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 7
Numbers 8-9
Most of what is happening here is in retrospect; that is, it happened
before the census that begins the book. It is looking back to the order of
service and the servants of the tabernacle and then to the first Passover in
the tabernacle. If you look at the date notation of Numbers 9:1-5, you'll
notice it is about 15 days earlier than the date given for the census in
Numbers 1:1. Apparently God doesn't know North Americans always like to read
things in chronological order. Actually, when this was written, who were the
North Americans? Maybe they wouldn't have minded.
Numbers 8
Vs. 1-4 These were the seven lampstands inside the outer court around
the tabernacle, but not the one lampstand in the Holy Place. These lampstands
would have allowed for light in the courtyard. It makes sense that they would
have needed light so that sacrifices could have been made in the evening and so
the priests could see to go into the Holy Place in the evening. This was an
instruction not given earlier.
Vs. 5-26 This cleansing of the Levites actually took place before the
Passover feast in chapter 9. Logistically, this cleansing would have taken a
few days, and it was important to get the Levites cleansed so they could serve
in the Passover preparation and following feast.
Vs. 5-8 So, the Levites were cleansed outside and in. I don't know how
to read v. 7. I mean, they didn't have to be bald, so does this mean shaving
everything (armpits, etc.) or was it just some kind of trimming? It wasn't
required for Aaron or his sons and, from this point on, was never required of
any priest or any Levite.
My understanding of this is that it was a very visual, one-time
cleansing, and that they shaved all the hair off their bodies, head to toe,
like making them newborns, showing they were born for the service of Israel.
Vs. 9-11 Representatives of the people actually laid hands on the
representatives of the Levites to set them apart for the service, thereby
transferring the status of "firstborn" from the people to the
Levites. In a way, the Levites were a ransom for the people. Read what it says
about the Levites taking the place of the firstborn and the link to the
Passover night when the firstborn were killed.
V. 21 Notice that it mentions a couple of times that Aaron offered the
Levites as a wave offering. Usually the priest waved sheaves of barley or wheat
in thanks to God for the harvest and then this offering belonged to the
priests. This meant that whatever symbolism was present for Pentecost and the
Feast of the Firstfruits was present here also. The wave offering was a
thanksgiving for the provision and blessing of God, there represented in His
provision of food, and here in His provision of service for the people. This
tribe was given to serve and protect (v.19). The Levites were a living sacrifice
presented to God.
Take your time reading this and do a lot of underlining. There is a lot
of interesting stuff and lots of symbolism.
Symbolically, I think that this is what the church is meant to be to
the world.
I appeal to you therefore,
brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
But on some points I have
written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by
God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of
the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable,
sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Romans
15:15-16)
But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. (1 Peter
2:9)
Numbers 9
Vs. 1-14 This Passover means that the people had been out of Egypt for
one year. God has done some incredible work in a year, making them a nation
with laws and order. The entire nation was built and focused around their
worship of God. Every law and ordinance, and every feast and ceremony, have
been connected to their relationship with God and His love for them.
Vs. 6-12 Notice in v. 6 there are actually guys who understood the laws
and realized they were out of step and came to Moses and Aaron. What this tells
me is that even though they were more than 2 million people, they were really
obeying. I can't think of any group of two million people anywhere who all obey
anything. It says in the text that it happened here. Too bad it wouldn't last
very long. God made provisions for exceptions. If the people would have come to
the priest and asked, it seems that God was ready to extend grace.
Vs. 13-14 It only makes sense that if people didn't want to be a part
of this covenant community with God, they could have left. Israel had plenty of
neighbors to whom they could have gone. But if they were part of the community,
they needed to live according to the rules. It could be that being "cut
off" would mean excommunication from Israel. Yet the fact that he would
bear his sin suggests that if a man could, but didn't go to the Passover, he
would be punished by death. In Israel's history, we will see plenty of patience
and mercy on God's part, but ultimately, to openly resist God, or worse, to
spit in His face, resulted in death. Foreigners, on the other hand, who became
part of the community by circumcision, were invited to become part of the
community.
Vs. 15-23 This is a summary of what happened when they moved over the
next 39 years. The tabernacle has just been set up, and the order of priests
and Levites and the plan for taking down and setting up the tabernacle has just
been given. Israel, organized as they are now, has never marched. That will
happen tomorrow. Get ready.
There are so many things in this section that are amazing. They lived
in the visual, daily presence of God's grace to them. They awoke every morning
to the absolute certainty of His blessing. They had a pillar of cloud by day, a
pillar of fire by night, and food every morning - miracles beyond our
comprehension. How much more secure and blessed and confident as a nation could
you be? And with all of that, in a couple of chapters you'll want to cry.
We, of course, are the same. We have been given the absolute blessing
of the Father. We are secure eternally in Christ and indwelt by the Holy
Spirit. This is exactly why we need the church. The church is comprised of
disciples following Christ into the harvest to glorify the Father by bearing
fruit and so proving to be disciples of our Lord. We need each other to keep us
encouraged and focused on the truth, in the harvest and aflame in His love. We
need each other. None of us is always up and always feeling great about
ourselves or our walk with the Lord. This mission is very serious and full of
joy and purpose to be sure, but we get tired. We forget the stakes are grave
and that people without Christ, from every race and nation and language, are in
some sense, our responsibility. We are to be those consecrated people, set
apart by God, to give our lives in service to Christ to reach them, that they
might be saved. This is the love and joy of Christ. To live for worship
services and pot lucks has nothing to do with the true love of Christ, and it's
not a lot of fun. It only gets us the kind of temporary devotion we see all
over today, and what we'll see in Israel in the next week.
