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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 287

Oct14

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 287 – Reading – Matthew 13 and Luke 8

Read and believe in Jesus!

Matthew 13 and Luke 8. (There are similar passages in both.)

From Luke’s gospel:  “Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the GOOD NEWS of the kingdom of God. And the TWELVE were with Him. And also, SOME WOMEN.” 

These were women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities:  Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susan.  And many others, who provided for them out of their own means.

(Paul also mentions faithful women who helped to support his ministry. Thank God that there are ways that we (women) can be a part of spreading the GOOD NEWS, too, if only by our finances.

Then both Matthew and Luke give accounts of some of the miracles that Jesus spoke. The most well-known one was the Parable of the Sower (or Seeds).  That day, Jesus sat down by the sea. This was a sign that He would be teaching. Rabbis sat, and their disciples gathered around them to listen.

In this instance, the crowds of learners (or those seeking healing) were too great, and Jesus got into a boat and sat down, facing the people.  This time, the crown STOOD on the beach.

A Sower went out to sow. (a very typical sight in Galilee).

  1. He sowed some seed that fell along the packed pathway, and the birds came and devoured them.
  2. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, but when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
  3. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
  4. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some, thirty.  He who HAS EARS, let him HEAR.

People – including the disciples – went away scratching their heads. 

“Why do you speak to them in parables?” they finally asked him.

“To YOU it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who HAS, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.  But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. THAT’S why I speak to them in parables, because, seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

Then Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10, which basically says that people hear and see, but they don’t get the message, because their hearts are not open to understanding and repenting. They simply like “cute or funny stories.”

Jesus said of His disciples that they were blessed.  Their eyes and ears DID see and hear. Then He explained the Parable of the Sower to them, so they would see how to interpret all the parables Jesus spoke.

  1. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom of heaven, the evil one comes and snatches it from his heart. (That is what was sown along the path.)
  2. The next is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet… he has no root in himself. He endures for a while, but when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, he immediately falls away. (This is the one sown on rocky ground.)
  3. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful
  4. Lastly, as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case 100fold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Jesus followed this with more parables, so they could practice understanding this new way that Jesus was teaching.

He told them the Parable of the WEEDS.  A man sowed good seed, but while he slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.  When the plants came up and bore grain, the weeds could be identified. The farmer’s servants asked if they should PULL UP the weeds, but he said not too, for it would disturb and possibly kill the good seed.  He told them to let them grow together until the harvest.  Then they could gather the weeds first and throw them into the fire. And THEN gather the wheat into the barn.

The disciples sort of understood, but later in private, they asked Jesus to explain it. 

  1. The One who sows in the Son of Man, the field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. 
  2. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
  3. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.
  4. And as the weeds were gathered and thrown into the fire, so it will be then. The Son of Man and His angels will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
  5. Then the wheat – the righteous – will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Jesus told them the Parable of the tiny Mustard Seed and the Parable of Leaven. Both will grow into much larger things.  This could represent evil, which must be stopped at the beginning, OR the Gospel truth that will spread and permeate hearts.

Jesus told them the Parables of The Hidden Treasure and The Pearl of Great Price. Both illustrate the great joy at finding Jesus, the Messiah, as one’s Savior and Lord.

The Parable of the Net is a bit like the one about good grain seeds and weeds.  Jesus tells about drawing in a net of fish, and picking out the good fish to save, and the bad fish to throw away. This will happen at the end of the age when angels separate the righteous and the evil, and throw these into the fiery furnace.

“Take heed HOW you hear” Jesus concludes, “for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.”

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(O LORD, please help me to keep my heart and mind OPEN to all you say. Let me know be proud and think I know it all. Let me not become speak with contempt about others who don’t understand.  O, let me be as a child, seeking honestly, and loving YOU.”

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 285 and 286

Oct13

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

SUNDAY and MONDAY, posted on MONDAY

Day 285 – Reading – Matthew 11

Day 286 – Reading – Luke 11

Read and believe in Jesus!

SUNDAY – Matthew 11.

This chapter begins where we left off yesterday, with prisoner, John the Baptist, sending word to Jesus. “ARE you the One who has come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus answered him with both words  and actions which showed the fulfilling of Isaiah 29 and 35’s prophecies of the Messiah.  When John’s disciples returned with this message and what they saw, most assuredly John was encourage and comforted.

Jesus also praised the godly man who cleared the pathway so Jesus could begin His ministry, saying he was the greatest of “prophets,” and that John came in the spirit of Elijah.

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John’s message, like Jesus’, was generally not accepted by the people. Jesus looked around him and began to denounce the cities of Galilee, where He had done the most mighty works… because they did not repent.

Chorazin, Bethsaida, and the great Capernaum, which was the headquarter city of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Their sin?  Indifference to Jesus, the Son of God, their Messiah.  If/when the people of these cities stand beside the pagans of Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom(!!) on the day of judgment, the cities of Jesus’ time will be judged more severely!

(O LORD, I am often blasé about the wonderful works and words of Jesus that I read in the Word, thinking they are SO familiar….  Please help me to treasure the One that You sent to save my soul!!)

But Jesus’ heart goes out to the people around him; they are so needy. He came that people would NOT be judged for their sin.  He wants ALL to believe in Him and be saved. But for the most part, His own people “received Him not.

Then he looks at his disciples and sees them as little children, and He prays, ‘Thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; Yes, Father, for such was YOUR gracious will. NO ONE knows the Son except the Father, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Looking at the seeking crowd around Him, He said, “COME TO ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  TAKE MY YOKE upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

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MONDAY, Luke 11.

Once again, we see the story of John the Baptist’s questions to Jesus from prison.  

Perhaps we should REMEMBER “this three-times-repeated-incident,” and take heed to Jesus’ words and actions, especially when we have doubts and need assurance..

Jesus showed John by healing many people of diseases and plagues, casting out demons, and restoring sight to the blind.  Then He pointed to the Isaiah passages that predicted the Messiah doing these very same things. John KNEW Isaiah, the very prophet who predicted his work for the Messiah.  But he needed reminding how Jesus is fulfilling these same things.  And…. how (from Isaiah 53) Jesus, the Messiah, would die a horrible death, as that very Lamb of God that John pointed out, and would so pay for the sins of all who would believe in Him.  YES. Jesus was “the One” he was looking for.

