The Field is The World

Day 1: Genesis 1-3 - "What if we prized fellowship with God above everything else?"

Day 2: Genesis 4-6 - Deuteronomy 4:2 warns: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” There’s so much detail in these chapters and everything is significant: from Eve’s statement upon giving birth to Cain, to the meanings of the patriarchs’ names, to the significance of the “pitch” (i.e., “ransom price” or “covering”) used to make the Ark sound against the waters of God’s judgment. What if we consistently gave more earnest heed to the things God reveals to us? (Hebrews 2:1)

Day 3: Genesis 7-9 - In what ways have we distracted ourselves from the most drastic example of judgment in scripture?

Day 4: Genesis 10-12 - What would the world have been like if corruption and division not happened so quickly? How can we do better to ensure God’s work in our lives is clear to the next generation, so that it isn’t necessary to separate in order to follow God closely?

Day 5: Genesis 13-15 - How different would the world be if God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21 had been fully realized? Instead of being this tiny sliver of land on the Mediterranean, Israel would encompass half of Egypt, northward to Lebanon, Syria, southward to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait , Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Abraham was deliberately put to sleep, indicating that his descendants are not responsible for making this come to pass. When will it see fulfillment?

Day 6: Genesis 16-18 - God’s pursuit of and development of Abraham should be a comfort to all of us. See how God makes promises without being asked? He obligates Himself for Abraham’s sake, and our sake, that our faith may be built, answering requests for Isaac and Sodom and Gomorrah. What should I be asking for today?

Day 7: Genesis 19-20 - Is there any worry about the future God has in store for us that is not dispelled by careful meditation on Genesis 10? “God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow“ / “I cannot do anything till thou be come thither”

Day 8: Genesis 21-23 - In 22:2, God told Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” What does Abraham’s statement to his servants in v.5 mean? “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”

Day 9: Genesis 24-25 - God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 23:18 is repeated by Rebekah’s family in their blessing to her 24:60. And it mirrors Jesus promise about the church in Matthew 16:18. We should ask Rebekah’s question in 25:22. “If so, why am I thus?”

Day 10: Genesis 26-28 - How does the spiritual journey of Jacob mirror that of most believers?

Day 11: Genesis 29-31 - Is God teaching Jacob a lesson? Rebekah and Jacob “switched sons” on Isaac; Laban switched daughters on Jacob. Jacob had the right desire in mind but going about it the wrong way cost him 20 years of his life.

Day 12: Genesis 32-24 - In the long run, was it more important that Jacob be blessed, or broken?

Day 13: Genesis 35-37 - From this beginning of the story of Joseph, it seems obvious what Jacob’s favoritism did to his other sons, but what did it do to Joseph himself?

Day 14: Genesis 38-40 - Where is Joseph during this time, as far as Israel is concerned?

Day 15: Genesis 41-42 - How do nations get their rulers? (According to the Bible, God sets them up. Daniel 2:20-22, 37; 4:13-17,25, 32; 5:21; Romans 13:1-6. Moreover, God can direct their hearts according to Proverbs 21:1, Proverbs 8:16) In this instance the king received guidance via a dream from God which forced him to seek interpretation from Joseph. Can God not do the same in our time?

Day 16: Genesis 43-46 - If we could thoroughly follow Joseph’s advice in 45:5, how would it change our lives? Will this not be our ultimate view of our lives in heaven?

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” (Genesis 45:4)

Day 17: Genesis 46-48 - Would Jacob have made such a testimony as 48:15-16 before coming to Egypt? Does this prefigure Isa. 66:8, Zech. 3:9, 12:10?

Day 18: Genesis 49-50 - What would my walk be like if I had the insight of Jacob and Joseph?

Day 19: Exodus 1-3 - How has God moved in each of our lives to make us feel like “strangers in a strange land” (Ex. 2:22, cf., Hebrews 11:13)? I’m really feeling it lately because of world events.

Day 20: Exodus 4-6 - It seems that Moses was supposed to warn Pharaoh of the 10th plague in the beginning: “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.” ‭(Exodus‬ ‭4:22-23‬‭) I wonder if he did? What are the consequences of our reluctance to speak the worst of God’s judgment?

Day 21: Exodus 7-9 - Does it seem like there’s a cycle in God’s judgment on Egypt that is being played out in our own time as well? Judgment by God->shallow confession and return by people->relief from judgment->return to sin->greater judgment. Similar to the cycle in the book of Judges.

Day 22: Exodus 10-12 - From Exodus 10:2 and 12:26, how important is it that we explain these things to our children? We’re reluctant to make God seem wrathful; and yet it’s clear He fit the judgment to the offense: it was against all the gods of Egypt (12:12); in the things wherein they dealt proudly He was above them (18:11) - the judgments targeted their heathen worship at specific points and culminated in the death of their idol-king’s own heir, just as he had targeted the firstborn of Israel (4:22-23)

Day 23: Exodus 13-15 - What if we could consistently, persistently pursue God’s calling without wasting so much time worrying about self protection or possible future calamity?

Day 24: Exodus 16-18 - In what ways is God providing for me that I am failing to see or substituting my own system for His?

Day 25: Exodus 19-21 - Have modern people entirely lost this fear of God’s holiness? (Exodus 20:20) We call evil good and good evil. (Isaiah 5:20) and what’s astonishing is the number of religious leaders in evangelical Christianity who are doing this. This is the outcome of the war on the 10 Commandments in our culture over the past 25 years. Overhead: "a culture’s laws will either reflect God's wrath against sin or man's wrath against God"

Day 26: What must it have been like to experience God literally creating their social order by dictating laws, spelling out celebrations and telling them their future? Since it all played out just as He said, (Joshua) why did Israel stop believing Him so soon? (Judges)

Day 27: What is necessary that God may dwell among His people? Sanctuary: a marked-out, holy, restricted space. In his song, Moses called “the mountain” (Zion) sanctuary. (15:17) In the instructions for the Tabernacle, it has service elements invoking floral design, symbolic guardians, and an eastward orientation, all pointing to the Garden, where unrestricted fellowship was lost. Yet every element foreshadows Jesus, who restores fellowship.

Day 28: How can we read about all the death, burning and bloody sacrifices in the Old Testament and imagine God is not serious about sin? The cross is primarily an unforgettable message of God’s love for us (1 John 3:16) but at the same time an eternal reminder that He will judge sin.

Day 29: Is there a more dramatic example of intercession in the Old Testament? The Lord has just described how He means His people to approach Him: after a redemption price has been paid, after washing hands and feet, after anointing with oil, accompanied by incense that He is so jealous about that anyone duplicating it is to be put to death. The very craftsmen of the objects of service are Spirit filled and empowered, and their rest is symbolic of the perpetual covenant. Meanwhile, as this is all being carefully spelled out, the people are designing their own order of worship: a calf-idol possibly modeled after an Egyptian idol that was said to be both a son of (and/or incarnation of) and an intermediary between a major deity and mankind; lavish giving of gold and naked drunken revelry. It’s into this deep divide that Moses places himself to plead for his people. Is God looking for intercessors today? (See Ezekiel 22:30)

Day 30: Exodus 33-35 - Do as many desire God’s continual presence as His salvation? Moses was willing to remain in tents in the desert if going on to the promised land meant going without God. He wanted to know Him. How many of us would accept heaven without Jesus if that were possible?

Day 31: Exodus 36-38 - How do you design a worship meeting place for a God who has no shape and warns repeatedly not to make an object to represent Him? (See Deuteronomy 4:15-19, Exodus 20:4) people would naturally come up with some kind of item. But God through Moses (38:22) directed them to make:

an EMPTY “seat” of mercy, atop an EMPTY box/Ark (it would contain items later), overshadowed byCherubim who were PERIPHERAL, not central within a tent of worship that isn’t really meant as a shelter for group meetings but as a marked-off “embassy” of heaven.

Day 32: Exodus 39-40 - This was what Moses desired above anything, wasn’t it? (33:11) but when God’s glory filled the Tabernacle (and Temple: 1 Kings 8:10-11; 2 Chronicles 8:13-14) People cannot stand to remain in His presence. (It’s what terrified Isaiah in his vision - Isaiah 6:5-7)

Day 33: Leviticus 1-3 - Wherever did we get the idea that worship is casual, cultural, optional, or passive? Leviticus is specific in every detail. What is the point if God is dissatisfied with our worship?

Day 34: Leviticus 4-6 - Was there a continual line before the tabernacle’s entry? The altar’s fire was to never go out, (Leviticus 6:13): the instructions are clear about sacrifices; I’m just wondering about compliance because so much has to do with the individual’s consciousness of sin or uncleanness. Even if we discount children the adults would have numbered about 1.2 million according to Exodus 12:37, about the size of Dallas, TX. Then, as now, the intention was that the Law awaken people to consciousness of sin (Romans 7) and move them to seek Him individually for atonement and forgiveness. (Hebrews 13:11-14)

Day 35: Leviticus 7-8 - How shallow would our understanding of the significance of the Cross, (and therefore our worship) be without the revelation of the sacrificial system? The burnt offering signifies that Jesus exhausted the wrath of God. (Isaiah 53:11, 1 John 2:2) The meat offering shows He is the corn of wheat that fell to the ground and died , only to bring forth much fruit (John 12:24). The peace offering illustrates how we have peace with God through him (Col. 1:20). The sin offering reminds us that God made Him who knew no sin our sin bearer (2 Cor. 5:21). The trespass offering redeems us from debt to our brethren by His blood. (Ephesians 1:7)

Day 36: Leviticus 9-10 - What must the people have thought at this event? “And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” (Leviticus‬ ‭9:24‬ ‭KJV‬‬) All the times the people and priests laid their hands on the heads of the sacrifices and then fire from the Lord consumed the sacrifice instead of them. It makes me wonder if the events of Leviticus 10 followed those of Leviticus 9 immediately because it’s hard to imagine being careless about worship after seeing that. On the other hand Dr. J. Vernon McGee believed that the root issue in the case of Leviticus 10 was drunkenness (Implied by v.9?) which makes men foolish and removes sensible inhibitions. Moses explained that God will be regarded as holy by those who approach Him and Aaron held his peace. It reminds me of the incident with Uzzah and the Ark. 2 Samuel 6:9 says “And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?” (‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭6:9‬ ‭KJV‬‬)

Day 37: Leviticus 11-12 - What was the diet of the Israelites in Egypt? God has redeemed them FIRST, then tells them how to live as His set-apart people.

Day 38: Leviticus 13 - In Christianity today are we in a period where there is no examination and isolation? (See 1 Cor. 5:11) Or are we leaving that period and examining and isolating according to a different (non biblical) standard?

Day 39: Leviticus 14-15 - If such rules were observed consistently, how frequently would members of the community be absent from gatherings for uncleanness? All the time. What would be the impact of this? Normalizing the admission of natural separation from God? Reduction of hypocrisy?

Day 40: Leviticus 16-18 - How many things in these three chapters are modern Christians eager to reinterpret? ✅Blood atonement? ✅ Condemnation of homosexuality? ✅ condemnation of idolatry?

Day 41: Leviticus 19-21 - were the people who received these laws hopeful that they could keep them? (Exodus 19:8, 24:3) Or did their consciences strike them immediately? I read it thinking of the many examples of broken laws in the Old and New Testaments, (such as David’s adultery, Manasseh’s human sacrifice to Molech, the Pharisees’ failure to bring the man taken in adultery, Caiaphas’ rending of the high priests’ garment to add emotion to Jesus’ illegal trial). By comparison, when He came, Jesus should have been immediately identifiable by His holiness alone.

Day 42: Leviticus 22-23 - Isn't it interesting that the one feast where the people are commanded to bring their offering WITH LEAVEN…'Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord . ' (Leviticus 23:17, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/LEV.23.17) …is the birthday of the Church, celebrated in advance? I've always been troubled by the consistent use of the metaphor of leaven as sin, false doctrine, pride and the parable given in Matthew 13:33. So I used to say emphatically that the leaven is sin here as well; yet the Bible LITERALLY SAYS "The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven…" not, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a loaf that becomes leavened." Still wrestling with this, but it may indicate the (initial) "uncleanness" of the gentiles, which ultimately make up almost all of the church.

Day 43: Leviticus 24-25 - Who was the Sabbath year (to let the land lie fallow every 7th year) for? For the LORD.(Leviticus 25:4) Not for the benefit of the land itself; not for the poor, but for the LORD. It would have demonstrated great trust in Him if His people could refrain from agriculture for an entire year and live on the store of the previous seven.

Day 44: Leviticus 26-27 - There’s a connection between Leviticus 26:40-44 and Daniel 9:3-19. Who will be the one to serve as the intercessor for us today?

Day 45: Numbers 1-2 - If, as Jesus said, (John 5:39-46), Moses wrote about Him, and indeed, the entirety of the scroll, (Ps. 40:7, Hebrews 10:7; every section, Luke 24:44), is about Him, might even the seemingly-mundane accounting of the camp’s order even illustrate something to us? See https://thevoiceofonedotorg.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/israel-camped.jpg

Day 46: Numbers 3-4 - The numbering and substitution of the Levites for the firstborn of the Israelites seems mysterious. Does it point to something greater? God says He has '…taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn…' (Numbers 3:12, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/NUM.3.12) And then later, of those above the number of the Levites, God commanded a ransom, (Numbers 3:46-51, https://my.bible.com/bible/1/NUM.3.46-51), . Early in Christianity, one theory of the Atonement was called the "Ransom" theory, that Christ's blood paid the ransom for believers. (See Mark 10:45) Some believed the "ransom" was to God; others, to Satan. Since the God claims He owns the firstborn among the Israelites, (Exodus 13), and the ransom is paid to Him.

Day 47: Numbers 5-7 - I wonder if the priests thought about the threefold nature of the blessing God prescribed to “put His name upon the children of Israel?” In doing this they formed their hands into a letter “shin” with three prongs, and their practice (as shown on ancient gravestones) left a triangle in the negative space.

Day 48: Numbers 8-10 - In Numbers 9:18, what was “the commandment of the LORD?” This reminded me of the Experiencing God principle, that God loves us and is at work all around us. When we become aware of His work that is an invitation to join Him. So the Israelites joined Him when He departed, and remained with Him when He stayed, no matter how long the journey and no matresurrter how long the encampment. May I have eyes to see His work and the will to join Him in it always.

Day 49: Numbers 11-13 - (Numbers 13:28-33) Is there a positive example in Scripture of a democratic vote? Sometimes people point to Acts 15:23: 'Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: ' (Acts 15:22 https://my.bible.com/bible/1/ACT.15.22) What I notice is that the decision happened before this (v. 19) and the people agreed, in order: Apostles, elders and the whole church. It's troubling to me that the word Laodicea can be translated, the assembly's judgment.

Day 50: Numbers 14-16 - How easily are people caught up and swayed by passionate words? They fled from the death of Korah and his followers, concerned that the ground would swallow them up as well (16:34) but then gathered to threaten Moses after the burning of the 250 who held censers. (16:42) God had literally appeared to them in a cloud before the tabernacle (19) and executed judgment exactly as predicted by Moses. (28-30)

Day 51: Numbers 17-19 - How many Old Testament observances were symbolic of resurrection? Some are explicitly said to be (Genesis 22:5 / Hebrews 11:19) but others, like the dead rod of Aaron, though mentioned in the New Testament (Hebrews 9:4) are not called out as such. Does this mean we can look forward one day to a Bible lesson like the one in Luke 24:27?

Day 52: Numbers 20-22 - Is there a unifying theme to these three chapters? Moses misrepresents God and disobeys Him. His error costs him entry into the Promised Land. Balaam persists in a perverse way before the Lord (22:32). His error costs him a death like that of the people he had blessed. (23:10) What stands between? The serpent on the pole, to which Christ Himself referred as a type of His propitiating sacrifice (John 3:14, 12:32-33). The way for those who have corrupted themselves to nevertheless be blessed and enter the promised land.

Day 53: Numbers 23-25 - Is there a more mysterious character than Balaam in the book of Numbers? Despite his perverse “way”, (22:32, 2 Peter 2:14), his great “error”, (22:34, Jude 11), and his corrupting “doctrine” (25, 31:16, Revelation 2:14), the gentile prophet Balaam made accurate predictions about the future of Israel (24:7, 22) and even Christ. (24:17)

Day 54: Numbers 26-27 - Why does Moses, in effect, suffer the same penalty as the generation which provoked God at Kadesh-barnea? According to God, it was unbelief in both cases (Numbers 14:11, 20:12, cf., Hebrews 3:7-19). Unbelief is serious; we must continually REST in our trust of God (Hebrews 4:9-11) that our hearts do not grow hard and rebellious against Him.

Day 55: Numbers 28-29 - Does the explicit description of sacrifices and holy convocations help solve the problem of how Jesus was “in the heart of the earth” three days and nights (Matthew 12:40)? These sabbaths are counted from days of the month, not days of the year. (John 19:31 explicitly says “that sabbath was an high day”) Christ rose on Sunday morning ( Mark 16:9). So He must have been crucified on Thursday, spent Thursday night and Friday morning, Friday night and Friday morning, Saturday night and Sunday morning in the grave, with Thursday being the seventh day of Passover and Luke 23:56 describing the Saturday Sabbath.

Day 56: Numbers 30-31 - What made Balaam counsel Balak to get the cult prostitutes of Midian to seduce the Israelite men? He boldly blessed Israel while being paid and commanded to curse them from chapters 23-24. Balaam “rose up and returned to his place” in Numbers 24:25 and afterward the plan of Balaam is implemented , leading to the Lord’s command to smite them (Numbers 25:16-18). I’ve always assumed there was an untold story of a threat by Balak that Balaam was unprepared for. Being outside of God’s will he could not count on God’s protection so he offered advice. But this is reading into the text.

Day 57: Numbers 32-33 - Did the people fully understand that they were acting as God’s agents in judgment? He had predicted this in His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:16, 18-21. In 33:55-56, we see the first of the predictions of what will happen to Israel if they fall short of the judgment God has in mind.

Day 58: Numbers 34-36 - Who is the manslayer? I am. (Romans 7:9) Satan deliberately laid the trap for all mankind, and is a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44, cf., Numbers 35:16-21) Who is the Avenger of Blood? This word is the same word in Hebrew as Redeemer (ga’al) It has to be someone:

Of biological kinship to youUnencumbered by personal guilt/debtAble to redeem and the same person who couldBuy back your sold/defaulted property,Buy you back if enslaved / sold into indentured servitudeRaise up seed on behalf of/in the name of a dead relative

Jesus became flesh (John 1:14, Hebrews 10:5) in order to become my Redeemer. He is also my city of Refuge. (Psalm 46:1) as well as my High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). Isaiah 44:6 pulls His deity and His kinship-redeemer status together into one passage: "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." (https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ISA.44.6.KJV)

Day 59: Deuteronomy 1-2 - How would I have felt, if I’d been among the generation about to enter the Promised Land, only to hear Moses give the divine perspective on the wilderness wandering? It makes me think of a Life Review. It’s common for someone going through a Near Death Experience to experience a review of their entire life, including an understanding of the impact on other people from the perspective of those other people in incredible, 3-D detail. One thing that’s said to be a common result of the experience is a type of repentance from materialism and selfishness. To have Moses summarize the 40-year history of the wilderness wanderings must have had this effect on the generation that entered Canaan.

Day 60: Deuteronomy 3-4 - will the tribulation Israelites recall these words (Deuteronomy 4:30) when they see their pierced Messiah? (Zechariah 12:10) Will they all be saved at once? (Romans 11:26)

Day 61: Deuteronomy 5-7 - When God says, "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever,” (Deuteronomy 5:29), is that an expression of regret about the future He knows will come to pass? "They have well said all that they have spoken," He says. (Deuteronomy 5:28) God knows what could be, as well as what will come to pass. As sad as that makes me for the many shortcomings of my own walk with Him, it also reminds me of Romans 11:29, which in context is also about Israel, the Apostle Paul saying that God does not take back His calling or gifts because His wisdom, knowledge, judgments and ways are so deep. My own assurance of salvation, then, is grounded in this principle of mercy, omniscience and love for the Biblical characters I'm reading about, the fact that He still has Israel's future in mind. May the assurance of this generation of Christians, in spite of our failure to fear Him and keep His commandments, exhibit His mercy to that future generation of beloved Israel who will all be saved at once.

Day 62: Deuteronomy 8-10 - Doesn’t Deuteronomy 10:12-13 seem so reasonable in context? In light of everything God had done for them, everything He promised to do for them in the future (Deuteronomy 8:7-10, 9:3) to fear God, walk with Him, love Him and serve Him seems reasonable, modest and doable. Romans 12:1-2 likewise seems modest and reasonable and yet it is so hard to remain yielded.

Day 63: Deuteronomy 11-12 - We already know that "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19) And yet, Genesis 6:6 tells us that “it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart.” In the context of His omniscience and love, He always elects to do what is best and never reverses Himself or changes His mind. But He is also a Person, with mind, will and emotion. Does He not experience the feeling we would call regret, even though He would not change His mind or actions? Likewise, from these two chapters, am I right in seeing both delight and regret in His relationship with Israel? I see His delight in extolling the virtues of the land they’re about to inhabit, almost like a father, proud to give his child a gift he has carefully selected and prepared. “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:12) Is it not also right to read into passages like 12:2 and 12:30-31 that feeling of regret? His foreknowledge means that as He gives these explicit commands, He knows the exact path they will take to violate them. He sees the kingdoms of Ahab and Manasseh. Yet at this time, according to Jeremiah 2, He is experiencing “the kindness of their youth,” the “love of their espousals.” Israel is “holiness unto the Lord and the first fruits of His increase.” (Jeremiah 2:3)

Day 64: Deuteronomy 13-15 - In these three chapters there are laws about paganism (even what to do in the case of fulfilled prophecy and/or miracles associated with paganism), dietary laws and laws concerning the poor and enslaved. If Israel had followed these laws scrupulously, would it not have made them radically different from other nations? God would have prospered them far above what they ended up enjoying (Deuteronomy 15:4-6). So-called inclusion, diversity and equity as understood in the modern way, are revealed to be a weakness and not a strength when it comes to false religion, partiality and uncleanness. On the other hand, prejudice in the modern sense is strictly forbidden and kindness to “strangers” is extolled. The “stranger” (Like the widow and fatherless) are to share in the offering of the tithe to the Lord (Deuteronomy 14:28-29) and inherent in the (permitted) institution of slavery/indentured servitude is the ethic, “remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt…” (Deuteronomy 15:15)

Day 65: Deuteronomy 16-18 - How do these three chapters fit with Jesus’ claim that the “volume of the book is written about me?” (Psalm 40:8, Hebrews 10:7)

Deuteronomy 16 (like Exodus 23, Leviticus 23, Numbers 28) describes the three major feasts of Israel:

Passover, which prefigures the Lord’s death (1 Corinthians 5:7) and the redemption of the ChurchWeeks, which begins with Pentecost, prefiguring the Lord’s ascension and the gift of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:8), the birth of the ChurchTabernacles, the picture of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9)Deuteronomy 17 describes the character of the obedient King of Israel, and specifically rules out Solomon, (2 Chronicles 1:14-17; 1 Kings 10:14-21, 28, 11:1-3) whose reign Jews might otherwise be tempted to identify as Messianic because of the peace and wealth.Deuteronomy 18 describes the “Prophet like Moses” who will speak Gods words in His name and God will require them of anyone who will not listen. The website One For Israel has a lengthy list outlining several ways Jesus was a Prophet like Moses.

Day 66: Deuteronomy 19-20 - Is the modern “sanctuary city” in any sense like the biblical “Cities of Refuge?” No, it isn't. It’s easy to see compassion for the immigrant in Scripture. Many laws are explicitly applied to both native Israelites and “the stranger that is within thy gates” (Ex. 20:10; Deut 5:14, 14:29, 16:11,14, 26:2, 31:12). At other times a distinction was made (Exodus 12:43). The Cities of Refuge were explicitly for Israelites who had committed what we would call involuntary manslaughter. Someone had died accidentally due to their actions. Recognizing that such situations are difficult to judge, the law sets aside detention cities, yet permits a vigilante redeemer (the ga’al, Kinsman-redeemer; called “Avenger of Blood” here) to pursue the manslayer to the nearest city, where presumably experts in the law would be assigned who could explain the judgment (Deuteronomy 17:9-11). By contrast, “sanctuary cities” in our modern day are designed and have been used as a way to block enforcement of existing laws regarding immigration, even in clear-cut cases of murder.

