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Daily Light's Morning Reading
The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.—TIT. 3:4.
I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.—The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.—Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.
As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.
Jer. 31:3.I John 4:9,10.Gal. 4:4,5. -John 1:14. -I Tim. 3:16.Heb. 2:14.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance his miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, “The seed of the woman,” not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to his human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that he may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note his humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as “a virgin,” not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!
Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.
Old Testament Chapter a Day - 2 Kings 11
11. Athaliah and Joash
Athaliah Reigns over Judah
11
Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family.2But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter, Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus she hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed;3he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Jehoiada Anoints the Child Joash
4 But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the Lord; then he showed them the king’s son.5He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the sabbath and guard the king’s house6(another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace;7and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the sabbath and guard the house of the Lord8shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand; and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.”
9 The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada.10The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the Lord;11the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side.12Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”
Death of Athaliah
13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people;14when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”15Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.”16So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.
17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people; also between the king and the people.18Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the Lord.19He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings.20So all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.
21 Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.
New Testament in Four Years - 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8
2. The Man of Lawlessness
5Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?6And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes.7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed.8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.Psalm a Day - Psalm 127
127. Psalm 127
Psalm 127
God’s Blessings in the Home
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
2
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.
3
Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one’s youth.
5
Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.