Archive for the ‘December’ Category

What is YOUR resolution for 2013?

Posted: December 31, 2012 by Pam Larson in Bible Reading Tools, December, Devotionals/Commentaries
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Jonathan Edwards wrote 70 resolutions in 1722-1723. Here is #28:

“28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.”

What is YOUR resolution for 2013?

For the last four years, I have been writing at this site, which has followed the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan.  This is the plan that Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis uses.  I have included the Bible passages for each day, along with commentary, meditation or devotional article on each passage.

The advantages to this plan-  you read through the entire Bible once and there are “catch-up” days:

  • To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only 25 readings. Since you’ll have several “free days” each month, you could set aside Sunday to either not read at all or to catch up on any readings you may have missed in the past week.
  • If you finish the month’s readings by the twenty-fifth, you could use the final days of the month to study passages that challenged or intrigued you.

Please leave a comment or email me at larson “at” Bible-daily.org. I would love to hear how this reading plan and the commentary have helped you, and whether you intend to continue reading along with “Knowing God Through His Word…Day by Day”.

Blessings in the New Year and may you see God more clearly and know Him more dearly!

This is the last chapter of the Bible, and this is the last duty of man:

Posted: December 25, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Revelation
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I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” Revelation 22:8-9

John Piper, in a sermon, “Worship God!”

The angel said to John, when he fell down at the angel’s feet, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” In other words, don’t worship angels, worship God! Don’t worship nothing, worship God! Don’t neglect God or despise God, worship God! This is the last chapter of the Bible, and this is the last duty of man: worship God!

J.C. Ryle: There is enough and to spare.

Posted: December 25, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, John
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Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25

J.C. Ryle wraps up our reading of John:

As much of Christ’s sayings and doings is recorded as the mind of man can take in. It would not be good for the world to have more. The human mind, like the body, can only digest a certain quantity. The world could not contain more, because it would not. As many miracles, as many parables, as many sermons, as many conversions, as many words of kindness, as many deeds of mercy, as many journeys, as many prayers, as many warnings, as many promises, are recorded, as the world can possibly require. If more had been recorded they would have been only thrown away. There is enough to make every unbeliever without excuse, enough to show every inquirer the way to heaven, enough to satisfy the heart of every honest believer, enough to condemn man if he does not repent and believe, enough to glorify God. The largest vessel can only contain a certain quantity of liquid. The mind of all mankind would not appreciate more about Christ, if more had been written. There is enough and to spare. This witness is true. Let us deny it if we can.

And now let us close the Gospel of John with mingled feelings of deep humility and deep thankfulness. We may well be humble when we think how ignorant we are, and how little we comprehend of the treasures which this Gospel contains. But we may well be thankful, when we reflect how clear and plain is the instruction which it gives us about the way of salvation. The man who reads this Gospel profitably, is he who “believes that Jesus is the Christ, and, believing, has life through His Name.” Do we so believe? Let us never rest till we can give a satisfactory answer to that question!

Sun of Righteousness

Posted: December 25, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Malachi
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Merry Christmas! I hope and pray that you have seen and known more of God through the reading of His Word this year.  As you sing and celebrate the coming of Jesus, here is a segment (rather long, but worth it!) of a sermon from Malachi (our final Old Testament reading for today) that helps to explain the third verse of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His Wings.
Now He lays His Glory by,
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the New-born king!”

John Piper, in a sermon “The Sun of Righteousness Will Rise” from Malachi:

But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. Malachi 4:2

When John the Baptist’s father prophesied in Luke 1:78, he alluded to this verse and said that with the coming of Jesus the day was dawning from on high. The sun of righteousness was rising. And he has been rising all over this world ever since. And one day his rise will reach its noonday brightness and he will appear in glory and the final division between the believing and unbelieving will be made.

Five Pictures of What the Coming of Jesus Means

But for those who fear the Lord—who wake up from their indifference or rebellion against him and honor him with trust and allegiance—what does the coming of the Lord mean?

