If you don't
have a One Year Bible or prefer something online, this link will take you to
the day's reading, http://oneyearbibleonline.com/daily-oyb/. This
site allows you to select from several languages and several English
translations.
JANUARY 25
Genesis 50
Congratulations! You are about
to finish your first book of the Bible this year. Sixty-five to go!
Vs. 1-14 So, what are your
impressions, observations, and feelings reading this section? The one thing
that is interesting to me is that there were times that both Isaac and Jacob
had conflicts with the locals regarding their wells and their bought land. They
had now been out of the land for 17 years. It could have been that the
Canaanites thought to repossess the burial land that Abe bought, but seeing
this procession of Egyptians with an armed escort would have made the
Canaanites think twice.
Vs. 15-21 I wonder if Jacob
really told them to say this to Joseph. Joseph's statement, you meant evil against me, but God meant it
for good, is famous. If you've been following these reading notes, you
understand a little more of the process God used to bring Joseph to this point
of maturity and understanding. If you see this process, and hadn't seen it
before this year, then praise God. That kind of spiritual growth in
understanding is what this is all about. God uses His Word to form our hearts
so that as we enter situations, or when events happen to us, these truths,
observations and confirmations from the Spirit give us perspective and hope. As
these truths enter our hearts we make a decision here, or we are patient there,
where we wouldn't have been before. This is the Spirit working to mature us in
the Word. Without the Spirit and the Word, we'd be sunk. With the Spirit
working in the Word, though we are slow in learning and we keep on falling, He
lifts us up, shows us the way, and leads us on in hope. This is what makes
being a disciple a joy, and the only way to fly.
Vs. 22-26 Joseph's life had a
happy end…just like a Disney movie. Joe was 17 when sold to the Midianites, 30
when he was brought out of prison and set over Egypt, 39 when he was reunited
with his father, 56 when Jacob died and 110 when he died. All of that is in the
text and easy to figure out. What is more important is for you to be able to
see this and how God worked with him during different periods in his life. His
life looks much different than Jacob's. Following the Lord, being Jesus'
disciple, hearing and doing His Word makes the difference in a life.
Circumstances do not dictate our joy, wisdom, and peace. Our closeness to the
Lord does.
V. 25 Joseph knew the Exodus was
coming and reminded Israel that God would fulfill His promise. In all, from the
moment Jacob set foot in Egypt, Israel would be there 430 years to the day. At
Joe's death, Israel had been in Egypt for about 71 years.
Exodus 1:1-2:10
As you'll see, this is a very
interesting book. It begins like an action movie and ends with God laying the
foundation of a nation. We'll have the plagues of Egypt at the beginning and
the Ten Commandments and the building of the tabernacle at the end. A lot takes
place in Exodus.
Exodus 1
Vs. 1-7 Actually, the Hebrew
name for Exodus is "Names." This is a summary of the growth of Israel
in Egypt.
Vs. 8-22 These verses contain
two acts that seem to have occurred at the same time. First, the people of
Israel were made slaves and forced into hard labor. Second, at the same time,
the Egyptians tried to stop the growth of Israel by killing the male infants.
It appears that this happened shortly before Moses was born since the parents
seemed to be under no threat when Aaron, Moses' older brother (three years),
was born. It must have been in the next three years that parents were required
to kill or throw their male sons into the Nile. If the slavery began, say, 20
years before his birth and Moses led Israel out of Egypt when he was 80, they
would have been forced into slavery the last 100 years of their 430-year stay.
God used the slavery. What a
funny way to prepare Israel to build a new nation. When you read what they went
through, think about what that might have "positively" built into the
people. Also, the slavery gave them the "need to leave" Egypt, which
for some people had been heaven on earth. As disciples, we need to understand
that God can use all sorts of things in our lives and in the lives of those we
are reaching out to or leading as disciples. It might be uncomfortable, but we
need to be slow to judge God's allowance of difficulties in our lives. Not only
was God preparing a nation, but we'll see 80 years of preparation in Moses'
life, 40 of which were lived in defeat in the wilderness.
The hardest thing for a very
energetic disciple is waiting on the Lord when He is slowly preparing things,
and most often us, for the work He has in mind.
V. 19 There must have been truth
to what these women said. Pharaoh didn't punish them.
Exodus 2:1-10
There is a lot to observe and
think about here.
Vs. 1-2 I wonder if Moses
"glowed" or something. Apparently God did something in the hearts of
the parents to move them to dare to break the law. There was something about
that baby. I'm glad I wasn't born then. I don't think I glowed. I wonder if I
would have gotten thrown in? Just a random thought.
Vs. 3-10 You see all of this
human planning, but you know that the only reason this worked was God, totally.
Actually though, I think if the princess had opened the basket and seen me in
it she would have saved me too. She would have handed me over to a servant and
said, "Give it a banana and take it to the zoo."
Matthew 16:13-17:9
Matthew 16:13-28
These are very important verses
in following Christ. Jesus has watched the progress of the Twelve and knew that
the coming year would lead to His sacrifice. Now He needed to prepare them
further, but were they ready?