I am going to REMEMBER this incident (finally, after reading it three times), that when I have doubts, when I need assurance, when I am discouraged, I should turn to God’s words.  READ them, see how many have been fulfilled.  Meditate on the WORDS of Jesus and apply it all to my heart. Then trust in them, in Him, and BELIEVE.

(O LORD, thank you for finally getting the POINT of John’s lesson into my head and heart. When I’m low, and doubting.  When I’m discouraged and need assurance, I need to….

  1. Go to Jesus and ask for help.
  2. Read the precious Word of God, slowly and engaged.  (Maybe read the passage THREE TIMES!)
  3. Meditate on what it says. Refer to other parts of scripture, if needed.
  4. Pray for wisdom. Submit to what I’ve read.  Offer thanksgiving, 

Thank You, LORD, for pounding this truth of Bible Reading into my thick skull!.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 284

Oct11

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 284 – Reading – Matthew 9 and Luke 7

Read and believe in Jesus!

Matthew 9.  (Some of the stories are repeated here. We’ll look at the new ones.)

Jesus had been explaining why His disciples were not fasting like John’s  (not as long as the ‘Bridegroom’ is here), when a ruler of the synagogue (Jairus) rushed up to Him. 

“My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.“

Had Jesus raised anyone from the dead before this?  How did this man have such faith?  Yes, he was desperate. Had he watched Jesus healing all types of illnesses and, along with his fatherly love for his daughter, taken the step towards faith?

But as Jesus and His disciples got up to follow Jairus, a woman in the crowd reached out and touched one of the “fringes” (or tassels) of His garment, thinking she might be healed without making a spectacle. 

The fringe she reached for was something every adult male Jew wore on his garment, as required by the Law. (Numb. 15:38-39) These tassels on the four corners of the garment had a blue thread in each, and reminded the wearer of all the holy commandments of God and to do them.

This poor woman has had a menstrual issue of blood for twelve years, without help from any doctor. In the Law, this made her “unclean,” and anything or person touching her would also be unclean. (Leviticus 15:25-26). Of course, with Jesus, uncleanness does not pass TO Him; instead, cleanness passes FROM Him. 

Of course, a spectacle happens. Jesus, having felt power go from Him, turned to her and said these encouraging words, “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” Instantly**, she was made well.

**In Mark and Luke, we read that the woman had to confess aloud her ailment and uncleanness, while all the disciples and crowd looked on. Jesus’ quick response was loving and compassionate.

Then Jesus arrived at Jairus’ house.  Already, professional mourners and musicians were wailing and tooting aloud.

“Stand aside, she is not dead, but only sleeping!” said Jesus.  Oh, sure! they laughed.

But inside the house, Jesus took her by the hand … and the girl AROSE.

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As Jesus went on from there, TWO blind men followed Him and called out to Him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”  This was the title a Jew would use for the Messiah, for all the nation knew that the Messiah-King promised by the prophets would be King David’s offspring. They believed in Him before He spoke to them.

“Do you believe that I am able to do this?’

“Yes, Lord.”

Jesus touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith be it done to you.”  Their eyes were opened, and they went joyously, spreading the news of the Messiah.

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Luke 7.

Soon afterward, He went to a town called Nain. A GREAT CROWD followed Him.  As they approached the town, A GREAT CROWD was coming out. The crowd of mourners was following a widow woman who had just lost her only son.  He was in the bier, and she walked alongside, weeping. In her current state, she would soon be desperate.  With no husband or son, she would become homeless and penniless. 

As these two great crowds of people meshed together, Jesus found His way to the woman beside the coffin and said, “Do not weep,” and then to the dead one, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”  The dead man sat up and began to speak. Jesus gave him to his mother.

FEAR seized them all.  Then they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us! God has visited His people!”

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Away from the town, some disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus with a question from their master.

“Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Why these doubts?  First, he was in Herod’s prison for telling the King he was sinning for marrying his brother’s wife.  So, John was not out to see all that Jesus was saying and doing.

Also, since John had preached the “baptism of fire” that Jesus would bring, was he wondering why that judgment did not come?

Anyway, Jesus answered him the way he KNEW John would understand, by fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.  In a flurry of healings, the blind were seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame walking, and the possessed were freed.  Then Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell him what they had seen.

John was assured, remembering prophecies such as Isaiah 29:18.  “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”

Then Jesus turned and praised John to the crowds around Him.

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see: A reed shaken by the wind?  A man dressed in soft clothing? A prophet?  YES, I tell you, and MORE than a prophet.  He was God’s messenger sent to prepare my way.

“I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

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After this (unexpectedly) a Pharisee asked Jesus to eat with him.  Jesus went to this house and reclined at the dinner table.  Suddenly, a woman “of the city,” or we would say, “of ill repute,” came to Jesus. Kneeling down behind him, she began wetting his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, then anointing them with a costly ointment she brought.

Jesus looked at her in love.

The Pharisee looked at her with disgust.

Jesus told His host a parable about those who were forgiven MUCH would love MUCH, whereas those forgiven LITTLE (perhaps looking at the Pharisee) would love LITTLE. “This woman has been forgiven much.”

I’m sure the man got the message. But to emphasize it, Jesus said, “You did not have a servant wash my feet, you did not anoint my head with oil, but she has wet my feet with her tears and anointed them with an ointment she could not afford. HER sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisee and all his friends began to complain, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

Jesus turned to the woman and said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 282

Oct9

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 282 – Reading – Matthew 12, Mark 3, and Luke 6

Read and believe in Jesus!

Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 6

SABBATH ARGUMENTS AND TRICKS

As in John 5 (yesterday’s study), the Sabbath Laws and healing on the Sabbath are addressed again in these chapters. Jesus never broke the commands God gave Israel about the Sabbath.  He did, however, seem to flaunt disobedience to the “traditions of man,” those extra laws that the Pharisees added to “protect” God’s Word. (As if He needed help!)

Jesus’ disciples were caught eating grain from a field they were passing.

