Month: December 2022

Zechariah 2:1-3:10, Revelation 13:1-18, Psalms 141:1-10, Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is the 22^nd day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today as we move through Christmas week. It’s exciting and it’s exciting that we can be together no matter where we are the world, that we can be together during Christmas week enjoying it as a community as we continue to take steps forward through the Scriptures. And we began the book of Zechariah yesterday and mentioned that we’re…we’re kind of…we’re not completely done with new books but there’s only one book we haven’t gotten to and that is the final book in the Old Testament, Malachi, but we have come to the book of Zechariah and Zechariah will take us all the way to within a couple of days of the end of the year. So, we’ll be camping out in Zechariah in the Old Testament Revelation in the New Testament all the way through the holiday season. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week. And today, Zechariah, chapters 2 and 3.

Commentary:

Okay, so we were talking just a few minutes ago at the very very beginning that we are in the middle of Christmas week heading toward Christmas with just a few days remaining. And, so, it’s getting exciting around here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and everything is festive and even we as a family getting ready and Ezekiel’s excited and we’re all excited to be together and it’s Christmas week. And some of us are preparing our packing, getting our packing together and getting ready to get on a plane and fly to another city to be with family and maybe were doing extra special cleaning of the house because family is about to board planes and come to our city and be with us, or maybe we’re doing the exact same thing only in a car but we’re traveling somewhere or people are traveling toward us. And that is actually one of the joys of Christmas time, is that we get to be all together again, those that we don’t get to see maybe but once a year or maybe just every once in a while. Maybe our brothers coming into town with his family or a sisters coming with her husband and her family. Maybe all the extended family. The aunts and the uncles are all going to be together, and we haven’t been together since before Covid because I know that’s happening this Christmas in ways that haven’t happened in the last couple of years for some. But an interesting thing can happen in that environment. We can be over flowing with joy and with great amounts of gratitude to be in the presence of one another when we’ve been separated because we don’t live near each other, or any number of things have kept us apart and we’re all together again and that’s a great. But we can so easily, even though we may be grown, married with a family of our own, an education, a vocation, and we have a life and we’ve made a life and a family together, but we can get around extended family and so quickly we’re like a kid again. It’s like we’ve been…we’ve all assumed the roles we played while we were growing up and all of the little things that go along with that. So, maybe when we were a kid just coming-of-age we teased our…our younger siblings and we finally just fall right back into that with these little biting things that get said, these little teasing things that get said to kinda force them back into the role that they played or maybe that’s being done to us. And all of a sudden, we just don’t feel like a grown adult that has actually reached maturity and has planted a family of their own. We feel like a kid again, and then we react like a kid again and these crazy things that…that can happen in those kinds of situations because the tender places in our hearts are getting touched in old ways and bringing out old things. Or maybe we got different generations together. We got the grandparents, maybe even the great-grandparents, and our parents, and us, and our children. So, there’s like multiple generations going on and people are coming in from all over. And, so, not everybody’s necessarily tracking on the same page with things like politics or things like spirituality or even things like life choices. And, so, the whole thing is beautiful, joyous and full of gratitude and rejoicing, but the whole situation is like a ticking time bomb just waiting for the match to be lit, just waiting for the one thing that gets said, the little thing that gets lobbed into the middle of the table. And there may even be people and our family, or maybe even us, that that’s what happens. We’re the ones that are the fire starters or we have those in our family. There’s going to be something lobbed into the middle of the table around Christmas dinner or around presents or whatever and boom! Old offenses begin to rise. Reactions begin to materialize. All of the sudden we find ourselves pulled to react in ways that we wouldn’t and shouldn’t. The book of Psalms today gives us some words, just short memorable things that we can remember not like the long stanzas and passages, just a suggestion that since we’re out in front of it and Christmas is a view days from now and we’re like moving right into the thick of it, the most busiest time right now, if we can remember this, if this can be the mantra, I guess for the next few days it would be a rescue sent by God from the Scriptures in advance into our lives to rescue a situation that never has to happen. The psalmist says, “set a guard over my mouth Lord. Keep close watch over the door that is my lips. Don’t let my heart turn aside to evil things so that I don’t do wicked things with evildoers, so I don’t taste of their delicacies. Instead, let the righteous discipline me. Let the faithful correct me, that my head never reject that kind of fine oil. If we could remember that. If we could open our eyes in the morning after sleeping and remember this, “set a guard over my mouth Lord.” If we can just remember that and say it as many times as we need to say it, it could be a rescue. It…I mean it could potentially save Christmas. But it could save any day. “Set a guard over my mouth Lord. Keep close watch over the door that is my lips.” Let’s hold onto that one because it has been gifted to us in advance before any of the things that we were just talking about are permitted to happen, allowing us to have grateful hearts and celebrate the overwhelming love of God for us as we celebrate His arrival to rescue us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Set a guard over our mouths Lord. Keep close watch over the door that is our lips. May we understand that what we say creates things and destroys things. May we speak words of life as the overwhelming joy that is within our hearts at this time of year comes spilling out of us. May this be a joyful and peaceful next few days, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website, that’s where you can find out what’s going on around here unless you have the Daily Audio Bible app, which puts that in the palm of your hand.

And of course, it’s Christmas. It’s Christmas time and we are moving toward that day as we celebrate the arrival, the Advent of Jesus in the world. And I have mentioned a number of times there are some resources that are available that you can put into your Christmas playlists for the season. We have a number of…we have a bit of Christmas music. Let’s put it that way. Couple Christmas records. There is Christmas Time by Maxwell Hardin. You can look that up, put that in your playlist. There is family Christmas, which you can look up by my name Brian Hardin and insert that into a playlist or you can look up my wife, Jill Parr and she has a number of Christmas songs that you can insert into your playlist as well. So, from our home to your home, from the Global Campfire to your playlist, enjoy the festivities of Christmas.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of the year, thank you humbly, thank you profoundly. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Hi DAB family, this is Brian from Huber Heights Merry Christmas to everyone. I just wanted to pass along some praise for my son Mitchell who is mentally ill, homeless, a drug addict, and is presently in jail. The praise is that they are not letting him out where he would possibly freeze and that he’s getting sent to a mental facility instead of prison for his…for his charges. Hopefully he’ll get the help that he needs. Hopefully he’ll come out of there with housing set up for him. But he still needs prayer because he’s in some danger at jail. Right now, he’s in a private cell. I’m hoping they will keep him here there. He thinks he’s gonna get let out of there next week. I pray he stays in there. Also, I’m turning my…my divorce over to God. I’ve pursued my ex; Kathy and it’s not worked. If it’s God will, Jesus’ will that we be reconciled I’m laying it at the foot of the cross and leaving it there. Thank you for all your prayers. God bless everyone. Thank you, Brian Hardin for this wonderful ministry, it’s definitely been life changing for me. God bless everyone. Thank you.

Good morning prayer warriors in the DAB. I’m reaching out with a request for your prayers. This is Morning Lift, and my marriage is in trouble. I pray…I ask for your prayers to help reconcile my marriage, to help me deal with my issues of anger and control, to help me be gentle and meek and loving towards my wife. Help us to resolve our issues God and help us to grow together and to reconcile our marriage. Lord my wife is talking about a physical separation of domiciles, and I just pray Lord that whatever has to happen for our marriage to be reconciled that…that it happens and…and happens in the best way that it can. Even though I don’t want to be separated at all from my wife and kids Lord, I recognize that some separation might be necessary for healing though I’m in prayer that we would be able to heal under the same roof. And I just ask you, family and the DAB to lift up me and my wife. This is Morning Lift and we have three kids and I know this is really tough on them and I just pray for a civil attitude in the home, that we would talk to one another and another in a loving way, and that we would encourage our kids and set good examples for them. I ask these things in Jesus’ name. I ask you to pray for me as well DAB family. Thank you so much.

He DABbers this is Linda Abbas Child from Southwest Florida sitting in the sun trying to make my bad back feel better. Just wanna say Merry Christmas. I think I did this already, but I’ve been listening to you guys and it just inspires me so much to chip in because let’s see, this is my first full year of listening to DAB. I started in April of 2021. And, so, I’m so excited to say that I have gone through the whole Bible with Brian. Brian and the rest of your family, you’re all amazing. Thank you so much for being vessels and the conduits that you are. It was so fun today to hear from Valliant Val and yesterday from Blind Tony and all of you regulars that call in all the time you know who you are. I do love this family and I don’t contribute enough I don’t think and I’m shy about asking for prayer. But this is not for prayer. This is for Merry Christmas everybody. I love you all. I’m so grateful for this community and let it continue to grow exponentially the way it has. Keep sharing it y'all.

