For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Someone who offers to guarantee a strangers debt is likely a bad risk, make sure that they are good for the debt. Don’t offer to guarantee a stranger’s debt unless you know that you are able to pay it.

    Read this psalm and remember that God will stand beside us even when those we thought our friends turn on us as it describes. And let us never be like the psalmist’s enemies. God will save us if we are faithful to Him and recognize our need for Him.

    In yesterday’s passage the writer wrote that the sacrifices under the old system were not able to purify people from sin, which was why they needed to be offered over and over again. In today’s passage he writes that Jesus by His death offered a sacrifice which does make us clean. Thus we are allowed into God’s presence. As a result, let us seek ways to build each other up, encouraging each other to love and good deeds. The writer points out, almost as an aside, that if we are going to encourage one another (and be encouraged) we need to meet together.
    The writer than writes one of the most thorough debunking of the idea some people have that they can do whatever they like because of God’s grace. The writer tells us that if we deliberately and knowingly keep on sinning once we have learned God’s truth, there is no sacrifice left. We cannot be forgiven for sins we do not regret and we will not plan on repeating sins which we genuinely regret.

    Ezekiel compares the kingdoms of Israel and Judah to two sisters. They both married, but lusted after other men. Rather than relying on God for protection, the kingdom of Israel sought a protective alliance with Assyria. The Assyrians responded by completely conquering the land and taking the people of the Northern Kingdom into captivity. The kingdom of Judah did not learn from Israel’s example. They, too, sought alliance with Assyria, surviving that alliance only because Assyria fell before it could conquer Judah. Then they sought a similar alliance with Babylon, but rather than be loyal even to Babylon, they rebelled against Babylon and sought the protection of Egypt. The point of all of this is that rather than trust God to protect them, they turned to various human powers for security. God warned them, but they chose their path and paid the price. Let us not make the same mistake.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    A wise man makes his father happy. His father’s critics will be silenced by the son’s behavior.

    If the Lord has redeemed you, speak out! Tell your story at every opportunity. Each of us has a story to tell. Some of us were lost and homeless, some of us were imprisoned, some were foolish, some faced dangers from the forces of nature. However, when we cried out to God, when we turned to Him, He saved us from our distress and showed us how to live our lives. He will rescue us from trouble and provide for us. Let us give thanks to the Lord for what He has done for us and tell our stories to those who will listen.

    Under the old covenant, the blood of goats and bulls was used to purify people of ceremonial impurity. The high priest took an offering of such blood into the Most Holy Place to intercede with God for the people. This Most Holy Place was a copy of the one in heaven. Christ has entered into the Tabernacle in heaven (the one which the earthly Tabernacle was a copy) and offered His own blood as a sacrifice to purify everyone, once and for all time, before God. Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and, since He was perfect, He only had to make this sacrifice one time.
    This once and done nature of Christ’s sacrifice is part of what makes it different from the myths and legends which bear it some resemblance. Almost all of the myths which people compare to the Gospel story involve the god dying and rising from the dead each year as part of the cycle of the seasons. Christ’s death and resurrection are not like those myths created to explain the seasons in that Christ died just once and rose from the dead to eternal life. Instead of being a metaphor for the changing of the seasons, Christ’s death and resurrection are about God, once and for all time, reconciling mankind to Himself.

    Some of the leaders of Israel came to Ezekiel asking for a message from God. The message they received was not the message they had hoped to receive. God condemned them for asking for a message from Him. The reason for God’s condemnation was that they had come for a message from God, but they intended to continue to worship idols. They wanted to be like the people’s around them. They fully intended to continue offering their children as sacrifices so that they would not stand out as different. They wanted the benefits of worshiping God without being different from those who do not. That is not one of our options. We can be just like those around us. We can live our lives so as to be accepted by those who deny God. Or, we can live our lives worshiping God. God will not accept our worship if we live like those who do not worship Him, who deny His very existence.