Jesus
Speaks about His Death
John 12 27"Now
my heart is troubled--and what shall I say? Shall I say,
'Father, do not let this hour come upon me'? But that is
why I came--so that I might go through this hour of
suffering. 28Father, bring glory to your
name!"
Then
a voice spoke from heaven, "I have brought glory to
it, and I will do so again."
29The
crowd standing there heard the voice, and some of them
said it was thunder, while others said, "An angel
spoke to him!"
30But
Jesus said to them, "It was not for my sake that
this voice spoke, but for yours. 31Now is the
time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this
world will be overthrown. 32When I am lifted
up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me." ( 33In
saying this he indicated the kind of death he was going
to suffer.)
34The
crowd answered, "Our Law tells us that the Messiah
will live forever. How, then, can you say that the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"
35Jesus
answered, "The light will be among you a little
longer. Continue on your way while you have the light, so
that the darkness will not come upon you; for the one who
walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36Believe
in the light, then, while you have it, so that you will
be the people of the light."
The Unbelief of the
People
After
Jesus said this, he went off and hid himself from them. 37Even
though he had performed all these miracles in their
presence, they did not believe in him, 38so
that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true:
"Lord,
who believed the message we told?
To
whom did the Lord reveal his power?"
39And
so they were not able to believe, because Isaiah also
said,
40"God
has blinded their eyes
and
closed their minds,
so
that their eyes would not see,
and
their minds would not understand,
and
they would not turn to me, says God,
for
me to heal them."
41Isaiah
said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke
about him.
42Even
then, many Jewish authorities believed in Jesus; but
because of the Pharisees they did not talk about it
openly, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue. 43They
loved human approval rather than the approval
of God.
Judgment by Jesus' Words
44Jesus
said in a loud voice, "Whoever believes in me
believes not only in me but also in him who sent me. 45Whoever
sees me sees also him who sent me. 46I have
come into the world as light, so that everyone who
believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47If
people hear my message and do not obey it, I will not
judge them. I came, not to judge the world, but to save
it. 48Those who reject me and do not accept my
message have one who will judge them. The words I have
spoken will be their judge on the last day! 49This
is true, because I have not spoken on my own authority,
but the Father who sent me has commanded me what I must
say and speak. 50And I know that his command
brings eternal life. What I say, then, is what the Father
has told me to say."
Troubles with Israel
(1 Kings 15.17-22)
2 Chronicles 16 In
the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King Asa of Judah,
King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and started to
fortify Ramah in order to cut off all traffic in and out
of Judah. 2So Asa took silver and gold from
the treasuries of the Temple and the palace and sent it
to Damascus, to King Benhadad of Syria, with this
message: 3"Let us be allies, as our
fathers were. This silver and gold is a present for you.
Now break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel so
that he will have to pull his troops out of my
territory."
4Benhadad
agreed to Asa's proposal and sent his commanding officers
and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. They
captured Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the cities
of Naphtali where supplies were stored. 5When
King Baasha heard what was happening, he stopped
fortifying Ramah and abandoned the work. 6Then
King Asa gathered men from throughout Judah and had them
carry off the stones and timbers that Baasha had been
using at Ramah, and they used them to fortify the cities
of Geba and Mizpah.
The Prophet Hanani
7At
that time the prophet Hanani went to King Asa and said,
"Because you relied on the king of Syria instead of
relying on the LORD your God, the
army of the king of Israel has escaped from you. 8Didn't
the Ethiopians and the Libyans have large armies with
many chariots and cavalry troops? But because you relied
on the LORD, he gave you victory
over them. 9The LORD
keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength
to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted
foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at
war." 10This made Asa so angry with the
prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this
same time that Asa began treating some of the people
cruelly.
The End of Asa's Reign
(1 Kings 15.23, 24)
11All
the events of Asa's reign from beginning to end are
recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah and
Israel. 12In the thirty-ninth year that
Asa was king, he was crippled by a severe foot disease;
but even then he did not turn to the LORD
for help, but to doctors. 13Two years later he
died 14and was buried in the rock tomb which
he had carved out for himself in David's City. They used
spices and perfumed oils to prepare his body for burial,
and they built a huge bonfire to mourn his death.
Jehoshaphat Becomes King
2 Chronicles 17
Jehoshaphat succeeded his father Asa as king and
strengthened his position against Israel. 2He
stationed troops in the fortified cities of Judah, in the
Judean countryside, and in the cities which Asa had
captured in the territory of Ephraim. 3The LORD blessed Jehoshaphat because he
followed the example of his father's early life and did
not worship Baal. 4He served his father's God,
obeyed God's commands, and did not act the way the kings
of Israel did. 5The LORD
gave Jehoshaphat firm control over the kingdom of Judah,
and all the people brought him gifts, so that he became
wealthy and highly honored. 6He took pride in
serving the LORD and destroyed all
the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the
goddess Asherah in Judah.
7In
the third year of his reign he sent out the following
officials to teach in the cities of Judah: Benhail,
Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. 8They
were accompanied by nine Levites and two priests. The
Levites were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel,
Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and
Tobadonijah; and the priests were Elishama and Jehoram. 9They
took the book of the Law of the LORD
and went through all the towns of Judah, teaching it to
the people.
Jehoshaphat's Greatness
10The
LORD made all the surrounding
kingdoms afraid to go to war against King Jehoshaphat. 11Some
of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat a large amount of
silver and other gifts, and some Arabs brought him 7,700
sheep and 7,700 goats. 12So Jehoshaphat
continued to grow more and more powerful. Throughout
Judah he built fortifications and cities, 13where
supplies were stored in huge amounts.
In
Jerusalem he stationed outstanding officers, 14according
to their clans. Adnah was the commander of the troops
from the clans of Judah, and he had 300,000 soldiers
under him. 15Second in rank was Jehohanan,
with 280,000 soldiers, 16and third was Amasiah
son of Zichri, with 200,000. (Amasiah had volunteered to
serve the LORD.) 17The
commander of the troops from the clans of Benjamin was
Eliada, an outstanding soldier, in command of 200,000 men
armed with shields and bows. 18His second in
command was Jehozabad with 180,000 men, well-equipped for
battle. 19These soldiers served the king in
Jerusalem, and in addition he stationed others in the
other fortified cities of Judah.
God and His People
Psalm 78
Listen, my people, to my teaching,
and
pay attention to what I say.
2I
am going to use wise sayings
and
explain mysteries from the past,
3 things
we have heard and known,
things
that our ancestors told us.
4We
will not keep them from our children;
we
will tell the next generation
about
the LORD's power and his great
deeds
and
the wonderful things he has done.
5He
gave laws to the people of Israel
and
commandments to the descendants of Jacob.
He
instructed our ancestors
to
teach his laws to their children,
6so
that the next generation might learn them
and
in turn should tell their children.
7In
this way they also will put their trust in God
and
not forget what he has done,
but
always obey his commandments.
8They
will not be like their ancestors,
a
rebellious and disobedient people,
whose
trust in God was never firm
and
who did not remain faithful to him.
9The
Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,
ran
away on the day of battle.
10They
did not keep their covenant with God;
they
refused to obey his law.
11They
forgot what he had done,
the
miracles they had seen him perform.
12While
their ancestors watched, God performed miracles
in
the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13He
divided the sea and took them through it;
he
made the waters stand like walls.
14By
day he led them with a cloud
and
all night long with the light of a fire.
15He
split rocks open in the desert
and
gave them water from the depths.
16He
caused a stream to come out of the rock
and
made water flow like a river.
17But
they continued to sin against God,
and
in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
18They
deliberately put God to the test
by
demanding the food they wanted.
19They
spoke against God and said,
"Can
God supply food in the desert?
20It
is true that he struck the rock,
and
water flowed out in a torrent;
but
can he also provide us with bread
and
give his people meat?"
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