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanna pray for the 26-year-old child who is verbal autistic and is care of life and also wanna pray for the brother in Orlando who lost his job and…and is on unemployment. I wanna pray that God open doors and bless him in a mighty and special way, that he look up and look to Him, that God is faithful, and God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. I wanna pray for Melissa who is pregnant and is on dialysis, pray for the strength of that precious baby that’ll be the beautiful bouncing baby that she’s looking for. I want to pray for Candice from Oregon that she be renewed to full strength and I wanna pray for Jonathan from Denver. I wanna pray for him and the challenges that he’s going through, that God will open doors that no man can close. I wanna pray for the first responder and those who don’t call in. Father we wanna ask You that You answer their prayers. You said You would supply their every need. We want You to have Your way in all their lives. Give them favor O Lord and supply their needs according to Your riches and glory in Christ Jesus as they look up to you, the author and the finisher of their faith and that we’ll give You the glory, we’ll give You the honor and the praise in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hi, my name is Timothy. I’ve been listening to the daily audio Bible since 2019 and I’m just calling in for a little bit of a praise report and also asking for some prayer. I started listening in 2019 struggling with alcohol begging God to take it out of my life. I have listened consistently, never called in. I’ve been sober for a little over a year and a half now. All glory to God. I truly enjoy hearing all of your prayers and it just…it brings me joy every day that I get to listen. I’m calling because I’ve been feeling a little bit of a spiritual attack the past couple of days and if you could just keep me in your prayers that would really appreciate it. I’m going to be getting married in just about two months and I feel like the enemy is just attacking me. Yeah, it’s really a struggle for me to ever ask for a prayer. I don’t like to burden people, but I would really appreciate it. Thank you all so much. I truly love getting to spend these times with you guys and just hear you and it really does feel like an awesome community. I will definitely try to call in more often. And I also thank you Hardin family for this amazing platform that you guys have created. All glory to God. I thank you guys so much in advance. Thank you. Bye.

Deep dive into the book of Revelation:

