December 11

John 17:6-19

[6] “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. [7] Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. [8] For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. [9] I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. [10] All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. [11] And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. [12] While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. [13] But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. [14] I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. [15] I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. [16] They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. [17] Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. [18] As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. [19] And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Revelation 8

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

[1] When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. [2] Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, [4] and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. [5] Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

[6] Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

[7] The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

[8] The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. [9] A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

[10] The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. [11] The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

[12] The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

[13] Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Job 33:1-11

Elihu Rebukes Job

    [1] “But now, hear my speech, O Job,

        and listen to all my words. 

    [2] Behold, I open my mouth;

        the tongue in my mouth speaks. 

    [3] My words declare the uprightness of my heart,

        and what my lips know they speak sincerely. 

    [4] The Spirit of God has made me,

        and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 

    [5] Answer me, if you can;

        set your words in order before me; take your stand. 

    [6] Behold, I am toward God as you are;

        I too was pinched off from a piece of clay. 

    [7] Behold, no fear of me need terrify you;

        my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

    [8] “Surely you have spoken in my ears,

        and I have heard the sound of your words. 

    [9] You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression;

        I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. 

    [10] Behold, he finds occasions against me,

        he counts me as his enemy, 

    [11] he puts my feet in the stocks

        and watches all my paths.’

Amos 7

Warning Visions

[1] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. [2] When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, 

    “O Lord GOD, please forgive!

        How can Jacob stand?

        He is so small!” 

    [3] The LORD relented concerning this:

        “It shall not be,” said the LORD.

    [4] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. [5] Then I said, 

    “O Lord GOD, please cease!

        How can Jacob stand?

        He is so small!” 

    [6] The LORD relented concerning this:

        “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

    [7] This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. [8] And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, 

    “Behold, I am setting a plumb line

        in the midst of my people Israel;

        I will never again pass by them; 

    [9] the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

        and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

        and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

    Amos Accused

[10] Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. [11] For thus Amos has said, 

    “‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

        and Israel must go into exile

        away from his land.’”

    [12] And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, [13] but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

[14] Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. [15] But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ [16] Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. 

    “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

        and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

    [17] Therefore thus says the LORD: 

    “‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,

        and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

        and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;

    you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

        and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

Amos 8

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

[1] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. [2] And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, 

    “The end has come upon my people Israel;

        I will never again pass by them. 

    [3] The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”

    declares the Lord GOD.

    “So many dead bodies!”

    “They are thrown everywhere!”

    “Silence!”

    [4] Hear this, you who trample on the needy

        and bring the poor of the land to an end, 

    [5] saying, “When will the new moon be over,

        that we may sell grain?

    And the Sabbath,

        that we may offer wheat for sale,

    that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great

        and deal deceitfully with false balances, 

    [6] that we may buy the poor for silver

        and the needy for a pair of sandals

        and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

    [7] The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

    “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 

    [8] Shall not the land tremble on this account,

        and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

    and all of it rise like the Nile,

        and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

    [9] “And on that day,” declares the Lord GOD,

        “I will make the sun go down at noon

        and darken the earth in broad daylight. 

    [10] I will turn your feasts into mourning

        and all your songs into lamentation;

    I will bring sackcloth on every waist

        and baldness on every head;

    I will make it like the mourning for an only son

        and the end of it like a bitter day.

    [11] “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD,

        “when I will send a famine on the land—

    not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

        but of hearing the words of the LORD. 

    [12] They shall wander from sea to sea,

        and from north to east;

    they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD,

        but they shall not find it.

    [13] “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men

        shall faint for thirst. 

    [14] Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,

        and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

    and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’

        they shall fall, and never rise again.”

Amos 9

The Destruction of Israel

[1] I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: 

    “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,

        and shatter them on the heads of all the people;

    and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;

        not one of them shall flee away;

        not one of them shall escape.

    [2] “If they dig into Sheol,

        from there shall my hand take them;

    if they climb up to heaven,

        from there I will bring them down. 

    [3] If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,

        from there I will search them out and take them;

    and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,

        there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. 

    [4] And if they go into captivity before their enemies,

        there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;

    and I will fix my eyes upon them

        for evil and not for good.”

    [5] The Lord GOD of hosts,

    he who touches the earth and it melts,

        and all who dwell in it mourn,

    and all of it rises like the Nile,

        and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; 

    [6] who builds his upper chambers in the heavens

        and founds his vault upon the earth;

    who calls for the waters of the sea

        and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

    the LORD is his name.