(Did the Religious Leaders follow them everywhere??  Were they always looking for opportunities to “catch” Jesus in some “sin?”  Yes, they were!) 

But, this practice of picking a few heads of grain, rolling it in your hands to remove the husks, then crunching on the grain inside, WAS LEGAL.  In fact, it was a law that helped provide for the poor. Farmers were instructed not to harvest the edges and corners of their fields, leaving those for the needy to glean. 

THAT wasn’t the problem. The day of the week was.  Sabbath. The simple act of plucking and eating a few kernels was considered WORK.  Say what?  Well, plucking was “harvesting.”  Rolling the grain in your hands and blowing the chaff away was “winnowing.”

“YOU ARE WORKING ON THE SABBATH!” They accused.

Jesus, who knew the Scriptures FAR BETTER than the teachers of the Law, reminded them of a time when David and a few of his men were desperately hungry. They asked the priest to give them the previous day’s bread that had been in the Tabernacle on the Table of Showbread.  The priest gave it to them as an act of mercy and kindness. (This bread was usually eaten by the priests.)

Then Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 for them. “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” Then Jesus added, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” HE had the right to rule over, not only THEIR rules, but also the Sabbath itself, for it was designed to worship God.  (This was another claim to deity by Jesus.)

Right after that, Jesus went to the nearby synagogue.  OF COURSE, there was a man who desperately needed healing.  (Did those rulers put the man there on purpose???)

Jesus immediately SAW the man and KNEW what they were thinking. They asked Him, “the” question, “Is it lawful TO HEAL on the Sabbath?”  They needed something to accuse him.

And again Jesus speaks of MERCY above sacrifice.  “Would you save one of your sheep who’d fallen into a pit on the Sabbath? (yes, of course)  How much more valuable is a man than a sheep?”

Then Jesus re-asks their question, slightly different, “Is it lawful to DO GOOD on the Sabbath?”

And just like that, Jesus healed the man.

And the Pharisees fumed. They went outside and conspired on how to DESTROY Jesus.

And Jesus, aware of this, went out from them. Many followed, and HE HEALED THEM ALL!”  Ha!

  • (Matthew then quotes from Isaiah about Jesus. “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench…”  Mercy, kindness, and justice for the needy, Jesus was an example to all.)

 

.THE TWELVE APPOINTED

Jesus slipped away for some quiet time with his followers.  He called twelve of them to be His appointed apostles (messengers). He would later send them out to preach on their own (as practice for later).

He called Simon Peter; James, and John (the sons of Zebedee, which Jesus named “Sons of Thunder”);  He called Peter’s brother, Andrew; and Philip; Bartholomew (Nathaniel); and Matthew (Levi); and Thomas (the melancholy one; another James who was the son of Alphaeus; and Thaddaeus (another Judas, the son of James); Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

A motley crew, indeed. I wonder how the Zealot and the ex-tax collector got along. How did Judas “Iscariot” (meaning “a man of the city”) get along with all those fishermen? Was his “city” background why they appointed him group treasurer?  Jesus knew all their hearts and their potential.

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DEMONS AND DEVILS VS THE HOLY SPIRIT

Some in the crowds of people Jesus healed were filled with unclean spirits (demons).  When Jesus forced them out by His command, those devils often cried out, “You are the Son of God!”  Jesus silenced them. He did NOT want the testimony of the agents of Satan.

But some of the people who saw and heard picked up on this and asked, “CAN this be the Son of David (Messiah)?

When the Scribes and Pharisees heard what they were saying, they rushed to refute it. 

“It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this Man casts out demons.” 

(Gasp!  Clutch your heart!!)

Jesus responded. “Now that is downright foolish.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against HIMSELF. How will his kingdom stand?  But I cast out demons by THE SPIRIT OF GOD, so the Kingdom of God has come upon you. WHOEVER is not with Me and does not gather with Me… scatters. 

And then Jesus defends the precious Spirit of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity.

  • “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but not the blasphemy against the Spirit. Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will NOT be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

“Either make the tree good so the fruit is good, or make the tree bad, so it produces bad fruit. THE TREE IS KNOWN BY ITS FRUIT.   You brood of vipers!  How can you speak good, when you are evil???

And then the portion that we often recite.

  • Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
  • The good person, out of his good treasure, brings forth good.
  • The evil person, out of his evil treasure, speaks forth evil.
  • On Judgment Day, people will give account for EVERY CARELESS WORD they speak.
  • By your WORDS you will be justified, and by your WORDS you will be condemned.

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A SIGN FROM JONAH

Not afraid of Jesus’ fiery answer, the Scribes and Pharisees come back at Jesus, asking Him to do some “wondrous” sign.”  They want to see a sign, a miracle, a wonder.

“No sign will be given to YOU, but the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

  • Three days and nights Jonah was in the belly of the great fish.
  • So the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

“Those men of Nineveh (who repented at Jonah’s words) will rise up on Judgment Day and CONDEMN this generation ….. for someone greater than Jonah is here.”

“The queen of Sheba will ALSO rise up in judgment with this generation and CONDEMN it.  She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ….. and something greater than Solomon is here.”

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A MOM IS WORRIED

When Jesus’ family saw and heard Jesus speaking, and saw the crowds pressing in on Him, and watched the angry religious leaders threatening Him, they tried to rescue Jesus.  They may have tried to excuse His exuberance by saying, “He’s out of his mind.”

The crowds around Him noticed the distraught mom with her other sons, and, while He was still speaking, said to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking You.”

Looking around Him at the crowd who was sitting around him, Jesus said with outspread arms, “HERE are my mother and my brothers! For whosoever does the will of God, he is my brother, sister, and mother.”

Jesus was not “dissing” his earthly family. He was emphasizing the importance of SPIRITUAL relationships.  After all, his own family needed Him as Savior. (See John 7:5)  And besides that, even in His intense physical pain on the cross a few years later, Jesus carefully put His mother into the hands of His beloved disciple, John. (See John 19:26-27)

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 281

Oct8

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 281 – Reading – John 5

Read and believe in Jesus!

John 5,

Jesus heals the invalid by the Pool of Bethesda, which is just north of the Temple.

