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Daily Bible Study

December 26, 2021 Bible Study — The First And The Last

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 1-3.

I am not sure where I am going with my blog today.  I have some not really connected thoughts.  First I want to point out how John connects Jesus as God.  John writes that God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Then a few verses later he writes that he saw someone “like a son of man” who said to him, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”  Now from the statement, “I was dead,…I am alive for ever and ever” we can only conclude that this is Jesus, because no other being fits that description.  Further, when John writes that God says, “I am the Alpha and Omega,” that is another way of saying, “I am the First and the Last.”  So, in the vision, Jesus told John that He and the Father were one being.  I want to go on to look at the power of God’s statement that He is the One “who is, who was, and who is to come.”  That means that every place and time, God is present.  When good things happen, God is there.  When bad things happen, God is there.  God knows the joys you experience, and the suffering which you experience.  He knows when you bring joy to others, and will reward you.  He knows when you bring pain to others, and will hold you accountable.  Think of the most horrible event you know happened, God was there, offering comfort to those who suffered, and preparing the fate for those responsible for that suffering.

When I started this I intended to write on the messages to the specific churches, But I think  I will stop here.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 25, 2021 Bible Study — Love Is The Antidote For False Teachers

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 John, 3 John, and Jude.

Often times when I comment on passages from different books of the Bible I will separate my blog entry into different sections on each.  I have done that in the past for today’s passages.  However, today I want to comment on the theme which runs through all three.  All three warn us against those who claim to be Believers but preach untruths.  In his second letter (the first of the two we read today), John reminds us that the root of Gospel teaching tells us to live lives filled with love, to allow love to guide all of our actions.  He then warns us against false teachers who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus actually came in the flesh.  If Jesus did not live at the time and place which the Bible proclaims, then nothing in the New Testament is of any value.  In his third letter, John warns against those who spread malicious falsehoods about others in order to keep those over whom they hold sway from being influenced by the thoughts of others.  Then we have the letter from Jude.  Jude warns against those who pervert God’s grace as an excuse for immorality.  He warns us that these people reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings in ways that even the archangel Michael would not do against the devil.  We can recognize those that these writers warn against because they cause division, boast about their own accomplishments, and flatter others (an important point about flattery is that it is designed to make you feel that you are better than others and can look down on them).  Throughout these letters the writers remind us of the importance of God’s love: these false teachers do not practice love towards others and by practicing love towards others we can thwart their false teachings.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 24, 2021 Bible Study — Love Of God Means Love Of Others

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 John 1-5.

Those who claim to know God must live as Jesus lived, loving those around them and hating no one.  Hate will blind us to the light of God’s love.  John here presents a variation of what Jesus said concerning serving two masters.  Just as we cannot serve God and money, so we cannot love both God and the world.  Love of the world leads us to lust and away from humility.  Love of God leads us to love those around us and away from sin.  I find what John writes about Believers and sin to be both comforting and challenging.  He writes that if we claim to be sinless we are calling God a liar.  When we do sin, God will forgive us ours sins if we are willing to confess them.   However, that does not mean that we can sin with impunity.  John writes that no one who lives in Christ will just keep on sinning and that no one who continues to sin knows Christ.  I find this comforting because I know that I am a sinful man, but that God will forgive me if I confess my sins.  I also find this challenging because there are some sins I struggle to avoid.  For me the key in understanding this dichotomy comes from the connotations of the word “confess”.   In order for our confession of sin to be genuine it must involve an understanding that what we did was wrong, it must involve a regret that we did it…not a regret that we got caught.  If we truly regret doing something we will strive to not do that something again, we will avoid putting ourselves in the situations where we are likely to repeat the action which we regret.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 23, 2021 Bible Study — Building Ourselves To Live A Holy And Godly Life

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Peter 1-3.

