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 5
Jeremiah 4:19-6:14
One of the challenges with Jeremiah, and you might want to take this up
with God when you get to heaven J, is that Jeremiah's prophecies are arranged
topically and chronologically, but not primarily chronologically until we get
to the end of the book. That's not completely comfortable to a Western
(consecutive numbers, parallel lines and right angles) way of thinking. In
Isaiah we had to be alert to when God was referring to the near events or the
final events and the coming of the Messiah. In Jeremiah, besides the prophetic
aspect of what he is writing, we are left to wonder if some things were written
at a different time and are being put here by Jeremiah because it fits into the
topic he is addressing. Mentioning times and kings, then, will always be
important.
Jeremiah 4:19-31
Assuming that this was said in the early days of Josiah and Jeremiah,
God was not only giving Jeremiah a vision, but He was also giving him all the
emotions that come with fear.
Vs. 19-21 This is the kind of stuff that gives Jeremiah the nickname of
"The Weeping Prophet." Early on, Jeremiah was distressed for his
people and didn't seem to completely understand God. Later, after years of
trying to help them, Jeremiah's attitude toward the people became more like
God's.
Vs. 22-26 Look at what Jeremiah looked
for. He was looking to see if the people would respond to God.
V. 22 The last part of this verse was used by Paul a couple of times,
but in the opposite way, where he says, for example in 1 Corinthians 14:20, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be
mature.
V. 23 This is like Genesis, but instead of order, the people have
created their own chaos.
Vs. 27-28 This is God's desire for judgment and it has a certain
"end times" ring to it.
Vs. 29-31 Surrounded by her enemies and not seeking the Lord, Judah tried
to seek help from Egypt, but all Egypt's promises failed and Jerusalem fell.
V. 30 It's interesting that Jezebel painted her eyes before she went
out to meet her judges and died.
Jeremiah 5
Vs. 1-2 I've noticed that often the first couple of verses make a
statement, and the rest of the chapter works off of that statement.
V. 1 This reminds me of Abraham talking with Jesus (the angel of the
Lord) about Sodom, before the angels destroyed it in Genesis 18:17.
Vs. 3-5 Like Abraham, Jeremiah was hoping that someone would be found
who really followed God.
V. 6 Because these people were themselves treacherous, God will send
three hunters to watch them, stalk them, and nibble away at their numbers.
Vs. 7-9 In spite of all the lessons and all the help, what they had
become as a people was unredeemable unless God punished and purged them. It is
interesting that when God blessed and fed them, they turned away from Him.
Vs. 10-11 The picture of Israel as a vineyard is common, but here God
is bringing ruin to it. He will leave a remnant.
Vs. 12-13 We'll see this a lot. The prophets spoke peace to the people,
but that is what the people wanted. Verse 13 is part of what the false prophets
said about the true prophets like Jeremiah. Notice that the ESV has this as one
saying inside of quotes.
Vs. 14-17 This is God declaring judgment for the words of the prophets
that no danger would come. Then God describes the army that is to come against
them and how devastating it will be.
Vs. 18-19 Mercy and judgment together. God will save a remnant, but He
will give them what they want, making them sick of their own sin.
Vs. 20-24 This sounds a lot like Isaiah. Notice the contrast in vs.
22-23. The wild sea submits to God, but wild Israel does not.
Vs. 25-29 Again, although the Lord would gladly show them mercy, He can’t.
Think back to 5:6 where the Lord calls out three predators to pick away at the
people. The people were predators too.
Vs. 30-31 The leaders were religious and ungodly, but the people liked
it like that.
Jeremiah 6:1-14
Vs. 1-8 This is a prophetic warning for those in Jerusalem regarding
the punishment coming against them. Benjamin was the only tribe that stayed
with Judah when the nation divided. Jerusalem is the object of God’s love in
the future when the people will return to Him, but at this point Jerusalem was
becoming the center of everything unholy. When we read Ezekiel, God will take
him undercover and show what the leaders were really worshiping. It was creepy.
Vs. 9-14 This is a prophetic description of that coming punishment.
Notice again who is mentioned in vs. 13 & 14. As we’ll see in the reading
tomorrow, this culture of ungodliness had gone so long and so deep that it was
a part of the average family. God would have to cleanse everyone, but a special
note would be made to single out the leaders who led the people away from God.
As disciples in the harvest, we need tact and wisdom as we talk to
people. Yet, we need to tell people the whole truth. Jesus mentioned the coming
judgment often. The disciples were sent out telling people to repent. Inviting
people to Jesus to get a better life sounds good in their ears. But the whole
truth speaks of God's coming kingdom, our sin, our need to turn to Jesus for
forgiveness, and our need to be saved in Christ. This is the most important
part and it is the most offensive. In many places in the world, salvation means
that a person might have personal assurance and peace in Christ, but as a
result of their decision, it means having their "worst life now" in
their immediate context. People need the truth, not just what we think they
want to hear that fits their needs and lifestyle. It's God's Word, not ours.
