This is a first! I have never used the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan (nor had I ever heard of it) until this fall when I purchased a new One Year Bible for my husband to use in 2015. He'd wanted to try an ESV and this was the only one the store had in stock. So, I too, am using the M'Cheyne plan, but on Biblegateway.com.
In Genesis 1, we find the creation of the world, but specifically, in verse 1, it simply says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Logically (therefore, mathematically) there are implications here. 1) If there is a beginning, then there will be an end. 2) God was already in existence in the beginning, so will still be around after the end. 3) God took nothing, and 'created' something. 4) Since God is the 'Creator", He is also the owner/operator. 5) All creation is accountable to its originator, namely, God.
In Matthew 1, we find the genealogy of Jesus, through Joseph, the husband of Mary. I find it interesting that there are 42 generations from Abraham to the Christ - three sets of fourteen generations. 42 = 3 x 14, 42 = 6 x 7, 42 = 2 x 21 , 42 = 2 x 3 x 7. Wonder where else we will find 42 in scripture? I know we'll see it again.
Ezra 1:1-2 "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah." Jeremiah 29:10, (the verse preceding the one we all know) says, "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place." and Cyrus had obviously been shown Isaiah 44:28, written three centuries before he was born, "who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’"
And finally in Acts 1, we find the promise of the Holy Spirit and the ascension, and in verses 7-8, Jesus tells his disciples, "He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
What does all this mean for me?
1) I am a creation of God, and God has 'created' in me a clean heart (Psalm 51:10 - same word as in Genesis 1:1).
2) He has made something ( a heart that longs for Him) from nothing.
3) Just like God planned the birth of Jesus, His Son, the Christ, through a certain lineage, and in His perfect timing, He planned mine.
4) God uses people to accomplish His purpose, just as he used Cyrus.
5) God has fixed 'times and seasons', and it is not for me to know when they are.
6) Since God has created a new heart in me, He is my owner/operator and I am accountable to Him.
7) He provides the power to accomplish His will in my life.
What am I accountable for?
All that I am, all that He has blessed me with, all that do/don't do for Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment