Greeting

Welcome to Dan's Daily Dig, a personal journey to dig into the Bible one chapter a day and grow spiritually. The goal is to read and reflect on each chapter using the following four questions:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?
3. What does this mean for my life?
4. What questions do I have about this passage?

This blog is intended to provide both accountability for me to keep pressing on in this quest, and an invitation for any reader to join me any day or everyday. Simply read the selected chapter (it only takes about 5 minutes), and then respond using any or all of the four questions. It's supposed to be simple, but I hope to learn from others as well. I plan to share the blog as well on my twitter feed daily, so follow @DanBoji if you want to get the alert to the blog's posting. You can also subscribe by e-mail or another RSS feed on the right side of the screen. God's blessings.

In Christ,
Dan

Saturday, January 3, 2015

#Matthew2 - Prophesies Fulfilled in Christ

Matthew 2:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?

Matthew seems to be sharing his perspective with a strong desire to connect the Old and New Testament, especially the prophecies concerning the Messiah. It was the prophets who foretold the birthplace, prophets who described the time spent in Egypt, prophets who talked about the slaughter of children, and prophets who shared that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. As I read this chapter this time through, it really caught my attention that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the Messiah. Though there are a few prophecies that remain to be fulfilled, we understand from other Scripture that these will happen in his second coming.

2. How does this passage relate to any other Scripture I know?
There are a couple instances in this chapter alone about God using dreams to speak to people. In chapter 1 and in Luke 1-2, God speaks to Mary, Joseph, and the Magi through dreams, besides using other visions and angel visits to speak to others. It made me think of a few other times in the Bible God used dreams and visions to speak to people. Since I just read Acts in October, I remember that Peter had a vision that helped him to be ready to minister to Gentiles, and Paul had a vision to visit a man from Macedonia. Besides that, Joseph interpreted dreams to Pharaoh in Genesis, and Daniel both interpreted dreams and had dreams/visions about the future.

3. So what does this mean for my life?

Don't trust wicked kings? Just kidding. I think I am most compelled personally by the wise men. When they met Jesus, they worshiped him and offered him great gifts. The fact that they were outsiders to the Jewish faith and heritage, and were among the first to worship Jesus helped me think about the church today. Sometimes it is those of us within the church that forget or are too prideful to humble ourselves and bow down in simple worship and adoration of Jesus. He's not a baby or a child now. He is the risen King of Kings. Jesus deserves my all.

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

I think my biggest question is, "WHY DIDN'T EVERYONE ELSE GO TO WORSHIP JESUS?" When the wise men came and said the King of the Jews had been born, and everyone knew the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, why didn't everyone follow the wise men to see the Messiah? I think I would have dropped everything. After all they had been waiting some 1500 years or more for the Messiah to come. I know it wasn't the kind of king they were expecting, but still...

Those are my thoughts. God bless.

In Christ,
Dan

 Wise Men Image: Three Wise Men on Camels. N.D. Photobucket.com. Web. 3 Jan. 2015.
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1 comment:

  1. AllisonJanuary 9, 2015 at 4:35 AM

    This is a familiar chapter to many of us. Funny, though, that Jesus probably wasn't a baby like we always see depicted when the men visited him. Oh tradition! :) One of the questions I have is about the whole killing of the children incidence. In verse 12 the wise men are warned not to go back to Herod and they obey. In verse 16 Herod learns of this and then kills all these innocent boys 2 and under in and around Jerusalem. So because of their obedience to God, this horrific act happens. It is hard to reconcile in my mind. I also wonder how old Jesus was when they returned to Nazareth- 6? 10? older? younger? Did he have more siblings by then? My questions may only be answered by God Himself someday, but I still think about them?:)

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