Fri, 1 December, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Peter 3:8-10

⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

In Peter’s day, there were people who were mocking the doctrine of the second coming. “Where is the promise of his coming?” they asked. “For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Almost 2000 years later and nothing has changed. People continue to mock the doctrine of Christ’s return.

But Peter tells us why Christ has not returned yet. It is because God is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

What do we learn from this?

Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. His return will usher in eternity. So if He were to return before the appointed time, all those who yet to come to salvation would be not be saved. It might seem like we are waiting a long time for Christ’s return, but God is patiently waiting for all those appointed to salvation to be born, come to repentance and faith, and to be saved.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ will return. All has been accomplished in redemptive history except for this one last event. When will he return? We don’t know. It could be at any time. But one thing we do know: as long as Jesus Christ has not returned, there are still people who need to hear the gospel. We still have work to do until His return.

Thu, 30 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Chronicles 28:20-21

²⁰ Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished. ²¹ And behold the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be every willing man who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”

We are coming to the end of David’s life. He knows that Solomon will follow him as king, and that Solomon will build the temple. David has been planning and gathering supplies for the temple that Solomon will build.

David here gives Solomon some final words of encouragement.

What do we learn from this?

If God begins a work, He will bring it to completion. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished. God will not give up on His work. He will not quit on you.

This is a great encouragement to us to continue. We should be strong and courageous in our Christian lives, knowing that God is with us, working out His purpose in our lives.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God’s ultimate purpose is to work out the salvation of His own people. He is going to bring all of them to faith in Jesus Christ. God is going to work in their lives to convict them of sin, and grant them saving faith. He will continue to work in His elect to sanctify them and prepare them for glory. If He has begun the work of saving them through the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf, He will bring it to completion.

Wed, 29 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Luke 13:1-5

¹ There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ² And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Why do people suffer? Is there always a one to one correspondence between our sin and the things we experience in life? When something bad happens to us, is it a direct result of our sin?

People were talking about a great tragedy that had recently occurred when Pilate had killed some worshiping Galileans. Jesus used that episode to teach the people about sin and punishment in this life and in the afterlife.

What do we learn from this?

Although suffering can be a direct result of personal sin, it is not always so. We can not identify the greatest sinners among us by looking for the people who are suffering the most. Good and bad happen to us all. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. And sometimes the tower does too.

Jesus is teaching that we should not try to identify the greatest sinners around us by these tragedies, but instead, we should consider our own lives. We are guilty of sin before God. We need to deal with our own sins instead of looking around for others to shake a judgmental finger at for their great sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Although not all suffering is not directly linked to our own personal sin, all suffering is ultimately the result of the fall. We are all sinners, and so what we receive in life is all much better than we deserve, even if it involves some suffering.

The only person who has suffered unjustly is Jesus Christ. He was perfectly sinless. Yet He suffered greatly. His suffering was the direct result of sin, but not of His own sin. His suffering was the result of the sins of His people. He bore the punishment for all their sins on the cross. It is through His suffering that we are made right with God.

If we do not repent of our sins and we reject the salvation that He offers to us through faith in Him, we will perish.

Tue, 28 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Micah 3:1-4

¹ And I said:
Hear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not for you to know justice?–
² you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin from off my people
and their flesh from off their bones,
³ who eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴ Then they will cry to the LORD,
but he will not answer them;
he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

In Micah’s day, there were leaders who did not care about the welfare of the people they were supposed to serve. Instead, all they cared about was themselves. They took advantage of the people under them, to their own benefit and to the detriment of the people in their charge. They did not care about justice. In fact, they hated the good and loved the evil. They abused the people in their care to the extent that Micah tells us they were tearing the skin off the people and eating their flesh.

But their treatment of God’s people does not escape God. When they face trouble and cry out to God, God will not listen to their cries for mercy. He will turn His face away from them.

What do we learn from this?

