Blog – Page 175 – Read Through the Bible

January 19 / John 3:1-21

John 3:1-21

RTNT 2021. I have confessed many times that I have a hard time reading John’s gospel and understanding what Jesus is saying, especially when he is answering a question, as to how His answer fits the question. Thankfully we worked through these gospels two years ago and my first comment in the first link below really helps me understand Jesus’ communication with Nicodemus – or maybe properly said, miscommunication! I’m talking about verse 3: Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. If “born again” can also be translated “born from above” and Jesus is saying “born from above” while Nicodemus hears “born again” the rest of the conversation makes more sense.

The conversation ends abruptly with no response from Nicodemus beyond verse 9, How can these things be? However, that’s not the end for Nicodemus. Jesus must have left an everlasting impression on Nicodemus. He appears twice more in John’s gospel. In John 7:50,51 we see Nicodemus challenging his Sanhedrin colleagues on their hasty judgment of Jesus. Then we see him at the foot of the cross (John 19:38-42), bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body and then along with Joseph of Arimathea taking Jesus’ body down and placing Him in a tomb. Truly Jesus touched Nicodemus. And as with Jesus’ words with Nicodemus in today’s reading, we never know the impact that our faith-sharing words can have on our listener – possibly eternal impacts!!

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January 18 / John 2:1-25

John 2:1-25

RTNT 2021. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. (v. 2) I mentioned yesterday that Cana was less than five miles from Nazareth, so it’s reasonable that Mary and Jesus would be known to the bride and/or bridegroom and be invited to the wedding. His disciples were with Him – possibly He left the Jordan valley with His disciples because He knew of the wedding invitation. Or it could have been that as they were simply leaving the Jordan valley and Nazareth was closer than Capernaum or Bethsaida, the hometown of the other disciples who were following Jesus. That His disciples were with Him would have given Him reason to go “down” to Capernaum (v. 12), a city at the top of the Sea of Galilee where Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen. We will see later that Capernaum became the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry with Jesus often staying at the home of Simon Peter.

I came to EKU as chair of the Department of Economics and Finance. One of the faculty members who interviewed me was a solid Baptist who had been teaching a Bible Study in Richmond for some 30-40 years. I wanted to level with him as to the fact that one of my hobbies was brewing beer. I wondered what his reaction would be. His reply: “Well, I understand that Jesus was quite a wine maker Himself.” I recall that conversation every time I read of Jesus’ miracle at Cana.

Did Jesus cleanse the temple one or two times? I’ll leave that up to you all to go to your study Bibles or search the Internet for the answer. Recall that we are doing a chronological study, intermixing the gospels, so if there were two cleansings and John’s gospel is mostly chronological, then Jesus would have cleared the temple at the beginning and the end of his ministry.

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January 17 / John 1:35-51

John 1:35-51

RTNT 2021. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and… (v. 43a). After posting last week about caravans of travelers between Jerusalem and Galilee, my first thought today upon reading this verse was that Jesus was walking along with Andrew, Simon Peter, and the other disciple (vv. 35, 37) in the midst of a caravan of travelers and that He “found Philip” in the caravan, possibly after having engaged him in discussion. That would also be consistent with Andrew’s “search” for Peter, He first found his own brother Simon… (v. 41a) and Philip’s search for Nathanael, Philip found Nathanael and… (v. 45a), with all five of them part of the same caravan. Then thinking further of this caravan item, I wondered at the circumstance of four (or five) Galileans – Jesus, Andrew, Simon Peter, and Philip (and possibly Nathanael) – all returning to Galilee at the same time. So I’m guessing they must have been in Jerusalem for one of the annual feasts that drew many travelers (pilgrims) to Jerusalem three times a year and that they “happened” to stop by John the Baptist while he was baptizing at the Jordan River. I bring this up because I’ve always wondered at Andrew “finding” Simon Peter and Philip “finding” Nathanael, and then each of these going to Jesus wherever He was ministering. A traveling caravan answers my question and seems a reasonable explanation!!

