Tag: 1pe1

Perishable Items!

In today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, we see the disciples impressed by the Temple and its buildings. They are so impressed that they try to “wow” Jesus with them. As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.” (Mark 13:1, NLT) What a misplaced sense of awe! How is God the Son, the incarnate One who created the universe, standing before them in human flesh, supposed to respond to this? Does He act impressed? 

Jesus pops their balloons! Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!” (Mark 13:2, NLT) But notice, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He says later on in the chapter, Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. (Mark 13:31, NLT) Yes, Jesus redirects the disciples’ misplaced awe from the Temple to the Word of God. His spoken word created all things. It is His words that the universe obeys. His words give eternal life, that the one who believes them should not perish. 

How easy it is, like these disciples, to misplace our awe. It is easy to overlook the very words of God in our excitement for the trinkets, treasures, and temples of this material world. Believer, wasn’t it the imperishable Word of God that granted you new life, translating you from darkness to light? …since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (1 Peter 1:23, ESV) May we hold loosely to the perishable items of this life and build our lives on the Word that shall never pass away. 

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Mark 13.

The Holy Reset!

As I meditated on today’s reading, the thought that stood out was how God had to reset everything for His people. Their sinful idolatry, for which they have been exiled, corrupted everything! Nothing about their society functioned according to the model God gave them upon coming out of Egypt. Everything was locked up in utter dysfunction.

Starting with their worship, Israel hired foreigners to take charge of the sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:8), a charge given to the Levites alone. In this vision, Ezekiel sees God reset and change many things about the priesthood and worship. God resets, rearranges, and reappoints even the land around the Temple. He puts borders and limits on the city and what the prince is allowed to have, as the religious and political elite have eaten up the land and homes of many of the people (Ezekiel 45:6–8). God even reset the most basic of Israel’s commerce by resetting the measure of the ephah and shekel. Yes, God’s people even managed to corrupt the basics of the basics of their economy. God also reset the tax structure. (Ezekiel 45:9–17) Sin had caused every aspect of Israel’s society to become so corrupt and dysfunctional that God had to do a holy reset!

This reminds me of what sin has done to many civilizations in history and is doing to our society today. From killing our children to willful confusion on what is a boy and what is a girl, to the dysfunction of our economy with its inflation and disparity between the ruling class and the peasants, to the religious landscape in which there is very little true knowledge of God remaining, our sin has devastated us. 

So what can the righteous do? A lot, actually! Those who know the Lord their God must not remain silent (Daniel 11:32). Christians possess a light that pierces the darkness (Matthew 5:16). Our holy difference must be magnified in our culture (2 Corinthians 6:17–7:1). On top of this, the very gates of hell cannot prevent the church (Matthew 16:18). 

So, is there hope? Yes! It begins with a holy reset in our lives as believers—that we can pray for—and, by God’s grace, find very effective in our lives and the culture of our day. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16, NLT)

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Ezekiel 44-45.

Don’t Get Too Comfortable!

In the closing chapters of the Book of Jeremiah, we see him yet again faithful to the Lord. His message is now one of warning to those in exile. God will judge Babylon for its actions against His people. Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. (Jeremiah 51:11, KJV)

A Hidden Danger

The danger for the people of God is that they won’t want to leave Babylon when God releases them from their captivity. In exile, they will live comfortable lives. 

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. (Jeremiah 29:4–6, KJV) 

These comfortable lives would be in the shadow of a powerful, wealthy, glamorous, glitzy nation. The tendency will be to stay there when their captivity is over. It’s where many will have their roots, wealth, security, and conveniences. Why Leave? Jeremiah is warning his people lest they get caught up in the destruction of Babylon.

A Higher Calling

What a reminder for the believer not to get attached to this world, for this world is destined to pass away. We are just pilgrims passing through. We seek a different country. We have an incorruptible, undefiled inheritance that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for us. While we must live in this world, we must remember we are not of this world. May we take the words of the Apostle Peter to heart…

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13–16, NLT)

Thank you for joining me as I read and journal chronologically through the Bible! This devotional reflection comes from Jeremiah 51-52.

As promised!

The Book of Numbers! What a ride! It began with God shaping and organizing Israel into a nation ready to conquer. Then the unthinkable happened! Israel rebelled on the eve of victory. The results? God turned that generation around and marched them to their death. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness! Now, at the close of this book, God has Israel on the eve of victory again! A new generation, same great promises, same holy and faithful God! It reminds me of Exodus 34:6-7.

The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected— even children in the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:6–7, NLT)

What do we see amid a book full of ceremonial laws, lists, genealogies, travel records, censuses, and the blundering of a second generation? We see a God who keeps covenant, as promised! Spoiler alert! Israel crosses the Jordan River and takes possession of their inheritance!

To those of us who believe, rejoice! We have this same covenant-keeping God, but we have a better inheritance. Notice…

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. … So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. (1 Peter 1:3–6, NLT)

Just as we see God keeping his promises with Abraham and bringing Israel into their inheritance, God will keep His promises with us, as promised!

Thanks for joining me in my adventure to read the Bible chronologically!

  • Today’s post comes from Numbers 33-34.
  • Tomorrow, I will be reading Deuteronomy 1-2.

273!

Well, how many of us find excitement in reading about censuses? This morning, there are three of them: the census of the Levites, the firstborn of Israel, and the working Levites with their tasks. A number stood out to me in the middle of all this counting: 273!

“Take the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn sons of the people of Israel. And take the livestock of the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn livestock of the people of Israel. The Levites belong to me; I am the Lord. There are 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there are Levites. To redeem these extra firstborn sons, collect five pieces of silver for each of them (each piece weighing the same as the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs). (Numbers 3:45–47, NLT)

In Israel, firstborn sons and livestock, regardless of tribe, belong to the Lord. In this census, however, God allows a substitution. But there’s a problem! There are 273 more firstborn sons of Israel than there are Levites to substitute for them! So, to redeem these extra 273, a price must be paid. In the middle of a bunch of numbers, redemption comes alive!

This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6.

…You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price… (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, NLT)

What is this high price? It certainly isn’t silver weighed according to the sanctuary shekel, as we see in Numbers! Notice what the Apostle Peter writes…

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom… (1 Peter 1:18–20, NLT)

Amazing, isn’t it? God was not willing that the extra 273 people be left unredeemed! God is unwilling that you and I should be left without redemption, either! Let us rejoice that God paid the high price for us through His Son Jesus! Let us rejoice that God substituted His Son to die in our place on the cross! Let us rejoice in God, our redeeming Savior! What a Savior, what an extraordinary God!

Today’s reading: Numbers 3-4 | Tomorrow’s reading: Numbers 5-6