The One Year Bible- November 12th
If this is your first year
reading through the Bible you may be tempted at the end to do what you do with
a good book. Some people like to take a weekend or a slow evening
and finish it up in one sitting or in a few hours. It is tempting to
do, especially when you see that there are just a few pages
left. Some days I feel like that with our Bible readings but I want
to give you some advice. If you want to finish reading the Bible in the next couple
of days, do so. You will feel very accomplished, but then go back each day and
review the readings. I kind of like to think that Bible reading is kind of like
eating cheesecake. It is really good in small doses. If you try to eat the
whole cake in one sitting you will get a tummy ache. It is way too rich and
complex to try to digest all at once. If you can’t help yourself, go ahead and
indulge. It really can’t hurt you, but you will get more out of your readings
when you pace yourself. On to the study...
Seth’s Thoughts
The Old Testament
We keep plugging along in
Ezekiel. This week’s readings seemed to be more “normal” than last weeks. Just
the run of the mill judgments on Israel and the other countries (note the hint
of sarcasm in my voice). I found one of the best nuggets of grace this week. At
the end of Chapter 18 we read, “Rid yourselves of all the offenses you
have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house
of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the
Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!.” (Ezekiel 18:31-32 NIV) Remember our
discussion a few months back (I don’t exactly remember) when we talked about
repentance and confession? This passage goes into that category. By this I mean
that repentance and confession occur because of what God has already done for
us. It is God who turns us by his word, and his Spirit. Another thing that I
did not mention before is that God refers to Ezekiel by the phrase, “Son
of Man”. Most scholars believe that when Jesus starts using this same
term in reference to himself he was giving us an indication of his own
character. By saying he [Jesus] was the Son of Man, he was saying that he is
human. He has a human nature in addition to the divine. This is the same usage
as God uses it in reference to the man Ezekiel.
One other thing we saw this
week and we will see again before the end of the book is the idea of “The
Day of the Lord”. Whenever you see this phrase you should think:
Judgment. This almost always refers to what will happen after the patience of
God runs out and his punishment comes. Ezekiel was using in Chapter 30 in
reference to what will happen to Egypt, but later it will be used in reference
to the whole world. The New Testament picks up this same idea in Revelation.
Psalms
A quick note here; did you
catch that reference in Psalm 110 to Melchizedek? Like we talked about last
week, this is a reference to the Messiah. Note the difference between LORD and
Lord in this chapter. If LORD is Yahweh then Lord (at least in this chapter)
could be the pre-incarnate Jesus. Neat stuff!!!
The New Testament
Where do I start? So much
here, I want to talk about it all, but I do not have the time or the space to
do it. So let’s start with the idea of the High Priest. I know we talked about
it last week but here is some more info. When we teach children and new
believers about the Faith we usually end up talking about the “offices” of
Jesus. By this we do not mean the corner office in the company, we mean his
jobs. We often say that he is prophet, priest, and king. The last two are very
evident in the book of Hebrews. As a Jew, your only hope of forgiveness of sins
lies with the High Priest. He is the only one that could go to God on your
behalf and offer a sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus is now our
high priest. He went to God for us and offered himself as the sacrifice. The
author of the book of Hebrews really hammers this point home by discussing it
over and over. This would have been a huge deal to a Jewish person. They are
hard-wired to accept the idea of sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Many
Jews struggle with the idea that the Temple is no longer standing. Quite
literally, in their view, they have not been able to have forgiveness of sins since
70 A.D when the Romans destroyed the temple. Jewish Christians can find comfort
in the fact that the sacrifice has been done in the person of Christ and this
is once for all! It does not need to happen over and over again. The
destruction of the temple would have been a very convincing argument for the
writer of Hebrews so many scholars feel that this book was written before that.
