22 Dec (Revelation 12)

Revelation 12

v.1 The Church often misunderstands who this woman is...she is Israel. How do we know that? Let's look further.

~ She has a garland of 12 stars...this is typology of the 12 Tribes of Jacob
~ She is with child...this would be the Messiah...Jesus was a Jew

v.4 Satan's goal from his fall has been to thwart God's plan of redemption for Israel and the world. The dragon (Satan) tries all throughout the Bible to kill the Messiah or the ancestors of the Messiah.

Scholars believe this is a reference to one-third of the angels following Satan, and falling from heaven. In Genesis 6, we see how that ended up!

v.5 Jesus was raptured to the Father after His resurrection Acts 1:10

v.8 God can't abide with sin in heaven, so the fallen angels and Lucifer had to be driven out of heaven.

v.10 Satan means "the Accuser"...he constantly tries to make us feel unworthy of God's love and grace. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep our faith in His Word!

v.11 How do we fight off Satan? We are saved by the blood of Christ, and our witness to others combat the devil's temptations!

v.16 Satan has always tortured and persecuted Israel. With the Holocaust and anti-semitism rampant throughout history and the world, he has cause great pain to Israel. However, God always is watching over His beloved, and will always have a remnant to fulfill his plans!

4 Dec (Jude)

Jude, along with James are the half brothers of Jesus. They both didn't believe that their older brother was the Messiah, until they saw Him again after He was resurrected! That would make anyone believe!

Both served as leaders of the early Church. In fact, James was the leader of the Church in Jerusalem, and even Peter followed James' directives regarding church affairs.

The main purpose of the short, but impactful book, is to warn of the last days where apostasy or falling away is prevalent before the return of Christ.

Jude

(v.1) As I've noted in earlier books, there are three stages of salvation (Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification). Here, Jude shows us three aspects to our salvation:

Called ~ The Father chose us for Himself, and called us to Him John 15:16

Sanctified ~ Because the Son died for us, we are being purified, or sanctified to be like Him while on this earth. John 14:23

Preserved ~ Once we are saved, we are always saved! The Holy Spirit works in our lives and teaches us and guides us! Acts 12:5

(v.6) We go all the way back to Gen 6:4 where the fallen angels, the Nephilim, mated with the daughters of men, and made hybrid offspring. These end up being almost superhuman, and are giants who stand over 9 feet tall...Goliath was one.

The focus of this verse, is that the angels gave up their heavenly powers, and became earth-dwellers and mated with humans. This was against what God made them for, and they are damned to hell with Satan for it.

(v.7) As in Romans 1 we see that God considers homosexuality and other immoralities as sinful acts and lifestyles. Again, God loves the sinner, but hates the sin...we are to do the same. We should pray for those trapped in the destructive lifestyle of homosexuality, and give them love and support.

Remember, Sodom and Gomorrah's sin was the tolerance of vast homosexuality and perversion, which is contrary to the family unit. God wants us to live as families, raising children to know Him and serve Him. Homosexuality, divorce and other sins work against God's institution of marriage.

(v.8) This should hit all of us hard! We all speak ill of our leaders...whether at work or in politics. We are to pray for them, and when given the chance, vote them out if they don't govern according to God's Word.

(v.9) We are to let God take care of evil...we can stand up for good, but we should let God judge the evil doers. The high angels, the Archangels, are the most powerful of them all. We only know of three named Archangels in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer.

As we saw in Colossians 1:15 where Jesus was called the firstborn over all creation, the word used for firstborn is Arche. This word, in Greek, means architect or authority. So the Archangels have authority over all the other angels...just like Christ is the architect of all creation, and has the authority over all of it!

So even Michael, a mighty Archangel, didn't condemn or judge Lucifer...he lets God do that! We should learn from that and realize our limitations, and let God to the heavy lifting!

(v.11) Here are the three DON'TS of the Bible:

The Way of Cain ~ Jealousy and pride caused Cain to murder his own brother Gen 4:3-8

The Way of Baalam ~ Used deceit and the love of money to cause believers to stumble 2 Peter 2:15

The Way of Korah ~ Pride caused the people of Korah to rebel against Moses and Aaron. Num 16:1-3

(v.12) Twice dead is important here...if we accept Christ as our LORD and Savior, we are saved from the second death...spiritual death.

(v.14) This is regarded as the oldest prophecy by man, Enoch predicting the Church coming with Christ to rid the world of evil. Of course, Jesus does all the work, but we get to join Him!

(v.24) Thank you Jesus!!!

25 Aug (Matt 12 & Mark 2-3)

The Gospels: Jesus is Our Sabbath

Matthew 12

(v.6) As we see in John 2:12-21 Jesus is our Sabbath, and when He speaks of the temple being raised in three days, He means His body in the resurrection.

(v.8) The Law was given to convince all mankind, that we are imperfect sinners, and we need a Savior. We would not know how far we fall short of God's holiness, unless we had something to measure it by. Likewise, the Sabbath was consecrated for us to become closer to God. The Jews were instructed to spend that day in worship...getting closer to the Father.