Day 67: Deuteronomy 21-22 - How was Israel required to “put away evil” from among them? By taking responsibility in every case rather than “hiding themselves” (Deuteronomy 21:1-4), by acknowledging their limitations in making judgments, by showing mercy in judgment but being consistent with harsh penalties. No one would be emboldened by lax enforcement.

Day 68: Deuteronomy 23-24 - How many of the regulations in chapters 23-24 were “for the hardness of your hearts” (Mark 10:5)? God’s mercy to the slave, (23:15), the divorced woman, (24:2), the newlywed, (24:5), taking surety from the working poor, (24:6, 10-13), and leaving gleanings for the poor, widows, orphans and strangers, 24:17-21) were also remarkably merciful to the powerless in the ancient world, showing the merciful nature of God

Day 69: Deuteronomy 25-27 - The book of Deuteronomy is nearing its conclusion. The Torah is coming to an end. Moses is anticipating the end of his life. The wilderness wandering is about to be over. In these last few chapters, why are these specific commandments given? In order to prepare his people to be God’s special nation in the promised land, Moses is careful to describe the way family lines are to be preserved (helping us to understand the book of Ruth, the lineage of David and Christ Himself). He gives them the ritual for presenting the first offerings of the fruit of the land to God, including a recitation to help them understand their relationship to God, and another, asking Him for acceptance and blessing. And he begins the curses and blessings pronounced over the people that they are to endorse with their “amen.” It’s interesting that one curse has to do with idolatry (their relationship with God); the rest are all about living peacefully, respectfully and with integrity in their relationship with one another.

Day 70: Deuteronomy 28-29 - Did Israel recognize these curses as they were happening to them? (Maybe not: see 2 Kings 22:8-13) Are we experiencing similar curses and attributing them to other things besides God’s chastisement? Studies show that our food is less nutritious than it used to be. More people have allergies and asthma. Food-borne illnesses are on the rise. New pathogens are constantly entering the human population like COVID-19, AIDS, Zikavirus, Ebola, SARS. Going from the text’s prediction of curses on the fruit of the womb, I attempted to find out whether or not miscarriages are on the rise, but I don’t seem to be able to get that data. Infertility is definitely on the increase. Even before the pandemic, anxiety and depression as well as suicide were skyrocketing in American youth. This all runs counter to our prideful assumptions that one day we’ll vanquish all war and disease through modern progress and technology.

Day 71: Deuteronomy 30-31 - I wonder how modern Jews feel when they read this section? It all came to pass just as God revealed through Moses - after conquering the land and settling down they quickly turned aside into idolatry (Judges 17). Yet He also anticipates the new covenant of Ezekiel 36:24-33 & Jeremiah 31:31-34 in Deuteronomy 30:6 after a dispersion and regathering.

Day 72: Deuteronomy 32-33 - How much time does the book of Deuteronomy cover? My Scofield Reference Bible has the same date for the whole thing, and I’m inclined to accept that it’s essentially one long sermon from Moses just before he dies and the Israelites pass over Jordan. That would make almost 25% of the Torah just Moses’ final exhortations to the children of Israel. The Gospel accounts of the final week of Christ’s life make up about a third of the Gospels. Like Moses’ teachings here, the final chapters of the Gospels give the Disciples promises, warnings and prophecies about their future, and form the basis of the rest of the New Testament. The Torah is the Law is Israel, her “Constitution,” as a nation, and the basis for the allegations made by the Prophets against her when she violated them, (as recorded in the “Writings”). So this is another way Jesus was a “prophet like Moses."

Day 73: Deuteronomy 34 - Joshua 3 - Why are we not told the names of these two faithful spies, but are told the name of the two faithful spies of Numbers 13-14? Rahab is recognized as the more important person here. She’s the first recorded Gentile convert to Judaism and becomes the mother of Boaz, (Matthew 1:5), the redeemer of Ruth and grandfather of King David.

Day 74: Joshua 4-6 - Isn’t the Gilgal incident empirical proof that the Israelites were not teaching their children as they’d been commanded? (In Exodus 10:2, 13:8-14; Deuteronomy 4:5-14, 6:2-25, 11:18-23; 32:44-47) So when Joshua makes the commandment concerning the stones from Jordan in Joshua 4:5-7, the literal object-lesson would have been part of a huge (risky and costly) lesson for the Israelite children. After crossing over Jordan, the fighting men are circumcised (risking vulnerability Genesis 34:13-29), they celebrate Passover, the Manna ceases (their food source for their entire lives) and they have a supernatural victory over the first fortified city in Canaan.

Day 75: Joshua 7-9 - Did the Gibeonites survive because of their deception? It seems that they did; even after the Babylonian Captivity a Gibeonite is mentioned in Nehemiah 3:7. In 2 Samuel 21 we see that the princes of the congregation were right to spare them after having made the mistake of not seeking the Lord’s counsel and swearing in His name, for when Saul tried to destroy them, he brought a famine on Israel. So by God’s mercy it seems they were fully incorporated into Israel.

Day 76: Joshua 10-11 - Was it the heart to do all that he’d been commanded to do (Joshua 11:15) that moved Joshua to ask the Lord to hold the sun so that the army could make a 25-mile journey and destroy their enemies in a single day? It stands in stark contrast to the apathy of Jehoash in 2 Kings 13:14-19 which angered Elisha. May we all recognize the spiritual battle we are in and seek the spirit of Joshua.

Day 77: Joshua 12-13 - With the benefit of knowing the rest of the story we understand what God is anticipating in Joshua 13:1-6, when pointing out Joshua’s age and the great number of Canaanite nations remaining to be driven out. Joshua had led the defeat of 31 kings (Joshua 12) and Ussher estimates the book of Joshua to cover 27 years. Judges follows and covers 305 years of rapid decline. The Canaanites and Philistines figure prominently in the stories of Judges. Joshua is so devoted to the Lord, so courageous and industrious… if he fell short, what do we need to learn from this?

First, to see the great example of Joshua’s instant obedience: he left nothing undone of what God through Moses had commanded him. (Joshua 11:15) It wasn’t because he was disobedient or reluctant to do what he was called to do. (Compare with Jesus’ statement in John 17:4)We must learn also from the great devotion of Joshua. When the Tent of Meeting was set up, Moses had to go in and out, to convey God’s directions to the children of Israel. That was his calling. But the young Joshua was unwilling to depart from the tent. (Exodus 33:11)We can learn from the planning of Joshua. He clearly had an overall plan for victory, with three distinct campaigns. But he was willing to execute at God’s direction, and changed his plans in the conquest of Jericho after meeting the Captain of the Lord’s host (Joshua 5:14) and at Ai at the direction of God. (Joshua 8:1-2)We should learn, as Joshua was alerted here by God, to number our days (Psalm 90:12-17). Planning should really take into account our own mortality and limited ability and resources.By implication the actions of others can affect our opportunities greatly. What if Joshua and Caleb had been able to persuade the other spies at Kadesh-Barnea? (Numbers 13:25-33) Theoretically they’d have arrived in the land 40 years sooner, Joshua wouldn’t be about 92 years old, and would not be well-stricken in years. (Joshua 13:1) Caleb is 85 (Joshua 14:10) and still ready to take on the giants in the mountains. Surely a faithful Israel of the Exodus would’ve had abundant time to thoroughly subdue the land, and the entire history of Israel would’ve been different. The rebellion affected the success of not only the generation that died in the wilderness, not only Joshua and his generation, but every Israelite since. What a lesson about a democratic decision and its susceptibility to passionately and persuasively-stated error.What we’re talking about is falling short of fully accomplishing all the positive works assigned. We’re not talking about the struggle against temptation, something we pat ourselves on the back for resisting. Giving in to temptation is not forward progress but backsliding (Deuteronomy 32:5). If I tend to despair at comparing ourselves to Joshua and realize he didn’t reach his full potential, who I'm really supposed to emulate. Joshua was present when Moses gave the command to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus said, “I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:29)This passage begins the inheritance of the land. Every implication here has bearing on the inheritance of the Israelites, just as my backsliding and shortcomings do.

Day 78: Joshua 14-15 - Did Caleb’s bold request (Joshua 14:12) inspire Othniel? (Joshua 15:16-17) Did it inspire Achsah’s? (Joshua 15:19) Did she see in his offer of his daughter to the man who took Debir a desire to get a courageous and faithful husband for his daughter and to ultimately give Debir to his daughter, and then ask for more, out of confidence that he was predisposed to give her what she wanted? How many things do I miss out on because I think my Father has given me enough and so I fail to ask? (Luke 11:9-13; Romans 8:32)

Day 79: Joshua 16-17 - As Joshua begins to assign the inheritance after God’s instructions in chapter 13 and delegate the tribes to take possession of their lands, we begin to see the first pockets of failure in Joshua. (Joshua 13:13, 15:63, 16:10, 17:12-13, 16) Was it because they had too much dependence on their human leader and not enough dependence on the Lord?

Day 80: Joshua 18-19 - Does it seem anticlimactic to have such a matter-of-fact statement about the placement of the Tabernacle and the victory over the land? What about the ceremony to set it up? What about the offerings and the presence of God? Did the cloud come over the location? Did smoke fill the Holy place? Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but it seems to me that their slackness to take full possession of the land was associated with their slackness in worship. The Tabernacle will be here for hundreds of years, until its capture by the philistines in 1 Samuel 4 at the end of Saul’s reign. So it was to be the center of their religious life, where offerings were to be made and the priesthood was to minister.

Day 81: Joshua 20-21 - After 45 years on the march (Joshua 14:10), settling into the land with no remaining enemies must have been amazing. They could then look back and say that every promise of God had been fulfilled. I think the only comparative statement is when Solomon claims to have rest on every side. (1 Kings 5:4; 1 Chronicles 22:8; 2 Chronicles 14:7) By contrast, Paul has no rest, but trouble on every side: fightings without, fears within. (2 Corinthians 7:5). If God’s calling for me is suffering and trouble, spiritual warfare, is it laziness, cowardice or idolatry to long for that peace and rest?

Day 82: Joshua 22-24 - The altar “Ed” and Joshua’s stone at Shiloh were set up to commemorate the people’s pledge to serve the Lord only. While they did, God blessed them and fought for them, and they could boldly say that no good promise He made them failed. What a witness to future generations. Did they quickly forget the other side of Joshua’s promise? (Joshua 23:15-16) Not in the lifetime of Joshua and his contemporaries, (Joshua 24:31), but extending faithfulness beyond them was the point. How can I extend what I have witnessed of God’s faithfulness beyond the lifetime of my contemporaries?

Day 83: Judges 1-3 - From passages like Judges 1:19, 21, 27, 29-35, 2:1-3, 10-15, 20-23, 3:3-7 can we conclude that Israel "won the war but lost the peace", as we say? I think the whole idea that we’re people who are too short-sighted to be naturally aligned with God’s vision is a profound one, and one that should motivate me more to be filled with His Spirit, Eph. 5:18), so that I’m aware of the opportunities He presents to me, (John 5:20), willing to do what pleases Him, (Philippians 2:12-13) and resistant to every form of temptation (Galatians 5:16) including that of slackness. (Joshua 18:3) Meanwhile one implication of the Exodus that I hadn’t considered in quite this way before: the world wants our firstborn. God prompts us to prepare them by telling them the story of our faith: Exodus 10:2, 12:26, 13:8-14; Deuteronomy 4:5-14, 6:2-25, 11:18-23; 32:44-47; Joshua 4:5-7. How can I memorialize what God has done in my life for future generations of our family in a meaningful way?

Day 84: Judges 4-6 - Do things seem strange in these next few chapters? Shamgar, the third judge, got mentioned in the final verse of Chapter 3, and then there’s this reference to evil arising again once Ehud is dead. Ehud, of course, is the second judge, so what a strange point to make, that Shamgar arises after Ehud, but it’s after the death of Ehud that the Israelites returned to evil after Ehud’s death. Shamgar is not a Hebrew name, and calling him “Son of Anat” could very well be a reference to the Canaanite goddess Anat, who was the consort of Ba’al. Then there’s Deborah, who is said to be a prophetess. Why is a woman judging Israel? And Barak refuses to go to war without her. Even Deborah appears to recognize the shame of his reluctance to take leadership. (See Genesis 3:16) When Gideon is called, the angel instructs him to build an altar made from the scraps of the Asherah poles and the altar of Ba’al, then offer the bullock he uses to tear it down as a burnt offering. Under normal circumstances, it would be a violation of the Law (see Leviticus 17:3-9) to offer a sacrifice anywhere besides the Tabernacle. (See Joshua 19:51) It seems that something is wrong with the worship of Israel. This whole section of Scripture is an important reminder not to use a narrative passage as a prescription.

Day 85: Judges 7-8 - We’ve already seen that something is wrong with Israel’s diligence in conquering the land and driving out the people of Canaan. Something is wrong with their central worship. In these chapters, is something wrong with their internal unity? The men of Ephraim threatened Gideon and his army. (And Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh, the brother of Ephraim!) The men of Succoth and Penuel refused to feed them while they were in the process of delivering Israel from the Midianites. It seems Gideon unified the nation, yet for all his refusal to be made king, he names the son of his concubine “My father is king” (Judges 8:31) and led the land into an idolatrous divination regarding the golden ephod he made. Once Gideon dies, the people turn again to Baal, and Gideon’s very nickname came from his destruction of the altar to Baal in Judges 6:25-32.

Day 86: Judges 9-10 -Since its predictions came to pass (Judges 9:20), is it not fair to say that Jotham’s parable is a divinely-inspired prophecy? I’ve always thought it was insightful; but the more I think about it the more I get out of it. The productive trees are unwilling to stop doing what they’re good at in order to assume leadership. It’s common for diligent people to feel this way, but it makes room for those “vain and light persons” (Judges 9:4) to assume power by blind ambition and through cronyism (Judges 9:3).

Day 87: Judges 11-13 - The older I get, the more the story of Samson bothers me. Why is so much of Judges devoted to his story, while an earlier judge who kills 2/3rds as many Philistines in a similar way merits only a brief mention? Why is he constantly chasing Philistine women around, when the command not to intermarry is so clear and he’s set apart from God for purity before his birth? Why is his mother not named in the narrative, even though she seems to be the parent with any spiritual discernment? Why is the angel so shy about his name? Is it a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ? (He says his name is “secret” which could be translated “wonderful” - see Isaiah 9:6) He’s in a short list with Isaac, John the Baptist and Jesus Himself of pre-announced births, but his life seems to mark a severe downturn in the already-depressing story of the Judges. Does his life serve as an analogy for Israel? Separated unto God from birth, strengthened supernaturally for victory, yet judicially blinded in idolatry.

Day 88: Judges 14-16 - Does the theory that Samson’s life is a picture of Israel hold up over his marriage & annulment/divorce, later dalliance with a prostitute then enticement by Delilah, and captivity? The idolatry (which is often pictured as fornication/adultery/illicit sex in the Old Testament) is obvious in Judges. In the later history it isn’t always as obvious. For instance, you’d think that the reign of Josiah was a golden age. He was the best king Judah ever had (2 Kings 23:25), and yet the great apostasy that brought on the ultimate captivity came during Josiah’s reign. (Jeremiah 1:2, 25:3) So although there were cycles of comparatively better or worse leadership, there was always a lot of secret idolatry. (2 Kings 17:7-23) If the theme of Judges is “the need for a king” and the theme of I & II Samuel,I & II Kings are the rise and demise of the kingdom, what is Samson, the last of 12 judges, showing us?

There is a need for a king—when Samson is at his best, he’s still delivered up to the Philistines by his own people. (Judges 15:11) He’s isolated, way up in Dan, unable to unite the tribes.He’s at his best when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. The Spirit’s power transcends his natural abilities and delivers him on multiple occasions. (14:5-7, 14:19, 15:14-19)His repeated willingness to yield to the flesh ends up leading him into deception and the Spirit abandoning him without his even being aware of it. (Judges 16:20)He doesn’t measure up when he’s at his best. None of the judges measured up. They were heroic, courageous, powerful and sometimes godly men, but none of them were the King Israel was looking for.Like Samson’s search for fulfillment in the forbidden pagan women of Canaan, Israel’s search for fulfillment apart from God ended up leading her into captivity and blindness until the fulness of the gentiles come in. (Romans 11:25)The Church, too, will end in apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3), even though when yielded to Christ the gates of hell itself can no more stand against us than the gate of Gaza could stand against Samson. (Matthew 16:18, Judges 16:3)Despite the difficult lessons we learn from the Judges, the Kings and the New Testament Church, it’s not wrong to say there’s a need for a King, a Judge, a Lawgiver, a courageous, heroic Deliverer. (See Isaiah 33:22) It’s just typical of our self-centered, idolatrous hearts to look for a fallen man to fill that role. It took God becoming a man to live up to His own perfect Law and deliver us.

Day 89: Judges 17-19 - Why does the Levite perform such a barbaric act to send a message to all Israel? There’s so much confusion at this time, but the story is so close to Genesis 19:4-8 that the Levite must understand that Israel’s apostasy is almost complete by this time. Although we don’t notice them as much because travel is different today, the Law is replete with commands to be hospitable to strangers (Exodus 22:21, 23:9; Leviticus 19:10, 33-34; Deuteronomy 10:19). It’s a horrifying story to us because it seems no one in the story has any pity - even the hospitable Ephraimite was willing to sacrifice his virgin daughter, (Judges 19:24), as Lot was (Genesis 19:8). The whole story is meant to horrify us-in doing what is right in our own eyes, (Judges 17:6), we lose compassion for one another and all sense of what is right. We’re not too far from this today. Modern people in their pride have banished God’s Word from public life and feel confident that they can create a framework that is enlightened, compassionate and just. It’s predictable that it will descend into darkness, mercilessness and injustice.

Day 90: Judges 20-21: There’s a lot to think about on Day 90 of the Bible reading plan as we complete Judges and section that maintains parity between the Hebrew Canon and traditional Protestant Canon. How did it get to the point of near-extermination of one of the tribes of Israel? (As the people asked in Judges 21:3) We have to imagine that this is the result of:

Winning the war but losing the peace (Day 83)

Failing to thoroughly pass along their laws and experiences (Day 74), leading to ignorance about:

The penalty for rapists (Deuteronomy 22:20-26), homosexuals (Leviticus 18:22-30) and what a city is to do with the accused when a murder inquest is made (Deuteronomy 19:12-13).The fall of Sodom in Genesis 18, which mirrors the beginning of this story.The fall of Ai in Joshua 5, which mirrors the ending of this story.Joshua’s generalization of the principle learned at Ai, expressed in Joshua 22:11-20 on the occasion of their construction of a memorial altar at the border of the Promised Land.Failing to unite the tribes effectively. (Day 85)Too much dependence upon each heroic (but human) leader, (Day 79), leading to their being prone to the self-deception identified in Jotham’s parable (Day 86): the courageous, ambitious leader is not necessarily just and merciful, with a proper balance of each.

It seems clear that the problem is a complex one, not easily solved by simply being more obedient, training each next generation better, having greater unity and individual responsibility. We can armchair-quarterback the Israelites in the period of the Judges all we want; each criticism we make can even more effectively be leveled back at us: western Europe and America are in a phase of our history that is analogous to the period of the Judges. The Christian majority is being persuaded to give up power on the grounds that temporal power in the hands of the redeemed is idolatrous. We will find that temporal power in the hands of the unredeemed is merciless.

Day 91: 1 Samuel 1-3 - A list of High Priests in 1 Chronicles 6:1-15 does not contain Eli’s name. Is this because of the judgment? Why is the Tabernacle called the Temple (1 Samuel 1:9, 3:3; Tabernacle in 2:22). It's still the period of the Judges. Is Eli serving as both High Priest and Judge? Samuel, as his adopted son, though of Ephrathite heritage, (1 Samuel 1:1), takes over. Samuel will become the last Judge and the first prophet. Is he also High Priest after Eli? What about his biological parents, Elkanah and Hannah? Hannah’s act of faith in giving Samuel to the Lord and her prayer of praise mark her out as unique in this dim period of Israel’s history when there was little new revelation being given. (1 Samuel 3:1) Elkanah’s name means “God has possessed.” The names of his lineage get progressively more meaningful with each generation. Contrast the godly but barren Hannah, accused of drunkenness, with the privileged spiritual leader who allows his progeny to disgrace the office and extort the people.

Day 92: 1 Samuel 4-6 - Do the Philistines have a more authentic understanding of the nature of God than the Israelites at this point? They are ignorant and confused, but Israel thought “it”, (not “He”), would save them (1 Samuel 4:3).

Day 93: 1 Samuel 7-9 - The people’s desire for a king is a rejection of the LORD, (1 Samuel 8:7), but a king was anticipated in the Law (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Were the people aware of this passage? Was Samuel? God’s foreknowledge and previously revealed will against a specific situation He would not have preferred became the avenue of the monarchy out of which Christ was born King of the Jews. (Matthew 2:2)

Day 94: 1 Samuel 10-12 - What is different between the humility of Saul and the humility of Solomon? Saul protested that he was from the least of the houses of Benjamin, smallest of the tribes, (1 Samuel 9:21) and hid himself among the stuff (1 Samuel 10:22) rather than be anointed king. But God gave him a new heart and changed him into another man. (1 Samuel 10:6). Solomon confessed he felt like a little child and didn’t know how to rule, but asked for wisdom, that God’s purpose might be fulfilled. God is displeased when our self-doubt causes us to doubt his purposes. It’s not a virtuous but a self centered move to hide and resist God’s call. It’s how Moses angered the Lord in Exodus 4:13.

Day 95: 1 Samuel 13-14 - Can you feel the pressure on Saul? I know these stories are meant to build a case against Saul, but to wait for Samuel a week while 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen are gathering against your poorly armed and trembling 3,000 men would be difficult. And Samuel himself was not High Priest (1 Samuel 14:3), although perhaps Samuel brought Ahiah with him. Saul had one wife, (1 Samuel 14:50), in contrast to David’s 8+ wives and Solomon’s hundreds. Did he write himself a copy of the scriptures as he was commanded? It’s hard to forget the great confusion out of which the monarchy arose. The rash vow in 1 Samuel 14:24 and willingness to slay his own son over it is another example of his self centeredness.

Day 96: 1 Samuel 15-16 - What really happened to Saul? In chapters 10 & 11, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. He prophesied, (1 Samuel 10:9-11); he acted decisively and courageously (1 Samuel 11:6-7). He was magnanimous in victory. (1 Samuel 11:13) But then he presumptuously offered the sacrifice Samuel was to offer, he made a rash vow that almost resulted in Jonathan’s death, and he fell short of full obedience in victory over the Amelekites. Amalek is said to be symbolic of the flesh, a grandson of Esau, (Genesis 36:12), who despised the spiritual birthright, (Genesis 25:34, Hebrews 12:16). God vowed to utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, Exodus 17:14, and called Saul to be the executor of this judgment. Sauls incomplete obedience is complete disobedience, and shows just how protective we are of the flesh, which we’re to make no provision for (Romans 13:14). As 2 Peter 2:20 says, the latter end of someone entangled again and overcome by the flesh is worse than the beginning. It is thus with Saul. From having prophesied among the prophets he now refers to God as the Lord, Samuel’s God, and knows God has allowed an evil spirit to torment him while he awaits the rending of the kingdom from his hand.

Day 97: 1 Samuel 17-18 - Was shepherding a flock better preparation for the battle with Goliath than being a man of war from his youth? In this case, yes. David was a wise interpreter of what had actually happened (1 Samuel 17:37) and did not credit himself for the strength or cunning to defeat the animals. Yet it convinced him that God would deliver him from Goliath; so much so that he predicted what would happen. Saul, by contrast, misinterpreted the people’s exaggerations of both his and David’s exploits as undervaluing him, ignoring the fact that God was the one who wrought salvation, as he had once observed (1 Samuel 11:13).

