Numbers 19:1-20:29, Luke 1:1-25, Psalms 56:1-13, Proverbs 11:8
Today is March 13th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. And it is great to be here with you around this global campfire we have created as a community. A place to re-center our lives and allow God’s Word to speak over us no matter when it is. No matter what time of day or night it is. No matter where we are on this planet, we’re not alone. And that is a fact. We are in this together. So, let’s dive in and take that next step. And of course, the next step is always the one right in front of the one we just took, so we’ll pick up where we left off in the book of Numbers. And we’ll read chapters 19 and 20 today. And then when we get to the New Testament, we will begin the gospel of Luke. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Numbers 19 and 20.
Introduction to the Gospel of Luke:
Okay. So, we concluded the Gospel of Mark yesterday in the New Testament, which was the second of the four gospels. We begin today the book of Luke. And Luke had a little bit more of an intriguing story regarding its place in history. Luke is the third of the synoptic gospels, those being Matthew, Mark and Luke. And as we’ve talked about before, they’re called the synoptic gospels because they’re very similar in their composition. They’re very similar in the way they’re laid out and the stories that they tell about Jesus. So similar, in fact, that most scholars would agree that one could not exists without the other, especially the gospel of Mark being the first to be written. And they were all written at different times, but they were used as source material for each other. Now the gospel of Luke is the third in time and the third to appear in the New Testament. And just from a literary perspective is the most tight and concise, well written of the gospels. It flows well. And scholarly opinion is the Luke not only wrote the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke, but he also wrote the book of Acts, which we will get to in due time. And these were probably written one after the other. So, the gospel of Matthew - not to get this all confusing - but the gospel of Matthew probably came about fifteen years after the gospel of Mark. And then Luke and Acts came sometime after Matthew, maybe even fifteen years later. So, just to put us in the ballpark, Mark is the first gospel to be written, maybe a decade, decade and a half later, Matthew is written and then some years later, maybe another decade or a little more after that, Luke and Acts are written. And scholars would point just to the completeness of the gospel of Luke. More of the tradition, more of the story has been developed as the faith begins to emerge and take shape. Because so often we’ll read the Bible and we’ll read the New Testament and just feel like it all happened all at the same time when that’s not the case. It was spread out over decades as the church began to evolve and become what it is. And we’ll be talking about that when we get to Paul’s letters. Now as we’ve encountered Matthew and Mark, we’ve talked about the fact that they were written at specific times to specific audiences. Luke, the gospel that we’re about to delve into, was written to a Gentile audience, which is quite different than, for example, the gospel of Matthew, which was very distinctly written to a Jewish audience. So, Matthew continues to show Jesus fulfilling Jewish prophecy, Hebrew prophecy from the Hebrew scriptures, what we would call the Old Testament, whereas Luke is coming from a Gentile perspective and showing the inclusive nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That it’s not only for Jewish people, it’s for anyone who believes. It includes the whole world and welcomes everyone who believes into the family of God. And, so, we begin Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 25.
