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 23
Isaiah 41:17-43:13
One thing we'll
see in these verses is a promise for those who trust God, and a challenge to
those who don't. Also, God begins more and more to show us what the purpose of
prophecy is. Why does God say in advance what He's going to do? Is it like a
magic trick so we'll be impressed? The strange effect of sin in us is that we
are not impressed by anything God does. For the unbelieving the fulfillment of
prophecy is a testimony to their stubbornness and sin. God has said what needs
to be said, in advance. For the believing, prophecy gives hope. We might be
awed by God's character and attributes and power, but the purpose is hope. That
will be clear in all we are reading from here to the end of Isaiah. Paul also
says this in Romans 15:4, For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and
through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
When you see what God is saying to Isaiah, you understand that some of
that hope was for those people receiving the prophecies as Isaiah spoke. Some
of that hope was for the godly people in Jerusalem as the city was being
besieged by the Babylonians, and some of that hope was for those who were taken
into exile, for those who returned to a shattered land after the exile. Some of
that hope was for the people living in the time Jesus was on the earth. Some of
that hope is for Jews now, and then later for the Jews during the Tribulation.
There is one message of this prophecy: God will redeem His people. Yet this
message is applied to many generations of followers of God.
We should be able to identify with the challenge of living in present
circumstances, but knowing, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:6-7, that God has seated us with him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his
grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Even now, working in the
harvest, lugging around this body of death, having to cry out to God for mercy
and strength as we take up our cross every day to follow, we have a future
blessing promised to us to give us hope today. In faith we draw near to God and
draw strength. Those who trust in themselves just go, "Yeah, nice verses."
Isaiah 41:17-29
Vs. 17-20 God will answer those who repent and are faithful in calling
to Him. Notice that this prophecy is given so they may see and know and understand that this was the hand of the Lord.
Vs. 21-24 This is the challenge to those who pursue other gods or human
means.
Vs. 25-27 God declares that He is the one who is foretelling and
determining the return of the people to Jerusalem.
One note here: Because of where Jerusalem is, everything came from the
north. To the west was the Mediterranean Sea and to the east was the great
desert. No one came over the desert. So even though the Babylonians and
Persians were east of Jerusalem, they had to travel north along the rivers and
then south to Jerusalem. They called this route "the fertile crescent,"
because of the arc the river takes. Therefore, most of the threat that
Jerusalem faced came from the north.
V. 25 This one is thought to
be Cyrus, the Persian king who sent the people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the
temple.
Vs. 28-29 Again, those who follow or worship anything but the Lord are
only fooling themselves.
Isaiah 42
There are two servants in view. The one servant was the nation that was supposed to give testimony to the
world. They failed. So, God sent the other Servant,
the Messiah, who was successful. God always knew the first servant would fail
their first mission, and Jesus was appointed before the foundation of the world
to be the Savior of the world. The Jews will get another chance, and they will
fulfill their destiny.
Vs. 1-16 are about the Messiah. Some of this was fulfilled and
mentioned in the Gospels and some of this will still be fulfilled in the
Tribulation and in the Millennial Kingdom.
There is a lot of things in these verses. Look for structure and
commands. I am is used to help follow
the flow of the passage. Notice how often God bases His promises on the fact He
is the Creator. It is almost as if He is using creation as a symbol of hope,
saying, "Just as I made this, you can be sure of that."
Vs. 1-4 are quoted in Matthew 12:20, and they are great verses. Since
this is said of the Lord, we as His followers should see some of this as our
mode of operation. You didn’t see Jesus yelling on street corners or in angry
debate. To those who were leading the people astray, He was hard, but then only
at the end of His ministry after He had given them many opportunities to
believe Him. Jesus allowed the word the Father had given Him to attract or
repel people. He didn’t yell or demand.
Vs. 5-9 These words could be from the Father to the Son, His Servant.
They might also apply to the nation and their ministry to the nations. Yet,
these words remind me of what Jesus quoted when He taught in Nazareth and
almost got thrown off the cliff. What He quoted was from Isaiah 61 and from Isaiah
58. But it is close to this too. It was a summation of Jesus’ ministry.
Vs. 10-13 In light of the coming of God’s Servant, there will be
victory and restoration. The believing should rejoice. What follows shows that
this peace and redemption will come through victory, and victory means there is
a coming conflict and judgment.
Vs. 14-16 The conflict will end with those in darkness receiving light.
Vs. 17-25 This is the failed servant Israel, as opposed to the Messiah.
But Israel will not end its service as a failure.
Isaiah 43:1-13
Vs. 1-7 These are powerful words of encouragement to the repentant and
faithful among the exiles back then and in the future. Verses 1-2 are great
comfort and great verses to memorize.
Vs. 8-13 Yet there will always be people who will worship and trust
something or someone other than God.
Notice God's own declaration to His greatness and power and
sovereignty.
The height of sin and insanity is to deny God's existence. And for
those of us who say there is a God, our insanity is in not trusting Him and
following Him. If you read the Upper Room Discourse, John 13-17, note how many
times Jesus says the people of Israel did not know Him. They were this blind
servant. In the future, they will know Him and serve Him and lead many in every
nation to salvation during the Tribulation.
