Today’s reading is Genesis 11:1-13:4, Matthew 5:1-26, Psalm 5:1-12, Proverbs 1:24-28.

In our reading thus far, we have seen several references in the New Testament readings to the fulfillment of prophesies of the Old Testament.  For example, Matthew 1:22-23 says, “All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: ‘Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’” (Isaiah 7:14). In Matthew 2 we find out that Herod killing spree of all the baby boys was prophesied (Jeremiah 31:15), as was the ministry of John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:3).

For hundreds of years, God spoke through his prophets, promising that a Savior would come.  The prophets told of many details that would come to pass when the Savior arrived.  All of those prophecies, which we read and studied last year, were fulfilled in Jesus.  Let’s take a look at a few of these prophesies, especially those related to the early scriptures of the New Testament.

Hundreds of years before, God had promised that the Savior would be in the family of King David.  That is why God picked Joseph.  Joseph was an ancestor of King David. (Isaiah 16:5)

God had also promised that the Savior would be fully human, yet fully righteous.  The Savior would be without sin, though He was a man.  That is why Jesus had to be born, not just sent down from heaven on a cloud.  Jesus was fully man, but he never sinned.  (Isaiah 53:1-12)

In the Old Testament, God promised that wise men from the east would bring presents to Jesus, and that is exactly what happened. (Isaiah 60:1-7, Psalm 72:10)

God promised that the Savior would be the Prince of Peace.  Some people expected royalty. That is why they didn’t recognize that Jesus was the Savior.  He was just a baby.  But He is the Prince of Peace.  We can only find true peace in our hearts when we have Jesus as our Savior. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

God told us through his prophets that King Herod would be furious about the talk of a Savior and in his anger, he would kill all the baby boys under two, thus killing the Savior.  However, it was also told that an angel would warn the Savior and He would escape.  And that is just what happened.  Mary and Joseph took Jesus away and fled to Nazareth.  So, Jesus grew up in Nazareth.  This too was foretold hundreds of years before. (Hosea 11:1, Isaiah 9:1-2)

God promised that this baby, who would be born in a manger, would be the hope of the world.  This baby would one day grow up and become the Savior of the world.  Through His sacrifice, we can be saved and have eternal life. (Malachi 4:2)

God promised that Christ (Messiah, Anointed One) would come as Savior, taking our sins on Himself. (Isaiah 53:5-7, Daniel 9:25-26)

God promised that you could be saved if you trust and believe in Jesus.   God’s greatest gift to the world—and to you—came wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Will you receive the gift today?  If you already have, will you trust God with the details of your life today?  (Isaiah 9:6-7, John 3:16)

One of the thrilling things about studying the New Testament after a year of focusing on the Old Testament, is that we get to experience the great unfolding of the greatest, most magnificent plan ever conceived.  And these fulfilled prophesies listed today only scratch the surface of what we will continue to see.  The evidence is not just compelling, but it extremely detailed and irrefutable.  Praise God!

Today’s reading is Genesis 8:1-10:32, Matthew 4:12-25, Psalm 4:1-8, Proverbs 1:20-23.

To recap what we have read so far, I would like to point out that the focus of the entire New Testament is revealed in the first send of the New Testament.

“This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus, the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.”  That is the first sentence.  What is the purpose of a first sentence?  It is should be an attention grabber.  This would have definitely been an attention grabber for the people of that time.  You see, God had been silent.  For 400 long years, there had been nothing to write down for people to read as insight into what God was up to.  But then came the New Testament.  And the first words would have been shocking, perhaps scandalous to some.  You see, everyone knew the prophesies of the Old Testament of a coming Savior.  And then there were these shocking words:  This is a record… of Jesus, the Messiah.  The Messiah had come?! It would have been very important to include in the first sentence that Jesus was a descendant of David and of Abraham, for only a descendant of David and Abraham could be the Savior, as many prophesies told.  So, with this first sentence, Matthew had their attention.

As we read through the list of the ancestors of Jesus, we see names we recognize from our study of the Old Testament.  In fact, to me they feel like old friends.  They weren’t perfect people, but they were God’s people. And through them, God was weaving a tapestry of redemption, which was completed when a baby was born to a virgin in a quiet stable, in a small town.

This first sentence of the New Testament also reveals to us what the entire New Testament will be about…Jesus, the Messiah.  As we study the New Testament, we will see the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  As I have stated many times before, the Old Testament is Jesus concealed, the New Testament is Jesus revealed.  May Jesus not only be revealed in our minds as we read through the Bible this year, may He also be revealed in our hearts and spirits.