    [7] “Are you not like the Cushites to me,

        O people of Israel?” declares the LORD.

    “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

        and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? 

    [8] Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,

        and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,

        except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

    declares the LORD.

    [9] “For behold, I will command,

        and shake the house of Israel among all the nations

    as one shakes with a sieve,

        but no pebble shall fall to the earth. 

    [10] All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

        who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

    The Restoration of Israel

    [11] “In that day I will raise up

        the booth of David that is fallen

    and repair its breaches,

        and raise up its ruins

        and rebuild it as in the days of old, 

    [12] that they may possess the remnant of Edom

        and all the nations who are called by my name,”

        declares the LORD who does this.

    [13] “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,

        “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper

        and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

    the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

        and all the hills shall flow with it. 

    [14] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

        and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

    they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

        and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 

    [15] I will plant them on their land,

        and they shall never again be uprooted

        out of the land that I have given them,”

    says the LORD your God.

Christianity is the Impossible

PRAY OVER THIS

“Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.” John 5:8-9a

 

PONDER THIS

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Now, apply this verse to Jesus’ words in today’s verse, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” How was this man delivered? By grace. There was nothing he could do; he was paralyzed. The Bible says immediately he was made well. Salvation is by the sheer grace of God. Had you and I been standing there, we might have asked, “How can you tell a paralyzed man to get up? If he could get up, he would’ve gotten up a long time ago. That’s impossible. And because it’s impossible, it’s unreasonable. And because it’s impossible and unreasonable, it’s unfair.” But even in our dispute, the man would rise.

Let me tell you what Christianity is. Christianity is the impossible, the unreasonable, and Jesus Christ. Jesus does the impossible, and He does the unreasonable, but it’s possible with Him. He says to a paralyzed man, “Rise.” And that’s what He says to every sinner. It is by grace, through faith.

When have you tried to work for God’s favor? What kind of obstacles did you face?

How do you feel knowing God has done the impossible in your own life, bringing you from death to life in Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Think of a friend who is struggling with hopelessness right now. Ask God to show you a way to encourage that person in the hope He has given you in the impossible moments of life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:10–11)

God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything (Acts 17:25). The gifts of the magi are not given by way of assistance or need-meeting. It would dishonor a monarch if foreign visitors came with royal care-packages.

Nor are these gifts meant to be bribes. Deuteronomy 10:17 says that God takes no bribe. Well, what then do they mean? How are they worship?

Gifts given to wealthy, self-sufficient people are echoes and intensifiers of the giver’s desire to show how wonderful the person is. In a sense, giving gifts to Christ are like fasting — going without something to show that Christ is more valuable than what you are going without.

When you give a gift to Christ like this, it’s a way of saying, “The joy that I pursue (notice Matthew 2:10! “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”) — the joy that I pursue is not the hope of getting rich by bartering with you or negotiating some payment. I have not come to you for your things, but for yourself. And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by giving up things, in the hope of enjoying you more, not things. By giving to you what you do not need, and what I might enjoy, I am saying more earnestly and more authentically, ‘You are my treasure, not these things.’”

I think that’s what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Or whatever else we may think of giving to God.

May God awaken in us a desire for Christ himself. May we say from the heart, “Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the King of Israel. All nations will come and bow down before you. God wields the world to see that you are worshiped. Therefore, whatever opposition I may find, I joyfully ascribe authority and dignity to you, and bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not holding on to these gifts.”

John Piper 

December 10

John 17:1-5

The High Priestly Prayer

[1] When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, [2] since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. [3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. [4] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Revelation 7

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

[1] After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. [2] Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, [3] saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” [4] And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

    [5] 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

    12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

    12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 

    [6] 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

    12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

    12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 

    [7] 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

    12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

    12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 

    [8] 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

    12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

    12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

    A Great Multitude from Every Nation

[9] After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, [10] and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” [11] And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

[13] Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” [14] I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

    [15] “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

        and serve him day and night in his temple;

        and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 

    [16] They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

        the sun shall not strike them,

        nor any scorching heat. 

    [17] For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

        and he will guide them to springs of living water,

    and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Job 32

Elihu Rebukes Job’s Three Friends

[1] So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. [2] Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. [3] He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. [4] Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. [5] And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

[6] And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: 

    “I am young in years,

        and you are aged;

    therefore I was timid and afraid

        to declare my opinion to you. 

    [7] I said, ‘Let days speak,

        and many years teach wisdom.’ 

    [8] But it is the spirit in man,

        the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. 

