by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 9-10
Ezra was not one to compromise, and that’s for sure. After the nation of Judah had gone into exile for 70 years, and after they had been allowed to return to their own land and rebuild – by the hand of God, he was determined that the people were not going into the same sinful pattern again.
Today some people get confused about the “foreign wives” bit. They think that God is saying today it is a sin to marry a foreign wife. Of course, that’s not so.
In the days of Ezra, just as in the prior days, the foreign wives had a different god. Just as Solomon had turned from God by marrying the foreign wives, so others had done the same. When they brought other gods into their households, it diluted their allegiance – and the allegiance of their children – to the one true God.
So Ezra was determined that the people were not going through the same pattern which had caused their downfall.
Today, this would be comparable to Christians not marrying Christians. Obviously, we see this happening frequently, but when both partners are not devoted to God, there are issues which arise in the marriage. One of the greatest issues is that there is not a solid foundation for the children.
It’s something to think about.
Acts 1
Okay, you’d better get ready. The rest of the New Testament is written to the Christians – those who have received Jesus as their Savior.
The rules are about to change. On the cross, Jesus had said, “It is finished,” meaning that the Old Covenant had been fulfilled. He had paid the price for our sins, and He was soon giving us a New Covenant. Now we see it unfolding.
Jesus tells His disciples to gather in Jerusalem for the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”(V. 5) He tells them that they are not to know the times and seasons, which God has ordained, but they will receive “power” when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Power to be His witnesses. (V.8)
Don’t you know they were filled with anticipation as they waited. A few weeks before this, they had been in doubt about Jesus, as they saw Him go to the cross. But He had proven Himself to be true to His Word, as He arose from the dead and appeared to them. Now He is telling them that something great is about to happen. They can hardly wait.
During His days upon earth, Jesus had ministered to many thousands, as people came to be healed, and as they came to observe the miracles. Now He has gone to Heaven, and only 120 people total are there for the next phase of things.
You can never go by the numbers. Very often at the beginning of a surge of God’s plan, the first numbers are very few. Many people have to see something with their natural eyes before they believe it. If you are a forerunner for God, there’s not anything to see with your natural eyes, because it hasn’t happened yet.
But forerunners are indeed blessed, as His disciples are about to experience. So they gather and they pray. They are with one mind, in unity, gathered together with great expectation.
Something big is about to happen!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 6-8
Our God is a God of restoration. As we read Ezra, we see His mighty hand, and we also see His methods.
Yesterday we left the temple work at a standstill. The local adversaries had finally sent a letter to the king of Babylon charging the Jews with evil motives, so the work had been halted. Then we saw the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah (we will get to their prophecies when we get to those books), encouraging the builders. They reminded the Jews that they were building by order of Cyrus the King.
So a letter was sent to the new king, Darius, asking him to search the records and find the letter from Cyrus in the archives. Darius did just that, and he sent another letter to the local officials, basically saying, “You will not hinder the work, and you will even pay for the rebuilding!”
Our God can do it, can’t He? So the temple work resumed, and the building was finished.
Then Ezra, the scribe who wrote down this book, was sent back to Jerusalem to help the Jews reclaim the laws and the practices which had been given them by God.
Remember yesterday how we talked about the plots of the enemy to stop God’s work – and how that applied to our lives also? Well today we get to see God’s answer to those attempts.
The original letter written by king Cyrus, when he issued a decree for the Jews to return and to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, could not be nullified. Once the decree had been made by the king, the generations after that had to obey. Of course, the Jews didn’t think about that until the prophets came and encouraged them.
Now when we come to the Lord, or for that matter, if we have been with Him for awhile, there are areas of our lives which haven’t been totally restored. When we look at these chapters on restoration, let’s bring it down to our own lives.
You might know that there are areas of your life which need to be restored. You may have tried, but you find yourself going through all of the resistance from the devil that you saw in Ezra 4. Fear, discouragement, compromise, etc.