Ephesians 2
Just like yesterday, go slowly through these first 10 verses. There are
some thoughts in these verses that are capable of changing a life.
Vs. 1-7 In the Greek, these verses are one big, happy sentence without
punctuation. If you are a former grammar teacher, you might want to hunt down
the main verbs and the subject and then graph all the subordinate clauses. This
explains why some translations begin with the phrase, which isn't there but is
referred to later, "And you He made alive when." This introductory
phrase is implicit in what Paul is saying. Putting that phrase first puts the
opening words in context quickly. Grammar is fun.
V. 4 God is the subject of this sentence.
V. 5 By grace you have been saved
is a parenthetical, emotional outburst on Paul's part. Can you see from the
sentence why this is? We, as described by the past four verses, were made alive together with Christ? The dirty
and the dead are linked to the divine? Paul is saying, "Whoa, dude! By
grace we have been saved."
V. 6 is positional. We are physically not yet there; but in reality, in
God’s sight, our future is secure.
V. 7 This thought is pretty unbelievable, and really, more than the
mind can grasp.
Vs. 8-10 The this in v. 8 is
the entire process of redemption. It is not a question of grace or faith, per
se, saving us. God did it all. Some people think to have faith is a work. That
is no more a work than putting a pill in your mouth. You didn't make the pill
or build the manufacturing plant or engineer the formula. God did it all. Faith
is mere trust in what God has accomplished and is offering. This opportunity
and the offer are not necessary on God’s part. It is amazing grace. Obviously
then, good works are not how we are saved.
They are what God gives us to do as "keys" that open doors in the
harvest. When we get to Titus, we'll see good deeds are mentioned quite a bit.
Conspicuous by its absence in Titus is any mention of sharing the gospel. I
think good works to the person next door is what God has given us to open the
door next door for the gospel. It's loving our neighbor.
Vs. 11-17 This isn't just an explanation of how God united Jew and
Gentile. It is an explanation of how God brought all people together in Christ
to make a people for Himself during this time. There is no contradiction
between Judaism and Christianity. Christ fulfilled the law in His sinless life
and became the payment for all humanity (for all had violated the law). He became a curse for them, thereby
satisfying the justice of God. Now, as said in Galatians, there is just one man
in Christ. Paul is actually beginning to describe the creation of the church…a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Notice that in those last verses the
pronouns are plural. You means all of you.
These verses may contain a hint of a problem where some might have
said, as in Galatians, that being a Jew was better. Paul is not only laying
that to rest, but he is also about to talk about the mystery of the gospel;
that is, that God would create a people for this "dispensation"
(administration of time) who would carry the message forth until it is time for
the Jews to fulfill their calling.
Vs. 18-22 This is another way of saying the wild olive tree was grafted
into the cultivated olive tree (Rom. 11:24). The entire focus is on Jesus. He
is the Cornerstone and He is the one we are built into as a dwelling place of
God in the Spirit.
Just so you don't get lost "in the Spirit," if you read John
16 or Acts 1:8 you'll see that it is the Spirit who gives us our pizzazz in the
harvest. He is all about the harvest and if you want to see the Spirit do His
stuff, you have to be in the harvest following Jesus, reaching out and making disciples,
who make disciples.
Psalm 67
Vs. 1-3 This psalm begins with the blessing which God gave to Aaron to
bless the people of Israel in Numbers 6:24. What is interesting, then, is that
the writer goes on and expresses God's purpose in blessing Israel, to make
Israel a witness to the world that all people might be saved. Notice that all
the nations and peoples are to praise God.
V. 4 This expresses relationship. While praising God could be an
obligation, having gladness and singing and expressing joy means the nations
know the Lord.
Vs. 5-7 This is a great song about the fulfillment of the promise to
Adam and Eve, to Abraham and to Israel. It is what the Millennium will look
like as Jesus reigns.
This is now the mission of the church, to bear testimony in the
harvest. The day will come when Israel will turn to their Messiah and bear the
light of His Word in the world's darkest hour. There will be joy in every
nation and gladness among all people, and they will praise the Lord, that He
reigns.
Proverbs 23:29-35
There are few things on earth that lend themselves to greater misuse
than "drink." It is obvious from Scripture that God made wine, and
wine is spoken of as a sign of His blessing; but in a fallen world it has
become a danger. Here, without God, we seek the relaxation it gives as an escape
and we get lost in being lost in our escapes.
As disciples we need to look to our own hearts on this one. Is this
something God has given us liberty to enjoy? Can we control it? Jesus drank
wine, but Jesus controlled it. Paul probably drank wine and was against those
who forbade it on legalistic grounds, but Paul was against drinking wine around
the weak, flaunting personal freedoms. Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine
to deal with the stressful effects that ministry was having on his stomach.
It might also be true that many people don't drink wine, but the
warning of excess is still here. Everything that is good can be twisted: games,
TV, following a favorite sports team, shopping, computers, sex, everything. We
each need to see what we can control, what we might need help controlling, and
what we might just need to eliminate.
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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