Zechariah 12:1-13:9, Revelations 19:1-21, Psalms 147:1-20, Proverbs 31:1-7
Today is the 28th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. Man, I can feel the end of the year upon us. Can’t you? It’s like, holy cow, we’ve just about finished reading the whole Bible in a year again, but I’ll try not to get ahead of myself in my life or in the Bible. So, let’s just be where we are. It’s 28th of December and we’re reading from the Gods Word translation this week. Zachariah 12:1 through 13:9 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, clearly, we only have a few days left in this year. So, clearly, we are coming to the final days in the book of Revelation as well, which we’ve been kind of diving into this year. And today we come to a great banquet, but also a great battle in which the dark forces of the evil one are conquered and the evil one itself is done away with. And the scene begins with a loud, huge crowd from heaven saying, ‘Hallelujah, salvation, glory, and power belong to our God. His judgments are true and fair. He has condemned the notorious prostitute who corrupted the world with her sexual sins. He has taken revenge on her for the blood of his servants.’ And, of course, this is coming on the heels of what we read yesterday in the downfall of Babylon. This world system ruled by evil fractures, implodes, is judged, falls, is done away with. So, we should observe the contrasts that are happening in today’s reading. So, Babylon, these dark forces of evil that have been controlling the world, they fall apart, they’ve been condemned, the notorious prostitute that is this whole system has been condemned because it corrupted the world with her sexual sins. So, we can certainly go, like, okay, this evil empire is very sexual in nature. And, so, this is definitely speaking about sexuality. But, also we should understand that this kind of language, from an allegorical perspective or a figurative view, is about union. I mean, at the most basic level that’s what sex is, union, giving yourself over to someone. So, these dark forces demanded worship, demanded loyalty, and allegiance, demanded union and the result of that was a war on God’s people, a cosmic attempt to stamp out God’s plan. That is in stark contrast to the second song or poem coming from this large crowd that is so big it sounds like raging waters. On the one hand, they’re applauding and worshiping God for the judgment, the downfall of evil. But then they have more to say, ‘Hallelujah the Lord our God, the Almighty has become king. Let us rejoice, be happy, and give him glory, because it’s time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride has made herself ready. She has been given the privilege of wearing dazzling pure linen.’ So, contrasted with the great prostitute or whore of Babylon, this bride was true and faithful and sought union with no one but God and gave her loyalty and devotion to no one but God. And then in the next scene we see heaven standing open. There’s a white horse with a rider on it named Faithful and True and he’s going he’s going to battle. And the armies of heaven wearing pure white linen, like we just talked about, are following along on white horses of their own. And a sharp sword comes out of his mouth to defeat the nation’s. Some scholars would say these are the Angel armies. This is Jesus with the angel armies going to finish the judgment, finish the final battle, while other scholars would say, no, these are God’s people going along with Jesus to finish this final battle so that this banquet can begin. And an angel cries out to the birds, ‘come, gather for the great banquet of God. Eat the flesh of kings, generals, warriors, horses and their riders, and all free people and slaves, both important and insignificant people.’ And it’s been noted that this is probably a parody. So, on the one hand there is this a great banquet, this great wedding feast where darkness and evil have no place, and not only just have no place, it doesn’t exist, this beautiful, banquet, this consummation of all things being made new. And that contrasts with what the angel is saying to the birds. There’s going to be this great banquet for you because all evil is being extinguished. So, it’s like two sides of the same coin. On the one side there is judgment, on the other side there is salvation. And, so, the battle commences and the beast and the false prophet who had done miracles for the beast were captured and were subsequently thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. So, the forces that were at work in this dark, evil kingdom were cast away and the rider on the horse, on the white horse, had a sword coming out of his mouth and finished the battle. And a great banquet happened for the birds even as a great banquet in heaven is getting ready to begin.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. This is the 362nd day of this year and every day we have feasted upon Your word. And there are just a few days remaining. And we invite your Holy Spirit to continue to speak deeply to us, transforming us on so many levels. We are most certainly at the place that we can look in the mirror and see that we’re not the same as we were when we started this journey on January 1st. And we’re thankful for that. We’ve been through plenty. It’s been a challenging year, but You have been faithful and You have guided us through Your word and through the power of Your Holy Spirit and we’re grateful. This builds confidence in our faith. You are maturing us. And, so, we welcome this to continue. And even though we will finish this year and will finish it well, we look forward to all that You will speak to us through Your word in the coming year. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudibiible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find what’s going on around here. And we’re getting ready to switch into a new year.
