DECEMBER 31
Time to celebrate!
Malachi
3-4
This generation of Jews had a very
muddled history. Part of their history was miraculous privilege and the other
part was tragic judgment. Yet they were still God's people, chosen to make His
redemptive plan known to the world. They should have been impressed with the
astounding manner in which God had bent and moved the nations to protect Israel
in exile and to restore them to their land. Instead it was all so wearisome and
so vague. There was this hope, but they didn't want to fully commit themselves
to God. They thought a little following would work, but it only made matters
worse. (This sounds like a lot of people today in the church.) This would also
be a picture of the Jews before Jesus arrived. In a way, it is a picture of all
of mankind. We have a vague sense we should seek God, but we want His blessing
on our terms at whatever level of interest we're willing to give Him. He should
just be happy with what He gets, right? Who does He think He is anyway? J
Malachi 3
Vs. 1-5 So God will send messengers to
prepare the people.
V. 1 There are two messengers here.
John the Baptist is the first and the
messenger of the covenant was Jesus. We know what happened with John and
Jesus. In fact, tomorrow you get to begin reading the Gospels.
V. 2-5 Suddenly God warns them of His
coming. We saw in Amos 5:18, that a person shouldn't wish lightly for the day
of the Lord. The result will be that Judah will be cleansed, but it will be
through the fire. I think this is captured in Jesus telling the multitudes that
if they are walking with their accuser on the way to the court, to try to
settle on the way. If it goes to judgment, they will have to pay every penny.
The idea for that generation and each individual was, "Now is the time.
Don't wait until the day of the Lord."
Vs. 6-12 The point of this section
takes a little thought. It is not that God is interested in tithing, but the
lack of tithing did reveal a lack of spiritual understanding.
V. 6 Just as God has always done, He
will continue to spare them because of His covenant with Abraham.
V. 7 So what do the statutes have to do
with returning to God and paying the tithes? Remember in Nehemiah that Nehemiah
set everything in order. The priests and the Levites were all in Jerusalem
working and the people were bringing the tithes. Nehemiah left for a time and
when he returned (Neh. 13:6), the Levites were scattered back to their farms.
The people had stopped bringing the tithes.
I can imagine the people saying,
"Hey, the times are hard. Why should I tithe to support a bunch of people
sitting around doing nothing?" The thing is that God had appointed the
priests and Levites to be teachers of the people. How would the people learn
the statutes and the Word (and of God Himself) if the Levites weren't there?
That is the point here. A spiritually perceptive person would have seen that
his own spiritual welfare and the spiritual welfare of his family and nation
were dependent on the ministry of the priests and Levites. And the priests and
Levites were supported by the tithes. Tithing tested the hearts of the people.
They failed. When the people held back, God held back and not only did the
economy suffer, but so did their spiritual wellbeing.
V. 12 Israel was to have been a witness
and a blessing to the nations because of God's blessing to them as they
followed. In Isaiah 55 God says that they will be a blessing during the
Millennium.
Vs. 13-15 I have met Christians who
basically have this attitude. Yet, a little following and trust, mixed with a
major portion of living your life the way you want, only brings bitter
disappointment. We are not left here to have more comfort, better health and
cooler toys than the unbelieving world. We are here to serve our Lord,
following Him with a cross on our shoulder into the harvest. In this there is
joy. Any other view is our own.
Vs. 16-18 Some people did respond and
God promises to acknowledge these people on the day of resurrection. God's
acknowledgement of them will add to the judgment of all those who didn't
respond. It might also be that in the time of Malachi, God chose to bless those
who truly repented, and did this in a visible way.
V. 18 God will make this distinction
clear at Christ's coming and in all eternity. For those who love Jesus, they
already understand the spiritual depth of this difference. It is all grace and
nothing we have done. To know Him is itself the reward.
Malachi 4
These are God's final words in the Old
Testament, then come 400 silent years. And tomorrow, for us, we read about the
coming of the Savior and His herald.
V. 1 This not only sounds like the
judgment at the end of the Tribulation, but John the Baptist told the leaders
and people that the axe was laid to the root of the trees and that burning
would accompany ignoring the message. John
answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier
than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to
clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff
he will burn with unquenchable fire.”18So with many other exhortations he
preached good news to the people. (Luke 3:16-18) I always smile
when I read that last sentence after John's version of the "good"
news.
Vs. 2-3 This really
sounds like the fighting in Jerusalem just as Jesus returns. The sun of righteousness only appears here
and it was used by Charles Wesley in "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
Since it is spelled "sun" and not "son," the meaning has to
do with a coming day that will dawn on mankind. Oddly enough, there is a
mention to that in Luke 1:76-79 (RSV). Zechariah the father of John the
Baptist is speaking. "And you,
child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the
Lord to prepare his ways, 77to
give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78through the tender mercy of our God, when
the day shall dawn upon us from on high 79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." Jesus is that Light that
dawns upon us.
V. 4 In a heart of faith the statues and rules were obeyed
in faith, out of a heart of love and gratitude for God's salvation and
deliverance. The first and great commandment of the Law was to love the Lord
with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind.