We get closer to the Father, by our faith in His Son. Jesus is the LORD of the Sabbath, for in Him, we worship the Father, and we have peace with the Father. Mark 2:27

(v.12) The Pharisees were so focused on trying to follow the Law, that they forgot what it was for! God did not expect mankind to follow the Law perfectly. In fact, He had James tell us so, and remind us that if we failed at one moment in life on one commandment, we were guilty of all. James 2:10

(v.32) Speaking against the Holy Spirit is the Unpardonable Sin. What this means, is since it's the job of the Spirit to bring souls to the Son, when people reject the Son, they are rejecting the work of the Spirit. The rejection of what God did for us is what seals the fate of the unbeliever...it doesn't matter how "good" a person they were...it's all about Christ in the end.

(v.40) If you look on my study on Jonah a few months back, you'll see that Jonah was a failure at predicting the doom of Nineveh. So why does Jesus call Jonah a prophet? Because Jonah lived the prophesy of Christ, by dying and being brought back to life in three days, and saving souls! Jonah didn't want the people of Nineveh to be saved, but his actions got the same result. The "story" of Jonah is true, for Christ deems it so Himself!

(v.43) Here is an interesting point about this verse...demons seek dry places...why? If we go back to Genesis, the Nephilim were killed in the Flood of Noah, but their souls lived on. This is what we call a demon. They seek embodiment, and since they got in their state from the Flood, it seems understandable that they fear water!

Mar 20 (2 Sam 19-21)

2nd Samuel 19

(v.12) David doesn't hurry back and assume the throne...he wants the people to be in agreement that he is king, and invite him back. This is a typology of Jesus as well...He came the first time and wasn't received or welcome (John 1:11) but they will call out to Him and beg for Jesus to return again (Hos 5:15).

(v.23) Here is some more typology...David shows mercy on the man who insulted him and threw rocks at him. This is like when Jesus asked the Father to forgive his persecutors on the cross (Luke 23:34).

(v.28) I like to use this event to teach my kids, that we have been blessed beyond measure and what we really deserve. The one fact that Jesus died on the cross for us, is all that we really need in this life, since it gives us admission into the next life with God. Any other blessings we get in this life are extra. If we have a heart of gratitude, we will live more joyful and complete lives.

2nd Samuel 20

For clarity, I teach my kids that when the Bible says the men of Israel, they are speaking of the people who sided with Absalom, and the men of Judah were in the South, who sided with David. This will also become a factor in the times after Solomon.

The men of Israel (Absalom) didn't know their Scriptures, since if they did, they would've known that God would have the tribe of Judah be the kingly tribe (Gen 49), like the tribe of Levi would be the priestly tribe. This is what happens when we let our pride and greed get in the way of common sense and facts.

(v.22) The wise woman at Abel is a little graphic for some of our younger kids, but she does teach us to focus on the important things. Her wisdom was, why destroy the whole city that has many righteous people over just one man? Joab agreed, and when Sheba's head was delivered, Joab and his men departed, sparing the city.

I read to my kids the account of Abraham talking with God in Gen 18 where God says He will not destroy all in Sodom in order to bring justice to the evil few.

2nd Samuel 21

David had to make things right with the LORD before God would bless the land. This is so true for us today. America was established as a Christian nation, requiring that God-fearing people rule. We have strayed from that, and God's blessings have diminished. I read 2 Chr 7:14 to remind myself and my kids, that we need to make sure we are following God, then we can attempt to change the nation.

(v.20) We see the giants again here, the offspring of the union between the fallen angels (Nephilim) and women. The results of this union are evident by their stature (almost 10 feet tall) and that they have six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. This is a genetic mutation from this union of angel and mankind.

(v.22) I ask my kids again, why they think David gathered five stones just before he went against Golaith. We see that Goliath had four brothers...David was going to kill all five giants that day, but the four brothers ran off like the rest of the enemy.

Mar 9 (1 Sam 27-28)

1st Samuel 27

(v.1) David has been such a man of faith, and he so many times talked with God, but here he has not consulted God, and let his flesh take control. If he had remembered that God is on his side, he wouldn't have said to himself that he would die at the hand of Saul.

We all do this...we talk ourselves into and out of things. The power of rationalization is great...we can justify bad deeds or words, and we can convince ourselves that we know what is best for us. But sooner than we think, God shows us every time, that He knows what's best for us. If we just start every day walking with Him, and continue the day in prayer, we would be much better off!

(v.7) David figured that in order to have Saul's pursuit of him to end, he would encamp in the enemy's territory. This worked, but we'll see that David had to endure a whole new set of problems because of it.

This is important for our kids (and us parents) to remember...as long as we have breath, we will have trials and problems in life. Sometimes they are little, and other times, they are big problems. I teach my kids this scenario, in order that they may glean something practical in their lives from David:

When we are born again, we are new creatures in Christ. We have new power and vigor, but this doesn't mean we will never have problems, doubts, stumbles or issues the rest of our lives. In fact, because Satan doesn't want us to be effective ambassadors of Christ, he will tempt us to make us fall away from Christ and be stagnant and ineffective Christians.