Your answer is to look at the official word of the King. And what is that for us? The answer: the Bible, of course. When you hold up the official Word of God to the bombardments of the devil, it becomes our “sword of the spirit” and you are able to put him on the run.
When Jesus was in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil, this is the weapon He used. Instead of just saying, “Get out of here,” Jesus would answer every taunt with “It is written…” and He would quote the scripture.
When our minds are bombarded with thoughts of fear or anxiety, we have scriptures with which to fight our fight. We say, “It is written ‘I shall not fear, for the Lord is with me.'”Or, “I cast every care upon Him, for he cares for me.”
To effectively ward off the devil during your period of restoration (which is the rest of your life, as you restore one facet after another), you collect the appropriate words for your issues. Words that relate to your health, your children, your finances, your marriage, or your ability to live a holy life before God.
These words from God are edicts from the King of Kings. The devil has no choice but to obey them. We are blessed to be able draw out just the right the sword of the spirit we need in the time of battle.
If God is for us, then who can be against us?
John 21
John shares the final episode of Jesus’ appearing before He ascends to Heaven. The disciples are happy to see Him, of course, but they only recognize Him after He demonstrates a miracle: the nets full of fish.
The Lord and Peter have an interesting exchange. Remember, Peter had denied Jesus three times on the night that He was arrested. So Jesus gives Peter a chance to affirm his love three times. But one thing might be missed in the translation. Jesus says “Do you love Me?” And Peter answers, “Yes, Lord, I Love You.” That’s the English translation, but they weren’t speaking in English.
The Greek words which were used in this episode were different. There are three words for “love” in Greek. Eros, which means erotic love, phileo which means brotherly love, and argapeo, which means God’s unconditional love.
In this exchange between Peter and Jesus, Jesus says “argapeo,” meaning, “Do you love me unconditionally?” Peter answers, “Lord you know that I love you.” But he uses “phileo,” the word that means brotherly love. Finally, Jesus says, “Do you phileo Me?” Peter knew that his love didn’t match the Godly love which Jesus showed. His love was human and not divine. Jesus’ love was the love of God – that unconditional, merciful love.
One final note, John refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” He has the right idea. Jesus loves each of us so completely that when we receive that love the way He wants us to, we feel like we are His favorite.
That’s the nature of our Father’s love. When we fully receive the love of God, our emotions and memories get healed, we gain confidence, we rise to the challenges confronting us.
We are empowered to live our lives for Him.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 3-5
The supernatural return of a remnant of Jews from Babylon continues as they collect money, gather materials, and commence the rebuilding of the temple. The foundation is finished and great rejoicing ensues. Loud shouts of joy and weeping of some elderly create an electrifying sound in the atmosphere.
The sound comes as an alarm to the ears of the enemies in the land. They don’t want the temple rebuilt.
Ezra chapter four is a picture of the way our enemy, the devil, will try to stop us today as we do the Lord’s work. If we study it carefully, we will recognize some of his tactics and we will be able to stand against them. There are basically five tactics that they (and he) use to stop the work.
First, they don’t want it built, so they say ,”Let us help you.”(4:2) Now, think about it. They first want to sabotage the building from within. That’s where the enemy starts when he wants to stop your work for the Lord. Since your battlefield is in the mind, he will give you ideas which will compromise your work and eradicate its effectiveness. He wants to stop your pure adherence to what God is telling you to do.(These thoughts will often come to the members of a church as it is reaching out for then lost. He causes great criticism of the leadership).
Second, he will bring discouragement. Your thoughts will begin to doubt your ability to do what God has called you to do. (4:4)
Third, he will frighten you. He will make you think that your zeal for the Lord will cause you to lose your friends. In your giving, he will try to tell you that God won’t provide if you give too much.
Fourth, he will “frustrate your counsel.”(4:5) Again he will try to bring confusing direction to you so that you will not be sure what to do.
