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LEVITICUS 5-6:
Yesterday we read about sacrifices given for unintentional sins and for peace offerings. And I said that we would hear about offerings for intentional sins today.PSALM 12:
In Psalm 12, we hear of trusting in God's promises even in the midst of hard times.Translation note:
6 The [words//promises] of the Lord can be trusted;
they are as genuine as silver
refined seven times in the furnace.[The Hebrew word here is not specific to just promises. But on the other hand, in this context, this verse is responding to the Lord’s promise in verse 5. So GNT’s translation is fine. However one can see the influence of the GNT on other translations by looking at this verse.]
LUKE 9:
Yesterday to the woman healed of bleeding, Jesus said, “It is because you believe in me that you are healed.” And to Jairus, He said, “ Don’t be afraid. Just keep on believing in Me.”Translation notes:
8 Others were saying that [the prophet] Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life.
18 One day when Jesus was praying alone, the disciples came to him. “[What role do the crowds say that I am fulfilling?//Who do the crowds say I am?]” he asked them.
19 “Some say that you are [taking the role of] John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say that you are [taking the role of the prophet] Elijah, while others say that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “What about you?” he asked them. “[What do you say about me?//Who do you say I am?]”
Peter answered, “You are God's Messiah.”
22 He also told them, “[I, the//The Son] of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. [I//He] will be put to death, but three days later [I//he] will be raised to life.”
26 If you are ashamed of me[, the Son of Man,] and of my teaching, then [I//the Son of Man] will be ashamed of you when [I come in my//he comes in his] glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. -
LEVITICUS 3-4:
Yesterday in the beginning chapters of Leviticus, we heard about burnt offerings and grain offerings. In the first chapter, did you happen to notice how many things were being done by the person bringing the offering, not the priest?Andrew Bonar states about Leviticus:
“There is no book in the whole compass of that inspired Volume which the Holy Spirit has given us, that contains more of the very words of God than Leviticus. It is God that is the direct speaker in almost every page; His gracious words are recorded in the form wherein they were uttered.”Note this in our reading in Leviticus today: By and large, the sacrificial system was set up to forgive unintentional sins. (Some small exceptions will be noted in tomorrow’s reading in Leviticus.) It is good to draw a distinction— as the book of Hebrews does, between unintentional and intentional sins. Each of us should feel uncomfortable because each of us can look back and remember sins we committed intentionally. Let us make the firm commitment to never trample upon our Savior’s kindness by sinning intentionally. But we can praise the Lord for this verse spoken by Paul in Acts 13:
38-39 NET “Therefore let it be known to you, brothers [and sisters//0], that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.”
PSALM 11:
Psalm 11 is a song of trust in the Lord.LUKE 8b:
Yesterday we read the parable of the sower or different kinds of soil. Jesus taught about the importance of hearing and doing what is in God's Word, and that was echoed again when his mother and brothers came to see him.
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LEVITICUS 1-2:
Yesterday in the final chapter of Exodus, the worship in the completed and the dedicated tabernacle was started.Leviticus is a continuation of Exodus, in the same way, that Exodus is a continuation of Genesis. Leviticus also starts with the word ‘And’. The title once again comes from Latin Vulgate which was based on the name in the Septuagint. So the name does not come from the Hebrew. But because of the name Leviticus with its obvious relationship to the Levites, many think that this book is a handbook only for the priests. Not so. Wenham (from Constable) states:
“It would be wrong, however, to describe Leviticus simply as a manual for priests. It is equally, if not more, concerned with the part the laity should play in worship. Many of the regulations explain what the layman should sacrifice. They tell him when to go to the sanctuary, what to bring, and what he may expect the priest to do when he arrives. Most of the laws apply to all Israel: only a few sections specifically concern the priests alone, e.g., chs. 21—22. The lay orientation of the legislation is particularly noticeable in ch. 23, where the whole emphasis lies on the days that must be observed as days of Sabbath rest.”