So if we let our trials and persecutions in Christ drag us down, we have let the enemy win. We think if we don't speak out for Christ, and if we don't let others know the hope that is in us, we will avoid conflicts...we may just blend into the world. But soon we will find that we're more miserable away from Christ in the world, than living for Christ with persecution! (Jam 1:2-3)

(v.11) So now that David has avoided his persecution from Saul with God on his side, he has become a common thief, a liar and murderer. He has absorbed the pitfalls of this world by trying to avoid serving God! This is common with believers who fall away from God...they end up worse than when they were unsaved! The only thing that will make backsliders happy again, is to repent and return to Christ.

1st Samuel 28

(v.6) Saul was blind without God. Samuel was dead, and the LORD wouldn't speak to Saul because of Saul's unbelief.

(v.14) Because Saul was not walking with God, he sought a medium (a witch) to speak to the dead. When Saul saw Samuel, he bowed down to him. Not only was it wrong to seek Satanic mediums to speak to the dead, but it's worse to bow down to mortal men. Only God is worthy to bow down to. (Phil 2:10)

(v.19) Depending upon the ages of your kids, you may want to approach this part with discretion. It seems that Samuel's spirit is appearing to Saul. We often hear of ghosts, and perhaps this is a biblical example of a ghost.

I teach my kids, that our bodies are mortal, but our spirits are immortal. We will live forever, but our faith and choices determine WHERE we will live in eternity. Before Christ came to conquer sin and death, all the people who lived before then, went to Sheol when they died. Sheol was the Hebrew, and Hades was the Greek name for the spirit world in the Old Testament. If we read Luke 16:19-31, we see that there were two parts to this spirit world...one for believers in God, and another part for the unbelievers. The believers went to Abraham's Bosom, since Abraham is known as the "Father of the Faithful."

This is why Samuel said that Saul would be with him in the spirit world the next day. I suspect that Samuel is in Abraham's Bosom, and Saul will be in the other place that Jesus spoke about, in eternal torment. After Christ died on the cross, he freed the believers from Abraham's Bosom and took them to heaven, leaving the others in Sheol to wait for their eternal judgment.

So getting back to the issue of ghosts...If we remember the Nephilim and the giants (Gen 6), and the reason for the flood, then the spirits of these Nephilim and giants were killed in the Flood, but their spirits lived on. This is what scholars believe are demons...evil spirits that died in body, but their spirits are evil. So, I recommend that we pray and seek His wisdom when we discuss these things with our kids, since they can be a little scary and freaky to them...it is to me as well! But...it is biblical and the truth, so I don't keep that from my kids.

Feb 28 (1 Sam 17)

1st Samuel 17

The Philistine army is on one hill, and the Israeli army is on the opposite hill. Goliath comes down to the valley between them, and taunts the men of Saul's army, and they hide in fear. It's no wonder...remember, a cubit is about 18 inches (measured from your elbow to the tip of your fingers). If Goliath was over six cubits, then he was at least 10 feet tall! And we know Goliath wasn't a skinny guy...the armor, helmet and spear he carried were very heavy...his strength must have exceeded at least three men!

So here is this young shepherd boy, who was only supposed to play the harp for the king to have his "bad spirits" go away. As we've already seen, God uses the weakest and least likely people to do great things! I stress this with my kids, since everyone has talents and limitations. But with God, we are strong!

All the books of the Bible relate to each other, and tell the same story...God's glory and plan of redemption for all of us! If we recall in Genesis 6:4, there were mysterious giants who were "mighty men of renown" and of great strength. There are different opinions as to what these giants were (descendants of Seth, or hybrid offspring of the Nephilim). I think the latter makes more sense, since we see in 1 Chr 20:6-8 that these giants were not only huge, but they had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. This is a good example of what an abnormal union between angel and man would do.

(v.29) We as Christians and ambassadors of Christ, we are to be loving and kind. But God does call us to defend His name and especially His Word. Here, David is outraged that this Goliath is taunting and blaspheming the LORD, and no one will do anything about it! He utters a classic question:

"Is there not a cause?"

David knows that evil will win if good people don't stand up to them. He is given Saul's armor and sword, but they don't fit him. This is equivalent to the gifts of the Spirit...we all have our talents from the LORD, and if we try to do things that He hasn't gifted us with, we aren't successful. David knew this, and he went with what he was good at...the slingshot. As a shepherd, he used it to ward off wolves, lions and bears.

So with faith that God will have him slay Goliath, he goes to the river and gets five smooth stones for his slingshot. Why five stones? Why not just one, or ten? We don't know for sure, but 2 Sam 21:20 and 1 Chr 20:6-8 tell us that Goliath had four brothers! Perhaps David was determined to kill all five giants that day!

