Daily Bible Reading Podcast

AMOS 5-6:One device that Amos used in yesterday's reading was rhetorical questions. He asked a whole series of them like this one:

3:4 GNT Does a lion roar in the forest unless he has found a victim?

All of his rhetorical questions expect the unspoken answer, No. And they all led up to this one:

Amo. 3:8 NLT The lion has roared— so who isn't frightened? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message?

And, surprisingly, the message the Lord proclaimed next was an invitation to Israel's enemies to come and witness Israel's destruction. After the unforgettable denunciation against Israel's wealthy women— whom he calls 'cows', he lists some of the previous acts of judgment against Israel— things like drought. And after each one are the words, "but you still would not return to me." Chapter 4 ended with these awesome words:

Amo. 4:12 GNT "So then, people of Israel, I am going to punish you. And because I am going to do this, get ready to face my judgment!" 13 God is the one who made the mountains and created the winds. He makes his thoughts known to people; he changes day into night. He walks on the heights of the earth. This is his name: the Lord God Almighty!

ISAIAH 47: God continued speaking in Isaiah 46 about how He alone reveals his plans to mankind through prophecy. The section about Babylon's idols being led off on a heavy ox cart was dripping with irony:

Is. 46:1 GNT "This is the end for Babylon's gods! Bel and Nebo once were worshiped, but now they are loaded on donkeys, a burden for the backs of tired animals. 2 NLT Both the idols and their owners are bowed down. The gods cannot protect the people, and the people cannot protect the gods. They go off into captivity together.

3JOHN: Thomas Constable points out that 3rd John is the shortest letter in the New Testament and it is also the most personal. Certainly 2nd Timothy, for instance, was an intensely personal letter, but at the end, Paul greeted everyone— showing that he knew his letter would be read to the church or churches. In 3rd John, the recipient seems to be Gaius alone, and this letter follows a pattern like a normal secular letter of the time— not including a 'grace and peace' salutation that Paul seems to have made standard for Christian letters. The time of the writing and the themes of this letter are like John's two other letters.

GNT Translation notes: 3Jn. 1:3 I was so happy when some [fellow believers//Christians] arrived and told me how faithful you are to the truth—just as you always live in the truth. 5 My dear friend, you are so faithful in the work you do for other [brothers and sisters in Christ//Christians], even when they are strangers. 8 We [believers//Christians], then, must help these people, so that we may share in their work for the truth. 10 When I come, then, I will bring up everything he has done: the terrible things he says about us and the lies he tells! But that is not enough for him; he will not receive the [travelling brothers who minister in the name of Christ//Christians] when they come, and even stops those who want to receive them and tries to drive them out of the church!

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

AMOS 3-4: As I said about Amos yesterday, he was wise in his methods. He condemned Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab before coming around to Judah and finally the northern kingdom, Israel. We also heard some of the wonderful word pictures Amos used.

ISAIAH 45:22-46. Remember that in the last chapter Cyrus' name was repeatedly mentioned. God's motivation for making such bold predictions is clear:

19 NLT I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.

I particularly like those lines. Some of the prophets the world now looks to do indeed utter obscurities and purposefully choose to keep their followers in the dark. And God refutes the contention that he is hard to find, that he has left the world and doesn't care about humans or pay attention to us. Bear that in mind as we start today at chapter 45, verse 22.

2nd JOHN: I wish we knew if Timothy made it to Rome in time to see Paul before he died. Was Luke still there? Paul needed that warm coat as winter was approaching. And he wanted the parchment papers in particular, which were probably Old Testament Scripture. That was happening around AD 67.

Things were even even worse for Christians around AD 90 when John wrote the two little letters of 2nd and 3rd John. 2nd John is written to the 'chosen lady', but this is a euphemism or a code word for a church. The 'children' of the 'lady' are the church members. We find several echoes from the book of 1st John in these two letters. Mears points out four basic beliefs that John keeps coming back to, which are visible in these two little letters also:

• We must believe that Christ came 'in the flesh', meaning, with a real human body.
• At the same time we must believe that Christ is deity, that is, fully God.
• We must believe that "God is love." This is both a major characteristic of God and the way followers of Christ must live.
• We must believe that Christ is our Savior. The only way to have eternal life is to know Christ personally— not just know information about Him.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

AMOS 1-2: If you are new to reading the Bible, I hope that you will remember the events and expressions that Joel used. One or two ideas were repeated by Jesus in the Gospels, and we will soon see how important Joel's predictions are in Revelation.

We turn now to Amos, whose name means 'burden bearer'. Amos— like David and Gideon, started out as an ordinary guy going about his business as a shepherd and grower of sycamore figs. He was not a priest or a man with training as a prophet when God called him. Because of the mention of a great earthquake and king Uzziah, it is likely that Amos was working as a prophet around the year 760 BC. This makes him a contemporary of Jonah, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah.