Day 98: 1 Samuel 19-20 - How unstable is Saul at this point? It is shocking when he first attempts to murder David in 1 Samuel 18:11. He tries it again in 1 Samuel 19:9-10. He has his own daughter afraid to tell him the truth in 1 Samuel 19:17 and makes an attempt to murder his own son in 1 Samuel 20:33, all in an effort to thwart the revealed will of God, compare 1 Samuel 13:14 and 1 Samuel 15:26-28 with 1 Samuel 20:31. There is no one to restrain him and the evil spirit has gained the upper hand over his tormented soul at this point. When he admits he has “played the fool and erred exceedingly” in 1 Samuel 26:21, it is a great understatement.

Day 99: 1 Samuel 21-23 - Is there no limit to how far Saul will go in rebellion against the Lord? He killed the lineage and family of the High Priest just because he gave food, shelter and a weapon to David. The outcome is that the escaped son of the High Priest becomes the new High Priest and travels with David, giving David a way to inquire of the Lord. Saul’s jealous ambition has made him a tyrant worse than those of the surrounding enemy nations. We should fear when we go against the Lord’s revealed will: what will be the end of this decision? With nothing to restrain Saul, it got as bad as it could be.

Day 100: 1 Samuel 24-25 - In 1 Samuel 24:5, David shows unbelievable restraint that leaves vengeance entirely to the LORD (Deuteronomy 32:35), trusting to His good plan, despite all the adversity he was facing. (See Psalm 57) Then in chapter 25, when David is provoked and is about to take vengeance for himself, God uses Abigail to stop him (1 Samuel 25:33-34) teaching David that when we take matters into our own hand, even against the actions of the fool, innocents suffer. Isn’t continual confession and repentance the best guard against sin? Is that why God acted to thwart David’s path toward transgression? It’s a lesson kings greatly need to learn.

Day 101: 1 Samuel 26-28 - The extent to which Saul will go in his own desperation is astonishing. Even knowing that David will be king (1 Samuel 24:20, 26:25), even after having repented of pursuing David once, he does so again. Why engage in such a hopeless pursuit? It gets increasingly hopeless, and Saul gets increasingly desperate, as the story continues, to the point at which he is violating his own law (Romans 2:1) and consulting with one who has a familiar spirit because God has abandoned him. At this point Sauls actions mirror the vain efforts of the Devil, while David continues to believe that God is a faithful rewarder of those who who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Day 102: 1 Samuel 29-31 - If the book of Judges ended with a big question mark as to whether a king could unite the nation and get them to observe the Law, the book of 1 Samuel certainly seems to extend that question. Samuel, the last of the judges, has died leaving no suitable successor (1 Samuel 8:5). Saul and his 3 oldest sons have just been killed. David has defected to the Philistines and only recently returned. As far as the people know, the priesthood has been exterminated. Hasn’t the whole idea of a monarchy been a disaster? Saul has spent years pursuing the captain of his own army while acting like a madman, and even seeking guidance in necromancy. But things aren’t all as they seem. The High Priest’s son is still alive, effectively serving as High Priest, giving counsel to David. Even the king of Philistia swears by the LORD’s name, while Saul has named a younger son after Baal. (1 Chronicles 8:33)

Day 103: 2 Samuel 1-2 - In addition to being Saul’s general, Abner is his cousin. (1 Samuel 14:50) in taking ish-bosheth to a city of Benjamin, Abner is leveraging an old division that was the cause of an earlier civil war in Israel (Judges 20). Ephraim, likewise had grievances reaching back to the days of the Judges (Judges 8). David’s kindness to the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul (1 Samuel 31:16, 2 Samuel 2:5-6) was genuine. Is it not likely that the careful recording of it before this division was strategic?

Day 104: 2 Samuel 3-4 - Is David the king who can unite Israel? (2 Samuel 3:17-18, 36) The writer of Samuel is careful to detail these events playing out in such a way that David’s opposition is removed but David himself does not have to act in violence. As David himself puts it, “the LORD… has redeemed my soul out of all adversity.” (2 Samuel 4:9) Although there are factions among the tribes, Israel as a whole wants unity, of war and division. David endured the jealous aggression of Saul for years without going on the offensive and now God is loosing, ransoming him from the tribulation he’s been through while David stands still to see the deliverance of the LORD. (Exodus 14:13)

Day 105 - 2 Samuel 5-7 - So much in these three chapters is rich with potential for application for me and my family. First is the joyful dancing David exhibits while bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. I’ve read this passage many times, and understand that the Uzzah passage is a common sticking point. Are there two ways to read this text? "And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" (2 Samuel 6:9 KJV) So the way it’s rendered, it says “David was afraid.” But you could also read the (proper) fear of the LORD into this passage. Either one works, to be honest. Where did the “new cart” (2 Samuel 6:3) come from? Not from Scripture; that’s the Philistine way to transport the Ark. (1 Samuel 6:7) David and the people were being careless of how they transported the Ark of the Covenant. David was angry about Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8) But then asked how he could get the Ark to him. (2 Samuel 6:9) It doesn’t formally say that the priests told him to go look up Numbers 4:5-6 and read about the covering and the poles, but (2 Samuel 6:13 makes it sound like that’s exactly what they did. ) No, I think the proper fear of the LORD might actually set up the next scene and the next chapter. The word “fear” is the same word translated “fear” in this passage: "Thou shalt… fear thy God: I [am] the LORD." (Leviticus 19:32 KJV) If David realized it was their carelessness that resulted in Uzzah’s death when he offended the LORD, repentance and a restored joy fit the 1 John 1:9 pattern exactly. Sin, and the shame of it, should be understood to be cleansed entirely and the relationship with God restored when we confess and repent. The next chapter shows David’s tender heart for God - God never asked him or anyone else for a house—but it clearly was in His plan. So God honors David with his own covenant of blessing, which identifies him as an ancestor of the Messiah. Reading Galatians 3:16 has primed us English speakers to be sensitive to the singular word “seed” (instead of “seeds”) in 2 Samuel 7:12 as well as the singular pronouns. They refer to Jesus personally. So what about verse 14? 'I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: ‘ (2 Samuel 7:14) Adam Clarke’s commentary may offer the answer. The passive voice of the verb for committing iniquity signifies suffering for iniquity and not personally committing it, putting it in harmony with Isaiah 53.

Day 106: 2 Samuel 8-11 - How often do we receive an answer to prayers (2 Samuel 7:1) then eventually use the requested blessing in sin against God? David’s kindness to Mephibosheth is a beautiful picture of God’s kindness to us (see parallels between 2 Samuel 9 and Psalm 23), but in the next 2 chapters David is shown to be a passive “sender” of messages rather than the active defender of the kingdom he is in chapter 8. His idleness brings him the temptation of Bath-Sheba, and the deep, treacherous conspiracy to cover it up.

Day 107: 2 Samuel 12-13 - David’s sin had been in secret. Wasn’t it his desperation to keep it secret that led to compounding treacherous adultery against a faithful subordinate (2 Samuel 11:11) with a treacherous conspiracy to murder him? God exposes the secret and ensures the judgment against David is public and far more shameful. David’s idleness led to his sin, and he seems to accept the rebuke of Joab in 2 Samuel 12:28; yet in 2 Samuel 13:7 he is absent again and “sending” Tamar to Amnon instead of going with her. Balancing his responsibility to his kingdom, his responsibility to his family and his enjoyment of the rest God had provided does not come easily to David. He was closer to God while on the run.

Day 108: 2 Samuel 14-15 -

Even after the well-taken rebuke from God through Nathan and Joab, does David still lack objectivity? What is making him so passive that for the second time, it takes a story to get him to make a decision? The woman of Tekoa brings up the Avenger of Blood. That's essentially the role Absalom played, though it was against his own half-brother. David seems to be seeing it from the other side, that Absalom was guilty of manslaughter against Amnon, and he was likely to lose two of his sons. To avoid that point at which she was driving, he's forced again into the better of two difficult decisions. Then Joab himself was forced into a difficult decision when Absalom burns his barley field. It was too late to recover Absalomby that time. Still, as he goes into exile, David asks God to use the counsel of Hushai to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, who was Bath-Sheba's grandfather.

Day 109: 2 Samuel 16-18 -

After a long struggle with passivity, how does David now so effectively differentiate between what to passively accept as God’s chastisement (the cursing of Shimei, 2 Samuel 16:10) and work against (his prayer against the counsel of Ahithophel which God answered—2 Samuel 15:31-32)? We don’t have to wonder in the dark about David’s thought process, even if the narrative doesn’t provide it. Psalms 38 and 51 reveal the brokenness David feels. He begged God not to take His Holy Spirit from him, as He did from Saul - he knew it was possible, and that God had even sent an evil spirit to harass Saul. I tried to imagine the enormous pressure on Saul. Imagine the pressure David is under here. He’s being confronted with opportunities that could be help or hindrance; he has to make rapid decisions about thorny issues. He entrusts himself to the Lord. What else can he do?

Day 110: 2 Samuel 19-20 - David’s kingdom is restored to him, but is it ever the same again? In addition to losing two sons, there is division and infighting. As Joab did to Abner, so he does to Amasa. Is the issue of Ziba and Mephibosheth solved? Unity is precious. Once a leader who has captured the hearts of his people has become tarnished, how can that unity be restored?

Day 111: 2 Samuel 21-22 - Part of God's stated intent in His covenant with Abram was to judge the Amorites. (Genesis 15:16-21) Yet the rash treaty the invading Israelites made with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 was upheld because they swore by the LORD. (Joshua 9:18) After the big mistake, they did not compound their mistake by another; and here, some 400 years later, God is still enforcing that agreement. As difficult as this passage is, does that not give us great comfort, knowing that God swore to His covenant with Abraham by Himself (Genesis 22:16, Hebrews 6:13)? Yes, this is said to be our sure and steadfast anchor for the soul, as Christ is already in the heavenly Holy of Holies, ensuring our place with God. (Hebrews 6:18-20)

Day 112: 2 Samuel 23-24 - In any such narrative in which the anger of? Let all God’s people during this dark time seek mercy from the Father of mercy and God of all comfort, (2 Corinthians 1:3), whose seat of mercy is between the cherubim (Isaiah 37:16) and is “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:6-7‬) Israel’s present unbelief creates the opportunity for the reconciliation of the rest of the world (Romans 11:16), and, like the Gibeonites, Gentiles have been grafted in and enjoy the new covenant, we can count on God’s faithfulness even though there is no example of human faithfulness.

Day 113 - 1 Kings 1-2 - The conspiracy and intrigue in 1 Kings 1-2 are disturbing. Was everything described justified? I doubt it. But it’s a reminder that, despite David’s powerful personality, despite how beloved (the meaning of his name) he was (2 Samuel 23:1), the 40 years of his reign, and the 40 years of Saul’s reign before him, (Acts 13:21), were tumultuous ones, and were not too far removed from the chaotic time of the Judges. David’s kingdom laid a good if flawed foundation, despite the civil war with Absalom, and Solomon’s actions, right or wrong, are recorded so that we know neither man is the King Israel longs for.

Day 114 - 1 Kings 3-4 - By the time 1 Kings is written, the practice of sacrificing in the high places is repeatedly noted as a qualification on any king’s zeal for the Lord (2 Kings 12:3; 14:3-4; 15:4,14,35; 22:43). Leviticus 17 forbade the practice of offering sacrifices anywhere besides the Tabernacle. (Lev. 17:2-6) It had been the practice of the heathen nations they drove out to sacrifice in high places and they were commanded to destroy them, (Numbers 33:52, Deuteronomy 12:3). And yet in the city of Gibeon (possibly named after the high place, 1 Kings 3:4) Solomon offers an extravagant sacrifice and the Lord is pleased. (1 Kings 3:5-14) More is going on in the story of the Gibeonites than meets the eye, apparently. In Nehemiah 3:7, they return to the land after captivity with the Israelites and help to build the wall. How could God be so pleased with a sacrifice in a high place undoubtedly formerly dedicated to a Hive deity in a city inhabited by a people the Lord had commanded Israel to exterminate, (Deuteronomy 20:17), made by a king who was already beginning the practices that would bring widespread idolatry into the land? (See 1 Kings 3:1, 1 Kings 11:1-2)

Day 115: 1 Kings 5-6 - There is a consistent vocabulary in the Garden of Eden, (Genesis 2), the Tabernacle, (Exodus 24-27), and the Temple (1 Kings 5-7). Flowers, trees, cherubim guardians. Why were the tabernacle’s instructions so exacting, so obviously by divine revelation, and the Temple’s conveyed by narrative: “this is what Solomon did”? Israel is in a period of unique grace during this time.

Day 116: 1 Kings 7-8 - From whence comes Solomon’s boldness to ask for so much forgiveness and mercy from the God who slew Nadab and Abihu, the rebellion of Korah, the unfaithful at Ba’al-Peor, the breach of Uzzah, and even the catastrophic circumstances that led to his own reign? It is prophetic and can only have been inspired by the God who would fulfill all these requests and so prove that the Old Testament, like the New, is saturated with grace.

Day 117: 1 Kings 9-10 - With all his fabulous wealth and understanding, does Solomon have any grasp of the fact that in doing business with the canaanites, in taking a wife from Egypt, in multiplying horses to himself and bringing them from Egypt, he’s doing what the king is expressly forbidden to do in Deuteronomy 17:14-20? As he’s beautifying Israel, building alliances, gaining fame and wealth, he’s also laying a trap for himself.

Day 118: 1 Kings 11-12 - Did Rehoboam choose (1 Kings 12:8) to answer the people roughly at the advice of his peers, or did God ordain that he do so? (1 Kings 12:15) Both, it seems. I don’t see things like this as a “You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?’” situation (Romans 9:19) as both descriptions really are true. It’s always our free choice to resist God’s prescriptive, revealed will; never by our own independent desire that we have a will to do His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

Day 119: 1 Kings 13-14 - The story of the unnamed prophet of Judah in 1 Kings 13 is amazing, but also confusing. Why did he listen to the lying Israelite prophet? Did he seek counsel of the Lord but ask the wrong question? (Is the man a prophet?) Why does God speak true prophecy through the man who had been the deceiver? Why is judgment against this prophet so swift and sudden when the prophecy against the idolatrous altar causing the whole land to apostasize takes about 350 years to fulfill? (2 Kings 23:15-20) For me it is a warning about uncritically receiving someone else’s “word from the Lord“ for my life.

Day 120: 1 Kings 15-16 - With a father like Abijam, a grandfather like Rehoboam, where did Asa’s devotion to the Lord come from? What a an indication of God’s grace that his reign lasted 41 years.

Day 121: 1 Kings 17-18 - The situation in Israel makes for some strange encounters. Why does an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:15, cf,, Haggai 2:12-13) bring the prophet his food? Why is he sheltered by a Sidonian widow? Why does he go to Obadiah to get to Ahab? With Elijah alone representing YHVH, the entire nation is upside down, and the miracle for the gentile and ceremonially unclean context for the prophets food hints about what He will one day do to pursue His lost son. (Luke 15, Luke 3:25)

Day 122: 1 Kings 19-20 - What if we had a supernatural experience of God’s power? An audible word from God, a prophecy over our lives, a miracle or vision? Wouldn’t it forever dispel doubt and weakness in our spiritual walk? Elijah shows us this isn’t the case. After defeating the prophets of Baal, effectively standing alone against the apostasy of Israel, he flees before a woman. Likewise Ahab, though he’s delivered by a word from the Lord, falls short of taking full advantage of it and his people suffer as a result.

Day 123: 1 Kings 21-22 - I’ll admit to being confused by this whole chapter. Why does Micaiah initially promise success like the false prophets? Why did God work through a lying spirit to deceive and move Ahab to war so that he would be slain, after relenting in the last chapter over his repentance? At any rate it is a clear demonstration that, as Job put it, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted;”‭‭(Job‬ ‭42:2‬)

Day 124: 2 Kings 1-2 - Were these “little children” a threat to Elijah? Most likely they were, and our translation makes it ambiguous. In Genesis 34:19, the same word is used for Shechem, the young man who slept with Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. In 1 Kings 3:7, Solomon, who has just been made king, calls himself a “little child” yet we learn he reigns a total of 40 years, (1 Kings 11:42), and Rehoboam was 41 when he began to reign. (1 Kings 14:21) So if there were 42 young men pursuing and mocking Elisha, they were certainly a threat, just as the captains of fifties had been to Elijah in 1 Kings 1:9-15.

Day 125: 2 Kings 3-4 - Why so many miracles at this time? There are miracles at the Exodus and a few thereafter during the time of Moses, but nothing in the rest of the Old Testament like the time of Elijah and Elisha. God authenticated their ministry like He did that of the Apostles and Christ, with healings, miraculous feeding and even raising the dead. Was it because the Samarian kingdom had forsaken the Scriptures and true worship of God and He wanted them to have an authentic witness? We don’t hear much more about the “school of the prophets” but I suspect it had an important impact on the northern Kingdom.

Day 126: 2 Kings 5-6 - How much of God’s blessing does pride keep us from? The story of Naaman’s healing seems so out of place: Syria is the aggressor against Israel only one chapter later (2 Kings 6:8-24). Why does the captured servant girl name Elisha? Why does Naaman believe her? Why is Elisha willing to heal him? Why do his servants ultimately convince him to humble himself and be healed? It is evidence of the design of the Bible as a unified message. In Luke 4, after announcing His ministry and receiving the people’s acclamation at the Nazareth Synagogue, Jesus tells this story, highlighting the irony of a foreigner’s healing in contrast to the rejection of Jesus (Luke 4:28-30).

Day 127: 2 Kings 7-8 - When I think about all Elijah’s and Elisha’s renowned miracles and their feud with and scorn for the house of Ahab, it makes me wonder: why would Judah be so cozy with Ephraim? Why would Jehoshaphat’s son marry Ahab’s daughter after hearing Elijah’s rebuke in 2 Kings 3:14?

Day 128: 2 Kings 9-10 - Jehu is enigmatic. He’s decisive, courageous and dynamic, but he doesn’t maintain his faithfulness to God. He instead worships Jeroboam’s idols. (2 Kings 10:31) Why? Perhaps for the same mercenary reason as Jeroboam himself (1 Kings 12:26-28). It’s a reminder to myself and anyone who starts strong but is tempted to settle into compromise that strong beginning aren’t as important as strong endings.

Day 129: 2 Kings 10-13 - Under what circumstances is it the best and godliest course of action to overthrow a monarch? Have soldiers execute a woman with swords? Circumvent the normal donation methodology of the people? When these kinds of things are happening in Israel and Judah, you know things have gone from bad to worse. It takes courageous, decisive people like Jehosheba (2 Kings 11:2), Jehoiada (2 Kings 11:4-12, 15, 17) and Jehoash, King of Judah (2 Kings 12:7,9) to restore some order; still, it's a time of confusion, a time when things that must be done to correct course would not ordinarily be the right thing to do. Perhaps this is part of the apparent ambiguity in Elisha's lesson to Joash, King of Israel: beat the ground with arrows. Nope, you only beat the ground three times. You should've done it five or six times. When everything is in a bad place, it's hard for people to know what to do. It makes me think of a situation yesterday in the city of Plano, where our ministry is headquartered. A protest group had blocked the freeway, an illegal act. They were armed. A motorist exited his vehicle and confronted the group. He was the one accosted by a police officer, instead of the rioters. What is a citizen to do in such a case, when officers of law enforcement are siding with the lawbreakers? When cities are declaring themselves "cities of refuge" in defiance of immigration law? When mayors and governors are abdicating their responsibility to protect private property and the lives of citizens? Like Israel and Judah in the days of the two Joash's, it's a confusing time in America, and we are in dire need of leaders who will act righteously and courageously, in defiance of the inevitable name-calling and illegal actions against them.

Day 130: 2 Kings 14-15 - Isaiah 6 begins, “in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the LORD, high and lifted up…” Why is the vision connection with the death of Uzziah? Uzziah and his father Amaziah seem to be good kings, but both made foolish mistakes: Amaziah attempted to unify Israel again by conquering the Northern kingdom and was defeated. Uzziah intruded into the Temple to burn incense (2 Chronicles 26:16-21) and was struck with leprosy. His son Jotham became the ruler at that time, and although both kings were evaluated as having done that which is right in the sight of the Lord, 2 Kings 15:34), the Lord began to send Assyria against Judah at that time. Although they had generally good leadership, all was not well in Judah. I think Isaiah’s note may indicate a turning point, as he was told to tell the people they were not listening to God. (Isaiah 6:9-13)

Day 131: 2 Kings 16-17 - How could we understand it if we read Exodus then skipped everything between and read these two chapters? What could possibly have convinced a nation that had been literally created by a series of miracles to abandon the true God and so debase themselves for the very paganism they had escaped? The intervening chapters of the Bible, then, are a cautionary account for the Body of Christ in 21st Century America. Influential fools have convinced many to envy and mimic the nations of Europe, who are further regressed than we are. The children and grandchildren of zealous believers take pride in what is objectively shameful. Our contemporaries dismiss the mighty works of God in our history as puritanical, superstitious, restrictive and bigoted. We desperately need a fresh move of God’s Spirit.

Day 132: 2 Kings 18-19 - What is the Rab-Shakeh’s assumption? That Hezekiah’s actions in tearing down the high places betray a crass political motive: ensure the people come to the Royal city to worship. (2 Kings 18:22) It’s actually a uniquely faithful act on the part of Hezekiah among the Judean kings to this point (2 Kings 18:4-6). And yet, is Hezekiah’s hope (2 Kings 19:4) and prayer (2 Kings 19:15-19) for deliverance based on the faithfulness of people? No; it’s on the reputation of the LORD, His own glory, that Hezekiah knows to be the best appeal; for until he had torn them down, Judah had persistently maintained high places and groves. It’s notable that this section is reproduced not just in the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 32 but in Isaiah 37-39. God knew generations of believers would rejoice over the day the blasphemy and pride of a mighty human kingdom was answered in one night by a single angel able to decimate the army of a world empire. It really puts Matthew 26:53 in context.

Day 133: 2 Kings 20-22 - did God delay judgment on a nation because of the intercession of just one man?

Day 134: 2 Kings 23-25 - How was it going to come to pass that the monarchy would end with the king of Judah seeing the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 32:4) but not Babylon itself (Ezekiel 12:13), though he would die there? It must have seemed contradictory, but it was all predicted beforehand. In fact, this may have been part of what was contemptuously cut up and thrown into the fire (Jeremiah 36:23-25). How could they have missed the fulfillment of the 350 year-old prophecy made by the unnamed Judean prophet in 1 Kings 13?

Day 135: Isaiah 1-4 -What a great question - "who asked you to come walk on the floors in My House?" ( Isaiah 1:12) What is the point of being a priest, making sacrifices, burning incense, if you don't really fear God at all? Aren't we in a time like this now? American evangelical Christianity is flirting with some very non-Christian ideas, and why? Because the Christian ones are alienating the world, and we're being blamed for their reaction. We'll get better judges and counsellors if we submit to His washing (Isaiah 1:16-19). Although it was a promise to Israel, it's also a principle: Walk in the light of the Lord (Isaiah 2:5) and give up on hero-worship. (Isaiah 2:22) Like God's threat to Israel, we're taking our advice from the immature, (Isaiah 3:4), the obscene and arrogant (Isaiah 3:9). Our children are being taught to admire entertainers who are given a platform to speak on social and moral issues and have no self-awareness about how exaggerated their pretentiousness is. (Isaiah 3:16-23) But one day our filth will be washed away, and Jesus will be seen for just how glorious and beautiful He is. (Isaiah 4:2-4)

Day 136: Isaiah 5-8 - In light of the complaint above, is what Isaiah is being commissioned to do simply declaring the truth? Is Isaiah 6:8-13 not just Isaiah's calling, but the rationale for this book itself, all sixty-six chapters of it? There's so much gospel in it, so much hope, and yet, the command is not to "make disciples of all nations" but to "make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes" - but is it that message of offered salvation and extended hope that puts them to sleep? Is the appeal to them to wash… [and be] white as snow" (Isaiah 1:16, 18) the agent of resistance? "The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay," as the saying goes?

