Daily Bible Readings and Devotionals Moving to a New Site

 Since I am no longer affiliated with Southern Hills Baptist Church, I am moving my Daily Bible Readings and Devotionals to a new site. 

In 2023, I will continue to post Daily Bible Readings and Devotionals, as I have for the past 8 years or so, but I am starting a new blogspot site that is not affiliated with Southern Hills Baptist Church. 

You can find it HERE. 

You can also go to pastordavemiller.blogspot.com and bookmark that. 

"Come, Lord Jesus" December 31 Readings: Revelation 21-22

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:  Revelation 21-22  

Background:   

We spend a lot of time trying to find life, to find fun and contentment and pleasure and peace in this world. But in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, we see a truth that helps us in the search for real life. Observe verses 1 and 2.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Coming from the throne of God is a river of living water that feeds the tree of life and brings healing to the nations. Life flows from the throne of God - and nowhere else. God is life. Real life, true life - it flows from his throne to us. Don't look for, from this world, what only God can offer. Eternal life, abundant life, joy, contentment and fulfillment, these flow from heaven in streams of living water. He alone satisfies the soul with everlasting joy.

The Bible begins with God speaking the world into existence. Now, the Bible ends with God's words again.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

First Jesus gives us a blessed promise. He's coming quickly. Oh, of course, quickly is defined by the One to whom a day is as a thousand years. But he is coming. One day. Soon or in the distant future, he will come and consummate this world in his glory. 

Daily Devotional: Come, Lord Jesus 

Theologians and preachers have speculated about heaven for a long time. The New Testament is clear about how we get there - we ride the coattails of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to eternal glory. None of us is worthy of heaven or fit for it. Since sin cannot dwell there, and we are all sinners, we are excluded until the blood of Christ cleanses us and the power of Christ makes us new. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ we who deserve hell can become fit for heaven.

That much is clear, but what will heaven be like? On that, there is a wide divergence of opinion. The description given in Revelation 21 is not all that helpful. Look at verses 19-21.

The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone:the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

My guess is that John was doing the best he can to describe the glory he saw, but that heaven is so far above and beyond human experience that he did the best he could to write down what he saw. The problem is that I'm not really sure what chrysolite, chrysoprase, or jacinth are. How about you? What does it mean that each of the gates was made of a single pearl, or that the street is made of pure gold that looks like transparent glass? I just don't have a good sense of what that means. Pure gold like transparent glass?  Not visualizing that.

Heaven is beyond our existence. I cannot envision a sinless, perfect world, one that sin has never and will never touch, one that is unaffected by time, where death and decay have no place. In fact, that leads me to my point. When John describes heaven, he spends most of his time describing what isn't there.

• There's no sea (21:1). This may refer to the sinful nations of the world. The roiling and political machination is gone and Jesus reigns supreme. 
• Death no longer exists (21:4). Jesus has once and for all defeated the enemy of humanity and it is no longer a threat. 
• There are no tears, grief, crying or pain (21:4). All the "former things" have passed away as the new order of things has taken over. God is now in charge and all is well. Every trace of sin, of the curse and all of its effects, has been forever banished. 
• There's no sanctuary (21:22). No sacrifice or place of worship is needed. God is there personally. 
• There's no source of light - sun or moon (21:23). It's not needed because the glory of God provides all the light that is needed. 
• There's no closing time (21:25). The gates are open eternally. 
• There's nothing profane (21:27). Sin has been banished once and for all. 

I can't tell you exactly what heaven is going to be like, but I can tell you this, everything that is wrong, evil, awful, hurtful, and bad about life here on earth - it won't be there. God will. Jesus will. Those who believe in Jesus will be there - redeemed and transformed. But all the mess of this world will be gone.

I can't tell you exactly what heaven will be like, but it will be wonderful!

