The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan Jan. 1st

The reading for Jan. 1st is Matthew 1:1-17, Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 1, and Genesis 1 and 2.

This will be a pretty short blog :-)

The passage from Matthew establishes Jesus' claim to the Davidic throne by showing His direct earthly descent from David. So when Pilate put the sign on the cross that read "King of the Jews", that was a legitimate earthly title for Christ and not just a heavenly one.

The passage from Acts is an interesting one. Verse 10 of chapter 1 says, "And while they were gazing into heaven..." Does this refer simply to staring into the sky or is it more than that? It seems, at least from my reading, that the apostles were given some sort of glimpse into heaven that is never described. This is obviously just speculation on my part but I wonder what they saw...

Psalm 1 is fairly well-known. This Psalm is about how God blesses the one who loves to obey Him and thinks about what is pleasing to Him, and its also about how God will not allow the wicked to stand, "for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." (ESV)

Genesis 1 and 2 are about the creation of the world and of man. In verse 14 of chapter 1 God creates the sun, moon, and stars, and He says that they are to be for signs, seasons, days, and years. Now, the seasons, days, and years I understand, but what does he mean by signs? I am also having trouble with the meaning of verse 16 where it says that the greater light will rule the day and the lesser light will rule the night. What does He mean by rule?