Those who are entrusted with leadership take on a great responsibility. God sees how they treat the people under them. He knows if the leaders are truly trying to do what is best for the people in their care, or if they are simply using the people for their own benefit and pleasure. Leaders who abuse their position of authority will be judged by God.

Great responsibility comes along with authority. Leaders who misuse their authority will be held accountable to God. This is true of our political leaders who care only about enjoying the benefits of office and making sure they are continually reelected. It is also true of our spiritual leaders, for they will be held accountable to an even greater degree than our political leaders. For in abusing the people in their care, the political leaders are only harming the temporal lives of their constituents. But when spiritual leaders take advantage of the people in their care, they are harming the souls of those entrusted to them.

They have made their deeds evil, and God will not answer them.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Does this mean that if a leader abuses the people in his care, he can never be saved? When he cries out to God for salvation, God will hide His face from their cry for mercy?

Absolutely not. If anyone comes to God, trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation, they will be saved. If they cry out to God for mercy, trusting in His substitute that was provided for them, God will meet them with favor. This is not talking about someone who truly trusts in Jesus Christ. This is speaking of someone who has abused their position of privilege in rebellion against God, and then cries out to God when difficult times come. They are not repentant of their sins, and they aren’t trusting in Jesus Christ. They only want to save themselves from further difficulties.

Jesus Himself has promised that He will savingly greet everyone who comes to Him in faith.

John+6:35-40

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

There are not qualifications on what sins can and will be forgiven. There is no hedging about who will have eternal life. Whoever believes will never hunger or thirst. Everyone who looks on the Son and believes shall have eternal life. That includes these wicked leaders. If they repent of their sins and turn to God, trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation, they too shall have eternal life.

There is no sin so heinous that God can not cleanse us from it, provided we come to Him repenting of it and trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Mon, 27 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Peter 4:3

³ The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Peter starts this chapter by reminding us that Christ has suffered, and so we should be prepared to suffer in order that we might be sanctified.

What do we learn from this?

Sanctification is a process. It is a daily progression of living more and more in obedience to the commands of God.

In this verse, we see where we have come from. We might be able to look back on our past and see the most horrific sins. Or we might have grown up in a Christian home and don’t have a history of such awful sins as we see Peter list here. But one thing we do have in common as Christians. Regardless of when we were awakened to faith in Christ, and regardless of the kinds of sins we have been guilty of, all Christians should be able to look back on their lives and say, “By God’s grace, today I am living more in obedience than I did yesterday.” We can look back and see that we have made progress, however slight, and in spite of occasional regressions into past sins. There is a steady, upward progression in godliness. This is sanctification. We lived a life of sin. We are living a life of less sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Peter is telling us that our sanctification is based upon the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Because He died for us, we are now able to live for Him.

Sun, 26 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Chronicles 22:1

¹ Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

David has just purchased the threshing floor from Ornan the Jebusite. At God’s command, David built an altar there and offers a sacrifice. God accepts the sacrifice and the plague against the people is ended.

As a result of all that he has happened, David declares this will be the site where the temple will be built, and the site of the altar will be where the temple’s altar will be.

What do we learn from this?

David recognizes God’s mercy in halting the plague and accepting the sacrifice. God didn’t have to accept the sacrifice and end the plague. It was God displaying His mercy. David understands that and wants to praise and thank God for His mercy. Thus he dedicates the land for the coming temple.

God’s mercy to us demands a response on our part. We can’t dedicate our property to build a new temple. The temple is obsolete. But we can commit ourselves to live a life of obedience for Him. We won’t be completely successful, but we owe it to God to do our best for the great mercy He has shown to us.

Where is Christ in this passage?

David dedicates the land for the temple where uncounted animal sacrifices were offered. These sacrifices in themselves could not pay the penalty for anyone’s sin. All they could do was to point people to the reality that their sins must be laid upon another who was to come. They pointed people to Jesus Christ.