Commentary:
Alright, in the book of Numbers, I mean, a lot of stuff happened today and it’s touched on briefly so we don’t necessarily recognize how monumental it is. So, Aaron and Moses have been together in this story of bringing the people out of slavery in Egypt all the way until today and their sister Miriam has been involved all along. In today’s reading, in an understated way, we say goodbye to Miriam. She dies and leaves this story. And then Aaron, who’s been with Moses since the beginning of this, also dies and leaves the story as well, leaving only Moses. Of course, before this, the children of Israel are grumbling out in the desert because they don’t have enough water and Moses ends up excluding himself from leading the people into the Promised Land because of the Waters of Meribah, the incident that happened there. And what happened? Because you can read it and go like, what’s the big deal? Why is Moses not allowed to go into the Promised Land now. And it boils down to this. Moses was told to assemble the assembly, the children of Israel, before the rock and speak to the rock and then God would send the water out. Instead, he said, do we have to do this for you and then he smashed the rock with his staff, taking credit for the miraculous provision of water, rather than obeying God and once again demonstrating to the children of Israel God’s provision. This thing that has to be taught over and over and over to these people in the wilderness. Yeah, this very same thing that has to be taught over and over and over in our own lives. And so after Aaron dies Moses then leads the people and they sent word to the king of Edom asking just for passage. We need to go through your land so we can get to a more suitable place that we’re being led to. We’ll just stay on the King’s road, right? The trade route. We’re not going go anywhere else. We’re just going to go through. Will you just let us go through? Of course, the Edomites said no. This is actually kind of significant. Let’s go back to our origin here. Abraham, right? Abraham has a son of promise named Isaac. Isaac then has two sons, Jacob and Esau and they’re twins. Later on, Jacob’s name would become Israel and he would have kids. The children of Israel. Those are the people that we’re wandering around in the wilderness with. Esau, on the other hand, has children of his own and as those generations grow and spread out, they become Edom, the Edomites. So, it’s as if Esau is saying to Jacob you can’t come into my land. These people are literally family with each other. And now that Jacob’s children, right? The children of Israel have to wander in the desert and wait for forty years. So, basically while they’re really really down and out, they’re being rejected by their own family. And God is not going to forget that.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. And we thank You for the lessons that we see in the wilderness in the Scriptures. And as difficult as it can be sometimes, thank You for the lessons that we’ve learned in our own wilderness experiences. For the lesson of ultimate and complete trust and dependence upon You. Utter dependence on You for hope and life. It’s a lesson that we confess we’re still learning and we’re sorry when we’ve been stiff necked. When we’ve been grumbling. When we’ve complained. When we’ve done everything but rest in You and trust You for life itself. So we invite You Holy Spirit into that. Because in one way or another, we’re going through these kinds of things continually. And so we continually need Your presence in our lives and a constant reminder that You and You alone are the only hope. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.
And, so, looking at the calendar, we’ve got the 25th of March coming up. I’ll be back out on the road, speaking in Louisville, Kentucky and then on the 8th of April, we’ll be in Washington state in the Tri cities at Columbia Christian Church. You can get the details for either of those events at dailyaudiobible.com in the Events section.
And then on the 11th of April, that’s when More Gathering for Women begins. There’s still time to register, but that window is closing soon. So, if that’s been something that’s on your heart, more, there’s got to be more, then check out the More Gathering for Women. Of course, it’s a women’s conference, so you have to be a woman to come, but check it out at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section or just go to moregathering.com. All of your questions will be answered there. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link. It’s on the homepage. Thank you, profoundly humbly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together. That is just a simple fact. So, thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 37174.
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And that’s it for today. I am Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
DAB family. This is Blessed from New Jersey good morning or __ as they say in Hebrew. Today’s reading from Numbers 14 was more vivid than I have ever experienced. With their recent return of a life-changing DAB 2018 Israel pilgrimage, I clearly saw the vast wilderness that the Israelites chose instead of the Promise Land of milk and honey. Yes, we today, just like those Israelites then, often choose not to believe God even though He has delivered us or others we know from impossible circumstances. So, Father I thank You for the privilege to read Your word again and again but with fresh eyes and an open heart to receive Your will and hear Your voice. Help us to learn and apply the message in today’s reading from Numbers 14. When You father promise, You will deliver. Help us to listen intently, believe wholeheartedly, and move courageously in the direction that you have planned for our lives. I pray this in Jesus name. Shalom. This is Blessed from New Jersey.
