One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Sunday, January 2nd The Temptation of Adam and Eve, Joseph Takes Mary and Jesus to Nazareth, John the Baptist's Preaches!
You made it to the second day. Woo Hoo! One thing I want to stress is that if you happen to miss a day, don't worry about it. Just go on to the next day and make up the day you missed later. The key thing is that you stick to it. It is progress not perfection.
Links for the Readings and Commentary
Yesterday we read that everything God made was "good". In fact, it was "very good". We were made in God's image and God said we were good too! God provided everything for Adam and Eve in the garden. Importantly, they were naked and unashamed. All was good.
Today there is a different twist in the story. Despite having everything they needed, Adam and Eve decided to listen to another voice. The voice of the serpent, who we now know as Satan.. At the heart of the fall of Adam and Eve was the temptation to believe in a lie. At the heart Satan's lie was to get Adam and Eve to doubt God's promise to give them everything they needed. He got them to doubt God's Word, specifically his warning to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice this was the ONLY tree they could not eat from. But Satan tried to get them to believe that God was being stingy and restrictive and preventing them from doing what they wanted to do. We call it free will, but soon we will see it was not "free". At the heart of the serpent's temptation was when he said to them, "Did God really say?"
And, of course, we know the end of the story. The woman listened to Satan's lie and gave in to the temptation by eating the forbidden fruit. Then she tempted the man to do the same, which he did. Instead of trusting in God's promise, they trusted in the voice of the tempter. The result? A broken fellowship with God. Instead of being in a right relationship with God and being free to enjoy everything that God had given them, they were naked and afraid and hid from God.
Having been born of Adam, we too have inherited a sinful nature. It is a nature that distrusts the promises of the God and basically says, "No thanks God, I think I will do it my way!" As you hear God's Word and His promises, trust in them, and God will give you everything you need!
As we noted yesterday, one of the key purposes in Matthew's gospel is to connect God's promises in the Old Testament to the New Testament. From the old covenant he made with Israel, with a new covenant which was fulfillied in Jesus. For instance, today the angel who had spoken to Joseph before told him to take Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt. This was to escape King Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus because he perceived him as a threat to his power and authority. This fulfilled the passage from the Hosea (11:1) which predicted, "Out of Egypt I called my Son".
Later, the same angel told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to the small town in Galilee called Nazareth. This fulfilled the prophecy from isaiah 11:1, "He will be called a Nazarene". We will see from the beginning to the end of Jesus' life, God had prepared the way of salvation in advance with his ultimate purpose to draw all people to himself.
In Matthew 3, we meet John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. John had been born in a similarly miraculous way, as his father Zechariah and mother Elizabeth were advanced in years and had given up hope of a child. John was a prophet, who had lived a secluded life in the desert waiting to hear from God. When he arrived on the scene he preached, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." John also quoted Isaiah saying, "Prepare the way of the Lord and make room for his coming." (Isaiah 40:3)
In Genesis 2 the fall of humankind came when Adam and Even did not trust in God's promises. In Matthew 2 and 3, we see God used ordinary people like Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist who trusted in God's promises which led to the birth of our Savior! Do you trust in God's promises? What are the other voices in your life that try to get you to doubt God will do what He says He will do?
Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm. It is a prophetic psalm, as it talks about a coming King, who will break the rod of the oppressor. Verse 7 says, "Today you are my Son and I will become Your Father". This is a prophetic word regarding God the Father's relationship with Jesus the Son. The passage also warns the kings and rulers of this world to submit to God's "Royal Son". Not only is the Old Testament full of prophecies about the coming Messiah, but so are the Psalms.
"More passages from the book of Psalms are said to be "fulfilled" in the NT than from any other book of the OT." (Willis)
Proverbs 1:7 is a famous verse. The NIV translates it, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". A lot of people ask, "Why should I fear the Lord." The saying, "The fear of the Lord" appears 13 times in the book of Proverbs. A good way of understanding this word fear is to see it as, "Having reverence for and obedience to God". Many people today lack the fear of the Lord in this sense. Though God is full of grace and mercy, and his perfect love casts out all fear. He is not just like one of our "good buddies". We should not take His name lightly, or use it glibly, which we see so many doing in our society today. I think our society and even the church needs a good does of the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
Have a blessed Sabbath day and great week. See you tomorrow for Day 3!
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