This is a lesson to us all...we can face our "giants" in life with God on our side!

Feb 27 (1 Sam 15-16)

1st Samuel 15

This is an important chapter for many reasons. First of all, God directed Saul to kill every man, woman, child and all livestock of the Amalekites because they fought against Moses and God's people when they were leaving Egypt (Deut 25:17-19).

Also, they had remnants of the giants with them, and God wanted those satanic hybrids to be destroyed. This is the main reason for killing all the people, instead of just the men. There was an evil culture in those people, both in their blood, and in their customs. They were pagan and satanic, and God didn't want them to influence His people away from Him. My kids ask, "Couldn't God control that?" I tell them He would've, but He did give us free will, so in order for the Jews to truly follow Him, they needed to obey and strive to be holy.

God has His reasons and purposes, and if we look into this, we catch a glimpse of why God wanted Agag and his people destroyed. We will see later, that the Amalekites took credit for the death of Saul, and during the time of Esther, Haman was a descendant of Agag. Haman killed many Jews and wanted to kill all of them.

(v.11) Much like in Gen 6:6, God was saddened by His people. He so wanted them (and wants us now) to love and follow Him. Samuel was sad as well, and we see here that Samuel actually loved Saul.

(v.13) Saul digs his own grave by building a monument for himself, and telling Samuel that the reason he got the livestock, was to offer to God!

(vv.15,21) I take notice with my kids that Saul, when speaking to Samuel, referred to God as Samuel's God...not "our God." This is quite telling of Saul's spirit. He went along with things, but he truly didn't believe in God. We can all think of friends and family who are like Saul. They may go to church, but there is no intimacy with God and passion that comes from one who is born-again.

(v.22) This is very telling to all of us...God wants us to live for Him by His commandments, than rather live a worldly life and go through the confessions and rituals without repentance. God forgives if we repent...He doesn't forgive before we repent.

This is another opportunity to teach my kids the meaning of repentance. It doesn't mean that you feel bad, and ask for forgiveness. It is a literal turning your back on your worldly actions of the past, and facing God again. Repentance is returning to God.

If there is a lifestyle or sin that keeps us stumbling, then we just can't feel bad and do it again thinking that God will forgive. He will forgive, but only if we change and turn away from that sinful lifestyle or deed.

I remind my kids that we all stumble back into our old ways now and again, but it will happen less frequently, and will not control us if we have His Spirit in us.

(v.33) This is how bad it got...a priest, Samuel, had to do the job king Saul should have done. Samuel shows an example of righteous anger here, and obeys God.

1st Samuel 16

(v.1) Samuel mourned for Saul, but God tells him that He has a true king to rule over His people. Jesse is a grandson of Boaz, and a descendant of Judah. As Jacob prophesied in Gen 49:10, the kings shall rule from the tribe of Judah. Jesus is to be in this line of kings.

(v.4) Along with Micah 5:2, we see that Bethlehem is the little town that would produce two kings...the first David, and then the King of Kings, Jesus!

Once again, God uses the little things and little people for big purposes! The firstborn status was given to the youngest of the sons, David. Like Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses...God uses the least likely sons to do great things.

I love how both Moses and David were shepherds...they both are types of Christ...our Great Shepherd.

(v.14) Here we see that God's Spirit left Saul...what a tragic thing to read! In the OT, God had not sent His Spirit to indwell amongst believers, but to come upon them. His Spirit was done with Saul, and never again came upon him...how sad and tragic.

(v.21) David knew that God was going to make him king, but he still showed respect and love for Saul...the current king. This is a great example to us today...we may have a boss, a politician or some other authority that we don't like, but we are still to respect and obey all that God puts into authority.

Feb 13 (Jud 1-3)

Judges 1

The book of Judges covers the time between the death of Joshua, to the beginning of the kingly reign of the tribe of Judah. This spans around 450 years.

In this chapter, I point out to my kids that they didn't drive out all of the inhabitants. This would come back to haunt them.

(v.20) However, we see that the giants, the sons of Anak (Anakim) were driven out of the land. But they weren't eliminated...that will come back later.

Judges 2

The Angel of the Lord appears...this is another theophany...Jesus in the OT. Again, we know that this is not an angel, since He says that the Jews have not obeyed His voice, and He will allow the enemies they didn't eliminate, to torment them. This is going on to this very day.

(v.10) It only takes one generation to abandon all that was worked for and accomplished. The next generation after Joshua and his peers, didn't listen to what the Lord had done, and they went along by their own wisdom.

I point out to my kids, that we see this in America today. This country was established as a Christian nation. But over time, the parents failed to teach this, and now, we can barely recognize God in anything our government does. Even our culture and personal lives have excluded God. If we don't repent, we will have the same kind of troubles Israel did here.

(v.11) As God warned them not to do, they took on the pagan practices of worship. These are Satanic figures, and much of the world religions mirror what was done here. Jesus said that He is the only way to heaven (John 14:6), so all the other "faiths" are Satan's way of putting leaven into the loaf, to have uninformed people worship other things than God.

