December 15, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezra 5-10. Background: Ezra 1-4. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 5 The rebuilding begins again: After a long period of cessation due to persecution, Haggai and Zechariah, prophets of the Lord, stirred up the Jews who had returned to Judah and Jerusalem to begin again rebuilding the temple. The two strong leaders,…
Tag: temple
Ezra 1-4: The beginning of rebuilding the temple.
December 8, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezra 1-4. Background: The book of Ezra was originally combined with the book of Nehemiah until it was divided into two books by Christians around the third century. The story records the story of the exile’s return from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple, as per Cyrus’ decree that is…
Haggai 1-2: Lethargy and obedience.
December 4, 2015. Daily Reading: Haggai 1-2. Background: Not a lot is known about the prophet Haggai other than he was the first of three post-exilic prophets. His ministry is set around 520 BC in the second year of Darius, king of Persia, and deals with the people’s failure to build the house of the Lord as issued by…
Ezekiel 43-48: Prophecy and Measurement.
August 30, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 43-48. Background: Ezekiel 37-42. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 43 1. The glory of the Lord fills the temple: In the previous chapters, we have read about Ezekiel’s vision of the temple and the man measuring the temple meticulously, relaying the pattern of the temple to Ezekiel. In the beginning of…
Ezekiel 37-42: Prophecy and measurement.
August 22, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 37-42. Background: Ezekiel 31-36. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 37 1. The valley of dry bones: Ezekiel vision of the valley of dry bones has been on of the most famous encounters with God throughout the years, though the actual meaning behind the vision is not as well circulated. Here we find…
I Kings 5-9: The house of the Lord.
June 9, 2015. Daily Reading: I Kings 5-9. Background: I Kings 1-4. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 5 Preparing to build the temple: Since David was not allowed to build a house for the Lord due to the bloodshed and fighting that he had seen in his days (see II Samuel 7 and I Chronicles 22:6-10),…
Exodus 29-31: Wrapping up temple and worship instructions.
May 27, 2015. Daily Reading: Exodus 29-32. Background: Exodus 25-28. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 29 Concentration of the priests: This chapter gives the ceremonial practices that were to be done to consecrate the priests before the Lord that they might minister before Him for the people without being consumed. Notice the attention to both detail and…
Luke 1-2: The birth of John the Baptizer and Jesus.
May 16, 2015. Daily Reading: Luke 1-2. Background: Luke is the third gospel in the cannon and is written by a disciple of Christ who sets out to tell the story of Jesus in a ordered, historical fashion. Luke is known as a physician (see Colossians 4:14) and is the author of two books of…
Mark 11-12: The Christ.
April 25, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 11-12. Background: Mark 9-10. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 11 1. The triumphal entry: To prepare for the triumphal entry, which had been prophesied about in the days of old (see Zechariah 9:9), Jesus sent two of His disciples to go get a young donkey on which no one had ridden…
Good intentions versus the will of God.
January 10, 2014. Is it possible to have a good thought that goes against the will of God? Think about that question for a few minutes. Are good thoughts and/or good intentions every contrary to the will of God? This probably seems like a weird question, or maybe a question with an obvious answer, but…
Twenty Eight Eighteen 