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 4
You are beginning Colossians today and your feet are just getting wet
in Jeremiah. You should be encouraged with how much you have read this year.
Just think, you're reading your 24th book in the OT, your 12th in the NT, and
you are more than halfway through your second reading of The Psalms.
Jeremiah 2:31-4:18
Jeremiah 2:31-37
Vs. 31-32 Notice that these words are written to a particular
generation. This is written in the early years of Josiah, the godliest king
Jerusalem ever knew. These words against these people would be fulfilled during
the next three kings, still 40 years down the road. For most of his 55 years as
king, Manasseh had ingrained idolatry into Judah and Jerusalem. This idolatry
was now the culture and national identity of the people. Although Josiah was
incredibly brave and passionate about saving his people from the wrath of God,
God is saying through Jeremiah that they will not change. Those people during
the years of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah forgot all that God had done through Josiah
and they are this generation.
V. 33 They were so good at harlotry, that they could teach old
prostitutes new tricks. No pun intended.
V. 34 This refers to the charge against Manasseh that he filled Jerusalem
with innocent blood and God would not forgive (2 Kings 24:4).
V. 35 This was the biggest sin of all. We understand this. When God is
silent, we think everything must be OK.
Vs. 36-37 Jerusalem switched alliances regularly, rather than holding
to the Lord.
Jeremiah 3
These words probably came before Josiah found the OT and passionately
began to cleanse the land. When you see what God says to the northern (exiled)
kingdom, you understand how this might have motivated Josiah to take his
crusade further north into Israel.
Vs. 1-5 In saying this, God is not rejecting true repentance, but
rather false profession in the face of troubles. You know how we always get
"serious" when things are going bad. They did it too, but God isn't
fooled.
Before Josiah, there were small temples of Baal along the roads or on
the hills, each with a prostitute. People could make a quick worship stop and
be on their way. Although Josiah got rid of these things, as soon as Josiah was
dead, the people put them up again. People were worshiping Yahweh, and also
everything else. God didn't (doesn't) like that.
Vs. 6-10 In light of those first five verses, this is what God spoke to
Jeremiah. What is the message? In Ezekiel, God will take this two sister
analogy and graphically develop it, giving them both names. You would have
thought that Judah would have taken seriously what they saw God do to Israel.
But today too, we really don't learn much from the example of others who make
mistakes and are judged.
Vs. 11-18 Another word to Jeremiah, this is for the future restoration
of Israel (the northern kingdom) and its reuniting with Judah into one nation.
Notice the call to return. This was a great promise of mercy and restoration.
Although Judah was just within a few years of judgment, God was still appealing
to the people to turn to Him. Too bad it all fell on deaf ears.
V. 11 Israel was more righteous, in that it only ever had idolatrous
kings. It honestly followed their example. Judah had some very godly men, but
the people still defected from God.
V. 13 This is all God needed.
Vs. 19-20 God would have healed them had there been repentance.
Vs. 21-25 This might be God's call to a future generation and the
confession and future repentance of Israel.
Jeremiah 4:1-18
Vs. 1-4 Notice that this returning was relational. It was not to a
religion, but to Yahweh, the living God. Returning and repentance was to look
like true returning and repentance. When John the Baptist was faced with the
Pharisees coming to him, he told them to bear fruits of true repentance. The
Pharisees walked away, but the people understood and wanted to know more. Here,
there was only the show of repentance and returning, so God prophetically
motivated them.
Vs. 5-18 Imagine that Jeremiah had to preach this publicly. This would
be the word to those people 30 and 40 years in the future. When Jehoiakim heard
these words (along with the rest of what Jeremiah wrote) it was winter, so as
these lines were read to him, he cut them from the scroll and threw them into
the fire. Cool, huh?
V. 10 Many places in Jeremiah, Jeremiah himself cries out in anguish.
Here, I think his problem with God was that God allowed the false prophets to
prophesy peace. But it was what the people wanted. It wasn't God's fault.
Later, Jeremiah goes nose to fist with these prophets.
It was good that God started Jeremiah's ministry during a time of
national revival, because people were willing to listen. I think these first
six chapters during the time of Josiah (11 & 12 also) helped Josiah have
the courage he needed to work to change the nation. After Josiah, the real
battles begin for Jeremiah.
Colossians 1:1-20
Colossians was written at the same time as Ephesians, while Paul was in
prison in Rome. Colossae was about 100 miles east of Ephesus. The same guy, Tychicus,
carried both letters and he probably was in good shape when he was done with
the delivery. It is likely that Paul had not fathered this church as he had
Ephesus. It appears that Epaphras was the disciple who sowed and reaped in this
field.