Judges 3

(v.1) Throughout the Bible, we see that God disciplines and tests His people by their enemies.

(v.9) Often we hear that the God of the OT is mean. Yet, here we are only one generation removed from Joshua, and they are acting like God was never with them! God was angry, and He let their enemies enslave them. However, God is merciful, and when He heard their cries, He provided for them a deliverer. First, Othniel, then Ehud and Shamgar. All did incredible things and showed the people that God was behind their actions, but they still slipped back into paganism each time their deliverer died.

Feb 11 (Jos 9-16)

Joshua 9

The news of God's work with Israel has spread throughout the whole continent. Tribes of people are very afraid of Israel and their God...as they should be!

(v.14) Joshua and the Israelites made a treaty with these foreign people, and did so without praying and seeking God's wisdom...big mistake. In the 1800's, Joseph Scriven wrote:

"Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."

Joshua 10

A confederation of kings try to strike Israel, and God hands them over to Joshua. As a final note, God does in all the survivors with hailstones from heaven...they didn't have a chance! We need to remember this:

For if God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Joshua 11

(v.22) Joshua destroys all the enemies in the area God gave Israel...but Joshua didn't destroy all the Anakim (giants) in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. Isn't it interesting, that these three places are the hotspots of trouble today for Israel...Gaza, West Bank and the Golan Heights? Joshua left these places in Satan's control, and he has used the people there to torment and persecute Israel ever since.

Joshua 12

This is a record of the kings defeated by Moses and Joshua. Not only is it there for historical importance, but also to show us that with God on our side, we can accomplish much.

Joshua 13

God instructs Joshua to divide the conquered land amongst the tribes.

Joshua 14

Caleb is 85 years old, and he wants to finish the job that God sent him out to do! Caleb is a warrior, and a man of great faith!

Joshua 15

The tribe of Judah is focused on here, and we see that Caleb didn't exterminate all the Anakim, but he did drive them off. Centuries later, the Jews are still battling these areas where the Anakim were allowed to live.

Joshua 16

The land of Ephraim is settled.

Feb 8 (Lev 11-15; Deut 1-12)

Deuteronomy 1

This is a review of the 12 men who spied out the land of Canaan. There they saw the ancestors of Goliath, called the Anakim there. These were the giants who were described in Genesis 6.

One thing to note...when a word has the "im" ending to it, that means the plural of the noun. For instance in Hebrew, a cherub is a high angel, and a group of them are called cherubim.

Deuteronomy 2

(v.10) The Anakim are mentioned again, as well as in (v.20)

(vv.26-37) Here we have a tough part of the Bible where God orders the Jews to kill every man, woman and child of a tribe. God ordered this because they were families who had giants amongst them, and their DNA was corrupted by Satan.

Deuteronomy 3

(v.11) We see that the king of Bashan was spared, and his bed was nearly 8 feet wide and almost 18 feet long! These were big and scary men, who had supernatural power, and were against God's people...God had to deal with them.

Deuteronomy 4

Moses reminds the people of God's commands and warns of idolatry.

Deuteronomy 5

Moses reminds the people of the Law that God gave them...the 10 Commandments.

Deuteronomy 6

(v.4) This is what is know as the Sh'ma or Shema, since the first word is "hear" and that's what Sh'ma means.

The word for God used here is Elohim, which is a singular noun in the plural tense...indicating the Holy Trinity!

Also, the Hebrew word for "one" is echad, which also indicates a compound unity...the Trinity!

(v.7) This verse is one of the reasons I created this blog...God commands His believers to teach their children about God. We need to do this daily, and in all things. I often point out the presence of God in the weather, in the complexity of our bodies, in nature and its animals. Doing one prayer at night as our "God time" with our kids is not enough...we need to stay consistent and have them know that God is real, and He loves them, by using the things around us to prove that point!

Deuteronomy 7

The Jews are called "God's Chosen People" and we must teach our kids to love and respect the Jews. God did not choose them because they were more righteous and good than all on earth, in fact, in some ways, they were worse than the pagans! God chose the tiny nation of Israel to reveal Himself to the world. If He did it with Rome, then people would fear Rome because of its immense size and power. But tiny Israel has grown mighty, and the only explanation is that God was with them!

Deuteronomy 8

God reminds the Jews that He provided for them for 40 years! They didn't go without food or drink, and amazingly, their sandals never wore out! I remind my kids that they wear out their sandals twice a year, and they aren't traveling many miles for 40 years like the Jews did!

Deuteronomy 9

God reminds the Jews that they failed 40 years earlier, because they feared the giants more than they feared Him. Now, God is reassuring them that He is with them, and they will conquer these giants, and dwell in the land that God gave them!