Sat, 25 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Luke 9:1-6

¹ And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. ³ And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. ⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. ⁵ And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Jesus Christ gave the twelve apostles power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and then sent them out into the cities of Israel to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

This is an unrepeatable event. Jesus has not given us such sweeping power and authority, nor has He commanded us to travel around without staff, bag, bread or money. We can take spare clothes and money with us if we are travelling on an evangelistic mission, for this command is not to us.

What do we learn from this?

Although we don’t have the power to heal people from their diseases, we do have a command to proclaim the kingdom. At His ascension, Jesus told His disciples:

Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is a continuing command that does apply to us, just as it applied to the apostles. Go into the world and make disciples. Baptize new converts. Teach them. We don’t need to be able to heal the sick or cast out demons to fulfill this commission. We simply need to proclaim the kingdom of God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Our success in proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God is assured, as Jesus Christ has all the authority needed for the success of the mission. And He promises to be with us as we fulfil His command to proclaim the kingdom of God.

Fri, 24 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Jonah 3

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. ⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

⁶ The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

After his initial detour, Jonah has finally assented to take the message of judgment to the citizens of Nineveh. He does so unwillingly, and he apparently gives no hint of the mercy of God. He simply tells them that judgment is coming in forty days.

But even without any hint of God’s mercy, the people repent, and in their repentance, they find God’s mercy.

What do we learn from this?

God is just. He brings judgment against our sins. We can’t sin with impunity, for God will eventually judge our sins.

But God is also merciful. Though He brings judgment, He has mercy upon us as we repent. The Ninevehites found God’s mercy in their repentance, and so can we. We must come to Him in repentance, and as we do so, we will find God’s mercy.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We find God’s mercy as we repent of our sins and come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ and because of Jesus Christ that we find the mercy of God.

Thu, 23 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

James 5:7-11

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

James urges us to be patient while we wait for the coming of the Lord.

What do we learn from this?

James is teaching us that there will be difficulties in our lives. There will be suffering and hardships. If anyone tries to tell you that the Christian life will all be roses and sunshine, they are not telling you the truth. We will suffer to some degree, and we are called to suffer with patience.

This is not an easy thing, but knowing that being a Christian does not exempt us from difficulties should help prepare us to endure patiently.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We will suffer until Jesus Christ, our Lord, returns. He is going to come back some day to judge the living and the dead and to usher in eternity. Our role is to remain steadfast until either we die or Jesus Christ returns.

Wed, 22 November, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Chronicles 17:11-14

¹¹ “When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, ¹⁴ but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’”

David wanted to build a temple for the Lord. But God stops David, for David was a man of warfare. However, God promises that Solomon will be allowed to do what David is forbidden. Solomon will build the temple that David was not allowed to build.

What do we learn from this?

God sometimes stops us from doing something. We might think of some wonderful think we can do for God. We can have the best of motives in our service for God. But for some reason, God closes the door on what we intended. It doesn’t work out. The new church plant fails. No body attends the Bible study we tried to organize. The person we are praying for and witnessing to remains hostile to the gospel.

We wonder why God closes these doors. Why wouldn’t He give success to these well intentioned plans? Usually we will never know.

But take heart. If God doesn’t allow something, it is always because there is something better. He is always working everything for our ultimate good and for His glory. In David’s case, it is easy to see that God’s promise to establish David’s kingdom forever is a much greater honor than for David to build the temple. Usually we don’t have something as clear as that replace our fallen hopes. But God is working, even if we don’t see it. God has something better than we can imagine, and in eternity it will all come to fruition. It might require suffering now, but it will be worth it all in the end.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Solomon was granted the privilege withheld from David. Solomon built the temple. So in a small way, Solomon was the fulfillment of the promise God makes here to David. He shall build a house for me. Solomon built that house.

But clearly, this promise goes beyond Solomon. I will establish his throne forever…. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.

This is the promise God makes that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will come from the line of David. Jesus Christ is the son of David who will sit on the throne forever. He is the eternal King. He is the one established on David’s throne forever.