Peter starts off this, his second letter, by writing that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life.  If we make use of what God has given us we will escape the corruption created by evil desires.  Then at the end of his letter, he writes that the day of the Lord will come like a thief and everything will be destroyed by fire.  Therefore we should live holy and godly lives.  In between Peter warns us not to be deceived by false teachers who despise authority and follow the corrupt desires of the flesh.  All of this becomes possible by building ourselves up with the things which God gave us.  God gave us faith.  As we exercise that faith, and it does need exercise, we begin to practice goodness.  As we practice goodness, as we do good to those around us, we must seek and study to gain knowledge.  As we gain more knowledge, we must begin to exercise self-control.  As all of the above come together we need to care for those around us.  As we begin to care about those around us, we will start to treat them with love.  And as we move on to each stage, the ones that came before will increase, which should lead us to increase the stages which follow.

As I was writing about the building up which Peter described, I was reminded of the process of becoming a better fencer.  If you are going to be a fencer, you need to start out with a few basic drills that allow you to understand how to place your feet and hold the sword.  However, there is only so far that drills can take you.  At some point you need to start facing opponents on the list field, you need to start fencing others.  As you spend time fencing others, you will realize that you need other drills, more drills.  But eventually, you will need to learn why one thing works better than another, you to need to acquire knowledge.  From there you need to develop the self-discipline to practice regularly and the self-control to hit the target you have chosen with the precise force you need.  Then you need to find more and different opponents to fence against.  You need to start to care about the community of fencers, because if you do not, those other fencers whom you need to polish your skills against will not see any reason to work with you.  This will lead you to recruit others, because you will discover that you need to teach to truly develop your skills beyond a certain point.  This illustration is less than a perfect fit.  However, I hope that it helps you see how each level of what Peter describes is not a once and done thing.  When you reach a certain point, you need to add what comes next, but as you improve upon what comes next, you also build up and improve/increase that which came before.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 22, 2021 Bible Study — Repay Evil With Blessing

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Peter 1-5.

Peter begins his letter by reminding us that God has chosen to give us an inheritance in His estate which will last in value for eternity.  This separates it from anything on this earth, because everything on this earth will eventually become of no value.  We may suffer now, in fact Peter writes that we probably will, but that which God has given us cannot be taken from us by those who persecute us.  So, because we have such an inheritance we should be holy, just as Jesus is holy.  Peter does not just tell us to be holy, he tells us what he means when he says that.  He writes that we should rid ourselves of malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.  We should respond to evil with evil, or insult with insult.  Instead we should strive to bring a blessing on those who do evil to us, and build up those who insult us.  Peter writes that suffering will come upon us, let us live so that the suffering results from the good we have done, rather than from wickedness which deserves to suffer.  Let us love one another and offer hospitality to those around us.  If we suffer for being a Christian, let us praise God that we are counted worthy to share Christ’s suffering.  If we prosper in this world let us seek out how we can serve others as a result.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 21, 2021 Bible Study — Ask God For Wisdom And You Will Receive It

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  James 1-5.

James begins his letter by writing that if anyone lacks wisdom they should ask God for it, and God will give it to them generously.  However, when we ask we must believe and not doubt.  Later in today’s passage James writes that fights and arguments among believers occur because we desire and do not have.  He goes on to tell us that we do not have because we do not ask.  Finally, James writes that even when we ask we do not receive because we ask in order to please ourselves rather than in order to please God.  James makes it clear that we should allow godly wisdom to guide us in asking God to give us things.  At the beginning of the letter, he tells us that we should ask God for wisdom, following that up by telling us that God gives generously to all.  Then later James writes about distinguishing between true wisdom, the wisdom of God, and the wisdom of this world.  The latter contains envy and selfish ambition.  The wisdom of this world is about promoting oneself either to fame or to wealth (or to both).  On the other hand, true wisdom leads one to humbly do good deeds peaceably, with purity, and impartiality.  So, James tells us to request wisdom from God, and then to pray for whatever that wisdom leads us to desire.  If we have faith that God will answer our prayers offered with His wisdom, He will grant us our requests.  And how do we know that we have the faith needed to obtain that which we desire?  Because we act on the basis of that faith.  Or as I have written from time to time about Jesus’ statement that if we have faith no larger than a mustard seed if we tell a mountain to move into the sea it will move.  If we genuinely have faith that what God desires will come about by a mountain moving into the sea, we will pray for it to move and then grab a shovel and start moving it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 20, 2021 Bible Study — Get Rid Of Sin, And Everything Else Which Hinders Us From Doing Good

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 12-13.

