M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
7 1-2 As Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices! And the glory of the Lord filled the Temple, so that the priests couldn’t enter! 3 All the people had been watching, and now they fell flat on the pavement and worshiped and thanked the Lord.
“How good he is!” they exclaimed. “He is always so loving and kind.”
4-5 Then the king and all the people dedicated the Temple by sacrificing burnt offerings to the Lord. King Solomon’s contribution for this purpose was 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. 6 The priests were standing at their posts of duty, and the Levites were playing their thanksgiving song, “His Loving-Kindness Is Forever,” using the musical instruments King David himself had made and had used to praise the Lord. Then, when the priests blew the trumpets, all the people stood again. 7 Solomon consecrated the inner court of the Temple for use that day as a place of sacrifice because there were too many sacrifices for the bronze altar to accommodate.
8 For the next seven days they celebrated the Tabernacle Festival, with large crowds coming in from all over Israel; they arrived from as far away as Hamath at one end of the country to the brook of Egypt at the other. 9 A final religious service was held on the eighth day. 10 Then on October 7 he sent the people home, joyful and happy because the Lord had been so good to David and Solomon and to his people Israel.
11 So Solomon finished building the Temple as well as his own palace. He completed what he had planned to do.
12 One night the Lord appeared to Solomon and told him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place where I want you to sacrifice to me. 13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust swarms to eat up all of your crops, or if I send an epidemic among you, 14 then if my people will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. 15 I will listen, wide awake, to every prayer made in this place. 16 For I have chosen this Temple and sanctified it to be my home forever; my eyes and my heart shall always be here.
17 “As for yourself, if you follow me as your father David did, 18 then I will see to it that you and your descendants will always be the kings of Israel; 19 but if you don’t follow me, if you refuse the laws I have given you and worship idols, 20 then I will destroy my people from this land of mine that I have given them, and this Temple shall be destroyed even though I have sanctified it for myself. Instead, I will make it a public horror and disgrace. 21 Instead of its being famous, all who pass by will be incredulous.
“‘Why has the Lord done such a terrible thing to this land and to this Temple?’ they will ask.
22 “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord God of their fathers, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why he has done all this to them.’”
1 From: John, the old Elder of the church.
To: That dear woman Cyria, one of God’s very own, and to her children whom I love so much, as does everyone else in the church. 2 Since the Truth is in our hearts forever, 3 God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son will bless us with great mercy and much peace, and with truth and love.
4 How happy I am to find some of your children here and to see that they are living as they should, following the Truth, obeying God’s command.
5 And now I want to urgently remind you, dear friends, of the old rule God gave us right from the beginning, that Christians should love one another. 6 If we love God, we will do whatever he tells us to. And he has told us from the very first to love each other.
7 Watch out for the false leaders—and there are many of them around—who don’t believe that Jesus Christ came to earth as a human being with a body like ours. Such people are against the truth and against Christ. 8 Beware of being like them and losing the prize that you and I have been working so hard to get. See to it that you win your full reward from the Lord. 9 For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will leave God behind; while if you are loyal to Christ’s teachings, you will have God too. Then you will have both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to teach you, and he doesn’t believe what Christ taught, don’t even invite him into your home. Don’t encourage him in any way. 11 If you do, you will be a partner with him in his wickedness.
12 Well, I would like to say much more, but I don’t want to say it in this letter, for I hope to come to see you soon, and then we can talk over these things together and have a joyous time.
13 Greetings from the children of your sister—another choice child of God.
Sincerely, John
2 I will climb my watchtower now and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint.
2 And the Lord said to me, “Write my answer on a billboard,[a] large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others. 3 But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow,[b] do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!
4 “Note this: Wicked men trust themselves alone as these Chaldeans do,[c] and fail; but the righteous man trusts in me and lives! 5 What’s more, these arrogant Chaldeans are betrayed by all their wine, for it is treacherous. In their greed they have collected many nations, but like death and hell, they are never satisfied. 6 The time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying: ‘You robbers! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get your just deserts for your oppression and extortion!’