Day 137: Isaiah 9-12 - If the casting aside of Israel resulted in the salvation we see being brought to the world, what is the restoration of faith in the Resurrected Messiah going to look like? (Romans 11:15) It’s like the resurrection of a nation. (Ezekiel 37:14) It appears that Isaiah 12 describes this.

Day 138: Isaiah 13-16 - I was fixated by this verse: "I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness." Who are these? At first I imagined the "burners" of Chapter 6 who cry to one another about His holiness, even when there's no one to challenge. But is this not broader? Those who rejoice in His Highness? Is that not the Church as well? Will there be more for us to do in our mission on the Day of the LORD than simply following on white horses? (Revelation 19:14, Psalm 149:6-9, Jude 1:14)

Day 139: Isaiah 17-21 - So much of what is being described in these chapters is beyond my historical and geographical grasp. How much has been fulfilled? How much (like Isaiah 17:1, 19:18-25) still await fulfillment? How close are we? Recent events seem portentous, as modern Persia uses money given to them by the US to get a terrorist group to fire rockets into Israel. Might we not be on the brink?

Day 140: Isaiah 22-25 - Are we close to this day? Can you feel it? When the fulness of the gentiles come in, and the veil is taken away from the Jews in a moment, they see the Pierced One and mourn over having missed Him, he wipes away all tears, and they exult: this is our God! We have waited for Him! We will be glad and rejoice in His Yeshua!

Day 141: Isaiah 26-29 - Even in isolation from the rest of this context I have felt Isaiah 26:20 could be about the Rapture; but in the context of these four chapters does it not seem all the more clear? Hail (Isaiah 28:17, Revelation 16:21), besiegement of Jerusalem, (Isaiah 29:3, Luke 21:20) with deliverance from God Himself (v. 8). Could Isaiah 26:19 be about the resurrection and rapture of the dead and 20 be about the rapture of the living, with 21 foretelling the 2nd coming and Armageddon?

Day 142: Isaiah 30-33 - Is the seemingly shallow reading of Isaiah 32:5 not really shallow at all? The section is all about contrasting rest in an alliance with Egypt (against invading Assyria) with rest in the LORD. Trusting to His grace. Looking forward to His redemption of earth and personal reign in righteousness. Suffering by the comparison was that day (and likewise OUR day) of flattering, deceptive language, of words used to conceal the true motive, and of dim minds, short sightedness, and selective hearing. To change all of that will take not just an education but the pouring out of God’s Spirit. (Isaiah 32:15, Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2/Zechariah 12:10) We wait for that with great anticipation — but we must also remember God’s much longer, more patient wait, which is the salvation of so many before the time is up. (Isaiah 30:18/2 Peter 3:15)

Day 143: Isaiah 34-37 - Although secular history downplays the supernatural side of this, there is no choice but to admit it occurred since it was confirmed in ancient pagan history as well. Herodotus attributed the aborted siege to mice gnawing through bowstrings and straps. Josephus to a plague. Sennacherib’s own history simply omits Jerusalem from all the boasting about conquering 43 cities and taking >200,000 captives. What would the world be like if Assyria had captured Jerusalem? speculates historynet.com. No Judaism, no Islam, no Christianity, they reason. I wonder if they somehow assume that would be a beneficial outcome. Given how brutal the Chaldeans and Assyrians were, I'm not sure how non-Christians could reach that conclusion.

Day 144: Isaiah 39 - 42 - I've reached the transition from part 1 to part 2 of Isaiah. Sixty-six chapters, and divided just as the Old and New Testaments are, at 39, with Hezekiah's pitiful failure to care for the generations to follow him. In spite of this announcement of destruction, loss and captivity, Isaiah looks forward to another day, some 720 years later, when John the Baptist would prepare the way for the LORD, (Isaiah 40:3), so that the people might "behold your God" (v. 9). It is because He is the First (Isaiah 41:4, 27) that He can declare for us things to come. (Isaiah 41:22) He made it so clear, and Isaiah was a treasured book of the Jews. How could they have missed Jesus? How could John the Baptist's message have been so mysterious to them?

Day 145: Isaiah 42-44: Isaiah quotes the Lord, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah‬ ‭42:9‬) What does he mean specifically? He’s probably referring to the prediction that came to pass regarding the Assyrian army and Sennecherib, and encouraging the reader to have faith based on that that all he predicts will occur. That includes the description about Christ that opens the chapter, (Isaiah 42:1-4), but also the pouring out of the Spirit (Isaiah 44:3), the blotting out of their transgressions, (Isaiah 44:22), and the destruction and rebuilding of Jerusalem, (Isaiah 44:28). The Cyrus prophecy is so specific that it’s probably the inspiration for the whole Deutero-Isaiah heresy. But for us it all follows suit: if Isaiahs prophecy was fulfilled regarding Cyrus, and the first advent of Jesus, it will be fulfilled in Israel’s regathering (Isaiah 11:11), Christ’s second coming and Armageddon (Isaiah 26:19-21).

Day 146: Isaiah 45-47 - Is this the beginning of a theme? The authentic people of God (Jacob My servant and Israel whom I have chosen, Isaiah 44:1) vs Babylon, chosen for a temporary purpose (I was worth with my people, Isaiah 47:6), Jehovah VS. Idols, deliverance from God VS self-righteousness. It carries all the way through with respect to Babylon, and seems to be manifested most clearly in the Catholic Church in our day. (See Revelation 18:7/Isaiah 47:8)

Day 147: Isaiah 48-50 - Could there be a more vivid image than Isaiah 49:16? Especially in the light of crucifixion being one of the best known identifiers of Jesus of Nazareth. (See Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 13:6) The grief over having missed their messiah will be deep. (Zechariah 12:10) But the reconciliation will be the celebration of the world.

Day 148: Isaiah 51-53 - “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” ‭‭(Isaiah‬ ‭52:10‬ ‭KJV‬‬) Could this be said to be the Matthew 24:14 of the Old Testament? Taken together with Isaiah 53:1, we can see that “the arm of the Lord” is another name for Jesus. And literally the last phrase can be read, “all the ends of the earth shall see Yeshua Elohim.”

Day 149: Isaiah 54-58 - Looking at Isaiah 56:3-7, I am thinking: do the Persians who learn to fear God represent the strangers joined to Israel? (Esther 8:17) Does Daniel not exemplify the eunuch given an everlasting name that shall not be cut off? Does the church represent the “others” called to the feast in Isaiah 56:8-9? (Acts 10:12-13)

Day 150: Isaiah 59-63 - "Would there have been any way for a contemporary reader to perceive that the division between themes in Isaiah 61:2 at the comma before “and the day of vengeance of our God would last 2,000 years?"

Day 151: Isaiah 64-66 - Knowing the coming captivity (Isaiah 39:6-7) and destruction of Jerusalem is a great burden. Before the question is even asked, God answers the thoughts of the heart: the One Whose throne is Heaven itself, whose footstool is the whole earth, is not diminished by the destruction of the Temple, or by the ceasing of sacrifice to Him, especially by those who don’t listen to Him and spew hypocrisy. He’s going to appear before all the earth, consume His enemies and create a new heaven and new earth. How could we imagine Him to be so small that the house Built by David’s son could contain Him? (2 Chronicles 6:18)

Day 152: Jeremiah 1-2 - What is God’s case against His people? That by comparison the complainers in the wilderness wanderings were holiness to the Lord. They have forsaken Him, the fountain of Living Waters, and have hewn broken cisterns that hold no water, saying to the things they create, “you are my father” even while God’s chastisement on them goes unnoticed.

Day 153 : Jeremiah 3-4 - Why does God make the point about re-marrying someone who has been divorced for unfaithfulness? Because that’s the point at which it doesn’t fit the picture that he gives: idolatry is unfaithfulness and yet God tells us to break up the rough ground of our hearts to return to him and he will except us and restore us even if it’s a small remnant one of the city to other family, he will give us pastors after his own heart. Hope is always available.

Day 154: Jeremiah 5-6 - What if God brings calamity after calamity on a nation and the people say, “it is not be; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword or famine”? (Jeremiah 5:12)

Day 155: Jeremiah 7-8 -To this point Jeremiah has condemned the Kings, princes, priests, prophets and people for idolatry, immorality and injustice. Although the earlier chapters are thought to be written later, they speak of events that had been ongoing for some time by the days of Josiah. (Jeremiah 3:6) How had the people been so thoroughly led astray in the days of Manasseh and Amon? How was it still able to continue during Jeremiahs reform?

Day 156: Jeremiah 9-10 - Jeremiah’s reaction to his own prophecy is in 10:23-25. He cannot see how the people can be held responsible since they do not direct their own steps. (v. 23). He begs for restraint in judgment (v. 24). He blames the heathen, wondering how God can use brutish men (v. 22) to punish His own people, even though they have also become brutish.!(v. 21) Is this not a preview of Habakkuk 1:12? [“Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.”‭‭ (Habakkuk‬ ‭1:12‬)]

Day 157: Jeremiah 11-12 - From begging God to visit his wrath on the heathen rather than his people, Jeremiah seems to have come around to God’s point of view in chapter 12. God reminds him again that he won’t listen to prayer on their behalf (Jeremiah 11:14) and Jeremiah actually longs to see judgment on them. (Jeremiah 11:20) Does he not see in chapter 12 that the Lord is righteous and the people wicked? Do verses 15-17 anticipate not just the regathering from Babylonian captivity but even the destruction in 70 A.D.?

Day 158: Jeremiah 13-15 - What do you do when you are told that it is hopeless? If the one telling you this is the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort? (2 Corinthians 1:3) Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet for this reason.

Day 159: Jeremiah 16-18 - At a time when God is about to bring judgment on his unrepentant people, does He look forward to the church age in Jeremiah 16:19?

Day 160: Jeremiah 19-22 - Who couldn’t sympathize with the wails of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:7-18? We have the full picture of what happened and why, but he had a love for his nation and it brought him deep grief to pronounce such judgment. He was despised and suffered because his contemporary “prophets” and priests anticipated only good and blessing despite their treachery against their calling.

Day 161: Jeremiah 23-25 - God’s case against the prophets is an open-and-shut one: “But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” (‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23:22‬) But did not Jeremiah himself do all this from the 13th year of King Josiah? (Jeremiah 25:3) God had told Jeremiah they would fight against him, (Jeremiah 1:19), so why did He not call a sufficient number In unity to cause the people to hear His words? This makes me think of the statement of Jesus over Bethsaida and Chorazin in Matthew 11:21.

Day 162: Jeremiah 26-28 - What would have happened if the authorities had listened to Jeremiah and ignored the lying prophets like Hananiah, who recklessly broke the wooden yoke God instructed Jeremiah to make for himself? God told Jeremiah that if they listened and turned away from the evil, He Himself would turn from what He planned to do to them. This is an astonishing and hope-giving revelation for anyone experiencing the chastisement or judgment of God. This was a major turning point in the Old Testament, leading to the captivity of Israel for 70 years and their essential end as an independent kingdom.

Day 163: Jeremiah 29-31 -In a situation in which they are hearing prophets, priests and kings telling them one thing and young Jeremiah telling them the other, how are the people to evaluate who is faithfully sharing God’s Word? By watching the short term outcome of Jeremiahs vs. that of zedekiah, ahab and shemeiah.

Day 164: Jeremiah 32-34 - Jeremiah has had a tragic message to deliver, and now he’s shut up in prison for doing it. How hard must it have been to buy the field in obedience to the word of the Lord in the face of all this? And yet it seems this is the reason he receives the encouraging revelation of the next two chapters: there will be return and restoration, they will have a new heart and God will be their God with an everlasting covenant, (Jeremiah 32:37-42), Jerusalem will be a name of joy and praise, (Jeremiah 33:9), and God’s people will never be cast away, (Jeremiah 33:25/Romans 11:1).

Day 165: Jeremiah 35-37 - Was God prepared to restrain His judgment if the people had repented? (Jeremiah 36:2,3) Yes. This shows there is always hope while judgment has not yet fallen, as the Ninevites somehow understood (Jonah 3:9, cf., Joel 2:14). While we definitely have those in our country who would burn the scroll as Jehoiakim did, we also have those who would tremble at His Word.

Day 166: Jeremiah 38-40 - Why does king Zedekiah call for Jeremiah, to hear his prophecy, only to disregard it? Maybe he also knew of Ezekiel’s prophecy in 12:13 that he would not see Babylon though he would die there. Jeremiah’s prediction in 34:5 was that he would not die by the sword though he would not escape. If he had surrendered, his house would have lived according to Jeremiah 38:17. But truly a net was spread over him.

Day 167: Jeremiah 41-43 - Gedeliah, governor of Judaea under Nebuchadnezzar, was set to rule modestly and according to God’s plan for the Jews. Why then was he killed, and his avengers likewise set up for judgment? It seems that by this time no one knows who to believe, which makes sense, because we know God says the kings, princes, prophets, priests and all the people were corrupt. (32:32) Moreover the good Gedeliah refused good intelligence (40:16) and the suspicious Johanan refused to believe the word of the Lord they had pledged to follow (43:2-4, 42:2). What confusion! Are we not even now in such a day of confusion? God’s people who want to do good are gullible; the more suspicious refuse to be led by God. The wicked deceive and destroy. Ultimately this is more of the Lord’s chastisement until we learn to seek His face.

Day 168: Jeremiah 44-46 - What “great things” did Baruch seek for himself? (Jeremiah 45:5) I think about this little passage a lot, compared to its size, and I don’t know the answer. I suspect Baruch expected to be vindicated after having been faithful as the scribe of Jeremiah. Maybe more than that, he expected to hold some position of high honor or material reward when Jeremiah’s predictions were all proven right. God’s word to him here reminds us all that we are creatures of our own times, and though we may be faithful to our calling, if that calling is during a time of decline or chastisement, we can expect only preservation for the purposes of God. (Romana 8:36) Not an earthly destiny conformed to our own selfish ambitions.

Day 170: Jeremiah 47-48 - Why does 47:10's warning against deceitful service to the Lord, and unwillingness to execute bloody justice, appear in the midst of a lament over Moab? Because all this judgment being pronounced against Moab would be executed by God's people. In our day, one of the most difficult critiques of God's Word is the Israelites' so-called genocide against the Canaanites. Seen through the lens of an unbeliever, it does seem cruel; and yet it was part of God's calling on the Israelites to execute this judgment. (Gen. 15:16)

Day 170: Jeremiah 49-50 - Is it a consolation to Israel as they are about to experience judgment, to know that those by whom they are judged will also be judged? Yes, for how else can they maintain their understanding that God is just? Prophets are alarmed by the knowledge that God uses worse nations to chastise Israel. It makes it seem as if God ignores the wickedness of those given over to wickedness but is exacting on those who claim a commitment to righteousness but are hypocritical. Letting judgment and vengeance be God’s keeps it all in perspective.

Day 171: Jeremiah 50-51 - To what purpose is the end note of Jeremiah, that Jehoiachin was shown kindness by the king of Babylon? God’s mercy shown even in judgment?

Day 172: Ezekiel 1-4 - Ezekiel sees incredible visions, including the likeness of God enthroned. He’s also greatly humbled, having to weigh out his food, lie on his side, and cook with excrement. Is God humbling him as an example to Judah?

Day 173: Ezekiel 5-8 - What kind of revelation was this to Ezekiel? He knew the people were corrupt, but until this vision did he suspect that demon worship was taking place in the house of the Lord?

Day 174: Ezekiel 9-11 - Shouldn’t I spend more time mourning about the corruption in my nation? Obviously God’s actions with Judah show that to be the proper response.

Day 175: Ezekiel 12-14 - With hindsight it’s easy for us to see where this is headed. But how confused must these people have been, with prophets telling them peace would surely come?

Day 176: Ezekiel 15-17 - The two parables today tell two stories in a viscerally shocking way. Judah’s unfaithfulness to Jehovah and the rulers’ betrayal of Babylon. Who could forget these? They’re so like Nathan’s “thou art the man.” To David.

Day 177: Ezekiel 17-19 - Sandwiched between two interesting Old Testament Parables is a theodicy by God Himself - the people say His ways are not equal because, they say, the fathers eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. It is by our own iniquity that we are judged and the soul that sinneth, it shall die, He says. Does the father put the son in a bad position by his iniquity? Yes, except the son also has the opportunity to see the father's wickedness and turn from it. Here God states that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked in their sins; He has pleasure in their repentance (18:23, 32; Luke 15:7, 10)

Day 178: Ezekiel 20-21 - In 21:27 is God promising that there will be no true Jewish King until Messiah? This seems to be the case, as Zerubbabel and those following him were merely governors under another world power (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome)

Day 179: Ezekiel 22-23 - God was looking for a man to stand in the gap (Ezekiel 22:30) and found none. Yet Ezekiel was begging God for mercy in Ezekiel 9:8, Jeremiah was rebuked for praying for Judah (Jeremiah 7:16, 11:14, 14:11). Were they not standing in the gap? I can only conclude that God was looking for a CATEGORY of intercessor. Someone not of the ruling or priestly or prophet class.

Day 180: Ezekiel 24-26 -Is God willing to let His people suffer on earth in order to declare His message? (Romans 8:36) For the answer, we need look no further than Ezekiel, who, when his wife died, he was told not to mourn. This was symbolic of God's destruction of His Temple, the desire of His people's eyes, in which they trusted as the signal of His favor and an assurance that He wouldn't allow them to be taken.

Day 181: Ezekiel 27-29 - Are there, as 1 John 2:18 states, "many antichrists?" Even as he acknowledges that "antichrist shall come" - they know something about the coming beast of Revelation 13 - he talks about many antichrists. Is this a hint that Satan always has someone prepared, in case the opportunity for his end-time gambit arises? Possibly Ezekiel 28's mysterious reference to the "Prince of Tyre" who is "wiser than Daniel" (28:3), incredibly wealthy and megalomaniacal enough to call himself God (Ezekiel 28:2, see 2 Thessalonians 2:4) is an example. God goes on to address the "King of Tyre" in Ezekiel 28:11-19, who seems to be the power behind this "Prince" (See John 8:44). Comparing Ezekiel 28 with Isaiah 14, it appears there's a power behind Babylon (14:4) at that time. If so, who is the puppet prepared to be the antichrist of our day?

Day 182: Ezekiel 30-32 - Why all the obsession with circumcision in Ezekiel 31:18 and 32? Because Israel was going to be feeling abandoned by God and wondering what the value of their covenant with Him was. As the character Tevye in the Fiddler on the Roof says, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?” This shows our tendency to think in terms of this life alone. God reminds them of the horror of going to Sheol with no covenant with God, dying in their sins, (John 8:21,24), and bearing their own shame, (Romans 9:33, 10:11) with no one to redeem them.

Day 184: Ezekiel 36-38 - When will this battle take place? The nations identified have never fought together in a coalition against Israel. It seems unlikely that the peace that lures the aggressor nations could be there just before the tribulation, since it is the peace treaty that kicks it off. This battle is in the mountains of Israel as opposed to the valley of Armageddon. The millennium is said to be a time when Christ will rule the nations with a rod of iron. So when will it happen? Perhaps there’s a gap between the Rapture and the peace treaty. The departure of the true church leaves Israel *apparently* defenseless. The truth is that God is her defense. (Jeremiah 30:7-8, Ezekiel 38:21-23)

Day 183: Ezekiel 33-35 - Is Ezekiel 34:18-19 about the hypocritical religious leaders like so much of the rest of the chapter is? Or is it about the other cattle? (vv. 17, 20) I tend to think it is the peer group, whose influence tends to keep everyone else from faithfulness and muddies the water for them. They’re actually goats (See v. 17, Matthew 25:32) giving the impression that they’re fat sheep.

Day 185: Ezekiel 39-40 - If this is the Millennial Temple as do many commentators allege, why is it introduced in this way? We begin with the man of brass, entering from the east (see Genesis 2:8) and he is busily measuring the inner rooms, walking us through the Temple and making us notice the details. We follow him through to the outer courts towards the North, then back in to the south, back in to the east, to the north gate again. It feels like a dream awaiting a sudden, important and dramatic conclusion, like Jean Valjean’s at the end of Les Miserables. After the revelation of horrific warfare and dynamic deliverance we are seeing a pastoral vision of stability and order; but it’s secured by, and based upon, something we’re about to learn more about.

Day 186: Ezekiel 41-43 - So what was the point of the vision? It was to show them God’s incredible mercy to them and make them ashamed that they had defiled the temple he’d allowed to be destroyed . To see the intense design and planning, the beauty, the meaningfulness He put into the meeting place for Himself and His people, and then to cap it off with the return of His glory to fill the house, reversing chapters 8-10’s departure. What a glorious message of His prevailing grace!

Day 187: Ezekiel 44-46 - Just as the form of the Temple has been restored, in even grander fashion, so the worship of the Temple is restored, with the feast of Passover and Tabernacles both being mentioned. (Why is the Feast of Trumpets omitted? Why no Day of Atonement? Is it because these have now been fulfilled?) Who is the Prince who is the only human who may come in through the Eastern Gate, the one through which Jehovah has entered? (Ezekiel 44:2-3) He offers a sin offering for himself in 45:22 and will produce sons to inherit his office in 46:16. Is it a descendant of David? (Ezekiel 34:23)

Day 188: Ezekiel 47-48 - What a note to end on. What matters most in this restored Israel? Not the inheritance of the land. Not the admiration of the nations. Not the beauty and glory and rich life exhibited by the new sanctuary, but the fact that the Lord is there.

Day 189: Hosea 1-4 - Imagine the pain in Hosea’s family. We need this kind of imagery to grasp an inkling of the pain of God over His people’s treachery to Him. They’d attributed their blessings to their “lovers” - was this not the idols of the nations round about them? - and not to God who had actually given them (Hosea 2:4, cf., 2:8). Their heart was taken away from Him by their excess indulgence and idolatry (Hosea 4:11). So He determined to make them feel the same kind of betrayal in their marital and parental relationships. (Hosea 4:13) Are we experiencing a similar judgment? It seems so. A quick look at statistics shows Americans are having affairs and divorces at incredible rates. The hook up culture is rampant and shameless among our youth. It sounds as if people have reconciled themselves to the idea that committed marriages and stable homes and self control are unattainable ideals. But this hides enormous pain and shame. How could it not?

Day 190: Hosea 5-9 - How did we get to this point? They have begotten strange children (Isaiah 5:7) - in other words, it’s gotten so bad that the generation coming up does not know the Lord (v. 4). God has made repeated overtures to them through the prophets (6:5) and the result has been that even the priests prey on the people. God pledges to essentially reverse Ephraim’s exodus: to return them to Egypt where they will suffer under idolatry, eat unclean food and be buried in the land of the heathen. Even their deception has been a judgment in that God sent foolishness and madness to their prophets and spiritual seekers. (9:7) God laments that they bear no fruit to Him.

Day 191: Hosea 10-14 - Even with all the complaints about their foolishness God yet extends hope promises future for them. So what is that future? The northern kingdom was carried away captive! A Syria enslaved her and mixed her with people of other nations. Yet there were those who went to Judah during the reins of Rehoboam, (2 Chronicles 11:17), Asa, (2 Chronicles 15:9), and Hezekiah, (2 Chronicles 30). The 10 tribes were not utterly “lost “. Moreover, although the “limited commission” in Matthew 10:5-15 expressly stated that the 12 were not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans the acts 18 version of the great commission explicitly names Samaria.

Day 192: Joel 1-3 - The pronouncement of judgment against the land sounds devastating and yet the book of Joel concludes with great hope. Why should the heathen rule over God’s people and say where is their God? (2:17) His spirit will be poured out on all flesh (2:28) but specifically it shall be known that he is in the midst of Israel (2:27, 3:21).

Day 193: Amos 1-5 - Can people discern right and wrong through natural sense, as atheists claim? Injustice to one another is so closely connected to idolatry that we must realize the words of Jesus are precise when He says that the second commandment is “like unto” the Great. (Matthew 22:39)

Day 194: Amos 6-9 - What can the righteous do when they are marginalized and powerless? Pray and grieve. Compare Ezekiel 9:4 with Amos 6:1-6. God expects us to mourn in a day of rampant unrighteousness.