Philip speaking: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (v. 45b) After so much discussion in our first two weeks about Jesus’ lineage, here Philip speaks clearly of Jesus as the son of Joseph. Philip was from Bethsaida, some 30-40 miles from Nazareth and possibly knew nothing of the situation surrounding Mary’s being pregnant while not yet married, so (to Philip) Jesus was simply the son of Joseph. However, Nathanael is likely from Cana (see John 21:2) and may well have known of Mary’s situation, since Cana is less than five miles from Nazareth. Recall also that Nathanael had earlier asked derisively, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (v. 46a) I’m thinking of my childhood in rural Illinois, in a small town of 1500, with even smaller towns nearby who were basketball opponents – and our regularly speaking derisively of anyone from those towns! …Jesus, the Son of Joseph… Interesting!

January 16 / Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

RTNT 2021. It’s true that we can read Scripture over and over again and see something new each time. When we read intently two years ago I had three items that I noticed. So this time around I’m reading the same passages and wondering if I’ll notice the same things. And yes, I picked up again on each of the items that I posted two years ago. (See below.) But there were also two new items for me, clearly the first of which I had never seen before! (BTW, Mark’s gospel also covers Jesus’ temptations, but in a short two verses only that we read a week ago.)

…for forty days, being tempted by the devil. (v. 2a) When we read these temptation accounts many of us can name the three temptations that Matthew and Luke cover. But Luke writes that Jesus was being tempted by the devil for forty days! (Matthew has the devil coming to Jesus only after the forty days were over.) I can imagine Satan following Jesus around in the wilderness, engaging Him on many occasions when He was tired, when He was hungry, asking Him challenging questions: “Why did you leave your comfortable home in heaven?” “How can you think that mankind is worth all the trouble that you are going through?” “Why forty days? What are you trying to prove?” All we typically notice is the culmination of these forty days, yet Jesus withstood the devil time and time again – and would continue to do battle with Satan for His next three years on earth. This is a Savior worth following!

…for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. (v. 6b) Was it Adam’s and Eve’s sin that “delivered” the kingdoms of the world to Satan? And if so, how could Satan claim all that authority just on the basis of one failure in the Garden? These questions don’t really matter. That one failure and their exile from the Garden left us where we are – we are living in that world. And even though Jesus has conquered sin and death Satan continues to do what he can to exert his authority. We are in constant need of that “Savior worth following”!

January 15 / Matt. 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11

RTNT 2021. Today’s first verse struck me: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. These few words, “…was led by the Spirit … to be tempted…”. It’s always a challenge to think of Jesus’ humanity up against His deity. What did He leave behind to become man? What did He retain? I guess I’ve long believed that He had no special Godly powers, but that everything “miraculous” that He did, He did through the Holy Spirit working through Him. And that in His prayer time He spoke to the Father and the Spirit and they to Him, not unlike we are able to do. So I see Him separated from the Father and the Spirit and not privy to their conversations. With all that, today’s verse suggests that the Father and the Spirit thought it best that Jesus be tempted as a human – something of which Jesus was unaware until prompted in His prayer time. So He obeyed and we all benefit from that: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Thank you, Jesus.

January 14 / Luke 3:21-38

RTNT 2021. Genealogies. I can’t trace my genealogy back any further than one set of great-grandparents on my mother’s side. But evidently it was important to the Old Testament Jews who were looking for their Messiah. So it’s not surprising that Luke (the historian) has a full line of Jesus’ ancestors, 35 more generations than Matthew. I commented below on items that I noticed two years ago. Today was one different item, “…as was supposed” in verse 23. Both the ESV and the NASB have that phrase set off from the rest of the sentence by commas (NASB) and by parentheses (ESV). Luke wrote of the virgin birth (Luke 1:34) so he knew that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father. But presumably the townspeople in Nazareth did not know the full story and saw Joseph as Jesus’ father when the family returned to Nazareth. So they “supposed” Joseph to be the father.

I keep reading and hearing about Matthew tracing Jesus’ lineage through Joseph while Luke traces his ancestors through Mary. But in verse 23 Luke clearly names Joseph as the “supposed” father. I don’t know how Biblical scholars can make that Mary-ancestry argument.

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January 13 / John 1:19-34

John 1:19-34

RTNT 2021. Today, John’s account of John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist tells his listeners (very likely, even those sent by the Pharisees) that He has been in communion with the Living God: I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ (v. 33) So God Himself has sent John to baptize, with explicit guidance as to why he was baptizing and when he would know the Messiah. This little bit of information puts John the Baptist in a totally different light – he has been sent from God to do what he is doing. I guess we already knew that, but to hear the Baptist’s personal proclamation of this fact strengthens his witness.