Around this pool lay “a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed” – waiting for the the water to “stir” so they could go in and be healed. (Just south of it, between the Antonia Fort and Pool of Israel is where the small Sheep Gate is located. Jesus went out this gate from the Temple to find the paralyzed man.)

A MIRACLE PERFORMED:

Among the crowds of ailing men lay one who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  Had he no friends or family to help or care for him? Had he been injured, or was he born a cripple?

He waited with many others for the water in the pool to “stir.” Some believed that it was an angel that stirred up the water, and that the first one in was healed of their ailment.  Today, it’s believed that a surge from an underground spring caused the water to ripple. Was there a healing?  When you have been sick for so long ANY belief is welcome.

But that day, Jesus approached this man, knowing he’d been there a long time. 

“Do you want to be healed?”  

That seems like an odd question. OF COURSE the man wanted healing, right?  Or… had he gotten so used to being there, collecting alms, perhaps commiserating with other “friends” who’d been there a while, napping, watching for the elusive stir in the pool…   

Jesus knew his mind and heart, and asked him the question.  He may ask it to us today, not for physical healing, but for deep heart issues.  Do we want to be “healed” from a life of sin?  Do we want to be saved?

The man started in on a long explanation about him having no help, the water stirring, someone else getting there first….

“Get up, take up your bed, an walk.” 

Not an instant lapsed. The man was healed instantly. He took up his mat and walked away. Jesus faded into the crowd.  And the day was the Sabbath.

THE MASTER PERSECUTED

The walking man, no longer “unclean” by disease, headed for the Temple.  He hadn’t been inside the sacred courts for almost 40 years. He wanted to thank the Almighty God! He hardly remembered the mat under his arm.

“Hey! It’s the Sabbath. It’s not lawful for you to take up your mat,” accused the ever eagle-eyed religious leaders.

The ex-cripple stopped. “The man who healed me said, ‘Take up your bed and walk.'”

“Who was THAT MAN?”

The healed man looked around and shrugged. 

Later, Jesus found him in the Temple. “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”  (Hmmm, had his ailment been caused by some specific sin?)

The man went away and found those Jews who had quizzed him earlier. “It was Jesus who healed me.” 

Was he simply being a good citizen?  Or was he scared he’d get into trouble and maybe excommunicated?  Or was he a bit miffed at Jesus’s command and warning?

MURDER PLANNED.

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

“IT’S NOT LAWFUL TO HEAL ON THE SABBATH!  YOU BROKE THE LAW”  They shouted at Him.

But healing was NOT against the Sabbath Law that God gave to Israel for their benefit.  Often, Jesus explained that helping even an animal on the Sabbath, who was injured, was not breaking the law. Kindness and mercy are traits from God.  That day, however, Jesus answered differently. He spoke clearly and with authority.

  • “MY FATHER is working until now, and I am working.” 
  • The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.
  • Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
  • For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He himself is doing.
  • And greater works that THESE will He show Him, so that you may marvel.
  • As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.
  • The Father judges no one, but has give all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father,
  • Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does NOT come into judgment bust has passed from death to life.
  • An hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
  • The works that the Father has give me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me.
  • YOU search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
  • How can you believe, when YOU receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

 

  • If YOU believed Moses … you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.”

And so the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because he was even calling God his own Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 280

Oct7

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 280 – Reading – Matthew 8 and Mark 2

Read and believe in Jesus!

Matthew and Mark

In these two chapters, we see a flurry of miracles by Jesus – healings and deliverances – and some thorny questions answered. 

Matthew 8.

Again, Jesus meets a leper, a man filled with faith. He responds by touching and healing him. Our sinless Savior does NOT become unclean, but instead extends His own “cleanness” to the man. He then tells him to go to the Priest, as the law requires, to prove healing.

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Before it was a city official, but now it is a Roman Centurion who comes to Jesus asking for healing for someone at home.  He tells Jesus that there is no need for Jesus to come in person, because he, a centurion, is a man of command. He recognizes that Jesus is, too.  “Say the word and my servant will be healed.”

Jesus is amazed at this Gentile’s faith, and says, “Go, let it be done for you according to your faith.”

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Crowds begin to press against Jesus and his disciples, so He calls for a boat to go to the other side of Galilee. Before it’s ready, a scribe comes up to Him and vows, “I will follow you wherever you go!” (Did he mean to the other side of the lake??)

Another man tells Jesus he will follow Him anywhere, but first let him go bury his father. (This doesn’t mean his father is dead!  He simply wanted to remain at home and collect his inheritance before following Jesus.)

Jesus answered them curiously. “Foxes have holes and birds have nests. I have nowhere (permanently) to lay my head.” And, “Follow me and let the dead bury their dead.”

What in the world did Jesus mean?  He was saying to count the cost.  They must be willing to leave EVERYTHING to follow Him.

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The boat comes and they climb aboard.  The disciples (at least the fishermen) begin rowing towards the other side.  Jesus goes to the bench at the back of the boat – and without a pillow – lies down and immediately falls asleep.

A great storm arises.

The boat is flooding.

The disciples panic.

“Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”  (Whoa, how appropriate! For in reality, this is what Jesus came to the world to do. But alas, they meant from the storm.)

Jesus speaks and there is now a great calm. They whisper and ask each other, “What sort of man is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

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On the east side of the lake, a demoniac or two greet them with wild screams and threats. THE DEMONS inside him recognized Jesus, even if the crowds did not.  “What have You to do with us, O Son of God?  Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

Jesus sends the devilish horde into the nearby herd of swine, which promptly runs to a cliff, and like lemmings, leap off to their death.  The man was FREE!  But the city wasn’t grateful.  “Please go away,” they tell Jesus.

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Mark 2.

In this story, Jesus has returned to Capernaum.  He was in the home where he stayed and hordes of people now pressed against him inside and out.  A paralytic is carried to the edge of the crowd, but there is NO WAY that stretcher will go through the crowd.  The friends look up and get an idea.  Around back they carry the man up to the roof and begin dismantling the roof.  Everyone inside watched (and ducked the dust) as the sick man is lowered down by Jesus.