Your observations here are more
important than anything I have to say. Imagine that Jesus is talking to you.
Where do you need to be more focused on Him and live more sacrificially?
Vs. 13-20 This confession by
Peter was not just verbal acknowledgment. The Twelve had been with Jesus
through some pretty hard battles. Now, they were still with Him as the people
were beginning to drift away from Jesus and as the aggression from the scribes
and Pharisees was increasing.
V. 17 This confirms what Jesus told the Pharisees and His
doubting followers in John 6:44, No one
can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up
on the last day. The recognition of Jesus' identity was granted by the
Father based on some microscopic response of faith and submission. The Father
only allowed those with true faith and submission to know the Son.
V. 18 This church is built on what Peter just said, not on
Peter the little stone. The Rock is Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The gates of hell,
or Hades, could mean a couple of things. The gates were where the rulers of a
city sat and conducted business and made judgments. If so this would mean the
"government of hell" shall not prevail against the church. On the
other hand, Hades was the place of death and the gate of Hades was like a mouth
that swallowed up mankind. In this case the
gates of hell meant, "the power and fear of death."
I know it is more dramatic and adventurous to think of the
demonic government of hell. That also preaches good. But, hell has no
government. Hell has no social life. The devil doesn't rule there or in Hades,
and he never will. Biblically, the final enemy is not the devil. The enemy of
mankind, given power by sin, is death. Death will be the final enemy defeated
by Christ. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1
Cor. 15:26)
The church and the saints of the Tribulation will defeat the
devil because they will work in the harvest without fear of death. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the
word of their testimony, for
they loved not their lives even unto death. (Rev. 12:11)
V. 19 The church has authority and Jesus will spell this out
in another place. It will be specific to the harvest.
V. 20 So why do you think Jesus commanded this?
Vs. 21-23 Here Peter goes from
"hero" to "zero" in nothing flat. First, notice the
progression. Verse 21 shows you that until this point, having known Jesus for
over two years, He hadn't told them about the crucifixion. Why do you think
Jesus waited until now to reveal this?
Second, although Peter was just
trying to help the "poor depressed Messiah" to see the glass as
"half full," Jesus rebukes "the stone," who does not yet
have the maturity to see the plan according to God's wisdom. We disciples get
in trouble on this one all the time, assuming we know God's plan as if we were
God, and then we try to get Him to approve our plan as His. We can actually
hinder, not help, the work of God.
Notice that the word
"Satan" means adversary. Jesus wasn't saying Peter was Satan or that
Satan was there, but it was a very hard rebuke. Also, the issue here was not a
satanic plan, but a human plan and the furtherance of the things of man.
Humanly speaking, the plan of man was that Jesus should have "shot to the
top" and instantly become king. That's what everyone wanted. The plan of
God was to provide a sacrifice and substitute for sinful man.
One interesting note of trivia
here is that when Jesus rebukes Peter, He turns away from him. The rebuke
wasn't given face to face. I'm not sure if that was cultural, but it was far
less aggressive than how we do it, face to face, nose to nose, bad breath to
bad breath. Notice in Luke 9:55 that Jesus rebukes James and John the same way.
There is something to learn here.
Vs. 24-28 The charge to His disciples
was to give everything in following Him. We spiritualize and devotionalize
taking up one's cross, but in that culture it only meant one thing. If a person
was carrying a cross, they were walking to their death. That is fairly ultimate
and supersedes bearing the scars of an abusive background. It is the
willingness to follow Christ to death. That path to death defines what it means
to "deny" oneself. It is denying the desire to live and to fulfill
our expectations and desires. Following Christ in the harvest, to the death, to
bring the testimony of Christ and His offer of salvation to a dying world
becomes our ultimate desire.
V. 25 This is said to the
disciples who believe. To the lost this means that to gain eternal life, they
have to be willing to give up their "life" for belief in Jesus as
their Savior. For a believer, and this is the main context, it is the rule of
investment and protection walking on this planet. If we give Him little, we get
little. If we try to forge a nice life for ourselves here, ignoring Him,
chances are that our faith, our hearts, and our lives will be damaged. To be
fully protected by His care, we need to be fully submitted to Him. Paul taught
"salvation" from damage in his letters (i.e., 1 Tim. 4:16). Look
around at believers who follow half-heartedly, and you will see the results of
damage on earth.
V. 26 One note of trivia is that
the Greek word for soul in this verse
and the word for life in the previous
verse is the same word. It can mean "life" or "soul."
V. 27 Jesus' teaching on
discipleship has introduced the concept of "salvation from damage" on
earth as a believer. And now He is introducing the idea of rewards in
following.
V. 28 This took place literally
in the next chapter as Jesus' glory was revealed. And if that wasn't the event
Jesus was referring to, the apostle John would see and tell of this event in
Revelation. Needless to say, Jesus hasn't come yet and taken an earthly throne
in His kingdom. That is still to come.
