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.
MARCH 28
Deuteronomy 9-10
This morning I
read Romans 11:25, Lest you be wise in
your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a
partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in. Apparently, the response of the Gentile Christians to the grace
they had received was pride and arrogance. Paul needed to remind them that they
were no better than the Jews. God had simply shown them love and grace. Here in
Deuteronomy, Moses and God didn't want Israel to forget who they were either.
What was about to happen to them was all grace that they didn't deserve. That's
good for us to remember as we follow in the harvest. This isn't about our
morality or who knows more about God. Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up.
Deuteronomy 9
Vs. 1-3 Moses mentions that there were fortified cities, great armies
and huge men (targets) to fight. These were the things that the ten spies had
said to discourage the people and make them bitter. But this generation had
already seen that it would be God who would fight for them. It's hard to fight a consuming fire.
Vs. 4-5 The reason God would thrust these people out was because of
their wickedness and because of the promise to Abraham. It had nothing to do
with the righteousness of Israel. Moses will now tell a little story.
Vs. 6-29 In fact, Israel was a very stubborn and rebellious people. The
generation standing there listening to Moses wouldn't be rebellious, but they
had the benefit of living through the results of their parents' sins over the
past 40 years, living in the camp of death. These words would fall on fertile
soil. That wouldn't be the case in the next generations.
Vs. 6-12 This should have been a great moment for the nation. Moses was
on the mountain confirming the covenant. God, Himself, the Creator of the
universe, was actually writing on the stones Himself. No other nation in the
history of the world had ever experienced this. That is the point here, I
think.
Vs. 13-21 Yet, at that very moment during their greatest privilege and
God's revelation, the people had already broken the covenant and put themselves
in mortal danger before God. Moses is trying to make them see the irrationality
of what they did by making that calf. These people might have looked to
Kadesh-barnea as the best example of their rebellion, but God and Moses led
them back to the first and most irrational act they committed. This sin was
still a part of them, and it has been a part of every heart, including ours,
since Adam and Eve.
V. 17 That covenant was broken, illustrated with Moses smashing the
tablets. God would reestablish the covenant with them.
V. 18 This is the first time I’ve noticed that the reason Moses went
without food for those 40 days was out of deep concern for the people.
V. 19 Moses had to plead for their lives.
V. 20 This is the first time we have heard that God was ready to take
out Aaron.
V. 21 Their sin had been so vile, they couldn't even reuse the gold of
the calf. Moses made them drink it, which also was ironic since God, not the calf,
had given them the water.
Vs. 22-24 Now, Moses parenthetically relates the sin with the calf to
the sin at Kadesh-barnea.
Vs. 25-29 Back to the calf. Moses went up on the mountain again to beg
for God's mercy for Israel. Notice that the basis for God's mercy was the
covenant with Abraham. This would have shown the people that they needed to put
their faith in what Abraham had put his faith in. They would break the Mosaic
Covenant but their hope was in the grace of God as seen in the promise to
Abraham.
Deuteronomy 10
Vs. 1-5 On the basis of Moses' pleading, God's mercy and His
remembrance of His promise to Abraham, God allowed new tablets to be cut and
the covenant was reestablished. Verse 5 is a summary since the ark hadn't been
built yet.
Vs. 6-9 This seems to be parenthetical, showing that even Aaron's death
and the selection of the Levites to guard the tabernacle were a result of the
sinfulness and rebellion of the people.
Vs. 10-11 It was when Moses came down off the mountain (and the
tabernacle was built and the people were numbered and put in order) that God
commanded Moses to lead the people into Canaan. You would think that after that
fiasco with the calf, the people would have been obedient. This generation knew
exactly what happened at Kadesh-barnea and had been suffering under it for the
past 38 years.
I think the people got the idea. They had not been an easy people to
lead. So much of what is written here testifies to the honesty and accuracy of
this reporting. No great nation would ever air their dirty laundry like Israel
is doing here. This isn't a testimony to them as a great people. It is a
testimony to the love and forgiveness of their God.
Vs. 12-22 What things stand out to you in this section? I don't know
about you, but this stirs my heart. What does God seek? At the top of His list
is love. Love is a relationship. Even in marriage this is the key. You can
break love down into actions or responsibilities like communication,
faithfulness and service to one another; but these only help us try to grasp
what love really is. What God really gives to us and wants from us is love.
There are many religions and misrepresentations of "god" on earth,
but none of them come close to the reality being expressed here. God is deeply
clear and straightforward about wanting a relationship with us that is first
and foremost a bond of love. This is the consistent message of the Bible, from
Genesis to Revelation.
Luke 8:4-21
It is interesting that Jesus began to tell these parables after He was
very popular. The Pharisees and scribes were beginning to explain His power by
saying it was from Beelzebub, and His family thought He was out of His mind.
This parable would have been a challenge to the people and it would have been
instructive to the disciples, letting them know that there would be four kinds
of people who would hear their messages too.