He is pleased with their ingenuity and faith.  “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

“What???” think some scribes who were inside checking up on Jesus. “He is blaspheming! No man can forgive sins. Only God.“

(Well, duh!)

Jesus then asks a curious question. Think about it before answering. “Which is easier to SAY to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk?'”

Actually, it’s easier to SAY ‘your sins are forgiven,’ because you don’t have to prove it outwardly.  It’s much harder to SAY ‘get up and walk’ because either the man can or cannot do it.

Either way, Jesus tells the man to get up, take his stretcher-bed, and walk. (He’s already forgiven his sins.}  Jesus, our all-powerful God in the flesh, can and does both forgive and heal.  PRAISE HIM!

The crowds were amazed and glorified God.  The scribes were silent.

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Next, the people ask a question. “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but YOUR disciples don’t?

Simple.  Can you fast while the Bridegroom is here?  No. It’s time to rejoice.  When He is taken away, then there will be fasting.  Huh? Not sure if the people understood that. Or the disciples.  Jesus further causes their brains to work. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Or the patch tears away in the first wash. No one puts NEW WINE into old wineskins. Or the expanding, fermenting wine will split the old stiff wineskin.” 

 What in the world is Jesus saying? He is telling them that a NEW DAY has come. The Messiah is here. Rejoice for His coming and accept the prophesied Good News!

Not sure they totally understood.  But the disciples will.  Later.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 278 & 279

Oct6

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

Day 278 – Reading – Matthew 4 and Luke 4 – 5

Day 279 – Reading – John 2 – 4

Read and believe in Jesus!

Day 278 – Sunday’s Matthew 4 and Luke 4.

After Jesus was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit (just recently coming down on him like a dove) led Him into the desert “to be tempted by the devil.” (A specific reason)  The testing would last for 40 days. (Like Israel was “baptized in the Red Sea, then was tested in the wilderness for 40 years.  THEY failed. Jesus did not.)

  • FIRST TEMPTATION: I’m sure Jesus spent the beginning of those days communing with His Father.  Then, towards the end, when He was pretty hungry, Satan came to Him slyly (as the serpent in Eden ) with the suggestion, “IF You are the Son of God … command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Jesus was hungry. Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus, who created those stones in the beginning, could very easily have turned them into bread. OR, created bread from nothing!  But, He would not sin and INDULGE Himself.  He answered Satan with the only thing that could make him run away: the Word of God. “IT IS WRITTEN, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Deut. 8:3)

  • SECOND TEMPTATION: Then the devil took Jesus (in body, or in His mind) to a very tall mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, down through time. “All these I will give to you (for they have been given to me) IF You would fall down and worship me.”  

But Jesus knew that  He would one day rule all the Kingdoms of the earth for eternity. He would not sin and ACQUIRE them now by worshiping that Serpent.  Jesus again quoted scripture (Deut. 6:13), “It is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve.'”

  • THIRD TEMPTATION: As a last resort, Satan took Jesus (in body or mind) to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem, a portion of the portico roof that extended beyond the wall over the Kidron Valley, a drop of perhaps 450 feet.  “IF you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ….for it is written;…. ‘He will command the angels concerning you to guard you. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot on a stone…'”  (And people will KNOW you are the Messiah!)

(Whoa, is Satan tricky, using the very Word of God to tempt. BEWARE!)

Jesus resisted this temptation to IMPRESS others, and in a strong, forceful voice, said, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'” (Deut. 6:16)  And the devil left him – for a time – and angels came and ministered to Jesus. 

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LOOK AT those three temptations in the light of 1 John 2:15-17, because Satan tempts all believers in Christ the SAME way!  “LOVE NOT the world nor the things in it.” Then John gives the three areas of temptation, as Jesus experienced, that reveal loving the world.

  1. the lust of the flesh (a desire to INDULGE our bodily cravings of all kinds)
  2. the lust of the eyes  (a desire to ACQUIRE for ourselves the things our eyes see)
  3. the pride of life/possessions (a desire to IMPRESS others with our own glory)

And how are believers to fight these loves of the world?  Same as Jesus. 1 John 2:14b, ‘because the WORD of God abides in you and you are strong.’  Read, meditate on, and memorize God’s word.  IT’S A SWORD in the hand and heart of the believer.

Satan always tempts us in these three areas. 

Look at the very first time he appeared with Eve and tempted her to disobey God’s WORD.  Genesis 3:6 says, “So when the woman saw the tree WAS GOOD FOR FOOD, and that it was a DELIGHT TO THE EYES, and that it was to be desired TO MAKE ONCE WISE (like God) ... she TOOK its fruit and ate it.”  

Unlike Jesus, she YIELDED. She did not simply repeat God’s Word to Satan, “God said, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.”  Period.

  • (Oh, LORD, please help me to learn from this. Help me to be aware of the ways Satan would get me to sin. And Help me to use Your Word as a Sword, to defeat his wiles.  LORD, please help me to see HOW IMPORTANT reading and memorizing your word is, and do it!)

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Read the other parts of today’s scripture (the rest of Matthew 4 and Luke 5.

After his baptism and temptations, Jesus began His ministry. 

  1. He began choosing His disciples (Luke includes Levi)
  2. traveling throughout all Galilee, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
  3. healing every disease and affliction.

In Jesus’ own synagogue in Nazareth, He read from Isaiah 61:1-2, and announced that this scripture was speaking about HIM.  He got mixed reactions:  first, they marveled at his gracious words, then they were so full of jealousy and wrath that they drove him out of town.

But demons listened to and obeyed Him, and fled from their victims “post haste.”

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Monday’s reading – Day 279 – John 2.

Jesus’ first “sign” miracle was turning large jugs of water into wine at a family wedding feast.  The host ran out of wine!!! (a huge, embarrassing no-no) Jesus’ mother came to Him with the problem and left the results entirely in His hands. 

(By the way, this is a good example of how to pray for our needs. Tell the Lord about your needs, worries, and emergencies … then leave the results up to Him, trusting He will answer in a way that is good for you and will bring glory to Him.)

Jesus acted quickly and quietly, behind the scenes.