Another thing to mention is the idea of shadows here on earth and the real
temple being in heaven. This is rather Aristotelian as far a philosophy goes
(no time to get into that here) but we can all try to understand what that
means. Temple worship on earth was never meant to be “the-be-all-end-all” of
the life of faith. It served to foreshadow what was to come. All good books
have some foreshadowing. What is present on earth will be fulfilled and
completed in the heavenly realms. It ends up being a matter of Faith, which is
what comes next in the book. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is often called “The Faith
Hall of Fame”. It tells of the accomplishments of many of the saints that have
gone before and tells how they too believed in the promise of the Messiah. They
did not know about the person of Jesus but they did know about the promised
Messiah. Their actions to keep faith alive were credited to them as
righteousness from God. The obeyed even though they never saw, heard, touched,
or experienced the Messiah. How much more should we hold on in faith since we
know all about Jesus and he promised he would be with us always. We get to spend
some intimate time with him each time we partake in communion. We know him and
he knows us!! Let us then hold firm to the faith we have been given!! “Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV).
Bits and Pieces
The Old Testament
We will continue in Ezekiel
and we will get to the famous dry bones story as well as the description of the
new city of Jerusalem which has some parallels to Revelation; a lot to say
about these in a later post.
The New Testament
We will read through the
book of James this week as well as start 1 Peter. Here are the vital stats on
James:
PURPOSE: To expose
hypocritical practices and to teach right Christian behavior
AUTHOR: James, Jesus'
brother, a leader in the Jerusalem church
TO WHOM WRITTEN:
First-Century Jewish Christians residing in Gentile communities outside
Palestine, and all Christians everywhere
DATE WRITTEN: Probably A.D.
49 prior to the Jerusalem council held in A.D. 50
SETING: This letter
expresses James's concern for persecuted Christians who were once part of the
Jerusalem church
LAW THEMES: Must keep the
whole Law; death; works required for salvation; sinners judged by Law as
transgressors; faith apart from works is dead.
GOSPEL THEMES: Good and
perfect gifts from the Father of lights; brought forth by the Word or truth;
heirs of the kingdom; counted as righteous; the coming of the LORD,
compassionate and merciful; forgiveness; because of Christ’s death and
resurrection, sinners are judged under the “law of liberty”.
KEY VERSE: "But some
will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and
I will show you my faith by what I do" (2:18 NIV)
And here are the vital
stats for the book of 1 Peter:
PURPOSE: To offer
encouragement to suffering Christians
AUTHOR: Peter
TO WHOM WRITTEN: Jewish
Christians driven out of Jerusalem and scattered throughout Asia Minor, and all
believers everywhere
DATE WRITTEN: About A.D. 62-64,
possibly from Rome
SETTING: Peter was probably
in Rome when the great persecution under emperor Nero began (Eventually Peter
was executed during this persecution). Throughout the Roman empire, Christians
were being tortured and killed for their faith, and the church in Jerusalem was
being scattered throughout the Mediterranean world.
LAW THEMES: Sin; ignorance
of foolish people; perishable; disobeying God’s Word; darkness; judgment; fiery
trials.
GOSPEL THEMES: Christ bore
our sins in His body; He suffered for us; He ransomed sinners; He is
imperishable; Christ’s death involved a righteous man dying for unrighteous
people (the great exchange); marvelous light; stand firm in God’s grace; God’s
Word is the living and abiding Word; good news; royal priesthood; holy nation;
chosen race.
KEY VERSE: "These have
come so that your faith...may be proved genuine and may result in priais, glory
and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1:7 NIV)
KEY PEOPLE: Peter, Silas,
Mark
KEY PLACES: Jerusalem,
Rome, and the regions of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia
SPECIAL FEATURES: Peter
used several images that were very special to him because Jesus had used them
when he revealed certain truths to Peter. Peter's name (which means
"rock") had been given to him by Jesus. Peter's conception of the
church- a spiritual house composed of living stones build upon Christ as the
foundation- came from Christ. Jesus encouraged Peter to care for the church as
a shepherd tending the flock. Thus it is not surprising to see Peter use living
stones (2:5-9) and shepherds and sheep (2:25; 5:2,4) to describe the church.
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