The One Year Bible- August 16th

I am looking forward to fall. I love the cooler evenings, and the regular pace of life that begins once school is in session. I will admit to you that this summer has been difficult to keep up on my readings every day. It seemed like I always had something to do and I got out of my regular routine easily. There were days where I had to read about four our five days worth of readings so I could write this blog. With a regular schedule soon to begin, I am looking forward to plugging my Bible reading time in once again. Don’t feel bad if you have fallen into the same situation. Even if you are a few weeks behind, don’t worry about it. Just read a few every day or schedule a Saturday morning Bible reading marathon. You can always look back at the previous posts on this blog by looking in the previous posts section or the archive section. Good luck and happy reading to you....

Where We Have Been

The Old Testament
We finished up the book of Ezra and began the book of Nehemiah this past week. Ezra was a book about a priest and served as a theological perspective to the return of the Exiles. Nehemiah is more of a political book. Nehemiah was in the service of King Artaxerxes as a cupbearer. This was no small job; it was very important. Nehemiah was one of God’s people in exile. He had heard of the return of some of his own people back to the land to rebuild the temple and now he too desired to go. He asked for and received permission from the king and he went back with the purpose of rebuilding the walls of the city so it would be safe from foreign enemies. This was not popular with the governors of the area and they tried to stop the rebuilding of the walls many times. But God’s plan was for the wall and the city to be rebuilt because of his ultimate plan of sending the Messiah to fulfill prophecy. It took just 52 days to finish the wall and after it was completed, the Law (remember Law = writings of Moses) was read to the people and they all rededicated themselves to the LORD. Nehemiah gives us a good history lesson along the way as he reminded the people of the grace of God and his love for the people in spite of their disobedience. For as important as the ministry of Ezra was to the spiritual lives of the people, Nehemiah was to the political life of Jerusalem. The pieces have been put in place for everything to come to pass just as the prophets had foretold. All that was needed was for the fullness of time.

The New Testament
In our readings in 1 Corinthians we finished up Paul’s introduction with a message on legal matters. His advice is to stay out of the courts when you have a disagreement with another Christian. It just makes you look bad and is a very poor witness to Jesus. In fact it does not honor God when, in the public eye, Christians can’t get along. Paul then moves on to the questions that the church asked him. We do not have a copy of their letter to Paul but we do know how he answered some of their questions. Paul spends a lot of time dealing with marriage. He does not condemn marriage, but he does give some warning about how the desires of the flesh can get us off track spiritually as well as in our relationships. Paul then spends quite a bit of time on the issue of food. Food is something very important to a person of the Old Testament. Food laws were abundant and issues regarding food came up often in the early church. The root of the problem was the fact that the early church was multicultural. There were Jews and Gentiles together who had vastly different ideas about food. What was clean and unclean according the groups differed. God had made it perfectly clear that what ever He made clean was clean. This did not mean the people could go “hog wild” (no pun intended). In fact the church needed to be very careful about what it ate. Some people had a hard time with eating foods sacrificed to idols. They wanted to know if they ate the food were they honoring that idol. Then there was the whole problem of what would people think if they saw a believer eating that food. This is a complex issue. Paul tries to break it down, “So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble” (1 Cor. 8:13 NLT). And in the next chapter he says, “We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ” (1 Cor. 9:12 NLT). The bottom line is, if it causes someone to stumble or struggle in their faith we should try to avoid it at all costs. This has implications for us today. Do we have freedom in Christ? Yes! Can we do whatever we want? Yes, but not everything is beneficial. We must be careful of what we do and how that reflects Christ to the world.

Where We Are Going

The Old Testament
We will finish up Nehemiah and then read the entire book of Esther next week. We will also get into the book of Job. Here are the vital stats for Esther:
PURPOSE: To demonstrate God’s sovereignty and his loving care for his people

AUTHOR: Unknown, possible Mordecai. Some have suggested Ezra or Nehemiah because of the similarity of the writing style.

DATE WRITTEN: Approx. 483-471 B.C.

SETTING: Although Esther follows Nehemiah in the Bible, its events are about 30 years prior to those recorded in Nehemiah. The story is set in the Persian empire, and most of the action takes place in the king’s palace in Susa, the Persian capital.

KEY VERSE: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such as time as this?” (Esther 4:14 NIV)

KEY PEOPLE: Esther, Mordecai, King Xerxes I, Haman

KEY PLACE: The king’s palace

SPECIAL FEATURES: Esther is one of only two books named for women (Ruth is the other). The book is unusual in that in the original version, no name, title, or pronoun for God appears in it. This caused some church fathers to question its inclusion in the canon. But God’s presence is clear throughout the book.

Here are the vital stats for Job:

PURPOSE: To demonstrate God’s sovereignty and the meaning of true faith. It addresses the question, “Why do the righteous suffer?”

AUTHOR: Unknown, possible Job. Some have suggested Moses or Solomon.

DATE WRITTEN: Unknown. Records events that probably occurred during the time of the patriarchs, approx. 2000-1800 BC.

SETTING: The land of UZ, probably located in northeast Palestine, near desert land between Damascus and the Euphrates River.

KEY VERSE: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25 NIV)

KEY PEOPLE: Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu the Buzite.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Job is the first of the poetic books in the Hebrew Bible. Some believe this was the first book of the Bible to be written. This book gives us insights into the work of Satan. Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11 mention Job as a historical character.

The New Testament
Paul will continue his instruction of the Corinthians (and us as well) as he writes about worship, communion, and spiritual gifts. We will read one of Paul’s most famous analogy, “the body of Christ”. We will also read the most famous chapter in all of Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians 13 a.k.a. the LOVE chapter.

Key Verses
1Corinthians 6:19-20
Nehemiah 8:10b
Psalm 33:20-22
1 Corinthians 9:22-23
1 Corinthians 10:13
1 Corinthians 10:31-33