What were the results of this first sign-miracle?  The host was vastly relieved.  The guests and newlyweds were happy. The servants who SAW the miracle firsthand were amazed. 

And Jesus’ disciples believed in Him.  (The exact reason John wrote this Gospel. See John 20:31)

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John 3.

Another very familiar chapter, with the MOST WELL-KNOWN VERSE in the Bible.

Jesus met up with one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, late one night. 

I always picture it in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus and His disciples often went to “chill out” while in Judea.  But the Bible does not say where they met. It might have been in the house where Jesus was staying.  “Probably,” John was quietly in the background, for he recorded their conversation word for word. 

Nicodemus was trying to ascertain for sure if Jesus was sent from God.  Was He the Messiah?

But Jesus, who came to die for the sins of Nicodemus and others, pointed the Pharisee to the more important issue.  He needed to be born again, born from above, born of the Spirit.  There was no way he could get into the Messiah’s Kingdom without a heart change.

Nicodemus should have known this; he WAS a teacher of the Law, after all.  For the very prophets he studied spoke over and over, that when the Messiah came, He would “take out their stony hearts and give them a heart of flesh.”

 But Nicodemus got hung up on the “born again” part.  Huh?  Go back into his mom’s womb…..??

“These are not physical things, but SPIRITUAL things that they were talking about. Faith, trust, belief.

Jesus compares himself to the serpent form that Moses held up in the wilderness. Those who looked on it in faith were healed.  HE would be lifted up, too. (on a cross)  “Whoever believes in Him will live eternally.”

*

“Because God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son (Jesus gesturing to himself), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God.

“This is the judgment: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil.

“Whoever does what is true comes to the Light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

*

“Think about this, Nicodemus!” Jesus might have said, while shaking his hand. “You are not so very far from the Messiah’s Kingdom.”

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John 4.

This is that glorious story where Jesus, a Jewish man and teacher, sits down at a well and has a conversation with 1) a woman, 2) alone, 3) who is a “hated” Samaritan, and reveals that He is the Christ she’s been looking for, and offers her the water of Life.  

(Samaritans were hated because of long ago. when the Assyrians conquered Israel and deported most of the Jews to other lands, they brought back foreigners to run the business and agriculture of the land.  These pagan, idol-worshipers intermarried with the Jews that were left, mixing the pure religion of Jehovah with idolatry. They are called Samaritans because they settled around the old Northern Kingdom’s capital of Samaria.)

But Jesus sees hearts, and this woman’s heart was crying out for help, and love, and life.

Jesus offered it to her, and after confessing her sins, she believed and received it.  She also became an ardent missionary, running immediately to tell the whole town that she was saved, and that the Savior – the Man who revealed to her about her whole life – was there, in Samaria.  “Come and see!!”

MANY Samaritans believed that day.

Jesus said to the astonished disciples, “Look and see the fields! They are white for harvest! Pray for more workers!”

Back north in Galilee, past Cana (Yes, where the water to wine happened) to Capernaum, an official came running to Jesus, panicked about his son who was deathly ill. 

Man: “Sir, please come down before my son dies!”

Jesus: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. (Was Jesus thinking about the faith of the Samaritan woman?) “Go, your son will live.”

The man BELIEVED the word Jesus spoke!

And Lo, and Behold, when he arrived home, his son was completely well – ever since the time when Jesus spoke!

And THEN, he truly believed, and all his household.  

John calls this the SECOND sign that Jesus was the Son of God.  He healed a person who was at the brink of death.

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 269

Sep26

Day 269 – Reading – Nehemiah  1 – 5

Next in the 3rd book of the exile history is Nehemiah.

It begins in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes’ reign in the Persian capital of Susa. Nehemiah, born into Jewish exile, was neither a prophet, priest, nor descendant in the royal line. He was a working man in a high and trusted position of “cup-bearer” to the king.

It was his duty to personally serve the King’s wine, even to first swallow some if there was a concern about poison.  It was a lucrative position.  Nehemiah had gained personal wealth as mentioned in Neh. 8:5, 10, 14, & 17.

Nehemiah was also a man of prayer. This book records TWELVE of his prayers. Several of them are very short, “arrow” prayers, showing that Nehemiah knew God, had a close relationship with Him, and could send brief, urgent requests as the need arose, confident that the LORD  would hear and answer.

The book of Nehemiah was written by Ezra.

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Nehemiah 1.

One day, Nehemiah’s brother, Hanani, visited him, having just arrived from Judah. Nehemiah quizzed him about what was happening, and the brother spoke of bad news. The remnant there was in “great trouble and shame.” The walls and gates of Jerusalem, which King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed and burned nearly 200 years before, were still in a state of rubble.  The Holy City, the Temple, and the people were defenseless. 

This broke Nehemiah’s heart, and he began fasting and praying to the God of Heaven. (1:5-11) 

  1. He acknowledged that the people of Israel had sinned greatly in God’s sight. 
  2. He confessed that this is the reason they were scattered among the nations. 
  3. He reminded God of his promise to gather them back to the land … which He had.
  4. Then Nehemiah asked that God would give him good success when he put a request before the king that day.

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Nehemiah 2.

The scene is now in the dinner hall of the palace. Nehemiah is waiting upon the king. He pours a wine glass and gives it to Artaxerxes.

The king looks up into Nehemiah’s face, expecting to see a calm, assured smile. (It was against the law to have a sad or mad face in the presence of royalty.)

“Why is your face sad?“ he asked. “You’re not sick, are you?“ (e.g. Did you drink poison???)  Then the king looks closer, sits back, and says to his butler knowingly, “This is nothing but sadness of the heart.”

Nehemiah gulps and says, “Let the king live forever! But why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”

Putting his fingertips together and raising an eyebrow, Artaxerxes asks, “What are you requesting?”

Here is one of Nehemiah’s “arrow” prayers.  All that’s said is, “So I prayed to the God of heaven.”  Then he states his request. 

“If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight … that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father’s graves, that I may rebuild it.