Vs. 4-8 This was said for the crowds and there were probably some
people who got it.
Vs. 9-10 This is the blindness of the nation that was predicted in
Isaiah 6:9. Oddly enough, Paul quotes this in Romans 11:8 and follows it by
quoting Psalm 69:22, which is in our reading for today. You only get this by
reading The One Year Bible.
The parables were meant to show who was seeking God and who really
didn't care.
Vs. 11-15 Note that the real focal point of the parable and need for bearing
fruit is expressed in what Satan seeks to prevent in v. 12: believe and be saved. People differ on
their interpretations of the seed in the shallow ground and seed in the thorns.
I have met professing believers in both soils. Who knows? The goal of the Word
is not only faith, belief and salvation, but fruit that bears more fruit, or as
we would say, disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples.
Vs. 16-18 These verses, for me, show that bearing fruit has something
to do with declaring the truth publicly, treasuring it in our hearts and
growing in the truth we have been given.
V. 18 was said to the disciples and Jesus used this illustration with
them a couple of times. I think Jesus is saying to all of us disciples, when
the Spirit shares something with us, if we don't use it, we lose it.
Vs. 19-21 I don't think Jesus thought His family would show up here,
but He used the situation to show the importance of what He had just said. To
be in relationship to Jesus was not to be a blood relative or even a Jew. Those
closest to Jesus, male or female, Jew or Gentile, Greeks and those who wish
they were Greeks, are those who hear the Word of God and do it.
Just to say it again, as disciples, our "doing" of God's Word
is following the Lord in the harvest. His commandments are not primarily so we
can live morally pure lives on earth and get to heaven with a clean score card.
We are to obey His commission and glorify the Father by bearing much fruit and
so proving we are His disciples. We are to labor in the harvest making disciples,
who make disciples, who make disciples.
Psalm 69:19-36
Remember, as you read this section, David's own suffering was given to
him from God, to allow David to express some of what Jesus would feel in His
last days in Jerusalem and on the cross.
Vs. 19-21 When I read this, I think of the Pharisees and Sadducees
trying to humiliate Jesus. I think of Judas betraying Jesus. I think of Peter,
James and John falling asleep as Jesus was praying in the garden.
Notice v. 21. Jesus was offered wine mixed with a narcotic, and then
later, He was offered vinegar as He hung on the cross to keep Him alive until
Elijah came to rescue Him. The people were hoping to see a miracle.
Vs. 22-28 This is David asking God to judge these people who were lying
and pursuing him. Interestingly, Paul says that this happened to all of Israel
in the form of hardness of heart and spiritual blindness. Verses 22-23 are
quoted by Paul in Romans 11:9-10. Spiritual blindness led Saul and others to
resist God, kill the priests, and pursue David. That same spiritual blindness
led the nation of Israel to resist what God was doing in Christ and the church.
The height of this blindness would have been seen in the crucifixion of Jesus.
That generation was punished for rejecting their Messiah, as seen in the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. and the scattering of the
Jews.
Vs. 29-33 David became a witness
to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples (Isaiah 55:4). God
disciplined and made David a great man though his suffering. He became proof of
the grace and mercy of God.
Vs. 34-36 God had probably given David the idea of making Jerusalem,
Zion, his city. And I'll bet in those years of running and hiding, David
dreamed of the day he would bring the ark to Jerusalem. Yet this section has
the hint of millennial glory. A day will come when Jesus will reign from Zion,
and all nations will worship Him. Israel will glorify their Messiah and testify
to His greatness and love.
Proverbs 12:2-3
Again, sometimes you can get a lot more out of a proverb like this,
especially if you're using it for a short message for a group, if you take it
apart and put the parallel pieces together. Take time to notice the couplets
and the parallelism in the verses. The second verse usually advances the image
of the first verse. In The One Year Bible they do a pretty good job of
keeping these couplets together.
2A good man obtains favor from
the Lord,
(and in all the storms of life the branches might get beaten by the wind and he may be refined by fire)
but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
(and in all the storms of life the branches might get beaten by the wind and he may be refined by fire)
but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
but a man of evil devices he
condemns.
(and although he might look successful and God might use this man for His purpose)
3No one is established (takes root?) by wickedness,
(and although he might look successful and God might use this man for His purpose)
3No one is established (takes root?) by wickedness,
Especially in hard times or hard circumstances, it costs something to
follow Christ in the harvest and to remember we are here on mission. Our
witness is often shown most powerfully in honoring God where others don't, and
facing the consequences. It is more important that the lost see Christ than for
us to get a "deal" or a promotion. I know a guy from the Ukraine who
came to Christ, because a fool took a beating for Christ in the Russian army in
Siberia. The guy's branches definitely got broken, but his root never moved and
God gave him unknown fruit. My friend Peter watched and thought, "It would
have been so easy to have lied. What would possess a man to take a stand like
this in such a dangerous place?" Peter found out.
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
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, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
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