The DJBRP Jan 8th

The reading for Jan 8th was Matthew 4:12-17, Acts 5:1-16, Psalm 8, and Genesis 21-23.

The passage from Matthew covers the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Again, Matthew's focus seems to be on establishing Jesus as the one who is fulfilling what the prophets foretold (vs. 12-16). Then, in verse 17, we hear Jesus simple message, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." If Jesus told people to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, shouldn't we tell them to repent because the kingdom of heaven has come?

The passage in Acts covers the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira. God punished them for lying to the Holy Spirit. We are not told why they decided to lie, only that they did. God's punishment on them brought great fear and reverence to His name. Maybe the early church was being to relaxed about who God is, I don't know, but God was not going to let Himself be belittled.

Psalm 8 is a fairly well-known psalm. It tells of God's majesty and glory in all of His works and in His sovereignty.

Genesis 21-23 covers the birth of Isaac through the death of Sarah. Probably the most important section of this passage is in chapter 22 where Abraham takes Isaac up the mountain to offer him as a sacrifice to God. The amazing thing is Abraham's complete confidence in God to do what He had promised. Abraham goes up fully expecting to kill his only son on the altar, and instead, God provides a ram. Abraham trusted God to fulfill His promise concerning Isaac even though he would be dead. He trusted that God would raise him from the dead, as we are told in the new testament, so Abraham already had the hope of the ressurection.