The king glances at the queen, who is sitting beside him, then asks, “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?”   (It would be 12 years before his return. see Neh. 5:14)

Boldly, Nehemiah asked the king for letters, 1.) to the governors of the “province Beyond the River” that would let him pass through, 2.) to the keepers of the forest to get timber for the gates and the house he would live in.  The king granted him all … “because the good hand of my God was upon me.”

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Nehemiah arrived and was there three days before anyone knew it.  He wanted to see the situation with his own eyes, so at night he tried to ride around the city. He looked at the rubble, especially the destroyed gates, making plans as he went, until he reached a point that was impassable, and returned. (The Valley Gate, Dung Gate, Fountain Gate, and the King’s Pool.)

Then he approached the city officials and the people, and told them how God had been with him, and how the king had okayed the project. “Let us rise up and build!”

FIRST OPPOSITION:  When the neighboring governors (Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab) heard it, they jeered and protested. “What?? Are you rebelling against the king?”  they cried.

“The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you, YOU, have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem!” responded Nehemiah.

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Nehemiah 3.

Read this chapter as you follow the map. It lists the Gates and portions of the wall that each group worked on, starting at the top.

Beginning with the High Priest and other priests at the Sheep Gate, the Tower of the Hundred, and the Tower of Hananel, these worked nearest to the Temple of God.   

Another group of priests worked on the Fish Gate and the Gate of Yeshanah.

Others worked all the way down the western side to the Dung Gate, the King’s Garden, and the Pool. 

More workers repaired on the ascent, or Eastern side at the Water Gate, Horse Gate,  Muster Gate, and the Corner Tower and Gate of the Guard. They closed the gap at the Sheep Gate again.  

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Nehemiah 4.

SECOND OPPOSITION:  Sanballat came again, angry and jeering. He said in the presence of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing?  Will they restore it for themselves?  Will they sacrifice?  Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?”

Tobiah, beside him, said, “Yes, they are building.  But if a fox goes upon it, he will break down their stone wall.”

Nehemiah doesn’t fight with shouts and fist-waving.  He prays to God,  “Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked You to anger in the presence of the builders.”

When Sanballat and Tobiah, along with the Arabs and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls was going well, and the breaches were getting closed, they were VERY ANGRY.  They all plotted together to come, and fight, and cause confusion.

But what did Nehemiah do?  And we prayed to our God and set a guard day and night.”

But a quiet unease began to spread among the workers.

  • “Our strength is failing.
  • There is too much rubble. 
  • By ourselves, we won’t be able to rebuild the wall. 
  • Our families are telling us to come home.
  • Our enemies said they would come in and kill us.”

So, Nehemiah, in the lowest parts of the wall, stationed the people by clans with swords, spears, and bows. 

And he encouraged them with, “Do not be afraid of them, Remember the LORD, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

And from that day on, half of his servants worked on the construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.  And the laborers worked with one hand on a tool and one hand on a weapon.  And he told everyone, if they heard the sound of a trumpet, they were to rally to the spot and help.

All of Nehemiah’s own brothers, servants, and guards did not take off their clothes, but stayed inside the wall all night, with a weapon in hand.

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Nehemiah 5.

Another problem arose about the lack of food and supplies, and families going hungry.  Just like in Jerusalem in the days before the fall, the wealthier people were mistreating the poor.  Sons and daughters were being sold as laborers/slaves to pay for food. Vineyards, fields, and houses were being taken for taxes.

“WHAT IS THIS??” An angry Nehemiah wanted to know. He was very angry, and as governor, he brought charges against the nobles and officials. “You ought to walk in the fear of our God.   My brothers and I are lending them grain and money. Let us abandon this exacting of interest.  Return this very day, their fields, vineyards, olive orchards, and houses.  AND return the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you took!

Meekly, the elders and officials said, “We will restore and require nothing further. We will do as you say.”  And the people DID as they said.  (WOW!)

Nehemiah adds that in all the 12 years he and his brothers were there, they did NOT TAKE THE GOVERNOR’S ALLOWANCE.   Also, he bought no land and fed many at his own expense.  He and his servants were there to work… to the glory of his God.

And he prayed, “Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people”

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 267

Sep24

Day 267 – Reading – Esther 6 – 10

Yesterday, we began the story of Queen Esther. 

A lot of intrigue and emotions have happened. (Read it HERE if you haven’t already.)  We left off after Esther invited the King and Haman to a second banquet.  Haman felt on top of the world UNTIL he passed by Mordecai sitting at the gate. The old Jew did not acknowledge the Prime Minister in any way, and that really infuriated Haman.  At home, he told his friends about the second invite and about Mordecai.  They suggested he get rid of Mordecai so he could enjoy the Queen’s party.  The master villain quickly built a 75-foot-tall gallows.

The next day, Haman would get the King to okay THE JEW’S HANGING!  Then he could go to the Queen’s party as a happy man. Haman went to bed and slept soundly.

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Esther 6.

But … that night, the king could not sleep.  He ordered some chronicles of the kingdom to be read and put him to sleep. The servant brought him the records from many months earlier. A passage recounted the incident where Mordecai had saved the King’s life by exposing an assassination plot.

“Was this man ever rewarded for saving my life?” the king wanted to know.

“No, my lord.“

At that moment, the king heard the determined footfalls of a man approaching across the marble tiles. “Who is in the court?” he asked.

When the King heard it was his Prime Minister, he called him to approach.  “Haman, what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?”

Thinking the king was speaking about honoring HIM, Haman gazed into the distance and said, “Let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set. And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials.  Let them dress the man and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.” 

(Me thinks Haman had visions of becoming king himself!)

While Haman was in that dreamland, the king said, “Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.”

MORDECAI???  (Gag, choke)

Haman obeyed the king’s orders, cringing and fuming all the way.  Afterward, he hurried home with his head covered and told what had happened. This time, his friends shook their heads at the “karma” and said, “If this Mordecai – before whom you have begun to fall – is a Jew, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

At that moment, the king’s coach came for Haman to take him to Esther’s banquet. 

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Esther 7.

