God's salavation plan since David's time?

I love the mention of Jesus in yesterday's reading... ya know how God promised David that He would always have a descendant of David on the throne leading God's people? We know that Jesus is the is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise (I think the bible mentions somewhere that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God's promises?) which also means that God's plan of salvation for us through Jesus was formulated at least since David's time. Therefore, God was thinking about a way to save me and you and everyone else (from ourselves) alllll the way back from at least David's time... that's a loooooong time for Him to be thinking about us, sighhhhh LOVE that :)

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel

I'm not sure if you all have put this together already in your minds, but I thought I'd post it. So with these 3 major prophets, Isaiah told Israel and Judah they would be exiled before it happened, Jeremiah continues this, but is around during the exile and later Ezekiel is exiled but does most of his prophesying in exile. Sort of a before, during and after. There are 2 more prophets, Haggai and Zechariah to come later (or maybe the people on schedule are already there). I forget which one, but one was exiled and comes back and the other is younger and prophesies when the people return. I hope that helps you sort through some of the events.

In Jeremiah 27:16-22 ( Aug 11), God tells the people to serve Nebuchadnezzer. "Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live." He also says to serve his son and grandson. So its not about him, it's maybe just the role that God wants the people to respect. Later in Jeremiah we find an often quoted (and sometimes misused) scripture Jer. 29:11. Earlier in chapter 29 is when the people first find out, they will not be in exile for 2 years, but for 70 years. It's funny how that part isn't used to encourage people when that scripture is used. Yes you've just been exiled and times are tough, but sorry you'll be here for 70 years. Don't worry God has a plan though.

The way Israel worked was unique. It was both a government and a religion, which I think would make it hard to make sure everyone is doing well spiritually. Nowadays the church is mixed up throughout many countries and we don't have much to do with government. So only the ones who want to do what's right are in the church. It's actually better that we aren't a single country because we need to help people everywhere. This is a thought: maybe the plans God had for the people was preparing them to live spiritually not as their own country. I know they were exiled as a punishment, but maybe God also used it for this reason.

Keep up the reading everyone, I know I've got some catching up to do!

Finished Old Testament

I'm using the Chrono Bible as a reference but, I've been listening to the audio bible for the past few months. Just got done with Malachi yesterday afternoon. I tried to do the audio bible in a year in 2007 but it was difficult but with this group it inspires me to learn more about the Bible.

Ezekiel 12 - 18

Ezekiel 12: Ezekiel digs through the wall of his house and brings out his belongings as if he is going into exile.
This will happen to the house of Israel and the prince.
The people of the land will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair.
The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled.

Ezekiel 13: The Lord's hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations.
The Lord will save his people from false prophets.

Ezekiel 14: The Lord tells Israel to turn from idols and renounce all their detestable practices.
There will be four dreadful judgements against Jerusalem. Yet there will be some survivors.

Ezekiel 15: The Lord will make the land desolate because the people have been unfaithful.

Ezekiel 16: Jerusalem compared to a baby / child / young woman / queen.
The people make idols, shrines, and are unfaithful to God.
God will deal with them as they deserve, yet remember covenant with them, and make atonement for them.

Ezekiel 17: The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king and her nobels, bringing them back with him to Babylon.
The Lord will bring him to Babylon and execute judgement upon him there because he was unfaithful to the Lord.

Ezekiel 18: The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.
The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of anyone. Repent and Live.

Outline of Ezekiel 8 - 11

My outline of Ezekiel 8 - 11:

Ezekiel 8: Ezekiel has a vision of idol of jealousy.
He has a vision of elders of Israel, each at the shrine of their own idol.
He has a vision of 25 men worshipping the sun.

Ezekiel 9: Ezekiel has a vision of a man clothed in linen, who puts mark on foreheads of those who grieve and lament over detestable things.
Others followed behind the man in linen and slaughterd those without the mark.

Ezekiel 10: Ezekiel has vision of cherubim, wheels, and man in linen.
He has vision of the glory of the Lord departing from threshold of temple and stopping above cherubim, which had risen upward.

Ezekiel 11: The house of Israel will be driven out and handed over to foreigners.
The scattered people will come back to land of Israel and remove all its vile images and detestable idols.
They will be given undivided hearts, a new spirit, and their hearts of stone will be replaced with hearts of flesh.
Those who are devoted to vile images and detestable idols will be punished.

