NL-Day356 Zechariah 1-2; Isaiah 59; Revelation 13
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
Release Date: 12/15/2024
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
LEVITICUS 17-18:Yesterday we learned about regulations concerning uncleanness caused by bodily discharges of all kinds. Then we heard the procedures for the high priest to perform yearly on the day of atonement. PSALM 19:Today’s Psalm is a famous poem celebrating the heavens and God's creation, and secondly celebrating the perfection of God's Word. LUKE 12b:In yesterday’s reading in this chapter, Jesus warned about hypocrisy, and one of our biggest fears— fearing what other people will think of us. I want to read a clear version of these three verses: Luk. 12:8 [PET “I tell you the...
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LEVITICUS 15-16:Yesterday we heard about sacrifices following the healing of skin diseases and after getting rid of house mildew. Chapter 15 is about defiling bodily discharges. Chapter 16 is about the Day of Atonement, and the chapter contains a translation problem in the word or name ‘azazel’. If you are interested in this problem, see the Translate notes in today’s episode notes. PSALM 18:This poem reveals David’s intimacy with God. Even though he frequently refers to himself, we see that God— and not himself, is the center of his spiritual life. LUKE 12a:Jesus definitely gained...
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LEVITICUS 14:After hearing about the serious skin diseases yesterday, today we hear of the regulations if someone is healed from one. Note that these regulations were probably almost never done— until perhaps when Jesus caused a wave of men who had been healed to come with offerings. Note that our modern translations use either ‘serious skin disease’ or ‘contagious skin disease’ instead of calling these ‘leprosy’ as in older translations. Leprosy— also called Hanson’s Disease, is a very different disease from the ones described in Scripture. PSALM 17:This is one of David’s...
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LEVITICUS 13:Yesterday in Lev. 11-12, we learned the animals considered clean and edible, and those that were considered unclean and detestable. Then we heard about the sacrifices for purification after a woman gives birth. PSALM 16:E.C. Olsen says that the Old Testament is like a sundial. “It is not difficult to read the hour marks on a sundial. Anybody can read them and at any time, but one can only tell time when the sun shines upon the sundial. Thus, while the Bible is the Word of God and can be read by all at any time, only the man who has received the Lord Jesus Christ is able to tell...
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LEVITICUS 11-12:Yesterday in Leviticus, Aaron and his sons started their work, and the glory of the Lord was revealed. But right after that Nadab and Abihu died because they offered an unauthorized kind of fire to the Lord. PSALM 15:This is a psalm showing the kind of people who will be welcomed into God's presence. LUKE 10:Yesterday in the first half of the chapter, Jesus sent the 72 disciples out ahead of Him with interesting instructions. A worker will be given his pay as he trusts in the Lord to provide it. And there were strong words for the villages which received most of Jesus'...
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LEVITICUS 9-10:Yesterday in Leviticus, we heard more regulations for the priests (mainly), and then heard the story of the ordination ceremony that Moses performed for Aaron and his sons. PSALM 14:Psalm 14 can be classed as a messianic psalm because of v7. (However that is made clearer in other translations.) David shows us what God sees when He looks at this world. And that is why Paul quoted from this psalm in Romans 3. LUKE 10:In the second half of Luke 9, Jesus came down from the mountain to find a crowd, and he healed a demon possessed boy. Jesus predicted his death, and talked about the...
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LEVITICUS 7:Yesterday we heard about sin and guilt offerings and about the ordination offering for priests. In today’s reading, it sounds to me that for repayment offerings (repayment being a sin which would usually be intentional), the person offering the sacrifice would not be entitled to receive any of the meat. PSALM 13:David starts by crying out “How long?” and ends with a note of praise. We can be thankful for his difficult experiences which give us these Psalms. LUKE 9b:Yesterday we heard of Jesus sending out his disciples, and afterward the feeding of the 5,000. Peter rightly...
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LEVITICUS 5-6:Yesterday we read about sacrifices given for unintentional sins and for peace offerings. And I said that we would hear about offerings for intentional sins today. PSALM 12:In Psalm 12, we hear of trusting in God's promises even in the midst of hard times. LUKE 9a:Yesterday to the woman healed of bleeding, Jesus said, “It is because you believe in me that you are healed.” And to Jairus, He said, “ Don’t be afraid. Just keep on believing in Me.” NLT Translation notes:Ps. 12:5 The LORD replies, “I have seen [your violence done againstthe helpless,//violence done to...