Today, I reviewed the last chapter of the Old Testament with the last chapter of the New Testament.  And one main thing stood out to me.  Let’s look at it together. This is the last chapter of the Old Testament:

^[a]The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.

² “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.^[b] And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.³ On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

⁴ “Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant—all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai^[c] for all Israel.

⁵ “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. ⁶ His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

The last words of the Old Testament are looking forward to the Savior, Jesus.  Who is this Sun of Righteousness with healing in its wings?  It is Jesus, of course.  He is the one to right the wrongs.  He is the one to take the curse upon him, so the threat of the curse of sin would be a thing of the past.  And yet, the last words of the Old Testament are still reflective of this curse, as God reminds us, “Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”  The last word of the Old Testament is “curse”.  And that is a lot of what the Old Testament is about—living with the curse.  Let’s compare that with the last chapter of the New Testament, Revelation 22.

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. ² It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,^[a] with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

³ No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

Oh, those sweet words written in the last chapter of the New Testament!  “No longer will there be a curse upon anything.”  Oh, praise God that there will come a time when the repercussions of the Fall will be completely gone.  There will be no more sin or sickness or death or disease or sadness or weeping or grief of any kind.  The last word of the Old Testament may be “curse”, but the last words of the New Testament are an invitation to a curse-less world:

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. ¹⁸ And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. ¹⁹ And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

²⁰ He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.^[f]

Yes, the last sentence of the Old Testament may end with the threat of the curse, but the last sentence of the New Testament ends with grace.  Amazing grace.  Grace that is bigger than all my sin.

This year, we will read through the entire Bible again.  But this year, let’s focus on the New Testament.  Now that we better understand the curse of the Old Testament, let’s savor the truth of the grace of the New Testament.  I am praying that we all experience the life-changing truth of the Word of God, this year and every year.

Today’s reading is Jeremiah 14:11-16:15, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-3:13, Psalm 80:1-19, Proverbs 25:1-5.

We are well into the book of Jeremiah, and I can’t claim to understand it all.  In very simplistic terms, Jeremiah is called by God to speak to God’s people.  He is called to speak difficult words and difficult warnings.  Judgement is coming upon the people and God is yearning for them to repent and return to Him, but He is willing to get their attention with calamity, as well.  In fact, so many warnings have already been spoken, that the next “warning” will be action.  Perhaps this action of calamity will bring the people back to God, thus preventing more calamity.  Today’s passage begins with Jeremiah complaining to God about a different message other “prophets” are telling the people.  And the basic message of those so-called prophets was peace and prosperity.  They were saying only what the people wanted to hear and not only was it not helpful to the people, it was false.  These false messages were going to make the calamity to come even worse.

Next, we see Jeremiah bemoaning his lot.  He cries out to God and God assures him that he will indeed have a covering.  However, being covered from a storm does not mean that we don’t have to endure the discomfort and destruction around us.  Even so, in the midst of it all we can truly say:  It is well with my soul.  It may not be well with my body, with my heart, with my emotions, but it can always be well with my soul.

I had this experience this week:  I clicked on a news report from a respected news outlet.  And oh, how I wish I had not read it.  It stayed with me for days, and even now I wish I didn’t have that in my head.  I was sick with the deeds of one human to another.  I was shocked that such abuse could take place.  I found myself thinking, “At least I am shocked.  At least I am horrified.  At least this has not become so common place that I am no longer affected.”  So, even though this did not have anything to do with me, I still had to struggle with the effects of it, because of the world we live in.  I still experienced the grief of it; and it made me want to run and hide my family from the world.  Yet, even as I thought that, I immediately realized that this is not an option.  We can’t hide away from the dark world, lest it become darker and darker.  We must let our light shine.

And then, we come to the verses that stopped me in my tracks today.

¹⁹ Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you
    that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
    you will be my spokesman.

Jeremiah 15:19

This was spoken to Jeremiah, the godly prophet in the midst of the darkness.  The one trying to do the right thing, listen to God, speak the words of God—he, too, had to repent.  Just because his sin did not have the earthly degree of severity, did not mean it did not have to be attended to.  For truthfully, all sin puts a separation between us and God.  The degree levels are only discernable here on earth.

And then these words:  if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.

Those words got me on my knees.  I cried out to the Lord, saying, “Oh, Lord, forgive me for the worthless words I speak every day.  And please, Lord, put only worthy words on my tongue.”

Worthy words.  How much encouragement and truth we could bestow to others with worthy words.  How much less arguing and bickering would take place if we committed to saying only worthy words.  How many reputations would be intact if we did not attack with gossip, slander, or even truthful words that are still not worthy for us to say about someone to another.  Wouldn’t we be better off to just take those things to the Father, rather than the phone?

