For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Rom. 4
How does Paul describe Abraham’s faith in God’s promise (v. 18-22)? Compare this with your own faith in God. Where do you need to grow? Abraham did not let the hopeless reality of his situation keep him from, “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.” (Rom. 4:21). That’s faith – when we know in our heads and believe with all our hearts who God is. He is, “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” (Rom. 4:17b). Everything that exists does so because God made it exist. Everything that lives does so because God gave it life. There is nothing God cannot do.
The especially important part of that is that God gives life to the dead. That is the salvation message. Out of Abraham and Sarah’s “as good as dead” bodies, God gave life to a son. Thus, they received life through faith in God’s promise. God likewise gave life to His own Son out of the death of the grave so that we who are dead in our sin might also live by faith in God’s promise. Unless we believe that God gives life to the dead – unless we have faith – we cannot be saved.
Ezek. 5-6
Jewish prophets often used object lessons. What object lesson does Ezekiel use and what message did it convey? There are a lot of “thirds” in prophecy. I remember it from Revelation and see it in the prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem as well. Must mean something. This curiosity aside, however, one little thing jumped out at me in Ezekiel’s object lesson with his hair. God instructed Ezekiel, “But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.” (Ez. 5:3). I got the image of God gathering up His faithful few and tucking them away in a safe place, close to Him. The thought of hiding safely in the folds of God’s garments while His wrath destroys everything in sight is comforting to me.