What does it mean for you today if you are a biblical Christian? What could it mean for you if you would be?

Five pictures from verse 2:

  1. A rising sun
  2. Beams of righteousness
  3. Wings of healing
  4. Breaking out of a stall
  5. Leaping like calves

1. A Rising Sun

Jesus Christ is a rising sun.

That means at least four things. I’ll mention only two (omitting: warmth where there was cold, and growth where there was atrophy).

Light Where There Was Darkness

He brings light where there was darkness. And when you have light, you can see. Jesus helps us see things like they really are. He makes sense out of things. He said to Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” And Pilate mocked him and said, as though he lived in the twentieth century, “What is truth?”

That is the tragic and cynical cry of our age: What is truth! Not because there’s a passion for truth, but because there is so much skepticism that any such thing exists. And the effect of this skepticism and relativism is moral and intellectual and personal and family bankruptcy. Why do many families come apart? Because they have no anchor of truth. The husband and father has no clear vision of why he or his children exist. And so all he can do is pass on a few tips for how to make more money or stay healthy. And the emptiness gets deeper and deeper with each unbelieving generation.

But Jesus is the light of the world. He brings sense and meaning out of absurdity.

Security Where There Was Danger

The second thing implied by his being a rising sun is that he brings security where there was danger. When it is dark, there is more danger because you can’t see the path in front of you. You might fall off a cliff or trip over a log or bang your head against a branch.

When the sun finally rises, you can move with security. That’s the way it is with Jesus. He points the way to go again and again. He shows up the danger and the foolishness of many choices before we make them. He guards us from many evil forces that only have power in the dark.

So when Jesus comes into the world, he comes as a sun: he is light in the darkness of confusion and ignorance and skepticism. He gives a fixed point of truth in a world where every standard seems to have come unglued. And in doing this, he guards us from destroying our lives and keeps us safe.

2. Beams of Righteousness

The sun is a sun with beams of righteousness.

Which means that Jesus makes things right. He makes man right with God through reconciliation. He makes man right with man through grace and humility and patience and love. And in the end, he will make right all the wrongs that his people have suffered, so that we don’t have to carry the burden of indignation and revenge.

If you look at the incredible injustices in the world today, and see people suffering when they seem innocent and prospering when they seem wicked, Jesus gives an answer: where he is trusted, he can reconcile and restore; where he’s not, he will have the last word in the judgment.

3. Wings of Healing

This sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings.

I can remember the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean nineteen years ago this week. Noël and I were on our honeymoon. We were up early one morning and saw how it happens on the rim of the ocean.

A thin line of orange and red appears along the water. Then it intensifies, brighter and brighter, and you see the brightness focusing more and more on the center of the line, until the flaming ball surges up out of the water. And then you watch it rise up, and in a sense it brings that whole red line on the rim of the water up into the air as though the sun had wings.

When Malachi saw that, God told him: the coming of the Messiah will be like that and the effect of his beauty will be healing. And Jesus was a great healer. All I have time to say now is that though Jesus does not heal every disease in this life, he will heal every disease in the resurrection. In other words Jesus meets the tremendous need we all feel for hope beyond the grave—that all sickness and pain and sorrow and crying will be gone forever.

4. Breaking Out of a Stall

One effect of all this for those who fear the Lord (and this is the fourth image from verse 2) will be a going forth from the stall—”You shall go forth from the stall.”

The coming of Jesus means freedom not bondage. I remember talking to a thoughtful young woman a few years ago about my sermons on Christian Hedonism and whether I really believed joy was what all people were really after. I asked her what made her tick. And she said, “For me freedom seems more basic.”

I wouldn’t want to minimize that deep longing in our hearts for freedom. It is real and it is essential to all joy. And Jesus promises to give it. Until he comes, we are all in a real sense trapped and bound in the stall. We might party all day long; but we will never know the freedom for which we were made as long as we are in the stall—until Jesus sets us free.

5. Leaping Like Calves

But I stand by my Christian Hedonism of those days because the fifth image from verse 2 is that when the sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings and we are set free from the stall of bondage, we will not merely walk, or run; we will leap like calves.

In other words freedom is the necessary condition of leaping joy. Jesus said once (Luke 6:22–23), “Blessed are you when men hate you . . . Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven.”…

The True Meaning of Christmas

That is the meaning of Christmas: Jesus comes

  • to give light and truth where there was darkness and confusion,
  • to set things right where they were wrong,
  • to give healing where there was sickness and brokenness,
  • to give freedom where there was bondage,
  • and to give calf-life joy where there was dreariness and fear.

 

Savoring the sweetness of God

Posted: December 25, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Job
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John Piper, in a sermon on Job 42, “Job:Reversal in Suffering”

Neither bad theology (in the words of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) nor good theology (in the words of Elihu) gives us the knowledge of God which changes a person’s heart. “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). There is a knowledge that only comes through tasting. Five seconds of honey on the tongue will show you more sweetness than ten hours of lectures about the sweetness of honey. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Until God gives you a taste of his goodness all the theology in the world will not give you a knowledge of his goodness that changes your heart and saves your soul.

Job Tasted and Saw That the Lord Is Good

When Elihu was finished speaking the truth to Job, Job said nothing. Only after God spoke (in chapters 38–41) did Job say, “I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee” (42:5). When God himself came to Job and spoke and took the initiative to make himself known to Job, Job tasted God! And his eyes were opened.

Now Job has a new sense of God’s reality. It is more than intellectual or speculative knowledge. It is the knowledge of the heart. He has tasted. And now he sees. And the result is a broken and changed man.

Job Confesses Three Great Truths

In 42:1–6 Job bows in reverent submission to confess three great truths.

  1. In verse 2 he confesses the truth that God is absolutely sovereign: “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.”
  2. In verse 3 he confesses the truth that God’s wisdom makes his own wisdom look like ignorance: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
  3. And in verse 6 he confesses the truth that he is guilty of despicable sin in questioning the ways of God: “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

A Broken and Changed Person

Job is a broken and changed man. That’s what happens when you really see God. It happened to Isaiah: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips . . . for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). It happened to Peter when Jesus showed his power: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). It happened to the centurion when Jesus came to his house: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (Luke 7:6).

Before Job saw God in this way, he had esteemed himself somewhat highly and had not hesitated to assert his righteousness. Now he sees himself more clearly. And what he sees drives him to repentance.

If we don’t feel grieved for our sin, and deeply unworthy of God’s goodness, then we need to pray earnestly that God would show us himself—that he would cease to be a mere doctrine that we hear with our ear, and instead would become an awesome, infinitely holy, dreadful, and wonderful Sovereign that we taste and see with our hearts.

To read or listen to the rest of this sermon, click here:

The First and Last

Posted: December 24, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Revelation
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And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:6-8

Dr. John Piper, in a sermon, “I am Alpha and Omega”:

In Revelation 21:6 God identifies himself as “Alpha and Omega.” Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and omega is the last letter of the alphabet. In other words God is “the beginning and the end.”

But God isn’t speaking about alphabets. He is speaking of reality. God is absolutely the beginning and absolutely the end. Everything that is originates ultimately in him. And everything will somehow end with him.

Isaiah puts it like this: “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god” (44:6). In other words, since everything comes from God and nothing will outlast God, therefore God has no final competitors. “Besides me there is no god!” God has the first word and the last word in history. All other attempts to have the last word will fail. The pottery has no beginning apart from the Potter, and in the end it will all serve the purposes of the Potter.

Alpha

I can’t urge you too often to meditate on the staggering truth that God is the absolute Alpha. Find some serene moment of your life and let the truth take hold of you that God is the FIRST—the BEGINNING. Before him there was nothing. There was no “before him.” Just think of it! For millions and billions and trillions of unending years God existed and never had a beginning. He is the beginning. From everlasting to everlasting, he is God (Psalm 90:2). There never was a time when he was not.

