March 4 readings

You can also check out all these Reading Plans Blogs to go through the Bible in a year from Back to the Bible Reading Lists:the Chronological Reading Plan blog; OT and NT Together blog; Historical Readings blog; Blended Readings blog and Beginning to End blog In addition, there is the Theophilus1 blog in the One Year Bible format

The Back to the Bible OT and NT Together Reading Plan

The Back to the Bible OT and NT Together Reading Plan
Numbers 29-31; Mark 9.1-29

Numbers 29 began to speak about the Feast Days which were the Feast of the Trumpets (Lev 23.23-25; Num 29.1-6);
the Day of Atonement (Lev 23.26-32; Lev 16.2-34; Num 29.7-11)
and the Feast of the Tabernacles (Lev 23.33-43; Num 29.12-39; Deut. 16.13-17).

It is so easy to get bogged into the details of the offerings. It's like we are not looking at the forest but at the the leaves of the trees of the forest! We tend not to see the big picture. We have to look beyond the ceremonial details to see that Christ is foreshadowed in the offerings and feast days of Leviticus. All of these feast days have prophetic significance. For example, Passover symbolizes Good Friday, the Feast of the Unleavened Bread symbolizes Jesus was buried, and the Feast of the Firstfruits symbolizes the Resurrection of Jesus, the First Fruit (1Cor. 15.23)

Jewish Feast Days Prophecy of Jesus the Messiah
Jewish Feasts and their Significance

Numbers 30 spoke about keeping vows to the Lord. Don't make a vow unless you mean it. God will not take it lightly but hold you that vow. The vow should not be made rashly. The vow that Jephthah made to the Lord in Judges 11.30, that if God gave the Ammonites to Jephthah, whatever comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he returns in triumph he would sacrifice as a burnt offering. Well, when he came home, his daughter came out of the house and he had to do what he vowed. (Judges 11.39) Jesus said not to break your oaths (vows) when you make them (Matt 5.33-37). Let your yes be yes and your nos be nos.

Numbers 31, God told Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites. They had kill every male including Balaam. They captured the women and children. They were told to kill any woman who had ever slept with a man. This whole situation is horrific. Are you horrified that God had these people killed, you should be. This all happened because of the Midianite part in the sexuality and the worship of Baal Peor (Num 25.16-18), A Midianite woman was specifically mentioned in this passage. Just as how God hate sin and punish for sin because He is a holy God, so we should hate sin in our lives and eradicate sin. He hated sin so much that He had to eradicate the power of sin. This was done with Jesus dying for our sins.

Numbers 29 with Commentaries, verse by verse
Numbers 30 with Commentaries, verse by verse
Numbers 31 with Commentaries, verse by verse

Other Links
Dr. Thomas Constable Study Notes is a PDF file, open with Adobe Acrobatic Reader
Calvin Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Search for the chapter you want with (CTRL F)
Calvin Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Search for the chapter you want with (CTRL F)
Calvin Harmony of the Law Volume 3 Search for the chapter you want with (CTRL F)
Calvin Harmony of the Law Volume 4 Search for the chapter you want with (CTRL F)

Mark 9.1-29, Commentaries, verse by verse
In this passage, Peter, James and John went with Jesus up a high mountain, there he was transfigured before them. What was the purpose of the Transfiguration? It was to let the disciples there see the glory of Christ. Moses and Elijah appeared before them. Peter said that it was good for them to be there, they wanted to put up three shelters there, on for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Why Moses and Elijah? Some commentaries indicated that Moses was the representative of the Old Covenant and Elijah was the appointed restorer of things (Mal 4.5-6). A voice from heaven said this is my Son, whom I love, Listen to him! The cloud is symbolic of the Presence of God to protect and to guide, which we saw many times in Exodus.
What were they talking about? it is hard to say! Jesus told his disciples not ot mention this event until he rose from the dead. The disciples had no understanding what rising from the dead meant. What would you have done if you were Peter, James and John. It was a heavenly experience for them! But beware of heavenly experience because when you come down the mountain (say from a retreat or conference), you have to face reality where they had to deal with the boy who was demon-possessed and on the same chapter, they were arguing among themselves, who was the greatest. I have learnt the hard way in my Christian life not to depend on religious experiences, you cannot depend on emotions to see how close you are to God but you have to depend on the reliability of the Bible and the historicity of Jesus' death and resurrection.

When they came down the mountain, they met the other disiples who tried to drive out an evil spirit out of the boy but could not. Jesus "Everything is possible for him who believes" .Jesus asked the father if he believed. He said to Jesus hoonestly "I believe help my unbelief." Even with the most minute faith, God honored the man prayer and the demon was cast out. What about you do you find at times that you have doubt in your life? You think that God cannot answer prayer. If we come to him just as this father did confessing his unbelief and asked God to answer us with whatever minute, wavering faith we have he will answer our prayer!

More Links in Mark
Dan Hill on Mark
Ray Stedman on Mark
Jeff Miller on Mark
Chadwick on Mark
Dr. Thomas Constable Study Notes is a PDF file, open with Adobe Acrobatic Reader
Sermons on Mark by Ryle, Spurgeon, and Whitefield
John Piper Sermon's on Mark

More Links on Commentaries for the Old Testament
Dr. Thomas Constable Study Notes (for both OT and NT) is a PDF file, open with Adobe Acrobatic Reader

Jesus Saves
This Posting is NOT a commentary of the passages read today but it is a devotional. Please send a comment if something spoke to you today from the passages, links or thoughts that I have shared with you.