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December 24 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
9 Plays6 days ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
Today we will continue reading the Book of Revelation, Chapters 7:1-4, 9-17 and 8.
Today's reading and discussion will be about the fact that God and His Son are the only ones who can save us. Nothing else can save us. There is no other name given under heaven through which we can be saved. We cannot be saved by being good people or by earning it with good works. It can only be received by God as His free gift by accepting Jesus as our savior.
God is so gracious and patient and forgiving. Even during the difficult times on earth that we are reading about in Revelation people will still be able to accept Jesus' free gift of salvation. God does not want anyone to die. He wants everyone to come to salvation and accept His free gift so they may receive the gift of eternal life with Him. It is so important that we let people know about God's love and gift of salvation. Eventually every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. How much better it will be for people to acknowledge this before they stand before Jesus at the time of judgment!
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, you have not done so already done so already.
If you know someone who might be interested in reading the Bible with me this year please SHARE today's reading with them! It's never too late to join in! Let's help this event grow and together we can spread the word about reading God's Word!
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for Daily Readings
00:00:03
Speaker
Merry Christmas Eve, everybody. Today is December 24th. My name is Robin. I'm with In the Family Way Coaching, and I am so excited to be bringing you our daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible, written by Karen Henley.
00:00:20
Speaker
I'm so glad that you're joining me whatever day you get around to watching or listening to today's daily reading. I know we're all very busy this Christmas season, and it's always a very busy time of the year. So I am especially thankful that you are taking the time to read or hear, rather, this daily reading, whatever day you get around to watching it or listening to it.
Commitment to Year-End Bible Reading
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm so glad that you are remaining committed and dedicated to completing the year end with me as we go through the book of Revelation.
00:00:52
Speaker
It's time to take out our bookmarking commitment calendar. If you have a sticker or a pencil or marker or crayon, whatever you're using to cross off those days, it's time to get that out because we're about to read the Bible today.
00:01:10
Speaker
We are going to be picking up in Revelation 7 and 8 today. Yesterday we left off and we saw that only Jesus was found worthy, was found good enough to open the seals of the scroll that had been in God's hand.
00:01:27
Speaker
There were seven seals, or there will be seven seals on that scroll. And can you imagine we are reading about this happening right now, but when it actually happens in the future, this is what will be occurring in heaven.
00:01:45
Speaker
it's It's just mind-boggling sometimes to me that we are reading about what will happen in heaven in the future. And so we saw yesterday that Jesus was the only one who could open up the seals.
00:02:00
Speaker
And in yesterday's reading, he got to six of the seven seals.
Heavenly Events in Revelation
00:02:05
Speaker
to- Today, we're going to be seeing what happens when the seventh seal is taken off of the scroll.
00:02:12
Speaker
And we're also going to be seeing something that happens before that occurs. We're going to be seeing some angels. And i wanted to point out that we have a tendency to take for granted God's great creation.
00:02:27
Speaker
Because this is all we know. We live on this earth. We have things like fresh water. And yesterday we read about how the fresh water would be made bitter with wormwood. And that people wouldn't be able to drink it without dying.
00:02:42
Speaker
And today we're going to be reading about the wind being taken away. yesterday we read about how the sun would become dark and that the moon would turn to blood and that the sun would not shine for a portion of the day and the night would not have stars shining for a portion of the night we take all of these things for granted And it will be more than just a cloudy day where we don't see any stars in the sky or in the sun in the sky.
00:03:12
Speaker
These will be as a result of the seals that Jesus is removing from the scroll. And today, before we even get to the seventh scroll, we're going to see that the earth won't even have any wind, no breeze.
00:03:30
Speaker
This is something we take for granted every day. We even have things like fans that simulate fresh air blowing. And can you imagine a world with no breeze, no wind blowing?
00:03:46
Speaker
We can have some still at times where the wind is not blowing a lot and it can be hard to catch the wind when we're trying to fly a kite and we say, oh, there's no wind today. But we're talking about zero wind.
00:04:01
Speaker
This is extreme, but it's something that will occur during this time when Jesus is opening up the scrolls ah the seals along the scroll.
00:04:13
Speaker
And it's not related to a particular seal. It's just an event that is going to be occurring at the same time.
Salvation Through Jesus
00:04:20
Speaker
Now, as we've been reading in Revelation, we see that everything is still all about Jesus.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yesterday we saw that only he was worthy to open up the seals. And today we are going to be seeing that only Jesus brings us salvation.
00:04:40
Speaker
it is only through God and Jesus that we can be saved. It's not by any other name under heaven. It's not by doing anything else.
00:04:51
Speaker
It's not by doing good works. We can't be saved just by being good people. because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
00:05:03
Speaker
And but Jesus came and he reconciled us to God, so that now God forgives all of those sins that keep us separated from him. And only he, Jesus, is the one who is able to do that.