Day 195: Obadiah, Jonah - Is Obadiah the first writing prophet? If so he prophesies Edom’s attitude towards Israel as she is carried away captive 140 years later. And what is Jonah really saying in Jonah 2:9? The Hebrew here says Yeshua YHWH.

Day 196: Micah 1-4 - I find the first 3 chapters of Micah hard to understand. There are obscure place names and references to practices of the time that were aberrant. (Micah 1:7, 2:5) I do see that the governing elites, like the priests and prophets, were arrogant in their corruption. (Micah 3:9-11) The lack of clarity in 1-3 makes 4 all the more powerful in that i understand it clearly to be the millennial reign. Why does Micah 4:5 read as if all nations will continue in idolatry even during this period? I thought Jesus would rule the nations with a rod of iron Psalm 2:9) and that those not coming to Jerusalem for The Feast of Tabernacles would have no rain? (Zechariah 14:16-17)

Day 197: Micah 5-7: Chapter 6 ends on a pretty hopeless note. Israel had fulfilled the prophecies of Deuteronomy 28. How, then, does Micah find such confidence as to boast that he/they will be purified and vindicated at last? It’s in the nature of God Himself, who “delights in mercy.” (Micah 7:18)

Day 198: Nahum, Habakkuk - In both of these books I think I see themes of irony: Habakkuk is horrified that his nation has become so unjust that the righteous remnant can’t get justice. In his mind this throws the very Law of God into question because it is rendered impotent. God promises to surprise him even more by allowing the idolatrous pagans to overcome the nation and give credit to their false god. This forces Habakkuk to think through the dynamic of idolatry: its foolishness, its shame and ultimately its hubris. He comes to realize that anything good we have comes from the Lord. What is in common between these two books? Nahum is like the mirror image: it pictures Gods judgment on the people he used as his scourge. It is for the same reason: their pride in what is objectively their shame, and their worship of self rather than the true God. The just can only live by faith, the salvation brought by His Anointed.

Day 199: Zephaniah, Haggai: Zephaniah anticipates the judgment on Jerusalem; Haggai is on the other side of it. What is the hope and future spoken of by Jeremiah 29:11? God’s joy over them with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17) How does it look when they reluctantly respond to God’s call to return to worship by building the temple again? Reduced, minor in comparison to the former glory. What is God’s consoling promise to them? That this house would be filled with greater glory (as Christ would visit it in person and purify it, John 2:13-22). What could be greater joy than to have personal visitation by the God or the universe? For Him to be pleased with me? (Genesis 33:10, Luke 15:7,10, Haggai 2:23)

Day 200: Zechariah 1-5 - As in the book of Ruth, names are significant in Zechariah: “Zechariah” = “the LORD remembers”. “Berechiah” = “the LORD blesses”, “Iddo” = “at the appointed time.” Israel has been scattered, as Zerubbabel’s name implies, but God is jealous over her and will defend and protect her. Though she has stood before Him in filthy self-righteousness, guilty of all of satan’s accusations, she will be redeemed and given new clothes: the righteousness of Christ. What will be the fate of the rest of the world? A curse is proclaimed, and wickedness will once again be based in Babylon.

Day 201: Zechariah 6-9 - Interrupting a “burden” over the nations surrounding Israel is the beautiful image of Christ at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (9:9). He speaks peace to the nations and it is the blood of His covenant that delivers. But what is this chilling reference? Prisoners sent forth out of the pit wherein is no water? (v. 11) It makes me think of the reading in the synagogue of Nazareth: Christ announced His mission from Isaiah 61-to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. (Luke 4:18) I have connected this to both the freeing of many during His ministry from demonization but also the so-called “Harrowing of Hell” at which Christ proclaimed victory to the spirits in the paradise side of Sheol (1 Peter 3:19) and led a host of captives. (Ephesians 4:8) Yet it was the torments side of Sheol which had no water in Luke 16. (Luke 16:24) I’m assuming this is more in the vein of Isaiah 28:18 - the agreement to accept hell as a destiny has been annulled by the blood of the New Covenant.

Day 202: Zechariah 10-14 - This is an apocalyptic poem describing the Tribulation, Armageddon and the Second Coming as well as the Millennial Kingdom. Why, then, are there sacrifices? It can’t be for sin: even in this section we’re told that covenant was broken (Zechariah 11:10-11) and Hebrews 10:1-18,26). It seems unlikely that it would be figurative, as Hebrews 13:15 tells us worship with the lips is a figurative sacrifice today. I assume it is a memorial offering. The book of Ezekiel is more detailed in chapter 46.

Day 202: Malachi - God wants the honor of a Father and the fear of a Master. He wants me to desire healing and favor more than prosperity and material blessings. How often have I used what He has given me to distract me from His honor and fear? Like a son, everything I have is something He has given me! Also like a son, I so often imagine, “mine hand hath gotten me this” (Deuteronomy 8:17)

Day 203: Psalm 1-11: What is the PURPOSE of the Psalms? To show us a picture of the Blessed, happy and flourishing life. What is the MESSAGE of the Psalms? Put your trust in the Son of God. Serve Him with fear and trembling even as you rejoice in Him. He gives rest (Psalm 3:5, 4:8), salvation (Psalm 3:8, 9:14), vindication (Psalm 7:8, 10:17-18, 11:4). He hears the prayers of those who trust in Him. (Psalm 3:4, 5:3, 6:9) He will not forsake us. (Psalm 9:10)

Day 205: Psalm 12-20 - So much in these Psalms is about Jesus. My heart rejoices in thy Yeshua (Psalm 13:5). Oh, that the Yeshua of Israel were come out of Zion! (Psalm 14:7) “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭16:10‬) Thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee… (Psalm 17:7) The New Testament tells us the prophets were diligent searchers to determine the time they were prophesying about but it wasn’t revealed to them. (1 Peter 1:10-12) How much did David know about the Christ he told us so much about?

Day 206: Psalm 21-29 - How can one man, David, have such highs and lows? As the 1 Peter 1:10-12 passage says, for our learning. For our confidence in God to be built for our own low times, and for our confidence to “publish” (Psalm 26:7) to be reinforced during our high ones.

Day 207: Psalm 30-35 - what does complete trust in the LORD look like? David details it in these Psalms: We can trust that His mercy is perpetual towards us while His anger is fleeting. (Psalm 30:5) We may commit our very spirit to Him. (Psalm 31:5) We will find instruction if we keep our eyes on Him. (Psalm 32:8) He will bring about deliverance from famine and death itself, along with all the schemes of the wicked. (Psalm 33:10, 19) His ears are open to our cries for deliverance. (Psalm 34:15-19) He is my salvation. (<H3444> Yeshua/Jesus)

Day 208: Psalms 36-42 - How can we restore the passion for God that these Psalms exude? Surely the answer is in the question. If the Psalms are the worship catalog of Israel, how does ours differ?

Day 209: Psalms 43-50 - Who is the King who is called God? God is said to be his God, and men his “fellows” (Psalm 45:6-7). How could a man redeem his brother from guilt without endlessly renewing wealth and still live forever himself? (Psalm 49:7-9) And what do you offer when everything already belongs to God? (Psalm 50:9-15) The Psalmist sets up these questions in each of these Psalms in which he extols Christ.

Day 210:Psalms 51-60 - How is God going to deal with the problem of sin? Before looking outward we need to look at our own sin, agree with God about it, and ask for a clean heart and restored relationship with Him. (Psalm 51) Then we can see the harmfulness (52) and foolishness (53) of sin. For His purposes God allows men the free will to choose evil, which brings harm on the innocent. They experience oppression (54:3, 55:3), fear (55:4-5), deceit and betrayal (55:11-21) and the feeling of being overwhelmed (56:2, 57:2-6, 59:3-7). All of this is meant to make us seek God’s help, fear Him, reflect on the horror of sin, and anticipate vindication and ultimate deliverance from even the presence of sin, as Psalm 58:10 and 60:9-12 anticipate Armageddon.

Day 211: Psalms 61-68 - This reading section again concludes with an allusion to Armageddon. (Psalm 68:22-23) It’s in the larger context of “reasons to praise God.” With sin dealt with, what should be our response? Gratitude and heartfelt worship. What remains something of a threat? The opposite: bitterness, resentment, (Hebrews 12:15), and a cold heart (Matthew 24:12) because evil isn’t dealt with in the time-frame we expect. Yet it is God’s patience which has been the salvation (2 Peter 3:15) of the rebellious such as ourselves (Psalm 68:18). Armageddon is the settling of the score. A terrible day that we should nevertheless understand in its context of final justice.

Day 212: Psalms 69-73 - Psalm 72 is “a Psalm for Solomon” and represents a father’s hopeful prayer for his son to prosper, to extend his own kingdom and to bring justice and peace through the worship of the one true God. The circumstances of Solomon’s birth and subsequent judgment on David’s house pull us into the psalm and make it all the more poignant. So does our knowledge of the great apostasy of Solomon’s kingdom, which was the height of the unified Kingdom of Israel, and did enjoy something of the prosperity and honor David described. So could we say that to the extent it fell short, David’s psalm is hyperbole? I I think it’s more than that: the Son of David mentioned here redeems (v. 14), is praised daily, (v. 15), and his name endures forever, (v. 17). Read it once with Solomon in mind and a second time with Christ in mind, and the picture becomes clear. So whether or not he repents at the end, Solomon was likely more a negative example than a positive. How could the man who built the glorious Temple turn to idolatry and still be so prosperous? (See Psalm 73) Did the people initially assume he was the Messiah? What was the long term effect of the uncertain note Solomon’s life sounded?

Day 213: Psalms 74-83 - After beginning his section of Psalms with an insightful one about the confusing prosperity of the wicked, Asaph launches into several prophetic ones, and not far-flung apocalyptic ones, either. How does he know about the apostasy of Ephraim? (Psalm 78:9-11) The northern kingdom won’t even be established for another 300 years at the time this contemporary of King David (1 Chronicles 6:31-39) is writing. How does he know about the downfall of Jerusalem (Psalm 78:1-3) and the Babylonian Captivity (Psalm 78:11)? There wasn’t even a Temple to defile in Asaph’s day. He warns, as Jeremiah does (Jeremiah 7:12, Psalm 78:60) about the Ichabod event in Shiloh. We must also take note of the principle shown there and ask for His quickening (Psalm 80:18-19)

Day 214: Psalm 83-85 - When can it be just to ask God for the overthrow of enemies? God was pleased that Solomon asked for wisdom instead of this. Yet Asaph asks for the slaughter of nations wishing to cut off Israel. This can only be righteous when it is in light of God’s kingdom and glory and not the wrath of man. (James 1:20) Where does revival come from? It’s after God’s redemption, after iniquity has been forgiven, after wrath is completely satisfied. But although God’s wrath has been turned, it remains for God’s people to also be turned (Psalm 85:3-4) We must ask for revival (Psalm 85:6-13). Let us humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Day 215: Psalms 86-91 - We are taught to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom (Psalm 90:10-12) and also to have no fear and expect God’s deliverance. (Psalm 91:5-13) This is all based on knowing God’s name and calling upon Him for deliverance (Psalm 91:14-15). What is that name? It has appeared so many times in the Psalms, translated “Salvation” - it is Yeshua. (See Proverbs 30:4) To live is Christ; to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

Day 216: Psalms 91-108 - 2 Thessalonians 2:7 talks about the “mystery of iniquity” compared to the one who prevents it but will be taken out of the way one day. Is this a general mystery, as in something the psalmist was struggling with in his day, or is it restricted to the specific apostasy working just before the revelation of the Antichrist? I lean towards the former because it seems like a greater mystery: the extent to which God permits iniquity and yet restricts it at the same time for His divine purposes is indeed a mystery. But it give followers of Jesus countless opportunities to seek the kingdom purposes and righteousness of God and reject the solicitation to evil and self centeredness each day.

Day 217: Psalms 102-105 - How precious are these promises to which the Lord commits Himself. What if there was no assurance in scripture like this one that He "forgives all your iniquities?"

Day 218: Psalms 106, 107, 109 - What is the purpose to which we are called? (Romans 8:28) God's purpose has sometimes been said to be the salvation of man, and yet, the salvation of man itself seems to have the purpose of the glory of God (Psalm 106:8).

Day 219: Psalms 110-118, 120-121 - What is the fruit of genuine salvation? Or, what does the life of the saved man look like? He has a settled trust in the Lord (Psalm 112:7) that shows itself in generosity (vv. 9-10). Like Jonah, even in his rebellion and chastisement in the sea monster’s belly, he repented and remembered to call on the LORD. (Psalm 116:3-18) He does not fear what man can do to him (Psalm 118:6) but looks forward to the day of ultimate salvation (Psalm 118:25) and vindication. (Psalm 118:19-23)

Day 220: Psalm 119 - Psalm 119 is a long meditation on God’s Word. What is it’s core theme? Verse 11 is fitting and poetic but so is verse 133: “Order my steps in thy word; and let not iniquity have dominion over me.” I can see hints of Christ’s own sentiments, especially when there is mourning over those who do not treasure God’s word, but also there are moments when there is confession and delight over God’s corrective work in the Psalmist’s life.

Day 221: Psalms 122-136 - These Psalms are about the Temple, Jerusalem, one’s children and worship in general. The word that comes to me is “establish.” The Psalms have spent much time examining the authentic relationship with God. How is it made lasting for future generations? The Temple’s porch was dominated by two pillars: (1 Kings 7:21), Boaz and Jachin. My understanding is that the significance of these names is “in His strength” and “He shall establish.” Psalm 36 reminds us that because God endures forever, so does mercy, power, justice, providence and redemption. Our worship, our heritage, our people are established only through Him.

Day 221: Psalms 137-145 - In the midst of difficult circumstances, affliction and peril, how are God’s children to maintain hope? By keeping the long view of things in mind, by remembering God’s character and mighty acts, by rehearsing the goodness of God and asking for deliverance.

Day 223: Psalm 146-150 - Where is strength and power and wisdom to be found? Not in mankind. Not in the so-called mighty of the world. The impressive people with giftedness all depend on the Lord for their very breath. He is not impressed with them, but their joy in him should be their strength. Praise is comely, praise gives us hope and perspective. Praise is eternal.

Day 224: Proverbs 1-4 - How often have i blundered into a situation by “leaning on my own understanding” / natural intelligence, and been frustrated by the policies that defeat good priorities? Sometimes policies are good; at other times they are traps laid by the crafty.

Day 225: Proverbs 5-9 - Why is folly so graphically depicted as the “strange woman?” It is a memorable and artful way to warn. The seductive power of sin is like an adulteress with a violent husband: it may take time before it becomes your destruction, but it ultimately will, as it has for so many. By contrast, wisdom is also personified in Proverbs 8-9 as a wise woman who intreats even the simple and foolish to forsake the foolish and live.

Day 226: Proverbs 10 - 13 - And now the reader is invited to picture a wise son. What duty of a father is more distasteful than disciplining his son with a rod of correction? And yet it is what the loving father does, in order to ensure his son enjoys the life described in these contrasts of the wise and foolish.

Day 227: Proverbs 14-17 - The normal order seems to be that prosperity and peace accompany righteousness and humility. What are we to understand, then, when the arrogant wicked are in wealthy and powerful positions? We remember the lessons of Assyria and Babylon-they were scourges in the hand of God. Though “worse” than Israel and Judah, God used them to chastise His people. When we have wicked elites, we are under chastisement. We also must remember that we naturally have short-sightedness: “…the END thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25) even though the way seems right.

Day 228: Proverbs 18-22 - What is the underlying purpose of sharing all this wisdom? “That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.”‭‭ (Proverbs‬ ‭22:19‬)

Day 229: Proverbs 23-26 - I think there’s so much warmth in the Proverbs because it can be read as advice from a parent to a child: be like this, not like that. Restraint, modesty, self-control are all pleasing to the LORD. Were they more a mark of Solomon’s generation than our own? I think so, of necessity. Were they a mark of Solomon’s own life? Probably not until nearing the end of it. The wise man should develop enduring strength (Proverbs 24:5-10) and rule over his own spirit. (Proverbs 25:28) Like Solomon, it is taking me too long to master these virtues.

Day 230: proverbs 28-31 - Why so much explicit instruction for a son, and only this section about a virtuous woman? Having instructed a son in contrasts of wisdom and foolishness, of the strange and flattering and whorish woman, the character and nature of a wise and virtuous woman needs only a brief introduction to be powerful in its impact.

Day 231: Job 1-6 - It’s easy to judge Eliphaz because his words are harsh, (Job 5:3-5), and we know he’s wrong, (Job 42:7). In this situation, though, how would we have understood Job’s claims? Satan’s strategy was strong and detailed: Eliphaz had a supernatural experience predisposing him to see Job as self-justifying at the expense of God. (Job 4:15-18) Job has indeed retained his integrity (Job 1:22, 2:10) but how could Eliphaz know that? It would seem better to believe in God’s justice and mercy than someone’s anecdotal evidence against our expectations.

Day 232: Job 7-11 - Job will soon complain that his friends end up being “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). Unconsciously they are manipulated by Satan to multiply his misery. How so? Eliphaz claims a special revelation (Job 4:14-15, 7:14) that Job is self-righteous. Bildad tells Job his children were evildoers. (Job 8:4,20) Zophar equates questioning with self-righteousness. (Job 11:3-7) After sitting to mourn with him for seven days, (Job 2:11-13), how could they be so bereft of discernment? This is evidence that we’re in deep waters when we wrestle with the question of suffering. The answer (as shown in the book of Job) is outside our context.

Day 233: Job 12-16: Job is beginning to put it all together. He’s heard all the traditions of men which make void the word of God (Job 16:2, Mark 7:13). Even through this hostile environment, like a tender branch of a fallen tree seeking water, Job senses hope. What moves him from having no hope in a resurrection (7:9) to wondering if the dead live again and comparing it to a change (Job 14:14, cf., 1 Corinthians 15:51)? From mourning over the lack of an arbiter (Job 9:33) to appealing to a witness in heaven and a man to plead with God on his behalf? (Job 16:19, cf., Romans 8:34, Hebrews 4:14-16, 7:16, 25) He’s wrestling too honestly with his own sin and God’s love to be silenced by shame and tradition, and he’s doing it with a determined faith. (Job 13:15,16) In making this statement under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Job pronounces the name of Jesus.

Day 234: Job 17-20 - If Job’s friends had been more honest and admitted their ignorance, would he have listened to them? Would it have helped or comforted him in any way? Certainly their generalizations and platitudes aren’t helping. They lead them to condemn him. None of them know that they’re part of a bigger story. How many through the centuries has this story helped? I do feel helpless as a comforter when someone suffers unjustly; but I can think of this book and how it reminds us that the days of our lives are too short a measure to expect justice in circumstances.

Day 235: Job 22-28 - Eliphaz and Bildad may be wrong-headed but they end up asking some good questions: “Can a man be profitable unto God?” (Job 22:2) To Eliphaz the answer here is obviously no, as if it benefits God in no particular way if a person lives righteously. Yet we know that God has ordered things in such a way that the witness of His people brings others into His Kingdom to praise Him forever. So He is “profited” by the righteous acts of the saints, in a way. (Wrought in Him, John 3:21) Bildad seems to acknowledge that all are sinners in Job 25:4, but his rhetorical question is phrased “How then can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” (It’s similar to Job’s own question in Job 14:4) How? It was a puzzle to them. But Job had somehow seized upon the idea of a redeemer and an advocate (19:25, 16:19).

Day 236: Job 29-33 - As Job concludes his answer to his three friends, he longs out loud for an answer from God, which he receives in Job 38-41, and a written book by the one with whom he has a controversy. (In most translations, the word “adversary” or “accuser” appears here but the word is “controversy” and therefore there are no satanic implications. The Hebrew poetic parallelism in the verse instead implies that this is a request not just for his own words to be written in a book (as he had requested in Job 19:23) but for God’s words to be written. If his judge is going to hide Himself from those He watches (Job 23:8-9) then let Him reveal Himself in written form. If indeed Job is the first written scripture, this prophetic request is profound. Did God inspire Job to ask for the Bible?

Day 237: Elihu’s discourse is better than that of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, and God does not include him in the condemnation in Job 42:7. He generally speaks the truth about God, and reminds us that His ways are higher than ours, past our finding out. But some go so far as to speculate that he is a preincarnate Christ. Is this warranted? His name means “Whose God is He.” Although his speech leaves some questions open for mystery, he generalizes about prosperity for the righteous and calamity for the hypocrites in Job 36:11-14. Even someone with revelatory knowledge would not appeal to this without qualification in Job’s case. Therefore his third-person statement about being perfect in knowledge is false and pompous. Moreover, we must not miss that it is he who is speaking when God himself interrupts in 38:2: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” (‭‭Job‬ ‭38:2‬)

Day 238: Job 38-42 - So what was the purpose of Job’s suffering? It’s easy to miss the fact that although God reveals much to Job, He does not reveal this. We know the rest of the story but he doesn’t. Is it not for our sakes? (1 Cor. 10:11) We see that we are on display (1 Peter 1:12) and are part of a larger story and plan, one we would not understand if we were told. However Job’s story is revealed and gives us a small taste of what is to come. It shows us the role of Satan, who has apparently been used in this case to reveal a foretaste of God’s plan to millennia of people. Redemption, resurrection, ransom, mediation and a witness for us in heaven are all teased in this book. Since the book calls for the Bible to be written, purpose in suffering is there as well by implication.

Day 239: Song of Solomon 1-4 - As the popular song implies, might Song of Solomon 2:10, 14 not even be the very “shout” of 1 Thessalonians 4:16? By this time the bridegroom is behind “our wall” and He speaks of the bride as being in the clefts of the rock, in the secret. (Exodus 33:22, Colossians 3:3, Isaiah 26:20) In Song of Solomon 4:7, He sees “no spot in thee” (Ephesians 5:27, Jude 24). The Bride is “a well of living waters.” (Song of Solomon 4:15)

Day 240: Song of Solomon 5 - 8 - If the Bride in Song of Solomon 5:1-6 has become distracted and careless, preoccupied with the prosperity provided by the Bridegroom, her heart is nevertheless awakened (v. 2) and aroused to seek Him and compel others to do the same. (5:8-16, see Colossians 4:6, 1 Peter 3:15, Luke 14:23) In chapters 6 and 7, she has priorities in order, delighting in Him and not simply what He provides (6:3, 7:10). This is captivating to Him. (Song of Solomon 7:5,6). It is then that her attention turns to fruit-bearing (Song of Solomon 7:12, 8:11-13). If this is where we give Him our love, (7:12, 8:10), if the Church is Christ's Vineyard, what of the fruitless branches? They are useless. (Ezekiel 15:2-5) They are given to the fire and burned (John 15:6). It is the awakened, abiding and fruitful Church, which knows her Lord's will and abides in it, that produces much fruit (15:8) and is His true disciple.

Day 241: Ruth 1-4 - As I began reading Ruth, I couldn’t help thinking, “My God is King” and “Pleasant” abandoned the “house of bread” and had “sick” and “wasting away;” what of the people who recognized Naomi when she returned? What happened to the people who didn’t leave? Though Naomi became “bitter” she nevertheless returned. While there is life, there is opportunity for repentance.

Day 242: Lamentations 1-5 - What is the Lord’s prophet to make of the horrors he sees? The Temple is overrun by heathen, (Lam. 1:10, 2:6-7), the king, princes and prophets are captured and receive no vision from the Lord. Mothers have no compassion on their babies, (Lam. 2:20; 4:3-4, 10), people are starving,, women are raped, (5:10,11) . He retains hope in the Lord’s character (Lam. 3:20-26) but wonders about the priesthood, (4:20). The word he used is “messiah” and it makes me wonder if that, too, was in his thinking?

