by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 30-31
Hezekiah had a proclamation written up (the cell phone of the day), and sent word throughout the land. Judah – and anyone from Israel who wanted to participate – was to gather at Jerusalem in two months to celebrate the Passover.
“O Sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. And do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of your fathers, so that He made them a horror, as you see…For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will find compassion before those who led them captive, and will return to the land. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”(30:6-9)
When Israel and Judah had strayed so far from the Lord, it must have seemed radical to many for Hezekiah to want to put out this proclamation. The people – including the kings and priests – were deriving their vision from those around them. The present culture, and not the true God, had established the patterns of thought.
Doesn’t that seem like today? Many leaders – even ministers – use the surrounding culture to establish how they want to live. Sometimes people begin to believe that they are too smart for our Christian God. (Boy are they wrong)!
Hezekiah turned to the ancient writings to remind himself of the way it was supposed to be. And he followed the course prescribed. This was huge, since this feast had not been celebrated for many years.
The priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, because they had been unfaithful to God’s principles of worship.
When the celebration got underway, there was tremendous rejoicing. The people didn’t know what they were missing until they experienced it.
Then they all went about destroying the idols and altars to the foreign gods.
“So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.” (30:26)
There is great joy when we return to the truths of the Bible. Of course, there are certain things which are cultural. But there are certain truths which are constant whether you are living in New York City in a high-rise overlooking Central Park or a remote village of Africa. Or whether you lived two centuries ago or today. Certain truths prevail.
Oh, Lord, let us find the truth of your Word, and let us live it out the way you want us to!
John 18:1-18
There was certainly power in the words of Jesus! And power in His breath.
When the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, He said’ “Whom do you seek?” They answered, “Jesus, the Nazarene.” When Jesus replied “I am He,” the soldiers drew back and fell to the ground. (V. 4-5)
Now think about that for a minute. These Roman soldiers were not wimps. The Roman Empire was known for having a strong, disciplined army. They conquered all of the neighboring territories and brought them under subjection.
Don’t you think that they themselves were surprised when they fell down? Such power came out of the mouth of Jesus that they couldn’t withstand the force.
Now that’s what I call “power in your words!”
No one could take Jesus’ life until He was ready to lay it down. This was His time, so he submitted to the arrest and the coming trial.
“The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”(V. 11)
Thank you, Lord, for doing that for us.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 7-9
Fire from heaven to burn the offering, and God’s glory so strong that people could not enter the temple. That’s the way we start these chapters. All the sons of Israel are so overwhelmed with God’s goodness that they bow down on the pavement with their faces to the ground.
Days and days of sacrifices and worship. It has taken twenty years to build this temple, and this glorious celebration is greater than any ever in the history of Israel.
So we proceed with Solomon’s spectacular reign – his wisdom and his wealth. Again we see the account of the queen of Sheba coming to see for herself and being star-struck when she meets Solomon in person.
Yet at the end of these chapters, we see Solomon dying in total failure as he is succeeded by son, Rehoboam.
This version of the history leaves out a few of the dirty little secrets, but we can read between the lines, because we have already read the I Kings account.
Solomon, because of his tremendous wealth and wisdom, got the big head, and added many foreign wives to his collection of “things.” And in doing so, he built altars to every kind of god imaginable, and even turned to them himself on occasion.
Solomon had been warned, but he didn’t heed the warnings. Instead, he seemed to turn a deaf ear to his younger, holier voice as he aged. This king eventually turned away from God.
I Kings 11:6 says,” and Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord …” Don’t you find that hard to imagine? I do!
God’s beautiful land, which had seen His glory and literal presence so that the priests could not stand, was about to be divided.
There is a covenant which we have with our God – just as Solomon did. (Actually ours is better, because Jesus has already come). That covenant promises us blessings in abundance – protection, provision, and health for ourselves and our families. Yet it is conditional.
The conditional part is that we, as His covenant people, promise to be faithful to Him. We promise to love Him with our whole hearts, and to love others as ourselves.
If we do our part, He will always do His. Our God is faithful to His Word and will never let us down.
Oh, Lord, keep us close to You. We love you.
John 11:1-44
“Lazarus, come forth.” Jesus, with a loud voice shattered the wall between death and life, and the dead man arose. He had been dead for four days, and everyone considered this over, but our Savior showed them something different.
Everyone had seen Jesus heal the sick, so they believed that he could heal Lazarus if He would just hurry to the scene. However, Jesus tarried, staying two days longer after He had heard the report.
Mary and Martha were upset with Him “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Each of them challenged the Lord upon His appearance.
However, Jesus was not moved at all. He knew God’s plan and His power – and He knew that Lazarus would rise up to the glory of God. In fact this was one more way of showing how great our God is.