    [9] It is not the old who are wise,

        nor the aged who understand what is right. 

    [10] Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

        let me also declare my opinion.’

    [11] “Behold, I waited for your words,

        I listened for your wise sayings,

        while you searched out what to say. 

    [12] I gave you my attention,

        and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job

        or who answered his words. 

    [13] Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;

        God may vanquish him, not a man.’ 

    [14] He has not directed his words against me,

        and I will not answer him with your speeches.

    [15] “They are dismayed; they answer no more;

        they have not a word to say. 

    [16] And shall I wait, because they do not speak,

        because they stand there, and answer no more? 

    [17] I also will answer with my share;

        I also will declare my opinion. 

    [18] For I am full of words;

        the spirit within me constrains me. 

    [19] Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;

        like new wineskins ready to burst. 

    [20] I must speak, that I may find relief;

        I must open my lips and answer. 

    [21] I will not show partiality to any man

        or use flattery toward any person. 

    [22] For I do not know how to flatter,

        else my Maker would soon take me away.

Amos 5

Seek the LORD and Live

[1] Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

    [2] “Fallen, no more to rise,

        is the virgin Israel;

    forsaken on her land,

        with none to raise her up.”

    [3] For thus says the Lord GOD: 

    “The city that went out a thousand

        shall have a hundred left,

    and that which went out a hundred

        shall have ten left

        to the house of Israel.”

    [4] For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: 

    “Seek me and live; 

    [5]     but do not seek Bethel,

    and do not enter into Gilgal

        or cross over to Beersheba;

    for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,

        and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

    [6] Seek the LORD and live,

        lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

        and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, 

    [7] O you who turn justice to wormwood

        and cast down righteousness to the earth!

    [8] He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

        and turns deep darkness into the morning

        and darkens the day into night,

    who calls for the waters of the sea

        and pours them out on the surface of the earth,

    the LORD is his name; 

    [9] who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

        so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

    [10] They hate him who reproves in the gate,

        and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 

    [11] Therefore because you trample on the poor

        and you exact taxes of grain from him,

    you have built houses of hewn stone,

        but you shall not dwell in them;

    you have planted pleasant vineyards,

        but you shall not drink their wine. 

    [12] For I know how many are your transgressions

        and how great are your sins—

    you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,

        and turn aside the needy in the gate. 

    [13] Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time,

        for it is an evil time.

    [14] Seek good, and not evil,

        that you may live;

    and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you,

        as you have said. 

    [15] Hate evil, and love good,

        and establish justice in the gate;

    it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,

        will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

    [16] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: 

    “In all the squares there shall be wailing,

        and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

    They shall call the farmers to mourning

        and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 

    [17] and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

        for I will pass through your midst,”

    says the LORD.

    Let Justice Roll Down

    [18] Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

        Why would you have the day of the LORD?

    It is darkness, and not light, 

    [19]     as if a man fled from a lion,

        and a bear met him,

    or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

        and a serpent bit him. 

    [20] Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light,

        and gloom with no brightness in it?

    [21] “I hate, I despise your feasts,

        and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 

    [22] Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

        I will not accept them;

    and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

        I will not look upon them. 

    [23] Take away from me the noise of your songs;

        to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 

    [24] But let justice roll down like waters,

        and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

    [25] “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? [26] You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, [27] and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos 6

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

    [1] “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,

        and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,

    the notable men of the first of the nations,

        to whom the house of Israel comes! 

    [2] Pass over to Calneh, and see,

        and from there go to Hamath the great;

        then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

    Are you better than these kingdoms?

        Or is their territory greater than your territory, 

    [3] O you who put far away the day of disaster

        and bring near the seat of violence?

    [4] “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory

        and stretch themselves out on their couches,

    and eat lambs from the flock

        and calves from the midst of the stall, 

    [5] who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

        and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 

    [6] who drink wine in bowls

        and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

        but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 

    [7] Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,

        and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”

    [8] The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: 

    “I abhor the pride of Jacob

        and hate his strongholds,

        and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

    [9] And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. [10] And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the LORD.”

    [11] For behold, the LORD commands,

        and the great house shall be struck down into fragments,

        and the little house into bits. 

    [12] Do horses run on rocks?

        Does one plow there with oxen?

    But you have turned justice into poison

        and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

    [13] you who rejoice in Lo-debar,

        who say, “Have we not by our own strength

        captured Karnaim for ourselves?” 

    [14] “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation,

        O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of hosts;

    “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath

        to the Brook of the Arabah.”