Day 243: Ecclesiastes 1-5 - Solomon’s repeated admonitions to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of your labor could easily be interpreted as “don’t worry about all these things I’m bringing up; it’s a big waste of time and a heartache.” Yet he acknowledges that we can’t help thinking about eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11) though we all go to the grave. (Ecclesiastes 3:20) So what does this repeated advice mean for us? To use New Testament language, set your heart not on things of this earth but on things above. (Colossians 3:2) Having food and raiment, there with be content. (1 Timothy 6:8) If we learn how to be content whether abased or abounding in this world’s goods we are better equipped for the opportunity God may show us. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Day 244: Ecclesiastes 6-8 - Ecclesiastes sounds very pessimistic, talking about vanity, vexation of spirit and misery all the time, even for those pursuing good, wisdom and diligence. And yet there are so many sections urging enjoyment of the fruits of one’s labor, recognizing them as God’s gift. (2:24, 3:22, 5:18-19, 8:15, 11:9) Why does the “preacher” so often urge this rejoicing? Is it because the wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment? (8:5) An analytical mind can fail to be “in the moment” as we say, and the times of enjoyment pass so quickly. Profound gratitude towards God is learned, and is built up over a lifetime of experience. If we fail to truly appreciate what God has given us, we’re more susceptible to despair and bitterness when the inevitable hard times come and God seems so far away. Wise people train themselves to discern what is likely to come, and to anticipate these cycles. May God help us to know ourselves and our times.

Day 245: Ecclesiastes 9-12 - Is a life-review and divine evaluation coming for everyone? It seems so: see Matthew 12:36; Luke 8:17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, (Revelation 12:11-15 for the unsaved.). Keeping this in mind is a great reason to obtain wisdom, to live in fear of the LORD and to build my life on His Word.

Day 246: Esther 1-5 - Was Mordecai’s pronouncement in Esther 4:14 an expression of his faith or was it a prophecy? It’s very specific in the way he says that Esther and her father’s house would be destroyed, and Mordecai must have known of Harman’s hatred for him. We’re all where we are by God’s plan, of course, (Acts 17:26), and that plan is intricate and beyond our understanding. Stories like Esther’s, as mysterious and exotic as the cultural aspects are, are places we may see God’s sovereign wisdom and take note that the opportunities for obedience that He presents to us are far more profound than we could know because of their part in the larger plan. We must seek Him through prayer and the reading of His Word, but also openness to the work He is doing in the world and His invitations to join Him in that work. (John 5:19-20)

Day 247: Esther 6-10 - How many ironies are layered in the conclusion of the account of Esther? Haman planned the extermination of the Jews because of his hatred of Mordecai, and ended up planning his public glorification instead. To the extent that his arrogance demanded outrageous praise for himself, that’s what he had to demand for his most despised enemy. Haman’s gallows for Mordecai became his place of public execution, and the place the bodies of his sons were hung. The extreme 75-ft height his fury demanded was the means by which his destruction was made all the more public. The Jews in the captivity destroyed over 75,000 of their enemies instead of being destroyed themselves, and so well-known was this turn of events that the people were in awe and many became believers. Fasting for three days became a three-day gathering and the basis for a feast that continues each year among the Jews to this day. An unforgettable demonstration of God’s sovereignty. Truly, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭)‬‬

Day 248: Daniel 1-3 - How is it that Nebuchadnezzar’s response to Daniel’s revelation of his dream is so perverse to have made an idol after coming to the realization that the One True God is “God of gods, and a Lord of kings?” (Daniel 2:47) After the fiery furnace incident, he makes an international decree that anyone blaspheming God would be slain “because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (Daniel 3:29). He has reason to say this because he challenged God directly in Daniel 3:15, and had overcome many nations who trusted in their own pagan gods. Yet even after the truth about God is shown to him twice, he still doesn’t personally submit to God.

Day 249 - Daniel 4-8 - Why does God give Daniel such far-reaching visions, humbling the king of a world empire before him and describing in advance the rulers of world empires for the next several hundred years? Daniel’s fame was widespread in his own time as second in the Kingdom of Babylon. God would through him show that Israel’s captivity was temporary and that the terrible heathen nation He’d used to chastise His people would themselves be judged. Most of all, He wanted Messiah to be revealed to them and to remain the object of their hope of salvation.

Day 250: Daniel 7-9 - After seeing the “idol” view of Gentile world history in Chapter 2, the “beast” view of Gentile world history in Chapter 8, Daniel receives the view of coming history for God’s people in Chapter 9. Daniel understood by reading Jeremiah 25:11-12 that the captivity would be 70 years long, but how did he know how to respond to that? Jeremiah was a prophet who was a contemporary of Daniel’s. But Daniel had probably memorized the five Books of Moses. The Holy Spirit brought Leviticus 26:40-44 to his mind and showed him this was his opportunity to confess and formally accept the punishment of the LORD for the iniquities of his people. The revelation of Israel’s future hope comes after that.

Day 251: Daniel 10-12 - In the beginning of the sweeping revelation of history given to Daniel the angel explains that he is showing him what is noted in “the scripture of truth.” Is this the Bible, settled in heaven,” as Psalm 119:89 says? Could the angel be referencing the book of Revelation, 600 years before it is written? Is the angel described in Daniel 12:7 the same as the one in Revelation 10:1-7?

Day 252: Ezra 1-3 - The careful listing of the families with their exact counts, and the note about the contingent from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan and Immer and the priest’s children who couldn’t show their genealogies, (Ezra 2:59-63), make me wonder: what would have been the status of those who converted to Judaism like the citizens of Susa in Esther’s time, (Esther 8:17)? What was it like for Jews who weren’t biologically Jewish? Of course the invitation to go to Jerusalem was for those whose hearts were stirred by God’s Spirit at the invitation of Cyrus. So it would seem less likely that those without a Jewish heritage would wish to go.

Day 253: Ezra 4-7 - Why does the profile of Ezra appear in Chapter 7 rather than chapter 1? It glorifies God in that we’ve just read how the tireless and shameless schemes of Israel’s enemies ultimately resulted in their work being endorsed by Darius and extra expenses and protection given to them.

Day 254: Ezra 8-10 - Here is a most difficult narrative to explain. How is it just to command divorce and the forsaking of wives and children because the men sinned (including the High Priest’s sons, Ezra 10:18) by intermarrying with the surrounding pagan nations in violation of the Law? After all, the Gibeonite treaty had to be honored by Joshua (Joshua 9:19) and was upheld by God, (By implication, 2 Samuel 21) What, then, of the marriage covenant? The best explanation I can come up with is the trajectory of the relationships had the men of Israel “…doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.” (Ezra‬ ‭9:1) By contrast, the Gibeonites accepted servitude in Israel, and presumably Israel’s God, as part of the covenant. (See Joshua 9:25) The incident in Baal-Peor in Numbers 25 is also an important precedent, as is Abraham’s direction to cast out Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21:14.

Day 255: Nehemiah 1-4 - Nehemiah is the manager of the wall project. How does he model leadership for us? PLANNING: he defines the project by asking God for favor, having a ready estimate, asking boldly for what he needs and prioritizing things to do. ORGANIZING: he evaluates and figures out how to accomplish the project, orienting the workers and unifying them with a shared vision. He's also cautious about revealing too much until the right time, so as not to give the expected resistance too much to go on. DIRECTING: he instructs them in who to use and what each is to do, taking careful estimate of how those who have a stake in the work should best be used, he notes the given assignments and how zealously they were pursued or resisted. CONTROLLING: he's in the work at all times, sampling, receiving communication and sharing it, instructing, noting opposition and praying about it, continuing to flexibly bring new ideas and share vision and inspiration.

Day 256: Nehemiah 5-7: As the work is completed, the opposition gets more intense. Nehemiah ignores repeated letters and threats to slander him, and even ignores the advice of a friend who tells him to hide for his own safety. What would have happened if Nehemiah had fled to the Temple for safety? It would have greatly weakened the power of his example in working alongside them, commanding them to obey the law in releasing debts and refusing to take a salary.

Nehemiah 8-10 - The priests and Levites recount the history of Israel from Abraham and the Exodus to their present time. What is the summary? God is great, powerful and faithful in keeping covenant with them and they, their kings, their princes, priests and fathers, have been unfaithful despite God’s mercy in giving them such a good land, His Spirit for guidance, (Nehemiah 9:20, 30), and His good commandments, in which is life, (Nehemiah 9:29). Their chastisement is justified and they accept their punishment (Leviticus 26:43).

Nehemiah 11-13 - In these chapters, Nehemiah is careful to record the genealogies and settlements of the descendants of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, including the priestly line. Why not the royal one? Was it for their protection? We have the royal lineage from Zerubbabel in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, but not here. Did the enemies surrounding them know Zerubbabel was a descendant of Israel’s kings? Did the Medes and Persians? It matters mostly for the lineage of Jesus, for the Jews were never again an independent nation. The Medes and Persians gave way to the Greeks, and the Greeks gave way to the Romans, as predicted in the book of Daniel.

Day 259: Nehemiah 13, 1 Chronicles 1 - After the recent very difficult recalibrations of Ezra 10 and Nehemiah 5, how did things decline again so quickly that the chief enemy of the rebuilding was housed in the temple, contrary to the Law, (Nehemiah 13:1-6), the portions of the levites was not given, (Nehemiah 13:10), the sabbath was dishonored, (Nehemiah 13:15-20), and the Israelites again intermarried with the pagans, (Nehemiah 15:23-28)? People need to remain committed to continual recalibration, repentance, because we all, like sheep, go astray. (Isaiah 53:6)

Day 260: 1 Chronicles 2-4 - Why does the royal lineage given in 1 Chronicles 3 not match the one given in Matthew 1? Matthew skips Jehoiakim and goes straight from Josiah to Jeconiah. Then he skips Assir, and Pedaiah to get to Zerubbabel. After that, I really can’t make any comparisons. The genealogy in Luke goes through a different son of David, to, presumably, Mary’s father. Yet it has a Zerubbabel descended from a Salathiel also. Some thoughts:

Sometimes different names are used in genealogies. Daniel, son of David in 1 Chronicles 3:1 is an example. His name in 2 Samuel 3:3 is Chileab. A better-known example is King Azariah, who is also called Uzziah.In many cases, different people have the same names. There are multiple Hannaniahs, Shemaiahs, Hezekiahs. Kings’ names would be especially popular.Spellings are slightly different, and there may have not been standardized spelling of names at the time.Diminutives and nicknames probably also existed.It is claimed that Matthew organized his genealogy in three groups of 14 because of the numerical significance, skipping generations at times in order to do so. After all, Zerubbabel is a son of Jeconiah—just through Assir and Pedaiah.

Day 261: 1 Chronicles 5-7 - The Chronicler, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is flavoring the genealogies with notes to characterize the different tribes. 1 Chronicles 5:19-21 is an example. So why so terse with the account of Naphtali? (1 Chronicles 7:13) What happened between Deuteronomy 33:23 and here to make Naphtali’s genealogy so perfunctory and so truncated in the record.

Day 262: 1 Chronicles 8-10 - In the process of cataloging the children of Benjamin, it is mentioned that the children of Manasseh and Ephraim lived in Jerusalem with the children of Judah and Benjamin. Weren’t they carried away to Assyria? This is one of many places where the “ten lost tribes” is revealed as not absolutely true.

Day 263: 1 Chronicles 11-14 - David’s story has some surprising turns that are mostly alluded to in 1 Chronicles (see 12:1, 19). It’s the knowledge of more detail that prevents us from assuming he went from success to success with no trouble. After a generation of not hearing from God, and a “breach against Uzzah” when they were celebrating the Lord, how did David have the confidence to wait with his entire army until he heard the sound of marching in the top of the mulberry tree as his sign? Chapter 15 shows him figuring it out that the Ark had been handled improperly. I need more insight into knowing my approach on something has been wrong and I should back up and start over.

Day 264: 1 Chronicles 15-17 - Although David was saved before these incidents, do they not mirror the spiritual journey of all God’s children? In ignorance, David violated God’s Law, but came to fear Him when he saw His wrath. (1 Chronicles 13:10-12) In David’s eyes the Ark represented the express presence of the LORD, so “how shall I bring the Ark of God home to me?” Was an expression of despair over separation that couldn’t be remedied. In Chapter 15 he comes to the realization that they’d sought to accomplish it in a pagan way, after the manner of the philistines, 1 Samuel 6:7-8, and not according to the Covenant. Under the proper conditions, there is reconciliation, bringing such peace and thanksgiving to David’s heart that he responds with a desire to build the Temple, making a permanent place for worship.

Day 265: 1 Chronicles 18-22 - Why did the people have the Tabernacle at Gibeon? It started with the desolation of Shiloh in 1 Samuel 4 after the people thought the Ark of the Covenant would save them in battle against the Philistines like some sort of idol. It was captured and the High Priest and his sons were killed. After the Philistines were humbled before God and returned the Ark to Kirjath Jearim where it remained for 20 years. (1 Samuel 7:1) The people did not seek the Lord there during the whole reign of Saul (1 Chronicles 13:3). So there was this division in the established worship until the Temple was built.

Day 266: 1 Chronicles 23-25 - David is inspired to order the worship of Israel by declaring the Levites would not carry the tabernacle or its vessels anymore, (1 Chronicles 23:26), and by creating the 24 divisions of priests and singers we find still in effect in Jesus’ day, (Luke 1:8, despite the interruption of the Captivity). David even designed the musical instruments used by the singers. (1 Chronicles 23:5) Why is it that the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthan are said to prophesy? Because the word literally means, “to bubble up.” The word for Spirit is synonymous with breath in the Old Testament and so this is a metaphor of expression directed by His action.

Day 267: 1 Chronicles 26-28 - Looking again at the singers and musicians, then at the porters who are said to be strong men, it makes me think: which came first? The talent or ability? Or the office? The office seems to be allotted by family. Within a limited range, both strength and talent can be developed. Is this a case of God bestowing the sufficiency to be servants of the Covenant on the ministers of the Old Covenant just as He does in the New? (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

Day 268: 1 Chronicles 29, 2 Chronicles 1-3 - Have I analyzed the context of this prayer enough? By no means. What Jesus meant in Luke 11:11-13, what James meant by James 4:2, is implied by God’s response to Solomon’s prayer. Who is said to have pleased God? Abel, Genesis 4:4, Enoch, Genesis 5:24 / Hebrews 11:5, Solomon, 1 Kings 3:10, Jesus, Matthew 3:17. Displeasing to the Lord: Onan, Genesis 38:10, David, 2 Samuel 11:29. Pleasing the Lord was Jacob’s hope, Genesis 38:10. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he will give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4) Isn’t it interesting that “desires” is plural?

Day 269: 2 Chronicles 4-7 - I've reached the theme passage of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 7:14. This is one of the high points of Scripture, with Israel at the apex of power, influence and wealth. Enemies have been subdued, there is peace and trade with the surrounding kingdoms, David has collected vast wealth and resources in order to build the Temple, and God has promised to build him a sure house. Solomon's speech is sincere. Does he know the Law with word-accuracy? It seems so, from his reference to Exodus 19:9 and 20:21 in 2 Chronicles 6:1. He seems to know about Deuteronomy 28:36's shocking promise that Israel would be carried away captive in 2 Chronicles 6:36-39. His prayer in 2 Chronicles 6:41 seems influenced by Numbers 10:34-36 and Psalm 68:1. He reasons that there is no man who does not sin, and has the understanding to ask for almost every eventuality in his prayer. And God agrees and affirms that He will hear, forgive and heal if His people humble themselves, pray, seek Him and turn from their wickedness. Does all this not make Solomon's presumption in 2 Kings 11:9-13 that much worse, then?

Day 270: 2 Chronicles 7-9 - In what other context do all nations come to acknowledge Jerusalem in this way? Jeremiah 3:17 & Zechariah 8:22 refer to the Millennial Kingdom in which Christ will rule the world personally from Jerusalem. Isaiah 60:9 speaks of the nations waiting for the LORD and bringing their gold to Him. In the context of his entire life Solomon makes a very unfit type of Christ, but in this early part of his life, the glory of his kingdom foreshadows Christ's. And in another sense, Solomon may foreshadow the antichrist, possibly insinuated in the number of his talents of gold in 2 Chronicles 9:13 being the same number as that given in Revelation 13:18 for him who has understanding. Solomon became a stumbling block for the people in a different sense than Christ's stumbling block to our own self-righteousness—they may have believed in his day that he was the ultimate son of David, the seed of the woman, the promised Messiah. His kingdom certainly looked like it. And so, he was an anti-, or substitute, Christ. Jesus warned us carefully in Matthew 24:23-27 that His coming would be like lightning shining from the east to the west and that we should not believe any substitute.

Day 271: 2 Chronicles 10-13 - Who was ever given such advantage as Rehoboam and experienced such humiliation? Solomon worried In Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 that he might leave everything to a fool, and that’s exactly what happened. He was not a child but was 41 years old when he became king, yet he expected to surpass Solomon. Rehoboam was humbled by the division of the Kingdom, he was humbled again by having all the wealth Solomon had accumulated plundered by Egypt in 2 Chronicles 12:5-9. He humbled himself in 2 Chronicles 11:4 and didn’t pursue a campaign against Jeroboam, and again in 12:7 when Egypt came. Under his leadership Judah walked with the Lord for three years (11:17) but forsook Him when they felt established. (12:1) In summary of his life, scripture says he “prepared not his heart to seek the Lord” (12:14). In other words, the 2 Chronicles 7:14 pattern was truncated at humbling and prayer.

Day 272: 2 Chronicles 14-17 - King Asa managed to succeed in carrying out the 2 Chronicles 7:14 pattern where Rehoboam had fallen short. He was humbled and prayed fervently in 14:10-11, He got Israel to covenant to seek the Lord in 15:8-15. They turned from their wickedness in 14:3, 5, 8 and 15:16, even to the point of removing his mother from being queen for idolatry. But it was incomplete in that the high place worship of Yahweh continued (15:17). Asa’s personal revival surpassed the national revival. And perhaps it was the people’s failure to go fully that eventually caused him to lose heart for repentance, as he imprisons God’s prophet in his old age and seeks physicians rather than the Lord for his illness in 16:12. How do I finish well? Far better to be a foolish young man than a foolish old man who erases his own legacy. May God give me the courage and lasting strength Azariah prescribed for Asa in 15:2-7.

Day 273: 2 Chronicles 18-20 - Why does King Jehoshaphat make a league with Ahaziah after God rebuked him about his league with Ahab?

Day 274: 2 Chronicles 21-24 - Things are starting to fall apart in Judah. Jehoiada stands as a strong example in this dark time. If he was 130 at the time of his death, how old must he have been when he stood up to Athaliah? How we need my generation and those before me to stand courageously today. May God give us conviction and zeal for Him.

Day 275: 2 Chronicles 25-28 - Isaiah 6 begins, “In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the LORD, high and lifted up…” Isaiah referring to Uzziah’s terrible death would have been a memorable event to anyone living in his day. The great, (2 Chronicles 26:5-15), king of Israel, struck with leprosy and made to live in a group home, cut off from the house of the LORD until the day of his death. Referring to his death is a powerful reminder to fear the LORD and regard Him as holy. (Leviticus 10:3) Why did so many of the following kings lack this fear? It is like this in our day: there is no fear of God, only of man.

Day 276: 2 Chronicles 29-31 - From the very beginning, 25-year-old Hezekiah seeks the Lord, interprets their plight as being due to their own offenses, restores the worship of Jehovah, and urges not just his own nation, but the Northern Kingdom to return. What is it like to experience such personal and national revival? To see your nation brought back from the brink, cynicism and apathy reversed, the reluctant won over, corruption exposed and overthrown, reconciliation accepted by the Lord? How we need a leader like this in America today.

Day 277: 2 Chronicles 32-34 - Josiah’s grief and humility was the proper reaction to the recovery of the lost book of the law and the realization of the true terms of the Covenant. There was so much ignorance about what God required that they did not understand how much His anger had been stirred up against them and what that would mean for the future generations. With the lengthy reign of wicked king Manasseh and his son Amon, their ignorance is understandable. Both kings led the nation in idolatry and deliberately replaced the worship of the Lord. Moreover the Scriptures were hand copied and would have cost a year’s wages. So how about our day? With free access to the Bible everywhere, have we ever been more biblically illiterate? The wrath of God is great upon our land because we have so little concern for the souls of the lost who will be exposed to so much judgment, for they had every access, every opportunity to know the reason to hope in Christ.

Day 278: 2 Chronicles 35-36 - How tragic is the death of Josiah. He was only 8 when he began to reign and reigned for 31 years. The captivity came only about 22 years after that, so what if Josiah had lived to be just 62 instead of 39? What are the implications for followers of Christ in my generation? We may be called on to make sacrifices but let them not be for our own pride, lest the next generation be left without the leadership God has anointed. Today I conclude my reading of the Old Testament and the cautionary tale of Josiah reminds us to contrast all men, no matter how good, with the perfection of Christ. We wait for him to come in the manner He said.

Day 279: Matthew 1-4 - When we’re told Jesus went through the synagogues of Galilee healing and teaching and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, what is His message, since His death, burial and resurrection are yet future (cf., 1 Corinthians 15:3-4)? It is, as Matthew 13:19/Mark 4:14/Luke 8:11 puts it, the Word of God, the word of the Kingdom.

Day 280: Matthew 5-6 - Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is so convicting and so encouraging. Convicting in that it shows me how much I compare myself to others instead of the true standard, which He reveals here. Encouraging, in that it is a characteristic of true faith that we believe God rewards those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) Jesus promises open rewards, and who doesn’t enjoy recognition among his peers? What form will that recognition take? New Testament writers mention five “crowns”[https://www.preceptaustin.org/2_timothy_47-8#crowns] explicitly. What are they, really? I think there’s a hint in Matthew 6:29, in that before the advent of the microscope, readers had no idea the significance of Matthew 6:29.

Day 281: Matthew 7-9 - What does it really mean to say that Jesus “marveled” at the centurion’s faith? I can be surprised because I didn’t know the full truth about a thing. I don’t think Jesus was expressing that kind of wonder. I can also stop to ponder and deeply appreciate something I already know about, like a sunset, the wing of a butterfly, shimmering water, or a flickering fire. In the latter case, I made the fire; within certain parameters I know what to expect; yet I can marvel at it all the same. Maybe it was more like that. Christ made the centurion. He knew what was coming in the encounter. Ephesians 2:8-9 even seems to say He GIVES us our very faith, (“that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”). But He still marvels in its exercise and manifestation.

Day 282: Matthew 10-11 - In the person of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence and violent men took it by force. Jesus was explaining what must have been very confusing to them. If he were the voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way of YHVH, and if Christ was the One for Whom he had been preparing the way, how could he have been captured and incarcerated? What would happen when he was beheaded? And what about 10:16-28? The preaching of the cross is forever foolishness to those who are perishing. (1 Corinthians 1:18) What does Matthew 11:16-17 mean? We are meant to be seen as out of step with the music of the world.

Day 283: Matthew 12-13 - 2000 years later, the Kingdom of Heaven is still much disputed and hazily understood. Were these parables meant to clarify or obfuscate? Both, as Christ Himself said. But if to clarify for those of us given to understand, how and in what way do they clarify? Our difficulty in understanding is like that of the disciples. We carnally interpret the spiritual (Matthew 16:7, John 4:33); and we oversimplify. Childlike dependence upon God assumes He rewards those who diligently seek Him. So thinking His desire to seek and save the Lost is unrestricted by other considerations is normal. As these parables show, the world, the flesh and the devil work against those who bring the word of the Kingdom, so we need to prize it above all else.

Day 284: Matthew 14-15 - Why does Jesus appear to insult the Syro-Phenecian woman in Matthew 15:26? Is it to surface a deep faith in Him that would not be dissuaded? Just as the Centurion was told that he and people like him would sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom, (Matthew 8:11), so this woman was commended for her faith, through which Jesus had saved her and made her daughter well,

Day 285: Matthew 16-18 - Was Jesus holding the Sadducees accountable for knowing the time of His coming in Matthew 16:3? It seems so. What clues could they have used? Genesis 49:10 and Daniel 9:25 would have been key scriptural predictors of the timing of Messiah’s coming. Herod’s slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16) would have been a well-known event associated with this In Christ’s own day. They had enough to go on to at least consider the idea, if they had been willing.