7 “Suddenly your debtors will rise up in anger and turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. 8 You have ruined many nations; now they will ruin you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with lawlessness and all the cities too.
9 “Woe to you for getting rich by evil means, attempting to live beyond the reach of danger. 10 By the murders you commit, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. 11 The very stones in the walls of your homes cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo what they say.
12 “Woe to you who build cities with money gained from murdering and robbery! 13 Has not the Lord decreed that godless nations’ gains will turn to ashes in their hands? They work so hard, but all in vain!
14 (“The time will come when all the earth is filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.)
15 “Woe to you for making your neighboring lands reel and stagger like drunkards beneath your blows, and then gloating over their nakedness and shame. 16 Soon your own glory will be replaced by shame. Drink down God’s judgment on yourselves. Stagger and fall! 17 You cut down the forests of Lebanon—now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals you caught in your traps—now terror will strike you because of all your murdering and violence in cities everywhere.
18 “What profit was there in worshiping all your man-made idols? What a foolish lie that they could help! What fools you were to trust what you yourselves had made. 19 Woe to those who command their lifeless wooden idols to arise and save them, who call out to the speechless stone to tell them what to do. Can images speak for God? They are overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath at all inside!
20 “But the Lord is in his holy Temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
21 As he stood in the Temple, he was watching the rich tossing their gifts into the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small copper coins.
3 “Really,” he remarked, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them combined. 4 For they have given a little of what they didn’t need, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”
5 Some of his disciples began talking about the beautiful stonework of the Temple and the memorial decorations on the walls.
6 But Jesus said, “The time is coming when all these things you are admiring will be knocked down, and not one stone will be left on top of another; all will become one vast heap of rubble.”
7 “Master!” they exclaimed. “When? And will there be any warning ahead of time?”
8 He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you. For many will come announcing themselves as the Messiah,[a] and saying, ‘The time has come.’ But don’t believe them! 9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections beginning, don’t panic. True, wars must come, but the end won’t follow immediately— 10 for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and famines in many lands, and epidemics, and terrifying things happening in the heavens.
12 “But before all this occurs, there will be a time of special persecution, and you will be dragged into synagogues and prisons and before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 But as a result, the Messiah will be widely known and honored.[b] 14 Therefore, don’t be concerned about how to answer the charges against you, 15 for I will give you the right words and such logic that none of your opponents will be able to reply! 16 Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends will betray you and have you arrested; and some of you will be killed. 17 And everyone will hate you because you are mine and are called by my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish! 19 For if you stand firm, you will win your souls.
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then let the people of Judea flee to the hills. Let those in Jerusalem try to escape, and those outside the city must not attempt to return. 22 For those will be days of God’s judgment,[c] and the words of the ancient Scriptures written by the prophets will be abundantly fulfilled. 23 Woe to expectant mothers in those days, and those with tiny babies. For there will be great distress upon this nation[d] and wrath upon this people. 24 They will be brutally killed by enemy weapons, or sent away as exiles and captives to all the nations of the world; and Jerusalem shall be conquered and trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of Gentile triumph ends in God’s good time.
25 “Then there will be strange events in the skies—warnings, evil omens and portents in the sun, moon and stars; and down here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 The courage of many people will falter because of the fearful fate they see coming upon the earth, for the stability of the very heavens will be broken up. 27 Then the peoples of the earth shall see me, the Messiah,[e] coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand straight and look up! For your salvation is near.”
29 Then he gave them this illustration: “Notice the fig tree, or any other tree. 30 When the leaves come out, you know without being told that summer is near. 31 In the same way, when you see the events taking place that I’ve described you can be just as sure that the Kingdom of God is near.
32 “I solemnly declare to you that when these things happen, the end of this age[f] has come. 33 And though all heaven and earth shall pass away, yet my words remain forever true.
34-35 “Watch out! Don’t let my sudden coming catch you unawares; don’t let me find you living in careless ease, carousing and drinking, and occupied with the problems of this life, like all the rest of the world. 36 Keep a constant watch. And pray that if possible you may arrive in my presence without having to experience these horrors.”[g]
37-38 Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and the crowds began gathering early in the morning to hear him. And each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.