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LEVITICUS 3-4:Yesterday we heard about burnt offerings and grain offerings. Andrew Bonar states about Leviticus:“There is no book in the whole compass of that inspired Volume which the Holy Spirit has given us, that contains more of the very words of God than Leviticus. It is God that is the direct speaker in almost every page; His gracious words are recorded in the form wherein they were uttered.” Note this in our reading in Leviticus today: By and large, the sacrificial system was set up to forgive unintentional sins. (Some small exceptions will be noted in tomorrow’s reading in...
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LEVITICUS 1-2:Yesterday at the end of Exodus, the worship in the completed and dedicated tabernacle was started. Leviticus is a continuation of Exodus, in the same way that Exodus is a continuation of Genesis. Leviticus also starts with the word ‘And’. The title once again comes from Latin Vulgate which was based on the name in the Septuagint. So the name does not come from the Hebrew. Because of the name, many think that this book is a handbook only for the priests. Not so. Wenham (from Constable) states: “It would be wrong, however, to describe Leviticus simply as a manual for...
info_outlineZECHARIAH 1-2:
Yesterday we read both chapters of the little book of Haggai, and heard how Haggai motivated his discouraged audience to return to the task of rebuilding the temple. Haggai certainly must have known and worked with our next author— Zechariah.
While there are at least 27 men named Zechariah in the Old Testament, we do know which one was the writer of this book.
The biblestudytools.com site says that Zechariah “was born in Babylonia and was among those who returned to Judah in 538/537 b.c. under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua (his grandfather Iddo is named among the returnees in Ne 12:4). At a later time, when Joiakim was high priest (see note on Ne 12:12-21), Zechariah apparently succeeded Iddo (1:1,7) as head of that priestly family (Ne 12:10-16).”
(See https://www.biblestudytools.com/csb/zechariah/ for a very helpful timeline showing where Zechariah’s prophecies fit in with the book of Ezra and Haggai’s prophecies.)
The name Zechariah means ‘Yahweh remembers’, and his name is appropriate to the message of his book. The HCSB Study Bible gives this good overview of the book of Zechariah:
Zechariah sought to encourage those who had returned from captivity to rebuild the temple and rededicate their lives to the Lord. The message of encouragement involved surrealistic visions and vivid poetic images, focused on reversal of God’s judgment and calling for a reversal of the people’s behavior.
It is because of the surrealistic visions that people have called this book the ‘Apocalypse of the Old Testament’. Since we are also reading Revelation, you will get a double dose of the apocalyptic genre.
Mears gives this interesting comment, and this is something I suggest we watch for as we read this book:
Someone has said that to correctly read the visions of this book, you must shine two lights on them— the light of the cross and the light of the crown. Otherwise, you will find that you don’t have the proper perspective or background to understand Zechariah’s visions. The prophet, looking far into the future, saw two aspects of the future Messiah— one Person, but two appearances. First, he saw Him in humiliation and suffering; then he saw Him in majesty and great glory. Jewish people who do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah ignore the Christ of the cross. Christians too often ignore the Christ of the crown. Both are wrong.
ISAIAH 59:
Although chapter 58 didn’t use the word ‘hypocrisy’, that is what God was preaching against. After telling us the kind of fasting that God desires most, God gave beautiful promises to those who live as He teaches.
REVELATION 13:
Following the 7th trumpet blast in chapter 11, the vision in chapter 12 is an overview. The woman who gives birth to ‘he who will rule the nations with a rod of iron’ is not a picture of Mary. This is an overview. I encourage you to dig deeper to find out more about the picture of the glorious woman. I will give you my take about the dragon’s seven heads and seven crowns. The dragon, as we will see will do his best to masquerade as God. He is doing that right now in our day! Look out, and don’t be fooled! An important foundational teaching in that chapter is to explain about the source of the spiritual battle we now see being played out in the world.
NLT Translation Notes:
Zec. 2:8 [The messiah speaks:] After a period of glory, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. 9 I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.
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Is. 59:15b The LORD looked and was displeased
[when he saw that//to find] there was no justice.
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.