Fifth, when none of the above works, he will try to bring decrees against you to stop your work. Think of all the lawsuits which have been filed against schools and city governments, trying to get people to stop praying or sharing the gospel. There are many out there, some of whom don’t even realize that they are being used by the devil to stop God’s work. They don’t like Christian practices and they try to stop them by court injunctions, etc.
Now these tactics apply whether you are trying to lead a Godly home, or a Godly church. The devil doesn’t come to you with a red suit and a pitchfork. He is tricky and he tries to come in a way that you will accept.
When you think of the thoughts and emotions which come to you when you are about to pray with someone or share the gospel with someone, you will begin to see how the devil works. (By the way, it’s really not “the devil,” since there is only one of him. The voice you hear is from one of his demons).
Now to be clear, this “voice” I’m talking about is not really a voice you hear with your ears, unless he has sent someone to speak to you. The voice you hear the most is a thought in your mind. He whispers to your mind, so that if you aren’t aware, you will think those are your own thoughts.
We’ve spent a lot of time today talking about the devil’s tactics. It’s important to know these tactics so that we can resist his attempts. When we see how he works, we can recognize where some negative thoughts are coming from, and not listen to them.
So discouragement, confusion, fear, and outright attacks against God’s work are some of the ways he tries to stop us.
Let’s don’t let him. If we resist him, he has to flee. (James 4:7)
John 20
Can you imagine what that was like for Jesus’ disciples to see Him appear after his resurrection? He had told them that after the third day, He would arise from the dead, but that was hard to comprehend. That didn’t make sense to the natural mind.
Yet His Word is true, and He begins appearing to them – first at the tomb, and then in the room where they are assembled.
Thomas is like many today. He has to have it proven to Him that Jesus is alive. So he puts his hands into Jesus’ side and sees the nail holes in His hands before he says, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who didn’t see me and yet believed.”(V.29)
That’s us today. We haven’t seen Him, unless in a dream or vision. Yet we have believed through His Word.
As we continue in our belief, He will prove Himself to us over and over. And the more we believe, the more we will see!
Kingdom rules are sometimes the opposite of natural rules. In the natural, we would say, “I have to see it to believe it.” In the kingdom, we have to believe it to see it.
Believe, and receive!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Ezra 1-2
So far we have been traveling along a timeline from the garden of Eden to the Assyrian captivity of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah. The books have been in consecutive order. We are continuing on that line of history with Ezra – after a gap.
After seventy years, Cyrus the king of Persia has his heart stirred by the Lord to send people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of the Lord. Ezra starts after this decree.
I think that it is important here to interject some nuggets of truth which we will get to later, but apply here. As we have been reading the historical accounts, some of the history has not yet been approached, and that is the history of the prophets. The Bible is laid out in such a way that the historical accounts are first and then the prophets.
During those years of up-and-down kings, God was sending prophets to try to straighten the people out. The prophets were hearing messages from God and taking them to the people.
Isaiah lived in Judah through the reigns of several kings, one being Hezekiah. During that reign, Isaiah heard the Word of the Lord saying,
“Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut….For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by name; I have given you a title of honor, though you have not known Me.” (Isaiah 45:1, 4)
Now here’s the thing: This was written at least 150 years before Cyrus comes on the scene. He was not even born. God was revealing to Isaiah that this man named Cyrus would eventually be given the mission to help the Jews return to rebuild.
Then we have Jeremiah telling us the time frame. He tells the people that they will go into captivity, and then he says,
“The it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation” (25:12)
“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”(29:10)
So God’s hand is not leaving His people during this time. They have violated their covenant with Him, but He hasn’t. God removes His protection from them for a season, but He tells them when they will come back and who He will raise up to send them back. He tells them all of this decades before this plan comes into fruition.
Our God is such a faithful God. He tells them what will happen, when it will happen, and the name of the person He will raise up to fulfill His plan.
Now as we proceed with the revelations from God’s Word, we will come across prophecies concerning the “end times.” We don’t know how long that time frame is, because He doesn’t tell us that, but He gives us signs to look for.