And one of the things that are going on around here is the brand-new Daily Audio Bible App for your Android or Apple devices and the new web player that’s available at dailyaudiobible.com. And, of course, the new app is totally free. So, if you haven’t gotten it yet, definitely get on board. We’ll be phasing out the old app over the next weeks and months. So, all you have to do is go to the app store that pertains to the kind of device that you have and search for “Daily Audio Bible mobile app”. That’s the new one. We couldn’t use the same name as the old one. So, if you find “Daily Audio Bible mobile app” that’s the new one. So, now is a good time to update that as we get ready to launch ourselves into the new year. And like I said, it’s free. So, let everyone in your sphere of influence know about it and invite them to take the journey with you into 2018.
I also want to remind you about the More Gathering for women, our annual women’s conference that’s coming up in April. Early registration pricing for that is in effect until December 31st. So, just a few days from now. So, take advantage of that. You can find out all about it and moregathering.com or at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the final days of the year, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the new Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
This is Jerry from Duluth Minnesota. It’s Christmas Eve and I ordered five of the Daily Audio Bible Journal and Pencil sets with the Black Wing case. And I wanted to read one of the ones that I wrote to my son-in-law, to Peter. 2017 has been a year of loss. After my dad died on August 8th I went through the deepest depression of my life. While I was going through alternative experimental catenin treatments, I listened to the Daily Audio Bible. At the end of one of the podcasts on August 27th, 21st rather, Brian told the story of his mom dying and how he discovered the Black Wing pencil, the best pencil in the world. So, I ordered a journal and pencils and found that the tactile exercise of writing in a journal helped release some of my frustrations, my fear, my worry, my doubts. I listened every day to the DAB for many years when I did my paper route in Duluth and I’d like to encourage and challenge you to try it on your commute every morning in 2018. I believe it will change your life. May 2018 bring hope for the future. God is working all things together for our good. Love you family. Have a great 2018.
Hey everybody. This is Pelham from Birmingham. Or Addicted to Christ is my spiritual name because addiction is my weakness but it has also become a weapon in my battle that He’s chosen me for. Anyways, I’m calling because the last time I called my job had suddenly closed because the owner had a baby born with major medical problems. And, financially, we were doing very well but it’s a sad…it’s just been a hard time because it’s no one’s fault and it happened right before Chri…and the Holy Spirit that has been right here with me and has been trying to tell me, hey, we’re always here and we’re leading you in a new way. We’re bringing you to a new place. So, the Marsh’s are doing fine. We’re struggling, of course, we have our battles, but I’m going to be the manager of a much better company. There’s a restaurant opening, literally, a block away from where I had to go for work before. So, there is income. It’s not…you know…I…you see…I’ve got to come to grips with my pride and know that God’s doing what God does and I need to just be happy. He just wants me to be happy, just like my son. He wants my son to be happy. He wants my wife to be happy. I want my son to be happy. And he wants that for me. And I can’t get it into my head that He knows what’s best for me. Not me. I don’t know what’s best for me. So, we’re coming right along. Merry Christmas everyone. I love you. I’ll call back. Blind Tony, thank you.
Hello everyone. This is Victory Victoria calling from Missouri. I’m calling specifically today for 15-year-old Noni that I heard call on the 22nd. Today is now the 24th but I just want to let you know Noni that we are praying for you. You said you were new to the Bible and prayer and you are searching for friends to help you through, onto this journey, I guess, to help you through this and understand the Bible. I want to let you know you have come to the right place. We are so thankful that you have been led here Noni and you are already among many, many friends, ___ friends, who are already praying for you. I want to encourage you to start fresh in January with Brian in the reading of the bible every day. Check out the new app. It’s beautiful. And some of us have been here listening to the bible through the DAB for many years. I am one that has only newly discovered it this year and I am so very thankful. I know so much more about the Bible now than I did in January, a year ago. Noni, also, checkout, to see your new found friends, check out the Facebook page, the prayer wall. Submit your prayers to the prayer wall. You will find so many faithful prayer warriors in this circle of friends. Father, I want to thank You for Noni and that You led her here. Thank You for her desire to become closer to You and to seek out Christian friends for this journey of hers. Please strengthen us as her new friends to be the friends that she needs to help her grow in Your word, to help her know how much she’s loved by…
I see the Lord seated on the throne. Exalted, the train as his robe. Fill the Chapel with glory and the whole earth is filled with His Glory. Gloria from New York, this is Candice from Oregon and I’m just echoing the beauty of the song that you sang. And you’re joining the whole multitude of heavenly hosts, and the cherubim, and seraphim. We worship our Lord and our King and participate in His suffering. And even as He wants us to be in communion with Him like that, He wants us to be in communion with each other. And I just want you to know that I have wept with you. And our God reigns and He is the restorer of all things including your mothers heart. And he will restore everything. He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten and all the enemy’s ploys will seem pathetic on that day. So, look to Him and be radiant my sister, in Jesus’ name.