Tommy Mann

Each year around Easter I hear people ask the same question: How was Jesus dead for three days? After all, Friday night to Sunday morning hardly constitutes three days. This has led to some confusion, causing some to speculate that Jesus either died earlier in the week, or that Scripture got the event wrong. First of all, we need to stress that the Bible teaches the Resurrection would occur on the third day, not in three days. Who decided that Jesus needed to be in the tomb for a minimum of 72 hours in order for Scripture to be accurate?  Consider Matthew 16:21, which predicted Jesus would, “be killed and be raised the third day.” Also consider that Matthew 17:23, 20:19, 27:64, Mark 9:31, 10:34, Luke 9:22, 18:33, 24:7, 24:21, 24:46, Acts 10:40, and 1 Corinthians 15:4 all teach the Resurrection on the third day. This is easy to reconcile. Jesus died and was buried on Friday before sundown, marking the first day—not 24 hours, but the first day. Saturday was the sec...

Q. Where is Christ now? A. Christ sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for the saints. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead He ascended back into heaven. His absence from earth made way for the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, so Jesus told His disciples it was good that He left (John 16:7). When Jesus left He didn’t retire to South Florida, nor did He go to heaven to twiddle His thumbs and wait for the rapture. He is busy today sitting at the right hand of the Father, serving as our advocate. Romans 8:34 says Jesus, “indeed is interceding for us (also see Hebrews 7:25).” This work of intercession means Jesus speaks to God on our behalf. This is comparable to the role of a defense attorney. Why do we need an attorney? Because there is a prosecutor bringing horrible charges against us, and unfortunately, the charges are all true. Revelation 12:10 says Satan is “the accuser of the brethren” who has been accusing us “day and night....

One of the most common facts about the Christmas story and the birth of the baby Jesus is the miraculous nature in which He was born—to a virgin. In both Testaments of the Bible the virgin birth is mentioned; it is prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, then fulfilled in Matthew 1:23. The word virgin is peppered throughout Matthew and Luke’s account of the birth, as well as in Isaiah’s prophecy. Some like to point out that the word virgin doesn’t just refer to a person who has never had intercourse, but that it can also simply mean a young girl or bride. Does this present a problem to the biblical account? If Mary was not a virgin then the birth of Jesus doesn’t involve the supernatural elements of divinity. But the truth is that it really doesn’t matter what the word virgin means. Consider a few things. First, since it was against the law for any unmarried people to engage in intercourse, all young girls were virgins. The terms were interchangeable, and Mary would have been b...

Unexpected Love by Julie Zine Coleman is a study on “God’s heart revealed in Jesus’ conversations with women.” The book explores nine conversations that Jesus had with women during His earthly ministry; these women are Jesus’ mother, the woman with the issue of blood, the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with her hair, the Syrophoenician woman, the woman caught in adultery, Martha, the woman at the well, Salome, and Mary Magdalene. Each chapter begins with the actual text from Scripture written out, then the author’s paraphrase of the event. I really appreciated that the Scriptural account came first, which allowed any reader not familiar with the Bible to see the biblical record first, then see the author’s thoughts. Julie’s gift for writing clearly comes through in her paraphrase of these events. After the story is set up there is a Digging Deeper section where it is obvious that the author has done an immense amount of study. In this section she includes details...