Part 6

Okay. So, we’re getting into the thick of it in the book of Revelation and we’re heading into some highly debated and contentious territory, which invariably means that it’s more well-known and that you are likely to have heard many things about it. And our job here isn’t to, you know, interpret it correctly and set the record straight for everyone who’s been studying this for thousands of years. That would be fairly arrogant. What we’re trying to do is just walk into the territory, avoid the hysteria, and look at what the text says and look at some of the main ways that this is been interpreted. So, we got a beast coming up out of the sea that had 10 horns, seven heads, and 10 crowns on its horns, and insulting…like a lot of symbolism. The beast that John saw was like a leopard, its feet were like bear’s feet, its mouth was like a lion’s mouth, and all the symbols. And bear’s feet, lion’s mouth, these have been associated with all kinds of things. So, this idea of coming up out of the sea could be literally just that, somehow this beast rose up out of the ocean, but it’s been noted that this…this appearance is most likely the kind of appearance that would happen from a ship. Not that the beast is a ship but the imagery itself. Like if you’re standing on the on the beach and you’re looking out at the ocean and something large, a big ship or something comes onto the horizon it looks like its coming up out of the sea. So, it it’s something that’s coming in the corresponding imagery here comes from the book of Daniel in the seventh chapter in particular. So, there’ve been interpretations in antiquity of sea monsters, that this is a sea monster coming up out of the sea because any allusions to see monsters and that kind of thing in any of the Old Testament writings always represent evil or an evil kingdom or evil that is against, that is set against God’s people and his covenant. Others say that the sea represents the abyss so that evil is coming up out of the abyss. And the crowns that this beast wears are…are false claims of sovereign authority. And this beast has been associated with ancient Rome for a very long time very consistently. And that’s in part because that would’ve been the world that John understood when this was written, and because of all the things that were happening in the Empire at the time. But it's…it…it’s deeper than that. In the Jewish writings, interpreting Daniel where so many of the parallels for this portion, or for that matter for all of where Revelation comes from, those Jewish writers associated Daniel 7 with Rome. And perhaps this this beast’s characteristics can be associated with allied empires or nations or just assimilated nations that are now a part of the Roman Empire and they all together make up this one beast. But there's…there’s wide interpretations. If you’re looking at this from a presentist perspective like, then you’d be looking at what’s happening now to make these identifications. If you’re a futurist, then this is something that’s gonna happen and you make speculation and then you work your way back in history all the way to John’s time then you find other associations. But the bottom line here is, no matter how these associations are made, or if they are correct what’s happening here is not…it’s evil…evil is coming up and the serpent who’s been associated with the devil gives his power to this beast. So, all of the sudden we have interesting parallels that look like this very very unholy Trinity that…that’s materializing. So, whereas the Father gave His authority to…to Jesus now we have the serpent giving his authority to this beast. And although this beast had seven heads one of them had a fatal wound but its fatal wound was healed. So, some almost like unholy resurrection imagery is…is here. And a lot of commentators over the years have associated this beast with the Emperor Nero who committed suicide, and but then there were all kinds of like Elvis style rumors that he wasn’t really dead and maybe that he had been spotted and there were people impersonating him and that maybe he was gonna come back. But in the end Emperor Nero’s death wasn’t fatal to the Empire and instead it showed the resolve and their power. So, a potential…a potential deathblow turns into…into a recovery. So, there’s just a good number of…of interpretations. And what happens from a straight reading of the text is that the world is dazzled by all of this and they worshiped the serpent, right, because it had given authority to the beast. So, you can see…can see these parallels. They worshiped the beast and they…and they praise by saying, “who is like the beast? Who can fight a war with it”, which is not unlike Old Testament declarations and prophecies, “who is like our God? Who is like you, Lord? Who could possibly fight with you? Who could…”, you know, this kind of stuff. And this beast was allowed to wage war against God’s people, and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation, and everyone living on earth worshiped it. Everyone that is, whose name is not written in the book of life. So, this is the kind of place where you have to decide how you’re reading this. If…if you’re reading it from a literal perspective then there is a sea monster unlike any creature we’ve ever seen before that is going to come up out of the sea and receive the dark powers of evil and claim sovereignty and the world is generally going to believe in and worship this beast who will subsequently consolidate power and go to war with God’s people. And this would personify evil into one being or at least this activity into one being. And of course, the beast is associated with imagery of the Antichrist who has been depicted, you know, as some kind of emerging world leader, a person in popular culture. So, we run into this problem of trying to decide, you know, time. When will this happen? And are we to look allegorically and figuratively or are we to look literally at these kinds of things? And we have to acknowledge that for the most part the figure…figurative interpretation is where we land. But so hopefully just flip the literal because we’ve become kind of program to do that. So, when we get to the Antichrist, we have to determine whether we’re talking about one person or if we’re talking about anything that is anti-Christ. So, for example in first John, which we…we read recently that we were told, “that you have heard that the antichrist is coming. Even now many antichrists have come. And who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist.” So, we have to decide if this is embodied in one person at some point in history or if we’re talking about the world consolidating itself in a way that is anti-Christ and oppressive to God’s people. More than oppressive, antagonistic, and at war with God’s people. But nevertheless, according to the Scripture this beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it’s hard to make that allegorical because if we’re talking about spiritually then we would say that this war against God’s holy people conquers them spiritually. That will be hard to reconcile because God has put His seal on their foreheads as we read earlier. And, so, much of the book of Revelation, and so much of the New Testament itself is about enduring these things or these kinds of things. Staying true. Keeping the light…the light burning. And we have to acknowledge, at least at this point in the book of Revelation, we haven’t seen any indications that God’s holy people are gonna be zapped away from all this. It seems to be an encouragement to endure and keep the light burning like the rest of the New Testament does, and to keep us…keep us focused on the fact that that our bodily death isn’t the end of anything. And if we zoom out to the 30,000-foot view we would have to say that this is what it looks like for the transition of the kingdom to come. And, so, there’s this conquering that takes place, which doesn’t necessarily mean killing. It means conquering. And this happens because the world follows this beast. Everyone worships this beast, everyone who’s not written in the book of life. “That book”, I’m reading this from revelation, “that book belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the creation of the world.” And this gets really contentious and really prickly because now we’re talking about predestination. And generally, that’s the idea, that everything was already preordained before it ever started. The way that this all thing was going to go down was already preordained, including every name of every person that would be written in the book of life, which brings up all sorts of things to think about. Like, is my…is my name in the book of life, right? Well, that would be the primary question. And what name is it exactly that is in the book of life if my name is in that book? For example, my name is Brian. Is Brian written in the book of life, or did God give me a new name in the book of life or do I actually have a different name that was ordained from the foundation of the world and that’s how God knows me but my earthly parents gave me the name Brian? Is this an actual book or is this figurative language simply describing everyone who belongs to God? And this idea of preordination or predestination or not has been a point of debate throughout pretty much the majority of church history. And I don’t think I’m qualified to do every shade and nuance of that. And I know for certain we don’t have time. So, basically on the one hand we have the idea that everything was preordained. Everything that was gonna happen was already written and now it’s just playing out, including the lives of those who will ultimately be in the book of life and belong to God. This was preordained. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Some were chosen to be God’s people, and they will. There’s nothing they can do about it, and it has nothing to do with what they do. The ones who are not written in the book of life, well, I mean they simply weren't…weren’t written in the book of life. And, so, they are preordained to oppose God and God’s people. And all of this was predetermined before history began. On the other hand, you have a more collaborative view and that would be that people get to make choices and those choices get to matter. It’s what think Blaise Pascal called the dignity of causality. And ultimately that basically means that God loves us, and we get to choose whether or not we love Him back. And this plays out in a thing called a relationship. And this idea basically starts in the book of Genesis with Adam and Eve. They were able to make a choice to eat from the tree that was forbidden. And then throughout the rest of the Bible we encounter this overarching narrative that tells us that God is passionate for people and wants to collaborate and interact in life. The problem that gets prickly there Theologically, when viewed through the lens of predestination, is that everyone must be in the book, which can lead a person in all kinds of directions. So, on one side it doesn’t matter what you do. You’re either in the book or you’re not in the book and that was determined before history began. And, so, that can lead a person into all kinds of interesting directions, whereas the idea that everyone is written in the Lamb’s book of life can also lead a person in all kinds of interesting directions. The idea here would be that humanity was destined for God. He wanted everyone to be with Him, everyone that was ever born or like according to second Peter chapter 3, “the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Or from Romans chapter 6, “the death He died…so Jesus…“the death. Jesus died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God.” And, so, in terms of predestination, everyone is…is predestined for God. We get to collaborate in that choice, and we can choose otherwise thereby eliminating ourselves from this book of life. So, how you understand this definitely affects…affects how you read the Bible, but it certainly affects the way you would understand the book of Revelation. I think the book of Revelation is speaking correctly when it says, “in this situation, God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.” And then the next thing that happens from our reading today is that there’s another beast. And this one comes up from the earth and has two horns like a lamb, but it talks like a serpent. And, so, now we have this great serpent whos’ given authority to this beast. And now there’s a second beast. We see this kind of father, son, Holy Spirit kind of parallels in a dark way here. And this second beast is able to perform all kinds of signs and wonders that are very deceptive for those living on earth. And it just reiterates and consolidates the…the false authority and power of the serpent. And the second beast has a statue made of the first beast who was wounded by the sword and…and still lived, and then the second beast is allowed to put breath into that statue and then that statue puts to death whoever will not worship it. And scholars have drawn parallels here for a long long time and in significant numbers that the imagery here would hearken back to Daniel’s time when King Nebuchadnezzar made a statue that everyone had to fall down and worship when the trumpet blasted. And that’s what got Shadrach. Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace. A literal…a literal reading of this section of Revelation would be…would be a literal reading. There’s a statue of the first beast who has been given the authority of the serpent. A second beast comes along. The statue comes to life and anyone who won’t worship the statue then is killed. An allegorical reading would be that all of this symbolizes an empire or an authority, a national authority that it influences the entire world and its consolidated its religious and its economic and political powers to stamp out anyone who will not go along with it and God’s people are caught in the crosshairs. But one of the ways this happens is also another very very popular image that’s highly contentious. The way that it does this is that it causes everyone to either be branded on their right hand or on their forehead, right? So, the mark of the beast. And man has that been debated and has that been imagined. And if you take a more presentist or futurist view of this, then it’s everything from, you know, computer chips of some sort being deposited under the skin and all of this can stuff, what the mark of the beast is. So, if we move back a couple of millennia and we get ourselves back in to John’s time when this is actually being written down, it will, you know, computer chip being put under the skin, isn’t…isn’t even something they can conceive of. But a mark is. A tattoo of some sort is. A branding of some sort is. And, so, for the…for the widely diverse interpretations about what exactly the mark of the beast is, we can probably safely say it’s some sort of branding that speaks to the fact that the beast, that the beast sees its worshipers as his property. Whether you see the beast as a consolidated embodiment of a person that is evil or if you see it as the work of darkness in the world. So, the idea here is, if you’re not on board with that then…then you’re going to be economically impacted tremendously and you will be driven underground because you can’t participate in the culture. So, we hear these things, and then we literalize these things, and then we try to imagine these things, but in the process, we might be missing the parallels because there are stark parallels between good and evil and between Jesus and the evil one. Before we ever got here to the mark of the beast we first saw the mark of God, put on his holy ones on their foreheads. And we had no problem looking at that allegorically. Like, we would…we would all say, yeah, you know, the mark of God is on my forehead. I am sealed in Christ. And we don’t in any way think about that as a computer chip or a tattoo. But then we get to the counter mark of the beast, and we start literalizing, whereas a little bit more allegorical view would be that God has sealed those who are true and who have kept the lamps…have kept their witness burning while the forces of evil come into counter that with a dark mark after the same fashion, denoting who a person belongs to. And it is of no and quite interesting this mark of the beast that can be on your hand or on your forehead, because in the book of Exodus God tells the children of Israel that the law, the Torah was to be a sign on their hand and a reminder on their forehead. That was a constant reminder of who they belong to, who they were in covenant with, where their commitments were, where their loyalties were to lie. And Orthodox Jews continue indeed to…to practice that until today. All of this brings us down to the final verse that we read in today’s reading, the number of the beast 666. And even saying it evokes hysteria in…in some hearts. And, so, we have to decide. Is this is a literal thing? I mean can we add up the numbers and find out who this person is? Is this essentially a math question? And people who have been trying to look at it from that perspective have found lots of names over the centuries that would potentially fit the bill. Numbering a person’s name actually has a name, Gematria and it basically goes like…like this. In ancient times in certain ancient languages there were no numbers per se. The letters of the alphabet also represented numbers. So, for example, in the Greek alphabet the first nine letters of the alphabet represented numbers one through nine. So, using this method, for example, the name Jesus would be the number 888. And this beast’s number is 666. So, going way back to…to kind of the time of the writing of this people have identified 666 with the Emperor, Nero. But it took a little finagling. Nero wouldn’t just add up to that. So, they had to do Caesar Nero and…and to make it work. Others have noted that there is…there are discrepancies in the manuscripts. And, so, in some manuscripts the numbers 616. So, there’s been a lot of names that have showed up on the list of potential antichrist figures over the…over the generations. And this is obviously where you go if you’re trying to do a more literal reading but it’s fair to ask the question, you know. Did John put a mathematical problem in the book of Revelation that was to disclose what was gonna happen? Like it is this an intellectual mathematical exercise and only…only someone with magical skills can actually figure this out or was John calling for insight, wisdom and vigilance in this matter? And many scholars have…have noted that it doesn’t make a ton of sense for John to be so cryptic here when he’s being so outspoken. And…and if he’s trying to hide the number, like he’s trying to make this a riddle so that it’s kind of passed around as code why he would be doing that. He’s already in exile and his whole message is to tell the church to be vigilant and keep their lamp burning and keep their witness strong and to stay pure and to stay true no matter what happens, even if they have to die. So, you know, so doing this in code has its own set of problems. But if we continue to look at this allegorically there are some things that could be said. First would be the use of the number seven in this book. And not just in this book, throughout the Bible, but in particular in the book of Revelation. So, like, there’s seven lampstands, there’s seven seals, there’s seven trumpets. And many scholars over many centuries would say seven is a number that seems to indicate completion in the Scriptures, right? So, God made the world in six days and then on the seventh it was complete, He rested as one example. And as we travel through the book of Revelation, six things happen and then there’s kind of a pause and then the seventh one. And the six things seem to have to do with the judgment, whereas the seventh thing that happens, like the seventh trumpet has to do with the consummation of the new, the new kingdom, this thing that God is doing. So, the number six then is a picture of something that is incomplete. And to say this three times, 666, is like the ultimate of incompleteness. So, whereas God is moving to complete things, to make all things new again, the dark forces of evil in the world are perpetually and will only ever be incomplete. So, on the one hand you have a personified antichrist who embodies evil and sort of a picture of a dark Trinity that will take over and ultimately try to stamp out God’s people. And one of the ways of consolidation of power will be the mark of the beast that will maybe be a computer chip that’s put under your skin somewhere or something like that or you have an allegorical view that shows us that the dark powers that are evil, evil that is in the world is moving the world toward utter and complete incompletion and that will invariably lead to difficult times. But God’s people have to take the long view and remember that we are not rooted only in our physicality. The end of our physicality isn’t the end of anything. And that is where we end up in today’s reading.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your words and we thank You for the way that it stretches us and challenges us and forces us to consider beyond what we think we know and we’re grateful for that. We’re grateful that You are committed to our maturity and we’re grateful that You are making all things new. And that is our hope and that is where our faith lies. In the end all things are restored and made new. So, come Holy Spirit and plant what we’ve heard today into our lives and may yield the fruit of the spirit in us and in the world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Zechariah 1:1-21, Revelation 12:1-17, Psalm 140:1-13, Proverbs 30:17