Brian, welcome back, you and the group from Israel. I hope you all have a blessed time. This is Viola from Maryland. Jill, God bless you. I enjoyed your administration. Oh, Nora from Canada. I listened to your prayer request twice. Welcome to the family of God my dear sister and know that nothing you can do can make God push you away. From John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, you have that sister. Of course, as you keep growing in your faith you’ll want to please the Lord, but we do make mistakes. And when we do we go to John 1:9 __. And Lamentations 3:21-23 also says the because of the Lord’s mercies we’ll not be consumed. His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning. Imagine that sister, new every morning. So, welcome, welcome, welcome. God bless you as you grow in your faith. Sunny from Phoenix, I’m praying that God will arrest your husband’s heart in the name of Jesus. It will cause him to repent that the affair will be broken in Jesus’ name. They will have nothing more to do with each other. They will not find any joy in that relationship in the name of Jesus. And I pray for wisdom and peace for you in Jesus’ name. My sister in __, I’m praying that you will pass your boards. I hope you’ve done well. I’m sure you’ve done the exam now. I pray that you will pass it in the name of Jesus. And you had recall understanding __. Laura welcome God bless you. Don, I’m praying for your granddaughter, AJ, that God will just touch her diaphragm and heal her completely in Jesus name. The Lord will make her body __ her well. And the Lord will __ the work of __ and heal her completely and that tissue would be healed on the name of Jesus. Sharon, I’m praying for healing for your husband in Jesus name. Father Lord I pray oh God Lord that you will also heal your daughter and touch her body in the name of Jesus. Father Lord I pray that you would calm Sarah’s heart oh God Lord and give her peace. __ her from discretion in Jesus name. Deborah from Michigan I’m praising God’s voice.
Hi this is Connie in New York again. I have…I think it occurred to me that my name should be or what I like to be is At Home in His Throne Room because I can’t wait to be in His throne room and I think I’ll feel like at home there. So, this is At Home in His Throne Room in New York and I really thank you from Dwayne from Wisconsin and happy to be a mother calling into pray for our children. I have three kids and two of them teenagers and it’s really a difficult time to be a teenager. I can even imagine. I can’t even imagine. So, I just pray for God to illuminate the narrow path for them, take them down, take their hand, take them down that path. Also, I would like to pray for all the pregnant women out there. It’s so beautiful and God is working with them. It’s like a partnership. It’s amazing. And I have three of my coworkers are pregnant right now. And it’s just awesome. So, I hope that __ pregnancies help make people realize the magic of our Creator. So that’s it. This is At Home in His Throne Room in New York. Also, I wanted to say that God laid it on my heart that I should join the Daily Audio Bible or the Hardin’s trip to Israel as soon as I can this year with the following with my youngest daughter __. __. So I think it will be an amazing experience. So, looking to make that happen.
Our Father who is in heaven. Holy is your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. That’s the prayer Jesus taught us to pray as best as, you know, this English translation from the Greek is. This is Candace from Oregon and I’m just a couple hours away from the moment my husband slipped from this earth exactly a year ago March 11. I want to thank everyone who’s helped me through this and my Lord for giving me strength I could not have imagined. I could not have imagined the year that just happened and such strength and beauty. I’m so grateful to God and to the community of Saints who’ve loved on me. I’m so thankful for my new little granddaughter and all the goodness.
Hello daily Audio Bible family this is Jim and Emily in Houston Texas. And why are we calling honey? Well first we want to thank the Daily Audio Bible family for all of their support over the years and the inspiration and the prayers of others. Today we come to you with a prayer request for our daughter-in-law, Christina. And on Wednesday, March, well this week, this coming Wednesday, she’s having yet another spinal tap because she has been unknown autoimmune disease. It’s been going on really since early last year so it’s been going on for about a year. She can’t see properly. She can’t hear properly. And it’s all in her brain apparently. And there’s a lot of fear. She’s a believer. We are praying for healing. So, please pray for healing, but also pray for freedom from fear for her. This all started after she spent a long period of time weeping over the possibility that our grandson, her son, four-year-old Miles, might have retinitis pigmentosa and might go blind. And God’s really kept his eyesight. So, we’d like you to pray both of them. Yes, pray for Miles and Christina, who is our daughter-in-law, and the mother of our grandson. And we love you guys and we appreciate all your prayers over the years and listen faithfully. And a quick mention. We pray for restored marriages because they really do happen. Stand in faith. Love you all. Bye.