In Numbers 21, Arad a city of Canaan was destroyed by the Israelites. This chapter spoke about the bronze snake. The Israelites complained and spoke against God and Moses. God sent them some venomous snake among them, and the snakes bit them and they died. The people came to Moses and said that the sinned because they spoke against the Lord and Moses. So Moses prayed to the Lord. The Lord told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, anyone who looked at it would be saved. And when it did it anyone who looked at the bronze snake was saved. Jesus said in John 3.14-15 that as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so the Son of Man was lifted that everyone who believes in him have eternal life. This was a part of the conversation with Nicodemus leading up to John 3.16.
In Numbers 22, the Israelites had arrived at the plains of Moab, the end of the journey before they would enter into Canaan. Balak, king of Moab, was terrified of the Israelites, because he saw what they did to the Amorites. He summoned Balaam. He thought since he could not defeat Israel militarily, he would use divination against them by paying for the services of Balaam. God came to Balaam in the night and asked who these men were, he said Balak, told him to put a curse on the Israelites. God told him not. God intervened by having Balaam's donkey speaking to him. All the details are provided in the links below.
In Luke 1.26-38, in the town town of Nazareth, Gabriel was sent, this time to a virgin named Mary. Again, Gabriel said, Do not be afraid! , this time to Mary. Notice the announcement he gave her of who Jesus will be 'He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.' We should rejoice that He is king and His kingdom will never end regardless what is happening in our lives today. One of the great mystery of the Christian faith is the incarnation that Jesus is both God and man.
In Luke 1.39-45, Mary visited Elizabeth, and found out that Elizabeth was pregnant with John, and Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, rejoiced that Mary was going to give birth to Jesus. In Luke 1.46-56, Mary praises God in a song of praise, and there are many similarities with between Mary's song of praise and the song of praise that Hannah sung in 1Samuel 2.1-10. This hymn is known as the Magnificat which when translated from the Latin Vulgate means 'glorifies'.
Psalm 57 is a song of David's deliverance from Saul. Verse 1-6 is a prayer and a complaint about David's situation with Saul. Verse 7-11 is praise and thanksgiving of David despite the problems facing him.
Proverbs 11.9-11 Here we have the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. Notice the use of the tongue when used by the wicked destroys, the shout of gladness from the righteouss, a city can be overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
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In Numbers 19, the issue of uncleanness came up again. There were rules stated in the chapter to follow to decide when one was unclean. An example shown here if a person touches a dead body, that person is unclean for seven days (v. 11-13). The water of cleansing must be applied to that person, so that he is clean ceremonially or he would be isolated from the people. As Christians, we do not have to worry about being unclean, ceremonially, but we have to worry about having sins in our lives. We need to keep short accounts with God, we need to confess our sins, turn from our evil ways, provide restitution and seek reconciliation to be clean before God. This was a one time event when we asked Christ into our lives, but must be donne regularly.
In Numbers 20, the Israelites arrived at the Desert of Zin, and stayed at Kadesh, there Moses' sister Miriam died. They had no water, and naturally, they grumbled, and began to oppose Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron went to God in the tabernacle and prayed to God. God told Moses to take the staff, and gather the assembly, together. Moses was to SPEAK to the rock before their eyes and they would have water. Moses brought the staff and assembled the people as God had commanded, then he said, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock?" He then raised his arm and STRUCK the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out and everyone had water to drink. Although the Israelites got the water, Moses had disobeyed God! For whatever reason, he struck the rock instead of speaking to it, he (Moses) was told that he could not enter Canaan. These waters were called Meribah which meant quarreling! Joshua was to succeed Moses (Num 27.12-22). After that the Israelites went to Mount Hor, there Aaron died. CLICK ON LINKS FOR COMMENTARY FOR INDIVIDUAL VERSES
We are now in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is portrayed by Luke as the Son of Man. Luke was writing the Gospel to the Gentiles. The Greeks have also idealized the Perfect Manhood, and Luke had portrayed as the Perfect Man. Who is Luke?. This passage deals with the introduction verse 1-4, where Luke is writing to Theophilus, which means one who loves God. Luke wanted to geve Theophilus to get an accurate and orderly account of the life of Jesus. Luke also wrote to Theophilus about the events in the book of Acts. John the Baptist birth (Luke 1.6-17) was foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, the priest. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. Zechariah was serving in the temple, when he saw Gabriel. Gabriel told him 'Do not be afraid... We are under the impression that angels are loveable and huggable from the New Age teachings we have today. But in all the cases regarding appearances of angels, the people had to be commanded not to be afraid. Gabriel told Zechariah that he would have a son and 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.[b] 16Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." That is why God picked these parents so that they could influence John from birth through manhood in preparation for this ministry. In Luke 1.18-20, he did not believe Gabriel, because he said that he was an old man and his wife was old and Elizabeth, his wife was well along in years and she was barren. He had doubted what Gabriel told him Zechariah was made speechless, as a sign, until Gabriel's word came true.
