For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
John 3
A few quick thoughts from this passage…the first two have to do with darkness and light. John notes that people won’t come into the light for fear their evil deeds will be exposed. One of the things this says to me is why many people struggle to come to Jesus. Jesus is the Light. You cannot come into His presence without revealing the desperate condition of your heart. People want to believe that they are good and so refuse to take the step that proves otherwise. Even when they know the truth deep down, they fear bringing that truth to light. The second thought that stems from that idea is how decreasingly afraid people are these days to bring their evil deeds out into the public square. That can only mean that we, who are Christ’s light to this world, have been hiding that light under a bushel.
The other quick thought from this passage comes from verse 34. “God gives the Spirit without limit.” Without limit!! God gave it to Jesus, and Jesus gives it to us. Without limit. How bright would Christ’s light shine if we could only grasp that truth!
1 Chron. 7-9
A thought occurred to me while reading through these genealogies this morning. The author of Chronicles was taking a post-exile accounting of God’s chosen people. I can just imagine the effort to gather all of the remaining records from all of the tribes and consolidate them into this one record. Once they sorted out where things stood before the exile, they counted the remnant that returned. Besides confirming that the returning exiles belonged to the nation of Israel, they also verified the status of the priests and Levites who cared for and performed services for God’s temple.
What came to mind while thinking about all of this was Psalm 87, which is a song about the City of Zion on God’s holy mountain. I see that Psalm as the fulfillment of the prophecy depicted by Israel’s return from exile. Israel’s exile shows how we have all been sent out of God’s presence because of our sin. Their return shows that God has a redemption plan to rescue His faithful remnant and bring them back to Him. Then we, like the Israelites, will be counted and confirmed. “The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’” (Ps. 87:6).