And so, we say with the Apostle John, "Come, Lord Jesus." Life can be hard, or it can be good, But come, Lord Jesus. When everything is coming up roses or when it's stinking like fertilizer, come, Lord Jesus. 

Someone once observed that there is something the first two chapters of the Bible have in common with the last two. No Satan. God made the world and he ends it his way. He wins. The end. 

With all the wickedness, confusion, terrorism, war, poverty, and suffering in the world, all of God's people, the redeemed of Christ, the saints set apart by his grace sigh and say as one, 

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Father, I thank you that Christ prepared a place for me in glory by his blood shed on the cross. I thank you that all the evil, grief and pain of this world will only last a time, but that your glory is eternal. 

Consider God's Word:

Are you longing for the coming of Christ, living each day preparing for heaven and investing in heavenly treasure?
What is it about heaven that is a blessing to you?
What is it about heaven that you still wonder about? 

"When the Books Open" December 30 Readings: Revelation 20

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings: Revelation 20   

Background:   

It will be the most glorious moment in human history when the great battle of evil is going on here on earth and suddenly Jesus breaks out in glory with heaven's armies trailing him and he strikes down the rebellious hordes with the sword coming out of his mouth. Then, he judges the world, binds Satan, and sets up his millennial kingdom. After that comes the final judgment and Satan's doom, along with the terrible moment of the Great White Throne when sinners are judged and sent to the Lake of Fire.

It is God's ultimate victory over sin and it is also a moment of sadness as many are sent to the horrible place of torment prepared for the devil and his fallen angels. 

Daily Devotional: When the Books Open 

Why do people go to hell?

No one wants to talk about it or think about it, but when we arrive at Revelation 20:11-15, we can no longer pretend the final judgment does not exist. There is a Great White Throne and seated on it is the Judge of all the earth. Every man and woman who has ever lived and died is brought to stand before this throne and is judged.

Here is where my eschatological viewpoint comes in - I believe that the believing dead have already been raised prior to this and that all those who face this judgment are lost. It's not an issue that needs to be fought to the end, of course.

But the key is that we see hints as to how the final judgment of sinners is made. John describes two different sets of books being opened. In verse 12, it says, "the books were opened." This implies that the dead are judged according to their works, and that is something that no human being wants. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Every one of us who is judged according to the works we have done in this life will be found wanting.

The first set of books is opened and every man and woman standing before the throne of God stands guilty, without excuse. No one offers an appeal or justification. Guilty as charged.

But there is another book that is opened, mentioned in verse 12 as well, the "book of life." This has also been called the Lamb's book of life. In this book is written the names of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Why do people go to hell? Because their name is not written in that book! Because as sinners they have not repented of their sin and turned to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. John put it about as clearly as one could in his first epistle.

"He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life." (1 John 5:12)

Eternity is about Jesus. What did you do with him? There's not a single one of us who can stand when God opens the books and judges our lives. We are sinners. But those who have placed their faith in Jesus have a secure hope in heaven for all eternity, a hope for glory.

It is my guess that most of those who read this devotional "have the Son." You have repented of your sin and put your faith in him. If you haven't, do so now. But if your name is written in the book of life by the grace of God, by the blood of Christ, then give thanks today. Give thanks that your eternity does not depend on you but on Jesus Christ. Give thanks that Jesus paid with his blood so that your name could be written in the Book of Life. Give thanks that though your works could never earn righteousness, his was imputed to you.

Father, I thank you for your Son, our Savior. Because of him, I have hope for all eternity. I have life I didn't serve and a place in heaven I couldn't earn.  

Consider God's Word:

Is your name written in the Book of Life? Do you "have the Son" - because you repented of your sins and put your faith in Christ? If not, turn to him now and give your life to Christ.

If you are "in the Book" give thanks that God saved you and give glory to him. You have heaven even though your sins deserved hell. Rejoice. 

