The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday December 2, 2018 (NIV)

Daniel’s Prayer about Jerusalem Is Answered

9 Xerxes’ son Darius, who was a Mede by birth, was made ruler of the kingdom of Babylon. ² In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the Scriptures the number of years that Jerusalem would remain in ruins. The Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem would remain in ruins for 70 years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and looked to him for help. I prayed, pleaded, and fasted in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God. I confessed and said, “Lord, you are great and deserve respect as the only God. You keep your promise^[a] and show mercy to those who love you and obey your commandments. ⁵ We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commandments and laws. ⁶ We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the common people. ⁷ You, Lord, are righteous. But we—the men of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, and all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far—are still ashamed because we have been unfaithful to you. ⁸ We, our kings, leaders, and ancestors are ashamed because we have sinned against you, Lord.

⁹ “But you, Lord our God, are compassionate and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you. ¹⁰ We never listened to you or lived by the teachings you gave us through your servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has ignored your teachings and refused to listen to you. So you brought on us the curses you swore in an oath, the curses written in the Teachings of your servant Moses. We sinned against you.

Live in Christ

¹⁸ Children, it’s the end of time. You’ve heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That’s how we know it’s the end of time. ¹⁹ They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.

²⁰ The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge. ²¹ I’m writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don’t know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.

²² Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist. ²³ Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father. ²⁴ Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.

²⁶ I’m writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.

We Are God’s Children

²⁸ Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame. ²⁹ If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.

3 Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God’s dear children. And that’s what we are. For this reason the world doesn’t recognize us, and it didn’t recognize him either. ² Dear friends, now we are God’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is. ³ So all people who have this confidence in Christ keep themselves pure, as Christ is pure.

⁴ Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is disobedience. ⁵ You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn’t sinful. ⁶ Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ.

Psalm 122

A song by David for going up to worship.