The One Year Bible- December 29th

Welcome to the last post for 2014, but the first post for our One Year Bible journey for 2015.  For those of you just beginning this journey you are in for a wonderful experience as there is nothing quite like being in God’s Word each and every day of the year.  I welcome back those of you who journeyed with us last year.  The format for this study will be the same as last year.  I will try to give you some insights on what you have been reading and try to connect the dots the best I can. Then I will give you some things to look for in the upcoming reading for the week or some bits of information that I think may be interesting.  This format seems to work well and you can always ask questions by commenting on the blog or by sending me an email. 

Hopefully you have purchased a Bible that says “The One Year Bible” on it.  That is the format that we will be using.  You can also find the assigned readings for the day by going to www.oneyearbibleonline.com.  There you can find the readings for each day of the year and you can use your own Bible.  You can also download an app for your smart phone or tablet and you can have the readings with you wherever you go.  Just search for “The One Year Bible” in the AppStore or Android Marketplace.

Each day in The One Year Bible you will find a selection from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, a portion from the Psalms, and a selection from the book of Proverbs. January begins with Genesis, Matthew, Psalm 1, and Proverbs 1. When the year is over you will have read through the entire Bible and have read Psalms twice.

Getting in the Habit
If you are not in the habit of spending time each day in the Word it may be a struggle at first to find time. You will need to experiment and find a time that works for you. For many people, the morning works best, for others it’s after the kids are in bed. Others find that during lunchtime works well. You may want to divide up the reading and do part in the morning and part at night. It will take about 15 minutes to read through the passages for each day. Regardless of the time, you will need to do what works and then do it every day.

Find a Partner
It is always helpful to find someone who is willing to read with you. You can keep each other accountable and bounce questions off of one another as you read. There will also be a weekly on-line study to help keep you on track and to provide a place for questions and comments. Each week (usually Mondays) a new study will be posted at www.bethanylutheran.blogspot.com.

Tips for Comprehension
-Begin your time in prayer and ask God to send His Spirit to guide you as you read.
-Find a place to read that is relatively free of distractions.
-Read the passage aloud and slowly if necessary. The goal is not just to finish, but to understand.
-Make some notes in the Bible and underline key verses. Look back at them later.
-Remember the Bible tells one story. That story is about redemption from Sin by the work of Jesus. Keep that in mind as you read.
-Take your Bible to Church and read along to see what comes before and after.
-Keep a journal about what you read and how it has affected you.
-Memorize key verses.
-Look at a children’s Bible storybook to get a mental image of the stories. This is especially helpful for the Old Testament stories.
-Teach what you have been reading to your children. This will help reinforce the stories for you and introduce them to your children.
-Share what you are reading with coworkers or friends who are not Christians. This can happen especially if you are reading during your lunch hour at work. If they are interested in the Bible point them to 1 John and to Mark.
-Use a daily devotional book (Portals of Prayer, Strength for the Day, etc.) in addition to your reading.
-Look at some Bible maps and get a layout of the land. This is important when talking about events in the Old Testament.
-Don’t worry if you miss a few days. Just double up your readings for a while until you catch up. Don’t try to read it all in one day.
-Some questions to ask as you read: What is the Biblical context of this passage? What is the historical context? Who is speaking and to whom are they speaking? How can I use this information today? Don’t worry if you can’t answer all the questions.

Some things to help you out:
Here are a few websites that I have run across that help me when I am studying the Scriptures:
biblegatway.com - You can search on words or phrases as well as finding texts here.
www.oneyearbibleonline.com -Forgot The One Year Bible at home or even left it at the office? This site will give you the readings for the day. A great help when you don’t have your Bible with you.
www.oneyearbibleblog.com - Want get some in-depth information for the readings of the day? This is the place. It gives you the readings, some artwork and some commentary specifically on the readings for the day. This is a great site. I almost didn’t want to tell you about it because I get some of my info here.

There is also an app for your iPhone iPad or Android device that will help you.  Just search for “The One Year Bible.”

