my burg

  Bible reading for December 22 -- 26 Dec 22 -- Zechariah 9 and John 12 Dec 23 -- Zechariah 10 and John 13 Dec 24 -- Zechariah 11 and John 14 Dec 25 -- Zechariah 12 and John 15 Dec 26 -- Zechariah 13 and John 16 We are in the Christmas holiday season, and so, I'm combining several days' readings. Next week we will be finishing the 2021 Bible reading schedule! Congratulations to those of you who have been reading along with us. Thanks for your kind and helpful notes along the way. And may you and yours have a blessed Christmas! --Sandy ================ "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9)  THREE REMARKABLE PROPHECIES (Zech 9-12) . The prophet Isaiah gave us many wonderful descriptions of the Messiah-to-come, including his miraculous birth. Daniel gave us a sketch of the Messian...

  Bible reading for December 8 -- 9  Dec 8 -- Habakkuk 3 and Luke 22 Dec 9 -- Zephaniah 1 and Luke 23 ================ "The sovereign LORD is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain." (Habakkuk 3:19 NET).  JOY IN DIFFICULT TIMES (Hab 3). The prophet considers the coming invasion of their land. Poetically, he describes the Lord as a warrior going forth to defend his name and his people. Teman and Paran (v 3) are locations along the way in which the Lord led Israel out of Egypt from the south and on to the promised land. The chapter ends with Habakkuk's statement of joy and confidence in the Lord. Isn't this a good affirmation for us too? No matter our circumstances (v 17) we can rejoice in the Lord (v 18), who will enable us to make it through difficult times (v 18). Much later, while imprisoned in Rome, the Apostle Paul would write, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ...I can d...

  Bible reading for Aug 16 -- 17 Aug 16 -- Jeremiah 44-45 and Psalm 20-21 Aug 17 -- Jeremiah 46 and Psalm 22 ================    "And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. "  (Jeremiah 44:28) NO QUEEN OF HEAVEN (ch 44). The remnant of Judah, left behind after three deportations to Babylon, have not done well. In fear of the king of Babylon, they have fled the land for sanctuary in Egypt. But even there they do not trust the Lord. The women are called out for their goddess-worship (cf 7:18), of which their husbands were supportive. This "queen" is likely some form of Ishtar (or Astarte), whose cult likely involved star worship and ritual prostitution. Such goddess-worship was a kind of female-empowerment in all the wrong ways . God's word to them through Jeremiah was that even in the ...

Bible reading for Aug 2 -- 3 Aug 2 -- Jeremiah 29 and Mark 15 Aug 3 -- Jeremiah 30-31 and Mark 16 ================    "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33) A FUTURE AND A HOPE (ch 29). The first half of this chapter regards a letter sent from Jeremiah to exiles already in Babylon (before Jerusalem is destroyed in 586 BC). There had already been two waves of deportations -- 605 BC (Daniel leaves with that group) and 597 BC (when Ezekiel leaves). He encourages them to settle in for seventy years there in a new land. His advice is applicable for Christians today... "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare" (v 7). We are, as followers of Christ, exiles and al...

Bible reading for July 28 -- 29 July 28 -- Jeremiah 24 and Mark 10 July 29 -- Jeremiah 25 and Mark 11 ================    "I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart." (Jeremiah 24:7) GOOD FIGS, BAD FIGS (ch 24). There were at least two deportations to Babylon before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Daniel (along with others) is deported in 606, and Ezekiel about 593. Two of the major prophets would write while living in exile in a foreign land. There apparently was the temptation to think that those carried off into exile were the Jews being judged and those being left behind were blessed, being the good guys. Not so, says the Lord, it's the other way around. Some lessons : 1) Be careful what you read into God's judgments. Things are not always what they seem (cf Lu 13:1-5). 2) Geographical distance makes no difference to the Lord. The Lord -- th...

  Bible reading for weekend July 23 -- 25 July 23 -- Jeremiah 19 and Mark 5 July 24 -- Jeremiah 20 and Mark 6 July 25 -- Jeremiah 21 and Mark 7 ================    "If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." (Jeremiah 20:9) THE BROKEN FLASK (ch 19). In yesterday's readings we saw that the Lord was likened to a fountain, a potter, and a sower of seeds. Here, a clay vessel, broken, becomes an illustration to the city's leaders of what's coming to Jerusalem. This takes place at Topheth, the Hinnom valley (from which we get the word, Gehenna), where child sacrifice had been taking place. The consequences of destroying their children would be the siege of the city, famine, plague, and finally, cannibalism, that is, in desperation eating the flesh of those who had died during the siege.  DIVINE SHADOWS AND IMAGES. As you...

