READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
DAYS 31-60
Our resource is Eugene Peterson’s
THE MESSAGE//REMIX:PAUSE
As you read, remember what you’ve learned so far about who Jesus really is. Feel the hatred as the crowd shouts their insults. Listen as the whip crashes down. Smell Jesus’ blood as it pours onto the ground. Why would the One who spoke all creation into existence submit himself to such humiliation?
Day 31
Exodus 28-31: Why did God make such a big deal about who could enter God’s presence? Does God still? Why or why not? What do the regulations for priests and their offerings tell you about your own worship and prayers?
John 19:16–19:42: Mediate on this story throughout today. See the picture of Jesus dying on the cross. Look at yourself and the areas of life where you struggle to do the right thing? What role did your sin play in Jesus’ death?
Day 32
Exodus 32-34: Why did the Israelites’ golden calf make God angry? Why did the Israelites turn from God so quickly? (Moses had been gone a little over a month). What happened to their commitment (24:7)? How long do your commitments to God last?
John 20:1-20:18: Every promise God makes in the Bible comes together in this story. This is the message of Good News: Jesus is alive! How does his resurrection change the story of the Cross? What impact does it have on the way you live your life?
Day 33
Exodus 35-37: The people were building The Dwelling, the place where they were to worship God according to God’s plan. How did God work in people’s hearts through this process? What do these chapters tell you about giving gifts to God?
John 20:19-20:31: John wrote his account so that you will believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing, gain real and eternal life. Do you believe? Why or why not? If you do, how will you live in response to the living Christ?
Day 34
Exodus 38-40: Exodus tells the story of God’s salvation, but it doesn’t end in the Promised Land. It ends in The Dwelling. So why did God save God’s people? How does your answer help you understand God’s purpose for saving you through God’s Son?
John 21: Listen closely to Jesus’ conversation with Peter. If you love Jesus, what will you do? Why did Peter point to John and say, “Master, what’s going to happen to him?” (21:21) What does Jesus’ answer mean to future followers?
Day 35
Last week you explored the LAW – God’s requirements for living in a relationship with God—and GRACE—God’s ultimate fulfillment of the Law through the death and resurrection of God’s Son. What did you discover in the Law that was new to you? Did anything surprise you? Why? What insights did reading the Law give you into Jesus’ death? How did your understanding and appreciation of the Cross change over the past six days?
Exodus ended with Moses and the Israelites worshipping God at The Dwelling. They had the place for worship, but that wasn’t enough. God required people to bring sacrifices as they approached God. This was necessary because sin cuts people off from God, and the penalty for sin is death (see Genesis 2:16-17, Romans 3:23). The book of Leviticus, which you start reading tomorrow, spells out all the hows and whys behind the sacrificial system. But it’s about more than regulations. As you read, you will discover that God wants you to live in God’s presence. God wants to make you holy, just as God is holy.
Leviticus can be hard to understand, especially two thousand years after Jesus offered up the final sacrifice God required. But the book of Hebrews, which you will read at the same time, offers insights into Leviticus and the sacrificial system. In Hebrews, you will discover how the sacrifices foreshadow God’s eternal plan as well as what Leviticus means for us today. Together, these two books show how sinful people can live in the presence of a holy God both now and forever.
Day 36
Leviticus 1-3: What is your general reaction to these chapters? The Whole Burnt-Offering expressed total dedication to God, while the Grain-Offering and Peace-Offering expressed gratitude to God. How will you express these attitudes to God?
Hebrews 1: How does the description of Jesus’ character in these verses compare to the ways you treat him? Meditate on these verses and use them as a guide when you pray. How do they challenge the way you approach God?
Day 37
Leviticus 37: Why would God demand the Compensation-Offering, which required people to pay back those they’d sinned against, including another twenty percent? What do you demand when someone hurts you? How is your version of setting things right with another person different from God’s version?