Today is the 21st day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today around the Global Campfire and I’m glad that we can take we can take the next step forward together. And that next step forward, as you can imagine this time of year, leads us to a brand-new book the 11th out of the 12 minor prophets. But we get to kind of exhale, settle in and stay with this upcoming text for a while.

Introduction to the Book of Zechariah:

This is the book of Zechariah, and we will hang out here in Zechariah until the last two days of the year together. Zechariah was a contemporary with Haggai, which is the book that we read yesterday. Although Zechariah continued his ministry long after Haggai, but they were prophesying at the same place, at the same time, for the same reason, which is the rebuilding of the temple. And what we know is Zechariah’s grandfather, his name was Edo, was among the first of the leaders of the priestly families that were able to return to the ancestral homeland after exile, and Edo came back with Zerubbabel. And that tells us a little bit about Zechariah that he was probably a priest. He was at least a part of a priestly family, and his name means God remembers and it is a covenantal remembering that is the theme of the book of Zechariah. And we read Haggai in its entirety yesterday. Zechariah is gonna take us to the last couple of days of the year. So, it’s a much longer than Haggai’s, so, there’s a bigger scope here and some different features. Like Zechariah will tell us of 8-night visions that he was able to experience and they all kind of have, have an apocalyptic nature to them. They’re very, highly symbolic, very similar to what reading in the book of Revelation right now. In light of the rebuilding of the temple, God was initiating a much broader plan of sweeping restoration, but the people would have to respond. And so, we find in Zechariah God saying things like return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s armies. And Zechariah also foretells of a coming messianic figure. There are, are verses that should sound familiar, like rejoice oh people of Zion, shout in triumph oh people of Jerusalem, look your King is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet He is humble riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey’s colt. That should sound familiar. That sounds an awful lot like Jesus and because of that, Zechariah is quoted in the New Testament. So, Zechariah being an Old Testament prophetic book is quoted in the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of Mark, the gospel of John and in the book of Revelation, all in reference to Jesus. And ultimately Zechariah is meant to be received as a prophetic encouragement and to remind us that God is absolutely sovereign in all things, at all times, and in all places, known or unknown, and we can rest in that because God is our Father. The sovereign God is our Father. And if we return to Him, He will return to us. And so, we begin Zechariah chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, thank You again for another day. Thank You again for the celebration that we are involved in right now, as we approach Christmas day. Thank You for the joy that we experience in our hearts. Thank You for the overwhelming love that we are contemplating this week. Thank You for the gift of Your arrival. Thank You for the gift of the Scriptures. Thank You for the gift of each other around the Global Campfire each day as we continue to pursue your word and feast upon it, as You lead us into the truth. We love You, Lord, we adore You, we honor You. Thank You for the wisdom that You have bestowed upon us and the life that You have given us, and we ask as we do so often lead us into all truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. We’re moving through the week of Christmas. That’s what’s going on around here all over the place. I was just thinking a minute ago that today would’ve been my parent’s wedding anniversary. Of course, they’re celebrating all of this in heaven. But I remember them both today and every day for that matter, but I remember them both and miss them myself, at Christmas time. But we are moving through the Christmas week and let’s remember to stay locked in here around the Global Campfire. We talked about this before the season ever started, and now we are in the thick of it. And let’s remember that we have an oasis that we can come to each and every day out of the hustle and bustle, a safe place to allow God to speak through his word and let’s enjoy, enjoy this moment of celebration that God is with us, as we continue these days, marching toward Christmas day.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of this year that we have together, thank you, humbly, deeply, profoundly for your partnership, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. That is what makes it a Global Campfire and so thank you, humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage and dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey Dr. John, this is Artie from Arkansas. I want just to connect with you and say hey, I am a Ezra grandpa as well and it is the greatest thing, God’s gift to us to be able to hold your child’s child. Oh, my goodness. Such joy, such wonder. And holding this child is, is holding a piece of me, a piece of my history and just, it’s so great. My daughter and her husband’s family, oh my. Everything about it, is just marvelous. But it’s how I also know how God loves us, how God loves me because we are part of God also. He created us and as much as I would do anything for, for my Ezra and other grandchildren, I would, I know that God would do the same for us. So, I just want to congratulate you and I want to end with that my daughter sent this video of Ezra singing a song, he was singing jingle bells jingle bells, the Bible tells me so. Oh, I thought that was the greatest. Anyway, happy for you, happy for every one of the DABers, have a blessed Christmas and a New Year. Bye now.

Hi, this is Lara calling from New York. I wanted to call in, today is Friday, December 16th.  I just heard the prayer request from a gentleman with the 26-year-old son who is nonverbal autistic and he just placed him in a state facility, a group home. And sir, I wanted to call in as my heart goes out to you. You mentioned that you wanted prayer from folks who have no idea what you’re going through. Sir, I know exactly what you are going through. I also have a nonverbal autistic son, he is 12 and in addition, an older son that is also on the spectrum and so, I do completely understand, and in fact we’re in the process of placing our 12-year-old son in a residential program, knowing that it is going to be the best thing for him. And so, I just want to encourage you, this is going to be wonderful for your son. I’m just sure of it, I’m sure that you again, there are, there are things that they can do that, that we as parents we just can’t, but I do understand the heartbreak. I am going through it myself and so I just I just want you to know that that’s there are others out there who understand, who are going through the exact same thing and that God is, He’s with us, He’s here and I just, I lift you up. I pray for you, and I pray for your son. Amen.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible, this is Drea from New Mexico and I have 2 prayer requests. One for my son who’s 25 years old and has lost his job, his car and his place of living within a short period of time and bad decisions. And he just needs help getting back online and back in a job. And I’d also like to pray for myself, my bank account has been hacked and someone has been trying to steal thousands of dollars from me. And I’m taking precautions but I’m a single mom and this is very scary. And just need the blood of Jesus. So, if you could pray for that, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

Good morning, Daily Audio Bible, this is Joyous Janice, coming to you on just a few days before Christmas. Yesterday, Brian read from the book of Revelation, that verse that says that God will wipe away every tear. And it brought to mind, two and half years ago when my husband drew his last breath, I was standing next to him, and I knew his time was just about there. And I told him, Jesus is coming for you very soon. And he was unable to speak but he had tears running down his eyes and then he took his last breath. And I know now that God has wiped all those tears from his eyes and he’s in heaven, rejoicing with him. And I just thank the Lord for that hope that we all have, and we will see our loved ones in heaven, and He is going to wipe away even our very tears that we are crying today because we miss them. God bless you and Merry Christmas to all.