I am speaking to myself.  But maybe, just maybe, someone else needed to be reminded of this, too?  Please, friends, let’s together commit to speaking only worthy words that we may each be a spokesman for the Lord.

Today’s reading is Isaiah 8:1-9:21, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Psalm 55:1-23, Proverbs 23:4-5.

Today is September 11.  Let that sink in.  Where were you 16 years ago?  I remember it vividly.  I had gotten a couple of my kids off to school, the rest were playing quietly, so I decided to get a cup of coffee and catch the news on the Today show.  Immediately, I was glued to the television, coffee grew cold, and I sat and wept as it unfolded before me and the rest of the world.  It is a day that those of us who were grown enough to understand will never forget.  Things changed that day—permanently.  There is the undercurrent of knowing that “it” could happen—whatever that “it” is in our imagination.  Before 9/11, I know I for one did not think the “its” of the world could happen—not to my home, not to my state, and surely not to our wonderful country.  But it did.  And we survived.  And whatever “it” is that could happen again, we can survive that, too.  However, the survival in catastrophic events is no longer dependent upon good will, good policies, or even good preparedness.  All those things are great and important.  But that is not what we need to survive—even thrive—after terrible events occur.  We need God.  It is as plain and simple as that.  It is an urgent message, a timely message.  I do not post this to be all doom and gloom.  I don’t say these words because I am scared or even because I think something bad will happen—just look around and realize that something bad is already happening every day, whether big or small in the world’s eyes.  So, where will we go?  Where will we turn?  In the floods and storms and earthquakes and tornados and hurricanes of our lives, where will we go?  To where—to Whom—will we evacuate?

As I have stated before, I have always had sleep patterns that allow for very vivid dreams.  I remember lots of my dreams and often have “story time” for my closest family and friends.  I am sure they may roll their eyes at times when I start the sentence with “I had the strangest dream last night.”  But you know, scripture tells us that God can teach us in the night watches, and sometimes, whether it’s pizza or providence, I have a dream from which I can learn something.  Such is the case in a dream I had a couple of years ago.  For obvious reasons, I have remembered this dream in the past few days and have been reminded again of its lesson.

I dreamed that I was standing before a giant wave—a terrible storm, typhoon, hurricane.  And I knew there was nothing I could do about it.  There was nothing I could do to change the situation.  So I braced myself and prayed to God.  And in my dream, I was swept on top of the wave and carried along in a gentle fashion.  I still experienced the giant wave and all of its destructive power, but I was riding above it, and therefore it couldn’t hurt me.  In my dream, I then landed on an island filled with people, unaware that another giant wave was about to come.  I gathered as many as I could and took them to the top floor of a large building on the island.  I looked around me and realized that this building was made of glass, and though it was tall, it would never withstand the great wave.  My hope in this man-made structure was useless.  And then I looked out the window and I saw the mountains behind me.  I knew that I had to get the people to the mountain—a safe structure, made by God, not by man.

I don’t need to break it down for you as to why I have been thinking about that dream this week.  But what I will do it this:  I will remind you of truth from God’s Word.  In today’s reading, there were snippets of truth we can remember today and every day that storms and fears of storms come into our lives.

¹¹ The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

¹² “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
    and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
¹³ Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
    He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
¹⁴     He will keep you safe.

                                                            Isaiah 8:13-14

Yes, He will keep us safe.  But we have to understand that the safety of the Lord may be different than our view of safety.  Yes, he is capable of keeping our bodies safe and sound.  And yes, even our possessions He can guard.  However, the true mark of safety is not in this temporary body, nor in our temporary treasures.  The true mark of safety is the safety of our souls.  And only God can take care of that.  And our reading today, prophetically tells where that safety lies.

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

^2 [g]The people who walk in darkness
    will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,^[h]
    a light will shine.

                                                            Isaiah 9:1-2

Where is this great light?  Or rather Who is this great light, the glory coming from Galilee?

For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,^[i] Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

                                                            Isaiah 9:6-7

Do you recognize that description?  Who is this great light, this great glory?  It is our Jesus, of course.  Though I don’t normally read The Message, I do like the way it describes these verses:

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
    light! sunbursts of light!

For a child has been born—for us!
    the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
    the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God,
Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

                                                            Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7

There are no limits to the wholeness He brings.  And no storm or flood or tragedy can take that away from us.  So, whatever you are facing this day or in the days to come, remember these words:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
  the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

                                                            Psalm 121