Hebrews 2-3: In today’s reading, God warns you to keep a firm grip on everything you’ve been told about Jesus and not to turn a deaf ear of unbelief. Why the warnings? What loosens your grip? What makes the Message stop ringing in your ears?
Day 38
Leviticus 8-10: Why did Nadab and Abihu’s offer of strange incense make God so mad? If God had let these two guys’ action slide, what message would God convey to the rest of the Israelites? What did you learn about how you are to approach God?
Hebrews 4:1-5:10: Let Hebrews 4:14-15 turn over and over in your mind. Filter every difficult day and hard times you face through these verses. Then walk right up to Jesus, just as verse 16 says. How does this truth change your path?
Day 39
Leviticus 11-12: Why would God care what these people ate? Leviticus shows that our “holy God is actually present with us and virtually every detail of our lives is affected by the presence of this holy God.” How does God’s presence change what you put into your body?
Hebrews 5:11-6:20: God wants you to grow up, but what does that mean? Review all of today’s reading for the answer. Focus on the parts that talk about the guarantee God gives by God’s Word. How do God’s promises impact growing in your faith?
Day 40
Leviticus 13-15: What is your primary reaction to today’s reading? Why do you feel this way? Do you think rules were necessary? Why or why not? What does God communicate about God’s character through these details?
Hebrews 7-8: The Dwelling tent Moses built was a copy of the true sanctuary in heaven. Given that The Dwelling and all its sacrifices take such prominence in Exodus and Leviticus, what do you think we will do in heaven? Why did God give the first covenant when God always planned to replace it with some thing better?
Day 41
Leviticus 16-17: God strictly limited access to the Holy of Holies, yet the book of Hebrews tells us we can go boldly into God’s presence anytime we want. What changed? How does the Day of Atonement help you understand Jesus’ death on the cross?
Hebrews 9: Reread Leviticus 16-17. Jesus is the final Absolution-Offering. Return to Hebrews 9. Read it again slowly, letting the light of the Day of Atonement and Absolution-Offerings guide your way. Meditate on all you’ve read today.
Day 42
God doesn’t want you to know God from a distance. Picking up a few facts and some general ideas about who God is and what God does isn’t enough. The Creator designed you to experience God’s love close up. No contenting yourself with occasional cards or picking up the phone to say hi every week or so. God wants more. “I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood,” God says. “I won’t avoid or shun you; I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God; you’ll be my people.” (Leviticus 26:11-12)
Over the past six days you read how the holy God provided a way to bring you and everything about you, into God’s presence. Nadab and Abihu’s tragic mistake and the warnings in the book of Hebrews remind you that you can’t take God’s open door lightly. You have to come to God on God’s terms, not your own. The trip can be frightening, yet what else would you expect as you come near the One who spoke the universe into existence?
So how will you put all these ideas into practice? Did reading through God’s longing to pull you into God’s presence draw you closer to God? Why or why not? What stands in your way as you try to get closer to God? Some people, like Moses and Aaron, find their biggest barrier to God is God’s self. Their knees get weak and fear overtakes them when they get close to God. When do you find yourself pulling back from God? What is the solution? If answers aren’t coming to mind, don’t worry. More of Leviticus and Hebrews lie ahead. Through them you will hear God call once again, “Draw near to me.”
Day 43
Leviticus 18-20: The heart of the Law is Leviticus 20:7-8. What does “holy” mean to you? How are you supposed to set yourself apart for God? What does it mean to live a holy life before God?
Hebrews 10:1-10:18: Why didn’t the catalog of sins in Leviticus solve the problem of sin? Go back over this reading. What makes the new and final solution more effective? How does the new way change the way you approach the God-life?
Day 44
Leviticus 21-23: What was God’s purpose in commanding the Israelites to celebrate holidays and throw parties for God, some of which lasted more than a week? What will you change in how you celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving?
Hebrews 10:19-10:39: Answer the question the writer of Hebrews put in today’s reading. When do you find yourself tempted to quit on the whole God and Jesus thing? What keeps you holding on? Your answers set the stage for tomorrow’s reading.
