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Daily Light's Morning Reading
One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.—JOHN 19:34.
Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you.—The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.—It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Jesus said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.—By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.—Peace through the blood of his cross.
Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, . . . manifest in these last times for you.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean: . . . from all your idols, will I cleanse you.—Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
Exo. 24:8. -Lev. 17:11. -Heb. 10:4.Mark 14:24. -Heb. 9:12. -Col. 1:20.I Pet. 1:18-20.Ezek. 36:25. -Heb. 10:22.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Thy paths drop fatness.”
Psalm 65:11
Many are “the paths of the Lord” which “drop fatness,” but an especial one is the path of prayer. No believer, who is much in the closet, will have need to cry, “My leanness, my leanness; woe unto me.” Starving souls live at a distance from the mercy- seat, and become like the parched fields in times of drought. Prevalence with God in wrestling prayer is sure to make the believer strong—if not happy. The nearest place to the gate of heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. Much alone, and you will have much assurance; little alone with Jesus, your religion will be shallow, polluted with many doubts and fears, and not sparkling with the joy of the Lord. Since the soul-enriching path of prayer is open to the very weakest saint; since no high attainments are required; since you are not bidden to come because you are an advanced saint, but freely invited if you be a saint at all; see to it, dear reader, that you are often in the way of private devotion. Be much on your knees, for so Elijah drew the rain upon famished Israel’s fields.
There is another especial path dropping with fatness to those who walk therein, it is the secret walk of communion. Oh! the delights of fellowship with Jesus! Earth hath no words which can set forth the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus’ bosom. Few Christians understand it, they live in the lowlands and seldom climb to the top of Nebo: they live in the outer court, they enter not the holy place, they take not up the privilege of priesthood. At a distance they see the sacrifice, but they sit not down with the priest to eat thereof, and to enjoy the fat of the burnt offering. But, reader, sit thou ever under the shadow of Jesus; come up to that palm tree, and take hold of the branches thereof; let thy beloved be unto thee as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, and thou shalt be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. O Jesus, visit us with thy salvation!
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Jeremiah 25
25. Seventy Years of Captivity
The Babylonian Captivity Foretold
25
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon),2which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:3For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.4And though the Lord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear5when they said, “Turn now, every one of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever;6do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.”7Yet you did not listen to me, says the Lord, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
8 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,9I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace.10And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.11This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.12Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.13I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.14For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.
The Cup of God’s Wrath
15 For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.16They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:18Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as they are today;19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;20all the mixed people; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;21Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples;24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that live in the desert;25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;26all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach shall drink.
27 Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.
28 And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink!29See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and how can you possibly avoid punishment? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.
30 You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
The Lord will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31
The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against the nations;
he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the guilty he will put to the sword,
says the Lord.
32
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
See, disaster is spreading
from nation to nation,
and a great tempest is stirring
from the farthest parts of the earth!
33 Those slain by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become dung on the surface of the ground.
34
Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;
roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter have come—and your dispersions,
and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
35
Flight shall fail the shepherds,
and there shall be no escape for the lords of the flock.
36
Hark! the cry of the shepherds,
and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the Lord is despoiling their pasture,
37
and the peaceful folds are devastated,
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38
Like a lion he has left his covert;
for their land has become a waste
because of the cruel sword,
and because of his fierce anger.
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 6:13
6. Sermon on the Mount
13
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Psalm a Day - Psalm 78:1-72
78. Psalm 78
Psalm 78
God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude
A Maskil of Asaph.
1
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3
things that we have heard and known,
that our ancestors have told us.
4
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
5
He established a decree in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children;
6
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
7
so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9
The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
10
They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11
They forgot what he had done,
and the miracles that he had shown them.
12
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all night long with a fiery light.
15
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16
He made streams come out of the rock,
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17
Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18
They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19
They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
or provide meat for his people?”
21
Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
his anger mounted against Israel,
22
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust his saving power.
23
Yet he commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven;
24
he rained down on them manna to eat,
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28
he let them fall within their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29
And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30
But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31
the anger of God rose against them
and he killed the strongest of them,
and laid low the flower of Israel.
32
In spite of all this they still sinned;
they did not believe in his wonders.
33
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
34
When he killed them, they sought for him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
35
They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
36
But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37
Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not true to his covenant.
38
Yet he, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
39
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.
40
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
41
They tested God again and again,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not keep in mind his power,
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
43
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44
He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
45
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamores with frost.
48
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
50
He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
51
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
Then he led out his people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And he brought them to his holy hill,
to the mountain that his right hand had won.
55
He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56
Yet they tested the Most High God,
and rebelled against him.
They did not observe his decrees,
57
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
they twisted like a treacherous bow.
58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
59
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
60
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mortals,
61
and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
62
He gave his people to the sword,
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
63
Fire devoured their young men,
and their girls had no marriage song.
64
Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a warrior shouting because of wine.
66
He put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting disgrace.
67
He rejected the tent of Joseph,
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
69
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
70
He chose his servant David,
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel, his inheritance.
72
With upright heart he tended them,
and guided them with skillful hand.