Good morning DAB family, this is Saved by Grace in California. I’d just like to lift up in prayer our brother Josh, who’s in hospital in Keiser, in Fresno. Father, in the name of Jesus, I lift my brother up to you. I plea the blood of Jesus over him and I pray for his salvation. I claim this soul for Jesus Christ. I pray Father, for his healing power, Your healing power to touch him Father God, from the very top of his head to the very souls of his feet. Let Your healing power penetrate his body and make him whole. I pray for the doctors and nurses, Lord, that You give them wisdom, guidance and discernment. Father, I pray for all the medication, Father God, that it would do that what is set out to do. And we thank You for this victory over him. We thank You for the healing in his body right now. We thank You in advance, Father God, for that which you are about to do and the testimony and the miracle that is about to occur in his body. Father, that, that You will be glorified, that others will see this, Father God, and come to know You, and trust in You, Father God. We thank You for this victory, Lord, and I pray for my sister who brought this prayer to us, that You remove all anxiety, worry and fear from her. And just give her a heart of just peace and comfort. In this I pray in Jesus name. Amen.  

Haggai 1:1-2:23, Revelation 11:1-19, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 30:15-16

Today is the 20^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire this little oasis in all of the festivities, this little calm serene place for our souls to rest, a safe place, a quiet place to allow the Scriptures to just wash over us and into us together in community. It is fantastic to be in that place with you today as we take the next step forward. And our next step forward….we’ve kind of got a trend going now…is to read another complete book in the Old Testament. This book is called Haggai.

Introduction to the book of Haggai:

Like a lot of the other minor prophets, we don’t know a lot about who Haggai was. We know that he was among those that were able to come back from the Babylonian exile after the destruction of Jerusalem and probably he was one of the first wave of exiles to be able to come back to the ancestral homeland. We know that he had access to the people that were in leadership because the opening verse of the book of Haggai tells us that the message was delivered to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah. And that name Zerubbabel should sound familiar, because we got to know Zerubbabel when we read through the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah. And Haggai’s message was also delivered to Joshua the high priest. And what Haggai’s doing with this message or maybe better said, what God is doing through Haggai through this message is to motivate, to get the people off there behind and off themselves, as it related to the reconstruction of the temple. And, so, Babylon, we went through all of the Babylonian conquest during our journey through the Scriptures this year. So, when Babylon conquered Jerusalem and…and took the people into exile this was about 586 BC. And then Babylon was conquered by the Persian Empire in 539 BC. And, so, the new king, the Persian king Cyrus allowed the exiles to begin to return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel’s leadership around 538 BC. And then comes Haggai 18 years later in 520 BC. And we have good authority from the book of Haggai. Haggai actually dates some things more precisely than anything else in the Bible - August 29^th through December 18^th 520 BC. 18 years later Haggai comes with this message, because during the 18 years the temple was still incomplete. All the kinds of things that we read about in Ezra and Nehemiah were going on. There was political opposition. There was intimidation and the people had begun to rebuild their lives in their homes. And the temple was supposed to be the centerpiece, like the place where God would come and dwell among the people and would be among His people and the exiles are rebuilding their lives without the centerpiece which is not going to lead them in a good direction and God is displeased with that. And, so, Haggai reports that this is why they’ve been working so hard and getting so little, because they’re focused upon themselves and not God. And, so, construction began again on the temple - September 21^st 520 BC. And then on October 17^th of that year, God spoke again, that the people should get to work because God had some specific plans, that being to consolidate the prosperity of other nations and bring that prosperity flooding into the temple, bringing prosperity to the people. Instead, the people had been ignoring the temple and focusing on themselves and netting significantly less for their toil, which is a profoundly valuable lesson for our own lives. What are we focused on? What are we self-absorbed about? How are we ignoring what actually matters? And, so, with that, let’s begin and in its entirety read the two chapters in the book of Haggai.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for yet another day and another step forward. We thank You that these steps may be indicated by years or months or days or weeks but the step forward every day, this is a never-ending thing. We have found ourselves in a relationship with Your word now. It’s a part of our everyday lives. It speaks to us in different ways all of the time and we are grateful for that. We are thankful for what we’ve learned from Haggai today, that if You aren’t in the center, then our toil will be far less fruitful, and we will be far more selfish. And we can find ourselves exhausting ourselves to try to get ahead, when had You been in the center things would’ve flown in our direction. Forgive us. We are guilty, every one of us. Forgive us for losing sight of what we already know. We know this to be true in our lives. And, so, we are grateful yet again for the Scriptures to come washing into our lives, reminding us of what is true and surprising ourselves and how easily we forget what is true and go our own way. And, so, we thank You that the Scriptures are a part of the rhythm that continue to call us back every single day. We love You, Lord. You are the center of our lives. There is nothing more valuable or more important than You in our lives. And, so, lead us on the pathways that we should go, that we can walk together with You, not so that we can get somewhere that’s prosperous, but so that we can go there with You so that being with You is the center of our lives. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you can find out what is going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that, puts it right in the palm of your hand. You can download the Daily Audio Bible app free from whatever app store is connected to your smart device. And, so, just search for Daily Audio Bible and check that out.

This is Christmas week. I cannot believe it. We are here and just kinda navigating through these days, final preparations, all of that. All of the different emotions whipped together that go through the Christmas week. Let’s enjoy this together. Let’s celebrate deeply. Let’s also remember our brothers and sisters, who have to navigate through this season, and it can be a difficult season because of loss. There’s been some loss near to us this year that is…it is just so hard to move through some of that while you’re trying to rejoice at the same time. And, so, we acknowledge that, that that is true in any community. But we are rejoicing as this season of Advent, this season of preparation for the arrival of the Savior, this season where we long and understand that they were longing for a Messiah to come and that we are longing for His return, that all might be made new, may we continue that for through this weekend, rejoice as we celebrate the arrival of the Savior into the world. Something truly worth celebrating from the depths of our soul and the bottoms of our hearts.

I’ve mentioned on a number of occasions there are a number of musical projects that you can a place into your playlists as you move through the Christmas season that are a part of the Global Campfire community here. Family Christmas, the Christmas Time album from Max and looking up Jill’s songs. She’s got a number of Christmas songs out as well. And, so, just check those out and incorporate those into your Christmas listening playlists.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if being around the Global Campfire has been a comfort and has provided a place to hear God’s word and receive direction and clarity from the Lord, if that has been in your story and this has been a life-giving season for you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Good morning DABbers this is Duncan the Piano Man in Fredericksburg TX. I heard the prayer, the unanimous gentleman who…I heard the request by the way of the man who had to commit his…his son to the state for care…autistic son. Let me pray right now. Abba Father, I bring this broken-hearted man to You. I don’t know what it’s like. I can’t imagine but You know what it’s like. Father, I just ask you to watch over him and his family, watch over his son, grant that he’ll get the proper care even though he’s in the…the state will have to do it for now. Just take care of him Lord and in a good way. Shield him with Your protection. And we pray dear God that You’d walk through this with this gentleman and his son. And I thank you Jesus that You will walk through with him. Thank You Lord. Amen. Prayer request for me. It’s been three years since my Sharon passed away, October 2019 and these are the holidays. And so far, I’m fine. I will be with family in South Carolina, my flesh and blood kin between Christmas and new year and I’ll be spending Christmas Day with friends. But I’m asking, let’s pray for each other, those of us who have lost loved ones, especially more recently. God bless you. Blessed the rest of Advent. Blessed Christmas and a better year ahead.