Day 45
Leviticus 24-25: During the Year of Jubilee every debt was forgiven, no one planted crops, and houses went back to their original owners. How much would obeying the command cost? What would it be like today to observe the Year of Jubilee?
Hebrews 11: What is faith? Of all the faith heroes on this list, who do you most relate to? Why? What advice would you ask this person, if you could, and what response might you hear?
Day 46
Leviticus 26-27: Why does God punish those who don’t obey God? What is the real purpose behind the trouble God pours on individuals? Have you experienced this tough love? In what ways? When? What did you learn about God through the experience?
Hebrews 12: When have you felt God’s discipline? Did you also sense God’s love at that time? Why or why not? How did you react to the discipline? Does your reaction need to change in light of what you just read? In what ways?
Day 47
Numbers 1-2: Numbers describes the process of learning to get along and grow up together as a people of God. Where do you struggle as you try to get along with others, especially other people who claim to love God? What unrealistic ideals do you hold that get in the way of real community?
Hebrews 13: How much does our relationship with one another mean to God? Go back over the reading and find one or two specific commands dealing with community. Look for creative opportunities to put them into action.
Day 48
Numbers 3-5: What effect will broken vows, jealousy, and suspicion have on a group of people trying to get along? In your own life, what breaks up friendships and destroys relationships? Pray about any solution you see.
Romans 1:1-1:17: If the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth changed world history, how can he be a safe, easy-to-follow Savior? Why is spreading the Message of this radical Messiah so urgent? Is it to you? Why or why not?
Day 49
Over the past six days you moved from learning to live in the presence of God to discovering the first steps toward getting along with other people. Why do these two ideas follow each other? Why does God care if people get along with one another as long as you keep things right with God? How do the laws designed to make you holy relate to your relationships with other people? Is it possible to be holy without getting along with others? Why or why not?
Review the past week. Do you feel comfortable with what you read? Why or why not? How did your relationships with God and with other people change as a result of your daily readings? No matter what your feelings are in the moment, God is drawing you to God’s self through God’s Word and God won’t leave you the same. Maybe you don’t feel any different yet, but stay with you commitment, because beliefs and attitudes shift slowly—in this case from the self-centered to God-centered. Everything comes together when you read, believe, and obey.
Over the next six days you will watch as the Israelites in the book of Numbers do just the opposite. At the same time, in the book of Romans, you will discover that God has incredible plans for you. Reading the Bible every day forces you to make a choice. The two extremes lie before you. You can follow God or you can go your own way. Which path will you take?
Day 50
Numbers 6-8: Don’t let the long lists and obscure regulations in this reading keep you from the point: dedicating yourself to God is neither cheap nor easy. What does it mean to be dedicated today? Are you dedicated? Are you paying the price?
Romans 1:18-1:32: What parallels do you see between these two-thousand year old verses and your world? What difference? If you were God, when would your patience run out with the human race? Why does God keep reaching out to stubborn people?
Day 51
Number 9-11: Do you truly believe God is in control of your life? Why or why not? When you complain that life is a drag, how does it sound to God? When has God given you what you begged for? Did you regret that God did? Why or why not?
Romans 2: “You can get by with almost everything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law.” (Romans 2:23) Which are you, an eloquent talker or a real doer? What evidence in your life backs up your answer? Why isn’t talk about religion enough?
Day 52
Numbers 12-14: God is kind, but God isn’t soft. God is patient, but God has a breaking point. What did the Israelites do to push God to that point? Do you feel God’s response was fair? What is God trying to teach you through the Israelites’ mistakes?
Romans 3: “God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does.” (Romans 3:27) God sets things right through Jesus’ sacrifice, not through our good intentions. How accurately does your Christianity reflect this basic truth?
Day 53
Numbers 15-17: Put yourself in Moses’ place. Listen to the people complain. Feel their mutiny. Know that the desert is all you’re going to see for a long time. Why didn’t he quit? What does his experience do to the unrealistic ideals of serving God?
