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Bible reading for December 29 -- 31 Dec 29 -- Malachi 2 and John 19 Dec 30 -- Malachi 3 and John 20 Dec 31 -- Malachi 4 and John 21 ================ "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall."  (Malachi 4:2)  DOING ALL THINGS POORLY (Mal 2-3). As we draw near the end of the Mosaic covenant period, we see that even when the remnant of Israel is spared and returned to the land, they still do not continue in faithfulness and zeal. The Jews have lost their sense of God's greatness and their religion is half-hearted at best. The Lord himself will come to them: "Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts" (3:1). God's Son, Jesus, would himself stand in the temple courts in Jerusa...

Bible reading for Nov 17 -- 18 Nov 17 -- Amos 6 and Luke 1:39-80 Nov 18 -- Amos 7 and Luke 2 ================ "Then the Lord said, 'Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them...'" (Amos 7:8)  THE LEISURE CLASS (ch 6). It seems Amos' generation had the same mindset as our advertisers today, that is, "You deserve the best!" Note how the people of Israel are described: idle, taking it easy, self-secure, partying, and enjoying the best beauty products (vv 1-7). This sinful lifestyle was rooted in pride (v 8) and injustice (v 12). Not all prosperity is bad, for example, we may enjoy what God gives when it is something permissible, prayed about, and used with gratitude and humility (2 Tim 4:4-5). But much luxury can come at the cost of spiritual compromise (idolatry), self-indulgence, and from taking advantage of vulnerable people (injustice).  CANCELLING AMOS (ch 7). In compassion and mercy, Amos inte...

Bible reading for April 26 -- 27 Apr 26 -- Song of Solomon 1 and Hebrews 1 Apr 27 -- Song of Solomon 2 and Hebrews 2 ================    "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." (Song of Solomon 2:4)  THE GREAT ROMANCE. Biblical wisdom contemplates the great mysteries of life. Job dealt with pain, and now Solomon deals with pleasure. Proverbs warns against sexual sin, and Ecclesiastes tells us to enjoy our family life, and here is a book dedicated to extolling the beauty of courtship, romance, marriage, and sexuality. It's a book filled with sensual (in a good sense) imagery and metaphors drawn from nature. Marriage in all of its dimensions, including sexual relations, is good. Josh McDowell used to say, "Sex is God's idea. He even created the plumbing!" The Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) is about our marriages and also about our relationship with the Lord. Everything beautiful in love and marriage -- its co...

Bible reading for weekend March 26 -- 28 Mar 26 -- Proverbs 13 and Ephesians 6   Mar 27 -- Proverbs 14 and Philippians 1 Mar 28 -- Proverbs 15 and Philippians 2 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12) HOPE DEFERRED (ch 13). What do we do with our desires in life? Do we merely seek to fulfill them, or should we deny them? Proverbs addresses what the wise person does to manage, and ultimately fulfill, his desires in life. Solomon is writing on the theme of wealth, along with the related topics of being teachable and preserving good speech (vv 1-10). Look at this one portion (vv 11-20) which repeats the phrase "a desire fulfilled" toward beginning and end. What do we learn from the proverbs recorded between those statements?   We do not deny all of our desires, because life from God includes fulfillment of good desires (v 12, 19). Fulfillment of desires (especially wealth) comes incrementally, and we should not...

Bible reading for Nov 18.  1 Chronicles 11-12. "All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with full intent to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king." (12:38)  HEROES. These chapters look back to 2 Sam 23 and the list of David's "mighty men" (Heb., ha-gibborim ). As postmodern as we may be, most of us still long for heroes, whether it be a political figure, athlete, soldier, scientist, or artist. It may only be imaginary, like Iron Man or Wonder Woman, but we still cheer for men and women of courage and strength who accomplish great things. King David attracted a wide assortment of people from various tribes (both within and outside of Israel) to be his inner guard or to serve as military commanders. They had various skills and abilities, for example, ambidexterity with weapons (12:2) or the gift of wisdom (12:32). Many of them had followed David in the wilderness while in e...

Bible reading for Nov 3.  2 Kings 16. "...but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel." (2 Kings 16:3)  NO SANITIZED HISTORY HERE. When I was in elementary school learning about American history, our presidents were presented in a very sanitized form. About the worst I learned about George Washington was that he cut down a cherry tree. Not so for Jewish children. Their national history, being recorded in the inspired Scriptures, is described from God's perspective, meaning the people there are painted with all their blemishes and moral failures. King Ahaz was an imitator (he wanted to be like Assyria) and an innovator (he wanted to change the way Jews would approach God). We have plenty of that going around in the world today -- people wanting to come to God however they'd like. And we can see here how imitating the worl...

Bible reading for weekend March 20-22: Exodus 31-33; John 10-12.  "...and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs..." (Exodus 31:3-4) Spirit and Sabbath (Ex 31). Here is the first mention of the Holy Spirit gifting people with special skills (Ex 31:1-11; cf Eph 4:7-14). This tells us that God cares not only about how we worship, but also about art, beauty, and craftsmanship.  And we learn that Sabbath-keeping is the sign of the covenant between God and Israel (31:12-18).  In the NT the keeping of the Sabbath, at least in the form as it is kept in the OT, is not continued in the same way.  The principle of taking and giving needed physical rest, ceasing from sinful and self-righteous works, and taking time for corporate worship still continues for those of us who follow Christ today, but there is more freedom as to the form that may take (see Rom 14:5-6; Col ...

Bible reading for the weekend March 14-15:  Exodus 25-26; John 4-5. "And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain." (Exodus 25:40)  The tabernacle.   It was at the same time a place of worship, a place where God revealed his presence and the way to approach him, and a kind of a map to the new creation. It had to be built exactly according to the pattern God revealed.   The author of Hebrews said it was "...a copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Heb 8:5) . As we move further through the book of Exodus I'll write more about the symbolism of the layout of the tabernacle  and its objects.  Also, as we are reading the Gospel of John we will see that John's portrait of Christ is laid out remarkably in accordance with the very pattern of the tabernacle itself.   ================   "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. ...

"Right in the middle of all these things stands up an enormous exception... It is nothing less that the loud assertion that this mysterious maker of the world has visited his world in person.  It declares that really and even recently, or right in the middle of historic times, there did walk into the world this original invisible being; about whom the thinkers make theories and the mythologists hand down myths; the Man Who Made the World.  That such a higher personality exists behind all things had indeed always been implied by the best thinkers, as well as by all the most beautiful legends.  But nothing of this sort had ever been implied in any of them.  It is simply false to say that the other sagas and heroes had claimed to be the mysterious master and maker, of whom the world had dreamed and disputed.  Not one of them had ever claimed to be anything of the sort.  The most that any religious prophet had said was that he was the true servant of such a bei...

"We have trusted in Jesus.  But how far can we trust him?  Just in this transitory life?  Just in this little speck that we call the earth?  If we can trust him only thus far we are of all men most miserable.  We are surrounded by stupendous forces; we are surrounded by the immensity of the unknown.  After our little span of life there is a shelving brink with the infinite beyond.  And still we are subject to fear--not only fear of destruction but a more dreadful fear of meeting with the infinite and holy God.  "So we should be if we had but a human Christ.  But now is Christ our Savior, the one who says, 'Your sins are forgiven,' revealed as very God.  And we believe.  Such a faith is a mystery to us who possess it; it seems folly to those who have it not.  But if possessed it delivers us forever from fear.  The world to us is all unknown; it is engulfed in an ocean of infinity.  But it contains no mysteries to our...