Daily Bible reading and prayer, Tuesday, December 5, 2023
2 Corinthians 5-9; Daniel 5-6, 1 John 4 (OT/NT)
A overview of our yearly Bible reading plan, with all edited summaries so far, can be found here.
We started 2 Corinthians for the second time this year yesterday. It was written by the apostle Paul while he made his way, via Macedonia, to visit them before going to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey. In his first letter to the Corinthians, written during his prolonged time in Ephesus, he addresses sin that he is aware of in their church. His second letter was written while he made his way, via Macedonia, to visit them before going to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey. This letter addresses his rebuke in his previous letter, the collection they are contributing to for the saints in Jerusalem, and dangerous outsiders claiming inappropriate authority in their church.
I have recently updated the summary of the book of Acts, which is relevant for context for all of these readings.
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 chronological reading: 2 Corinthians 5-9
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 OT/NT readings: Daniel 5-6, 1 John 4
We are reading Daniel for the second time this year.
We are also reading 1 John. Peter and James and John were with Jesus on the mountain when He was transfigured. James was martyred by Herod, but Peter and John went on to write letters referring to their authority as eyewitnesses. John gives the good news that Jesus is faithful to cleanse us from sin, if we confess, but he also makes it clear that we are to practice righteousness, which includes loving one another.
CHAPTER THEMES:
Chapter 1: John, with the other apostles, proclaim and testify what they have seen and heard and touched concerning the Word of Life, which was from the beginning, so that we may have fellowship with them, and with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Sin cannot be a part of this fellowship. If “we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Chapter 2: John is writing against those who try to deceive us. He is writing so that we may not sin. If we do not keep His commandments, hate our brother, or love the world, we have not come to know Him. If we sin, we have Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, as an Advocate with the Father. The antichrist denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son as the Father also. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone else that practices righteousness is born of Him.
Chapter 3: He commanded us to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another. Make sure we are not deceived: the one who practices righteousness is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. How great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called the children of God. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Since we have the hope of seeing Him, knowing that when He appears we will be like Him, we purify ourselves, just as He is pure. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 4
v1-6 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
v7-14 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
v15-21 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”
Dear Lord,
we are the temple of the living God;
just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
“Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord.“
AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.
“And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Thank You that we are Your temple, indwelt by Your Spirit. It matters what we believe about Your Son.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
Thank You that we con be confident in Your love for us. Thank You that You love us. Thank You that our eternal security allows us to walk in confidence as we live according to Your will on earth.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.