God’s Word is true. What He says has happened, has happened. What He says will happen, will happen.
There will be those who think that they are too smart for God, but they are mistaken. God’s Word will come to pass whether they believe it or not. After all, he is God!
John 19:23-42
John brings out some new details in his account of the crucifixion.
The priests don’t want the inscription “The King of the Jews” on the cross of Jesus. They want it to say, “He said I am the King of the Jews.” But Pilate gets it right, telling them, “What I have written, I have written.” (V. 22) I think that Pilate secretly believed Jesus.
There are others who secretly believe. We see Joseph of Arimathea, “being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, for fear of the Jews.”(V. 38) And Nicodemus coming by night also. Joseph takes away the body and Nicodemus provides the burial perfumes. These are two of many “secret disciples.” The Jewish leaders are horrendous in their control of their people.
Today there are many who are afraid to show their faith. In some foreign countries, lives might be a stake. However, in our country, lives are not at stake, but reputations may be.
In some circles it’s not hip to be a christian, and there may be intimidation from the arrogant people around. That’s when we have to choose.
Do we bear the reproach and courageously tell others our beliefs or do we keep our beliefs hidden?
Fear of man will get us into trouble every time. We will offend some with our faith – that’s just a fact of life. Those who are not listening to His voice, but the voice of a stranger, will not like to hear you talk of Jesus.
There are many, however, who just don’t know Him. It’s a privilege to be able to share His love with someone who doesn’t know Him personally. We would do well to be on the lookout for opportunities to share.
As Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16).
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 34-36
The end is near.
We see one more honorable king arise, as Josiah attempts to right the wrongs of the years of rebellion. In fact, he tears down the altars, crushes the idols, and repairs the house of God. Then, when they find the Mosaic scrolls of the law buried in the house of God, he tears his clothes and repents before the Lord. They then celebrate the most complete Passover since the days of Samuel.
So God doesn’t allow Josiah to be captured, but the next few years steadily march toward the final destruction of the temple and Jerusalem itself.
The kings who follow Josiah are evil. Babylon besieges enough to set up their own choice for king, so corruption is a definite outcome. Then, when Zedekiah doesn’t honor God or the king of Babylon, the final end comes.
The treasures of the house of God, the king himself, his officers, and all of his treasures are carried away to Babylon. Then the invaders burn the house of God, break down the walls of Jerusalem, and burn all of the buildings with fire. Total destruction of God’s great city.
At the end of chapter 36 there is a quick note that eventually Cyrus, the King of Persia – in order to fulfill the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah – sends some people back to restore Jerusalem.(36:22). However, that is 70 years away.
The next portion of Jewish history is sad, indeed. God’s special people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have rebelled to the point where they have been carried off into captivity. They are in Babylon now, slaves of a worldly king.
Before this happens, many prophets warn the Jewish people to turn back to God, but the people won’t listen. Later we will get to the books of prophecy which explain this aspect of God’s plan.
In the meantime, we have a few more books on the history of the Jews. Bit by bit, we are putting the puzzle pieces into place so that we can see the big picture.
John 19: 1-22
Pilate is nervous! He excitedly goes to the priests again and again saying, “I find no guilt in this man.”(V. 4) But the priests won’t be hindered in their desire to crucify Him.
When they say, “He calls himself the Son of God,” Pilate really gets nervous. He rushes back into Jesus saying, “Where are you from?”(v. 9)
Jesus plainly tells Pilate that Rome has no authority over Him unless it was given from above. Now Pilate is indeed in a frenzy.
Pilate makes efforts to release Jesus, but he gets manipulated once again by the priests, and gives in. But not before washing his hands in protest of the operation.
In the meantime, the Jewish leaders think that their ends are being met, but instead, God’s plan is working perfectly.
His Passover Lamb is about to be slain. God’s people are about to be set free from the penalty of sin for all time.
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