Today's One Year Bible Reading

Daniel

1:3-5 (selected) Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives. "Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men," he said. "Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon." ...They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service. One might ask, "Why would the king go to Judah and get captives to serve in his royal service? Wasn't this risky? Why not just use his own young men?" I have a theory that the young men of Judah (and Israel) were far above young men of other cultures and nations in every aspect. Partly because God had revealed so much divine wisdom to Israel, plus they had His blessings. If you remember, even in Moses' day, the Israelite women were stronger than their Egyptian counterparts and were having babies so fast that they couldn't kill them fast enough. We see evidence of this in later text.

1:9 Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel. We see that whenever someone is given favor or disfavor, God is behind both for His purposes!

1:17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. Here is our first evidence of God-given abilities that made them a "Divine choice" for the job. This is comforting in our own callings, knowing that God will enable us to do His work well.

1:19-20 The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. Big surprise! It's all God. Man cannot take credit for this special ability when put in a special position.

2:1 One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing dreams that he couldn't sleep. The timing of this doesn't make sense to me since Daniel came into his service three years after Nebs conquered Judah. The verse just before mentions Daniel serving until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus. I looked up the two kings and their kingdoms, just so I could piece together the dynamics. Apparently, King Neb was the king of the huge Babylonian Empire, and later he was conquered by Cyrus who set up the next Persian Empire. This is all part of Neb's dream that Daniel interpreted with the different empires. Below is an interesting Wiki perspective on King Cyrus (remember-Cyrus was a Christ type from many of our earlier studies).

Wiki : It was under his own rule that the empire embraced all previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly, and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, from Egypt and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, to create the largest empire the world had yet seen.

The reign of Cyrus lasted 29 to 30 years. Cyrus built his empire by fighting and conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that brought "into subjection every nation without exception." Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in December 530 BC. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.

2:5 But the king said to the astrologers, "I am serious about this. If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble! Can you imagine the insanity of this request? It was definitely put on his heart by God. It was another Divine set up! Only God could truly do this, as we see verbalized in verse 11:

2:11 "The king's demand is impossible. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live here among people."

2:21-22 He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light. Good reminder in light of today's current events!

1 Peter

3:14 AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION... This is a great reminder as we share the truth of God's plan and character with those who vehemently oppose us, especially the "wise and learned."

3:18-20 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah... Since this uses the word "spirits now in prison," I have a feeling this is not talking about mortals. Remember that in the days of Noah, there is a good case that the people living on earth were hybrids of mortals and immortals (sons of God or angels, having sex with the daughters of men, and producing giants). Plus, mortals are just dead/asleep when they die. Spirits, being immortal, are being kept in their proper domain, according to either Jude or 2 Peter (I forget which). So it appears, putting this together with verse 22, that this "proclamation" ended in putting the demons and fallen angels under His authority and subjection all the way back at His resurrection.

3:22 ...Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. Obviously, even though they are in subjection, they are still being used to accomplish His purposes for the ages, right on schedule.

Proverbs

28:14 Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble. Serious.

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Today's One Year Bible Reading

Ezekiel

Chapter 47 appears to be at least on one level a literal prophecy about the physical land in the MK as we even have proper names of locations. If you read the text in NAS, the elements of it can definitely be applied to a spiritual level, too. Check out some of the spiritual applications:

47:7-12 (NAS) Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. This reminds me of Revelation 22 where the trees are pictured growing on the banks of the River of Life in the new city Jerusalem. Perhaps in the MK, it will be a mini version if this, I don't know. Here is Rev. 22:1-2, which is almost a parallel account of EZ:

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Notice that this is the NEW JERUSALEM. EZ seems to be speaking of the earth before the New Jerusalem (at the end of the Judgment Age), but he could certainly be prophesying of this later age instead.

47:8 Then he said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. It is important to note in prophecy that the word "sea" can be a multitude of people. Hence this could be speaking of making the people renewed, just as Revelation indicates.

47:9 "It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes." Remember that fish can be individual people, as when Jesus told His disciples that He was going to make them into fishers of men. This pictures the river of life purifying and gaining momentum as it leaves the sanctuary and flows out to all people!

