This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
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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1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,1 and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,2 and his own people3 did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.5 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who6 is at the Father’s side,7 he has made him known.
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight8 the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son9 of God.”
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.10 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus11 was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter12).
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,13 you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
[1] 1:4
[2] 1:11
[3] 1:11
[4] 1:14
[5] 1:16
[6] 1:18
[7] 1:18
[8] 1:23
[9] 1:34
[10] 1:39
[11] 1:40
[12] 1:42
[13] 1:51
(ESV)
I am a child of the Sesame Street generation. I grew up watching Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert, Ernie, Snuffleupagus, Grover, and even Mr. Hooper before his untimely passing. And yet, even though I learned about everything a little kid could conceivably be interested in from this timeless children's classic - from geometry to healthy eating habits to being brave, even in the dark - it was during Sesame Street that I also received my first formal introduction to the great American tradition of unabashed advertising. Yes, I know that Sesame Street airs on the non-profit, commercial-free PBS network, but that didn't stop the Children's Television Workshop from receiving large corporate sponsorships resulting in shameless plugs for these same sponsors at the end of each show. You remember, don't you? "Sesame Street has been brought to you by the letter 'A.' The letter 'Q.' And the number '7.'" Capitalistic commercialization at its best.
If Sesame Street can do it, so can I. So, in the interest of full disclosure, today's blog is brought to you by the letter "i."
With that sponsorship mention out of the way, in our "Word for Today" readings, we begin reading through the gospel of John. And, in his opening comments in John 1, we hear a beautifully clear and cogent statement concerning Jesus' divinity: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (verse 1). Jesus, John says, was the God of the universe. And yet, despite John's unequivocal affirmation, this fundamental confession of Jesus' divinity has not always been so readily received.
The year was AD 325. The emperor of Rome at the time, Constantine the Great, had convened an ecumenical church council at Nicea to discuss many things, one of which was the formulation of a formal confession of the Christian faith. Dispute broke out, however, as to how Jesus should be described. And this dispute was brought to us by, you guessed it, the letter "i." Many in this church council, led by a man named Athanasius, thought that Jesus should be referred to using the Greek word homoousious, meaning that he was "of one substance with God." That is, many affirmed John's declaration: Jesus is God. Another contingent, however, led by a man named Arius, wanted to refer to Jesus using the word homoiousious, meaning that he was "of like substance with God." One letter. A world of difference. One side clearly confessed Jesus' divinity. The other side demanded a confession that referred to Jesus as God-like, but not God himself.
Now, lest you think that this dispute is a mere relic best kept sitting on the dusty shelves of history, let me assure you that how you answer this dispute has profound implications for how you perceive God. The question is this: How close do you think God is? Does he simply reside in heaven, watching with a passive, even if intense, interest at our sinfulness, brokenness, and pain? Or, has God actually come to be close to us in Jesus? John's answer is clear: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (verse 14). In Jesus, God has come to get really close to us. But that's not all. For God has come with a gift for us. Jesus, John says, came "full of grace and truth" (verse 14). In other words, when God got really close to us, he didn't get really close just to condemn us or to criticize us or to wag his faultless finger at us. No, he came really close to us to give us grace out of his love for us. As Athanasius wrote, "For by God becoming a man, the Savior was to accomplish... works of love" (Incarnation of the Word, 18).
What, then, is the upshot of all of this? Simply this: There is no "i" in homoousious. Jesus is not "of like substance with God," he is of "one substance with God." And yes, this actually matters. For it means that God got really close in Jesus. And he got really close to you.
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
49:1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”1
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
[1] 49:3
(ESV)
In these verses God lays claim to two things that make Him unique in comparison to the worthless idols that so many worship. First, God is the Creator of the entire universe, whose hand laid the foundation of the earth and spread out the heavens above. The spokesman in verse 16 is the Messiah, thus, in this verse we see all three persons of the Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Redeemer bemoans the fact that His people ignored His commandments. Had they not done so, they would not have experienced the exile and every one of God's promises would have been completely fulfilled. By comparing their flight from Babylon with Israel's flight from Egypt, God declares that this would be a second Exodus. God clearly warns, "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked." This is true whether the "wicked" are pagan unbelievers, or unfaithful members of God's chosen people, either ancient Israel or the Church today. Chapter 49 begins with the words of the Servant of the LORD, the Messiah. He declares that, "The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name." These words were fulfilled in Gabriel's words to the Virgin Mary. He declares His mouth to be a sharp sword, as depicted by John in Revelation 1:16. Jesus' Great High Priestly prayer and His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane are a reflection of verses 3 and 4. The Servant then reveals the great truth of God's decree concerning His work of salvation. "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." The Servant of the LORD came to save us as well! Praise the LORD!
42:1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?2
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation3 6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
[1] 42:1
[2] 42:2
[3] 42:5
(ESV)