Seth’s Thoughts

This week I want to give you some of the vital stats for the books that we are starting.  Each time we start a new book I will give you the vital stats to give you a road map of where we are going and to give you some background information that will be helpful in understanding the context and the overall story of the book and how it relates to the rest of Scripture.  Next week I will give you some thoughts to the readings so far and help answer any questions you may have.

The Old Testament starts off in Genesis. Here are the vital stats for the book:

AUTHOR: Moses

DATE WRITTEN: c. 1446-1406 BC

PURPOSE: To trace the passing of the promise of God’s Savior from generation to generation, to all Israel and to all nations.
KEY PEOPLE: Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Joseph

LAW THEMES: The curse and death that come with sin and disobedience; humankind’s slavery to evil; families divided by sin.

GOSPEL THEMES: The promise of a Savior; God gives blessings, life, and freedom; God’s goodness and covenant promise for the faithful

The New Testament begins with Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus. Here are the vital stats on the book:

AUTHOR: Matthew (also called Levi)

DATE WRITTEN: c. AD 50

PURPOSE: To proclaim that God’s end-times rule has come in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ.
KEY PEOPLE: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, the disciples, the religious leaders, Caiaphas, Pliate, Mary Magdalene
KEY PLACES: Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Capernaum, Galilee, Judea

LAW THEMES: God’s rule in judgment; repentance; political and religious opposition; authoritative teaching; confronting a brother who sins.

GOSPEL THEMES: God’s rule in mercy; Baptism; compassion; ransom; Lord’s Supper; forgiving a brother who sins.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Matthew is filled with Messianic language ("Son of David" is used throughout) and Old Testament references (53 quotes and 76 other references). This Gospel was not written as a chronological account; its purpose was to present the clear evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior.

Psalms:
AUTHORS: David wrote 73 psalms, Asaph wrote 12, the sons of Korah wrote nine, Solomon wrote two, Etan and Moses each wrote one, and 51 are anonymous.
DATE WRITTEN: Between the time of Moses (around 1440 BC) and the Babylonian Captivity (586 BC)

PURPOSE: To express hope in the Lord God for salvation, using prayers and praises spoken by God’s people at the Tabernacle and Temple or by individuals.

LAW THEMES: Persecutors assail God’s people; suffering brought by personal failures; waiting for God’s deliverance; exile in Babylon.

GOSPEL THEMES: The Lord’s saving righteousness and steadfast love; the Lord provides for and protects His people; prophecies of the Messiah, Jesus; God’s gift of life through the Word.
SPECIAL FEATURES: For the most part, the psalms were not intended to be narrations of historical events. However, they often parallel events in history such as David’s flight from Saul and his sin with Bathsheba.

Proverbs:
AUTHOR: Solomon wrote or at least compiled most of the book with Lemuel and Agur contributing later sections.
DATE WRITTEN: Early in Solomon’s reign as king (10^th Century BC)

PURPOSE: To bestow God’s wisdom.
LAW THEMES: Because foolishness is rebellion against God, fools condemn themselves to destruction; instruction cubs the misdeeds of fools and guides the deeds of the wise.

GOSPEL THEMES: Christ, God’s wisdom, delivers us from self-destruction and brings forth forgiveness.
SPECIAL FEATURES: This is a book of wise sayings, a textbook for teaching people how to live godly lives through the repetition of wise thoughts.  The book uses varied literary forms: poetry, brief parables, pointed questions, and couplets. Other literary devices used in the book include, antithesis, comparison, and personification.