Many New Testament concepts are foreshadowed in this book, such as the seriousness of sin in God’s sight, the necessity of atonement of sin, the holiness of God, and the necessity of a mediator between God and Man. H.C. Mears summarizes the themes of the first three books of the Bible,
“In Genesis we see humanity ruined, in Exodus, humanity redeemed, and in Leviticus, humanity worshipping.”
One can’t read this book without being thankful to Christ Jesus for His sacrifice which fulfills for us the incredibly detailed laws about sacrifice under the old covenant.
PSALM 10:
E.C. Olsen says this Psalm has “a triple theme: the silence of God, the despair of the humble, and the pride of the wicked.” This Psalm doesn't give us all the answers, but we know God understands how we feel about these things.LUKE 8:
At the end of Luke 7, we read about how Jesus was anointed by a sinful woman, and how Jesus answered the silent criticism of Simon, the Pharisee. -
EXODUS 40:
Yesterday in Exodus we read about Bezalel making the outside articles for worship— like the altar for burnt offerings. There was a listing of materials used, and then we heard of the making of the priests' clothes— all according to how Moses was instructed by God. Moses inspected everything and blessed the people. The stage is set for the start of worship according to God's instructions.
PSALM 9:
Psalm 9 is a song celebrating God sitting on his throne and judging justly.
LUKE 7b:
Yesterday we read about Jesus healing a favorite slave of a Roman officer and the raising of a widow's son from death. We start today’s rereading where Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist.
In our reading today at the end of Luke 7, Jesus says to a woman who has been forgiven many sins, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you.” I want to emphasize again: Jesus did NOT use ‘faith’ to mean such things as inner fortitude, vague hope, blind trust, denominational faith, or many other meanings. Remember that in Greek, ‘faith’ is simply the noun form of ‘believe’. So Jesus’ statement can be translated, “It is because you believe in Me that you’ve been saved.”
Then Jesus told the woman, “Go in peace.” Have you ever thought of what ‘peace’ means in a place like this? Jesus wasn’t telling her that she would have absence of war. You would be right in telling me that this is a spiritual peace. But if you told someone, ‘Go with spiritual peace’, it kind of sounds hollow. What we’re talking about is an inner peace that one can have even in the midst of the world falling apart all around you. After much discussion, what we came up with for the Indonesian language is, ‘go with the feeling of calm in God’s protection’ or another way to say it, ‘go with the calm assurance of being sheltered by God’. This is the realistic kind of inner peace that we who love the Lord have according to Romans 8:28.
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EXODUS 38-39:
In the two chapters we heard in Exodus yesterday, we heard of the building of the tabernacle, the Covenant Box, and the other furniture of the Holy Place and Most Holy Place. Everything was done precisely as God had described before. The actor ‘he’ as we start chapter 38 is again Bezalel.
PSALM 8:
Today we read Psalm 8. Verses 4-8 from this Psalm are quoted in Hebrews 2 but frequently misunderstood. The term “the son of man” does not refer to Jesus in this Psalm or in Hebrews 2, and the NLT and the GNT are correct in not using that term here. This is a psalm of praise for the awesomeness of God, expressing amazement at the place of _mankind_ in God's creation.
The first verse of Ps. 8 in literal translations, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
This verse contains a type of figure of speech called a metonymy. Metonymy is when something small is used to stand for something big, like in the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword”— where both ‘pen’ and ‘sword’ are metonymies. So in the sentence, ‘how majestic is your name in all the earth’, ‘name’ stands for the whole person of God, or in this case, it might stand for God’s reputation. Although English clearly uses metonymy, we don't so often use it based on ‘name’. A more natural metonymy for English and a good translation for this verse would be, “O Lord, our Lord, your glorious fingerprints are visible everywhere on earth!”
LUKE 7a:
Yesterday, in Luke chapter 6 we read the Beatitudes, and Jesus taught about loving others and not judging them. Jesus taught using the figures of trees and their fruit, and building houses upon a rock foundation.
