For a full description of the (Y4) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Gen. 35-36
God Promised Jacob, “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” (Gen. 35:12). When I read that, I couldn’t help but think that none of those three men ever actually possessed the land. God did permit all three of them to live peacefully in the land, and He certainly gave the land to their descendants many years later. How is it, though, that He said that he gave the land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The thoughts that come to mind in answer to that question are the timelessness of God and the resulting multi-dimensional aspect of His word.
Because of God’s eternal nature, His promises are not restricted to the timeline of a person’s life. As Jesus told the Sadducees, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matt. 22:32b). If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still live, even after they died, then God’s promise to them is still valid. Also, we know that the things of Scripture, as Paul noted, “are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Col. 2:17). Thus, I believe that God’s promise was about more than just the physical land. I believe the land is a shadow of something more, and that something is the substance of what God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Promise kept; God’s word is true.
Mark 6
The human heart is a strange thing. As the famous Julius Caesar quote states, “Men willingly believe what they wish.” Many of the people, including King Herod, believed that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Nevermind the obvious fact that Jesus was already alive and working when John the Baptist was beheaded. What strikes me as odd, though is that people so willingly believed that John the Baptist rose from the dead, but when Jesus actually did rise from the dead people chose to believe it was a scam. Also, they willingly believed this remarkable thing about John the Baptist but could not bring themselves to believe that Jesus was actually who He claimed to be, as supported by Scripture and prophecy.
It seems to me that the human heart is far more resistant to believing the truth than it is to believing unsupportable fabrications. That just highlights to me the evil nature of man. As Jeremiah noted, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). And evil always resists truth. That is why it is so critical that we be honest with ourselves and humble before God. We have to turn away from the evil nature of our heart in order to accept God’s truth.
Job 2
On this second appearance before God, Satan pointed out yet another truth about humanity. He said, “Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.” (Job 2:4b). Indeed, we cling to life with an iron fist. It is arguably our most valued possession, which is what makes Jesus’ words of truth to us so difficult to accept. He said, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” (Lk. 9:24). He is asking us to let Him be our most prized possession; our life. When we do, He changes what is true of us. We can then say, “Yes, all that a man of God has he will give for Christ.”