If at any time you have some questions, concerns or just need a pep talk, feel free to contact me, smoorman@bethanylutheran.org, or (562) 421-4711 x. 13. May God richly bless you as you embark on this journey and remember: “All Scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” –2 Timothy 3:16-17

The One Year Bible- December 22nd

We are almost at the end of 2014 so that means this is the last post for the One Year Bible for this year. Next week I will post information on reading the Bible next year. Then, January 5^th will be post #1 for 2015 as we start fresh again. I hope you all will be joining us next year as well. If you were at all like me, seeing the end of the book is both exciting and rewarding. It is no small task to read the entire Bible. There are parts that are not much fun to read and there are parts that are hard to relate to. I think the best part for me is seeing how all the pieces fit together. The story as a whole is so much more powerful than some sections taken out of context. I hope that as you hear scripture being read in worship, you can fit it into its context and fill in some of the blanks in your mind to get the whole picture. I have finished my reading so this post will make reference to some things that you may have not read yet. Don’t worry, you can always come back and read the post again. With that, on to the last study of the year...

Seth’s Thoughts

The Old Testament

This week we spent time in the book of Zechariah. The book of Zechariah is a post-exilic book, meaning it was written to the people who had returned to Jerusalem at the end of the exile in Babylon. It has many interesting and detailed images written in apocalyptic form. It was nice that we were reading from the book of Revelation at the same time since John seems to have used Zechariah for some of his imagery. This is not to say that John plagiarized his book but he did use other sources to help him make sense of what he was seeing. Many scholars have a difficult time with the prophecies in the book because there is no consensus on the historical context of many of the images. We know that some are obviously Christological (The Branch, illusions of Palm Sunday (9:9), looking on the one whom they have pierced (12:10)) and others must have some context in the day that we are too far removed to see. Eric Hartzell has this to say in his commentary on Zechariah: Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai. He too had seen the captivity and had returned. With Haggai, he say the people’s apathy toward building God’s house. He joined in the message of Haggai who spoke for God...”Build my house!” The book of Ezra tells us. “Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them” (Ezra 5:1) There are many striking pictures in the book of Zechariah. Some of them are surrealistic and in kaleidoscopic colors. Some are stark and strange. Zechariah painted with prophetic brush on the imaginations and consciences of his people. We come upon these paintings today and see that over the years the colors have not faded and the images have not been blurred. He painted hell and heaven; he preached God’s law and his gospel. Zechariah was also a prophet who spoke words directly describing the coming Savior. In this book we hear words that we recognize from the Passion History of our Lord. Zechariah knew the Savior by inspiration and by prophecy.

A few more days in 2014 sees the reading of the book of Malachi and the finishing of Revelation.

Here are the vital stats for Malachi:

PURPOSE: To confront the people with their sins and to restore their relationship with God

AUTHOR: Malachi

TO WHOM WRITTEN: The Jews in Jerusalem and God’s people everywhere

DATE WRITTEN: about 430 B.C.

SETTING: Malachi, Haggai, and Zechariah were post exilic prophets to Judah. Haggai and Zechariah rebuked the people for their failure to rebuild the temple. Malachi confronted them with their neglect of the temple and their false and profane worship.

KEY VERSES: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace...But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall” (4:1-2)

LAW THEMES: Rejection of Edom; condemnation of unfaithful priests; divorce; unfaithfulness in offerings; the day of the Lord.

GOSPEL THEMES: Love for Israel; the Lord’s faithfulness; the messenger of the covenant; deliverance from evil.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Malachi’s literary style employs a dramatic use of questions asked by God and his people.

The book of Malachi is another post-exilic book and has many connections with the book of Nehemiah. Kenneth Barker in the book introduction of Malachi in the NIV Study Bible says:

Although the Jews had been allowed to return from exile and rebuild the temple, several discouraging factors brought about a general religious malaise: (1) Their land remained but a small province in the backwaters of the Persian empire, (2) the glorious future announced by the prophets had not yet been realized and, (3) their God had not yet come to his temple with majesty and power to exalt his kingdom in the sight of the nations. Doubting God’s covenant love and no longer trusting his justice, the Jews of the restored community began to loose hope. So their worship degenerated into a listless perpetuation of mere forms, and they no longer took the law seriously. Malachi rebukes their doubt of God’s love and the faithlessness of both priests and people. To their charge that God is unjust because he has failed to come in judgment to exalt his people, Malachi answers with an announcement and a warning. The Lord they seek will come—but he will come “like a refiners fire”. He will come to judge—but he will judge his people first.

