The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday December 1, 2022 (NIV)

This vision followed the first I had just a couple of years earlier. ² In my vision, I looked and suddenly found myself in the fortress-city of Susa in the province of Elam. I was standing next to the Ulai Canal. ³ When I looked up, I saw a ram near me standing on the bank of the canal. The ram had two horns, both of which were long, but one was even longer than the other. I watched as the horns grew, and the longer came up after the other, the shorter horn. ⁴ As I looked, the ram charged to the west, the north, and the south. It defeated all the other beasts in its path, and there was no one great enough to rescue its victims from the ram’s power. It did whatever it liked, and with each conquest, it grew stronger.

⁵ As I was trying to figure out what I was seeing, suddenly a male goat came from the west to challenge the ram. It moved so quickly across the face of the entire earth that it seemed his feet never touched the ground. On its head the goat had a prominent horn sticking out between its eyes. ⁶ He approached the ram with the two horns—the same one I had seen standing by the Ulai Canal—and charged at it with a violent rage. ⁷ I saw the goat in reckless fury butt the ram and shatter his two horns. The ram had no power to stand against its foe, so it was thrown to the ground and trampled to death; there was no one great enough to rescue the ram from the goat’s power. ⁸ With this conquest, the male goat with the prominent horn took the place of his rival and grew more powerful. But at the height of his power, the great horn was broken off, and four prominent horns grew in its place, each one pointing toward one of the four winds of heaven.

⁹ A fifth, smaller horn grew out of one of these new horns. Its power grew, and its influence reached toward the south and toward the east and toward the beautiful lands of promise. ¹⁰ Then it grew straight up to challenge the army of heaven; it knocked some of the heavenly beings and stars to the ground and trampled them beneath it. ¹¹ The horn grew even greater, and in its arrogance came up against the Prince of the heavenly army. It halted the daily sacrifices to Him and took control of His established sanctuary. ¹² As a result of this great rebellion, the heavenly army and the daily sacrifices were handed over to the horn. For a time it cast truth to the ground and succeeded in everything it tried.

¹³ Then I heard two heavenly beings in conversation with each other.

¹⁵ As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision I had seen, suddenly, someone who looked like a human stood in front of me. ¹⁶ I heard a human voice call out, coming from somewhere between the waters of the Ulai Canal.

¹⁷ So the one called Gabriel moved closer to me; as he did, I became very scared. I fell to the ground, my face down.

¹⁸ As he was speaking, I slipped into a deep sleep—my face pressed to the ground. But Gabriel touched me and helped me stand to my feet where I was before.

2 You are my little children, so I am writing these things to help you avoid sin. If, however, any believer does sin, we have a high-powered defense lawyer—Jesus the Anointed, the righteous—arguing on our behalf before the Father. ² It was through His sacrificial death that our sins were atoned. But He did not stop there—He died for the sins of the whole world.

³ We know we have joined Him in an intimate relationship because we live out His commands. ⁴ If someone claims, “I am in an intimate relationship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. ⁵ But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and filled him. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: ⁶ anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.

⁷ My loved ones, in one sense, I am not writing a new command for you. I am only reminding you of the old command. It’s a word you already know, a word that has existed from the beginning. ⁸ However, in another sense, I am writing a new command for you. The new command is the truth that He lived; and now you are living it, too, because the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining among you.

⁹ Anyone who says, “I live in the light,” but hates his brother or sister is still living in the shadows. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves his brother or sister lives in the light and will not trip because his conscience is clear. ¹¹ But anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness, stumbling around with no idea where he is going, blinded by the darkness.

¹² I am writing to you, my children, because your sins have been forgiven by the authority of His name.

¹³ I am writing to you, fathers and mothers, because you have known Him as the Creator, as the One who started everything.

I am writing to you, young people, because He has given you the power to conquer the evil one.

¹⁴ I have written to you, my children, because you have known the Father.

I have written to you, fathers and mothers, because you have known Him, the Creator.

I have written to you, young people, because the voice of God remains and is heard among you. Remember that you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁵ Don’t fall in love with this corrupt world or worship the things it can offer. Those who love its corrupt ways don’t have the Father’s love living within them. ¹⁶ All the things the world can offer to you—the allure of pleasure, the passion to have things, and the pompous sense of superiority—do not come from the Father. These are the rotten fruits of this world. ¹⁷ This corrupt world is already wasting away, as are its selfish desires. But the person really doing God’s will—that person will never cease to be.

Psalm 120

A song for those journeying to worship.