December 15^th. Thank you DAB family. Thank you, Brian. Thank you for bringing me into this world. I love listening every day to everyone. I love listening and growing my relationship with the Lord. I was in an accident on 11/29 and I can’t tell you how many blessings and miracles and lives have been touched. I believe the Lord is using me to get wonderful things done in the people that surround me. I’ve lost my left eye and now have mononucle…mono…monocular vision. It’s unbelievable that I enter my 60s with one eye. I have my life. God spared my life. I’m saying prayers for everyone I listen to on DAB. There are folks going through so much more and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this family. Merry Merry Christmas to everyone. I love you. I love Brian. Thank you so much for this journey that you’ve got us all on, that Lord has us all on. Thank you to a special friend in Illinois that started me on the DAB family four years ago. I’m just grateful and looking forward to 2023. It’s going to be a wonderful year. I can’t think of any particulars right…

Hello this is Laurie from Iowa, and I am calling in from my first time. I’m a first-time reader this year and I’ve made it so far. So, I’m gonna make it through the year and it’s been a blessing. Thank you to my friend who suggested this app for me. I’m calling in for the gentleman who left the message who has an autistic adult child that he had to place into a facility. I know he is heartbroken. I know how hard this is. I have a child that has down syndrome and I kept her at home until she was thirty and had to put her into a condo with two other ladies. So, it was a little bit easier maybe, but I don’t really think so. It was still heartbreaking. She did not wanna go. She wanted to be with me. But I was getting to the point that I knew I needed to get her set up somewhere. I remember crying all the time and her crying all the time and how very sad and hard it was. She is doing much better, and I know it was a good move, but I do know how heartbreaking that is. So, I will definitely be praying for you and for your son that he gets the care that he needs, that the caregivers are patient and kind to him. And I hope things go well. Just keep contact as much as you can, and I know you will as there are things that sometimes they miss that us as parents will know. So, I am thinking of you, and you are in my prayers. Thank you.

Hi, this is my first time calling. I pray for all of you, and I just pray that you will pray for my family. My name is God is with Me. My son is a high schooler. He’s in the 12^th grade and he’s been having a lot of problems mentally that we were not aware of. He recently shared with me over this past summer that he’d been abused by a family member that we never see and that we haven’t seen in years, and we’ve recently seen him, and son had a breakdown and said it was ten years ago. And ever since he’s told me my son has not loved himself. He got in a car accident recently and the car was totaled. He recently went to work and left work and wanted to end his life on a bridge and the work and the police found him and now he’s in mental health. I am so afraid, and I need prayer. Please pray for my family and pray for him to recover from this being traumatized by things we didn’t know happened to him. And people are denying it. I kept trying to do…help him for myself and try to do it on my own but it just was escalating and he said he just can’t take the memory and it bothers him. And Christmas is a time where whatever had happened to him happened and he’s having a hard time and I’m just depressed about it. Please pray for us and pray for my son. Jesus, Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible team. Good morning Daily Audio Bible friends. Goodness. I need coffee I think. Good morning. This is a Girl After God’s heart. I am calling for Susan from Canada. Oh, my sister, my friend, praise God for Keith’s remission. Seriously? This is so cool. You know what? I have been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for over a decade and I always pray when we have serious illnesses. I pray with all of you every time, but whenever we have serious illnesses and people need healing, I’m always praying that the Lord will be glorified and miracles what happened so everybody will have…will see His glory clearly and can praise Him. And here we are. What a miracle and what a brood of beautiful thing. I am praising God today for you and I am jumping up and down with joy for Keith and for you, his momma. So, I’m sure this has just been a very difficult road. And I’m so grateful for this time of season celebration for you. Merry Christmas. Merry, Merry Christmas. Have a good one. Bye.

Zephaniah 1:1-3:20, Revelation 10:1-11, Psalm 138:1-8, Proverbs 30:11-14

Today is the 19th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is fantastic to be here with you today as we move, I guess this really is Christmas week, even though Christmas begins a new week. This is Christmas week, but it’s great to be here with you as we enjoy the Christmas spirit, enjoy all or any of the festivities and focus our hearts on the overwhelming love of God to come for us, as we prepare to celebrate the arrival of the Christ child, the Savior of the world. It’s also great to be together during, I mean we’re all over the world, at least every day, we’re going through this together and enjoying this season together.

Introduction to the Book of Zephaniah:

We’re also here to take the next step forward together and that leaves us to another one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, the ninth of the 12 minor prophets. And we will read it in its entirety today, the book of Zephaniah. And as with a good many other authors in the Scriptures, we don’t know all lot about who Zephaniah was, actually Zephaniah itself begins by giving us all the information that we’re going to get. And that is that Zephaniah received a message from the Lord when Josiah’s son of Amon was king of Judah. And we’re also told Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. And biblical scholars find that genealogy to be interesting, because he traces his genealogy four generations back, as opposed just naming his father, and that may be because Zephaniah was a descendent of the good King Hezekiah, which would explain the material in Zephaniah, his awareness of what was going on around him. And if his lineage does go to King Hezekiah than that would have given him credibility and got his prophetic utterances paid attention to. Zephaniah, the word or the name means God has hidden, and as we just pointed out, we’re told that the message came during the reign of Josiah, which would place him in the early maybe mid 600s BC and that would make him a contemporary with other prophets like Jeremiah. And many scholars believe that Zephaniah out was at least familiar with other writings of other prophets like Isaiah, because there’s a similarity in the language. And another thing we may notice is that Zephaniah is not targeting his prophecies to anything or anyone particularly, it’s the whole world, which includes Judah. And it’s a warning that God’s judgment is immanent, and that the day of the Lord is coming, and that it’s time to repent before it is too late. God will judge evil. And I think we need to remember God is eradicating evil, not people, but if people are unwilling to participate in ridding themselves of evil, then they’ll be swept away in the judgment of evil, whether they live in the kingdom of Judah or no matter where they live. And Zephaniah tells us, those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord. And so, with that, let’s read the three chapters of the book of Zephaniah.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for another day around the Global Campfire and to be able to take another step forward together, in a busy season and a celebration week where we are overwhelmed with Your love for us in your arrival to save us. But even as we are moving through the celebrations, we are also moving step-by-step, day-by-day through the Scriptures. And as we move through these prophets in the Old Testament quickly, we see the arc, we see that You send someone to say that You are about to step in, that things have gotten too far off track, with a warning, a warning to turn in repentance, which brings the hearer to a crossroads. And we think back to when we began our journey, and we were talking about the book of Proverbs and the wisdom and that she is at every crossroads and so we see these crossroads over and over and over in the Scriptures. That there is a way to go, and that there is a way that leads to destruction, and the pathways that we choose are indicated by what, where our loyalties lie, what we are loyal to, what we are trusting in. And we hear over and over the echoes of your voice, saying, trust me, trust in me. I know the way to go, I will show you the right way. And so often we do anything but that. And yet over and over repeatedly, we are being reminded as we move to this territory in the Scriptures of this arc, may we be aware of what we are doing and where we are going. May our loyalty and trust be in You and to You and You alone. We pray in Jesus name. Amen

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here and it’s Christmas week and so that’s where we are. Each of us navigating it’s however we do all the last-minute stuff all kind just it’s a busy week for everybody, a busy week of unbelievable celebration and festivity. It’s a week of great sadness for many people, as well. It’s usually a busy week, no matter what. This is the week though that we’re longing, like this is, we’re about to bring Advent to a close, this season of hoping, of longing for the arrival of Jesus and then we have the benefit of being able to celebrate and have that exhale of relief. The Savior has come, Emmanuelle, God is with us. And so, no matter what’s going on in all the little festivity last-minute things we gotta do, and little chaos is in stresses that can come this week, let’s not lose site of the story. The story that even makes this week important and these days that are coming out that we celebrate, that they even have importance is because of the story of God with us. And so, let’s hold onto that as we continue through this week.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If the mission to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm of showing up every day and taking the next step forward together. If that has been life-giving to you, then thank you, humbly for your partnership, as we approach the end of the year. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

I beloved Christian praying for Zack in Phoenix. All might God, carry Zack by the strength of Your love. Wonderful Counselor, infuse Zack with Your wisdom. Everlasting Father, open Zack to be aware of Your constant abiding presence. Prince of Peace may Your peace that surpasses all understanding, guard Zack in full, in his heart. Restore Zack the joy of Your salvation, that your joy may be in him, that his joy may be complete and that Your joy may be Zack’s strength. Draw Zack ever nearer to Yourself. Be Zack’s solid foundation that cannot be shaken no matter how much everything around him feels like it’s crumbling. Give Zack grace to cling to You, even when darkness seems to be pervading his mind. You alone Lord, can guide Zack full against the enemy’s weapons. So, we place Zack in Your hand, trusting You to intercede on his behalf, and to act according to Your glory. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, we pray this not only for Zack, but for all around the Global Campfire.