Malachi ends with a warning of the Day of the Lord. As we have discussed before in this blog, this Day is always referring to the Day of Judgment; the day that God will put an end to the wickedness of this world once and for all. It is never a good day for those apart from God, but for those who believe it will be a good day.

The New Testament

It would take me weeks to give you all the info needed to understand the book of Revelation. One of my seminary classes was devoted to this book and we spent hours trying to figure out what it all meant and to try to make some applications for ourselves. For that class I read the biggest book of my scholastic career (almost 700 pages!!). I learned a lot and I am struggling trying to figure out how I can give you the condensed version. I will give you some highlights from my big commentary authored by Louis Brighton:

The book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible. Whether it was written last or not, the church was led to place it at the end of the canon because she saw in it the completion of God’s revelation. Nothing further would be revealed by God until the second coming of Jesus Christ. Revelation is thus the culmination of the entire story of salvation contained in the Bible. It is the end point of all that is written in both the OT and NT. for it draws all of revelation, both prophetic and apostolic, to its final goal: the exalted reign of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of lords and the fulfillment of the promise of the new heaven and earth. As the last book of the Bible and the completion of God’s revelation to his church, it is the lens through which the entire Scripture is to be viewed. Revelation reveals and confirms that Christ was prophetically promised and that his incarnation, death and resurrection happened so that God’s creation could be restored to its original glory and righteousness. Revelation thus points to the final meaning and the final answer to all that is revealed in the Bible. In addition, as the last book, Revelation puts an official stamp on all of God’s revelation, a final confirmation of the divine truth and origin of God’s spoken and written Word. This finality points to the urgency of the last times, in which all things will be brought to an end—an urgency which reminds the Christian to Hold fast to the faith and which encourages the church to complete her mission.

Brighton goes on to say:

The message of Revelation reveals two ongoing phenomena: the terrifying sufferings and horror on earth, and the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord in his heavenly exalted glory. As these two phenomena are described, God’s people on earth are encouraged to cling in hopeful faith to the eternal heavenly glory that beckons them in Christ. In turn they also are strengthened and encouraged for the work of Christ’s mission on earth. The tribulations and sufferings portrayed lead the Christian not to pessimism and despair but to realism. The adversities and troubles prophesied will come to pass, and Christians will suffer because of and through them, as will unbelievers. Such plagues and distresses demonstrate God’s wrath and judgment for the purpose of motivating the godless to repentance. God’s own people also experience these same sufferings and plagues, for the dragon, Satan uses these sufferings and plagues in his attempt to destroy the church and her witness.

With all this being said, the most important thing to get out of a reading of the book of Revelation is that God is in control, his wrath is coming, it is time to repent, God will be victorious and all those who put their trust in him will have the blessings of eternal life. If this is all you got out of the book, then great. The other stuff is there to help make this point clear.

Bits And Pieces

I think the best way to finish out this study is to quote from the last Psalm, number 150:

Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

I cannot say it any better myself. AMEN!!!

Bethany Bullet - December 22, 2014

Have you ever had to face the consequences?  Have you ever been chastised for your actions? I know I have.  When our sin results in God’s chastisement and consequences we may cry, “When will Messiah come? When Lord, when will we receive your anointing?”  Advent is a time of expectation but it is also a cry of repentance and confidence that trusts God to fulfill His promise in the person and work of the Christ child.

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”  (Judges 21:25)

That is how the book of Judges concludes.  It’s not our text but a starting point for us this morning.  The people of God had been given the Land that was long promised to Abraham.  Under the command and leadership of Joshua the people entered that Promised Land.  After many years of strife and conflict the land had peace, but it was not to last for long.  Soon, a foreign army would invade and subdue the people.  Time and time again the land was invaded by the Canaanites, Hittities, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 

The book of Judges describes the cycle of disobedience and deliverance.  Over and over the cycle would be the same.  God anointed a Judge who delivered his people from the hands of the enemies.  Then soon after the people would fall away and chastisement and consequences would come as the people would find themselves suffering at the hands of an occupying force once again. 