Have you ever been praying for something which you knew was God’s will, but it just doesn’t seem to come about?
Don’t give up. If you know that it is God’s will; if it’s a promise that you have seen in His Word, don’t give up.
I have seen turn-arounds occur in the lives of certain people that almost shocked me. Sometimes they would be people that I would be praying for and it seemed that nothing ever changed. Then suddenly.
Oh, I love that Word when we are talking about our God. Suddenly.
He can suddenly cause things to click in a way that surpasses your imagination. He is God and He can do it.
Our part is to be true to Him, to pray and not faint, and to expect great things when we pray.
It’s an exciting life when we live it with Jesus.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Chronicles 13-15
The ark of God, signifying His presence, is brought back to Jerusalem. We read about this in II Samuel, but there is a little more explanation here.
The ark had not been sought during the days of Saul. David, who is a man after God’s heart, desires God’s presence and honors His presence. He wants the ark, but there is a way to obtain it.
By putting the ark on a new cart with oxen bringing it in, and then having someone reach up to steady it through a rocky spot, a man gets killed. David is upset and leaves it with Obed-edom.
Okay, Obed gets blessed, so let’s go again – this time let’s do it right. There were clear instructions to Moses concerning the ark and how to carry it. It wasn’t to be carried on a donkey cart, but by poles on the shoulders of Levites. (the priestly tribe).
Everything runs smoothly this time. The ark of God’s presence goes up to Jerusalem.
There are some principles for us today. Our God loves us and wants to be close to us, just as we do to Him – even more so. Yet let’s not forget that He is God; we aren’t. His plans and ways of doing things are to be honored by us, and not to be changed.
He’s the sun; we are the moon. We reflect His light (His glory), but we don’t have any light of our own. When we represent Him, we can’t take it upon ourselves to change His principles. In other words, we are to represent Him to the world – and not substitute our own ideas.
There are many doctrines being thrown out there today which certainly do not represent God. Ministers are trying to uphold the idea of grace apart from accountability.
Their mantra is: God is love. Well, that’s right, God is love. That’s not the question. The question is do we love Him?He has shown His love to us by sacrificing his Son. Now we show our love back by giving our lives to Him.
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox.
The point is that God desires to have His presence be manifested where He is honored as the One True God.
In His presence there is true joy, peace, love, provision, healing – everything good. Everything we could desire. It’s worth doing it His way.
John 7: 1-24
This seems like a continuation of the Old Testament reading today. Jesus says, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. (V. 18) And then, “Do not judge according to appearance, but with righteous judgment.” (V. 24)
The Pharisees were supposedly representing God, but they weren’t really – obviously. They were seeking their own glory.
The Pharisees had become used to being honored as great men of God. The had long robes of distinction and held the seats of highest honor. people generally looked up to them – and even feared them, because they had the right to put people out of the temple.
Yet instead of truly being God’s men, they were their own men. They held themselves higher than God.
Regardless of the stature someone might hold in the world, if they are going to understand God’s ways, they have to be humble before Him. There is no amount of grandeur, or intelligence, or ability which can ever place man higher than God.
This statement should be obvious, but it’s surprising sometimes to see the arrogance men have against their Creator.
True humility is like a golden key which unlocks God’s presence, His power, and His purpose. Without that humility, we stumble around in the dark.
Dear Father, open our eyes so that we can see You and understand Your plans. We want to partake of Your presence and purpose.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Kings 7-9
These times in history seem far removed from what we think about today. The societies were much less sophisticated, and most people seem to be just be seeking survival. Very dark times, indeed.
In fact, it seems that the only people who are truly committed to the Lord are the prophets and a few kings.
These times are similar to the dark ages of the Christian church. Roughly from the 6th century to the 15th century, the Christian church went into great darkness. There was a lot of corruption in the church, and lots of heretical teachings which took away the true power of God. In fact, the lay people were not allowed to read the scriptural texts for themselves; they had to have the priests tell them what they said.
People were taught that they had to go through the priest to reach God, and much advantage was taken of the people – large sums of money to “pay” for their sins.
In the 16th century, Martin Luther, a German monk was reading the scriptures when he realized that people are saved by faith and not by works. He wrote 95 Theses stating arguments against the Catholic Church and nailed them to the door of the monastery at Wittenburg. Of course, he came under great persecution, but Luther set a fire in the hearts of men which led to the Protestant Reformation.
Throughout the Dark Ages, God still had people who truly believed him and kept the fire in their hearts, even though it wasn’t reflected in society as a whole. It was the same during these days of Jewish history in II Kings. It seemed that only the prophets were believers, but God spoke to Elijah and said, “There are 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.”
