Just a few more days until Christmas Day, and New Year's Day a week thereafter. This has been a long and "interesting" year. Some periods flew by, while in other periods, every moment was a slow agony. Some things we expected and hoped for, did not happen. Others, ones we would hope to never experience, did. And some things, great and wonderful blessings -- and small ones too -- came upon us unexpectedly. Perhaps that is standard for all people. And it reminds me that I am not the Driver on this bus. Perhaps that is all to the good: my own record isn't very good, not at all.
And perhaps the coming year, should we live to see it, will be wonderful. Or, equally likely, it will come with opportunities for service, and for pointing others to the Lord. I believe that our presence here in this time and place, is part of the Lord's plan. I don't know that plan, but I trust Him. There is really no choice in that. So we'll hang on.
Dear Wife is the designated "watcher" today, of the great-niece. I have a meeting set for this afternoon, down in town. Am hoping to remember to carry some books with me that the other person might find interesting. I have little in the way of wealth, but I do have a bit of a library.
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The Old Testament reading for today is the book of Nahum, all three chapters.
Nahum is writing about the destruction of the empire of Assyria and of Nineveh, the capital of that bloody and powerful empire. This was around the 7th Century B.C. The name "Nahum" means comfort or consolation. He certainly wasn't comforting the Assyrians, but the Hebrews, one of the many victims of that bloody nation.
I found an engaging discussion of Nahum at a web site, and suggest further reading there
Nahum 1
1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2
God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is
furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he
reserveth wrath for his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and
will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebuketh the
sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan
languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
5 The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence,
yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out
like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in
the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning
flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall
pursue his enemies. 9
What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end:
affliction shall not rise up the second time.
10 For while they be folden together as
thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured
as stubble fully dry.
11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against
the LORD, a wicked counsellor.
12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and
likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass
through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
13 For now will I
break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
14 And the LORD hath
given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown:
out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the
molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
15 Behold upon the mountains
the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O
Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no
more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Nahum 2
1 He that
dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch
the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
2 For the LORD hath turned
away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the
emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
3 The shield of his
mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots
shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir
trees shall be terribly shaken.
4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall
justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like
torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
5 He shall recount his worthies: they
shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof,
and the defence shall be prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 7
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her
maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their
breasts. 8 But
Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away.
Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
9 Take ye the spoil of silver,
take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory
out of all the pleasant furniture.
10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart
melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins,
and the faces of them all gather blackness.
11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and
the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion,
walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
12 The lion did tear in
pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and
filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
13 Behold, I am against thee,
saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and
the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from
the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
Nahum 3
1 Woe to the
bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
2 The noise
of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the
pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3 The horseman lifteth up both the
bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of
slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their
corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms
of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth
nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
5 Behold, I am
against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts
upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the
kingdoms thy shame. 6
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and
will set thee as a gazingstock.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look
upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will
bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Art thou better than populous
No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about
it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt
were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10 Yet was she
carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were
dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for
her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 Thou also shalt be
drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the
enemy. 12 All
thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if
they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, thy
people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be
set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee waters
for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the
morter, make strong the brickkiln.
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword
shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make
thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast
multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm
spoileth, and fleeth away.
17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the
great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when
the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they
are. 18 Thy
shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the
dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth
them. 19 There
is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the
bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy
wickedness passed continually?
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The New Testament reading for today is chapter 13 from the Revelation. Here is where we find the reference to the "mark of he Beast", a matter of considerable speculation and conjecture even now, as there are proposals, serious ones, to require "chips" be installed in everyone, ostensibly for fool proof identification. Here also is the reference to the mystic number 666, which has long been a subject of speculation and conjecture. Some seem crazy. They may also be correct.
Revelation 13
1 And I stood
upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and
upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a
leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the
mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and
great authority. 3
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4 And they worshipped
the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the
beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with
him? 5 And
there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;
and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6 And he opened his
mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his
tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war
with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all
kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10
He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth
with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and
the faith of the saints.
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and
he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the
power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was
healed. 13 And
he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on
the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the
means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the
beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an
image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power
to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast
should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and
poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads: 17
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath
understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a
man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
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