Read To Me Daily Semester 3Намуна

2SAMUEL 20:
Yesterday in 2nd Samuel, we heard the story of how David sent out his army under three commanders, Joab, Abishai, and Ittai. He gave them orders to deal gently with Absalom. Joab— who was always pragmatic, didn't do as ordered. Along with Absalom, 20,000 men died in the civil war. Joab stopped David’s mourning for his son and ordered him to go out to encourage his troops. And finally the people decided to bring David back as their king. 

PSALM 118a:
Today's poem, Psalm 118, is one of the antiphonal psalms. Imagine a leader reciting the main text, and all the congregation joining in on the refrain. One of the most often quoted verses about the Messiah is found in verse 22. And verse 23 has inspired numerous worship songs.

JOHN 2:
In his Gospel, John uses simple words, such as light, word, lamb, and door. But the concepts he deals with are anything but simple. The meaning goes deep— so deep that you could spend a lifetime studying the prologue in chapter one alone and never get to the bottom of it. Note also that John very artistically makes use of double meaning— using a word with two meanings simultaneously.

Note how Jesus (and the writer, John) artfully hint at the story of Jacob. Jesus calls Nathanael a true son of Israel. Israel is one of Jacob’s names, and that name Jacob means ‘cheater’. And then Jesus paradoxically calls Nathanael a man of complete integrity. Finally Jesus didn’t need to make it obvious to his hearers and John didn’t need to explain to his readers that Jesus was quoting from the Jacob’s Ladder story. Just a few words and the previous hints were plenty to imply this: Jesus is claiming to be the Way/Ladder to the Father. The way, the truth, and the life.

Let’s pray:
Our heavenly Father and the Lord of all nations, we pray that all peoples would come to know Jesus as the Messiah, and that all nations would praise him. Through Him, we realize that your love for us is strong and your faithfulness is eternal. Lord I pray that we might follow the examples of Andrew and Philip, and tell others, “We have found the Messiah!” This is big news. He is the One Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 18. The prophets wrote about Him also. Lord, help us to share this news with the excitement and certainty that Andrew and Philip had. This news truly changes everything.