That love came from one's understanding of the Lord's love in saving them out
of Egypt (and now Babylon) and for fulfilling the promise to Abraham. In the
same way, our service and obedience as disciples flows first from our love for
Christ and our gratitude that He saved us. Growing in our love for Him and His
Word has to be our first priority or everything else becomes duty.
Vs. 5-6 So, is this
John the Baptist? Read what Gabriel said to Zechariah regarding John in Luke 1:16-17
(March 13). He quotes a part of verse six. Jesus said that John fulfilled this
ministry. Jesus said in Matthew 17:12, "But I tell you that Elijah
has already come, and they did not
recognize him, but did to him whatever they
pleased." Still, there is enough ambiguity in what Jesus says to allow
room to understand that Elijah really will come during the Tribulation and be
one of those two witnesses.
These are the final words of the Old
Testament. God wanted to make His point. In His love and compassion there is
the warning of judgment. It would be unloving to withhold a valid warning. As
disciples we can't afford to be unloving. Tomorrow we begin again in the good
news. As we work in the harvest we carry the burden of knowing how important
God's message truly is. It is worth it, now on earth, to forsake all else for
the surpassing worth of following our Savior, knowing Him and knowing His
closeness as we labor reaching the lost and making disciples. As those who have
been saved to serve our Savior, we work until He calls us to rest and to
witness the beginning of that coming day when life really begins as God meant
it to be.
Revelation
22
Vs. 1-5 This scene is reminiscent of the
Millennial Kingdom, but different. Some of this looks like a glorious memorial
of salvation. The water of life goes
through the city, not to the Dead Sea. I'll bet there is no more "Dead
Sea" on the new earth. We have no idea what life will be like then, but
will we need water of life? Will there be new life that will be born and then
will these people be led to that water? Who knows? The leaves "were"
previously for the healing of nations.
Now they are for something else. Maybe they are just a remembrance of our
salvation and healing.
V. 4 We will see His face and belong to
Him, therefore the name.
V. 5 Reign is either a hint to other activities or a word that denotes a
place of being secure. For example, after all of David's trials, he finally
reigned. He came to a place of having the promise of God fulfilled.
Vs. 6-7 These are
words of confirmation that this will take place, and when it begins it will
happen quickly. Jesus told His disciples in Luke 12:40, “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man
is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
So what does it mean to keep
these words? Jesus talked often about keeping His Word. I don't think it meant
just obedience, but rather maintaining the mindset of what He was saying. For
most Christians, obedience to Jesus means staying out of trouble or not
stepping out of bounds. I think this misses Jesus' heart completely. I think
what Jesus meant by "keep" is expressed in what He said to His
disciples in Luke 12:35-36, “Stay dressed
for action and keep your lamps burning, 36and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the
wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and
knocks." I think that readiness and attitude is "keeping" His commandments. It is allowing His words to possess our hearts and our
actions in this life. In that sense, following in the harvest is
"keeping" His Word.
Vs. 8-9 John again is overcome. Notice
again the word keep.
Vs. 10-11 John is supposed to publish
this vision. Life will continue as it has on the earth, but another testimony
has been added to what is available for men to consider and to help them make
their choice.
Vs. 12-16 This is the final written
personal appeal of the Savior and King to mankind.
V. 17 This is the call of the Spirit and the Bride (the church) to
an unbelieving world to come. We are back to the beginning. Remember, this
revelation was written to seven churches. The reason for the Spirit and the
church calling is that the Spirit is the one who makes the appeal through those
He indwells. Us! Notice again as in Revelation 21:6 and Isaiah 55, the appeal
to those who are thirsty. As often as we have read references to Isaiah 55 in
Revelation and in the Gospels, I think it would be a good chapter to memorize,
along with Isaiah 53, of course.
Vs. 18-19 These are Jesus' words. Just
as the Old Testament ends with a warning, so does the New Testament. These are
solemn words. The stakes are eternal and the Savior, Judge and King has spoken.
Let the earth take heed.
V. 20 This is Jesus again with John's Amen at the end.
V. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The capstone to this earthy history of lost and tragic humanity.
Darkness beyond imagination was pierced by His life, His light and His grace.
Paul, the disciple and disciple maker,
said to Timothy in those dark days before he died at the hands of the Romans,
working in the harvest, You then, my
child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. 2:1)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is our strength as we follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples, who make
disciples, until our Lord returns. Amen. Here is the expression of that grace
that should make us strong as we follow in the harvest.
But
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by
grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show
the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:4-10)
Psalm
150
Vs. 1-6 What a
fitting end to the year and to all of our reading about the Lord's return. Praise the Lord!
Proverbs 31:25-31
I have to wonder why Proverbs ends with this description of
a godly woman, especially when Proverbs began with a man telling his son not to
be a fool. Maybe the way the Lord keeps us men from becoming fools, in addition
to His Word, is by giving us good, godly wives. J
Again, I don't think this is super woman. I know if this was
written to men, I'd read it and not feel too good about myself. I don't think
that is God's intent. Verse 30 is what I would focus on. Proverbs began with
the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom, and it ends with the fear
of the Lord leading to a fulfilled life and service to those closest to us.
Amen.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting
weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make
disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we
have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused
on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to
provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of
redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us
focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in
these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others
to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making
disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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