M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Promised Land to Be Taken

8 “Be careful to do all that I am telling you today. Then you will live and have many children, and go in to own the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers. ² You will remember all the way the Lord your God led you in the desert these forty years, so you would not have pride, and how He tested you to know what was in your heart to see if you would obey His Laws or not. ³ He let you be hungry which helped you to not have pride. Then He fed you with bread from heaven which you and your fathers had not known. He did this to make you understand that man does not live by bread alone. But man lives by everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out, and your feet did not get sore during these forty years. ⁵ So know in your heart that the Lord your God was punishing you just as a man punishes his son. ⁶ Keep the Laws of the Lord your God. Walk in His ways, and fear Him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of rivers and wells of water, flowing into valleys from hills. ⁸ It is a land of grains, vines, fig trees, fruit, olive oil and honey. ⁹ It is a land where you will have enough food to eat and not have to do without, a land where stones are iron. And you can make brass from what you dig out of its hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are filled, you will honor and thank the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful not to forget the Lord your God by not keeping all His Laws which I am telling you today. ¹² When you have eaten and are filled, and have built good houses to live in, ¹³ and when your cattle and flocks become many, and you get much silver and gold, and have many things for your own, ¹⁴ be careful not to become proud. Do not forget the Lord your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house where you were servants. ¹⁵ He led you through the big desert that brought fear with its poisonous snakes and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ In the desert He fed you bread from heaven, which your fathers did not know about. He did this so you would not have pride and that He might test you. It was for your good in the end. ¹⁷ Be careful not to say in your heart, ‘My power and strong hand have made me rich.’ ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God. For it is He Who is giving you power to become rich. By this He may keep His agreement which He promised to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and go to other gods to worship and work for them, I tell you today that you will be destroyed for sure. ²⁰ You will be destroyed like the nations the Lord destroys before you, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

The Lord—the One We Trust

91 He who lives in the safe place of the Most High will be in the shadow of the All-powerful. ² I will say to the Lord, “You are my safe and strong place, my God, in Whom I trust.” ³ For it is He Who takes you away from the trap, and from the killing sickness. ⁴ He will cover you with His wings. And under His wings you will be safe. He is faithful like a safe-covering and a strong wall.

⁵ You will not be afraid of trouble at night, or of the arrow that flies by day. ⁶ You will not be afraid of the sickness that walks in darkness, or of the trouble that destroys at noon. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. But it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only look on with your eyes, and see how the sinful are punished. ⁹ Because you have made the Lord your safe place, and the Most High the place where you live, ¹⁰ nothing will hurt you. No trouble will come near your tent.

¹¹ For He will tell His angels to care for you and keep you in all your ways. ¹² They will hold you up in their hands. So your foot will not hit against a stone. ¹³ You will walk upon the lion and the snake. You will crush under your feet the young lion and the snake.

¹⁴ Because he has loved Me, I will bring him out of trouble. I will set him in a safe place on high, because he has known My name. ¹⁵ He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will take him out of trouble and honor him. ¹⁶ I will please him with a long life. And I will show him My saving power.

Assyria Takes Cities of Judah

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the strong cities of Judah and took them. ² The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a large army. And he stood by the ditch of the upper pool on the road of the Fuller’s Field. ³ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and Joah the son of Asaph, who wrote down the things that happened, came out to him.

⁴ Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Syria, says, “What is the reason for this hope you have? ⁵ Do you think that empty words are plans and strength for war? In whom do you trust, that you have turned against me? ⁶ See, you are trusting in Egypt, whose power is like a broken piece of grass. If a man rests against it, it will cut into his hand. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷ But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar’? ⁸ So now come and make an agreement with my leader, the king of Assyria. And I will give you 2,000 horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them. ⁹ How then can you turn away from one captain of the least of my king’s servants, and trust in Egypt for war-wagons and horsemen? ¹⁰ Have I now come up to destroy the land against the Lord’s will? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”’”

¹¹ Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in the language of Judah so the people who are on the wall will hear.” ¹² But Rabshakeh said, “Has my king sent me only to speak to your leader and to you, and not to the men who sit on the wall? They will have to eat and drink their own body waste with you.”

¹³ Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in the language of Judah, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴ The king says, ‘Do not let Hezekiah lie to you. For he will not be able to bring you out of your trouble. ¹⁵ And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “For sure the Lord will bring us out of our trouble. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Each one of you should eat of his own vine and fig tree, and drink the water of his own well, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land. It is a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and grape-fields. ¹⁸ Be careful not to let Hezekiah lead you the wrong way, saying, “The Lord will bring us out of our trouble.” Has any of the gods of the nations saved his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? When have they taken Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these lands have taken their land out of my hand? So why should the Lord save Jerusalem from my hand?’”

²¹ But they were quiet and did not answer him. For the king had told them, “Do not answer him.” ²² Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and Joah the son of Asaph, who wrote down the things that happened, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him the words of Rabshakeh.

The Seven Locks: the First Lock—Power to Win

6 I saw the Lamb break open the first of the seven locks. I heard one of the four living beings cry out like the sound of thunder, “Come and see!” ² I looked and saw a white horse. The one who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him. He went out to win and he won.

The Second Lock—Fighting

³ He broke open the second lock. Then I heard the second living being say, “Come and see!” ⁴ Another horse came out. This one was red. The one who sat on it was given a long sword. He was given power to take peace from the earth so men would kill each other.

The Third Lock—No Food

⁵ He broke open the third lock. Then I heard the third living being say, “Come and see!” I looked and saw a black horse. The one who sat on it had something in his hand with which to weigh things. ⁶ I heard a voice from among the four living beings saying, “A small jar of wheat for a day’s pay. Three small jars of barley for a day’s pay. Do not hurt the olive oil and wine.”

The Fourth Lock—Death

⁷ He broke open the fourth lock. Then I heard the fourth living being say, “Come and see!” ⁸ I looked and saw a light colored horse. The one who sat on it had the name of Death. Hell followed close behind him. They were given the right and the power to kill one-fourth part of everything on the earth. They were to kill with the sword and by people having no food and by sickness and by the wild animals of the earth.

The Fifth Lock—Killed for Telling of Jesus

⁹ He broke open the fifth lock. Then I saw under the altar all the souls of those who had been killed for telling the Word of God. They had also been killed for being faithful in telling about Christ. ¹⁰ All those who had been killed cried out with a loud voice saying, “How long will it be yet before You will punish those on the earth for killing us? Lord, You are holy and true.” ¹¹ White clothes were given to each one of them. They were told to rest a little longer. They were to wait until all the other servants owned by God and their Christian brothers would be killed as they had been. Then the group would be complete.

The Sixth Lock—God’s Anger on the Earth

¹² I looked as the Lamb broke the sixth lock. The earth shook as if it would break apart. The sun became black like dark cloth. The moon became like blood. ¹³ The stars of the sky fell to the earth. They were like figs falling from a tree that is shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky passed away like paper being rolled up. Every mountain and island moved from its place. ¹⁵ The kings and the leaders of the earth hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. All the head soldiers and rich men and strong men and men who were free and those who were owned by someone hid themselves also. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us! Hide us from the face of the One Who sits on the throne. Hide us from the anger of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the special day of Their anger has come! Who is able to stand against it?”