Having given examples of the many people who have lived by faith in yesterday’s passage, the writer tells us that such people are witnesses to what we do today (or perhaps they are witnesses to what we should do today).  Therefore we should get rid of sin which entangles us, and everything which hinders us from doing the good to which our faith should inspire us.  The writer enjoins us to keep our eyes on and imitate Jesus, who suffered dying on the cross in order to gain the joy which comes from being faithful.  He goes on to encourage us to be willing to bleed, and even die, in our struggle against sinning.  Let us view any hardship which we endure as discipline from God designed to train us to be more like Him.  But the writer does not limit himself to telling us to endure the suffering and hardship which comes from throwing off sin.  He goes on to lay out some of the good which we should do in replacement for that sin which we should no longer do.  We should love one another and be hospitable to everyone, perhaps especially to strangers.  Let us offer up to God a sacrifice of praise and of sharing with others.  And once again we have the command to pray, which challenges me every time I see it mentioned.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 19, 2021 Bible Study — Faith Leads To Action

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 10-11.

The writer continues to expound on his theme about how we may enter into the presence of God because Jesus has offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins once for all time.  He then goes on to speak about how we are saved by faith.  The similarity to the way in which Paul writes on the same subject is striking.  And yet this writer is different enough in his word choices for it to be clear that he is not Paul.  The writer makes it clear that we are saved by putting out faith in God, but he also gives examples of the accomplishments to which our faith should lead us.  The writer lists many great heroes of the Bible whose accomplishments resulted from their faith.  He includes in that list those whose faith led them to suffer great pain and even death.   I want to end my thoughts today with this writer’s definition of faith: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 18, 2021 Bible Study — Jesus, A High Priest After The Order Of Melchizedek

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

I find this passage hard to write about because I feel that the writer has done such a good job of putting together the complex argument he is making that I am not sure how to highlight the key points which he makes.  The writer tells us that Jesus is our high priest, but He is not a priest of the Law of Moses.  Those priests were commissioned to serve in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple, which were but copies of the heavenly, eternal place of worship.  Further, those priests only served until their death.  Jesus, on the other hand, serves as high priest in the heavenly Tabernacle and in the direct presence of God.  Jesus also lives forever so there will never be a time when He is no longer high priest.  Jesus will be able to intercede between God and man for eternity.  The writer discusses how in the copy of the Tabernacle which existed on earth there was a veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, a veil which was torn when Jesus died on the cross.  That veil is no longer necessary because Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and now we can enter directly into God’s presence where Jesus will intercede for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

December 17, 2021 Bible Study — Wrapping Our Heads Around God’s Infinite Love

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I find the Book of Hebrews challenging because the writer chose to cover some rather advanced theology in his letter.  While Paul covers similarly advanced theology in some of his letters, we have more letters by Paul from which to learn to understand the way he words things.  The writer begins by pointing out that Jesus was distinct from the angels.  Jesus was not a special kind of angel, He was, and is, something completely different.  Angels are spirits sent by God to minister to and to serve those whom He has save by His grace.  The writer goes on from there to answer the question, “If Jesus is not an angel, what is He?”  Jesus became fully human. So, He was human, but He is also God.  More than any other writer in the Bible the writer of Hebrews tackles the fact that human comprehension cannot fully explain God.  We must be left with using metaphors and similes about God which we know do not fully explain any aspect of Him.  When the writer tells us that we need to work on consuming solid spiritual food rather than continuing to subsist on spiritual milk he is alluding to the fact that we must move beyond simple metaphors for God, that we must wrestle with explaining Him in better ways than that.  We may not succeed, but we should strive to wrap our heads around the infinite greatness which is God and His love.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.