Our Bible reading is about to pay rich dividends.
It’s all about Jesus! That’s why we are reading the New Testament three times this year and the Old Testament only once. This is because now everything is spoken in the Son. God speaks Jesus.
This week, we are finishing John’s gospel and entering the Book of Acts. Titus, Philemon, and then off we go into Hebrews. 1 Samuel begins our journey out of the 400 years of judges into the era of prophets and kings. Three men will be seen: Samuel, Saul, and David. Psalms continue and we finish Ezekiel and begin Daniel.
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GOSPELS / ACTS
John 19 – 21
Jesus turns’ Pilate into a puppet leaving Pilate afraid and trying to release Jesus, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. Jesus is crucified and John records three sayings of Jesus on the cross that are not shared in the other three gospels. In Chapter 20, Jesus is resurrected, and Mary Magdalene is the first one to see and hold Jesus. Jesus brings peace to the apostles and reproves Thomas a week later for insisting he must see to believe. Chapter 21 is breakfast by the sea, with Peter being recommissioned to follow Christ in humility and simple obedience.
ACTS
Acts 1 – 4
Explosion! The Church is launched after Jesus spent 40 days with His apostles presenting Himself alive and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. They must wait for the Holy Spirit. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, they are back in the upper room, one hundred and twenty praying in one accord. A sound from heaven of a rushing mighty wind fills the whole house and tongues of fire sit upon the heads of everyone present. Peter preaches the resurrection of Jesus to the right hand of God, and having received the Holy Spirit in His coronation pours out what they are seeing and hearing. God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Repent, be baptized for the remission of sins and all shall receive the Holy Spirit.
Chapters 3 and 4 record the miracle of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, 5000 men believe in Jesus Christ. The Sanhedrin arrests Peter and John who appear before them the next day in the boldness of Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. Threats are made, but Peter and John are undeterred. They return to their company and pray Psalm 2, asking for more boldness and power. God shakes the house and fills everyone with the Holy Spirit.
EPISTLES
Titus 2 – 3
Relationships within the church are given to the older and younger men and women, and bondservants. The call to be redeemed from every lawless deed and purified for Christ, His special people, and zealous for good works is in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 calls us into a proper relationship to authority, good works, and humility to all men. After the first and second admonitions, final directions are given, and a charge to be careful to maintain good works, avoiding foolish disputes, and divisive men.
Philemon
This is a personal letter in one chapter to Philemon from Paul on behalf of Onesimus (a runaway slave of Philemon) who has now become a believer in Christ and a minister to Paul. Paul wishes for Onesimus to stay and serve him but only with Philemon’s permission.
Hebrews 1 – 6
This incredible book clarifies the High Priest’s ministry of Jesus: Melchizedek the better priesthood, better hope, better covenant, better promises, purchased with better sacrifices—the sacrifice of Jesus. Chapter One establishes what God has given Jesus in His resurrection, having become better than the angels. Chapter 2 establishes that Jesus had been made lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but is now crowned with glory and honor. He has destroyed “him who had the power of death, the devil” (verse 14), and freed us from the fear of death forever.
Chapters 3 and 4 are the call to hold the confidence and rejoicing of hope firmly to the end. We are admonished three times, out of Psalm 95, to soften our hearts in hearing His voice, rather than hardening our hearts as in the day of rebellion, if we are to enter His rest. Chapters Five and Six introduce Jesus, who has become our High Priest by God’s calling, having been perfected and having learned obedience from the things He suffered. There is so much to share but he can’t. They have become lazy, and need the milk of the word and cannot handle the word of righteousness. Then, he speaks of what maturity looks like in revelation and patience.
HISTORY
1 Samuel 1 – 9
The first book of Samuel follows the lives of three men: Samuel the prophet, Saul the first king of Israel, and David, God’s chosen king. In the first eight chapters, we witness Samuel being born and given to God by His mother Hannah to fulfill her vow to the Lord having asked for and received a son. We see the corrupt priesthood judged because of their contempt for the offerings of God and fornication with women serving at the gate of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is at Shiloh where it had been for 400 years, but in a presumptuous battle, Israel brings along the Ark of the Covenant foolishly thinking it would bring God and victory. They lose both the battle and the Ark of the Covenant.
But the ark cannot stay in the Philistine cities because God’s hand is heavy upon them and the god Dagon. After seven months of afflictions, they send the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel. This sparks a national revival (that Samuel leads) and God brings a great victory to Israel over the Philistines. In Chapter 8, Samuel judges Israel until he is old. He places his sons as leaders of Israel, but they are corrupt. The people ask for a king to be like all the other nations. Samuel is grieved but God tells him to do so since they are rejecting God, not Samuel. In Chapter 9, Saul is introduced to Samuel while searching for his father’s lost donkeys.
POETRY
Psalms 133 – 137
We finish the Psalms of Ascents in Psalm 134 with the blessing of unity, commanded blessing, and a call to lift up our hands in the sanctuary. Psalm 135 calls us to praise and bless the Lord. Psalm 136, to give thanks to the Lord for He is good for His mercy endures forever. Psalm 137 is the sorrow of the captives of Zion by the rivers of Babylon.
PROPHETS
Ezekiel 47 – 48
Healing waters flowed from under the temple’s threshold to the east, increasing in depth the further they flowed, bringing healing to whatever they touched. This is a picture of the living water from the Throne in Revelation 22. The new land is divided with boundaries to the 12 tribes of Israel. Districts are given surrounding the city with a place for each tribe and the name of the city from that day shall be “THE LORD IS THERE.”
Daniel 1 – 3
The first three chapters of Daniel are amazing. No longer a prophet to Israel, Daniel, along with Shadrack, Meshack, and Abed-Nego, are brought into Nebuchadnezzar’s palace to be taught, tested, and brought into favor. This is a fabulous account of honoring God in a foreign land. Chapter 2 becomes an impossible demand from the king, and God answers Daniel’s prayer for the dream and its interpretation. In Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar makes an idol from the dream representing himself, and then Shadrack, Meshack, and Abed-Nego are tested in the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down and worship the image. They are met in the furnace by the fourth man and come out not even smelling of smoke. There is so much in these first three chapters!
