Revelation 1-5: The revelation of Jesus Christ.

January 11, 2016. Reading: Revelation 1-5. Background: The book of Revelation holds a very unique position amongst Christian thought and theology. The book is a letter containing the revelation that the apostle John was given to send to the seven churches in Asia minor, probably near the end of the first century (though some argue that…

Ezra 5-10: Finishing the temple and seeking the Lord.

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,…

Deuteronomy 13-15: Laws for the people of God.

December 7, 2015. Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 13-15. Background: Deuteronomy 10-12. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 13 Serving the Lord only: As part of the core of the Deuteromic core, the main teaching of this chapter is never to listen to anyone who suggests to go and serve other gods. This has a close connection to the…

Deuteronomy 10-12: Seeking the Lord whole heartedly.

November 30, 2015. Daily Reading: Deuteronomy 10-12. Background: Deuteronomy 7-9. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 10 Circumcision of the heart: As Moses continues his discourse from the previous chapter to the children of Israel, he reminds them of how he was told to make two new tablets of stone and an ark, that the Lord might write…

Numbers 25-28: Before entering into the promised land.

October 19, 2015. Daily Reading: Numbers 25-28. Background: Numbers 21-24. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 25 Baal worship at Peor: After Balaam blesses Israel in the previous chapters, here we see that they once again have taken a turn for the worse as they lived in the land of Shiitic, where the Moabites were. It seems…

I Chronicles 15-19: Moving the ark the right way.

September 22, 2015. Daily Reading: I Chronicles 15-19. Background: I Chronicles 11-14. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 15 Bringing the ark to Jerusalem the right way: Back in chapter 13, we saw David try to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, but he did it in a way that he thought was best, and…

Psalm 93-95: Glory, vengeance and praise.

September 2, 2015. Daily Reading: Psalm 93-95. Background: Psalm 90-92. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 93 The Lord Reigns: This is a psalm of praise, ascribing power and authority to the Lord who reigns on high. We open with a royal picture of a reigning king, robed in majesty, sitting on a thrown that has been…

Ezekiel 7-12: Oracles of destruction.

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…

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…

I Corinthians 14-16: Worship, the resurrection and salutations.

April 5, 2015. Daily Reading: I Corinthians 14-16. Background: I Corinthians 12-13. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 14 1. Prophecy verses speaking in tongues: The church in Corinth was a church in which many of the members were blessed with spiritual gifts. It seems that this blessing had lead to dispute and chaos in the assembly, which…

Who do you worship?

December 23, 2014. There is a popular song out there today that I love the music of and the way it is written, but its message is so bad that I do not like to listen to it. As you might guess from the name and the opening sentence, “Take me to church” by Hozier…