We are to learn lessons from these scriptures. First we are to see how easy it is for each succeeding king to go with the flow of culture and leave God out of the story. (That’s a warning to us). Then next it is easy to see that God is a rewarder of those who truly seek Him – even in the darkest of times. Right in the middle of the darkness, we see miracles and His hand working on behalf of those who honor Him and believe Him.
We also see that, even though they seemed far removed from Him, God still had His hand on his covenant people. Our God never forsakes a covenant He has made.
He does the same with us.
John 1:1-28
John’s gospel is my favorite. The three gospels we have read so far are called the “synoptic” gospels. They are similar in that they all cover the natural accounts of what Jesus did and said as He ministered on the earth. They recount His miracles and His teachings. Yet they make very little mention of what these things might mean.
John’s gospel is different. He shares an understanding of the deeper revelation of just who Jesus is.
John starts by saying that Jesus was the Word – and all things which came into being came through Him. This may be hard to understand, but if you and I will ask our teacher, the Holy Spirit, He will help clarify the concepts we are going to learn.
This concept reflects back to the beginning of the Bible when we see that God said this and that to create (or recreate) the world. He literally spoke the world into existence. Jesus was the One who spoke the Word. The Word of God is the most powerful thing on the earth. It has the power to create!
Then, too, when Gabriel came to Mary and spoke the Word to her, saying that she would give birth to the Son of God, she said “Be it done to me according to your Word.”(Luke 1:38). The Word spoken to Mary became flesh within her womb and Jesus was born into the earth.
I can hear the Star Wars music going off in your ears right now, but hang in there. This is good – and this is true!
Then Jesus is called the “light.” He came to shine in darkness. As the light, Jesus came to set off the light bulb within each of us. That ah-ha moment, when we realize that He really is the Son of God …that God really does love us …and that God really did send Jesus to die for our sins.
So all the healings and all the teachings Jesus did were to turn on the light in the hearts of people to let them know that God is on their side – if they will get on His.
Yet The gospel says that “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God.”(v.11-12) “Those who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”(v.13).
This second birth – the born again experience – is truly the greatest occasion of anyone’s life.
We’ll be reading more about this as we continue with the book of John. In the meantime, meditate on these things as you go about your day. When you truly grasp what is being said here, your life will be changed forever.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 21-22
Should we say, “Corruption in government?” When we see lies, cover-ups, and greed in our modern government, we sometimes think that it’s a new thing. It isn’t.
Jezebel and her entourage were masters of corruption. When the honorable Naboth wouldn’t sell his land to King Ahab, Jezebel flippantly devised a plan to have people give false testimony and have Naboth murdered. To her, it was just a matter of course – and her followers were so very willing to comply. Such evil!
Elijah had gone up on Mount Carmel and had confronted the priests of Baal. So all of Israel had a demonstration of the one true God, but Jezebel wasn’t moved. The Word says, “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.”(21:25)
Jezebel controlled her husband through and through.
Then here come the false prophets. When evil leaders are in power, they definitely have an influence over those around them. There are some who will do anything to gain the praise of these leaders.
It’s worth noticing that Ahab says, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”(22:8) Imagine that! A true prophet. The majority are dishonorable “yes men.”
The king is warned that when he goes into battle he will not prevail, but he locks up the true prophet in a dungeon and goes anyway, disguising himself, thinking that he can outsmart God.
But, no! He can’t outsmart God, and the evil king is killed in battle, just as was prophesied. His evil son, Ahaziah, takes over the reigns of Israel.
In the meantime, Jehoshaphat is king in Judah, and he is more honorable. In fact, he is considered to be a “good” king in the sight of the Lord.
As I go through these books of the Bible and these times in history, I often see our modern era. I’m sure that you do also.
When prosperity and sophistication come to a nation, there is always a tendency to start changing God’s message. The culture gets mixed with the gospel, and a hybrid gospel appears.
For any generation to remain true to God’s plan the plumb line has to remain in place. The plumb line of God’s Word.
When the building doesn’t look straight, move the building, not the standard.
Luke 23:26-56
As Jesus is taken to the cross, He makes a poignant remark. The women are crying and mourning over Him, but He tells them to stop.
He says, “For behold, the days are coming when they will say…to the mountains, ‘fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?”(v.30-31)
Jesus is speaking of the judgment which is coming on the Jewish nation. They are the green tree, and should know when the Savior finally arrives. After all, the underlying reason for God’s covenant with this nation over these many centuries was to bring forth an understanding of God and to bring forth the Messiah.
Here He is: the Savior, and they are killing Him. There is no way that the blessing will be remaining on this generation. They will be dry, and no telling what will happen.
Jesus is saying to the women who are crying, “Mourn for yourselves and your nation. Hard times are coming.”
There may be times when God seems to be quiet and His Word seems to be far away. However, His Word is true, whether we believe it or not. All that He says will come to pass.
Just thinking about that makes me want to stick close to Him!