One of the most frequently misquoted verses in Scripture was included in yesterday’s portion of Luke 6, “Do not judge others and you will not be judged.” But if we take that to the extreme, we would not be able to recognize good and bad people, as Jesus talks about in verse 45. And there are many other places where Christians are called upon to make judgments— especially those who are shepherds over a flock of believers. But the key is not bringing judgment against others if we might be found to be guilty of the same fault.
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EXODUS 36-37:
Yesterday in Exodus we read about how Moses returned to the top of the mountain, taking two stone tablets which he had made, and God repeated many of the terms of the covenant. In the Hebrew text, chapter 34:28 says that ‘he’ engraved the 10 commandments over again on the second set of stone tablets. Because Moses is the last actor mentioned, some translations take it that Moses engraved the second set of tablets. But we know from Ex. 34:1 and Deut. 10:2-4 that God engraved both sets. Then after Moses came back down the mountain, the people responded to God by willingly bringing all that was required to make the Tabernacle.PSALM 7:
Psalm 7 is the song of a slandered saint.Psalm 7 is one of the Psalms and in our English translations where it seems like the writer shifted unexpected from praying to God directly, to speaking to the reader about God. Some Psalms shift back and forth between speaking about and praying to God with dizzying frequency. However, readers of the original Hebrew may understand such psalms as praying directly to God from start to finish. I don’t have space here to explain the vast differences between Hebrew and English that have skewed our translations in this way, and I admit that I don’t understand the causes well enough to write clearly about them.
I can only say this: When reading Old Testament prayers in the NLT, GNT, or NIV, you may notice rapid changes: Talk to God, talk about God, pray to God again, then talk about God again. If you want to see a translation which does a more coherent job of translating OT prayers, take a look at the Contemporary English Version. The CEV is available in the YouVersion Bible app but does not have recordings. I appreciate that the CEV translators made many Psalms sound like the writer is praying to God all the way through.
LUKE 6b:
In the first half of Luke 6 yesterday, we saw the beginning of opposition to Jesus based on the way He kept the Sabbath law. He kept the Law but did not follow added traditions. He chose his 12 disciples and called them apostles. This biblical term basically means representatives. Then he gave the Beatitudes, which in Luke— unlike the more famous set in Matthew, include both the Blessings and corresponding Woes. -
EXODUS 34-35:
In yesterday’s reading in Exodus, we heard about how God's meeting with Moses was interrupted because of the people making the golden calf. (Don’t ya’ hate interruptions!) Aaron caved into the people's desires. Moses interceded for the people, and God agreed not to destroy them. God eventually agreed to go with the people to the promised land. As we heard at the close of chapter 33, Moses asked to actually see God. God will hide Moses in a cleft in a rock, and allow Moses to see his back.PSALM 6:
Today we read Psalm 6, which is the prayer of a wronged and oppressed man crying out to God for help and rescue. God has revealed more to us than was revealed to David. We now know that people can praise God after death.LUKE 6:
Yesterday in Luke chapter 5, Jesus called several of his disciples after the miracle of the large catch of fish, healed two men, and answered a question about fasting.Before I start our prayer for today, remember that scene where Moses asked to see the Lord. God put him on a rock, and Moses was protected in the opening of the rock, the cleft of the rock. There’s a hymn about that, and it’s a beautiful picture of our Rock, Jesus. Through Him, we can come to God in prayer today.
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EXODUS 32-33:
Yesterday in Exodus, we heard about the plans for the incense altar, and about the making of incense and anointing oil. We heard also of God's choosing and giving the ability to Bezalel and Oholiab for making everything required in the worship of God. And God emphasized the importance of keeping the Sabbath as a covenant responsibility.PSALM 5:
Psalm 5 is a song for early morning (when arising from a night of sleep). Erling Olsen comments that this Psalm says that God hates or detests evildoers. Olsen observes correctly that this stands in stark contrast to pictures of God that make him only capable of the sentiment of love. We as God's created beings have no right to criticize Him or remake him in an image we find more acceptable. God who created us has all emotions. And thankfully, He is completely just. He possesses the right to judge his created beings.LUKE 5:
Yesterday in Luke 4, we read of Jesus being rejected in his hometown, of healings, and casting out demons. He refused to have his identity proclaimed by demons and silenced them. And He refused to stay in one town but went around preaching in the whole area.The verses we will hear today in Luke 5:22-23 were very difficult for us to translate into both languages in which I have worked as a Bible translator. The NLT translated this way: “Why do you question this in your hearts? 23 Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?