It is evident that as Christianity grew, there were constant problems
cropping up. People took the teaching and twisted it; therefore, we have all of
these letters. We also have Paul telling Timothy to guard and entrust the
truth. As you read this letter you will notice how similar it is to Ephesians,
but what will be important for us is to see where it is different. Those
differences will point to the particular problems at Colossae.
Vs. 1-8 As Paul talks about the gospel here, notice that the gospel is bearing fruit everywhere it goes. That
should say something to us, that if we let the gospel out, it will bear fruit.
In this context, it also tells the people there that the message of the gospel
is the same truth all the people have responded to. They don't need a
"special" truth of their own. Not only that, Epaphras is a well-known
and approved worker. It appears that Epaphras was there telling Paul and others
about this church.
Vs. 9-12 This is Paul's prayer for their growth. You see parts of
Ephesians and Philippians in this. Notice again the bearing fruit.
Vs. 13-20 This is the fullest description of Jesus' work and His deity
in the NT. This also begins to hint at the problem the Colossians were facing.
It was a teaching that said that Jesus was not fully God, that at some point He
had been made by God and had been made a god. You get this from all the things
that Paul says here. It would be good to map out all the things that Paul says
about Jesus.
The firstborn is a reference
to Jesus' position, not that He was created and was born into existence or deity. In John 1:1-18 you see the apostle John making sure
everyone understood that Jesus was God. In fact, in John 5 Jesus refers to
Himself as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. As the Son of God, he is God
the Son, fully God, never created, always one with the Father and Spirit. As
the Son of Man, Jesus was born as a man, and as a full-fledged man in
submission to God, was given authority to rule by the Father. At the end of
John 8, Jesus calls Himself Yahweh, I Am. There is no perfect analogy for the
Trinity or the person of Jesus. We have the biblical information and are simply
told it is true. We don't need to be able to figure out God.
Today we have many religions that say that Jesus was something other
than a part of the eternal triune God. The Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus
was Michael the Archangel who was made into a god. The Mormons say that Jesus, who
was chosen to be the savior of man, was a god among many gods and the half
brother of Satan. It is understandable that as the gospel spread, there were
people who couldn't grasp the Trinity or understand God the Son becoming the
Son of Man. It took 300 years of church councils and fights to formulate the
doctrinal positions on the Trinity and on Jesus that we find in church
statements of faith. All of those positions find their ways back to the NT and
to these words.
The truth is important, and so we entrust truth to others to be passed
on. It is important what we believe about Jesus. Paul and all the NT writers
describe Jesus as God who became man and took our place. To make Jesus
secondary in any sense (not fully God or only one of many saints to whom we
pray) eventually destroys the message that brings salvation. Paul said it to
the Philippians, For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and
glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Who glories in
Jesus Christ except those who have been saved by faith in the Son of God? As
Paul said, Who loved me and gave Himself
for me (Gal. 2:20).
Psalm 76
Vs. 1-3 Notice the importance of Zion and the broken weaponry.
Vs. 4-9 If you put together some of the reading we've been doing, you
might get an interesting feel about this psalm. The event sounds like it could
be when Assyria came against Jerusalem. We just read about this in Isaiah. This
gave the people great confidence in the object of God's affection, Zion; but
they didn't fully turn to Him. Now with Babylon about to assail Jerusalem in
Jeremiah, the people had a false confidence in Zion as if it were magic, not
fully understanding that they had totally lost God, and so, Jerusalem would be
destroyed.
Vs. 10-12 As you read this, remember the arrogant words of
Rabshakeh in 2 Kings 18 & 19. He vented his wrath on the people, the city,
the king and then on God Himself. God used his wrath, to bring Himself praise.
Interestingly, the final battle on earth will occur just miles outside of the
walls of this city; and, again, men will vent their wrath against God and
Israel. God still says Zion is His city, and that's why the irrationality of
man (and spirit) aims its hatred there. This morning in Romans I read, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and
whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Rom. 9:33). Jesus is that living stone. Zion is the
city in which He will reign. The powers of nations, earthly and spiritual, will
be drawn there to that city to witness the arrival and wrath of the coming
King. There, our Lord will use the wrath of men to bring Himself praise. In the
meantime, we need to be bringing in the sheaves.
Proverbs 24:21-22
We would take the part about the Lord and say, "Duh, of
course." But what about the part about the king? You can just imagine what
the Christians in Rome thought about their governmental leaders. Take five
minutes to read Romans 13. Look at what it says disciples are to do regarding
the government. Look at what it says disciples are to do regarding the harvest.
The same author wrote this proverb and that chapter.
That last line is interesting. If you oppose God and oppose the
authorities He has put in place, when the hammer falls, it is a double whammy.
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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