The people would then cry out, “When will Messiah come? When, Lord, when will we receive your anointing?”  Soon God would anoint another Judge who would lead the people to victory and deliverance only for the cycle to start all over again. 

The last of the Judges was a man named Samuel.  He too cried out “When will Messiah come? When, Lord, when will we receive your anointing?”  Samuel had been given to the work of God when he was just a small boy.  His mother Hannah was blessed by his birth and gave him to the Lord to work with the priest Eli in the temple. 

When Samuel was older the people of God once again suffered His chastisement and consequences because of their disobedience and were given over to the hand of the Philistines.  The people cried out again, “When will Messiah come? When, Lord, when will we receive your anointing?”  This time the people clamored for a king.

Eventually Samuel is led to the son of Kish, to a young man named Saul and he took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and anointed him king of Israel. 

This anointing set Saul apart.  In Hebrew one who was anointed was called Messiah.  Often times the anointed one brought comfort to the people by delivering them from their enemies.  The people received the anointing of God in the person of Saul.

Now most of you know how the story goes from here.  The anointed king of Israel makes some poor choices.  Soon the chastisement and consequences of God come again as the kingship is torn from Saul’s hands.  Samuel goes to the house of Jesse and is led to David, the shepherd boy who is anointed to be the next King. 

David, a man after God’s own heart, leads the people.  The comfort of the Messiah, the anointed one, comes as David ushers in an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity for God’s people.  

Our text from 2 Samuel chapter 7 picks up the story.

“While King David was living in his house, the Lord gave him peace with all his enemies around him. So the king said to the prophet Nathan, “Look, I’m living in a house made of cedar, while the ark of God remains in the tent.” Nathan told the king, “Do everything you have in mind, because the Lord is with you.” But that same night the Lord spoke his word to Nathan:  “Say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one who will build me a house to live in?  I haven’t lived in a house from the day I took Israel out of Egypt to this day. Instead, I moved around in a tent, the tent of meeting.  In all the places I’ve moved with all the Israelites, did I ever ask any of the judges of Israel whom I ordered to be shepherds of my people Israel why they didn’t build me a house of cedar?’ “Now this is what you will say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture where you followed sheep so that you could be the leader of my people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and I destroyed all your enemies in front of you. I will make your name famous like the names of the greatest people on earth. I will make a place for my people Israel and plant them there. They will live in their own place and not be troubled anymore. The wicked will no longer oppress them as they used to do ever since I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. So I will give you peace with all your enemies. I, the Lord, tell you that I will make a house for you…Your royal house will remain in my presence forever. Your throne will be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16)

As David relaxed and enjoyed his beautiful new palace, truly fit for a king, something struck him as being wrong.  It didn’t seem right that he should be living in such splendor while the Ark of the Lord was kept in a tent. 

David began to dream big.  He would build a house for the Lord!  It would be a marvelous house made of wood and stone and permanent place for the Ark of the Lord.  “When, Lord, when will you have a place for you to anoint us with your presence?”  David planned that the answer to this was soon, and very soon.

David shared his plan with the prophet Nathan and got enthusiastic support, but the Lord had other plans.  That very night the Lord gave a message to Nathan words that were not easy for him to pass along.  There was no mistake about what God was saying.  His answer was “No.”

The tent was fine, God was not in need of a place of permanence and a house of peace was not to be built by a man whose hands were stained by the blood of war.

And now God flips the script and says that David will not build a house for the Lord but that he will make a house for David.  It will be a place of peace and a place of permanence and will be built by the hands that formed all of creation. 

David’s throne was established forever on that day a promise that found its ultimate fulfillment in the Messiah who was to come.

Soon the story will turn to disobedience once again.  David will stray from the words of the Lord.  His son will do the same and his grandson after that.  The house that was established that day would see king after king fall victim to sin’s insidious strength and its ugly consequences.

And the cry went up from the people once again, “When will Messiah come? When, Lord, when will we receive your anointing?”

