[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 310-John 10-12 summary!]
Leviticus 26 offers us the blessings God would provide the Israelites if they obeyed His commands, and the punishments they would receive if they disobeyed. The cause and effects relationship between obedience and disobedience was clear. As we move through the Bible, we will see this clear cause and effect between obedience and disobedience remains stable, although exceptions start to appear. Job, the most righteous man of his age, suffered a great deal, despite his righteousness. King David often complains in his Psalms that the unrighteous prosper, while the righteous suffer. By the time we get to the New Testament, righteous suffering is modeled most clearly by Jesus, yet others are also martyred for their faith in Him. The principle of blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience is still valid, but we must remember exceptions do occur.
Leviticus 27 closes out the book with a list of valuations of people based on their ages and gender when it came to redemption or vows. In addition, valuations for property and types of animals that could be offered in these situations is provided. The chapter is one which doesn’t have much present day application, but was quite important among the Israelites in that moment. While the Bible is all true, and it is all the word of God, parts of the Old Testament are superseded explicitly by statements of Jesus, and others were relevant mainly to their moment in history. As always principles can be drawn from the truth, such as here, we see once again how important it is to give God our best.
John 3 is perhaps one of the best-known chapters of the Bible. In it Jesus has His famous conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, who came to Jesus at night. The night time meeting was surely because Nicodemus didn’t want to be seen with Jesus, but the truth Jesus offered Nicodemus has transformed the world. Jesus told Nicodemus to inherit eternal life we must be “born again.” In our day, the concept of “born again Christians” has become controversial, yet as I often point out unless we are born again, by Jesus’ definition, we are not Christians. Jesus invested a great deal of time with Nicodemus in making clear how important spiritual birth is in our lives. His explanation confused Nicodemus, a spiritual leader, so it isn’t surprising we can also get confused in our “sophistication.” The concept of being born again is quite simple, because it is simply spiritual birth, which is parallel to physical birth, but when we think too much about it, we can make it difficult. Jesus point was the only way to gain eternal life is to receive the spiritual life He alone offers. That life means having the Holy Spirit in us from the moment of our rebirth. As with physical birth and growth, spiritual birth also requires growth. Thankfully, the entire Bible gives us guidance in what it means to live the new life Jesus lived, died, and rose again to bring us. The key is to believe in Jesus, receive the new life He gives, and then live it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Day 310-John 10-12
In John 10, Jesus tells us He is the “Door” to the sheepfold, and the Good Shepherd. Jesus distinguishes between the devil’s work, which is to kill, steal and destroy, and His work, which is to bring us life in all of its abundance. In John 11, we read the powerful account of Jesus’ friend Lazarus dying. Even though Lazarus’ sisters: Mary and Martha, had sent for Jesus to let Him know Lazarus was sick, Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead for four days, before going to visit the family. In Jesus’ poignant interaction with Martha, Jesus proclaims, “I am the Resurrection and the Life!” Then he proves it by raising Lazarus from the dead. This amazes all but the religious leaders. They see this as one more evidence that Jesus will be the ultimate reason for the Romans to come and destroy they. They begin to plot in earnest to have Jesus killed. John 12 records Jesus being anointed by Mary, which was a preparation for His death. The religious leaders develop a plot to kill Lazarus, because he was evidence of Jesus’ power. Jesus marches triumphantly into Jerusalem, but this only causes more division as people must choose whether they are going to side with Jesus being the Messiah, or an impostor.