Bible reading for weekend July 16 -- 18 July 16 -- Jeremiah 12 and Matthew 26 July 17 -- Jeremiah 13 and Matthew 27 July 18 -- Jeremiah 14 and Matthew 28 ================    "I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies." (Jeremiah 12:7) THE LORD'S HERITAGE (ch 12-14). These messages from God through Jeremiah are delivered over a period of forty years, and Jeremiah here wants the Lord to execute his judgment, already! (12:1-4) Not only was Jeremiah the target of political opponents, he also suffered the loss of family support (12:5-6). He's ready to see the judgment program move forward. But God is patient and longsuffering, and several times he refers to his people as "my heritage" (or, "inheritance")(12:7-9, 14-15). The Lord loved the people of Israel and Judah -- the "beloved of his soul" -- and he brought them close to himself "that they might be for me...

  Bible reading for July 12 -- 13 July 12 -- Jeremiah 8 and Matthew 22 July 13 -- Jeremiah 9 and Matthew 23 ================    "...let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 9:24) A BAND-AID ON CANCER (ch 8). The Babylonian invasion would be terrifying -- many would die, families would be divided, people carried off into captivity, and even ancestral tombs would be ransacked and exposed. The Babylonians would seek to eradicate Jewish history and culture. It was a severe judgment. One of the things that the people were saying was, "We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us" (v 8). But they did not really love God nor practice his commandments . They lived in "perpetual backsliding" (v 5) and treated sin lightly. The prophets and priests were putting band-aids on their society...

Bible reading for weekend March 19 -- 21 Mar 19 -- Proverbs 6 and Galatians 5 Mar 20 -- Proverbs 7 and Galatians 6 Mar 21 -- Proverbs 8 and Ephesians 1 "Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death." (Proverbs 8:34-36) BAD CHOICES (ch 6). Here's a question I have often faced: when should we rescue people from their foolish decisions? For example, when should we bail out our children, or our friends, from the consequences of their bad choices? This requires wisdom. Chapter six begins with a warning about being surety, or co-signing on a loan, for someone who will likely leave you with the burden of debt (6:1-5). This will result in personal loss, while releasing the other person from responsibility. Labor and laziness (vv 6-11) will be a recurring theme in Proverbs, too. Though indolence is a...

Bible reading for February 24 -- 25 Feb 24 -- Job 24 and 1 Corinthians 11 Feb 25 -- Job 25-26 and 1 Corinthians 12 "Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?" (Job 26:14) TO A MAN WITH A HAMMER (ch 24). Job's friends have one paradigm they're working with: if you are suffering, then you are being judged and need to repent. This is a case of the popular saying, "to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail." Job's friends are locked into a worldview, a narrative, about the reason for suffering. Job raises the question of the silence and seeming inactivity of God to bring judgment against evil. In other words, the problem is not just, why do the innocent suffer, but also why do the guilty not suffer (24:1, 12)? As we read Job's examples and descriptions of injustice, take time to ponder. This has been a question that has bothered believers and unb...

Bible reading for February 15 -- 16 Feb 15 -- Job 14 and 1 Corinthians 2 Feb 16 -- Job 15 and 1 Corinthians 3 "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one." (Job 14:4)  IS THERE HOPE? (ch 14). Job fully believes the truth about the depravity of man, as well as about human mortality. But he wonders, what lasting good can come from such extreme suffering? As you read, take time to ponder the metaphors and images he uses . At the end of this speech, he feels his hope is being washed away like the rocks of mountains are undercut and worn down by the relentless action of water. But he also raises a question, "If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands." (14:14-15)  Is there a resurrection? Can relationship with God be restored? Can something clean come out of the unclean? The OT writers do not say a lot abo...

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  (Mark 10:45) "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:6)  I've just finished reading B. B. Warfield's classic article, "Christless Christianity" (1912) available online here . This long journal article is worth the time invested in reading. Warfield's research influenced his own student, J. Gresham Machen, especially as reflected in Machen's Christianity and Liberalism (1923) and What Is Faith? (1925).  What makes this relevant to us today is that orthodox (by that I mean, historic) Christianity has always needed to defend the unique position of our Lord Jesus to Christian faith itself. Ever since the Enlightenment skeptics have sought to separate Jesus Christ (or the Jesus of history) from Christianity. This is done a number of ways, for example, ...