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.
JUNE 17
You can see by the number of chapters we'll read about Elijah, that
this time was very crucial and deciding for Israel. Actually the people of both
Judah and Israel are looking on, not to mention people in the surrounding
countries.
1 Kings 18
Vs. 1-6 It is interesting that it never says that there was a famine in
Judah. Jehoshaphat was a very godly king in the line of David, and somehow his
kingdom, just south of Samaria, didn't suffer the same damage. I wonder if this
was a case of it raining on one side of the street and not on the other. That
would have made the testimony of this event even clearer.
V. 4 This is not the same Obadiah who wrote Obadiah years later after
the fall of Jerusalem, but he is a very good guy. Imagine the tension he must
have lived under as a secret believer who was keeping the remnant of God's
prophets alive in the northern kingdom.
Actually, Jezebel's influence was responsible for setting up Baal
worship in Israel (1 Kings 16:31-32 and 18:19). In clearing the way for her
brand of worship, she sought to exterminate everything that remained true to
Yahweh. We'll find out later that there was a remnant of 7000 men who had not
bowed the knee to Baal. That's not very many people among hundreds of thousands.
Vs. 7-16 Elijah knew it was time to meet Ahab because God had made this
clear. Apparently for the past three years, there had been many "Elijah
sightings" and God had swept Elijah away. Apparently some people had died
as a result. In a way, this is kind of funny. Obadiah definitely wanted assurance
from the Lord that Elijah would stay put and meet Ahab.
Vs. 17-19 You would have thought that everyone understood that the
famine was God's doing, but here, the messenger was blamed.
Vs. 20-25 This event would have taken days or weeks to set up and to have
everyone gather at the Mediterranean Sea, miles away from the city of Samaria.
Mt. Carmel was thought to be the dwelling place of Baal. There were the 450
prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, Baal's girlfriend. So then, the
400 prophets of Asherah were the cheerleaders. Everything here would have been
an advantage for Baal, if Baal had been real.
Vs. 26-29 The prophets of Baal had the first go. Baal's power,
supposedly, was at its peak at noon. They finally stopped at about 3 p.m.,
making this a very bloody and very long six-hour ordeal.
Vs. 30-40 Notice the significance of Elijah rebuilding the altar of the
Lord which had been destroyed.
The water that was used was from the Mediterranean Sea. There is a
sense of quietness about what Elijah did here. There is no yelling and crying
out by Elijah. Elijah's prayer showed he knew what God's purpose for him was.
The prayer also showed that Elijah knew the Lord.
V. 39 It's hard to say what the total effect of this was on the people,
but here they were awestruck and willing to see the prophets of Baal as fakes,
and the people were willing to kill them under Elijah's direction. You wonder
if the prophets of Asherah were also killed.
Vs. 41-46 Apparently in the planning for this event, Ahab made
allowance for a festive "afterglow" and feast. You might wonder why
Ahab went up to enjoy the feast and why he didn't feel defeated. I think it is
because Ahab was a spiritually eclectic, wishy-washy man. I'll bet he was
totally amazed at what God had done. It's interesting to me that the Gospels
refer to King Herod as a man like this. He imprisoned John the Baptist, yet he
was afraid of John and protected him from Herodias. He was perplexed when he
listened to John in prison, yet repeatedly Herod was glad to have John called
in to speak to him. Ahab was a similar lost, pseudo-spiritual guy like Herod,
fascinated by the spiritual and believing that Yahweh was real, just not
convinced he needed to follow Him. I think there are lots of these kinds of
people in the church.
V. 43 Elijah knew the cloud would come, but he persisted in prayer
until it appeared. And look at how he prayed with all his body and all his
soul. Elijah's persistence is God's lesson for us all.
V. 46 Elijah was given super human power to run these 25 miles, beating
the chariot.
With all of this wonder and all of these signs, guess what happens
next?
For us as disciples our hearts need to be focused on serving our Lord
in the harvest as we follow, but not to be surprised by results or the lack of
them. Surely some people had been moved to repentance by all of this, but not
many. As we'll see tomorrow, Elijah might have had higher hopes and
expectations.
Acts 11
Notice the ears.
Vs. 1-8 Now this council or trial was very important. God would use it
to make some people face the fact that His Word and His offer of salvation in
Christ was going out to all men. Remember earlier when it said that many of the
priests became believers, well so did many Pharisees. Between those two groups,
a party came into being in Jerusalem that became a threat to the mission of the
church.
Vs. 2-3 Notice that these men didn't have any hesitation criticizing
Peter. As former Pharisees, their education and social standing would have been
better than Peter's, but God had intentionally given Peter an honored status
through the signs and through the conversions of thousands that they couldn't
touch. It was God's purpose, not Peter's faith or ability.
Vs. 4-10 Notice the detail Peter gives here. Anyone who knew Peter
might have been interested by Peter's own objections and that God had to repeat
this three times to convince Peter. I'm sure the stories of Peter's three
denials and Jesus' three questions to Peter were very well known.
Vs. 11-18 Probably the most interesting thing here for me is what Peter
says in v. 16. Peter apparently had a lot of exposure to John the Baptist, and
as he saw the Spirit descending on Cornelius he must have had an
"aha" moment.