I take this time to discuss "giants" that we face in this life with my kids:

~finances
~peer pressure
~sickness
~pride

We usually go through a big list, and it changes according to what's happening in their lives at the time. But no matter what makes us fearful, we need to remember that God is with us and we are His. I quote this to make the point:

"What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? ~ Rom 8:31

Deuteronomy 10

God reminds the people that He loves them and gave them the Law to show them that they need God to provide for them. As the Apostle Paul writes in Hebrews 7:7, that he wouldn't have known he was a sinner unless he knew the Law.

Deuteronomy 11

I often hear that the Old Testament God is harsh, and the New Testament God is merciful. This just reveals to me that they don't know the God of the OT...He is loving and merciful, and He reminds us to do the same just as Jesus did in the NT. This is the same loving God in both Covenants!!!

Deuteronomy 12

God tells the people that one day, there will be a special place that is permanent (Temple) that will be much like the Tabernacle.

Also, God reminds the people to stay away from the pagan practices...it leads to idolatry and adultery.

(v.32) The last verse of this chapter reminds us what the Church has been fighting for centuries...the addition and subtraction to God's Word

Feb 3 (Num 13-16)

Numbers 13

The Jews are at the doorstep to the Promised Land. God has Moses send out some men from the group to scope out the land. I believe God was testing the people, and knew that a majority of them would not have faith. Ten of the twelve were afraid and didn't want to go to the land that God promised them. Their lack of faith was the whole nation of Israel's doom.

(v.33) Here we see the mention of the giants, the sons of Anak. These were the relatives of Goliath and descendants of the Nephilim...the fallen angels (Gen 6). These were men that stood from nine to ten feet in height. At first glance, it's understandable that these men were afraid of these giants, but it's also quite apparent that they didn't remember that God was on their side!

Only Caleb and Joshua were enthusiastic about taking the land, and they and their families were blessed because of it.

Numbers 14

This is a sad part of the nation of Israel...they have witnessed many miracles and direct acts of their God, yet they still complain and fear man more than their Creator and Savior! We all can learn from this. We are all miracles, and when we forget to rely upon God with our careers, our kids, our finances, we are doing the same thing as these disobedient Jews did.

Caleb and Joshua are the only adults that live to see and enter the Promised Land...notice that Moses is not mentioned. God knew that Moses would fail Him at the Rock, and did not include him in the prophesy.

The defiance of the Israelites is capsuled in their insistence of going into the land on their own...without God. I point out to my kids that we risk that same attitude daily, when we think we can handle certain problems on our own. The more we include God in all aspects of our lives, the more we'll be blessed and give Him the glory!

Numbers 15

My kids and I discuss the state of the people here...they are lost. Not only are they in the Wilderness, but they are without God's guidance. This is the last place anyone should be!

Mankind is not lost because they haven't heard the Gospel of Jesus...we are lost because we are sinners, and unable to be redeemed to God on our own. Therefore, those who don't know they're lost, are in a less treacherous state. It's those of us who have heard the Gospel, and CHOOSE to disregard it, that are doomed to eternal torment. Those that hear the Good News and reject it, are spitting in the eye of God.

Numbers 16

Just as when Aaron and Miriam let jealousy drive them to rebellion, the whole congregation does the same with Moses here. Pride is the root of all our sins.

Two things I point out to my kids here are:

~ Not all of Korah's descendants perished. We see the sons of Korah write a great number of Psalms that are beautiful and humble. Perhaps this is a result a valuable lesson learned from the errors of their ancestors.

~ God gives a great warning to us that mirrors the plight of the Israelites in the Wilderness, in 2 Peter 2:10-22. When we don't do what it says in Prov 3:5-6, we rely on man's understanding, and not the will of God.

Jan 5 (Genesis 14-16)

Genesis 14

(v.5) This chapter starts out with some seemingly innocuous names, but I wish to note the name Rephaim. This word in Hebrew means "the living dead" which is pretty creepy. Many Bible scholars believe that the Rephaim are the souls of the Nephilim that died in the flood. Everyone's spirit lives forever, so the spirits of these hybrids are believed to be what we today call demons. There are many views as to the existence and nature of demons, but the Bible validates the existence of demons in both the Old and New Testaments. So the Rephaim are demons that possess a person's body who worships Satan. This is not easy stuff to talk about with your kids, so use your best judgement since you know your kids best.

(v.13) This verse gives the first mention of the term Hebrew. When you look up this term in a great resource, The Blue Letter Bible (see link below), you will see that it was commonly referring to Abram as a stranger to an area, and one who "crossed over" the Euphrates River. I like to point out that all of us believers in Christ are Hebrews as well...we are foreigners to this earth, since our real home is in heaven with our Lord!!!

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?type=getTopic&topic=Hebrew&entry.x=53&entry.y=11

(vv.18-20) Here is a fascinating part to the life of Abram...he meets this mysterious person named Melchizedek. There is no record of a birth or death of this man, and he is not only the king of Salem (which means "Peace" in Hebrew), but he's also a priest! Melchizedek in Hebrew means "King of Righteousness." This is unusual for a man to be BOTH a king and a priest...even when God gave Moses the Law, He had the Levites be priests, and the kingship went through the tribe of Judah...never a combination of the two. Coincidentally, Jesus promises to us believers in Him, that we will be glorified in heaven and be kings and priests who will reign with Him (Rev 1:6, 5:10).

