Read To Me Daily Semester 4Sample

MICAH 7:
The complete quote about the Messiah’s birthplace— found in Micah 5:2-5 and quoted to Herod in Matthew 2:6— mentions Bethlehem, a woman in labor giving birth, and the Lord is pictured as our shepherd who will be ‘highly honored around the world’. Note that Herod would have had cause for concern about his reign if such a leader appeared. 

If Micah 6:8 sounded familiar, it is because Micah quoted from Deut. 10:12.

ISAIAH 52:13—53:
In our reading yesterday, Isaiah 52, we heard the passage that Paul quoted in Romans 10.

Is. 52:7 NLT How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
the news that the God of Israel reigns!
All the ends of the earth will see
the victory of our God.

Note that God gave a special message (in 52:11-12) to those who would carry the temple treasures back to Jerusalem led by Ezra (Ezra 8). Those who carried those ‘sacred objects’ and who prayed and fasted with Ezra beside the river near Babylon had their prayers answered— as promised in Isaiah— around 200 years before they prayed!

REVELATION 5:
After acting as Jesus’ secretary to write down the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, John was taken up to God’s throne in heaven. We can note a feature of Jewish custom in the writing of John in Revelation 4: In reverence he avoided saying, “I saw God sitting on his throne.” He went beyond custom and didn’t even say ‘the Lord/Kyrios’. Instead he said, ‘Someone’ or ‘the One sitting on the throne’. God was mentioned directly only in the quotes of the four living creatures and the 24 elders. Note that we have seen those living creatures with four faces before in Ezekiel.

In front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. And we are told, “This is the sevenfold Spirit of God.” The number seven has symbolic meaning— indicating perfection, completeness, or attributes of God. (Compare Rev. 1:5, 3:1, 4:5 and 5:6.) Commentators also say that John could have thought about Isaiah 11:2-5— where Isaiah prophesied about the sevenfold spiritual characteristics of the Branch growing from David’s stump (Jesus).

Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are king! You have rescued us from slavery. As we leave the place of exile and slavery, may we ourselves be like returning priests carrying the temple equipment. May our lives be given in praise of You, and may we be holy in mind and actions, unstained by the defilements of this world. We desire to continually offer sacrifices of praise to You. As we march toward the holy city, You protect us on every side. So no enemy can keep us from reaching your holy city. How shocking it is that we enter that city because of a king who was disfigured— whose bloody wounds came from lead-tipped whips, from huge nails, and from a spear. Yet through You, our Lord, we will be able to be taken up to see the throne room in heaven. In fact, spiritually speaking, we are already there. Please light our hearts with the seven torches before the throne of our heavenly Father. And we with the elders sing,
“Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power.”
You, our sovereign creator are He who was, who is, and who is to come.