Mark 13:14-37
Vs. 14-23 Jesus is now issuing a future warning to the believing Jews
who will be in Jerusalem during the Tribulation at the close of the age. The
judgment of the Lord on the earth will last seven years. The first 3.5 years
will take their toll in natural disasters, but Israel will enjoy peace from
these disasters and from the attack of its neighbors. During this time there
will be a revival of faith among the Jews, not only in a return to orthodoxy,
bringing about the rebuilding of the temple; but many will come to faith in
Jesus as their Messiah. These followers of Christ will become the greatest
missionary movement in history and will blanket the earth (Mk. 13:10). The hour
when Israel will be a witness to the world will come. People from every nation
will believe. In Jerusalem there will be two witnesses, like Moses and Aaron,
who will be calling down all of this trouble. The book of Revelation shows us
the "heavenly" side of what is happening (broken seals, etc.), but
these two men will be the human side of the story.
At the midway point in these seven years, there will be a judgment in
heaven. (It may be at this point, because Satan is otherwise occupied, that an
army from the far north will come to attack Jerusalem and be destroyed as it
camps in the area around the Dead Sea.) Satan will be cast out and everything
will become much darker. The witnesses will be slain. Satan's human governor,
the "anti-Christ," will finally be fed up with the Jews and the
spread of faith (resistance to his rule). He will launch a campaign of
extermination, against both the Jews and all believers in Christ. At this
middle point, he will break the peace agreement with Israel, enter the temple
and defile it, making it "unclean" for worship by setting up an image
of some kind of abomination, and declare himself to be god or like god, a kind
of Christ. At this point, when those living in that generation, who are in
Jerusalem, hear of this guy entering the temple, they are to fly into the
hills, probably toward Jordan and the Dead Sea.
V. 19 means that things will get exponentially worse. The Tribulation
will kick into afterburner. Both Jews and Christians will be sought and killed
worldwide; and yet, they will be hidden by some of the people on the planet.
Let's call them the sheep. Not everyone will be blind to how the Word of God is
playing out. There will be a minority from every nation who will have faith.
Yet the time will be so intense that it would lead to the human race
exterminating itself. The Jews as a people will cry out, somewhere, somehow,
"Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;" and, as Jesus
promised when He wept over Jerusalem before His crucifixion, He will come, in
the clouds, returning to the Mt. of Olives where He left His disciples.
All of this will make sense for the people going through it. Verse 23
is Jesus' encouragement and warning to them.
Vs. 24-31 All of this is a summary of Jesus' coming, short and sweet.
V. 27 When Jesus comes He will come with everyone, all who have ever
believed in Him from the OT and the church. Those killed during the Tribulation
will also be resurrected. In sending out His angels at this time, He is
gathering all of the Jewish and Gentile believers on the planet, unresurrected,
to Jerusalem. After this, begins the judgment of the Gentile nations (the sheep
and the goats) and then the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom.
Vs. 28-31 In the parables, Jesus describes this as "the close of
the age." A new age will begin. He will reign 1000 years on the earth. The
generation mentioned in v. 30 is the generation that sees the temple defiled by
the abomination that makes desolate. This is all meant to give hope to the
people reading Mark and going through the great Tribulation.
Vs. 32-37 The hour of v. 32 is the initial time of the beginning of the
seven-year Tribulation. Nothing will ever be normal again after the start, just
like in the days of Noah. Things seemed fine up until the first drop.
When this begins is not for us to know. So, to make a cool transition
and to figure out what we are supposed to stay awake for and what we're supposed
to be doing, let's go to the disciples asking this question to Jesus.
So when they had come together,
they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He
said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has
fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as
they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their
sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood
by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking
into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in
the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:6-11)
Psalm 50
So my question is, did you read 50 psalms last year? If not,
congratulations! What an amazing thing, and it's only March and you've already
read 50 psalms.
Your observations here are more valuable than anything I have to say.
This is the first psalm we've read by Asaph, the chief of David's
singers. Asaph was present when David brought the ark of the covenant into
Jerusalem, and the sons of Asaph were present in temple worship throughout
Israel's history.
Jesus just talked about the Tribulation. Look at v. 3; in fact, you can
read the entire psalm in terms of God refining His people and preparing them
for the final day of judgment on the earth. This is not only a messianic psalm,
but it is one of those psalms when Israel's future glory is predicted.
Vs. 1-6 Notice all of the imagery here to the Lord returning to Zion.
He gathers His faithful and calls the nations to judgment.
Vs. 7-15 The basis of salvation, even during the period of the law and
the symbolism of the sacrifices, was always to love God. Verse 15 is something
the nation will do during the Tribulation and before the coming of Christ.
Vs. 16-20 Notice in v. 16 that these people were religious, but not so
in love with God that it changed them. Like most people, religion was a cloak
to achieve their own ends and live like they wanted.
Vs. 21-23 This is the warning of the psalm. God will return with
punishment and reward. Amen.
Proverbs 10:29-30
What is interesting in this stronghold is that it is relational.
Knowing God and loving Him, following His way, is not dependent on education or
wealth or race. The Lord protects those who love Him and follow Him, yet the
reaction of those who resist Him will ruin them.
Notice that if you think of the truth being expressed here in terms of
the reality of the Lord's return, v. 30 has a fuller meaning.
The sin within us is still the number one killer of mankind. The only
cure is Christ. That is why we follow Him in the harvest, abiding in the vine,
bringing the message of salvation and making disciples, who make disciples,
until our Lord appears.
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.
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