We might marvel that God is infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his justice, wisdom, power, goodness, and truth. But when you pause to think that he never chose to be this way, nor did anyone else choose to make him this way, it staggers the mind. The justice and wisdom and power and goodness and truth of God are eternal reality. The character of God is not what reality brought forth. It is reality. God did not emerge out of many possibilities. Everything emerged out of him. He determines all possibilities. God is not a piece of reality that you try to fit in with other pieces. He is the first and the last and the all-encompassing reality: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Omega

But the truth that I want us to focus on this morning is that God is Omega. I think that is the focus of our text in Revelation 21:6. The statement, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” comes in a passage dealing with the end of history. So the special focus in this text is on God as the omega of all things.

What does it mean that God is Omega, or the end? Let’s read verses 5–8. “And he who sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true,’ And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’”

How God Is the End for those Thirsty for Him

This text makes plain that God is the Omega, or the end, in two different senses. For the thirsty (it says in verse 6) he is the end in the sense that he will be the source of their life forever. He will be their God and they will be his children enjoying his inheritance forever and ever. He was the fountain of their life in creation, and he will be the fountain of their life in the consummation.

For those who conquer, for the thirsty, God is not the beginning and the end the way a river begins with a spring and ends in an ocean. An ocean is supplied and filled up with the rivers that flow into it. God is not supplied or filled up by the thirsty saints that come to him in the end. No, for the thirsty, God is the beginning and the end the way a desert caravan begins at an oasis and ends at an oasis. God is a fountain of life at the beginning, and he is a fountain of life at the end—forever.

How God Is the End for Those Not Thirsty for Him

But there is another group of people mentioned in verse 8. These are the people who were not thirsty for God. For these, too, God is the Omega, but not in the same way. God is their end in the sense that they will finally meet God as Judge. They have their beginning in God’s oasis of life. Then they take the forbidden southern route by the shallow streams of faithlessness, far from the narrow path of God. But the end of every road is God. And in the end they come to the other side of the desert. And they meet God. But instead of an oasis of eternal life, they find a lake that burns with fire.

To read or listen to the rest of the sermon, click here:

His energy surges through you and through your obedience

Posted: December 24, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, John
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Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.  The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. John 21:4-8

John MacArthur, with an interesting thought in a sermon, “Self-Effort or Spiritual Power”:

But I want us to notice a little footnote here. Verse 6 could have said this,

“And Jesus said unto them, ‘Stand back,’” and then every fish in the Sea of Galilee jumped into the boat.

Right? He could have said that. Jesus could have made all those fish jump in that boat already fried, you know, or frozen. He could have done anything. But He didn’t do that because when God works, He works through us. And so He said to them, “Men, do…what?…you cast your nets and then you pull your own nets in.” Listen, God works through your own effort. Spiritual effort is a combination. Kenny Perol(??) used to use an illustration, I’ll use it this morning, help you to see this. Everybody in the building raise your right hand right now. Hold them up just for a second. Okay, everybody raise your right hand. Okay, now just wave your hand a little bit like this. Okay, put it down. That’s very good. Why did you do that? Was that my will that made you do that? Was it my will that made you do that? Was it your will? It was both, wasn’t it? You see, it was your will cooperating with my will. That’s exactly what spiritual effort is all about. God says do this, I say okay, Lord. See. And it’s my will agreeing with His will and away we go. And the job is done. And so the Lord didn’t say stand back, men, the fish are going to jump into the boat. He says, “You guys put your nets in there and you pull it out and I’ll provide what’s in it.” And that’s how God works through your life if you follow His leading. You don’t sit back and do nothing, you get involved and His energy surges through you and through your obedience.

The Most Important Promise in Zechariah

Posted: December 24, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Zechariah
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John Piper, in a sermon from Zechariah titled, There Shall Be a Fountain Opened:

We began by suggesting that the main point of Zechariah’s prophecy is, “Fear not, for God purposes to do you good.” A very profitable way to read this book is to mark every verse where God says he is going to do something good for Jerusalem. I marked well over 50 verses. But since we can’t look at all these, let’s focus in on the most important of all: 13:1. I call it most important because all the other benefits promised to Israel (and to us) depend on this one.

