Day 273, September 30: Bible reading & prayer
Malachi 1-4 (chronological); Isaiah 19-21, Ephesians 2 (OT/NT)
We finished Nehemiah and the last of the Psalms yesterday. Today we read Malachi, and finish the Old Testament.
As the LORD promised through His prophets, He allowed His people to return from exile to Judah and Jerusalem, rebuild the temple, and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Over 40,000 returned from exile under the decree of King Cyrus of Persia and they finished rebuilding the temple under the decree of King Darius (Day 261, Day 262). Under the decree of King Artaxerxes, Ezra the priest and scribe returned to Jerusalem and found the exiles had failed to separate themselves from the people of the land as the Law required. They repented and took dramatic action, putting away their foreign wives (Day 268). Nehemiah, cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, returned to Jerusalem thirteen years after Ezra and led the people in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem in a miraculous 52 days, despite the threats and plots of their enemies in the land. In the midst of building, Nehemiah had to deal with the sin of the remnant of Jews enslaving each other and charging interest to one another, contrary to the Law (Day 269). After the wall was built, the people gathered to Jerusalem and Ezra read the Law to them. The people signed a covenant promising to follow God’s Law (Day 271). Nehemiah was governor of Judah for twelve years, but then returned to King Artaxerxes. When he returned, he found the people in great sin, despite their covenant (Day 272).
Remember the role of Tobiah the Ammonite as enemy of Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem? After the wall was built, Nehemiah wrote, “In those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me” (Day 270).
The problem with the people of Israel intermarrying with those who did not follow the God of Israel is that this led them into disobedience from the Law and the sin of idol worship. We read yesterday, “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin.” This was evident in the people’s relationship with Tobiah.
Furthermore, after the great public celebration in worship of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem that we read about yesterday, “On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them.” But, when Nehemiah, who was governor over the people for 12 years, left for a period of time to return to King Artaxerxes in Persia, he returned to find, “Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah, had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests….I also discovered that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had gone away, each to his own field. So I reprimanded the officials and said, ‘Why is the house of God forsaken?’”
Nehemiah also found, “that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people….Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite.”
Finally, Nehemiah found that the the people of Jerusalem were not honoring the Sabbath. “Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.”
We’ve talked about the favor of the LORD toward those who desire to please Him. Daniel understood the sins of the people, prayed and repented on their behalf, and was highly esteemed. Mordecai honored the LORD, and he and his niece Esther, queen of Persia, intervened on behalf of the Jews, and the LORD prevented their annihilation. Ezra and Nehemiah understood the gravity of the peoples’ sin. They knew the history of the people of Israel and how the LORD had punished them for such sin. Tragically, however, we see evidence in these stories that there are few who desire to please Him, despite His continued grace and mercy to them.
This truth is reflected in the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets to speak before 400 years of prophetic silence ensues.
An overview of our yearly Bible reading plan, with all summaries so far, can be found here. My appeal for the resolution to read your Bibles is here.
September 30 chronological reading: Malachi 1-4
Malachi 1
v1 “The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
v2-5 “‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the LORD. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.’ Though Edom says, ‘We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins’; thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.’ Your eyes will see this and you will say, ‘The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!’
v6-14 ‘“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?” says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, “How have we despised Your name?” You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, “How have we defiled You?” In that you say, “The table of the LORD is to be despised.” But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘nor will I accept an offering from you. For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘But you are profaning it, in that you say, “The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.” You also say, “My, how tiresome it is!” And you disdainfully sniff at it,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?’ says the LORD. ‘But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and My name is feared among the nations.’”
Malachi 2
v1-9 “‘And now this commandment is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.
v10-12 ‘Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.
v13-16 ‘This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce,’ says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with wrong,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.’
v17 “You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,’ or, ‘Where is the God of justice?’”
Malachi 3
v1-4 “‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.
v5-6 ‘Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
v7 ‘From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘But you say, “How shall we return?”
v8-12 ‘Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, “How have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,’ says the LORD of hosts.
v13-15 ‘Your words have been arrogant against Me,’ says the LORD. ‘Yet you say, “What have we spoken against You?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.”’
v16-18 “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. ‘They will be Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
Malachi 4
v1-3 “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,’ says the LORD of hosts.
v4 “‘Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
v5-6 ‘Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.’”
September 30 OT/NT readings: Isaiah 19-21, Ephesians 2
We are reading Isaiah in the Old Testament reading plan. We read Isaiah 19-21 on Day 198 of the chronological reading plan, so you can find the text of these chapters there.
We started Ephesians in the New Testament reading plan yesterday, which was written after Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, at the end of his third missionary journey, and then imprisoned. Paul went to Ephesus the first time, briefly, at the end of his second missionary journey, leaving Aquila and Priscilla there. He returned and stayed for over two years during his third missionary journey. He left there after a plot was formed against him, traveled through Macedonia and Greece, and said his last goodbye to the elders there on his way to Jerusalem, where he was arrested. A summary of the events in the book of Acts, which is helpful in the timeline of the apostle Paul’s letters, can be found here. The letter to the Ephesians is one of profound encouragement from the imprisoned Paul to those who are likely bewildered by his circumstances on why they shouldn’t be.
Chapter 1, yesterday, was a long introduction of the letter to the Ephesians from Paul that should result in a spiritual, “wow!” Paul introduced himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will go God” and wished grace and peace to the saints at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He went on to bless God, “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us….In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” He then went on to a familiar pattern of greeting evident in a lot of his letters: “having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.” He prayed, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
In chapter 2, today, the spiritual “wow!” continues if we consider where we’ve come from.
Ephesians 2
v1-10 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
v11-22 “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
Dear Lord,
Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
“But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit.”
“So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
You are our Creator. You have given us Your Spirit. This is sufficient motivation for us not to deal treacherously with one another. May we fear You and esteem Your name. May we act righteously. May we serve You. You will remember and spare us.
now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
We pray for this peace. We pray for our Jewish brethren to realize they can be freed from the Law by the blood of Christ. Though You have abolished division between Jews and Gentiles, Gentile Christians have been guilty of enmity against Jews, erecting barriers to their willingness to consider their Messiah. Forgive us. May we both be reconciled in one body to God through the cross, realizing and embracing that you have put to death the enmity between us.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
"May we both be reconciled in one body to God through the cross, realizing and embracing that you have put to death the enmity between us." Amen. Thank you Dr. Milhoan. Peace.