Isaiah 40 Dear RTB’ers, We return to Isaiah and will be with him for the rest of this year and into 2026. In fact, we will not finish Isaiah until January 4, the date of our first RTB gathering of the new year. So, three weeks, get it on your calendars! [NOTE: Carol and I …
Category Archives: RTB 2025 – Search the Scriptures, Part 2
December 14 / II John & III John
II John 1-13 & III John 1-15 Dear RTB’ers, Two more (short) letters from the apostle John, one written to an “elect lady and her children” (possibly [even likely?] to a church and its members), the other to a person, Gaius. I see a common theme in these two letters – discernment. In the first …
December 13 / I John 5:4-21
I John 5:4-21 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these …
December 12 / I John 4:7-5:3
I John 4:7-5:3 Dear RTB’ers, “Love.” Each day in I John one word jumps out. Today that word is “love”. I counted 33 occurrences of the word “love” or “loved” in today’s 18 verses. And in these few verses we have a number of “memory verses”, especially I John 4:10,11,16b,18a,19. Pick one and add it …
December 11 / I John 3:11-4:6
I John 3:11-4:6 Dear RTB’ers, “World”. That one word is mentioned eight times in today’s reading, six of those in the first six verses in chapter 4, three times in just one verse (I John 4:5). For the most part, John applies the “world” to this earthly realm that is not of God, that is …
December 10 / I John 2:28-3:10
I John 2:28-3:10 Dear RTB’ers, The devil. He is featured today in John’s letter, in unglowing terms (I John 3:8, 10)! We also saw him in yesterday’s reading, where he is mentioned as “the evil one” (I John 2:13-14) and we’ll see him again in I John 5:18-19, again mentioned as “the evil one”. As …
December 9 / I John 2:3-27
I John 2:3-27 Dear RTB’ers, Love one another, keep His commandments, and be careful that you are not led astray by wrong teaching. Am I missing anything from today’s reading? I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, …
December 8 / I John 1:1-2:2
I John 1:1-2:2 Dear RTB’ers, Today and for the next week we have an elderly apostle John writing circular letters to believers, presumably those living in Asia (modern Turkey), Greece and Italy (Rome). That is, in contrast to Hebrews, he does not appear to be writing to Jewish believers in Jerusalem/Israel. He does not address …
December 7 / Isaiah 38-39
Isaiah 38-39 Dear RTB’ers, Today’s readings mostly repeat, sometimes verbatim what we read in late October in II Kings 20:1-19. We posted those earlier comments links yesterday. And as with my post yesterday, I was again struck by Hezekiah’s prayer and God’s answer. God does answer prayer – yes, no, later – but never “maybe”. …
December 6 / Isaiah 36-37
Isaiah 36-37 Dear RTB’ers, As the STS introduction tells us, today we are repeating material, sometimes verbatim, that we already read back on October 26, 27, and 28 from II Kings 18:13-20:11, when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria attempted to take Jerusalem. Feel free to look back at those posts, but for today, I’ll just …