Jeremiah

Sorry I'm a little behind. Going back to Jeremiah. He was a prophet from God that was preaching against the kings, leadership, and other prophets. His message was from God, but the other prophets were just making things up that the people wanted to hear. We are supposed to support our leaders and submit to authority. Was Jeremiah not being supportive? Was he critical of leadership? What role does support play in a situation like what Israel and Judah were going through?

Outline of Ezekiel 1 - 7

My outline of Ezekiel 1 - 7

Ezekiel 1: The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel sees a fire with 4 creatures.
He then sees the likeness of the Glory of the Lord.

Ezekiel 2: God spoke and the Spirit went to Ezekiel.
God sent Ezekiel to speak to the Israelites.
God gave Ezekiel a scroll with words of lament and mourning and woe.

Ezekiel 3: God commanded Ezekiel to "Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them".
Ezekiel was overwhelmed.
Ezekiel to be accountable if he does not warn or speak out to dissuade wicked men from their evil ways.

Ezekiel 4: Ezekiel to lay siege to drawing of Jerusalem.
He is to lie on his left side 390 days to bear the sin of Israel.
He is to lie on his right side 40 days for the sin of Judah.

Ezekiel 5: Jerusalem is unruly and they have detestable idols.
A third of the people will die of plague/famine.
A third of the people will die by the sword.
A third of the people will be scattered.

Ezekiel 6: Israel's high places, alters, and idols will be destroyed.
People will fall slain, but some will be spared.

Ezekiel 7: The end has come to Israel.
They will be judged according to their conduct.

Daniel

Daniel was such an admirable man! Here are some of his qualities that I found super cool (from the few chapters we have read thus far)...

• He had a healthy diet: rather than eat the food from the king's table (which prolly was fatty stuff and unhealthy, in addition to being "unclean"), Daniel was willing to live on a diet of veggies (hopefully some of the veggies had some protein and stuff? I would not be able to survive without some protein in my diet hehe).
• He exercised: he was trained by the Babylonians in order to serve in the king's palace.
• He was smart and educated: he "showed aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand," he was taught the "language and literature of the Babylonians," and "in every matter of wisdom and understanding, about which the king questioned [him], he found [him] ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."
• He was compassionate: after learning that the king had ordered the execution of all the wise men, Daniel went to the king and pleaded for more time. The wise men were not Isrealites, Daniel could have chosen to not care about them, but he did care and took steps to help them.
  
• He was a man of prayer: after pleading with the king for more time, he went to his friends and asked them to join him in prayer to "plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning" the king's dream.
• He was a leader: not only did he take leader-type roles for the king of Babylon, it seems accurate to assume that he was a leader among his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah by speaking up for them to the guard regarding their food, and also by leading them in prayer and the worship of God (not to mention that the bible contains the book of Daniel not books named after his friends hehe).
  
• He praised God: after the dream was revealed to him, Daniel stopped to give praise to God (Dan 2:17-23).
• He gave God all the glory: before telling the king about the dream and its interpretation, Daniel made it clear to the king that it was God who revealed the dream to Daniel. He gave God allllll the glory and took absolutely no credit for any of the revelations.

and most impressively....

• He stayed closely connected to God no matter what: he had every reason to lose sight of God-- 1) he was young when he was exiled to Babylon, surely his youth could have caused him to stray from God, 2) he was far from home, surely being away from familiar surroundings could have caused him to stray from God, 3) he was a prisoner, surely he could have been angry or bitter at God, 4) he was in a foreign land witnessing new customs and the worship of other gods, surely he could have followed their ways and their religions, 5) he was being lavished by the king with honor and riches, surely Daniel could have eaten the king's food and he could have become proud, forgetting all about God, etc.--but Daniel DID NOT forget about God... through gratitude, prayer, obedience, humility, the fellowship of his 3 friends, and whatever else (singing, prayer walks with his friends, serving, etc.)... the point is, he stayed closely connected with God no matter what.
  

Daniel, hmmm... dreamy huh? :) hehe

Love ya! Tera

Isaiah

I like how Isaiah combines the present with the future. The prophet is trying to get the Israelites to see their sin an how it has hurt God, but at the same time their are predictions of Jesus and other events of the future from that time. It reminds me of how different God's thinking is to us as human beings. We are limited by the concept of time whereas God is not. Cool!

Isaiah

I've really enjoyed Isaiah this time. I'm not exactly sure why, but maybe it just makes sense to me this time. I'm a little behind and I read July 21 today. It was very condemning to the people not following God. The narrator also seemed to say that this might have been what got Isaiah killed. Its very sad that they got that far off. This day's reading was convicting to me and put some healthy fear of God in me. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Hope everyone is still reading!

Justin