Colossians 1:21-2:7
Since Paul had not yet visited this church, much of what he says has
the same tone of introduction as in Ephesians. Even the letter to the Ephesians
was a letter sent to many churches, some of which Paul had never visited. Paul
had never visited any of those churches in the area around Colossae.
Colossians 1:21-29
Vs. 21-23 This sounds just like portions of Ephesians, except v. 23
where Paul reminds them that this is the same gospel that is being preached
everywhere. Paul had to remind the Corinthians of this too, because of
preachers who were adding to the teaching which Paul had brought.
V. 23 In light of all we've read, knowing you can't lose being a
"new creation" (salvation), how do you interpret Paul's warning?
Vs. 24-29 This is Paul describing the importance of the ministry in the
harvest God had given him, and has given us.
V. 24 Nothing was
"lacking" in Jesus' suffering with regard to salvation. Yet now,
guiding the church, Jesus was using Paul's suffering (He uses ours, too) to
provide crucial insights and leadership to others. Jesus was using Paul to fill
out what He was not physically present to teach.
V. 27 We've seen this in Ephesians. The mystery is not that the
Gentiles would be saved, but that God would make a mysterious
"nation" of Jews and Gentiles during this time. That's us, the
church.
Colossians 2:1-7
Vs. 1-2 Paul saw all of his ministry struggles as challenges to strengthen
churches. That would be an interesting mindset for us, as disciples, to
develop. Notice that in v. 2 Paul tells what he understood to be God's goal in
allowing him to struggle as he did. The point of making Paul struggle was to
produce mature disciples and a unified church.
Vs. 3-7 are entering into one of the problems at Colossae. Teachers
were apparently saying there was hidden knowledge beyond what Paul had shared
with them, and that if they wanted the fullness of God, they had to go deeper
into this knowledge and philosophy, and, wouldn't you know it, deeper into
Jewish custom.
Paul is, and will be, saying that Jesus is as deep as you need to go.
And as we saw in Galatians, Paul will tell them that if you begin with Jesus in
faith, you should stick with Jesus in faith. All the fullness is in Him. He's
enough.
Psalm 77
I wonder what this son of Asaph was living through when he wrote this.
These guys usually led worship under godly kings. This could have been written
during the Assyrian advance on Jerusalem under Hezekiah, or it could have been
written after the return of the people from Babylon. Both times were times of
distress.
Vs. 1-2 Whatever was happening, Asaph was very distressed. In v. 2 it
says he was coming to God in the day of
my trouble. We might think, "better late than never," and God may
hear if we only go to Him as a last resort. However, the godly are always going
to God and always receiving peace. This is the secret behind the peace promised
in Philippians 4:6-7. Asaph was a regular at God's door and God was his only
hope.
Vs. 3-9 Here we see that the distress had something to do with the
nation. The times were continually bad and the good times were now only
memories. God's grace and favor on Israel seemed like history. But Asaph
himself is forcing himself to wrestle spiritually with the situation. You see a
progression in these verses and he comes upon God's promise that He will be
gracious to Israel.
Vs. 10-15 Underline I will.
Now look at what Asaph declares about God in the last three verses. Underline you and your. This is great stuff.
Vs. 16-20 In the fulfillment of His promises and love for Israel, God
shook all of creation. Though Asaph couldn't understand the current distress,
this was the same faithful, fearsome, and almighty God who promised to fulfill
His love to Israel. That day is still coming.
Funny, this morning I was reading in Luke 8 about a weary Jesus waking
up in a sinking, storm-tossed boat filled with screaming fishermen, Master, master, we are perishing! Jesus
gets up and turns off the wind and the waves and says to them, Where is your faith? They didn't know
that they had God in the boat.
So what is the comfort of these psalms? I'm reading this one and
identifying deeply with it. In a way, who'd want to identify with such a
distressing psalm? But there's a sense of saying you know what the psalmist is
going through and realizing that God says it's OK to feel like this. It is,
oddly enough, God saying that He knows how we feel. It leads me to believe He
wants me to be able to understand that this psalm is true. And then He wants me
to find and use the hope in this psalm.
So, what do we have? Crying out? Check. Remembering? Check. Verses 7-9,
wondering? Check. Appealing, remembering, pondering, and meditating? Check.
Verses 16-20 are from the Bible itself, viewing the way God redeemed His
people. For us too, we know about our salvation, our Lord's rescue and the
future we have in Him. Now as we wait on Him, we have the privilege of knowing
Him and following Him in the harvest. He's not just in the boat with us, He's
in us in the Holy Spirit. Right? Check.
Proverbs 24:23-25
I'm sure this is harder than it sounds, especially if the wicked are in
power or pay the salaries. I'm sure King Manasseh didn't rule for 55 years by
making friends with the people who rebuked him. It says that he filled
Jerusalem with innocent blood, and I'll bet gallons of that blood came from
those people who stood up to him. But who is the real king? Oh, yeah, that's
right. God is the real King and His is the real kingdom.
In the case of those who rebuked King Manasseh, the delight and
blessing was in the form of standing in the presence of God and relaxing in the
glory and wonder of heaven. That's not bad at all.
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