In the fullness of time, there was a man from the house and lineage of David who went with his betrothed to Bethlehem, the city of David to be registered.  Soon the days were accomplished that a new king was born.  The house and line of David would receive a newborn king, the anointed one, the Messiah that was promised from ages past. 

The Angel confirmed to Mary the truth of the one to be born from her.  You heard the words from our Gospel lesson this morning.  “The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David.  Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever, and his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:32b-33)

When will Messiah come? When, Lord, when will we receive your anointing?  The answer was NOW!  The Messiah, Jesus would come to bring Peace on Earth, Good will to all.  The Messiah, the anointed one would be God with us, Emmanuel and would bring comfort for the people.

 

The presence of God came that night in Bethlehem and soon a mansion with many rooms would be build by the hand of the one whose hands were stained with his own blood so that you might be saved. 

Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the promise made so long ago to David and brings peace to us all.  He was anointed to a throne that lasts forever under which we all live today.

I’ve said all of that, to say this to you—what consequences are you facing today?  Have you been chastised because of poor choices you have made?  Are you crying out “When, Lord, when will I receive your anointing?”

There is an old adage that says, “You are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequence of that choice.”

No matter the word or actions, strife of affliction that you are experiencing there is forgiveness.  The anointed of God has come, He is Emmanuel, God with us and he answers the question of “When?” with “Now!” 

Your hands may be stained with sin but you are forgiven as the anointed one of God brings forgiveness and comfort. His hands have built a house in heaven for you!

Even after we are forgiven we often live with the consequence of sin...David never got to build a house for God.  It Doesn't mean we're not forgiven nor blessed...David was both...yet anointing is ultimately received when The Lord rests upon the  throne ... And we rest before the same...

In Christ, the cycle of disobedience is destroyed and a place before the throne of God is assured. 

In this season of Advent we can with joyful repentance come to this house and give those things over to God that haunt us—the regret, the guilt, the fear—and focus on the anointed one of God, who came to be God with us, Emmanuel who brings comfort and joy in these words, “Your sin is forgiven!”  Amen!

-Pastor Seth Moorman

Bethany Bullet - December 16, 2014

In the 61^st chapter of Isaiah we are told that The Lord is coming and bringing with Him a gift of clothing.  Remember that Classic Christmas movie Home Alone?  Kevin thought a check was better than a sweater.  Most kids, adults too probably, do. 

Yet The Lord is bringing not just any kind of clothing but, the garment of salvation, a robe of righteousness. 

Three things we learn from Isaiah:

1st.  God is good with you on account of Jesus.  God does not see you as a potential partner nor future friend.  Here and now, covered in the mercy and grace of Jesus, clothed in Christ, God sees you as perfect, pure and holy!  He is good with you for the sake of Christ.

2nd. Feel free to take a good look at yourself!  Advent is a season of joy and hope, yet it is also a season of penitence.  And as we repent of the guilt that gowns us, the shame that is our suit, the weakness and wretchedness that is our natural wardrobe we are wonderfully aware that God covers us in Christ righteousness, this we have put on in baptism, and so hope and joy are ours.

3rd.  See to the good of others because God is good with you.  Here and now seek to serve others seeing them as The Lord himself does.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer

The One Year Bible- December 15th

As Christmas fast approaches, so does the completion of our journey through the Bible this year. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. This journey never really ends but can be the beginning of some new habits. I hope this year has got you in the habit of daily time in God’s Word. I hope you will continue with this habit whether it is reading the Bible again in this same format or it is another way to study, please keep up the hard work. This is the second to last post for this year. Next week I will wrap up all the readings for the year and then the first of January we will start it up again.  On to today’s study...

Seth’s Thoughts

The Old Testament

The book of Jonah is famous for its fish story, and in many respects, that is one of the keys to this book. Jonah tried to run from God. His fear got the best of him and he tried to get away from it. I found it interesting that even in the midst of his flight from God, the Lord was honored. Did you catch it when the men on the same boat as Jonah threw him overboard and the storm stopped? “At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.” (Jonah 1:16 NIV). One great connection to Christ in Jonah comes from mouth of Jesus himself, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40 NIV). Jesus used Jonah to help teach what was going to happen to him; yet again another great connection between the Old and New Testaments.