47:10 "And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many." I believe this speaks on two levels, the second of the great harvest that the "fishermen" will enjoy at this point, when the waters of life are in abundance. This goes hand in hand with the three harvests of mankind that we have studied!

47:12 "By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing." Again, this is a direct reference to the same trees in Revelation 22, producing a crop every month for the healing of the nations.

47:22 (NAS) You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. Again, we see that God shows His intention all along of including the aliens (think E.T. :-) and the foreigners into His plan of inheritance (chosen) as well as announcing it to the Israelites. You would think they would have been prepared by the times of the NT for this announcement that caused so much anger and jealousy!

48:9-12 (NAS selected) "The allotment that you shall set apart to the LORD shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width. The holy allotment shall be for these, namely for the priests... and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its midst. It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok (think, order of Melchizedek or New Covenant), who have kept My charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray as the Levites went astray. It shall be an allotment to them from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, by the border of the Levites. I almost missed this amazing passage the first time through. Do you see the implications? The most holy place around the sanctuary is for the priests in the order of Zadok-the overcomers who are priests to the Lord! What a revered privilege to be an overcomer. We must all strive for this.

1 Peter

2:11 (NAS) Beloved, urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. We've been trying to figure the relationship between the soul and the flesh since the sins of the flesh are often spoken about. They seem to work together to lead us into sin (as we see in this verse) but I believe the Bible teaches that they each must die a separate death. The body dies when we leave our state of mortality (the first death), and the soul can die either here (by our own choosing) or later in the second death. In mortality, the body and soul appear to be inseparable, but in the Judgment Age, they will be separable when the soul is put to death but the body cannot be put to death (raised immortal).

1:13, 17 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. ...Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.  We saw in Jeremiah that God instructed the Israelites to submit even to exile. And we learned that Jesus even submitted Himself to the leaders and authorities of the land. He did not set Himself against the government, even though it wasn't probably any better in His day than ours. He complied in peace. We could all learn something from this. If we believe God that He is sovereign and that He is the one who puts rulers into authority, it should be easier.

Proverbs

28:13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Seems like good advice!

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Today's One Year Bible Reading

Ezekiel

Honestly, I don't feel qualified to try to guess when all of this judgment is coming upon the earth of which EZ speaks. Some people think it has already happened. Some say it will happen just before the Tribulation. And of course yesterday we looked at verses that possibly indicate some of it could happen at the end of the MK. And just about the time we think we've got it figured out, we have to remember that prophecy happens in repeat cycles often times! So all I know is that I don't know much. However, I do know one thing, but I'll let God say it for Himself:

39:28-29 I will leave none of my people behind. And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!"

James

2:20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? I like this James fella. He tells it like it is!

2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. This is probably not a popular teaching in today's Church. But really, there is evidence for this all over the NT! Stephen Jones has a great teaching on this. Our personal Passover is salvation by grace alone, delivering us out of Egypt. Our personal Pentecost would align with what James is saying here. It is the journey of faith and obedience (accompanied by works) necessary on the way to the Promised Land. It is our spiritual sanctification process of living by the Torah (incidentally, given to Israel on the way to the PL). Last is Tabernacles when the Spirit dwells in us in all fullness. For the overcomers, this will happen at the first resurrection.

A lot of people think that James is only speaking to Jews and that the Jews had a different standard than the Gentiles. Many teachers teach that the Gentiles are under a salvation by grace, but the Jews are under a salvation of works. This is because they do not understand the MK and the rewards for obedience. Remember what we have learned. A true Jew is one who has had circumcision of the heart, so this is speaking to us. I just read something tonight by Stephen Jones on this topic too:

The [Hebrew] tribal unit resided in the prince of the tribe, and the tribe could properly be said to be where that person was living. ...Many theologians have assumed that the Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah continued to carry the tribal name of Judah. But Jesus was the Prince of the tribe of Judah, and thus the tribe of Judah itself resided in Him and in those who followed Him. Those who staged a revolt against Him and usurped the throne certainly did take the name of Judah, but it was done so in violation of the law, for by the law (Lev. 17:4) they were cut off from among their people. Hence, non-Christian Jews are not legally of the tribe of Judah -at least not in the sight of God. The only way a Jew can be re-instated into the tribe of Judah is if he quits the revolt and is grafted to Jesus, who is the trunk of the Judah Tree. Those who continue in the revolt are legally defined as God's enemies.