V. 18 I was reading this morning that when Jesus answered the Pharisees
and Herodians regarding paying taxes to Caesar, they marveled and were silent.
Silence doesn't always mean that people are in agreement. When we get to
chapter 21, we'll see that there are still problems in the Jerusalem church
regarding following the law.
In all of what Peter says here, you see how beautifully and graciously
God set this up. Not only did this happen to Peter, but it also happened to six
other brothers of the circumcision party. Not only did God open the door to
preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but He also did it in such a way that it
sliced through any objections, saving the church from a possible division. God
used Peter and now Peter's actions in Acts are almost finished.
Vs. 19-30 The center for outreach will now switch to Antioch.
V. 19 Notice that as they went out, the Christians only spoke to Jews.
Doesn't that amaze you? As we read this it seems that this might have just been
weeks after the birth of the church, but actually more than 10 years had passed
since Pentecost. But God was working and setting up pockets of Christians that
no one knew about.
V. 20 Again, it was the Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene (Barnabas was from
Cyprus and remember Simon of Cyrene), who were open to speaking to non-Jews
[Hellenists (or Greeks) is used to refer to all non-Jews], and many were saved.
Antioch was 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Eventually Peter would visit
there, probably fleeing Jerusalem. Peter’s future visit to Antioch is mentioned
by Paul in Galatians 2:11. At this point the church fathers in Jerusalem didn't
want to send Peter and John, but Barnabas. Barnabas was well respected and he
was used to dealing with Gentiles.
V. 22 The ears of Jerusalem
may be a veiled criticism of the very conservative and narrow leadership that
existed in the Jerusalem church.
V. 25 The words used indicate that Barnabas had to search and hunt down
Paul. Barnabas apparently never fully lost contact with Paul over these 13
years but his exact location was unknown. His contact with Paul was good enough
to know that Paul was gifted for this work. Not only that, Barnabas must have
known from Paul's testimony, that Paul would be sent by the Lord into Gentile
ministry. Or it could just be that the Spirit told him to get Paul, or all of the
above. Paul was working in Asia Minor, preaching and traveling.
V. 26 Agabus isn't exactly known for good news. We'll see him again in
20 years in Acts 21.
V. 28 Finally we have a time reference. In Galatians 2:1 Paul says he
returned to Jerusalem after 14 years. Claudius reigned from 41-54 A.D. So, if
Jesus was crucified in 30 A.D. and Paul first visited Jerusalem 3 years after
his conversion and now 14 years later, it might be 17 years since Jesus died
and was raised, so around 47 A.D. This means that Paul had dropped out of sight
for 13 years, working up in Asia Minor (Turkey), as he says, where no one knew
him.
In Galatians, it says that Paul and Barnabas took Titus, a Greek, with
them just to test the water, and no one required Titus to be circumcised.
Just like in the OT, we sometimes think things just happened without
gaps of time. Even here, God prepared Paul in isolation. After Paul's
conversion he disappeared for three years and returned to Damascus. Then after
visiting Jerusalem, Paul disappeared for 13 years. Paul worked by himself,
learning a skill, studying the Scripture, testing out all his arguments,
preaching to people, getting over his past mistakes and overcoming his radical
Jewish-ness, being prepared to become the apostle to the Gentiles. This didn't
happen to him overnight.
Many times in the Bible, people God used, disciples included, were
trained in adversity and in isolation. The isolation was not just the removal
from ministry or people. It was a time of wrestling with God and self, and
learning to depend on Him alone. Vision and personal mission are things which
are formed in quietness and conviction. Sometimes being around people and in
the stew of tolerance keeps firm convictions from forming. When Barnabas found
Paul and mentored him for that year, he saw in Paul someone God had already
prepared to do some mighty things. All Barnabas needed to do was what he did
best, encourage this disciple to make disciples in the harvest.
Psalm 135
It is interesting that the psalm begins and ends with the servants of
God who serve God by serving the people.
Vs. 1-2 This is the song of the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem,
encouraging the priests and Levites to rejoice and praise the Lord.
Vs. 3-4 They are to praise God because God chose Israel for His
possession. The priests and Levites were leading worship for this possession of
God.
Vs. 5-7 The priests and Levites are leading the worship for the God of
creation. Isn't it interesting that this is the second time today that we've
heard of a cloud rising at the end of the earth?
Vs. 8-12 They are leading the worship for the God who freed His people
and humbled nations to give Israel this heritage and place to worship. What a
privilege.
Vs. 13-14 The name of the Lord and His people are eternal and eternally
honored. The priests and the Levites were leading worship in this eternal plan.
Vs. 15-18 They were representing the true God who had saved them from
error and shown them what was true.
Vs. 19-21 This song seems to reach a peak here of joy and blessing and
praise to the Lord. The priests and Levites should be honored to lead the
worship for God, for His people and possession.
Proverbs 17:12-13
To meet a fool in the middle of his foolishness is dangerous. Not only
is foolishness a hazard for others, but for the fool himself. I take it that a
fool would return evil for good and so bring a curse on himself.
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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