Day 286: Matthew 19-20 - Just as Christ Himself set aside self to serve and to give Himself up, He calls us to set aside pleasure, wealth, rank, acknowledgement of effort/merit for the sake of the Gospel. His questions in these chapters, even leveraged out of context, are good ones to ask myself regularly: Why do I call Him good? (19:17) Why do I stand all the day idle? (20:6) What do I want? (20:21, 32) If I really want to be great, the way has been made clear.

Day 287: Matthew 21-22 - In these two chapters the fulfillment of Daniel 9:25, Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118:25,26 are found. The time that fruit should have been gathered had come, and there was only the appearance of fruitfulness. The common people were ready to receive Him but in large part the leaders (Herodians, Sadducees, Pharisees) persuaded them to reject Him. (See 18:6-7) The chief priests and Pharisees perceived that He spoke about them in the parables of the two sons and the Lord of the vineyard. How much did they understand? They continued to prod Him in the next chapter, even after the pronouncement of destruction and outer darkness in the parable of the wedding feast, until they finally lost their nerve. In Matthew 22, the fearsome pronouncement is made that because of their rejection, the Kingdom of God has been taken from them and given to another nation which will bring forth its fruit. This is the judicial blindness of Romans 11:7-8. At what point will our people be judged fruitless? (Romans 11:15-25)

Day 288: Matthew 23-24 - Christ’s woes on the Pharisees, leaders of the rejection, and final lament over Jerusalem seems to be what inspires the disciples’ remarks about the temple stones and this gives Jesus the opportunity to give them the Olivet Discourse. Without the rest of the New Testament, would there be grounds to believe in two comings, two sets of “elect?” I think so, although it’s fairly subtle. A major point of the message is that followers of Jesus are not to be deceived by false Christs, even if the perform miracles. He’s not going to return secretly and teach or work wonders on earth as in His ministry. His coming will be with a loud trumpet and bright glory that everyone sees. It will be immediately after tribulation so great it could destroy humanity if it weren’t shortened. And yet we are not going to know when the Lord returns. In fact, pastoral things like working in the fields and grinding at the mill are going to be taking place when he comes unexpectedly. We’re warned to be watchful and productive against His sudden return. This doesn’t seem to fit with the final coming at the end of the Great Tribulation, which everyone sees.

Day 289: Matthew 25-26 - When Jesus established the Lord's Supper observance, He explicitly tied it to the New Covenant. (Jeremiah 31:31-34, which in the Septuagint uses the a word from the same same root for Covenant, <g1303> diatithemi) When He says His blood is for the remission of sins, I think of Daniel 9:24, which says that seventy weeks are determined upon the Jews "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity." His blood, as He said, is what does this. His death, burial and resurrection is the guarantee. Just as He repeatedly preached truth and then proved that it was approved by God by a miracle, so the Resurrection was the miracle approving HIs ministry and guaranteeing our justification. Will the New Testament be completely fulfilled? We have only to look at the Resurrection, which we celebrate whenever we take Communion.

Day 290: Matthew 27-28 - During His illegal trial, the religious leaders perversely pursued the death penalty for Jesus despite even His betrayer telling them he'd betrayed innocent blood. Although John records that he and Mary were at the foot of the Cross, (John 19:25-27), Matthew tells us all the disciples forsook Him and fled (Matthew 26:56). Was it necessary for Him to suffer alone, forsaken by man before being forsaken by His Father on man's behalf? It demonstrates that no one could share His trial, no one was able to drink His cup. Christ suffered for us alone outside the camp (Hebrews 13:13) so that we could be reconciled. Bearing our cross to follow Him means at least going to Him and being willing to experience this forsakenness for His sake.

Day 291: Mark 1-2 - It doesn't take long for Jesus to offend the religious leaders. They say He blasphemes by forgiving sins. (Mark 2:7) They are repulsed that He eats with publicans and sinners. (Mark 2:16) They complain that His disciples don't fast. (Mark 2:18) They call plucking and eating a handful of grain doing something unlawful on the Sabbath. (Mark 2:24) What if the cleansed leper had done exactly what Jesus told him to do, and gone in secret to the priest with an offering for his cleansing? Would that have made the priest an advocate? Would He have had less trouble with the religious authorities? It's hard to say; but Jesus had a reason for telling the man to not say anything about Him.

Day 292: Mark 3-4 - Passages like Mark 4:12 & 2 Thessalonians 2:12 are troubling because they show God deliberately withholding from people what they need to receive in order to be saved. They’re in contrast to other places like 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4 and Ezekiel 33:11 which show the Father’s heart for the lost, in wanting them all to repent and be saved. How can these be reconciled? The sudden switch to obfuscation follows the place where the scribes (Mark) and Pharisees (Matthew) blaspheme the Holy Spirit, rejecting the ultimate witness to Christ. Further witness to them would bring greater condemnation like Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum, (Matthew 11:21-24). So what does this imply? If the great rejection of Christ came before His deliberate withdrawal in this case, the falling away in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 will precede the strong delusion in v. 11. Follow-up: was just thinking about this again—in 2 Corinthians 5:11 and Romans 11:22, Paul points out the terror and severity of God contrasted with HIs kindness. We're to learn to persuade men, and to continue in the faith, with both of these aspects of His character in mind.

Day 293: Mark 5-6 - In Nazareth, the people are “offended” at Him, leading to His observation that a prophet receives no honor among his own familiar people. Just as He had “marveled” at the faith of the Centurion, (Matthew 8:10), so He marvels at the unbelief of those among whom He had lived. Why “could” He do so few miracles among them for this reason? Did He depend on the power of their faith in some way? No. All power in Heaven and in earth was His. (Matthew 28:18) However, He was not in the business of overwhelming unbelief through miracles. His miracles done in the presence of persistent unbelief brought greater and greater condemnation (Matthew 11:21-24), yet they were a witness against representatives of the Jewish leadership (John 5:36) and to those who would eventually believe. (John 14:11) He knew the difference and applied His efforts judiciously.

Day 294: Mark 8-9 - Is Jesus’ healing of the blind man in Mark 8:22-26 not in perfect alignment with the last two days’ observations? He leads the blind man out of the city before healing him, and tells him not to go back to the city, and not to tell about his healing to those in the town. I don’t think it’s necessary to second guess ourselves in evangelism, but Christ knew immediately when continued witness would only bring further resistance. The Spirit will undoubtedly signal us to stop if that is His will. Perhaps this is what happened when Paul, Silas and Timothy were forbidden to go to Bithynia but given the vision to go to Macedonia. (Acts 16:6-11)

Day 295: Mark 9-10 - Mark 9:1 and the parallel passages are proof texts for the claim that either Jesus was a false prophet or that the Second Coming took place in the First Century. Does “seeing the Kingdom of God come with power” necessarily mean the Second Coming? Jesus described His return this way: “…the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”(Matthew‬ ‭24:30‬) That sounds like 8:38, but not necessarily 9:1. In fact, Jesus told those who had blasphemed the Holy Spirit that the Kingdom had come to them. (Matthew 12:28) Couple that with the observation that each parallel account of this promise precedes the Transfiguration, and a clearer picture of what Jesus is saying emerges. The Kingdom and power is invested in Him but veiled, as stated in Philippians 2:5-11. Peter, James and John were eyewitnesses of the unveiling (2 Peter 1:16).

Day 296: Mark 11-12 - Mark's treatment of the Triumphal Entry is brief. But I got so much out of it today. Maybe it's brevity helped me see the big picture in Mark 11-12 better. It is Jerusalem's "day," as Jesus pointed out in His lament over Jerusalem in Luke 19:24. How did they miss it? It was in black-and-white for 483 years in their Scriptures. (Dan. 9:25) After allowing them to inspect Him, He inspects them, finding them unfit to worship because of their corruption, (Mark 11:17), without discernment because of their fear of man, (Mark 11:32), defrauders of God though they bear His image, (Mark 12:17) and unfit interpreters of His Word since they don't know it and are without His power, (Mark 12:24-27) Christ warned in Luke 11:51 that they'd be held responsible for all of Israel's apostasy. We all want to be found faithful in the day of testing. What a horror to instead be judged empty of fruit and responsible before Him due to one's position of authority!

Day 297: Mark 13-14 - Is there a connection between the fruitless fig tree in Mark 10:13 and the parable of the fig tree in Mark 13:28-33? It seems likely that if the former was symbolic of a fruitless Temple and religious leadership, the latter is as well. Will the final generation see a Jewish Temple rebuilt just before the final of Daniel’s “sevens” (Daniel 9:24), determined upon his people begins? If that is so, it means that His coming is immediately near when it is completed.

Day 298: Mark 15-16 - The cry of dereliction from the cross would not seem to be something to inspire faith in the hearers. This man who claimed to be the Son of God dies saying that His God has forsaken Him. Why, then, does even the centurion say “truly this man was the Son of God?” The Matthew account explains that the man saw the great earthquake and that there had been darkness for the last three hours of the crucifixion. (Matthew 27:50-54, 45) Those who knew the Scriptures would recognize Jesus’ statement as a quote of Psalm 22:1, which had described the scene over 1,000 years before it happened.

Day 299: Luke 1-2 - Luke’s account of Christ’s birth shows every indication of being well-researched as he claims (Luke 1-2), having the details about John the Baptist’s birth, the shepherds’ visitation, Simeon’s prophecy and Anna’s praise, as well as the only account of Jesus’ youth, in 2:41-51. We have all the Gospel accounts in Greek, but I wonder: when Simeon praised and said, “mine eyes have seen thy salvation” - did he really say “Yeshua?” (As in Psalm 118:19-21)

Day 300: Luke 3-4 - Seen in the context of the history that has followed, the Jews of Christ’s day were only 640 years back from the Babylonian captivity. Only about 1000 years from David’s reign. Only 1500 years from the Exodus. So why does the end times seem so close to them? (See Luke 3:17) We’re now as far from the days of the disciples as they were from Abraham. It must be because these were pivotal days in God’s emphasis on Israel. Comparing Luke 3:8 with Romans 11:15-25, the judgment of partial blindness was just around the corner.

Day 301: Luke 5-6 - In Luke’s account, the parable of the house built on the rock comes just after Jesus’ complaint that we call Him Lord and do not do what He says. (In Matthew, He says he will say, “depart from me; I never knew you” to these, 7:21-23.) He then promises that those who hear His sayings and do them will be like a man who built his house on a rock. Why, then, do so few of us exemplify these teachings? Is it because , as G. K. Chesterton put it, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried?” It may also be that we've missed an implication of the parable. It's not that the winds and rain don't come and beat on the house of a Christian; we are beaten just as the unbelievers are. It is the foundation of the house that gives the Christian standing, but personally, structurally, and in terms of the other definition: reputation and influence.

Day 302: Luke 7-8 - Doesn’t flesh vacillate between two contradictory emotions, both equally against committed faith? I think I see three examples in Chapter 8 of Luke.

The disciples were fearful (<g1169>, deilos, timid) of the storm. Then they were terrified, (<g5399>, phobeo), of the One Who had rebuked the storm.The citizens of Gadara had been terrorized by the man who had the legion of demons. But they were taken with great fear (megas phobos, 8:37) and asked Jesus to leave them.Jairus’ mourners feared her death (8:50) but when Jesus announced her resurrection they mocked Him (8:53).

How contradictory these emotions all are! But they all keep us immature and isolated from the One Who wants to protect and heal us.

Day 303: Luke 9-10 - The order of events in these two chapters differs from that of Matthew and Mark. What is Luke’s Gospel telling us by arranging Jesus’ encounters in this specific way? Chapter 9 appears to outline calling, service, confession of Christ, discipleship and glory.

Day 304: Luke 11-12 - Faith in Christ is believing that He is, and also that He is faithful to reward every instance of diligent seeking of Him. In chapters 11-12, we’re shown how to pray with that confidence, the need for the Holy Spirit, the danger of worry over, and trust in, material wealth and goods, and the need to live our lives as if His return is today. How can the servant who presumes the Lord’s return is far enough away that he can get away with taking advantage of others and indulging his lusts be appointed a portion with the unbelievers? Because that’s what he really is: an unbeliever who knows the truth.

Day 305: Luke 13-14 - In these two chapters Jesus confronts unbelief. On the one hand, the invitation to the wedding feast is said to be universal: compel the poor, the maimed, the halt and blind, those in the highways and hedges, to come in, that His house may be filled. (Luke 14:16-23) People from the east, west, north and south would come and sit down in the Kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prop. (Luke 13:28-29) On the other hand, the gate is narrow, and many will seek to enter in and be unable. (Luke 13:24) Only those who bear a cross, forsaking all they have, can be His disciple. (Luke 14:27, 33) How can these two things be simultaneously true? The parable of the sower sheds light on both the broad invitation to salvation and the narrow road of fruitful discipleship. To obtain the (relatively) few, all are to be invited.

Day 306: Luke 15-17 - In the parables about lostness, Jesus beautifully illustrates the consistent, compassionate mercy of the Father, seeking, rejoicing over repentance and recovery and pursuing even the unrepentant older brother. We find in the middle of chapter 16 that the Pharisees are still listening to Him teach His disciples, so He takes the opportunity to tell them about the rich man and Lazarus to show them what lostness really means. For the lost it should horrify them and cause them to come to Him in repentance (the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, so the story is given with them in mind). For the saved, it should bring great gratitude like the 10th leper demonstrated in Luke 17:12-19. What result did this constant direct confrontation have? Nicodemus was a Pharisee (John 3:1). Joseph of Arimathea may have been a Pharisee (Luke 23:51). I thought I remembered that many of the Pharisees believed on Him, but (see John 12:42-43), it was the “chief rulers” and it was in secret because of the Pharisees.

Day 307: Luke 18-19 - Some of the accounts unique to Luke are particularly good teaching about repentance: the Prodigal Son, the Pharisee and the Publican, the Conversion of Zacchaeus. Luke seems to especially emphasize discipleship and fruit-bearing. Compare 13:6-9 and 19:41-44. Even though the cursing of the fig tree isn’t present, the parable’s language makes the point. So what about Jesus’ lament over His rejection? The people rejoiced and praised God, (19:37), heard Him gladly, (19:48), but the leaders rejected Him? What a lesson about untrustworthy leadership that we tend to follow like sheep! Yet Jesus was able to say at the end of His ministry of those given to Him by the Father, “none of them is lost” (John 17:12) and the Church began as 100% Jewish.

Day 308: Luke 20-21 - You can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if the Jewish leadership had repented and received Jesus. Chapter 20 demonstrates their persistent rejection of Him, despite the fact that He answered their questions well (20:39) and they couldn’t answer his (20:7). He showed they didn’t know the Scriptures, their worship was empty (20:9-19), and they were hypocritical and lacked compassion (20:47, 21:1-4). Did this effectively extend the “times of the gentiles?” (21:24) Luke’s timing cues in 21:12, 20, 21, 27, 28 are critical to understanding how it all fits together. In the 2,000-year period that has followed, one way to describe the prescribed mission and message of the church is in 21:34-36.

Day 309: Luke 22-23 - Jesus has just announced His suffering and made the bread and wine symbolic of His own body and blood, calling it the New Testament. After He announces one of them would betray Him, they start asking who. How is it that another argument about who would be the greatest of them springs up? This keeps happening; (Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45) and doesn’t it ruin our peaceful image of this feast and of the overall serenity of the disciples? Under God’s direct supervision we can be at peace with one another but when we lose consciousness of that, selfish ambition arises, in contrast to Philippians 2:2-11.

Day 310: Luke 24, John 1 - The first chapter of John really throws back the curtain on who Jesus really is. The transition from Luke’s account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus to John 1:1-3 makes it clear how Jesus could be the subject of the whole Bible. Was the order of the Gospels arranged this way for that reason?

Day 311: John 2-3 - John chapter 3 is so profound. What kind of man was Nicodemus that he would come to Jesus even as the council on which he sat was looking for ways to condemn Him? Weak, as we all are, to come to Jesus only in secret and remain a secret believer after this encounter, but honest in his search for the truth. How grateful I am that he was so led of God, that we have this precious passage in God’s Word.

Day 312: John 4-5 - What is God showing us by juxtaposing the woman at the well with the confrontation with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem? It’s significant that he was headed there when he went through Sychar, and it says he had to go through Samaria. (4:4) The contrast is striking: he performed no miracles for them but they were ready to believe. He performed a miracle in Jerusalem and it became the reason they wanted to kill him. (5:18) This led to His discussion of all the witness they had so far rejected: John the Baptist, His miracles, the word from heaven by His Father and the Scriptures they thought gave them eternal life. They thought the Samaritans were outside of that covenant because they couldn’t prove their heritage and because they rejected all scriptures outside the Pentateuch.

Day 313: John 6-7 - When Jesus gives the great bread of life discourse after feeding the 5,000, He talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, metaphors that must have been calculated to drive away the people who were only hoping for an endless source of food. (6:26-27) He also challenged the twelve, provoking a slightly different version of Peter’s great confession. I wonder how Peter felt when the Matthew 16:16 version was followed by the “get thee behind me” statement in Matthew 16:23? Especially considering that in John 6:70, Jesus had said “one of you is a devil” without naming Judas. Matthew 16 definitely follows the feeding of the 5,000, since it mentions it specifically. (Matthew 16:8-12)

Day 314: John 8-9 - As the religious leaders continue pushing against Jesus, more and more of His divine nature is revealed and they are revealed to be less and less spiritual , wise and good. He’s the true man as well as truly God, and they are false fronts concealing deep treachery. Would it have been as bad for them if they’d left Him alone? But they had to fully demonstrate for us the depths of John 1:11.

Day 315: John 10-11 - So often we hear that even most evangelical Christians don’t have a genuinely Biblical worldview. (https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CRC_AWVI2021_Release06_Digital_01_20210831.pdf) What was the worldview behind the confusion of the Jews over Jesus? They rightly judged that He was claiming to be God in human flesh (John 10:33) but wrestled with His miracles (9:33, 10:21). They had opposed John, who performed no miracles (10:41). They asked Jesus for a sign. (6:30) But even after He gave sight to the man born blind and raised Lazarus from the dead, they strategized (11:46-54) to kill Him, because “all men will believe on Him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation.” (11:48)

Day 316: John 12-13 - The rejection of Jesus is seen from a different angle in John. In pressing the Jewish leaders over the witnesses they had rejected, Jesus had claimed He had the power to raise up the dead (John 5:21-27). Was the occasion of this confrontation Pentecost following the Passover before the one Jesus ate with His disciples and preceded with the Triumphal Entry? (John 5:1) If so it would seem that Lazarus’ resurrection was a prophecy to them that the upcoming Passover would bring to mind. (John 12:9-11) Moreover, on His way to raise Lazarus, Jesus spoke about the people having "no light in them" (John 11:10), which causes us to stumble in darkness, which we walk through all the time. It's necessary for us to believe in the light, to be children of light (John 12:16), else we continue to walk in darkness.

Day 317: John 14-15 - How important is fruit-bearing?

It is the inevitable mark of the good soil (Matthew 13:23).It draws the (purging) attention of the Father (John 15:2).It’s related to answered prayer (John 15:7).It’s proof of discipleship (John 15:8).Absence of it means a person is unconverted (John 15:6; 1 Corinthians 15:2; 2 Corinthians 13:5).

What is fruit-bearing?It is life-change, as the Spirit conforms us to Christ’s image (Romans 8:28-29; Galatians 5:22-23).It is reproduction, (Matthew 13:23).It is worship (Hebrews 13:15, John 4:24).

Day 318: John 16-17 - In what way does the Spirit convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment? Jesus said that conviction of sin was because they do not believe in Him. I think this is an echo of John 9:39 and 41, as well as 3:18. Redemption is forgiveness of sin (Colossians 1:14), and until the plan of redemption was revealed, trust in God's progressively-revealed type was valid. It was after full revelation of the meaning was made that ritual sacrifice for sin was no longer a true expression of faith in God. (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:26) Jesus said conviction of righteousness was because He went to His Father. I don't think the conviction here is being convinced of that fact, but that while He was on earth, He was an example of pure righteousness that the Spirit's work in believers is a substitute for. (John 5:35,36, 8:12, 9:5; Matthew 5:14-16) Finally, Judgment is because the prince of this world is judged. Colossians 2:14-15 shows the Cross' triumph over evil, but it is in the way that it was done that brings conviction to the world: God was so serious about judging sin that He poured His wrath out on His Son. That means judgment is certain; all that remains is for the sentence to be carried out.

Day 319: John 18-19 - It's been said that 22 Jewish laws or Rabbinic customs were broken in the trial of Jesus. Who is really pulling the strings here? It's not as if Pilate's dramatic washbasin (Matthew 27:24-25) could remove his guilt. Yet he admitted 3 times he found no fault in Jesus. They couldn't get their witnesses' testimony to agree. (Mark 14:55-56) The High Priest used His own words to condemn Him, then tore his clothes illegally. The people who cried for Barabbas were clearly being manipulated. Pilate was, as well. But weren't the Jewish Leaders, also? Does it all rest on the High Priest and Temple officials? We're told that Satan entered Judas at the Last Supper (John 13:27). What was he doing after that? Ultimately He was slain by "wicked hands" but it was through the "determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" that He was delivered. (Acts 2:23) What a warning, though, about our susceptibility to manipulation by emphatic leaders!

Day 320: John 20-21 - The order of events after the resurrection is so hard to grasp but is one of the great values of the four Gospels, since each tells a different perspective on it. John’s gives us the recommissioning of Peter. But in researching it today I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 15:5, which tells us Jesus appeared to Peter before the others. What was that encounter like. What about it made Peter decide to go fishing? (21:3) And what, in that context, does the challenge “lovest thou me more than these” (21:15) mean? We can at least be certain that it is a beautiful example of grace: the net is not broken; none of them is lost. (17:12)

Day 321: Acts 1-3 - As Acts opens, the disciples have already seen Christ resurrected so they’re no longer in despair, but have been told to wait in Jerusalem for the promised empowerment. (Luke 24:49) What were they expecting? The seventy had had a taste of this power, (Luke 10:1-25) and subsequent to the resurrection Jesus had given them the Holy Spirit, (John 20:22-23), but this was a definitive and transformative event. What assurance they had! What boldness to speak assertively about man’s condition and the fulfillment of God’s promises! And what sweet harmony and fellowship they enjoyed among themselves: even the favor of outsiders and free access to the Temple. How much faster might the movement have spread if this had continued?

Day 322: Acts 4-6 - Why did the disciples resist the chief priests so boldly, challenge the gifts of Ananias and Sapphira so decisively and serve the wishes of the Hellenized Jewi converts so graciously? It can only be described as a fulfillment of Christ’s promise in John 16:7-15 and 15:26-27.

Day 323: Acts 7-8 - Why did God wait until after the Samaritans believed, were baptized and had the apostles lay hands on them before giving them the Holy Spirit? (Acts 8:12-17) Philip clearly was under the direction (8:29) and power (8:39) of the Spirit. Why couldn't the Spirit fall on them when they believed, as He did with Cornelius' household? (10:44, 11:15, 15:8-9) We're told the Apostles weren't scattered, but remained in Jerusalem (8:1). So this is where the knowledge and authority of the church is concentrated at this time. It seems it was necessary for them to know and be involved in what God was doing after the pattern of Acts 1:8: Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. God had already made it clear that the Spirit was essential by telling them to tarry until they were endued with power, (Luke 24:49) and the power is evident in their boldness. (Acts 2:22-24, 3:14-19, 4:10-17, 5:29-33, 7:51-53)

Day 324: Acts 9 -10 - Although my Bible’s outline says Cornelius is Peter’s “second use of the keys,” (Matthew 16:19, Acts 2:14-41), might it not be instead the third, if 8:14-17 counts as opening the door to the Samaritans in obedience to Acts 1:8?

Day 325: Acts 11-13 - Today I focused in on the passage that reports what the angel told Cornelius: that Peter would "tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." (Acts 11:14) Clarity in words and their definitions, and even how they're used in scripture, is so important. What did the audiences of the Apostles already know, and what were they making clear for the first time to them? What do we miss because of our different context, and our knowledge of the rest of the story?