For one thing, it is not physically ‘difficult’ to pronounce either statement. As to the answer to the rhetorical question ‘which is easier to say’, I do NOT buy the interpretation found in some translations that it was easier for Jesus to forgive the man’s sins because it was something that could not be physically seen. It was hard for Jesus to say both statements— hard in the sense that both statements require the power of God. Remember, Jesus knows that He will go to the cross in order to purchase forgiveness for this man— and for us. Jesus chose the order of his statements— not based on apparent difficulty, but to prove an important point to everyone, and especially his critics. As you listen today, be sure to catch the point!
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EXODUS 30-31:
In yesterday’s reading in Exodus, we heard the instructions for consecrating the priests for their special work.PSALM 4:
Psalm 4 is an evening hymn expressing our trust in God.LUKE 4b:
Yesterday we heard about Jesus being tested by the devil, and today we will revisit the story of how Jesus was rejected in his hometown. When Jesus had finished reading from that special place in Isaiah 61, he sat down. In our culture, we are likely to assume that sitting down was without the expectation of teaching. But in Jewish practice of this time, teachers sat down to teach. Frequently in the Gospels, we find Jesus taking a sitting position when teaching.In verse 38, Luke uses Peter’s given name, Simon, not the name Jesus gave him in John 1, which was Cephas in Aramaic, and which is Petrus/Peter in Greek. Many readers of this gospel today won’t make the connection of Simon to Peter. Some people wonder if there is a rhyme or reason for where the gospel writers used one name or another, and most of the time I think the writers simply were using the name they normally called him. But in John 21, I think that Jesus calling him ‘Simon son of John’ is significant. On that day, Jesus did not use the name He had given to him.
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EXODUS 29:
In our reading in Exodus yesterday, we heard about the design of the altar for burnt offerings and the plans for the courtyard. The dimensions we heard the day before were for the sacred tent that was enclosed by the courtyard that we heard about yesterday. And we read about the fabulous garments for the priests, Aaron, and his sons.PSALM 3:
As the title for today’s Psalm says, this is “A Psalm of David, regarding the time David fled from his son Absalom.” The ancient titles in the Psalms were written by the rabbis at a time much later than David’s, so we need not consider the titles as part of the sacred text.Found at various strategic points in the Psalms is the word ‘Selah’. This has been variously translated. The truth is, we don’t know what it means! But people conjecture that it is a musical term, and it likely could have signaled an interlude. I suspect it could be a repetition mark. Whatever it is, it likely would have had the effect of allowing the listener to pause and reflect on what was just performed or communicated.
Luke 4a:
Yesterday we heard of John the Baptist's ministry and imprisonment, and the genealogy of Jesus.The genealogy in Luke starts a bit differently, with the words, “He was the son (as was supposed) of Joseph.” These words alone are not enough to substantiate the claim that this genealogy is that of Mary. One thing we can say, only Mary could have supplied the information we heard in the first two chapters of Luke.
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EXODUS 27-28:
Yesterday in Exodus, we heard the beginning plans given by God for the Tabernacle (or sacred tent) and the Arc of the Covenant, that was to become the focal point for the worship of God under the Covenant. The whole Tabernacle— and particularly the atonement cover on top of the Arc of the Covenant (called the Mercy Seat), symbolized that God was living among them. (Ex. 25:8) The whole Tabernacle was to be made exquisitely, as appropriate for God's own dwelling.PSALM 2:
In Psalm 1, the author (probably David) mentioned obeying and studying ‘the Law’. In much of the Old Testament and even in the New, the word ‘Law’ came to mean more than the Mosaic Law or just the first 5 books of the Old Testament. We are within bounds to say that the author intended meditation and study of all of God’s Word.Today we have our first prophetic Psalm.
