June 26, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 7-12. Background: Ezekiel 1-6. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 7 Prophecy of the Lord’s wrath: Chapter seven opens with a message from the Lord to the land of Israel: the wrath of the Lord has come upon you. The people of God had been judged for their abominations and the…
Tag: prophecy
Ezekiel 1-6: Visual prophecy.
June 19, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 1-6. Background: Ezekiel was a priest who was called to be a prophet of the Lord as an exile of Babylon. Judah, just as her sister Israel had been taken captive by the Assyrians years before, had fallen into the hand of the Babylonians under the rule of King…
Jeremiah 47-52: Oracles to the nations.
June 5, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 47-52. Background: Jeremiah 42-46. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 47 Oracle against the Philistines: The previous chapter started the last section of the book of Jeremiah, which is a collection of oracles of judgment against various nations outside of Israel. It was not only Israel that was to be punished…
Jeremiah 42-46: Further disobedience and judgment.
May 29, 2015 Daily Reading: Jeremiah 42-46. Background: Jeremiah 37-41. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 42 God’s warning: At the beginning of this chapter, there is a sense that the children of Israel, or at least the remnant that was left in the land of Judah, were finally starting to come around and realize that the words…
Luke 3-4: John and Jesus.
May 23, 2015. Daily Reading: Luke 3-4. Background: Luke 1-2. Concepts and Connections. Luke 3 1. John the baptizer: One of the hints as to the idea that Luke was writing to a Roman citizen is how he sets the time period of the things that he writes about, using Roman official’s and the ruler’s name…
Mark 13-14: The near future.
May 2, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 13-14. Background: Mark 11-12. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 13 Talks about the future: The entire chapter of Mark 13 is essentially devoted to prophecy of the future made by Jesus to His disciples (see Matthew 24 for a good parallel to this chapter). He begins with the foretelling of the destruction…
Jeremiah 22-26: The people against the prophet
May 1, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 22-26. Background: Jeremiah 17-21. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 22 1. Judah given a choice: The Lord sends Jeremiah on a mission to go speak to the king of Judah and give him a choice, an opportunity to turn things around that the Lord might relent from His wrath that He…
Jeremiah 17-21: Prophecy and persecution.
April 24, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 17-21. Background: Jeremiah 12-16. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 17 1. The deceptive heart: This chapter begins with an oracle against Judah for their sin, implying that their seen had left a permanent mark on their heart, etched with diamond, so that they would not consider repenting. The main reason for…
Mark 9-10: Teachings of Jesus.
April 18, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 9-10. Background: Mark 7-8. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 9 1. Times to come: Upon two occasions in the chapter, Jesus speaks of certain things that are to come. The first is about the kingdom of God, which would come with power before that generation died, which was fulfilled in Acts…
Jeremiah 12-16: Famine, sword and pestilence.
April 17, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 12-16. Background: Jeremiah 7-11. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 12 Jeremiah’s complaint and the Lord’s answer: Jeremiah looks out on the people in the land and sees the great evil that the leaders are involved in and complains to the Lord, asking why the wicked prosper and why the treacherous thrive. He…
Jeremiah 7-11: No balm in Gilead.
April 10, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 7-11. Background: Jeremiah 1-6. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 7 1. False hope: In this chapter, Jeremiah beings a discourse that would last through the end of chapter 10, proclaiming the judgment and lament of God on His people for the transgressions they were committing against Him. It is not…
Psalm 39-41: Cries to the Lord.
April 8, 2015. Daily Reading: Psalm 39-41. Background: Psalm 36-38. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 39 Life is short: In this psalm, David beings with a held tongue and a muzzled spirit, not asking the Lord how many were the number of his days on the earth. But when he could not hold his peace for any…