Hello DAB, this is Russ from Santa Maria, California. I just had quadruple bypass surgery on Friday. I’m home now from the hospital and recovering well. But I just ask you to pray for pain management and to be able to sleep well at night. Because I need the healing to go well, and sleep is a big part of it. So, thank you.

This is God’s Little Mud Puddle from Maryland, calling about the father who had to put his son in the state institution. Lord Jesus, I thank You. I thank You that You know the pain that the father is feeling. Lord, I just ask that You would guide him in wisdom, that You would fill him with Your love and Your mercy. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace, because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confidence, hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit. That you would trust in the sovereign hand of God is working in not only your life but your son’s life. That You, Lord, would bring alongside his son, a helper that understands and can work with his son and who communicate clearly. Lord, I just thank You that You continue to work in their lives, to bring them into a deeper, more intimate walk with You.

Hey Daily Audio Bible, this is Jessica from California. I’m just calling you and I just got back from the hospital. I’m on my way home from the hospital with my friend Josh. He’s only 39 years old and he’s, he’s having a hard time. He’s already had to get brought, revived two times. He’s a type 1 diabetic and he’s got, he’s not able to walk anymore so he’s got pressure sores. And he’s had a blood infection and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. I’m just praying for a miracle. I believe that God can do a miracle for him. And I just need your guy’s help, please pray for him. Please pray for Josh. He’s here, we’re here in Fresno, California at Keiser Hospital. And I just please pray for the hospital to get the doctors that the right help. Please just, we need a miracle. I don’t know what else to do. I’m just, believing God for a miracle but if I ever had to walk by faith and not by sight, it’s right now. Because it doesn’t look good at all. So, please family, just help pray for him. He doesn’t want to die. He’s only 39, he said he doesn’t want to die. So, anyway, thank you family. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, my name is Winnie. I just wanted to call and say you know, praise God for this podcast. I pray with, along with and for people who are on the community prayer and in the podcast itself. I do want to offer up a prayer. Offer up a prayer request for my nephew. I’m gonna call the family A through D, God knows who they are. But he lost his wife last week and they have three children, 17, 12 and a 11-month-old. And he really, the family really needs prayer. She’s being buried tomorrow which will be the 17th, yes, the 17th. So, they just need prayer for salvation. He needs wisdom and guidance and grace and strength, and he just needs God. He really does, the family is just grieving, and they really could use some prayer. So, I appreciate it. God Bless and keep everyone this upcoming New Year. Thank you.

Habakkuk 1:1-3:19, Revelation 9:1-21, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 30:10

Today is the 18^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around our roaring Global Campfire and get all snuggled up and get warm and find our space and take the next step forward together. It is a brand-new shiny sparkly week, and this is the fourth Sunday in the season of Advent. One week from today is Christmas day. Wow! But here we are and that moving through the season of Advent, where we have allowed our hearts to consider the arrival of the Savior in the world and consider our longing for His return. And, so, Advent we talked about it, like all along the way, has Iike calendars and Advent wreaths with candles in them. And, so, you may be lighting the fourth Advent candle this week at church or maybe you have an Advent wreath at home that you light each Sunday and just focus your heart and remind yourself what’s going on. This is the love candle that we’ll be lighting today, the fourth candle, allowing us to focus this week as we move right to Christmas. Love, the profound, unspeakable, unknowable, and I mean we can’t know God’s love, but His love is vastly beyond what we can comprehend. We focus our hearts of the love that it took, the love that was displayed for us as God became flesh and dwelt among us. And, so, this is where we find ourselves in the season of Advent. And in our journey through the Scriptures this year we have come to yet another book. We will read it in its entirety today. It is the eighth of 12 minor prophets and it is called Habakkuk.

Introduction to the book of Habakkuk:

We don’t know practically anything about who Habakkuk was, maybe…maybe less than any other biblical writer, but we don’t know much about Habakkuk. There are some traditions. There’s a Hebrew tradition…tradition that speaks of Habakkuk being the Shunamite woman’s son, the little boy was resurrected through the prophet Elisha. And we found that story in the book of second Kings. There is another tradition found in the…the apocryphal book, Bell and the Dragon, and that displays Habakkuk ministering to Daniel while he’s in the lion’s den. But these are traditions. When you don’t know anything else you look to the traditions. And, so, these are some of the traditions. Most scholars, especially with the Bell and the Dragon and Habakkuk being with Daniel in the lion’s den believe, you know, that’s how legends are made. But those are some of the traditions around who Habakkuk was. There are many verses in the book of Habakkuk that will sound familiar. There’s one in particular, “but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.” That should sound familiar, because that’s something that the apostle Paul said a lot. And we find this in the book of Hebrews as well because “the righteous will live by faith”, that’s like…it’s like a core Christian doctrine. So, we see where Paul and some of the other writers are referring back to Habakkuk for the language. Because the language is poetic, maybe lyrical, even especially the very very end of Habakkuk seems like it’s a hymn of a song to be sung, there are scholars who have observed this and wonder if Habakkuk might have actually been a temple musician. But again, we don’t know with certainty, but what we’ll see is Habakkuk having a conversation with God that moves from doubt to worship. Habakkuk will begin by saying out loud what is happening in the world and it will sound familiar, and he wants to understand why God is indifferent, like why he seems to allow any evil a human being can come up with and allow it to happen like God wasn’t even paying attention. And God responds that he’s gonna use the Babylonians to punish his own people, which wasn’t like the response he’s looking for and it’s confusing. Like, why would you use a less righteous group of people to be an object of judgment on a more righteous group of people? And God explains that He’s not indifferent, that He’s not unaware, that He is sovereign and that he knows what He’s doing, which leads Habakkuk into worship. And, so, with that we’ll read Habakkuk, which contains three chapters, in its entirety. We’ll read from the Common English Bible this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We love You, Lord. Thank You for Your kindness, Your patience, Your graciousness to us. And on this, the final Sunday in the season of Advent as we are moving directly into Christmas week, we just recognize where we are. And we recognize the busyness all around us and the preparation all around us and the excitement and the goodwill and good cheer all around us. We also recognize how much pulls us away from what this is all about, what we’re even jumping up and down and celebrating over, what we’re giving gifts to commemorate and that is Your arrival, Your arrival to rescue us and we are grateful. And, so, as we contemplate the depths of love that You have extended toward us, even while we were sinners, even while we where Your enemies we are grateful. And may we share Your love out into the world. May it filter through us and pour out of us to those that we come into contact with. May we be known by our love for one another we pray. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, we ask. Amen.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello family it’s Jackie in Vancouver BC and I’m crying because God is great. I listen to all of you and I pray every day and I always tell myself I have faith. Sometimes it’s as little as a mustard seed. And I’ve been struggling with business and the sales have been low and this December month has been low, this November was low, and I was thinking, oh God I need your help. And just today somebody came in and surprised me with a grant of $5000. God really is good, and He answers all our prayers. And, so, these are tears of joy because God is great, and He sees me, and He hears me. And I think He sees you and hears you. And, so, I pray that all of your prayers will come true. And this is a praise. I know I’m crying but this is a praise. I’m praising God for His goodness for his mercy. So, family please praise God with me. And for everything you’re going through I’m joining my faith with yours and praying and thanking God for answering our prayers, for hearing us. And it feels great to feel seen, to feel known, to feel like I’m God’s child. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, the DAB. Thank you all the family that calls every day and the ones that call to pray…

Hi this is Willow tree. I used to be weeping Willow but now I’m more like the tree planted by the water. Being fed by the word of God every day is making me full of joy and I’m very grateful. I’m grateful to the Hardin family too for the music that they’ve blessed us with and I would really encourage you if you haven’t listened to the Rest album by Brian with headphones on to go and do that. It’s amazing how we made the sounds just swirl around you. And it’s just beautiful. It’s kind of like I just close my eyes and listen to it. It’s kind of like I’m on a holodeck. It’s really cool to just be in that place that he’s created for us. And, so, I would encourage you to listen to it with headphones. I love you all and I’m so happy to be a part of this family.

