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.
SEPTEMBER 12
Isaiah 10-11
Isaiah 10
Vs. 1-4 are still talking about the sin and guilt of the northern
kingdom. Notice the refrain, For all this
his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. That
connects this to what we read yesterday. Also, just for trivia, notice vs. 1
& 2. Verse 1 identifies the oppressors. Verse 2 identifies their motives
with the preposition to and then
shows the results of their actions marked by that.
Vs. 5-11 In God’s wisdom and purpose He uses the arrogance of the
Assyrians, this lost, godless nation, to punish godless Israel.
Vs. 12-14 There would be an aspect of Assyria’s victories that should
have shown them that God was helping them. This would be an opportunity (like
Pharaoh had) to come closer to the true God. But they attributed their victories
to their own prowess. After God used them, He would judge them for their
arrogance, but not until they railed against God Himself.
Vs. 15-19 God says how He would chasten Assyria before they could
attack Jerusalem. We have read the account of this in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles,
and soon we will see it again in Isaiah 36-37. That this event is mentioned
three times in the Bible points to its significance.
Vs. 16-18 In one night God killed 185,000 soldiers. This shows us that
the physical means was a sudden sickness, like a plague, brought on by the
angel of the Lord.
V. 19 The survivors who returned to Assyria were so few that a child
could count them.
Vs. 20-23 This is the remnant God will save from the northern kingdom.
During Hezekiah's revival, he invited people from the northern kingdom to
celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. All those who came south survived. Paul
quotes v. 22 in Romans 9:27, showing that Israel would be punished, but that a
remnant would be saved.
Vs. 24-27 God compares this to how He saved Israel from Egypt. In light
of all of this prophecy, the people of Judah, and Jerusalem in particular,
should trust the Lord. This is exactly what happened when Rabshakeh stood
outside Jerusalem in 2 Kings 18:27. The people kept silent and trusted the Lord
by obeying Hezekiah's command.
Vs. 28-34 This is God’s prophetic description of His judgment of
Assyria.
Isaiah 11
Based on this coming miraculous deliverance and the judgment God is
about to bring on Israel and its enemies, God gave Isaiah a vision of the
ultimate deliverance at the close of the age when the Messiah would reign and
bring judgment to the earth. This is one of those great portions of prophecy,
so take time reading this and making observations.
Vs. 1-9 This is the Messiah and the poetic tenor of His reign. These
are great verses talking about Jesus. This is the Branch we talked about
earlier. The Hebrew word for branch is "nasar," and it is where they
got the name Nazareth.
V. 1 Even though
there will only be a remnant, or stump, of Israel left, the Branch will still
come forth and bear fruit. In talking about the necessity of His own death,
Jesus said this in John 12:24, Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
V. 4 This is the justice the Lord will bring. There are some allusions
to other portions of Scripture. Do you recognize them?
Vs. 6-9 This is the peace that He will bring. Some of those verses
about the created world in Romans 8 make sense in this light. To a degree,
things will revert back to a pre-fallen world. But those people born during the
Millennial Kingdom will still have the fallen heart of man and will need to come
to the very visible Jesus in faith and repentance. It may be a near perfect
world under the Messiah, but Satan will still find hearts ready for rebellion
when he begins his revolt after the 1000 years.
V. 10 Notice the phrase, In that
day. Jerusalem will become the center of the earth, and Jesus will be the
king reigning in the temple. This verse is quoted in Romans 15:12.
Vs. 11-16 In that
final day of the Tribulation, the Jews will be gathered from every nation where
they have been hiding and scattered during the Tribulation. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 24:31).
For us as disciples, the coming kingdom, judgment, and blessing of God
should always be before us. In the Lord’s Prayer, the attitude behind all of
our praying is to remember that His kingdom is coming. As we see here, however,
His coming is always associated with the distress of this present darkness. He
will be light and salvation for those who know Him, but He will be the opposite
for those who don’t. Our job is to herald His salvation and His coming. This
morning I was reading that Jesus told His disciples to preach as they went
saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It’s still a good message and it is essential to the gospel.
2 Corinthians 12:11-21
Vs. 11-13 When Paul said he was nothing, he meant it. Yet, what God did with Paul was the verification
that he was sent by God; i.e., an apostle. We have no idea all of the miracles
that Paul did in Corinth.
V. 13 This is a multidirectional jab.
Vs. 14-18 It seems so unfair that Paul should have to write this, but
for the sake of the health of the church, to ward off the false teachers, Paul
kept dealing with the situation. Even in Paul working with the Corinthians in a
blameless fashion, the super-apostles found a way to twist his motives. Paul
knew another visit was necessary.
Vs. 19-21 Paul makes the point here of saying that his goal was not to
defend his apostleship, but to help them grow in Christ. Paul has done surgery
on their sickness, not to exalt himself or defend himself, but to get the
church back in love with their Lord. In Paul’s final words here, it looks like
the issue he addressed at the end of 1 Corinthians 6 still hadn’t been
corrected. Thankfully we know there was a happy ending, because the letter to
the Romans was written on Paul's next visit to Corinth. Reading between the
lines in Romans 16, Corinth seems at peace.
As disciples, with the amazing salvation that is offered to the world,
and with the blessing of Christ’s coming kingdom, you’d think that
"church" might be easier, since the church is the group that’s
supposed to get the job done on earth in the harvest. Still, the church is what
the Lord has decided; and it is our task as disciples, not to "do
church," but to make church about making disciples in the harvest,
following Jesus. True disciples are in love with their Lord and follow Him into
the harvest, making disciples, who make disciples. Get a group of those kind of
disciples together, and maybe you’ll have a great “church.”
Psalm 56
This again was in those early days of running from Saul. Some of the
desperation here might have been self-inflicted, since David never consulted
God before he sought refuge in Gath. It just seemed like a good idea. In God’s
mercy, David escaped.
Vs. 1-4 David was learning some hard lessons. The son-in-law of the
king was being pursued to be killed by the king. David obviously was beside
himself, running first to the priests and lying, and then running to the king
of Gath and lying. Like all of us, it took David time to settle his heart and
go to the Lord.
Vs. 5-7 Like Job, David knew there would be justice, yet he still had
to run for his life.
Vs. 8-11 David was entering into a 10-year education in waiting on the
Lord. These verses are a very gutty and faith-driven declaration of what God
meant to David. The distress was making David go to the Lord.
Vs. 12-13 David had been anointed by Samuel as a boy of 12 or 13. This
reality was beginning to settle in. God had rescued him from Saul and from the
king of Gath. David was realizing that the Lord had saved him and wanted him to
walk before God, so David had made vows of trust and praise. He would learn
over and over again to fulfill those vows of praise.
Proverbs 23:6-8
I think I’ve experienced something like this, even among believers.
Better to live a simple life with simple people whose hearts are with you in
the harvest. Trying to build things God doesn’t want built and do things God
doesn’t want done creates a lot of insincerity.
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