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!
1:1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we1 have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister greet you.
[1] 1:8
(ESV)
"What, then, does Jesus mean to me? To me, he was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had," said Mahatma Gandhi. He continued, "To his believers, he was God's only begotten Son." Jesus was a great teacher of humanity, even, as Gandhi would claim elsewhere, a divine teacher of humanity. But was he God's only begotten Son? This, it seems, Gandhi could not so readily accept.
The words of Gandhi represent a stance that is regularly, readily, and unthinkingly parroted by countless people all over the world, albeit with less eloquence than that of Gandhi. "Jesus was a great teacher and a fine moral example," it is said, "but God's Son? God come in the flesh? I can't believe that!" In a stance such as this, the pluralistic sensibilities of Gandhi are often merged with the anti-miraculous biases of a naturalistic worldview to create a strange hybrid portrait of a Jesus who is spiritual in his teaching, but certainly not miraculous or theistic in his person.
All of this, of course, is nothing new. In our reading for today from 2 John, the apostle warns believers, "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world" (verse 7). In our day, people object to Jesus being God's Son because they think it impossible for a man to be God, much less for one man exclusively to be God, as is claimed by Jesus. In John's day, however, people objected not to a man being God, but to God being a man. For in their thinking, the divine ethereal essence would never stoop so low as to become a mortal, fleshly being. People in our day say, "Jesus ≠ God." People in John's day declared, "God ≠ Jesus." On whatever side of the equation you place the factors "God" and "Jesus," however, the effect remains the same. To quote the Nicene Creed, such equations deny that Jesus is "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father."
John wastes no time dispensing with such heresy: "Any such person [who teaches that Jesus is not God] is the deceiver and the antichrist" (verse 7). Jesus is indeed God who is "coming in the flesh." Interestingly, John uses a present tense participle to describe Jesus' incarnation rather than a past tense verb, even though John penned these words around AD 90, some forty years after Jesus' ascension into heaven. How can John maintain that Jesus is coming in the flesh when he has already come? Some believe John's language here alludes to Communion and Christ's presence therein. For instance, Ignatius of Antioch, echoing John's language, writes:
Let no man deceive himself. Unless he believes that Christ Jesus has lived in the flesh, and shall confess his cross and passion, and the blood which he shed for the salvation of the world, he shall not obtain eternal life... [Some people] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of his goodness, raised up again. (Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, chs. 6-7)
Ignatius, along with other church fathers, say that Christ not only came as a carpenter from Nazareth, but also comes through the proclamation of his Word and the administration of his Sacraments. God, time and time again, comes to be with his people.
The question of Christ's identity is the linchpin of history. Either he was and is the Son of God, who continues to dwell with his people even now, or he was and is a deranged madman who only claimed divine authority and God remains distant and aloof, unwilling to commingle himself with sinful and broken people. Which one is Jesus to you? My prayer is that he is the former. For a Christ who is only a good teacher can never save you or dwell with you. A Christ who is God, however, can do all this - and so much more.
1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds1 of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years2 before the earthquake.
2 And he said:
“The LORD roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the top of Carmel withers.”
3 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Damascus,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,3
because they have threshed Gilead
with threshing sledges of iron.
4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus,
and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,4
and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,”
says the LORD.
6 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.
7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord GOD.
9 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Tyre,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.”
11 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore perpetually,
and he kept his wrath forever.
12 So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
13 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead,
that they might enlarge their border.
14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
15 and their king shall go into exile,
he and his princes5 together,”
says the LORD.
2:1 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Moab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,6
because he burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its princes7 with him,”
says the LORD.
4 Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have rejected the law of the LORD,
and have not kept his statutes,
but their lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.
5 So I will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”
[1] 1:1
[2] 1:1
[3] 1:3
[4] 1:5
[5] 1:15
[6] 2:1
[7] 2:3
(ESV)
The prophet Amos was a shepherd from Tekoa (about 12 miles south of Jerusalem) called by God during the reigns of King Uzziah in Judah, and King Jereboam II in Israel (between 790 and 750 BC.). At this time the nations were at peace and there was great prosperity. However, God's judgment roar would cause people to mourn in repentance and wither in fear. The judgment would begin with the nations surrounding Israel. Damascus, capital of Syria, was named first, along with their kings Hazael and Ben-Hadad. Thus, in 732 BC the Assyrians took the Syrians into exile. Next to be named were the Philistines who lived in Gaza. The repeated refrain, "For three transgressions and for four" was a poetic way of expressing that their sins were numerous, and the increasing number indicated that the nations had filled up the measure of their sins. Tyre too would experience God's wrath as fire was poured out to devour her strongholds. Edom was condemned for pursuing his brother (since the Edomites were descended from Esau, brother of Jacob) with a sword. The Ammonites were accused of ruthless cruelty in trying to expand their territory by war against Israel. God's judgment would rain down on Rabbah (the modern city of Amman, Jordan). Moab was the final enemy to come under judgment, even though Moab's sin was committed again Edom, the enemy of Israel. This demonstrated that the LORD was nothing like the limited, national deities worshiped by Israel's pagan neighbors. He is LORD over all and can call anyone to account for sins against anyone else. Up to this point, God's people might have received Amos' words of judgment against their enemies with glee and delight. But suddenly the tables are turned: "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord." God's depiction of fiery judgment is now directed against Judah and Jerusalem, to the shock and dismay of Amos' hearers!
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
7 When a man’s ways please the LORD,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues with injustice.
9 The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
10 An oracle is on the lips of a king;
his mouth does not sin in judgment.
11 A just balance and scales are the LORD’s;
all the weights in the bag are his work.
12 It is an abomination to kings to do evil,
for the throne is established by righteousness.
13 Righteous lips are the delight of a king,
and he loves him who speaks what is right.
14 A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
and a wise man will appease it.
15 In the light of a king’s face there is life,
and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
17 The highway of the upright turns aside from evil;
whoever guards his way preserves his life.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud.
(ESV)