Micah is one of those gloom and doom books of the latter Old Testament. It has a similar message to many of the other books, i.e. destruction is coming, turn back to God. But there is a huge gem of prophecy in chapter 5, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel” (Micah 5:2 NIV). This is one of the great Christmas prophecies and shows why the Messiah had to be born in the small town of Bethlehem. Just one chapter later we see some great practical advice to the exiles as they live in captivity. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV).

The prophet Nahum writes some of the most comforting and the most disturbing things in the Old Testament. He reminds us that the Lord is slow to get angry (1:3) and he is our refuge (1:7), but what will happen to those who don’t believe (i.e. Nineveh) will be something awful.

I am glad the book of Habakkuk is not so long because most of it is depressing and bad news. Thank goodness for the last two verses of the book, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:18-19 NIV). This is the key to the book. It reminds me in a way to the book of Job who said, “I know that my Redeemer Lives!”

The key to the book of Zephaniah is in Chapter 2, “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility” (Zephaniah 2:3 NIV). Even in the middle of this destruction that will come as a direct result of sin, God still reminds them to do right.

Haggai writes to those who have returned to Jerusalem but were busy building their own houses and not a house for the Lord. Haggai gives the people encouragement to get to work on building the new temple and gives them a reminder that God is with them

The New Testament

I think maybe I need to back up and give you some perspective on the book of Revelation. Without seeing the whole picture, the details will only confuse you. First of all as I have written before, the book of Revelation is in the genre of other apocalyptic books; as the American Heritage Dictionary defines as: Involving or portending widespread devastation or ultimate doom. The book of Revelation looks at this in regards to the end of the world and it looks at it from different angles. As one of my seminary professors said, John sees a vision of the end of the world from three points of view. Each point of view is like a different camera angle shooting the same scene. Each camera sees the action and the characters from a different point of view. Each angle provides certain aspects of the story to be emphasized. Some angles completely obscure the action and something may be lost. When John writes about what he sees we must keep in mind that this is not all happening in linear time as we are used to. John sees the complete destruction of the world with the seven seals on the scroll opened by Jesus himself. Then he sees the destruction of the world again with the seven trumpet blasts. This time different parts of the same story are emphasized. A bit later we will see the seven censers of God’s wrath being poured out. This time John will describe the end of the world from another point of view. In the middle of all of this is the cosmic war between Satan and Christ. We must remember that the war was won for us on the cross and the open tomb. We are part of the group that has been sealed in baptism and we have the mark of God on us. Therefore all of this bad stuff will not affect us. We are assured of our place in heaven already. I hope this give some perspective to you as you read. I will spend some more time next week getting into some of the details.

Bits and Pieces

Only two books to go.... Here are the vital stats for Zechariah:

PURPOSE: To give hope to God’s people by revealing God’s future deliverance through the Messiah

AUTHOR: Zechariah

TO WHOM WRITTEN: The Jews in Jerusalem who had returned form their captivity in Babylon and to God’s people everywhere

DATE WRITTEN: Chapters 1-8 were written about 520-518 B.C. Chapters 9-14 were written about 480 B.C.

SETTING: The exiles had returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple, but the work had been thwarted and stalled. Haggai and Zechariah confronted the people with their task and encouraged them to complete it.

KEY VERSES: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey...He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and form the River to the ends of the earth." (9:9-10)

LAW THEMES: A call to return to the Lord in repentance; dishonesty condemned; the whirlwind among the nations; the doomed flock.

GOSPEL THEMES: The Lord chooses His people; the Branch prophecy of forgiveness; the temple restored; nations seek the Lord; the coming King; the day of the Lord.

SPECIAL FEATURES: The book is the most apocalyptic and Messianic of all the Minor Prophets.