Day 36 Bible Readings – Matthew 24: 9-10 (ESV)

Job 34-36, Matthew 24: 1-31, Psalm 22: 22-31

Matthew 24: 9-10 (ESV)

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.”

Verses 9 through 11 from Matthew 24 shows Jesus warning his disciples what to expect after he dies and is resurrected and when he comes back for the second time. It makes me wonder if the disciples realized at that moment what was going to happen to them. If they didn’t then, they would eventually when they were hunted down by the Church leaders and the Romans. All of the disciples except John suffered horrible deaths. John was imprisoned on the island of Patmos and wrote Revelations, but then he was let go and died of old age. Many early followers of Christ were persecuted and eventually fell away and betrayed their fellow Christians to the authorities.

The persecution of believers in Jesus Christ still happens today. Many Christians have been jailed trying to spread the faith. In our modern Western world to be a believer in Jesus Christ is go against the current cultural milieu, although that attitude is slowly changing. Many people say the Bible is not relevant for us today, but the persecution of believers in Christ prove this falsehood wrong. Jesus predicted his followers will be hated, and that persecution still happens today.

Day 35 Bible Readings – Matthew 23: 8-10 (ESV)

Job 31-33, Matthew 23, Psalm 22: 12-21

Matthew 23: 8-10 (ESV)

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.”

In verses 8 through 10 from Matthew 23, Jesus told his disciples and crowds gathered around him that God is the most important person in our life. We can respect rabbis and other religious leaders for their knowledge and desire to teach about God, but God is our true teacher. We can also learn from each other for we all brothers and sisters. You can respect your biological father, but our true father who will take care of and protect is God who is in heaven. We can also respect instructors, but our true instructor is Christ. God needs to be first and foremost in our life. We need to consult God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for everything going on in our lives. Christ is our true teacher, our true father, and our true instructor. I have found this advice to be true in my life. Every time I followed the God’s advice, every decision has always worked out for the better. Even if God’s advice was sometime contradictory to what religious leaders were advising, what family was wanting, and what instructors were warning about. God’s way has always been the way for me go for everything in my life.

Day 34 Bible Readings – Matthew 22: 11-14 (ESV)

Job 28-30, Matthew 22, Psalm 22: 1-11

Matthew 22: 11-14 (ESV)

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I’ve always found verses 11 through 14 from Matthew 22 hard to understand until I read several Bible commentaries on these verses. Jesus told this parable about the kingdom of heaven to the chief priests and elders who came to him as he was teaching. This parable is about a King who arranged a marriage for his son and invited several people as guests to the party. The guest in this section of the parable had been invited to the wedding, but he was not wearing wedding garments. The man had been invited, but he did not bother to change his clothes to wear garments that were expected to be worn at a wedding. The Bible commentarians wrote that the man was invited, but he did not honor the King’s son by changing into the appropriate garments. The guest showed no love for the king or the son by bothering to even change his clothes. So the King  had the guest bound and cast into darkness. The guest in the parable had found faith to believe in God, but he remained unchanged by this faith and by Jesus Christ. When we are unchanged by our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ, we will suffer and not get into the kingdom of heaven. Christ finished the parable by saying “many are are called, but few are chosen” to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We can have the experience of being saved and invited into a relationship with God and Jesus Christ, but if our behavior is not changed by our faith or our relationship with Christ then God will not choose us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. I love this interpretation of these verses because they make it imperative that a person of faith must demonstrate their faith in their behavior, and if you cannot do that then you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Day 33 Bible Readings – Job 27: 1-6 (ESV)

Job 25-27, Matthew 21: 33-46, Psalm 21

Job 27: 1-6 (ESV)

“And Job again took up his discourse, and said: “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.”

In verses 1 through 6 from Job 27 Job tells his friends that even though he felt that God made his soul bitter, he did not want to tell any lies about God. Job wanted to hold on to his integrity and his righteousness. In his heart even though Job felt that God had somehow abandoned him and had let bad things happen to him, Job held on to his faith that God was a just God. I admire Job’s faith in God. Even though he had his whole life upended, he refused to give up on his faith in God. I know in my darkest days I did not have faith of Job, and I did not go through a tenth of the tragedies that Job had experienced. This year in reading Job, I have gained a new appreciation for his faith. Job’s faith in God was truly unshakable, and I would be happy to have a tenth of his faith in God.