So who is this Melchizedek?

Well, he issues communion by giving bread and wine, and he accepts a tithe from Abram...does this sound familiar? The King of Righteousness and the King of Peace titles are only given to Jesus in the New Testament and is foretold in Psalm 85:10.

Many Bible scholars believe that this man, Melchizedek, is actually Jesus in Old Testament times! This is often called a theophany or Christophany, where Jesus appeared to people before His birth in Bethlehem many centuries later!

For further study on this, please note:

~ Psalm 110:4

~ John 8:56

~ Hebrews 7:1-10

Genesis 15

(v.2) Please note the servant of Abram, who's name is Eliezer. The name, Eliezer, in Hebrew means "helper, servant or comforter." These traits are also names for the Holy Spirit! As we shall see in Genesis 24, this "servant" is sent out by the Father (Abraham) to search for a bride for His firstborn Son (Isaac). If we complete the typology, then the Bride is the Church...you and me!

(v.6) This is a key verse in our walk with God...Abram believed in the Lord, and God accounted it to Abram for righteousness. This shows us, early in the Old Testament, that faith is what God focused on, not works. Abram wasn't accounted righteous in God's eyes because his works showed his faith, but it was Abram's faith that impelled him to obey and show he believed.

It might be fun to talk more with your kids here, to show them how much faith Abram was showing at this time in his life. After all, Abram was very old, had no sons, and only had one servant with whom he could pass on his estate to. But Abram believed that God would do what He said He would do, and we can all take a lesson and some comfort in knowing that God will follow through on His promises to us as well.

(v.14) Here, God is showing a prophecy to Abram...that his descendants will be taken out of a nation that will receive God's wrath and judgement...Egypt (Exodus 6:6, 12:36).

(v.18) Abraham and the Jews were given this area of land by the Creator of the universe! Who are we to try to meddle with Isreael's land? What is now modern-day Israel is only a fraction of what God allotted for them.

Genesis 16

(v.1) In Biblical times (and sometimes even today), a wife feels less than whole if she would like to have children, but can't. No doubt, Sarai knew what God promised Abram, but at least five years had passed, and she hadn't bore a child. This is where we all make mistakes...we try to "help God out" by taking matters into our own hands. Both Abram and Sarai lost their faith in what God said, and they devised a way to go around the problem.

(v.7) This is the first time the term, Angel of the Lord, appears in the Old Testament. There are many other references of the Angel of the Lord, and many Bible scholars believe that this is a reference to Jesus Christ...a theophany or Christophany!

(v.12) God would bless Ishmael, but God did prophesy that Ishmael's descendants would fight and live close to each other. We see this as true with the history of Muslims and all the peoples surrounding Israel over the centuries (often called Arabs).

(v.13) Hagar reveals to us who was speaking with her...it was Jesus Himself! She said she saw and spoke with God, and according to many accounts in the Bible, if one saw the Father, they would instantly die, so it must be Jesus as a theophany!

Jan 3 (Genesis 6-11)

Genesis 6

In this chapter, we see the reason for the Flood of Noah. We need to teach our kids that Satan is real, and since the Garden, when he tricked Adam and Eve, he knew that God would provide a Redeemer for mankind. In this chapter, we see that Satan's fallen angels (the Nephilim) which means "Fallen Ones" mated with the daughters of men. This created an abnormal offspring, which were big and powerful. If you think your kids are old enough to look into this further, show them the following passages to support this:

~1 Sam 17:40
~2 Sam 21:22
~Num 13:33

Wild Bill Hickock wrote that it was legend among the tribes, that they feared these giants. They told Wild Bill about how these giants could run as fast as horses and buffalo and tear their limbs off with ease. This is also why in the movies, we would see an Indian greet a stranger by raising one hand up, and saying "How." It was told to Wild Bill that they did this to count the fingers on the stranger's hand...to make sure they weren't one of the Nephilim!

Continuing on, we see that Noah walked with God, and his family wasn't tainted by this genetic defect from the Nephilim. This is why God chose Noah and his family to replenish the earth after the flood.

In v. 13 and after, we see that God gave Noah direct measurements to house all the "kinds" of animals on the ark. Some skeptics claim that God couldn't have housed all the animals on earth...well...He didn't need to. God told Noah to take male and female of every "kind"...this means that Noah didn't have to take all the breeds of dogs, just one set, and they would replenish the earth. The dogs with short hair survived and thrived in the hotter climates, and the ones with shaggy fur did better in the colder climates...God didn't need to save all of them because those dogs in the ark had all the DNA traits in them to make more breeds for the future!

NOTE: To give your kids an idea of how big the ark was, tell them that a "cubit" was measured by the length from the fingertips to a person's elbow. Of course, not everyone is the same, but in general, a cubit would be around 18 inches in length.

