Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Dec 9 2019 - Introduction to these notes on the New Testament

These reflections differ from many Bible reading notes, firstly in that they are deliberately designed to take you through the entire New Testament in a year. Secondly, while aiming to be devotional – to stimulate love for God and worship of Christ – they are also consciously theological. I am concerned to understand the Scriptures and to know the God who speaks through Scripture and who addresses us supremely in Christ. I am concerned to understand the overall message of the New Testament and for us to hear Christ’s call upon our own lives and upon the world in which we live.

In 2018, the notes were revised for the use of the church of which we are a part – Christ Church Downend. We encouraged as many from the church as possible to use them to read through the entire New Testament in one year and the notes were made available both on the church's website and as paper copies for those who preferred that medium. The following year, at the encouragement of the church, I produced a reading plan and notes to take the church through the Old Testament in a year. Unlike the New Testament notes, this did not include every chapter and verse from the Bible but covered the sweep and scope of the Old Testament.

As our year in the Old Testament progressed, we discussed what we might do for 2020. I had originally planned simply to rerun the New Testament readings with the notes following the common ordering of the New Testament books. However, it was suggested to me that this had the disadvantage of presenting the four gospels together at the beginning of the year and that it might be better to split them up so that we revisited the life and teaching of the Lord Jesus throughout the year. With this in mind, I worked on a rescheduling of the New Testament material.

For 2020 we are going to begin our readings with Luke's Gospel before continuing with the second part of his two-volume work with The Acts of the Apostles. We plan to interrupt our readings in Acts at relevant points to look at the letters which the Apostle Paul wrote to various churches. We shall try to insert these letters into the appropriate places in the chronology of Acts – but it must be remembered that the chronology is sometimes difficult to fix with any degree of certainty.

After the writings of Luke and Paul we will turn to Mark's Gospel which will be followed by the letters of Peter and Jude. Peter seems to have been a key source for Mark's account of the life of Jesus and so there seems some logic in linking these writings. The Letter of Jude also has clear links with 2 Peter and so is included at this point.

We will then read through the Gospel of Matthew, followed by the letters of Hebrews and James, all of which appear to have been written primarily for Jewish Christians.

We will finish the year with John's Gospel, the Epistles of John and the book of Revelation.
It is my hope and prayer that these notes may help you to see more of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in his human life, teaching, miracles, death, resurrection and in his risen glory and that they may encourage you to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

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Dec 9 2019 - Esther 4 – Mordecai gets Esther to help

The imperial decree that all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire should be killed had been published in all cities, including the capital city of Susa. The people who read it were perplexed, but Mordecai and his fellow Jews were shocked and dismayed: "there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes" (v. 3).

Soon Esther heard that Mordecai was going about the city in sackcloth and ashes, wailing loudly and bitterly. She was greatly distressed and sent him clothes to put on in place of his sackcloth. When he refused these, she sent one of the King's eunuchs who guarded and served the harem to find out what was troubling Mordecai. Mordecai sent back to Esther a copy of the decree commanding the annihilation of the Jews along with the instruction that she should, "go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people" (v. 8). Esther is queen and has a privileged position in the court of King Xerxes, but she must not forget that she remains a Jew and that those threatened with slaughter are "her people".

It was no easy matter for someone to come into the presence of the king, even if she was his wife. To approach the king without being summoned could lead to instant execution. But when Esther told this to Mordecai he sent back the answer:

Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? (vv. 13-14)

Mordecai's answer expresses his absolute faith that the Lord will come to save his people from threatened destruction. God had chosen Abraham and promised that through him and his descendants all the world would be blessed. God had promised to raise up a Messiah from the descendants of David who would reign over all peoples on earth; unlike the empires of Babylon and Persia, his kingdom would have no end. Therefore God would not permit his people to be annihilated. He would come to save them. But Mordecai also sees that Esther may be the very person whom the Lord has made queen precisely that she might be the means through which that salvation may come.

Esther is overwhelmed by the responsibility that has been placed on her shoulders. She will attempt to speak to the king but she knows that she needs the Lord to be with her and to help her if she is to be successful. So she asks Mordecai to, "gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish" (v. 16). Mordecai goes off to carry out Esther's instructions.

We may not know why, in the providence of God, we have been placed where we are: in our neighbourhood; in our church; in our work; in our family. But we can be confident that God has work for us to do where he has placed us – work that only we can do. We also need to be aware that we will fail in this work unless we do it in dependence upon God – on his direction and on his power. We cannot be effective in the work of God without giving ourselves to prayer. Our Christian friends cannot be effective in the work that God has for them unless we pray for them. We need to pray earnestly and seriously together. We need to pray for one another. Who knows what God might do through a praying people? Who knows what God might do through you?

Lord, teach us to pray in the confidence that your kingdom, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, will come. Through prayer and waiting on you, and through the circumstances we find ourselves in, show us how we may be used of you to do the work of the kingdom. By your Spirit, give us the Christ-like courage, strength and determination to do your will.

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Dec 9 2020 - Revelation 1:1-20 – Do not be afraid

The Book of Revelation was written against the background of a church facing persecution. John, the recipient of the revelation and author of the book, had been exiled to the island of Patmos for his preaching of Christ. Separated from the churches he loved and to which he had ministered, he must have wondered whether they would survive the persecutions they were now facing. No doubt such anxieties were turned to prayer as John was "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day" (Revelation 1:10).

Jesus Christ responds to John's anxiety by granting him a wonderful vision of himself in all his risen glory. He is "the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" (1:5). The powers of this world may have put Jesus to death, but he has the last word; he is risen from the dead and is Lord over all creation and ruler over all human history. As if that were not enough, John learns that Jesus walks among the churches and holds their future in his right hand. John may be separated from the churches he loves but they can never be torn from the presence and power of Christ.

This awesome vision of Christ terrifies John; "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead" (1:17). But Christ had not appeared to strike John down but to raise him up, for we read, "Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades'" (17-18).

The message given to John is the message he now writes to the churches; "Do not be afraid. The risen Christ is with you and you remain in his hands. You may face persecution, even death, but Jesus has conquered death and will give eternal life to all who trust in him. Do not be afraid."

We may not be facing persecution, but we also need a fresh vision of Jesus to encourage us and to empower us for the mission he has entrusted to us. He "has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father" (1:5-6).

To remind us that the risen Christ is with us, I close with the lovely hymn of Timothy Dudley-Smith, based on this passage:

He walks among the golden lamps
on feet like burnished bronze:
his hair as snows of winter white,
his eyes with fire aflame, and bright
his glorious robe of seamless light
surpassing Solomon's.

And in his hand the seven stars,
and from his mouth a sword:
his voice the thunder of the seas;
all creatures bow to his decrees
who holds the everlasting keys
and reigns as sovereign Lord.

More radiant that the sun at noon,
who was, and is to be:
who was, from everlasting days;
who lives, the Lord of all our ways –
to him be majesty and praise
for all eternity.

Lord Jesus, help us, with the eye of faith, to see you in all your risen power and glory and to know that you are faithful to your promise to be with us to the very end of the age. Take away all our fears. Raise us up and empower us for the mission you have given us of making you known, until that day when you will come in power and glory, and every eye will see you and every creature worship at your feet.

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Peter Misselbrook