December 1

1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."

3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.

7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen."

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.

9 And the LORD said, "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God."

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."

11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. - Hosea 1

1 Say to your brothers, "You are my people," and to your sisters, "You have received mercy."

2 "Plead with your mother, plead- for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband- that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; 

3 lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. 

4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. 

5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.' 

6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 

7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.' 

8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 

9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 

10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 

11 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. 

12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. 

13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the LORD. 

14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 

15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 

16 "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.'

17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.

18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

21 "And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 

22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 

23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"  - Hosea 2

1 And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

3 And I said to her, "You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you."

4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. - Hosea 3

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. 

3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! 

4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 

5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. 

6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. 

7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. 

8 "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 

9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 

10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. 

11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. 

12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. 

13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. 

14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. 

15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. 

16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; 

17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.  - Job 23

1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 

6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." - Revelation 1:1-8

1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4 And you know the way to where I am going."

5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - John 14:1-14

Do You Fight Against God?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“They fought from the heavens; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.”

Judges 5:20

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Military strategists are still studying Napoleon. He was a great general but full of ego. Napoleon marched against Russia with 500,000 hand-picked men. What an army! As he marched across the plains of Russia, a snowflake kissed his cheek. He brushed it off and laughed. Another came and then a handful. And then bushels, and finally avalanches of snowflakes.

Napoleon’s fine horses reared and plunged and floundered in the snow. His army perished. Before it was over, Napoleon’s finest lay frozen on the plains of Russia. He retreated like a whipped puppy.

Napoleon had boasted, “God is on the side of the heaviest battalions.” And he was right. But he forgot that God puts His battalions in the skies.

The same thing happened to one of Israel’s enemies, Sisera. This time, not with snowflakes—but stars.

ACTION POINT

What are your odds if you stand against the plan of God? The stars in their courses fought against Sisera and Napoleon, and they’ll fight against anyone who fights against God. Get into His Word. Learn His ways so He doesn’t have to send the stars to correct your course. One little snowflake will do. Seek Him from the start!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Triumphant Shame of the Cross

[Christ did not] offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:25–26)

It is not to be taken for granted that there should be a welcome for sinners in heaven.

God is holy and pure and perfectly just and righteous. Yet the whole story of the Bible is how such a great and holy God can and does welcome dirty, unholy people like you and me into his favor. How can this be?

Hebrews 9:25 says that Christ’s sacrifice for sin was not like the sacrifices of the Jewish high priests. They came into the holy place yearly with animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. But these verses say Christ did not enter heaven to “offer himself repeatedly . . . for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 9:26).

If Christ followed the pattern of the priests, then he would have to die yearly. And since the sins to be covered include the sins of Adam and Eve, he would have had to begin his yearly dying at the foundation of the world. But the writer treats this as unthinkable.

Why is this unthinkable? Because it would make the death of the Son of God look weak and ineffective. If it has to be repeated year after year for centuries, where would be the triumph? Where would we see the infinite value of the sacrifice of the Son of God? It would vanish in the shamefulness of a yearly suffering and death.

There was shame in the cross, but it was triumphant shame. “[Jesus despised] the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

This is the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). I pray that no matter how dirty or unholy with sin you are, you will see the light of this glory and believe.

John Piper 

Bible Study

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. - Hebrews 9:27-28

5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. - 1 John 3:5-6

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, - 1 Peter 3:18

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. - Matthew 16:27

Following the Light: Jesus

BIBLE MEDITATION

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life” John 8:12

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

In the natural world, there is nothing as pure as light. Light can never be defiled or corrupted—no matter what it passes through or falls upon. You can let light fall on the most corruptible, putrefying, vile, loathsome, disease-ridden object; yet the light is not touched by it. It will expose it but not be contaminated by it.

When you take water from the purest spring, as it bubbles up and begins to flow away, it gets contaminated. But not light. Light can never be defiled, and therefore light is a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was in this world. He was the Light of the world. He exposed sin, but He was never contaminated by it. Jesus could touch sinners, but sin never touched Jesus.

ACTION POINT

Do you see why “light” is a perfect word to describe the Lord Jesus Christ? Compare this passage to John 1:4-5, 9.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

Thank the Lord Jesus today for being that pure light who gives life to everyone who receives His offer of salvation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Only Conscience-Cleanser

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14)

Here we are in the modern age — the age of the Internet, smartphones, space travel, and heart transplants — and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our consciences condemn us and make us feel unacceptable to God. We are alienated from God. And our consciences bear witness.

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to charity, or serve in a soup kitchen, or a hundred forms of penance or self-injury, and the result will be the same: The stain remains and death terrifies.

We know that our conscience is defiled — not with external things like touching a corpse, a dirty diaper, or a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15–23). We are defiled by attitudes like pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear.

The only answer in this modern age, as in every other age, is the blood of Christ. When your conscience rises up and condemns you, where will you turn? Hebrews 9:14 gives you the answer: “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

The answer is: Turn to the blood of Christ. Turn to the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give you relief in life, and peace in death.

John Piper 

Bible Study

 Light of Jesus

 

 

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,

9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,

12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. - 2 Timothy 1:7-12

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, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - John 1:1-5

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 

6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 

7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.  - Isaiah 45:5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1 John 1:5-10