Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 26-28
If you have been paying attention to the historical time references of Jeremiah’s writing, you will realize that it is not arranged in chronological order. For example, in yesterday’s reading, chapter 24 was penned after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Judah into captivity, while chapter 25 was penned in Jehoakim’s fourth year as king, which coincided with Nebuchadnezzar’s first. Today’s reading begins with Jehoakim’s first year. Don’t get too bogged down in the chronology. If such were imperative to understanding the book, God would have arranged it that way. Jeremiah’s boldness and faith are on full display in chapter 26. Being declared unfit to live (vv 10-12), Jeremiah responded by saying, ‘I am simply the Lord’s servant and am delivering His message. Here I am. Do with me as you see fit. But know this one thing — if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves’ (vv 13-15). Righteous elders appealed to past prophets and kings, both good and evil, in pleading for the king to repent and deal righteously with Jeremiah (vv 16-23).
New Testament reading: Luke 1
“There were many authors, but only one gospel.” In all of my readings of the New Testament, and Luke 1 in particular, Luke 1:1-2 just hit me for the first time. In Luke 1:1, “the beloved physician” is clear that there were “many” who had undertaken the task of recording written narratives of the life of Jesus. Luke’s gospel record was likely the third of the four accounts found in the New Testament today, yet there were many circulating at the time of his writing. According to verse 2, these narratives included those written by the men who had been with Jesus “from the beginning.” I don’t know why it never before occurred to me that the other apostles had also written accounts of Jesus’ life! These accounts written by the other apostles would have been inspired by God, but were not necessary to accurately preserve the account of Jesus’ life. Not all inspired writings have been preserved for us today. Certainly, Paul’s letter to the Laodiceans, which he instructed to be read to the Colossian church, would have been inspired, just like all of his epistles and other instructive correspondence.
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