My Study Bible offered an interesting observation – the Jews who had been sent from the Pharisees were asking John the Baptist about himself, but he kept answering about Jesus. I just realized that all too often my testimony is more about me than about Jesus – more about events in my life that led me to the Lord or strengthened my faith than testimony about who Jesus is or what He has done. Clearly I need to focus more on Jesus as I share with non-believers.

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January 12 / Luke 3:1-20

Luke 3:1-20

RTNT 2021. Today is the third day, our third gospel of introducing John the Baptist. Yesterday I commented how Mark introduced John the Baptist as “He appeared…”. Luke is quite different!! No more on that – see my first comment in the link below.

Initially John gives the people two directives: Bear fruit… (v. 8a) and don’t justify yourself as Abraham’s children (v. 8b). Then after a few verses he adds to his first directive. First the crowds ask and he tells them to share with those in need (v. 11). Then the politicians ask (see my second note in the link below) and he tells them not to act corruptly (v. 13). Then the military personnel ask and he warns them against the undue use of force/violence (v. 14). Written almost two thousand years ago, John the Baptist still has words for us today.

Verse 18 adds a bit of irony to John’s comments – ironic humor, actually. After he talks about burning chaff with unquenchable fire Luke writes, So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. (v. 18) Unquenchable fire? Exhortations? Good news…??!! Yes, good news. The good news is back in verse 16: I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Good news, indeed!

January 11 / Mark 1:1-13

Mark 1:1-13

RTNT 2021. Today’s reading was broken into three parts in 2019 – January 17, 20, and 24, covering, respectively, John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism, and Jesus in the wilderness. See below.

Four things struck me today – an unusual number! First, in verse 5, And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark is clearly overstating his point here – clearly not ALL the people of Judea and Jerusalem were coming to John to be baptized. We saw yesterday that Matthew had harsh words for the Pharisees and Sadducees; more likely they were coming to watch, to spy on John, not to repent!

Second, in verse 8 John says I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. There were a number of cleansing rituals with water in Jewish customs and John clearly knows this. However, he is taking their cleansing rituals one step further, telling them that there is another baptism ahead for them, a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which only “the One coming after him” can accomplish.

Third, in verse 10, And when He came up out of the water, immediately HE saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. (NOTE: The NASB translation (my favorite) always capitalizes deific pronouns while the ESV does not; my quotes are from the ESV unless otherwise noted, but I tend to “correct” the lower-case pronouns in the ESV.) The HE pronoun that I have emboldened above could refer either to Jesus or to John. I’ve always imagined that pronoun referring to John, but today I noticed it capitalized in my NASB Bible. And what a difference it makes, if it is actually JESUS who sees the Spirit descending on Himself – that He now knows that His time has come. Intriguing. However, I think that pronoun is speaking of John, not Jesus. Still, it’s ambiguous and intriguing.

Finally, And a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” (v. 11) Here we have God the Father speaking in the second person directly to Jesus. Luke has it the same way, but Matthew has what is more familiar to me, This is My beloved Son… (Matthew 3:17), speaking in the third person of Jesus. Again how different it would have been for Jesus whether His Father is speaking directly TO Him or OF Him. Beyond intriguing…!!

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January 10 / Matt. 3:1-17

RTNT 2021. Jesus’ baptism is one item that is covered in all four gospels, as I noted back in 2019. In setting the readings for this chronological study I have tried to keep chapters “together” as much as possible, again essentially doubling up the number of verses this year that we covered in 2019. Back then we split today’s reading into John’s baptism ministry and Jesus’ baptism on different days. So 2019’s two incidents are split into two dates, January 16 and January 20. See below.

I’ve always been struck by the three members of the Trinity all “showing up” at Jesus’ baptism – Jesus as His earthly self, the Holy Spirit “…descending like a dove and coming to rest” (v. 16b) on Jesus, and the Father speaking This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. (v. 17) They fit perfectly into Michael’s sermon today – the Water (Jesus and Baptism), the Word (the Father speaking), and the Holy Spirit appearing. It is not often – but also not uncommon – for the readings or the sermon at church on Sunday morning to also coincide with exactly what we are or have been or will be reading. That’s a double blessing when it happens!

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