Oct 5, 2022
2CHRONICLES 31:
A
sign of how far Judah and Israel had wandered from the Lord was
that even the Passover was not celebrated. When Hezekiah
reinstituted the Passover celebration, it was the start of a real
revival.
ECCLESIASTES 7:
I
find it interesting that Solomon would say that everything has been
decided beforehand. GNT certainly implied Who it was who decided
beforehand, but NLT makes that explicit:
Ecc. 6:10 NLT Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.
Not about the issue of destiny, but about another key point presented in chapter 6, I think that Solomon would have taken back some of his words if he could have listened to what Jesus taught in yesterday’s reading in Matthew.
MATTHEW 20:
In
yesterday’s reading, Jesus taught how evil divorce is, He blessed
children (because they are so close to the kingdom of God), and He
taught about the difficulty for rich people in this world to enter
the Kingdom of God. And at the end of chapter 19, he gave that
promise that all missionaries love, the one about the eternal
rewards that will be given to those who leave their families and
possessions for the Kingdom of God.
GNT Translation
notes:
Mat.
20:7 ‘No one hired us,’ they answered. ‘Well, then, you go and work
in [my//the] vineyard,’ he told them.
16
And Jesus concluded, “[Even so, at the end//So] those who are [now]
last will be first, and those who are first will be
last.”
17
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took [us,] the twelve
disciples[,] aside and spoke to [us//them] privately, as [we//they]
walked along.
18
“Listen,” he told [us//them], “we are going up to Jerusalem, where
[I,] the Son of Man[,] will be handed over to the chief priests and
the teachers of the Law. They will condemn [me//him] to
death
19 and then hand [me//him] over to the
Gentiles, who will make fun of [me//him], whip [me//him], and
crucify [me//him]; but three days later [I//he] will be raised to
life.”
22
“You don't know what you are asking for,” Jesus answered the [two]
sons. “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to
drink?” “We can,” they answered.
28
[For even [I,] the Son of Man,//like the Son of Man, who] did not
come to be served, but to serve and to give [my//his] life to
redeem many people.”
32 Jesus stopped and called
[to] them [to come and then asked them,//.] “What do you want me to
do for you?” [0//he asked them.]