The DJBRP Jan 4th

The reading for Jan 4th was Matthew 2:13-23, Acts 2:22-47, Psalm 4, and Genesis 9-11.

The passage from Matthew covers Jesus' escape to Egypt and His return upon Herod's death. The main thing that stuck out to me in this passage of scripture is how determined God was to fulfill all the prophecies about Jesus. Three times in this passage the scripture states something to the effect of "to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets" (verses 15, 17, and 23). God always keeps His word. We can always count on what He says will come to pass to do just that.

The passage from Acts covers Peter's sermon to those gathered at Pentecost. There are three thing about this passage that I wanted to highlight. First, in verse 23, we see that Jesus' death was God's plan from the beginning. It was no accident and was according to God's "definite plan and foreknowledge." Second, in verse 33, we see that Jesus is now exalted at God's right hand and has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has been made king over all and the Holy Spirit is a sign of His authority. Third, in verse 39, we see that this promise was not just for those present, but for all those who God calls to Himself. So we see in this passage that Jesus was delivered up because of God's plan, was exalted to God's right hand as ruler of all, and has given us the Holy Spirit as a sign of His authority and a promise that he will always reign.

Psalm 4 verse 3 says, "But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him." What an amazing correlation. God hears David's prayers because He has set David apart. If God sets you apart, He listens to your prayers. I would venture to say that the reverse of this is also true. If God hasn't set you apart, He won't hear your prayers.

The passage from Genesis covers God's covenant with Noah to the calling of Abraham. There are a couple of interesting verses in this passage. Chapter 10 verse 9 says, "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord'." How good at hunting do you have to be to get that title? One day maybe someone will say of me, "Like Zach a mighty blogger before the Lord." That would be cool :-)
In chapter 11 verse 28 we read, "Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans." I wonder if this is the first time that a parent naturally outlived one of their children and that is the reason it is recorded...