Psalm 56 is a prayer of deliverance. The psalmist petition for help v. 1-4, The hatred and malice of his enemies v. 5-7, The Psalmist trust in God without fears v.8-11, The psalmist gratitude for deliverance
Proverbs 11.8 Here we have the contrast between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous is delivered from trouble like the Psalmist in Psalm 56 but the wicked gets into trouble. Post a comment if something from today's passage spoke to you.
Numbers 16 dealt with another rebellion. Korah and his friends attack the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Korah was a Kohahtite, and his job in the tabernacle was to take care of the most holy things(Num 4.1-20, 12.8-11). He wanted more, a higher position as a priest. God punished Korah, Dathan and Abiram by having the earth swallow them up. More details are on Korah's Rebellion. We need to be CONTENT in whatever position in life God gives us, He knows what is best for us regardless of how we feel about it.
Numbers 16.41-50 The people murmured against Moses and Aaron about the punishment of the death of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. God sent a plague and some fifteen thousan people died. God is displeased when we take the side of the wicked, and not his side.
In Numbers 17, God told Moses to get twelve staffs from each leader of the tribe with the name of each man writen on it. They are to place in the tabernacle where God will meet with them. The staff that will sprout would be the man that God chose. He said this to gstop the constant grumbling agsainst Moses. When Moses went in the next day to the tabernacle and saw Aaron's staff not only sprouted but had budded and produce almond buds. This was to show Israel that Aaron was chosen. The reaction of the Israelites was terror. If we are chosen of God to do His work, the results wil be seen without us proclaiming how wonderful our ministry is.
We do not realize how terrible sin is. It does not matter whether the sin is commited intentionally or defiantly. God had to eradicate sin once and for all, that he sent his Son, Jesus to die in our place so that when we are His children, He does not see sin but righteousness.
Mark 16.1-20 This chapter speaks about the Resurrection (Mark 16.1-8; Matthew 28,1-8; Luke 24.1-10) We could imagine how shattered the women were, having seeing Jesus died on the cross, and the suffering that He went through. They were the ones who were at the tomb, where were the disciples? When they saw the angel they were alarmed. He told them to tell his disciples and Peter, that He is going ahead of them. Imagine the angel mentioned Peter by name! Jesus must have remembered him! Christianity would have died there if the Romans or the Jewish leaders could produce a body of Jesus. All of the major world religion cannot claimed that their founder rose from the dead, only Christianity can claim that there is an empty tomb. Jesus appeared to several groupos of people at different times (v. 9-14). He then gave them the Great Commission (Matthew 28.16-20 and 16.15-18) to go and preach the Gospel to all creation. He also promised them signs that would accompany those who believe. TWe should rejoice that Christ rose from the dead because we worship a living Savior with a living faith. Application
If there was no resurrection, we would have no hope in the afterlife, have victory over our sin.
Psalm 55.1-23 This is a psalm of David for those who have been betrayed. David described his situation, betrayal by enemies (v. 1-8), the treachery of a friend (v. 9-15) and David's confidence in God and not man.
Proverbs 11.7 What happens to the wicked (the person without Christ) in their life? He has no hope and expectation in the afterlife but an eternity of hell. Those who are chosen and trust in Christ will have eternal hope and a life full of expectation.
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Leviticus 24.1-4 speaks about the lamp and oil. This reminds of Jesus who is the Light of the world. He is also the Bread of Life (v.5-9). We do not realize how serious blasphemy is much less murder. God wants to warn the people of the consequences of blasphemy and murder.
Leviticus 25 speak of the feast days, namely the sabbath year, the year of the Jubilee where all debts are paid. Jesus is typified as our Redeemer in the Year of the Jubilee when all debts are paid.
Mark 10.13-31 passage spoke of that we should be like children with a child-like faith. The rich young ruler was a remarkabe young man who was sincere in his life but he did lack the one thing, he loved money!!
Psalm 44.9-26 show God as turning His back on the Israelites. It is horrible when God does not answer our prayers or is not in our lives.
Proverbs 10.20-21 The tongue cab be beneficial or it can be destructive.
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It is best to download each file, then open the file with Windows Media Player or some other software that plays mp3s. Windows Media Player when full screen has a large scale, where you can set the setpoint.
download Genesis 26-50; Psalms 1-75, Proverbs from the OT download Matthew from the NT link.
