by themselves. Each by itself is unfinished, incomplete. Each raises questions that can be answered only as it is fitted into its proper…
Read MorePraying Biblical Prayers
Layton Talbert [A previous column concluded] with a variety of suggested prayer “exercises”—methods for making our prayers more Scriptural. Why is this necessary? Paul testifies that there are times when “we know not what we should pray for as we ought,” when we are aided by the secret intercessory work of the Spirit of God.…
Read MoreThe Great Evangelical Mea Culpa
Layton Talbert (Originally published in FrontLine • November/December 2006.) An anatomical anomaly is on the rise these days: many are giving evidence of an essentially Fundamentalist heart trapped in an Evangelical body. True, many well-known Evangelicals have succumbed to the Asa Syndrome — a combination of age and habitual accommodation. Others, however, have for years…
Read MoreDavid: A Man Chosen According to God’s Heart
Layton Talbert The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). This first reference to David in the Bible has been popularly enshrined in inspiring devotional terms. “A man after his own heart” — we tend to isolate that famous phrase and take it to mean that David was a…
Read MoreAntidote to False Teaching: Stability and Growth in The Knowledge of Christ (2 Peter)
Layton Talbert The single most effective method for studying any book of the Bible is accessible to every believer. You do not need to know Hebrew or Greek, earn a seminary degree, or purchase a shelf-full of commentaries. All these are helpful, of course. No carpenter spurns tools that will make his work more efficient…
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