This is a prayer of encouragement I wanted to send out to I believe People on the Water. You called in December 2^nd from Indiana. Bother I just wanted to reflect back to you what I heard because I’m not trying to minimize the anguish that you’re going through and the struggle and how hard it is but what I hear on the other end of the line is not somebody that is not confident because your voice to me sounded very strong in your confidence of not knowing what’s going on and not knowing what you’re doing. And to me at 19 years of age that exhibits real strength to be able to declare into a community of other brothers and sisters to make a public declaration that you have no idea what to do is…takes strength and courage and humility. And I just wanted to…to commend you for that and to give you praise, like to praise you for that because that is a real…that’s a real thing that not a lot of people will admit at this age. So, I just wanted to encourage you to don't…don’t try to rise above your situation, you know, find God in the struggle. I know that’s maybe easier said than done but that’s something that was coming to me to maybe help you look into it a little more and realize that He’s…He’s working where you are exactly for a reason and trust that.

[singing begins] We wish you a Merry Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. [sing continues in French] __. This is Francois from New Jersey. Merry Christmas. Merry Noel __.

Deep dive into the book of Revelation:

Part 5

Okay. So, we read from the ninth chapter of Revelation today. And, so, let’s just remember we started Revelation with this image of Jesus, seven golden lampstands it represented seven churches. Seven letters were written one to each of these churches and then a scroll was revealed that no one could open and it had seven seals on it. And the lamb steps forward, and He is the only one. Jesus is the only one that can open the seals. So, He breaks the seals and what is held by those seals is then revealed. Then we have seven angels before the throne of God who are given trumpets and their each now blowing their trumpets. And we went to the first four trumpets yesterday and the fifth and sixth angels blow their trumpets today. And, so, we begin, “when the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky and the star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.” Okay. So, we have to kind of go back into the different ways that this can be read. So, you can read this literally because we’ve seen a bunch of stuff falling from the sky. And, so, a star falls from the sky and that. And then the star, the rock, the star somehow is given a key and opens up a shaft that’s on earth, but it’s a bottomless pit. So, you can see how like from a literal perspective it would be hard for a star to hold a key and turn a key lock. It would be hard to find something bottomless on earth. Like, if we started digging now, right, if it was even possible to go through the center of the earth and out the other side and that would then end up in space on the other side of the world. It…how could that be bottomless? So, a completely literal reading of the book of Revelation would be…I mean…it would be very challenging. The star falling from the sky has been interpreted a number of ways, mostly dealing with that the star is actually an angel. But then the question becomes, is this a good angel or is this a bad angel? And it’s been noted by scholars that the star falling from the sky imagery usually refers to a judgment of some kind and that there is no other…there is no other reference in the Scriptures to a like a good…a godly angel falling from the sky like a star. That only happens when an angel is judged and cast down. So, for example, in the gospel of Luke, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like a star from the heavens.” So, many commentators, not all, but many commentators would say this has to be the judgment of…of an angel that is being cast down. This may be Satan himself being cast down to do this task because he is under the sovereignty of God or…or one of his minions. So, this entity is given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. It opens the bottomless pit. And of course, the bottomless pit is probably a metaphor for the realm of the judged. And when this pit is opened smoke comes out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace and the smoke darkens the sun and the air. So, there’s a number of interpretations around this. I mean, if…so, if you’re reading literally than its smoke. Like there’s a lot of smoke, enough to darken the sun and the air. So, a serious amount of pollution. If we’re looking a little more allegorically then darkness is usually a metaphor for like a spiritual darkness, a blindness. And, so, this comes pouring out of the bottomless pit and darkens the world. And immediately following the smoke and the darkness locusts come flying out of the bottomless pit out of the smoke onto the earth and…and they’re given power like that of the scorpion. And they’re not allowed to harm nature, like the grass or green plants or the trees. They can only torment the people. And they can only bring this judgment on those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So, obviously from a literal perspective we’re talking about insect-like creatures that look like locusts but have stingers like scorpions and they plague the earth. If you’re looking allegorically, then I mean, when you look at some allegorically you can interpret it however you interpret it, which is why there’s such diversity and interpretations that are everything from, you know, rational to far-fetched, and many in conflict with each other because you don’t know exactly what the symbolism means. But if we’re taking a pragmatic scholarship perspective, trying to draw comparisons with similar visions that happen in other places in the Bible, then these locusts can represent those beings that have been held in the bottomless pit. And a good many scholars would say that that’s associated with the fallen angels, demonic forces that have been held there and they’re loosed upon the earth. But they can’t hurt the earth’s nature and they can’t hurt those who have been sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads. And, so, God allows the trumpet blast to happen. This star, this angel falls and is is it sent down to earth a key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. It’s opened and all kinds of things come spilling out on the earth, things that can’t harm those with God’s seal on their foreheads. But those who don’t they’re definitely receiving judgment. And that judgment will either harden their hearts and lead them toward their ultimate destruction or soften their hearts and they turn to God. And for a lot of scholars this…this whole picture, this whole scene reveals that the judgment that was formerly limited to those demonic forces who are in this pit is now extending all across the earthly realm. Because of Christ’s victory through His death and resurrection judgment has begun, not only in the bottomless pit, but also upon the earth. And that is happening through the darkness coming out of the pit. People are being blind…blinded in the darkness and tormented and oppressed, but this isn’t happening to those who have been sealed by God. And there’s a little bit of a parallel here in Jesus words from the Gospel of Luke. “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall harm you. Your names are recorded in heaven.” So, if this parallel is correct, then those sealed by God have authority over these things that are coming up out of the abyss. They have authority over them, and can be harmed by them which would lead us to believe that this is allegorical. The imagery is symbolic. And then the sixth angel blows his trumpet, and the six angel is instructed to release the four angels were held at the great Euphrates River. Some would say these are like dark ark angels, so like very very powerful demonic forces. Some draw parallels with the four angels that were the four corners of the earth with the four winds, but most translators and commentators say these are evil. They’re being held against their will for a specific time for a specific task and their loosed. And whereas in the fifth trumpet everything coming up out of the abyss wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, wasn’t allowed to harm nature, wasn’t allowed to touch anyone with the seal of God on their forehead and wasn’t allowed to kill anybody, it was just tormenting and oppressing people. Whereas in the sixth trumpet when these four angels are loosed their loosed to kill one third of humanity. And John says that the number of those forces were 20,000×10,000, so that’s 200 million. So. if you’re reading literally then four actual angels have been being held at the great Euphrates River for a time period that we don’t have any way of knowing, but they’ve been held for a specific hour and day and month and year, and they’re released and there’s 200 million soldiers on horses that are loosed to do this task of killing one third of humanity. If we’re looking at this a little more allegorically, let’s remember, if we’re looking at things allegorically then everything can have a meaning. So, if we’re looking at this allegorically, but with a pragmatic view, then powerful dark forces are released. They have been held for an indefinite period of time but held for this time, this time of judgment that we’re reading about. And there’s a vast horde involved, and they unleashed three plagues - fire, smoke and sulfur - and these come out of their mouths. And, so, allegorically what’s coming out of their mouths is bringing darkness, blindness, the inability to see clear. The power of these forces is in their mouths and in their tails. So, like in their words and in their deeds. They are bringing us such spiritual darkness and chaos and torment and depression that the result is death, and this affects 1/3 of the earth’s population. Or if we’re not taking that number literally, a lot of people are affected by this darkness and death that spreads because of this. And then as we end our reading for today with the sixth trumpet there’s kind of an aside, kind of God’s commentary here. “The people who survived these plagues still did not turn to me and changed the way they were thinking and acting. If they had they would’ve stopped worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. They did not turn away from committing murder, practicing witchcraft, sinning sexually, or stealing. So, using the formula that the Bible gives us for judgment, that it can have a refining and perfecting and purifying outcome or it can have a hardening outcome that leads a person who rejects it to their own destruction, we can see that, in spite of all that is going on, there are still those who are…who have…who have not died but who are still rejecting God.

Prayer:

Father…Father, we don’t want any part of that. We don’t want any part of rejecting you. And yet we confess that we have done exactly that in our thoughts, words and deeds by what we’ve done and by what we’ve left undone. And, so, we invite your Holy Spirit to continue to refine and purify us. And we reframe the suffering that we’ve endured in this world. We hate it. We don’t want to go through it. We want you to take it away. These are so much of the content of our prayers. And although we will continue to ask you for your counsel on how to navigate through things that are very difficult and unexpected we choose to also look at what you are doing in these things, that you’ve got us and these things refine and purify us. And truly we want to be pure before you, true before you. We want to be sealed in you for all of eternity. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.