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.
OCTOBER 1
Isaiah 62:6-65:25
Isaiah 62:6-12
Vs. 6-12 The
watchmen are to stay alert, watching for the coming of the Messiah. They are to
give God no rest, crying out to Him. As disciples this is supposed to be our
attitude of heart too. The Lord's Prayer has this in it. And I think of the
first verses I memorized as an Awana worker,
Titus
2:11-14, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13waiting for our blessed hope,
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14who
gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself
a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
V. 11 Read Revelation 22:12-17 and you will see v. 11. Those verses in Revelation
have the same feel as these verses in Isaiah.
Isaiah 63
Vs. 1-6 This is the Messiah coming to Zion in victory. I wonder if v. 1
was the inspiration for the song, Mighty
To Save?
Vs. 7-9 What would
you call this? What a statement of God's steadfast
love for Israel. In spite of what Israel has done in the past and what they
are now, God will never stop loving these people; and He will fulfill His
promise to use them in saving the world. As
regards the gospel they are enemies of God (now), for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for
the sake of their forefathers
(Rom.
11:28, RSV).
Vs. 10-14 These are the clearest references to the Holy Spirit I know
of in the OT.
Vs. 15-19 The people are appealing to God, their Father, to return to
them. Again, these are some of the only references in the OT where God is
referred to as the Father. This is very special ground.
So in this chapter, we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This
might be one of those portions of Scripture where the Jews developed their
teaching of the Trinity.
Isaiah 64
Vs. 1-7 This sounds like a continuation of the last chapter where the
nation is confessing their sin to God.
Vs. 8-12 They appeal to God for help because He is their Father and because
of what has happened to Zion / Jerusalem.
You notice that all of this is prophetic. The city still looked pretty
good during the time of this writing. It would be about another 100 years
before everything looked like a wilderness and desolation.
Isaiah 65
Vs. 1-7 These verses seem to be God's reasons for rejecting that
generation of Israel.
Vs. 1-2 Paul quotes these verses at the end of Romans 10. Believe it or
not, these verses are referring to the mystery of the church; that is, that for
a time, God would reach the world through the people of Christ, the church.
Vs. 8-10 This is the blessing of the obedient.
Vs. 11-12 This is the cursing of the disobedient.
Vs. 13-16 In this contrast between the obedient and disobedient, can
you hear some of what Jesus said in the Beatitudes; i.e., blessed are, but woe
to…?
Vs. 17-25 This will be the blessing of the people in the Millennial
Kingdom.
As we've seen before, God's purpose in showing us what the end will
look like is to give us hope now to keep going and to keep following in the
harvest.
Philippians 2:19-3:4
Philippians 2:19-30
Vs. 19-24 Paul planned to send
Timothy because Timothy was a pastor and teacher. Timothy wouldn't just
visit, he would strengthen, encourage, and correct. From these verses you get
some good words about Timothy, and you get the idea that Paul's trial wasn't
far off and that he did think he would be released.
V. 21 While this must have been true about Timothy, I wonder if any of
the other workers read it and felt bad. In 2 Timothy we'll find out that when
Paul was arrested, many of the faithful fled. Maybe Paul was beginning to see
that many of those he thought were solid were not.
Vs. 25-30 It might have been that Epaphroditus ("E") was to
have stayed with Paul longer, but everyone was worried, so Paul decided to send
him back. This would also show that "E" wasn't coming home because of
adversity or being chicken-hearted. There are also some good words here about
"E" and on how to treat people who have worked hard in the Lord and
risked their lives.
Philippians 3:1-4
These verses are the prelude to some very challenging and wonderful
verses. It is interesting that out of conflict and perversity, God can bring
blessing.
V. 1 We will see finally
again. Apparently what is happening here is that Paul is getting off on a very
blessed rabbit trail.
V. 2 There is no political correctness here. These were often Jewish
Christians of the circumcision party in Jerusalem, who followed and hounded (no
pun intended) Paul and disrupted churches.
A note on dogs. For me the
connotation that comes to mind is that dogs were scavengers. These teachers
couldn't bear fruit and begin churches, but they could come in behind Paul like
scavengers and build stubble on the foundation he had laid.
V. 3 What a great definition of what it means to follow Christ. No
denomination, only the worship of God in the truth of the Spirit. We live in
the glory of our salvation in this person, Jesus Christ, sharing it with
others. And we are always only ever sinners saved by grace.
V. 4 is a springboard into tomorrow.
Doing correction in the harvest isn't what anyone wants to do; but as
you see from these verses, it not only has to be done, but there is even
blessing that comes from it. As a result of this conflict, tomorrow we will
read some of the greatest verses written on following Christ as a disciple in
the harvest.
Psalm 73
Earlier in the year when we read this psalm we hadn't yet read Job. Psalm
73 should "feel" a little different now, having sat with Job in his ashes
and misery. The interesting thing is that when you read this again next year,
you will see even more here.
Vs. 1-3 This is saying that the psalmist recovered from his trial, and
he is telling us what it was that caused his faith to stumble.
Vs. 4-12 Why does God allow the proud and wicked to prosper for a time?
Reading all of what we've read to date, you should have some good answers.
Vs. 13-15 Verse 13 sounds like Job, or me, when I'm in a self-piteous
mood. Verse 15 is the bind we are in when we know the truth. Denying the truth
becomes an impossibility, even though you could think that you should just give
in.
Vs. 16-17 Here was Asaph's turning point. Where is that sanctuary for
you? There is no temple. I have this time alone with God in His Word and in prayer.
If not for that, where would any of us be?
Vs. 18-22 We understand that God is just and that He is to be trusted,
both with rescue and with judgment. Our job is to trust and follow, not to tell
God when and how He should judge. This son of Asaph got the message.
Vs. 23-26 Just like David did, this man learned to focus on God, not on
those who were rejecting God. God's wisdom and purpose are beyond us. We are
called to live with Him. With so much we don't understand about God's working
day to day, what we know of God through our Lord has to be enough for us and
all we need.
Vs. 25-26 are a beautiful, poetic declaration of our hope in God.
Vs. 27-28 Amen.
Proverbs 24:13-14
We need to seek wisdom. I like the idea of the visual of seeking honey,
but who of us would really take this advice? Who of us hasn't learned wisdom
because of constant stumbling, falling, running into the wall at 100 mph? We who
are now older need to tell our stories to help the next generation of disciples
"wise up" without having to hit the wall. Thankfully there is a very
gracious Father who heals our self-inflicted injuries and patiently teaches us
the wisdom of listening to Him.
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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