3:14-15 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. I know so many believers (leaders and teacher even) who have selfish ambition and earthly wisdom on which they rely. Here it is described as "demonic!"

3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. I have so seen this! Even in places where great, sacrificial work is being done in the name of the "gospel," I have seen this selfish ambition, greed, and jealousy creep in. It wreaks a host of ungodly behaviors and "fruit." It is so disheartening! How can we recognize true, godly wisdom? How can we check ourselves for true godly wisdom?

3:17-18 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Hmmm. Now that sounds like irresistible wisdom to me. I hope I can be like that when I grow up. It would surely be easier to be wise without a tongue!

Psalm

118:17 I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done. In Papa's biography (you can download and read this, email me!), this is a promise God gave him when he was diagnosed with late stages cancer and given practically no chance of survival. Add to that, he discovered that he had AIDS! Well, around that time, an angel visited him in the night and wrote this verse on the wall in the room where he was staying in illuminated letters. At that point, he knew he would recover. Not only did his cancer disappear, but so did the AIDS! He was being treated by US doctors at that time and they were all astounded.

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Today's One Year Bible Reading

Ezekiel

37:1-14 The Valley of Dry Bones. I have heard many an inspiring message/angle/application of this passage. But today I see it in light of the future of "spiritual Israel" or the overcomers (chosen). To my knowledge, after Israel (this is the audience, see verse 11) was sent into exile, they were never brought back home but were dispersed among the nations. I believe God is giving a prophecy here of the first resurrection of His spiritual Israel, and it is beautiful! NLT makes it sound as if these people will be resurrected and brought back to physical Israel, but in reading NASB, I didn't necessarily get that picture. Though I haven't studied it out yet, I am questioning the chosen reigning and ruling with Christ from a physical land, but think it will likely be something far better (perhaps the New Jerusalem being kept in another realm).

37:15-23 As we go on in this chapter, we see there is the reunion between Judah and Israel. Remember yesterday we discussed Judah as being given the scepter or the dominion mandate and Israel as being given the birthright or the fruitfulness mandate. These two mandates began in Genesis 1:26, 28. So as the kingdom divided, the house of Judah was given dominion or rule (through Jacob's son Judah) and Israel was given the fruitfulness mandate (through Joseph's son Ephraim). These two mandates eventually manifest in the Spirit (not in the flesh). Judah brought about the Messiah who will rule and reign into coming ages. Spiritual Israel is bringing about the manifestation of the "chosen" or the overcomers who will one day rule and reign with Christ and help bring about the fruitfulness fulfillment of the harvest of mankind. It is all very beautiful. And here we see these two "houses" or mandates coming together in the Millennial Kingdom!

37:24-28 Apparently David is going to be given authority once again in the coming age. While this is probably symbolic of Christ on one level, I can't help but think it is also going to be literal-that David is going to be ruling over spiritual Israel in the coming Kingdom. At the end of this passage, it says that the Lord will ALSO be dwelling in our midst.

38:1-23 This chapter is about "Gog and Magog." I believe this is a picture of times at the end of the 1,000-year Millennial Kingdom. Check out verses 8-9:

"After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you."

God goes on to say in latter verses:

"It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. "With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."'

Why do I believe this is the end of the MK? Check out Revelation 20:6-9. It is a picture of the end of the MK when Satan is let out of his chains and he goes out to deceive the nations (mortals, not the immortals who are reigning with Christ) once again:

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Rev. 20:6-9

James

1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. How many times have we seen this theme?

2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? I love how God honors the poor! I only wish I had not shown favoritism to the wealthy at different times in my life. Hard not to do! The overcomers in this world will either be poor, or they will be poor in spirit! A lot of the spirit of this passage is that if overcomers are going to be the judge in a later age over mankind, they cannot be swayed by the things of the flesh.

2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. Pretty much indicts all of us.

2:13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. This is the heart of the kings and priests of God!

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