For today, One Year Bible Online links here. We are approaching the end of the year and the beginning of a new one.

    When you churn cream you get butter. When you punch someone in the nose, it bleeds. When you intentionally make someone angry, they will fight back. Or to put it another way, when you do things that make someone angry, you should expect them to resist the course of action you would like the group to follow.

    I will praise God with all that I am. I will not put my trust in humans because they will only be on this earth for a short while. God made heaven, earth, and the seas, and everything in them. He keeps all of His promises for all of time and beyond. He will give justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. God will reign forever and I will praise Him.

    Today’s passage describes the fall of “Babylon”. The city described was wealthy and powerful. Its people indulged themselves in every luxury and immorality imaginable. The rulers of every nation who indulged in her luxuries and sins will be terrified by her fall. The merchants who sold luxuries to the people of this great city will be terrified as well. God’s people are warned not to take part in her sins, to come away from her or they will be punished with her.
    Whenever I read this passage, it frightens me. The only nation on earth today which fits the description of “Babylon” given here is the United States. What is meant when we are warned to “Come away from her”? Are we supposed to relocate? Or is it enough to resist the sins of the society around us? Is it possible to live in this country and avoid taking part in any of the sines of our society?

    This passage condemns leaders who use their position of authority selfishly rather than to care for those put under their authority. However, it also condemns the people for following such leaders. When we follow evil shepherds rather than the Good Shepherd, we will suffer as a result. God will punish leaders who abuse their positions of power, but that does not mean that we can follow such leaders and not suffer as well.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday. God bless us every one.

    If you have exalted yourself, blown your own horn, or otherwise promoted how wonderful you are to others, you have been foolish and should be ashamed of yourself. If you have planned evil, you should be even more ashamed of yourself.

    Each generation will tell the next of God’s wonderful power. I will meditate on the works which God has done and proclaim His deeds. If you are a faithful follower of God you will speak of the glory of His kingdom and give examples of His power. Let us tell others how God has worked in our lives and exalt Him before all we meet.

    After the seven plagues, one of the seven angels took John to show him another vision. He saw a woman dressed in purple and scarlet, the colors of royalty and wealth, sitting on a scarlet beast. The beast had seven heads and ten horns. I am sure that John believed the woman to be the Roman Empire, and he may have been correct (at least partially). The passage tells us that the seven heads are seven kings, five of whom have already fallen from power, a sixth who is currently ruling, and a seventh who has yet to rise to power. Then we are told that the beast is an eighth king. We are told that the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power.
    The angel in the vision tells John that the beast was alive, is not now, yet will come up out of the Abyss. Those who do not serve God, whose names are not written in the Book of Life, will be amazed when the beast reappears. The beast and the ten horns will hate the woman. They will combine their power first in order to attack God and those who serve Him. They will be defeated, but before that happens they will destroy the woman. The woman is the city who rules over all the kings of the world.
    As I read this passage, parts of it seem to fit into something I can understand, then I read on, or refer back, and it all slips away. However, there are a few points which always remain. First, secular power is always transient. Those peoples and nations who have power today will lose that power before long. The second is that secular powers will, sooner or later, end up defying God and persecuting those who faithfully serve Him.

    Zechariah prophesies that Israel’s neighbors who are also her enemies will be destroyed. Further he prophesies that the remaining Philistines will join the Jews in worshiping God, becoming a clan of Israel. God promises to protect Israel from being overrun ever again. Does this prophecy apply today? Or is it for some time yet to come?
    Zechariah then gives a prophecy concerning the coming of Israel’s king, a prophecy which I see as clearly a prophecy of the Messiah. Zechariah speaks of Israel’s king riding into Jerusalem victorious, but humble. Zechariah tells us that when the Messiah comes, it will not be with great military power. In fact, the Messiah will destroy all military equipment and bring peace to the world. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, at the height of the crowd’s Messianic fervor for Him, it was this passage which He chose to embody. By doing this, Jesus was telling us that He was already victorious and would not be using military force to bring about His Kingdom.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Christmas is coming soon. Let us remember what it is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ. Let us strive to not be caught up in the commercialism which is what this season is about for many in our society today.

    A young person who mocks the advice given by his parents, rather than listen to it, will find themselves in a world of hurt. You know the people I am referring to, those who think their parents are completely clueless and boring. As a result they never pay attention to their parents’ warnings. While some parents are overprotective and restrictive of their children’s behaviors, they all have more experience about the dangers in this world than their children.

    The psalmist cries out to God for rescue from the wicked and the violent. We cannot expect God to rescue us from the wicked and protect us from the violent if we are also wicked and/or violent. We know that God will help the poor and those whom the wicked and violent persecute. Let us choose to be among the persecuted, not the persecutors.

    This passage is more metaphorical than many and understanding it relies on properly identifying the elements of the metaphor. I will be perfectly honest, my experience is that doing that is beyond most people. However, there are a few that are obvious. The woman described in this passage is the Jewish people. The baby she gives birth to is Jesus. The dragon, at least, is easy. The dragon is Satan, or “The Adversary”.
    One of the points we learn from this passage is that the enemies of Jews are advancing Satan’s agenda. This passage tells us that those who seek to weaken or destroy Israel are serving Satan. This does not mean that we are called to support Israel, merely that we should not work for her destruction. This passage is a good starting point to sort out many evil organizations long before the rest of their evil becomes apparent. If an organization, or ideology, spreads the idea that Jews are inherently evil, it is a tool of Satan and will, sooner or later, be revealed to be evil in many other ways.

    Zechariah starts off by reminding us that if we return to God, He will return to us. It is we who left God, not the other way around. If we accept that our suffering is a result of our sin, God will show us how to move on and leave it behind. We cannot expect God to relieve our suffering if we do not turn from our sins.
    The rest of this passage fits in well with today’s passage from Revelation. The prophet describes how God is angry with the nations which He used to punish the sins of the Jewish people. He tells us that when God chose to punish the people of Israel these nations went beyond God’s intentions in bringing harm to them. To me this says that while we may suffer as a result of our actions/sins, that does not excuse those who bring about this suffering. Just because someone deserves to suffer does not mean that we are not sinning when we inflict that suffering on them.