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Bible reading for December 27 -- 28 Dec 27 -- Zechariah 14 and John 17 Dec 28 -- Malachi 1 and John 18 ================ "For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 1:11)  WITH BELLS ON (Zech 14). Like most of the prophets of the Bible, Zechariah does not leave us with the bad news, but gives us the good news, the promise of a glorious future. After judgment -- if we learn from it -- comes blessing. And it's a beautiful world (see my previous post, "With Bells On").  TIRED OF GOD (Mal 1). The first two books of the Bible open with the glory of God, seen first in creation (Genesis), and then in redeeming his people from Egypt (Exodus). In the last book of the OT we find a people who are tired of God. They have lost the sense of his greatness. Regarding the worship of ...

  Bible reading for July 26 -- 27 July 26 -- Jeremiah 22 and Mark 8 July 27 -- Jeremiah 23 and Mark 9 ================    "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." (Jeremiah 23:5)    ABUSE OF POWER (ch 22) . King Josiah, himself a good and godly ruler, had two sons and a grandson mentioned in this chapter. Shallum (renamed Jehoahaz) ruled briefly after Josiah's death and was subsequently deposed by Pharaoh Necho and taken to Egypt, where he died. (At that time, before Babylon defeated Egypt, Jerusalem was subject to Egyptian power.) Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim) replaced Jehoahaz and ruled oppressively. He used forced labor to build himself a lavish new palace. Jeremiah says, however, he would have a donkey's burial (vv 18-19). We also read of Jehoiakim's response to Jeremiah's prophecies later in chapter...

  Bible reading for weekend March 12 -- 14 Mar 12 -- Job 41 and 2 Corinthians 11 Mar 13 -- Job 42 and 2 Corinthians 12 Mar 14 -- Proverbs 1 and 2 Corinthians 13 "Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (Job 42:8) THE END OF THE MATTER (ch 41-42) . God has spoken, and Job is humbled. God restores Job's life with double blessings. Job's prayer will result in God's forgiveness for the three friends. His possessions are returned two-fold, but the same number of children (seven boys, three girls) are given as before, but not doubled. Some think, and I would agree, that this is because Job's children from earlier, unlike the livestock, were not lost, in the sense of forever. They would be restored at the resurr...

Bible reading for Dec 8.  2 Chronicles 8. "Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, 'My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.'" (2 Chronicles 8:11) 3 John 1.  "I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority." (3 John 9)  POWER AND PROSPERITY. Something I noticed in both readings today: people generally can't handle power and prosperity very well. Solomon, at this point in his reign seeks to honor and obey the Lord. The Lord blesses him and the nation. But already there are indications of future problems. Solomon has married the Egyptian Pharaoh's daughter, who is not ritually clean and so must have her own residence. This is the beginning of many compromising alliances he will make (1 Kgs 11:1-8). As well, the former r...

Bible reading for Nov 24.  1 Chronicles 19-20. "And David said, 'I will deal kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash, for his father dealt kindly with me.' So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites to Hanun to console him." (19:2)  KINDNESS REBUFFED. These two chapters relate David's victories over two neighboring hostile nations, the Ammonites (ch 19) and the Philistines (ch 20). These victories foreshadow the future inheritance of David's descendant, the Messiah: "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession" (Psalm 2:8; cf Ps 110). What makes Hanun's response so despicable was that he was rejecting a kindness from David which was being made in good faith. He shamed and mocked the messengers who brought the offer of covenant friendship. Hanun serves as a warning not to foolishly reject, or treat lightly, the kindness w...

Bible reading for September 28.  2 Samuel 24. "And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel." (2 Samuel 24:25)  WHAT'S WRONG WITH A CENSUS? In the previous chapter we read David's "last words", but here the book ends by looking at another failure in the latter part of his life. Though David is a biblical hero, there are no sinless heroes except Jesus. David, a "man after God's own heart", must be viewed in the context of his times. There is a progress of revelation in biblical history: David, though not qualified to be a church elder in the NT period (too many wives!), yet he was different from other Mideastern kings of his day. His commitment to the one God, to the law, to righteousness and justice, and his compassion toward people in need excelled in his day and age. We end 2 Samuel, however, with a note of fa...

Bible reading for September 24.  2 Samuel 20. "I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?" (2 Samuel 20:19) ANOTHER REVOLT. Sometime later there is another uprising against David's reign, this time led by a man named Sheba. Joab, a loyal but violent man, kills Amasa (who was delaying in his task) and leads the army again to a successful outcome. The real victory, however, goes to an unnamed "wise woman" who knew how to bring things to a head (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). The city of Abel is spared a siege, and peace returns to the kingdom. This woman displayed the character traits of the woman Wisdom (Prov 8:12-21), described by King Solomon later.  REFLECT. Why is this story recorded in Scripture? And what are we supposed to do with it? For one thing, it shows God's continued preservation of David's kingdom from yet another ...

Bible reading for September 23.  2 Samuel 19. 'And the king said to Shimei, 'You shall not die.' And the king gave him his oath." (2 Samuel 19:23)  RETURN AND FORGIVENESS. For once, Joab gives good advice to David, to honor those who stood by him (vv 1-8). King David begins his journey back to Jerusalem (vv 9-15). Along the way he shows mercy to Shimei (vv 16-23), and divides property between Mephibosheth and Ziba (vv 24-30). Since it was a case of he said / he said, could David ever know the real story? The king honors the kindness of Barzillai by taking Chimham into royal service (vv 31-40). There is, and will be, continuing animosity between the southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) and the northern tribes (Israel)(vv 41-43). But David is magnanimous in receiving his place back from the hands of many of those who rejected him. If ever he could have been bitter toward the people it could have been at this time. His heart is inclined, however, to reconciliation and th...

Bible reading for Aug 28.  I Samuel 20. "And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul." (1 Samuel 20:17)  DAVID AND JONATHAN. In this chapter we see Jonathan make a break from unquestioned loyalty to his father, King Saul, to make a covenant with David, his closest friend (vv 14-16). Today's hyper-sexualized culture would see some kind of sexual aspect to this relationship, but in the Hebrew world for men to kiss one another's beard was a common sign of respect and honor (2 Sam 20:9; Matt 26:49; Luke 7:45). This kind of "holy kiss" was practiced in the early church, as well (e.g., Rom 16:16). What was going on was more remarkable than even strong male friendship: Jonathan, son and heir of King Saul, was giving up his right to the throne in order to serve David. Notice the words, "my house" (v 15) and "house of David" (v 16). This covenant of loyalty, or fealty, to David woul...

Bible reading for July 24.  Judges 7 The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'" (Judges 7:2) NATURAL MEANS, SUPERNATURAL RESULTS. In giving victory God often uses very natural, normal, even lowly things to achieve his purposes.  In Judges we see such things as an ox goad, a storm, a tent peg, and here, clay pots, (to come: donkey jaw bone) to bring about unusual, miraculous results. This applies to believers today: we too use natural, everyday means to see God's supernatural results. For example, God uses church fellowship, reading the Bible, prayer, witnessing to our neighbors, words of encouragement, acts of mercy, etc., to bring about wonderful results. People are won to Christ, sanctified, transformed into his image, given the ability to discern truth from error, right from wrong, choose courage over fear, faith over unbeli...

"How is this world of assumptions formed? Obviously through all the means of education and communication existing in society. Who controls those means? The question of power is inescapable. Whatever their pretensions, schools teach children to believe something and not something else. There is no ‘secular’ neutrality."  ( Lesslie Newbigin)