Last evening I finished writing the fourth lesson in a series of four for Word Aflame Publications. The series is titled “The Early Church.” The biblical texts include Hebrews, I and II Peter and Jude. I have written verse-by-verse commentaries on each of these books.

Lesson 4 is titled “The Better News.” The focus thought is “because we were in need of hope, God gave us good news.” The focus verse is Hebrews 1:8, and the Scripture text is Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:18-23; and Luke 2:1-20.

The lesson will be published for the Winter 2019-20 quarter.

The concluding paragraphs include this observation:

As shocking as it may be to say, the Law of Moses was not good news. Paul described it as the “ministry of death” and the “ministry of condemnation” which was passing away (II Corinthians 3:7-9, NKJV). It had “a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things,” and it could never perfect those who followed it (Hebrews 10:1-10, NKJV).