Although Amos' home town of Tekoa is only 12 miles south of Jerusalem, Amos prophesied primarily about the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was wise in his delivery. First he prophesied judgment for Israel's enemies before lambasting Judah and Israel themselves. Although from a humble occupation, Amos was very gifted as a writer, using very graphic and unique figures of speech. Amos would have had a difficult ministry because he prophesied horrible events that would have been unimaginable for his comfortable and prosperous listeners. The fulfillments were 50 years away, so he was quite 'ahead of his time'. Mears quotes someone else in saying, "Amos proclaimed a message so far ahead of his time that most of the human race— and a large part of all Christendom, have not yet caught up with it."

ISAIAH 44:24-45:Because the prophecy at the end of chapter 44 is so stunning as to mention Cyrus some 150 years before his birth, skeptical scholars claim that this portion of Isaiah was not written until after the events happened and by a different author. But what then? If you say something like that, are you going to claim that Isaiah 53 was written after Christ came and died?

2TIMOTHY 4: There are more than one wonderful 3:16 verses in the Bible, and we read one of them in chapter 3 yesterday:

2Tim. 3:16 NLT All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

NLT Translation notes: 2Tim. 4:5 [Stay alert//But you should keep a clear mind] in every situation. Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. And [such a/the] prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

JOEL 2:28-3: An attack by an army of locusts must be so frightening! What descriptions! And even worse when God is bringing the attack as an act of judgement. Yet Joel offers hope. He encourages the people to come back to God and beg for the Lord's help. We will pick up today re-reading the famous part of Joel 2.

ISAIAH 44b: In the first part of this chapter God said:

Is. 44:3 NLT For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. 4 They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank. 5 Some will proudly claim, 'I belong to the LORD.' Others will say, 'I am a descendant of Jacob.'

Then God gave a lecture on the futility of idols. I love the irony in the verses we read today:

Is. 44:19 NLT The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, "Why, it's just a block of wood!

2TIMOTHY 3: We heard the wonderful encouragements to Timothy in chapter 2. Note that Paul did not explain everything to Timothy, but invited him to ponder what he had said. I urge all of us to similarly ponder and spend time meditating on what Paul said.

Note what Paul says about God's Word in contrast to his being in chains: "The word of God cannot be chained." Yay, God! May your Word accomplish what you have sent it to do!

NLT Translation note: 2Tim. 3:15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by [believing/trusting] in Christ Jesus.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

JOEL 1:I feel the need to comment about chapter 9 of Esther and how the Jews "got rid" of their enemies. Remember that those Jews were not Christians. (I know how silly that sounds, but it is actually a common supposition among naive Christians.) The revelation of God's will did not come all at once, and the Jews did not have the pleasure of knowing what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount or other pertinent NT passages. They most certainly did NOT 'get rid' of their enemies, except in the short run. All the relatives of the enemies slain raised up succeeding generations of people who hated the Jews even more fiercely than the first enemies did. We Christians must read Esther 9 remembering how the Jews had been slaughtered and then taken away from their land by force put into slavery in Babylonia. It is just amazing to me how the cycle of 'getting rid of enemies' has continued, right up to Hitler (the modern Haman), and right up to the conflicts in the middle east today. The cycle will stop and real peace will only happen when the True King returns.

Joel is the second book of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. We read the first one— Hosea, about two months ago. From now until the end of the year, we will start every day with a reading in the minor prophets. Joel's name means "Yahweh is God." It is quite possible that Joel is one of the earliest of the prophets. He is called the 'prophet of Pentecost', since Peter quoted from Joel in his speech in Acts 2. The occasion of Joel's message was a devastating plague of locusts which foreshadows the 'Day of the Lord'— a time not for comfort for God's people, but for punishment because of their sins.

ISAIAH 44a: According to the NLT, in Is. 43:14 God said,

14 "For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon, forcing the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud of."

This is a very difficult verse to translate, and GNT's translation can also be defended:

43:14 GNT Israel's holy God, the Lord who saves you, says, "To save you, I will send an army against Babylon; I will break down the city gates, and the shouts of her people will turn into crying.

God said that the people of Israel had become tired of God and tired of bringing sacrifices. God will do something new:

43:25 NLT "I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

These frequently quoted words are from the beginning of the chapter:

43:1b NLT "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

2TIMOTHY 2:What was the spiritual gift that Timothy received when Paul placed his hands on him? Paul wanted Timothy to fan that gift into flame. (2Tim. 1:6) Is there a clue to what the gift was in the next verse?—

2Tim. 1:7 NLT "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."

Paul says,

2Tim. 1:12 NLT "I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return."

What has Paul entrusted to the Lord? Is it a clue when Paul says,

2Tim. 1:14 NLT "Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you."

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.