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”

Zechariah promises the people that at some future time a fountain would be opened which would take away their sin and guilt. I say this is the foundation for all the other blessings promised because the only way sinners can hope to inherit the riches of God is if their sins are forgiven. The fountain of cleansing is the first checkpoint on the road to heaven.

To understand this Advent promise in the context of Zechariah, I want to try to answer three questions about it: first, why did a fountain still have to be opened? Second, how does this fountain bring about forgiveness? Third, for whom does this fountain provide cleansing?

Listen or read more

Jesus: Love that passes knowledge, and a patience that passes understanding.

Posted: December 23, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, John
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J.C.Ryle, with some beautiful words of encouragement from John 20:24-31

Nowhere, perhaps, in all the four Gospels, do we find this part of our Lord’s character so beautifully illustrated as in the story before our eyes. It is hard to imagine anything more tiresome and provoking than the conduct of Thomas, when even the testimony of ten faithful brethren had no effect on him, and he doggedly declared, “Except I see with my own eyes and touch with my own hands, I will not believe.” But it is impossible to imagine anything more patient and compassionate, than our Lord’s treatment of this weak disciple. He does not reject him, or dismiss him, or excommunicate him. He comes again at the end of a week, and apparently for the special benefit of Thomas. He deals with him according to his weakness, like a gentle nurse dealing with a froward child–”Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side.” If nothing but the grossest, coarsest, most material evidence could satisfy him, even that evidence was supplied. Surely this was a love that passes knowledge, and a patience that passes understanding.

A passage of Scripture like this, we need not doubt, was written for the special comfort of all true believers. The Holy Spirit knew well that the dull, and the slow, and the stupid, and the doubting, are by far the commonest type of disciples in this evil world. The Holy Spirit has taken care to supply abundant evidence that Jesus is rich in patience as well as compassion, and that He bears with the infirmities of all His people. Let us take care that we drink into our Lord’s spirit, and copy His example. Let us never set down men in a low place, as gracious and godless, because their faith is feeble and their love is cold. Let us remember the case of Thomas, and be very compassionate and of tender mercy. Our Lord has many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school, many raw soldiers in His army, many lame sheep in His flock. Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.

Piper: No people or tribe or tongue or nation excluded

Posted: December 23, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Zechariah
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    Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
        Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
    Behold, your king is coming to you;
        righteous and having salvation is he,
    humble and mounted on a donkey,
        on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
    I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
        and the war horse from Jerusalem;
    and the battle bow shall be cut off,
        and he shall speak peace to the nations;
    his rule shall be from sea to sea,
        and from the River to the ends of the earth.
(Zechariah 9:9-10 ESV)

From the conclusion of a 1989 sermon by John Piper, His Dominion Shall Be From Sea to Sea:

This king, who came in humility to Jerusalem about 1,959 years ago riding on a donkey of peace, now reigns in heaven and commands peace to all the nations. That means America and that means you. His reign begins humbly in Jerusalem, but then it spreads to all Judea and then to Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.

There is no people or tribe or tongue or nation excluded from his command to make peace with God through Jesus Christ. And therefore I can, with great confidence and even the authority of God’s Word, say to every one of you Gentiles this morning far away from Jerusalem, he is reaching out to you with peace this morning. He loves peace and hates war. He loves peace and hates hostility. He loves to bring near and hates it when there is distance and enmity and bitterness and unbelief separating you from God.

I give you one last incentive to make peace with him this morning. It says, “His dominion shall be from sea to sea.” This humble, righteous, killed, and saved and peacemaking king will one day, and perhaps very soon, come back to the earth as ruler over all the nations. There will be a judgment and only those who received the terms of peace will enter his kingdom.

In the meantime king Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth and commands all men everywhere to repent and believe in him. You are very clearly included in this word from God this morning and it is utterly important that you settle things with God today.

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