Romans 4: How does believing facts differ from exercising the faith of Abraham? Do you believe like Abraham? Why or why not? Read today’s passage again and let this question ring in your ears. How does your faith compare to Abraham’s?
Day 54
Numbers 18-20: Was God unfair to Moses? Why or why not? What does God’s treatment of Moses tell you about the way God treats all people? What does this say about God’s character and God’s justice?
Romans 5:1-5:11: Read Romans 5:8 again. Think about God’s character and justice and the way God treats people. Does this contradict the way God dealt with Moses? Why or why not? What allows God to dispense both justice and grace?
Day 55
Numbers 21-23: Why did Balak try to cast curses upon the Israelites? What do his actions show about how he perceived God’s power? Why do outsiders sometimes have an easier time seeing God’s awesome might than those in God’s own family?
Romans 5:12-5:21: If the trouble Adam got us into could not be solved until Jesus came, why did God bother to give God’s Law to Moses? If grace is more powerful than sin, why do some Christians try to stay on God’s good side by keeping the rules? In your life what is the difference between relying on rules and living in God’s grace?
Day 56
Last week you witnessed two extremes. In the book of Numbers you saw people at their worst. Whining. Complaining. Plotting. Unbelieving. God carried them along, but they finally pushed him too far. Then in the book of Romans you saw God at God’s best. Giving and forgiving. Full of grace and love. Why can’t the first nullify the second? Why is God stronger than human beings at their worst? Here’s the real dilemma: How can God forgive while at the same time uphold God’s justice and holiness? Your search for an answer begins and ends at the Cross.
The two extremes of people at their worst and God at God’s best don’t exist just in the Bible. They clash every day in the real world. In fact, they often come to blows in the lives of those who claim to follow Jesus. Do you ever see these two extremes in your own life? When? Under what circumstances? If you are serious about God and Jesus, how can situations like this occur?
When the subject of God’s grace comes up, another question often arises. Because God’s grace is greater than sin, why not go ahead and keep on sinning? After all, if grace is so complete, what will it matter? You will explore this question over the next few days as you continue in Romans. At the same time you will watch in Numbers as God shows how God’s promise will withstand any attack, ever the attack of unbelief>
Day 57
Numbers 24-26: The king of Moab couldn’t defeat the Israelites, and his efforts to have a prophet curse them failed, so he tried a different weapon that worked. Why are the enemies of God and God’s people so persistent in their attacks?
Romans 6: How do you define freedom? Where does doing what you feel like get you? What if being free is Jesus? How does this freedom express itself in your life? What are the implications of being free from both sin and the Law?
Day 58
Numbers 27-29: Why would God use the commissioning of a new leader as an opportunity to remind the Israelites of all the offerings God requires? What do you learn about the priority of worship? Why does your worship mean so much to God?
Romans 7: What is it like for you to feel the struggle these verses describe? What do you do when you are at the end of your rope? Why aren’t good intentions enough? Why would God give us rules God knows we can’t keep?
Day 59
Numbers 30-31: How do attitudes towards vows and promises affect relationships between people? Why does God make a big deal about you keeping your vows? What impact should obeying God have on keeping your promises to others?
Romans 8:1-8:17: How does the Spirit-life differ from a life of keeping religious rules? Which life describes you? What will it take for you to go from the do-it-yourself life to the “What’s next, Papa?” life?
Day 60
Numbers 32-34: Land distribution instructions don’t make the most compelling reading in the world, unless you were an ancient Israelite. They’d been slaves for four hundred years and homeless for five hundred. How did the promise of land and freedom sound to them? How does their long wait compare to waiting for God’s promise of eternity with God in heaven?
Romans 8:18-8:39: Which promise from today’s reading did you most need? How does this promise speak to your circumstances? Does it change anything? Why or why not? What would you say to God about these promises? Talk to God now.