"Fallen Is Babylon" December 29 Reading: Revelation 18-19

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:  Revelation 18-19  

Background:   

Babylon is a powerful word throughout the Bible, representing not just the powerful nation that arose to seek to dominate the world, but symbolically standing for everything in this world that unites in opposition to God. There is, in Revelation 17-18, a religious aspect to Babylon, a united religion without loyalty to God or to his Son. There is political Babylon, the uniting of the nations around humanistic power not in obedience to God. And there is an economic Babylon, a world system united in materialism and greed, seeking all this world has, exploiting others, and oppressing them to get ahead.

And in a moment, God will bring it all crashing down. Boom! Make no mistake about it. God is in control. This world system is loyal to the enemy and opposes the rule of Christ, but it is doomed in that rebellion. You can oppose Christ but you cannot defeat him!

Few things are certain in life, but this is one. Babylon will fall.

It will be the most glorious moment in human history when the great battle of evil is going on here on earth and suddenly Jesus breaks out in glory with heaven's armies trailing him and he strikes down the rebellious hordes with the sword coming out of his mouth. Then, he judges the world, binds Satan, and sets up his millennial kingdom. After that comes the final judgment and Satan's doom, along with the terrible moment of the Great White Throne when sinners are judged and sent to the Lake of Fire.

It is God's ultimate victory over sin and it is also a moment of sadness as many are sent to the horrible place of torment prepared for the devil and his fallen angels. 

Daily Devotional:  Fallen Is Babylon

Find 20 commentaries on the book of Revelation and you might find 2 dozen different explanations for  the identity of "Babylon the Great." The Roman empire was a historical favorite and so was the Roman Catholic church (still is). Some point the finger at the revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation period. In my younger years, many tried to find a way to fit America into the prophecies of the end times and some managed to make Revelation 18 apply to the good ole USA. But perhaps the best thing to do in a short (well, for me anyway) devotional is to just let Babylon represent what it often represents in Scripture - the sinful world system that stands in rebellion against God. It is an economic system that values financial gain over the true wealth of God's glory. It is a political system that seeks to establish human power and authority instead of yielding to God's. It is a religious system that turns to human truth, human rules, human rituals, human endeavors, and human merit instead of relying on the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ. Babylon. Since the Tower was built so many years ago to reach to heaven man has been seeking his own way, doing his own thing and walking in opposition to the will and way of God.

And one day that will all come crashing down. "Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the Great." When the time is right, when Jesus is ready, he will bring this rebellious world system crashing to the ground so that he can establish his kingdom and authority over this earth.

I have strong views about Revelation, but I am afraid that we have missed the overall message, the great truths of Revelation because we've gotten so bogged down in the minutiae - arguing over the identity of the Antichrist, or the timing of the end. The ultimate truth is that God wins. This wicked world and all its evil men cannot and will not stand against the awesome power of the great God who created it all and sent his Son to redeem a people for himself. Jesus always has been Lord. He is Lord today. And one day the entire earth will know it. He rose from the dead and one day he will be physically and visibly enthroned on this earth.

This is the absurdity of our lives. If I saw a burning home, I would not gather all my valuables and run into that house and deposit my precious things. I would certainly not lead my family into that home. I'd get anything of value out! And yet that is exactly what we are doing in the spiritual realm. This world and the system that runs it is doomed to destruction. Babylon will fall. But so often I invest all of my time, energy, enthusiasm, and passion into the things that will burn. I sacrifice the eternal for the temporal.

It is hard to figure all the details out, but it appears that God works by his sovereign hand in the future to sow discord between the Antichrist and Babylon (whatever specifically that means). God brings down Babylon by creating hostility within itself.

Maybe that should be our prayer as one year ends and another year begins.

Father, as one day you will bring discord in Babylon, give us a heart that cares more about your kingdom than this world. Drive a wedge between us and this world. May we be so heavenly minded that we can be of some earthly good. 

Consider God's Word:

Are you investing your life in Babylon or in heaven? 