Day 326: Acts 14-15 - When did John Mark depart? It says Pamphylia (Acts 15:34), which they reached in Acts 14:24; so by that time they were definitely wrapping up. The real trouble came in Iconium, Derbe and Lystra, where Paul was stoned. It must have been the decision to go back and appoint elders in every city that made him decide to leave. (14:23) He was unwilling to face the trouble again. Did he try to persuade them not to go? The man who would become the writer of one of the four Gospels had once "put his hand to the plow" and looked back (See Luke 9:62). This should be strong encouragement to weak men, that while there is life, there is opportunity to repent and be used by God again.

Day 327: Acts 16-17 - How is it that their reputation precedes them to one of Macedonia’s most important cities? Watching how Paul and Silas operate helps us understand. If the other disciples missed no opportunity to share their faith, as these courageous men did, no wonder the world seemed to be turning upside down to the city rulers. (Acts 17:6)

Day 328: Acts 18-20 - If we were trying to gather a model for missions & church planting, what would we learn from this section of Scripture? There's no set time to spend in one place. Apparently, Paul spent only 3 weeks in Thessalonica, 18 months in Corinth and 3 years in Ephesus. Possibly Ephesus needed more work beause it was so utterly given over to idolatry? Maybe the best model can be taken from 20:26-35's summary: declare the whole counsel of God, prepare them against false teachers from outside & inside, warn them with tears, commend them to God and the inheritance awaiting them, work hard to earn your keep and covet no one else's goods, show yourself an example to those who need to support the weak.

Day 329: Acts 21-23 - Was Paul wrong in aligning himself with the Roman law in order to escape trouble, as some so-called social justice advocates today might allege? Hardly: he was undoubtedly guided by the Holy Spirit in his submission to Jewish Law in Acts 21:18-26, his appeal to his citizenship in Acts 16:37-40, 22:25-28, and his use of the Sadducee/Pharisee controversy in Acts 23:6-10.

Day 330: Acts 24-26 - It's near the end of the story of Paul that we see the fulfillment of Jesus' initial prophetic calling on his life, that he would "bear my name unto the gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." (Acts 9:15) Felix is a governor (Acts 23:24), Festus apparently takes his place (Acts 24:27), and both of them are willing to compromise with the Jews to put Paul in greater danger (Acts 24:27, 25:9). Herod Agrippa is the Edomite king of Israel under Rome at this time. Felix trembles at Paul's words, Acts 24:25); Agrippa admits he's almost persuaded to trust Christ, (Acts 26:28). Paul is on his way to Caesar. What happened in that conversation? Ultimately, church history says that Paul was beheaded by Nero. I wish the conversation was recorded as the ones with Felix, Festus and Agrippa are.

Day 331: Acts 27-Romans 2 - Comparing Paul's frustration with his own people's stubbornness, (Acts 28:25-28) with his pronouncement about gentile idolatry (Romans 1:18-2:11), where does Paul get the confidence to say, (in Acts 28:28), "they will hear it"? It must be from his calling, which he describes in Acts 26:17 to be specifically to the gentiles.

Day 332: Romans 3-5 - If we can't be justified by the Law, (Romans 3:20), what is the remaining purpose of the Law?

It stops every God-accusing mouth, making the world guilty before Him (Romans 3:19).It finds its fulfillment in Christ (Matthew 5:17, Romans 3:31)The timing of its giving (through Moses) serves as a reminder that others (Abraham) were justified by imputation just as we are (Romans 4:5-17).By showing the standard of righteousness, it makes sin universally obvious (Romans 5:12-21) so that the offer of the gift of righteousness would be that much more compelling.

Day 333: Romans 6-8 - How, then, could an omniscient, loving God, have given commandments we could not obey? It was so that we would recognize our fallen state, our need for deliverance, and live by the Spirit, in dependence on Him.

Day 334: Romans 9-11 - Is Paul's argument in Romans 9-11 that some are elect and others non-elect and there's nothing you can do, because God's secret purpose in election is inscrutable to us? I don't think that's the point being made.

I think Rom. 11:29 is the conclusion.The controversy is: how does the rejection of Christ by the Jews (Lk. 19:28-20:19) call God's faithfulness, omniscience and omnipotence into question?

Answer: God's purposes WERE fulfilled in Israel, despite her self-righteous rejection:

They were to witness to the world that there is but one God. (De. 6:4)They were to illustrate to the world the blessedness of serving the one true God in the Sabbath rest. (De. 33:26-29)They were to receive, preserve and give the world the Scriptures. (Rom. 3:2)They were to give the world the Messiah. (2 Sam. 7, Matt. 1)Esau being hated Illustrated that from Israel's father Abraham, national Israel was chosen out.Pharaoh was a specific individual uniquely chosen by God to demonstrate His power.

Day 335: Romans 12-14 - Paul has laid a foundation now by declaring the gospel, raising & answering objections. Now, a corner has been turned. How, then, shall we live? In Romans 1:17, Paul had stated that “the just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) Having now described what it means to be justified, he goes on to describe what it means to live by faith:

Live our lives surrendered to God’s purposes (12:1-16)Allow God’s love to keep our selfishness in check: to instead be self-ruled so that we’re well within the bounds of the law and human government. (12:17-13:14)Offend no one’s conscience, including our own (14:1-15:3)

This is the faith way: trusting that God will meet all our needs and carry us through every trial.

Day 336: Romans 15-16; 1 Corinthians 1 - What makes preaching “foolishness” or sound like foolishness? Embedded in the Old Testament text are prophetic types and references that would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ and the mysterious Church. (Romans 15:4) It’s so detailed that it seems foolish to think someone would listen with that level of attentiveness and yet the detailed anticipation of future events is what compels the attentive hearer to believe. (Acts 17:11)

Day 337: 1 Corinthians 2-6 - First Corinthians almost immediately gets into addressing very serious problems. Why was Corinth like this? Apparently ancient Corinth was very wealthy, had a strategic position for trade, and many idols. Idolatry incorporated temple prostitution, so Corinth was known for wealth and debauchery. It would’ve been easy to drift into carnality if they remained in society with the pagans, as they had to do in order to be a witness to the world (5:10). Yet Paul continually points them to what that witness means: we are a spectacle to the world, to angels and to other Christians (4:9), we represent those who “begat” us (4:14-17), therefore we must behave as those who need to judge discerningly (6:2-8), and not pit faction against faction to promote spiritual pride (1:12-17,3:3-10, 4:6-8, 5:2-7). The ultimate argument is that we belong to God and are corporately (3:16,17) and individually (6:17-20) the Temple of the Holy Spirit. How offensive to God to defile this intimacy through fornication.

Day 338: 1 Corinthians 7-10 - Marriage is a stewardship and a willing ministry to the other person. Weak, disputing and immature brethren are likewise a ministry. Paul’s example was to restrict himself by not being married, by not taking part in the offering but being self-supporting, by conforming to whatever is the stricter set of the expectations of the group he was trying to reach, so that the gospel would not be hindered and so that he would obtain the fulness of the prize, the incorruptible crown. What would he say to our generation of believers?

Day 339: 1 Corinthians 11-13 - The Corinthians are chided for their lack of order, apparently in male-female relationships, as this is one of the key “complementarianism” passages in the NT, and their observance of the Lord’s Supper. As Paul has been saying, we need to restrict ourselves; here, he backs up a step: we should judge ourselves so that we don’t get chastised. This leads to the discussion of their disorderly use of spiritual gifts. Paul begins by explaining why they differ and making the body analogy, hinting at their purpose and concludes with the beautiful exposition of love, contrasting it with the raw exercise of gifts. If love is not the motivating purpose behind them, to what purpose are they exercised? Love must have an object: either God or others. (See Matthew 22:36-40) If the gifted individual's motivation behind the use of a gift is not love, it will fail, cease and vanish away; it is useless noise that profits nothing and makes the user nothing. Love never fails and will never end.

Day 340: 1 Corinthians 14-16 - As 1 Corinthians ends and I see Paul wrap this controversial letter up with all confidence that he’ll soon be receiving contributions from this church that has factions, parties of Apollos, of Christ and of Paul, I’m thinking of Paul’s explicit claim to be writing by the Spirit, (7:40) and the importance of utterance that is prophetic. Why is it so important that we seek prophesying as opposed to tongues? (14:1) It goes back to the “more excellent way” explained in chapter 13: it is to our shame that there remain people who have no knowledge of God (15:34), and prophetic utterance convinces the hearer of judgment (14:24-25) because it is the Spirit’s ministry (John 16:8-11).

Day 341: 2 Corinthians 1-4 - Why do I feel as if the red carpet should be rolled out before me and I should experience no trouble as I go from victory to victory in the Christian life? This is not the New Testament teaching at all. In fact, what we’re told about affliction (1:3-7) and the possibility of successful opposition against us (2:11) is that we, like Paul said about the Corinthians, are living epistles that the world reads. Paul himself despaired of life in Asia (1:8), but through God’s comfort (1:4) and ability to make us sufficient (3:5), we can be ministers of the New Testament, vulnerable earthen vessels whose triumph through suffering and affliction testifies to an inner glory that is far more glorious than the Old Covenant’s regulations. In addition to bringing others to Christ, resulting in the glory of God, the trouble we experience here in the temporal world also brings us great eternal reward. I am shamed by my expectations of prosperity in contrast to the Word of God and always need to be re-calibrated to it. But in a sense, such expectation points to the original plan of God, that we walk unhindered with Him in a very-good world; because He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and we should have good expectations of Him.

Day 342: 2 Corinthians 5-8 - We like Bible lists, such as the list of love's virtues, the fruit of the Spirit and the Armor of God, but there's an excellent list in 1 Coriinthians 6:4-10 that we rarely see quoted. I wonder why? Especially in our day of cataloging the sins and accusations of famous religious leaders, ( Aimee Semple McPherson, Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, Bob Coy, Doug Phillips, Robert Tilton, Josh Duggar, Ravi Zacharias, Joel Osteen) this list would be a great reminder to those of us in ministry to prevent the ministry from being blamed (v. 3). Have patience in afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonment, tumults, labors, watchings, fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy spirit, by love unfeigned, by the Word of truth, by the power of God and the armor of righteousness, by honor and dishonor, by good and evil report, through being called deceivers while yet being truthful, while being unpopular yet well-known, through dying and living, as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

Day 343: 2 Corinthians 9-13 - Does it seem as if Paul is a bit heavy-handed in coercing a collection from the Corinthians?His boldness has to do with his eternal perspective on their giving and his fatherly concern for them. He knows they have in abundance (8:14) and yet they have delayed the giving he has telegraphed to other churches. It’s good for them to fulfill their self-imposed obligation, that the ministry be provided for and thanksgiving and glory result to God.

Day 344: Galatians 1-4 - What would have happened if Paul had not confronted Peter at Antioch? (Galatians 2:11-14) Legalism is so deeply ingrained in us and inevitably becomes fear of man, (2:12), which prevents us from being servant of Christ (1:10). As much as Peter’s stand in Acts 15 (vv. 7-11) was a turning point in outreach to the gentiles, the confrontation in Antioch was one of the ways the Holy Spirit preserved the pure gospel in the early church.

Day 345: Galatians 5-6; Ephesians 1-2 - In Paul’s declaration of the mystery of the church he ends Ephesians 2 picturing the church as a temple for the Lord, making a habitation for the Holy Spirit. If, then, we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord are caught up in the clouds and taken from the earth, hidden from they day of wrath, (1 Thessalonians 4:17, 1:10, 5:9), what result will that have for a world left without Christian witness and influence? (See 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12)

Day 346: Ephesians 3-6 - Is there a more comprehensive “how to be the church” section of scripture?

1. Know who you are (3:4-21)

2. Honor God’s purpose in saving you (4:1-5:8)

3. Find out what pleases God and live accordingly (3:10-6:9)

4. Be prepared for opposition, recognizing the spiritual forces behind the visible opposition (6:10-18)

5. Pray for your leaders (6:19-20)

Day 347: Philippians 1-4 - Why is Philippians such an encouraging book? They are partakers of the grace given to Paul in ministering to him in his imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (1:7) He considers them his “joy and crown” (4:1) as he does the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:19). They are the ones he boasts about to the Corinthians. (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

Day 348: Colossians 1-4 - Why does the author of Romans 11:29 and 1 Timothy 1:12 tell the Colossians that it’s only “if they continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” that they will be presented “holy and unblameable in Christ’s sight?” (Colossians 1:22-23) In 1:4 and 9 he gives the reason: Paul did. It plant this church as he did the one in Thessalonica but only heard of it through Epaphras, his fellow prisoner (Colossians 4:12, Philemon 1:23), and in the KJV the word is “ye” (I.e., 2nd person plural). Put this information together and Paul is only being cautious in that he doesn’t know if all who will receive this letter are born again or if the church itself will continue in the faith.

Day 349: 1 Thessalonians 1-5 - The same writer from whom we gather the most about the process of inspired writing (1 Peter 1:10-12, 2 Peter 1:19-21) understood Paul’s writing to be inspired (2 Peter 3:15,16). It sounds mysterious to us, given that he explicitly states that the Old Testament prophets didn’t fully understand what they were writing about Christ. Nevertheless, does Paul not seem to completely understand that his words are really the words of God? (1 Thessalonians 2:13, 4:15) In his final words, King David seems to have understood and taken great comfort in the same. (2 Samuel 23:2)

Day 350: 2 Thessalonians 1-3; 1 Timothy 1-3 - According to what standard should we “withdraw ourselves from every brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14)? From those who “walk disorderly, and not after the tradition” received from Paul. Clearly from verses following this means one is to be gainfully employed (2 Thessalonians 3:7-15), but undoubtedly also for those fitting the description in 1 Timothy 1:9-10. (See also 1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

Day 351: 1 Timothy 4-6, 2 Timothy 1-2 - I’m interested in the gift Timothy received by the laying on of Paul’s hands. (2 Timothy 1:6) It doesn’t seem like we’re still at the point where the Holy Spirit only comes after the laying on of the apostles’ hands (see Acts 8:12-17), and anyway v. 14 sounds like there’s a good thing he received that he’s to “keep by the Holy Spirit” already dwelling in us. What is the gift Timothy received, and what does it imply to stir it up and keep it by the Holy Spirit? I think this opens the whole line of discussion in vv. 7-4:5. Sound words, the teaching of Paul, and study are extolled, along with the embrace of self-discipline, self-control and the affliction that comes with the territory.

Day 352: 2 Timothy 3-4, Titus 1-3 - The instructions for young men in Titus 2:6-8 are interesting. Why doesn't it say, "let your elders tell you what the Scriptures mean, and don't dispute with them?" Young men are sometimes prone to being outspoken, without proper modesty, and, not having experience, (See Hebrews 5:14), sometimes jump to the wrong conclusion. Instead, it encourages dispute, in a way, by anticipating a confrontation in which the opposition is ashamed because the young man is correct. (Throwing gasoline on the natural desire of young men to prove themselves against their elders, you might say.) Yet the admonition is to be without corruption in doctrine, grave and sincere, sound in speech. I can't help but think of the older minister's response to William Carey: "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen world, He will do it without your help or mine." If the young are prone to unpredictable leaps of inference, the old are also prone to rationalizing the status quo.

Day 353: Philemon, Hebrews 1-3 - Is it right to say in our dispensation that we must hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast until the end? (Hebrews 3:14) Yes; even though Hebrews is talking about a special situation in which it is possible for the Jewish converts to apostasize by going back to Judaism, we must realize that belief is just the beginning, (See James 2:19) which matures into repentance from dead works and settled confidence in Christ’s finished work, through which we are kept by the power of God unto the final salvation from wrath. (1 Peter 1:5)

Day 354: Hebrews 4-9 - Why does Hebrews 4:12's statement about the Word of God appear where it does? The Sabbath was a key point of identity for the Jews (Ex. 31:13-17, Ezek. 20:12,20) and this passage lays out the larger truth to which it points. It also identifies a key failure in the story of Israel, leading to loss and shame and the larger truth to which that incident points. (Numbers 14:22-37). It's a call to a greater type of rest - the rest of assurance about eternity, the greater concern of every human heart. These greater truths were all embedded in God's Word: the future written long ago in the past. The writer of Hebrews is about to show us that the Old Covenant was always meant to be only for a season, a schoolmaster to lead those seeking rest to Christ (Gal. 3:24-27); yet the Word of God, which contains the Old Covenant and the New, is not annulled along with the Old Covenant.

Day 355: Hebrews 10-13 - What is the “better thing” to which Hebrews 10:40 refers, that all the heroes of the faith did not receive but we have? It is Jesus’ completed work, Hebrews 12:2, as He is author and FINISHER of our faith, the faithful and merciful High Priest able to sit down at God’s right hand because He has completed the work to which their faith pointed.

Day 356: James 1-5 - When James talks about the "meekness of wisdom" (3:13) what does he mean? It's said that James is an example of wisdom literature in the New Testament, and certainly there are many quotes and references to the Psalms, Proverbs and Job. Knowledge and understanding may be possessed by a forceful and brash person. But it takes wisdom to allow one's character and actions to speak for him while waiting for opportunities to influence people and situations. We're so good at rationalization - and defensiveness arises quickly when we're directly confronted over something. And if I lack this wisdom, what should I do? (1:5)

Day 357: 1 Peter 1-5 - If it's true that the book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible, the question of why the innocent suffer is indeed an ancient and troubling question. Although Job teases the content that is to be revealed, and records Job requesting it, it doesn't fully answer. What does Peter say about this vexing question? Isn't it interesting that it's always posed as a purpose-seeking question? "WHY" do the righteous suffer? First we must remember that our enemy is a deceiver, and that world was cursed at the fall. This resulted in struggle and pain. When we accept the deception that God must not be as He has revealed Himself, (Hebrews 11:6), the result is that our foolish hearts are darkened and debased, unnatural and malicious. (Rom. 1:18-32) When God redeems us and brings us out of this state, reversing the noetic effects of sin, Christ provides an example for us, suffering the effect of sin while being innocent of it, blessing those who railed against Him. We're to do the same, and just like the miracles of the Apostles frequently gave them a platform to declare the gospel, the backdrop of suffering makes the suffering of a righteous person all the more clear - we should, therefore be ready to answer the questions that come (1 Peter 3:15-16) on the basis of what has now been revealed.

Day 358: 2 Peter 1-3; 1 John 1-2 - How is it possible to continue to believe in "Limited Atonement" after reading 2 Peter and 1 John? Peter tells us plainly that false teachers deny the Lord that bought them (2 Peter 2:1), while John makes the point that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1). The false teachers are "made to be taken and destroyed" (2 Peter 2:12), yet they, too, are bought by the Lord's sacrifice. Are Peter and John, then, teaching individual apostasy from genuine faith? Hardly - these are the writers of some of the strongest verses on assurance in the Bible (1 Peter 1:5 & 1 John 5:13). Peter writes that the false teachers knew the truth, but turned from it (2 Peter 2:17-22), while John writes that they "went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." (1 John 2:19) Like those who turn away in the book of Hebrews, they seemed to have known the truth but stopped short of taking it in and resting in it.

Day 359: 1 John 3-5; 2 John - What is one reason God may not be answering my prayers? If I am not doing what is pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:22, 1 Peter 3:7-12), my prayers are hindered and God's face is against me. What a great echo of 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Day 360: 3 John; Jude - How serious is the sin of homosexuality? Sodom and Gomorrha were destroyed, it is traditionally believed, for their great wickedness, leading ultimately to homosexuality, with their desire to rape the two angels in Genesis 19 being the obvious example. Modern LGBT+ apologists claim this story is a condemnation of gang rape, not homosexual sin, and point to Ezekiel 16:49-50 to say that the sin for which Sodom and Gomorrha were destroyed was actually pride and lack of charity. Yet, the Bible talks about "sodomites" in 1 & 2 Kings (14:24, 15:12, 22:46, 2 Kings 23:7). These are usually dismissed as male temple prostitutes and it is said that the idolatrous worship itself, and not the unnatural sex, is what is being condemned. (See Deut. 23:17) Yet there are lists in the New Testament explicitly including homosexuality (1 Tim 1:8-11, 1 Cor. 6:9-11) As well as others referring to it generally by sexual immorality and fornication, since marriage is defined by the Bible as being between a man and a woman. Moreover, Romans 1:18-32 identifies male and female homosexuality as being a final step in God's judgment of abandonment.

Day 361: Revelation 1-4 - What is the nature of the repentance enjoined to the church of Laodicea? There are great stories showing repentance in the New Testament - the parable of the Prodigal Son, (Luke 15:11-32), the account of Zacchaeus' conversion, (Luke 19:1-10), and the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, (Luke 18:9-14).

1. Buy gold tried in the fire: whatever attachment this world has, abandon it for the sake of true, everlasting value (Matthew 13:44-46, 6:25-34)

2. Buy white raiment to cover nakedness, must forsake filthy robes of self-righteousness (Isa. 64:6, Zech. 3:4) - this is the righteousness of the saints in Rev. 19:8.

3. Buy eyesalve to heal blindness, must admit darkness and ignorance, forsake spiritual pride.

Day 362: Revelation 5-9 - If by Revelation 9:20, one-third of mankind has been killed by plagues and the remainder do not repent, the harvest implied by Rev. 7:14 is over. Does that mean that by this point in the Tribulation, no more are being saved? Does it mean that Revelation 1-4 is church-age in view, with the door in heaven and the celebration around the throne picturing the rapture of the church? The sealed (See 7:3-8, Ezekiel 9:4) are mentioned in 9:4 as being exempted, but no more repent, apparently, because the repentant are gone by this time.

Day 363: Revelation 10-14 - We're obviously seeing metaphorical people in chapter 12, but who or what do they all represent? We see Jesus in v.5, because he is to rule the nations with a rod of Iron (Psalm 2:8,9) and is to be caught up to the throne of God (Acts 1:9). Who is the woman who gives birth to Him? We might too quickly say "Mary" and yet, since the dragon "makes war with the remnant of her seed" (v. 17), she must be Israel as a whole. We're told in v. 9 that the dragon is the devil and satan, finally identified as the serpent of old, which ties the Bible's entire story of redemption together - the reason satan hates the woman so much is that it is through her that the redemption of mankind was to come. This chapter explains so much, including the angels who sinned, (2 Peter 2:4) the rebellion against God, and the role of Michael the archangel.

Day 364: Revelation 15-18 - Why does a mighty angel take up a millstone and throw it into the sea in Revelation 18:21? It demonstrates the violence with which Babylon will be thrown down, but is there more? It makes me think of Jeremiah's jar he's instructed to break, of Ezekiel's pretend seige on his model of Jerusalem… but also about Jesus' warning that anyone offending "one of these little ones which believe in me" (Matthew 18:6). This, in turn, makes me think of all the child-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, and how so many details about the woman called Babylon connect her with Rome: the ten horns of the beast she rides sound an awful lot like Daniel 7:7's final beast, also having ten horns. That beast was certainly Rome. In Rev. 17:9, she's said to be sitting on seven mountains - Rome famously is the city of seven hills. In Rev. 17:18, she's said to be "that great city, which reigneth (present tense) over the kings of the earth". In John's day, that was Rome. Was she also guilty of the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus? (17:6) Combining the Roman persecutions with the Catholic ones against the Reformation, including the Inquisition, yes.

Day 365: Revelation 19-22 - The Church is uniquely the Bride of Christ. So when New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, who populates this city? Is it only the church, or does it include the saved of all history? The passage discussing the Millennial Kingdom indicates that those who have gone through the Tribulation and been beheaded for their faith in Jesus are resurrected and will reign with Him on earth; but over whom do they reign? Is it those who are liberated at the battle of Armageddon? Are those liberated at this time saved (See Zechariah 12:10/Matthew 24:30/Revelation 1:7; Romans 11:26) and it is their children who are deceived at Satan’s final rebellion, or are there many who doubt, even during Christ’s personal reign on earth? Does New Jerusalem remain suspended over earthly Jerusalem and reign over all of earth, or are the two united at this time? Revelation’s conclusion may still be mysterious in some ways, having raised some new questions of its own; but it answers the big questions of our current experience very well.