Bible Reading Plan
Word for Today
This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
- The first reading is a chapter from the New Testament.
- The second reading is a section from Old Testament history.
- The third reading is from the books of Psalms and Proverbs.
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don’t worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you’ve missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
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New Testament Reading for Monday, December 09, 2024
Hebrews 6
6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings,1 the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The Certainty of God’s Promise
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,2 having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
(ESV)
Pastoral Commentary for Hebrews 6
Commentary from Pastor Zach McIntosh
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses, and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty together again."
You know the rhyme, but did you know that it was originally a riddle? Before the identity of Humpty Dumpty was so well known, children, after hearing this poem, would be asked, "Who is Humpty Dumpty?" They would then have to decipher the clues. What kind of a thing is so fragile that, once it takes a great fall, it cannot be put back together again? The picture above, taken from a 1902 Mother Goose storybook, gives us the answer to this rhyming riddle in parentheses. Humpty Dumpty is an egg.
The truth of the human condition is that we all have a bit of Humpty Dumpty in us. We are all more fragile than we care to believe or admit. That is why a stinging comment can cut so deeply. Or a public failure can embarrass so monumentally. Or a broken relationship can hurt so horribly. We are all fragile.
It is this sobering recognition of humanity's fragility that leads the preacher of Hebrews to offer a stark warning in our reading for today from Hebrews 6:
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. (verses 4-6)
The preacher of Hebrews reminds us that there are some who have taken a great fall. But this is not a fall off a wall, this is a fall from faith. The Greek word for "fall away" in verse 6 is parapipto. This is the only place in the New Testament that this word appears. It is from the verb pipto, meaning, "to fall," and intensified by the preposition para. In other words, it denotes someone who has not just fallen, but fallen hard. They have taken a great fall.
The preacher of Hebrews warns that a person who takes such a parapipto cannot be put back together again: "It is impossible... if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance" (verses 4, 6). But this is not because God does not desire to put them back together again. Indeed, he would love nothing more than to see them repent and restored. But these people will have none of God's restoration. Instead, they violently and vociferously "crucify the Son of God all over again and subject him to public disgrace" (verse 6). The problem, then, lies not in the will of God, but in will of these men. For they do not want to be put back together again. Instead, they rail against God and seek to destroy him. Indeed, the Greek word for "public disgrace" in verse 6 is paradeigmatizo. Like parapipto, this is a compound word consisting of the verb deigmatizo, meaning, "to disgrace," and then the preposition para which serves to intensify the main verb. These people, then, do not just want to disgrace Jesus, they want to radically disgrace him. They want to subject him and his message to as much scathing ridicule as they can marshal.
A question that I am regularly asked about passages like this one is, "How do I know if I've fallen away? What if I have taken a great fall, never to be brought back to faith?" My response to each anxious inquiry is the same: "If you're worried about your faith, then you have not fallen from your faith. For your very concern betrays that you have not rejected your faith, but instead desire to grow in it." The people the preacher of Hebrews addresses are those who hate God and show no concern for their sin, not those who desire God and are worried about their sin. This is why the preacher continues: "Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case - things that accompany salvation" (verse 9). In our case, the preacher reminds us, we have better things - salvific things. Salvific things which come from the one who was once paradeigmatizo-d on a cross for us and for our salvation.
The promise, then, is that even when we take a giant parapipto into sin, when we trust in God, we can have the full assurance that even if all the King's horses and all the King's men cannot, the King can put us back together again. And when he does, we are stronger than ever. For we rest in the strong arm of the one who conquered all - even death on a cross.
Old Testament Reading for Monday, December 09, 2024
Zephaniah 2
Judgment on Judah’s Enemies
2:1 Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect1
—before the day passes away like chaff—
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the LORD,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the LORD.
3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;2
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the LORD.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
with meadows3 for shepherds
and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the LORD their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the LORD of hosts.
11 The LORD will be awesome against them;
for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down,
each in its place,
all the lands of the nations.
12 You also, O Cushites,
shall be slain by my sword.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst,
all kinds of beasts;4
even the owl and the hedgehog5
shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
devastation will be on the threshold;
for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the exultant city
that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
“I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
Everyone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist.
Footnotes
[1] 2:2
[2] 2:3
[3] 2:6
[4] 2:14
[5] 2:14
(ESV)
Pastoral Commentary for Zephaniah 2
Commentary from Pastor Bob Nordlie
The message of "the great day of the LORD" is now directed toward the enemies of God's people. The "shameless nation" addressed in verse 1 is sometimes taken to be Judah. Verse 4, however, is directed toward the four major cities of the Philistines, so this entire section of chapter 2 is probably addressed to Philistia. Would there be "humble of the land, who do his just commands" and would seek righteousness and humility in such a pagan land? Psalm 87 names Philistia among those who would have citizenship in Zion, and even the Canaanite woman looked to Jesus for help and healing (Matthew 15:27). Faith was sometimes found outside of Israel in both the Old and New Testaments. Clearly, therefore, the Spirit of the LORD could be at work among the Philistines as well, to shelter some of them by faith on the day of the LORD's wrath. The Philistines are referred to again as Cherethites or Cretans, since they were originally from Crete. God warned that He would level their cities and turn them into pasture for the flocks of the remnant of Judah. The Moabites and Ammonites are also condemned for taunting God's people. God warned that they would be like Sodom and Gomorrah, and their gods would bow down and worship Him. Cush, perhaps named as a derisive term for Egypt, and Assyria are also condemned. Nineveh, capital of Assyria, had claimed to be god by claiming the divine name, "I am, and there is no one else," but they would become desolate and derided, when "the day of the LORD" came upon them.
Psalms/Proverbs Reading for Monday, December 09, 2024
Proverbs 25:1–10
More Proverbs of Solomon
25:1 These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.
2 It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
3 As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,
so the heart of kings is unsearchable.
4 Take away the dross from the silver,
and the smith has material for a vessel;
5 take away the wicked from the presence of the king,
and his throne will be established in righteousness.
6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence
or stand in the place of the great,
7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
What your eyes have seen
8 do not hastily bring into court,1
for2 what will you do in the end,
when your neighbor puts you to shame?
9 Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
and do not reveal another’s secret,
10 lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute have no end.
Footnotes
[1] 25:8
[2] 25:8
(ESV)