"God's Awful Wrath" December 28 Reading: Revelation 16-17

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:   Revelation 16-17 

Background:   

This is the end, the very end. Seals have been opened and trumpets have been blown, but now the final bowls of God's judgment will be poured out on the earth in chapter 16 and God'sfinal judgment on the sinful world economic and religious system will commence in chapter 17.

God has judged the world before - the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Destruction of Jerusalem. But this is the final, cataclysmic judgment of God on this sinful world and it is awful and terrifying.

Daily Devotional: God's Awful Wrat 

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a Living God.

Mankind has treated God with disdain, disrespect, and disregard since the Garden of Eden. He has loved us and worked to redeem us and draw us to himself, but we have rejected him and walked in sin. God can do no more than he has done to show his love but mankind continues to flaunt God's love and reject his grace.

But one day that will end. Humanity mistakes the mercy and forbearance of God as weakness, as if his slowness to impose judgment is a sign he is unwilling to do so. No, my friend, it is coming. A great tribulation is coming on earth when God will show this world that sin cannot and will not be tolerated! Bowls of God's judgment, described in Revelation 16, will be poured out on the earth and it will be destroyed. The economic and religious systems of this world, based on lies, on greed, on lust and on rebellion against him will come crashing down in an instant.

God is not to be treated lightly.

But remember this, as you ponder God's awesome, awful judgment on the world. As he pours out bowls of wrath on the earth and brings the world system to its knees, he is preparing the earth for his own reign of righteousness, peace, and glory. He is not judging the earth simply to destroy it, but to make it ready for the glory that lies ahead.

God's wrath always presages his glory. God poured out his wrath on Jesus so that he could display his glory in us, saving us by grace and making us fit for eternity with him. God will pour out his wrath on this earth to prepare the world for his millennial reign. He will finally pour out his wrath at the Great White Throne so that he can his redeemed can enjoy eternal rest unhindered by sin.

Even the wrath of God works his glory in this world.

Father, I thank you that your wrath against my sins was poured out on Christ. May we proclaim your love so that many may know Jesus and experience your glory, not your wrath. 

Consider God's Word:

Thank God for Jesus, who absorbed the wrath of God against you so that you could experience his glory!
Are you actively proclaiming the love of God to a world that faces his wrath?

"Embracing Evil" December 27 Readings: Revelation 13-15

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:    Revelation 13-15

Background:   

Chapter 13 turns to the rise of two men who will spearhead the work of evil in the last days, men we know of as the Antichrist and the false prophet - here they are identified as the first and second beasts.

Since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden, the curse of sin has rested on the earth and on the sinners who dwell here. God has repeatedly warned that while he is patient and gracious, his wrath will come. In the ensuing chapters, the wrath of God falls at the end of time - fast and furious, shock and awe! The final seven bowls of God's wrath are poured out on the world and the end comes.

Daily Devotional: Embracing Evil

There are many misconceptions about the spread of evil. We fictionalize the devil and his ways, casting him as a vile monster who attacks people and drags them to hell against their will. But that is, unfortunately, not what the Bible teaches. What we learn in scripture leaves us without excuse.

Mike Bergman, a pastor in Missouri and one of my fellow writers on SBC Voices, said this:

In Genesis, God gave us the world. We chose a tiny piece of fruit instead. In the future, God promises once again to give us the world. Each time we sin, we're saying to him: "No thanks, I'd rather have this tiny bite of fruit instead." Heirs of everything shouldn't sell it for a tiny bite of fruit that doesn't satisfy beyond the moment.

What a powerful statement. Hold onto that thought as we reflect on Revelation 13. In verse 1 we are introduced to a being of infinite evil that we call the Antichrist, or the Beast. He is empowered by Satan himself (verse 2) and is enabled by him to recover from some sort of fatal wound (the exact nature of this is much-debated). But what comes next, in verses 3 and 4, is what I'd like you to take notice of. 