Matthew 17:1-9
Jesus only takes the three with
Him. He apparently discerned in them, a deeper faith, commitment and
understanding. They all became key leaders in the early church in Jerusalem.
Notice that Jesus took Peter in
spite of Peter's mistake six days earlier. Jesus didn't shun His disciples when
they made mistakes. He was a Good Shepherd and Teacher and kept nurturing their
faith.
Psalm 21
I think for us as followers, vs.
5-7 say it all. This is a great psalm. Highlight or underline all the
occurrences of you, your and Lord.
Vs. 1-7 This psalm was apparently written after all of David's running
from Saul, and after he was the king of the entire nation. He had a lot of
years and tears to look back over. Because he says forever, it seems that God had already made the promise to David
that one of his children would sit on the throne of Israel forever.
Vs. 8-12 In the ten years David ran from Saul, many men expressed their
arrogance against both David and God's plan for David to be king. Then came the
seven years of civil war and again men opposed God's plan and vented their
anger at David. Now David was the king and those men were gone.
V. 13 David knew that God, and only God, had done all of this.
Proverbs 5:1-6
Before you read my musings on these verses below, I want to mention that there is a big difference between the German and the English translations in verse 6. In German it is translated like this: V. 5 “her feet run toward death and her steps lead to hades,” V. 6 “with the effect that you do not consider seriously or give attention to the way of life, and you go blindly into it.” Wow, how’s that for a difference? But how true. This translation in German is borne out by what Solomon continues to say about adultery and the seductive woman from here to Proverbs 7:25. Repeatedly he talks about how a man can be taken captive by sexual desire, so look out! Look at 7:22 and you’ll see this clearly.
Before you read my musings on these verses below, I want to mention that there is a big difference between the German and the English translations in verse 6. In German it is translated like this: V. 5 “her feet run toward death and her steps lead to hades,” V. 6 “with the effect that you do not consider seriously or give attention to the way of life, and you go blindly into it.” Wow, how’s that for a difference? But how true. This translation in German is borne out by what Solomon continues to say about adultery and the seductive woman from here to Proverbs 7:25. Repeatedly he talks about how a man can be taken captive by sexual desire, so look out! Look at 7:22 and you’ll see this clearly.
Just speaking to the guys here,
if God has thought to address this issue, it must be a big one. None of us are
"supermen" and it would be better, if you know you can't handle it,
to have somewhat distant and awkward relationships with women than be stupid
and think you can be the friend of all. Many men in ministry have messed around
here and gone down. Obviously, the women in church are not these women, you'd
hope; but this is really saying more about the weakness of the man and his
temptability. This is very tricky, especially if you realize that both David
and Solomon (the guy writing this) became victims. So, you should pay
attention. Those great men slipped and were never the same again. I'm sure that
we're no better.
For most men following Christ,
the problem will not be physical adultery, but visual adultery. Jesus says
visual adultery is basically the same thing, and it will kill your heart. It
never delivers what it promises and it messes up your relationship with your
Lord and your wife.
The answer? Turn the TV off,
turn in early, and focus everything on "the wife of your youth."
God's advice. Remember, like in Genesis, the true desire and need, deeper than
anything sexual, is completeness and connection. You can't charge a battery by
only connecting it for 10 minutes. It usually takes 40 minutes to an hour to
charge a battery properly. Anything less, and the things don't fill up properly
and they run out quickly. The man has to lead in this. God made it that way, so
quit complaining. If you don't think your wife takes enough interest, blame
God, not her. That's how He made her so that you would have to initiate,
develop warmth and lead. God's way is always the best way.
For women, I would just say to
"try" to understand that your husband is probably 90% OK, but always
vulnerable. Never forget that. All the stuff of life beats on him so that even
the best and most godly get down and fatigued and sink into themselves. This,
more than lust, draws them to escape and pornography.
A man likes to know that if he
really were in trouble emotionally, and on the verge of "death"
emotionally, someone would be interested in reaching in and saving him. I know
it's self-piteous and silly, but you just have to go with it. Men need respect
and attention, not some wild woman that Hollywood tells them they need, who,
incidentally, is mentioned in this proverb. Mostly, godly men following Christ
are solid; but where they fall is in thinking, rightly or wrongly, in stress
and emotional fatigue, that they are really alone. Know your husband, because
he probably won't tell you. In his weakness, he'll quietly test you to confirm
that he really is alone. What he needs is the safety and security of being home
and accepted and complete.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow
Him in the harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
The daily installments of the Reading Notes can be found at http://fencerail.blogspot.com/
If you would like documents containing an entire month of the
Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full presentation of discipleship read Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with insomnia and would like a long
boring dissertation on disciple making, these can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis 2011
The One Year Bible © by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton
Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright ©
2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines from the Bible Knowledge Commentary
are used with the permission of David C. Cook.
©
1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary is
published by David C Cook. All rights reserved. Publisher permission required
to reproduce.
No comments:
Post a Comment