LUKE 3:
Yesterday in Luke we heard of Jesus' childhood, and today we will hear of John the Baptist's ministry. -
EXODUS 25-26:
Yesterday we read the commands for the Israelites to be good neighbors and to practice justice. And we heard the requirement for all Israelites to celebrate three festivals, and God gave promises of how He would bring them into the land. Then we read the story of how Moses led the people in accepting the covenant. Note how important the sacrificial blood was in this ceremony. The Israelites promised to obey the covenant. Moses told them to wait for him, then followed God's call to go up to the summit of the mountain, where he stayed for 40 days and nights.PSALMS 1:
Job— as I said before, is a book of sophisticated poetry, one that uses literary devices and makes reference to a well-developed mythology. And we find a book that defies simple analysis. At the conclusion of Job, some of you may be feeling that some basic questions were not really answered. Some of you may be saying, “But I have suffered injustice, and God has not responded to me the way he responded to Job at the end of the book.” To those of you, I say that we can learn several things from Job, and one would be that there are many things God takes into account that we do not know about. And secondly, we can be sure that God is just and fair, and in the final analysis— when we reach heaven, all issues of justice will be resolved. And I also say this: I hope you continue to read the Bible with us this year, because we will find more answers about God’s sovereignty and justice as we go on.The book of Psalms was the nation of Israel's hymnbook. The poems were compiled over time, with most of the first half by King David. The Psalms fall into these categories:
Instruction, Praise, Thanksgiving,
Penitence, Trust, Distress,
Aspiration, History, and Prophecy.
Under the prophecy category, the Psalms talk of Jesus' prophetic office, his priestly office, his kingly office, his sufferings, and his resurrection. (For details, see HC Mears.)
LUKE 2b:
Yesterday we read of Jesus' birth, of the angels announcement to the shepherds, and of Jesus being presented in the temple— which is where we pick up the story today.GNT Translation note:
Luk. 2:34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, [the child’s//his] mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against 35 and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”
NLT Translation notes:
Luk. 2:30 [For I have now//I have] seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal [You/God] to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!” -
EXODUS 23-24:
Yesterday in Exodus we heard laws regarding the treatment of slaves, cases of personal injury, protection of private property, and social responsibility.Job 42:
As we turn to the final chapter of Job, we have heard three chapters of God confronting Job. Today Job gives his final response, and we hear of God’s blessings to him.Luke 2a:
Yesterday in Luke, Mary visited Elizabeth, and we read Mary's famous song of praise, and later John's father Zechariah prayed an inspired and fully-believing prophetic prayer. -
In our reading in Exodus yesterday, we read about the awesome and fearful way the Lord revealed himself at Mount Sinai to the Israelites. (Remember that for when we come to Hebrews 13.) And God gave the 10 Commandments.
JOB 41:
In Job today, God continues to confront and challenge Job, asking questions revealing God's power compared to human weakness.A note about Leviathan in this chapter. Leviathan can be compared to a sea crocodile. The identification of Leviathan is disputed, ranging from an earthly creature to a mythical sea monster in ancient literature.
LUKE 1b:
As we started Luke’s gospel yesterday, we read Luke’s prologue, in which he formally stated his purpose in writing this account. Then we read of Zechariah's unbelief, and how Mary accepted the role God had given to her. She said:1:38 NIV “ I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
It is very interesting to me that Zechariah receives a punishment for not believing, according to Gabriel’s words. But there is not that much difference in the first reaction of Zechariah and Mary’s first reaction to Gabriel’s messages. Zechariah said, “How can I be sure this will happen?” And then he gave his and Elizabeth’s ages as the reason for his question. Mary responded very similarly, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” I conclude that the differing responses from Gabriel are not based on the wording of Zechariah’s and Mary’s responses. Gabriel is simply relaying God’s messages, and God sees into the heart of each person. And this is something for us to remember— whether or not we are visited by an angel!