One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

We often labor under the idea that Satan gains power by forcing people to sin against their wills or that the Antichrist will rise to power by a coup and seize power by force. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Adam and Eve were deceived, but they chose the fruit of sin over the Paradise of God, and people have willfully chosen sin ever since. In this passage, the enemy of God rises to power as a hero. People worship him as their savior, their deliverer. He does not force his way to the throne, he is carried on the shoulders of the people - those he will later brutally oppress. 

That is the way of sin. We choose it - willfully, even gleefully. We like it. We want it. It is only after we have eaten the fruit that we realize what it will cost. It is only after we have embraced the evil that we realize what a cruel tyrant it is. Sin always takes us farther than we want to go, costs us more than we want to pay, and keeps us longer than we want to stay. 

Jesus is a loving Lord. He gives joy and peace to those who follow him. Why do we choose the measly fruit of sin when we can have the full blessing of God? Why do we embrace the ways of the enemy of God when the yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden is light? 

Father, I want what you have, not the false promises of the enemy. I thank you that you have freed me eternally from sin. Help me to walk daily in freedom from his lies. 

Consider God's Word:

Remember that sin is something you do, something you choose, not something you are a victim of. Thank God for his sin-defeating power and recommit your life to him. 

"Mysteries" December 26 Readings: Revelation 10-12

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:  Revelation 10-12  

Background:   

Today's reading puts us in another gap between the sixth and seventh in a judgment series. The sixth trumpet has blown and judgments have destroyed half of the earth. At the end of chapter 9, the sinners of earth refuse to repent but in chapters 10 and 11, God shows his grace by sending another angel with a little scroll and the two witnesses, believed by many to be Moses and Elijah.

At the end of chapter 11, the seventh trumpet will blow and the final judgments of God will fall, after an interlude in which the work of the antichrist and false prophet are explored.

Revelation 12 is a spiritual history of the world, tracking Satan's fall from heaven and his pursuit of the people of God, Israel. 

Daily Devotional: Mysteries 

There are some things we just are not meant to know.

In Bible studies, I am often asked questions to which I have to give my most common answer. "I don't know and no one does." It doesn't help my sense of macho as a Bible teacher, I suppose, but the fact is that there is much in God's word I don't understand, will never understand, and probably am not meant to understand. We are called to trust a God we cannot fully figure out, one whose actions often boggle our minds.

Revelation is one of the most argued books of the Bible, the subject of debates between various millennial systems. And there are many who comb the pages of Revelation (and Daniel, and Ezekiel) looking for arcane details about this and that. There are some who seem to be able to look at every headline in the newspaper and relate it back to some prophetic detail in the pages of Revelation.

But Revelation 10:1-11 tells a story that reminds us that God has not revealed all his mysteries to us yet. A mighty angel appears with a small scroll and then seven thunders sound. John is about to write down the message delivered by the thunders when he is told by the angel to seal it up and keep it until the end.

God reveals himself to us and tells us all that we can understand of him, but that doesn't mean that we know all there is to know. Some aspects of God's character and his plan for the future are always going to remain a mystery. God means it to be that way.

That's where so many have gone wrong in their study of this book. It is about the glorious victory of Jesus over evil, not about details of the second coming. Yes, we learn a lot of those details in this book but the goal of the book is to teach us to trust the one who is driving the story, who is opening the seals and guiding the end of the world. The study of the end times isn't about details and charts and systems, it's about Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords who orders the details so that he stands supreme in the end.

So, as you read this book and encounter a million confusing and fascinating tidbits of information, remember that the key is to look for the one who ends it all for his glory not the details of the end. There are things that have been sealed that we will never understand until it is revealed.

Remember that this book is about Jesus.

Father, may we focus on your Son, not just the fascinating details of the end times. 

 

Consider God's Word:

When you study the end times, do you tend to get bogged down in a morbid fascination with the details,s or do you keep your eyes on Jesus, the Victor?