Maybe by the third round of wine, Haman began to forget the humiliation of the day.  The food was great, and the Queen was beautiful. Perhaps it would work out… 

While they were sitting around, the King again asked Esther, “What is your wish? What is your request?  It shall be granted to you. Even to half my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”

“If I have found favor in your sight, O king,” began Queen Esther, “and if it please the king, (a strengthening breath), let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been SOLD, I and my people, “to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.”  (the very words of the decree)

WHAT!!  “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?  roared the king. 

The Queen turns to Haman.  “A foe and enemy!” she says, and points. “This wicked Haman!”

The Agagite is horror-stricken and speechless!

The enraged and half-drunk king charges out into the palace garden for air.

Haman stays to beg for his life, trips and falls onto Queen Esther on the couch.

The king returns and sees Haman on top of his wife and roars, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house??”

The attending eunuchs step forward and cover Haman’s face.  Before leading him away, the eunuch named Harbona says, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai — whose word saved the king — is standing at Haman’s house.”

“HANG HIM ON THAT,” decreed the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.  And on that day, King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. 

 

King Saul, a Benjamite, failed to annihilate the Amalekites, and their King Agag and his family, as God commanded. 

Deuteronomy 25:17-19

Centuries later, a descendant of that evil king, Haman, the Agagite, coerced a Persian King into signing a decree to kill, destroy, and annihilate all the Jews.

Queen Esther, a woman also from the line of Benjamin, succeeded in obeying God’s command. 

Who knows if the beautiful Hadassah had not been placed into the kingdom, for just that purpose?

 

King Ahasuerus also made Mordecai his new Prime Minister and gave him the royal signet ring.  He had work to do.  Something had to be done to save all the Jews!

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Esther 8.

Again, Queen Esther braved the King’s courtroom and received the raised golden scepter.   “If it please the king and I have found favor in his sight… and if the thing seems right before the king… and I am pleasing to  his eyes… let an order be written to revoke the letters sent to destroy the Jews in all the provinces!”

The King answered her (and Mordecai too). “It can’t be done. A king’s decree in Persia cannot be revoked.  BUT…. you may write anything you wish – in my name using my seal – to the provinces about the Jews.”

So Mordecai wrote an edict (translated into Persian by the king’s scribes) to the 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, and sent it by swift, mounted couriers in the king’s service.

It said that the king allowed the Jews to gather and defend their lives… and to kill, destroy, and annihilate any armed force of any people that might attack them … and to plunder THEIR goods. This could happen on ONE day (which Haman had chosen for the attack by using lots (Purim). 

Mordecai went out – in fine royal robes and a crown – to announce it to the Jews in Susa.  And the city rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor, a feast and a holiday.

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Esther 9.

The day came, and the Jews defended their lives, families, and homes.  A strange fear of them came upon all the people who would have been killing and plundering them.  

“The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.  In Susa alone, they killed 500 men, plus the ten sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.  But they did NOT plunder them.

Mordecai recorded these things and ordered that the month and days be kept as a holiday, a day of feasting and gladness and sending gifts of food to one another and to the poor.  And they called these days Purim, after the casting of Pur (cast lots).  And Queen Esther confirmed the practices of Purim. 

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Esther 10.

Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers… for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

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NOTE: Purim became one of the two festivals given “outside the Mosaic law”  to be celebrated in Israel. (Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, is the other. see John 10:22) 

 

(****LORD, thank You, for Your sovereignty and providence in the lives of Your people. We KNOW you are at work in all things, for our good, and for Your glory. We honor and praise You!)

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 212

Jul31

Day 212 – Reading – Isaiah 59 – 63.

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Isaiah 59.

A little good news.

  • Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear…

A lot of bad news.

  • But YOUR iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and YOUR sins have hidden His face from you so He does not hear.
  • YOUR hands are defiled with blood, YOUR fingers with iniquity; YOUR lips have spoken lies; YOUR tongue mutters wickedness. 
  • Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.  Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and their is no justice in their paths.
  • Our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities; transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God.

Israel (and we) cannot save ourselves.  So God took it upon Himself to step in.

  • The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was NO ONE TO INTERCEDE.
  • Then HIS OWN ARM brought Him salvation, and HIS righteousness upheld him.
  • AND A REDEEMER WILL COME to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the LORD.

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Isaiah 60.

The future glories of Israel in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.

  • Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.  They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

Isaiah continues to list all the glories that will come to the restored Zion and Israel in those 1,000 years.

  • And… Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?  For the coastlands (Gentile nations) shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first TO BRING YOUR CHILDREN FROM AFAR,  their silver and gold with them for the name of the LORD your God, and for the HOLY ONE of Israel, BECAUSE He has made you beautiful!
  • Whereas you (Jerusalem), have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. They shall call you the City of the LORD, and Zion, the Holy One of Israel.  And you shall KNOW that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer…”  “you shall call your walls, Salvation, and your gates, Praise.
  • I AM the LORD; in its time I will  hasten it.

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Isaiah 61.

And here is the section of scripture (verses 1-2) that Jesus read and identified with in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry. (Luke 4:18-19)  He did NOT read the rest of the chapter, for that speaks of his SECOND COMING.

  • “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound….”

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Isaiah 62.

These are more promises of God for Jerusalem’s glory and the salvation and restoration of His people, Israel.

  • Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”  And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you (Jerusalem) shall be called Sought Out, a City NOT Forsaken.

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Isaiah 63.

The LORD is depicted as an avenging conqueror of Israel’s enemies, with clothes red and resembling having been drenched with wine. 

  • I have trodden the winepress alone… I trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath.  For the day of vengeance was in My heart.  I trampled down the peoples (represented by Edom) in My anger; I made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

Um… wow!

Isaiah then prays for Israel, confessing sin and praying for restoration.

  • “I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that He has granted them according to His compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love…”
  • “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy and Himself fought against them. 
  • “LOOK DOWN from heaven and see; from your holy and beautiful habitation.
  • “O LORD, why do you make us wander from Your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not:  RETURN for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
  • “Oh that You would rend the heavens and COME DOWN….

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O LORD, these passages go back and forth from joyful pictures of glory, back to sin and sorrow and judgment. We confess we are sinners. And You sent your Savior-Redeemer to rescue us. Now, my heart pleads, like Isaiah, for you to RETURN, to rend the heavens and COME DOWN!