If we take this standard, then the ark would have been over 97,000 square feet, and would hold over 520 train boxcars!!! God provided plenty of room (See picture above to see size comparisons).

Genesis 7

There are a lot of neat things here too...I will list some that I think are key for our kids to understand the reason and results of the flood:

~two of every kind, but seven of every clean kind of animal (for food and sacrifices)

~God said, "Come into the ark" ...not "Go into the ark" - God was inside with them! This is a type of the Holy Spirit, when we accept Christ and allow Him to be our LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells inside us, and He keeps us from damnation and spiritual death.

~rain for 40 days and nights (see Matthew 4) Numbers represent things in the Bible...40 means testing or judgement

~I describe the flood to my kids, but showing them that the earth had a water canopy in the sky, and great amounts of water in the earth's core. When God released both, an incredible amount of water rushed upon the earth and flooded everything quickly.

(v.19) shows us that the WHOLE EARTH was flooded, even above all the highest hills! This was not a local or regionalized flood, it covered the whole globe! This explains the Grand Canyon's deep gorges...when the water receded, the rush carved out great canyons in a short time.

(v.16) shows us that God was in the ark with Noah and his family...God shut them in the ark...He didn't close it from the outside, he closed it from inside! How truly comforting that is when we face our own storms of life...He is there with us!

NOTE: Every kid wants to know if God put dinosaurs on the ark. The Bible doesn't explicitly list them, but it doesn't for any particular "kind" so we can't know for sure. What I do tell my kids, however, is that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible (Job 40:15-19). Noah didn't have to put adult T-Rex dinosaurs into the ark, all he had to do was put babies or even dinosaur eggs, and the "kind" would survive the flood!!!

I also explain why they died off...as we read in Genesis 1, there was a water canopy in the sky, which insulated the earth from UV rays, and enabled the earth to have much higher amounts of oxygen in the air. We also know that the whole earth was tropical, since even today's ice regions, mammoths have been found frozen with tropical vegetation in their mouths!

From archaeology, we know that even the biggest dinosaurs only had nostrils the same size as a modern-day horse. Before the flood, with the rich oxygen-filled air, and the water canopy protecting the earth from extreme UV rays, the dinosaurs didn't have to inhale hard to get enough oxygen into their huge lungs. But after the flood, all that changed. They had to do many big breaths just to get the equivalent oxygen as one previous breath. This is why many scientists and Bible scholars feel that the big dinosaurs couldn't have survived too long after the flood...only the smaller ones who didn't have such huge lungs would survive...like the crocodiles and alligators, for example.

There is much more that we talk about, but I suggest you look at these sites for more valuable info:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

http://www.drdino.com/

Genesis 8

(v.4) Why did God bother to tell us the month and day of the week for when the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat? Well, if we do our homework, we see that Jesus rose from the grave on the very same day, all those years later! In each case, God provided a "New Beginning" on that day!

Note: The correct wording here is "mountains of Ararat" not Mount Ararat. This is why, many Bible scholars believe that the ark of Noah is really in the high mountains of Iran...not in Turkey like tradition has it. I recommend this website if you wish to look into this further:

http://www.baseinstitute.org/

NOTE: My kids asked me how the whole earth was populated after the flood. I told them, that after the flood, much of the earth was exposed, allowing for people to travel to all the ends of the earth. Then, when God raised the mountains, and lowered the valleys, the waters rushed and created many of the beautiful landscapes we see all over the globe. By then, the earth had people on all the newly established continents, and they procreated from there. For further study on this, please see a great website by Ken Ham called Answers in Genesis

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Genesis 9

(v.3) We see here that this is the first time that God has allowed mankind to eat animal flesh. Up until now, man only ate vegetables and breads. I love my steak and burgers, but we can see that man lived longer if he only ate fruit and vegetables...food for thought as they say!

(v.6) God here ordains capital punishment, or the death penalty, if someone willingly sheds innocent blood.

The rest of the chapter, God tells Noah that He will never again destroy the earth by water, and He gives as a sign a rainbow. Not only are rainbows pretty, but it's also nice for us to remember that God is in control and keeping to His promises to us! However, when we get to Revelation, we see that God will destroy the earth by fire, instead of with water.

Genesis 10

This chapter can be, admittedly, fairly boring to us, with all the names listed. However, if we step back and look at it, God is providing proof that these people lived, and His plan of redemption for us started with Noah, all the way to Christ!!!

(v.24) Here we see when the earth had a major shift, and the great oceans were formed as I mentioned a few chapters ago. Peleg means "divided"

Genesis 11

(v.3) We see that man decided to reach up to Him and give themselves a lofty stature. The Tower of Babel is the epitome of man trying to reach God, and it's the birthplace of idolatry and where Satan's throne is. We will never learn unless we accept Jesus, and let Him come to us!

(v.5) Notice that the Lord came "down" to earth

(v.7) Another reference to the Holy Trinity..."Come, let Us go down and confuse their language."