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EXODUS 19-20:
Yesterday in Exodus, we heard of God satisfying the thirst of the Israelites by commanding Moses to hit a rock. Israel defeated the Amalekites. And Jethro brought Moses’ wife and sons to him and stayed around long enough to give him good advice.Note that in Hebrew, God often talks of _Himself_ in what we might term the royal fashion— as ‘The Lord’, and as ‘He’ or ‘His’ (instead of ‘Me’ and ‘My’). Many translations into other languages must use ‘I, the Lord’ and ‘Me/My’, as to speak of oneself in the third person is ungrammatical. To speak that way is highly unusual in English. An example of this happens in today’s reading in Exodus 20:7, in the commandment about not taking the Lord’s name in vain.
JOB 40:
Yesterday in the book of Job, God continued to challenge Job with questions too hard for humans to answer. In today’s chapter, starting at verse 15, we read about the Behemoth. The GNT footnote tells that some identify this as a hippopotamus. But the description of Behemoth's tail in verse 17 doesn't fit with a hippopotamus. Maybe a sea crocodile would be a better choice, but they don’t eat grass. It is perhaps better to simply say that the Behemoth and Leviathan are legendary or mythical sea creatures.LUKE 1:
Yesterday we finished 2nd Peter with his advising us to get ready for the Lord's return.Luke— as we will find out in other NT books, was the physician who was a traveling companion of Paul. His goal was to write a well-researched and ordered account of Jesus' life— as he says in his formal prologue.
Robert Maddox states:
“[Luke] writes to reassure the Christians of his day that their faith in Jesus is no aberration, but the authentic goal towards which God’s ancient dealings with Israel were driving.” More Muslims have become followers of Christ through reading Luke’s Gospel than from reading the other three, because of its emphases.
Luke is the longest book of the NT, and if we put Luke’s two books together, they form 27% of the NT.
Luke wrote to Theophilus, who may have been a Roman dignitary, but since the name means “Lover of God” Luke may have intended his book for all of us who love God. Luke's explanations show that he was writing to the Greeks, and so he appropriately brings out that Christ came for all mankind— Jews, and Gentiles. Luke also highlights the roles played by women. A major example of this is the material in this gospel that clearly from Luke’s interviews with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Luke includes more poetry than the other Gospels, tells more about Jesus praying, and chronicles Jesus' parables and teaching.
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EXODUS 17-18:
Yesterday in Exodus we heard the wonderful victory song of Moses. Then we heard how the people of Israel grumbled against Moses, Aaron, and most importantly, the Lord. Even about a simple command like the one about gathering manna, the people of Israel disobey repeatedly. They are not called stubborn for nothing.
JOB 39:
Job 39 is the continuation of God’s harsh challenges to Job.2PETER 3:
I observe about 2Peter chapter 2, that sadly, even in Peter's day, there were greedy false teachers. Peter's descriptions of the false teachers are some of the most colorful in the Bible. -
EXODUS 15-16:
Yesterday in our reading in Exodus, we heard that because of the Passover plague which killed Egypt's firstborn, God claimed the firstborn of Israel for all time to come. Then we heard of Pharaoh's final hardening of his heart, and the parting of the red sea.JOB 38:
In the 6 chapters before this, Elihu has said that God uses multiple means of communication with humans. He maintained that God is just, and said that Job— in his despair, had gone too far in saying it doesn't make any difference if one tries to serve God. He said that God is amazing in His power, and God does notice and punish the wicked. Then it so happened that as Elihu was speaking, a storm was blowing up that showed God's awesome majesty. Then— in today’s chapter, the Lord answers Job, not the last speaker, Elihu.2PETER 2:
Yesterday in 2nd Peter we heard that we can employ God's promises to supply power for godly living. This power can even enable us to share in God's own nature, thereby escaping the world's corruption. For many years I was disappointed in Peter because he did not tell us WHICH promises we need to claim to escape worldly corruption and evil desires. I have concluded that everyone is different, and what works for me may not work for you. But if you are interested in what works for me, I recommend a seven day YouVersion reading plan I made called Buckling the Belt of Truth.There is a stark contrast between chapter 2 of 2nd Peter and the end of chapter 1. So before we start our readings for today, let me remind you what we read at the end of chapter 1.
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EXODUS 13-14:
Yesterday In Exodus we heard of the final plague— the death of the firstborn, which happened at the first Passover. And we heard the rules for the Passover celebrations. Note how Christ is foreshadowed in the Passover lamb, including the detail that not a bone was to be broken.JOB 37:
Today we read chapter 37 of Job, which is the conclusion of Elihu's speech.2nd PETER 1:
Yesterday in the last chapter of his letter, James railed against the rich to encourage the poor. He also told us how to be patient in our suffering. The last section teaches about prayer for the sick and finally about repentance. I add a little footnote here. So often I hear the part about praying for the sick quoted by people who do not bother to fulfill all the instructions that James gives. If we are going to claim promises in Scriptures, we need to fulfill the conditions given!The 2nd letter of Peter's was probably written not long before he was martyred in AD 68. Or it could have been written as early as AD 65. A different person with a very different vocabulary served as Peter’s secretary to write this. One of the things that tell me that Peter really was the author is his consistent humility. In 1Peter 5, he spoke of himself as a fellow elder and a fellow in looking forward to the glory that will be revealed to us. And he starts this letter in a similar vein, calling his listeners those ‘who share the same precious [faith/way of believing] we [apostles] have.’
Constable quotes Vernon McGee:
“Second Peter is the swan song of Peter, just as 2 Timothy is the swan song of Paul. There are striking similarities between the two books. Both epistles put up a warning sign along the pilgrim pathway the church is traveling to identify the awful apostasy that was on the way at the time and which in our time has now arrived. What was then like a cloud the size of a man’s hand today envelops the sky and produces a storm of hurricane proportions. Peter warns of heresy among teachers; Paul warns of heresy among the laity.”
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EXODUS 11-12:
Yesterday we heard of the plague against the livestock, the plague of boils, and the plague of hail. We are not told how much time there was in between each plague. It seems there was enough time for many Egyptians to buy more livestock before they were again decimated by the hail. Then we heard about the plague of locusts followed by the plague of darkness.I hope you noticed Who is doing the hardening of hearts and causing the stubbornness. Paul talks about that in Romans 9.
JOB 36:
Job chapter 36 is Elihu's 5th chapter preaching to Job.JAMES 5:
In the 4th chapter of his letter, James preached against the way the world had infiltrated the church— and we could say, still infiltrates the church. He gave an important clue about why God doesn't answer our prayers. And he taught that we need to purify our hearts from pride and having divided loyalty between God and the world. He gave a big clue on how to be rid of Satan's influence. Finally, James taught us how prideful it is to judge others, and warned about prideful planning.Note that in verses 1-6 of today’s reading, James is using the rhetorical device called ‘apostrophe’— where he harshly rebukes rich people who are NOT actually in his audience. He is doing this to give comfort to his actual audience, which includes many who are poor. It is almost certainly the case that any rich people who were actually part of James’ audience had not done the crimes James mentions.
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EXODUS 9-10:
The two chapters of Exodus we read yesterday included the story of Aaron's staff becoming a serpent, and the plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, and flies.Note verse that in our reading today:
9:19 GNT Now give orders for your livestock and everything else you have in the open to be put under shelter. Hail will fall on the people and animals left outside unprotected, and they will all die.’ ”
Evidently, enough time had passed between the plague against the livestock so that the Egyptians were able to again purchase livestock, and I am sure the people of Israel profited in many of those transactions!
JOB 35:
Chapter 35 of Job is Elihu's 4th chapter preaching to Job.JAMES 4:
Yesterday James preached about controlling the tongue, then he taught about the qualities of wisdom from God. - もっと表示する