00:05:19
Speaker
And that is what makes him worthy. Worthy to open the seals on the scroll. Worthy of our praise. Worthy of our love. Of our worship. Of our adoration.
00:05:31
Speaker
There is no one else that we should be giving our love and adoration like that. We can love one another. We are supposed to do that. But we're not supposed to make anyone more important than Jesus.
00:05:45
Speaker
And in today's world, there is a lot of focus on hero worship. We have superheroes stories that we read and watch on movies and on TV, and we read about them in comic books and like that.
00:06:00
Speaker
And really, Jesus is the only one who saves our lives. Our physical life is nothing we were talking about, but our eternal life.
00:06:12
Speaker
is what we are working toward. We are only able to attain that through Jesus. That's the only way we will have eternal life. The only way we can work toward that is to believe in Jesus as our salvation and to accept that gift.
00:06:31
Speaker
And today we are going to be reading about that. and seeing that as our big ah picture for our daily application. So let's begin, and we're going to start with chapter seven in Revelation today.
Angels and the Sealing of God's Servants
00:06:49
Speaker
John is telling us what he sees, and he says, Then I saw four angels. They stood at the north and the south of the earth.
00:07:01
Speaker
They stood at the east and the west. and they held back the earth's winds from all four directions. They kept wind from blowing on the trees.
00:07:15
Speaker
They kept wind from blowing on land or sea. They had power to hurt the land and sea. Another angel came from the east, and he had God's seal.
00:07:30
Speaker
He called loudly to the four other angels. Don't hurt land or sea or trees yet, he called. Wait, we must put a seal on the head of each of God's servants.
00:07:47
Speaker
This is similar to when God sent his angel out to put a seal on those before he was going to bring judgment. And he said to put a seal on anyone who was upset about the sins that the Israelite people were committing, that they were worshiping idols and such.
00:08:10
Speaker
And so God sent out his angel. I believe it was Michael. that they would that he would put a mark on those who would be saved so that they would be spared judgment.
00:08:24
Speaker
And in that same way, God is calling for a seal to be put on on people who are alive during this time. John says, Then I heard how many servants would get seals.
00:08:39
Speaker
There were 144,000. And they were from all the family groups of Israel. So this seal is once again reserved for those who are Jewish.
00:08:53
Speaker
And these are people who are probably coming to messianic belief in Jesus. And the and and then he is putting a seal on them during this time so that they will not be hurt.
00:09:09
Speaker
John says, then i saw a great crowd of people no one could count them they were from all nations and groups and they spoke all languages they stood in front of the king and jesus the lamb they wore white clothes and they held palm branches they called out loudly God rules as king.
00:09:38
Speaker
God and his son, the lamb, are the only ones who can save.
00:09:45
Speaker
All the angels stood around the king, and they stood around the leaders and the four beings. They bowed their faces to the ground, and they worshiped God.
00:09:59
Speaker
They said, Yes, amen! Praise God and show his greatness. He is wise.
00:10:09
Speaker
Thank him. Show how important he is. Show his greatness forever and ever. Yes, amen. Then one of the leaders came to me.
00:10:23
Speaker
Who are the ones in white clothes? He asked. Where did they come from? Sir, you know the answer to that, I said.
00:10:35
Speaker
So he told me, They have come from the time of great trouble on earth. The blood of the Lamb has made them clean from sin. Now they stay in front of the King, and they serve him in his worship house day and night.
00:10:54
Speaker
The King puts his tent over them. They won't get hungry anymore. And they will not get thirsty anymore. The sun will not shine too hot on them.
00:11:06
Speaker
Jesus will be their shepherd. And he will take them to rivers of living water. God will wipe off all their tears.
Catastrophic Events from the Trumpets
00:11:22
Speaker
Then Jesus opened the last seal. After that, heaven was quiet for half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand in front of God.
00:11:36
Speaker
They were given seven horns to blow. Another angel came, and he had a gold bowl. He came over to the altar and stood there.
00:11:48
Speaker
He was given sweet-smelling prayers from God's people. He put them on the altar Sweet smelling smoke came up in front of God.
00:12:02
Speaker
Remember yesterday we read that this that the bowl was filled with the sweet smelling prayers of us. Our prayers are a sweet smell to God up in heaven.
00:12:16
Speaker
Then the angel filled the bowl with fire from the altar. He threw it down to the earth. Then thunder boomed and lightning flashed.
00:12:26
Speaker
The earth shook. The seven angels got ready to blow their horns. The first angel blew his horn.
00:12:38
Speaker
Hail came and fire mixed with blood was thrown onto the earth. Part of the earth burned, part of the trees burned, and all of the green grass burned.
00:12:55
Speaker
Then the second angel blew his horn. A blazing mountain was thrown into the sea. Some of the sea became blood. Some of the animals in the sea died.
00:13:09
Speaker
Some of the ships were torn apart. Then the third angel blew his horn. A great blazing star fell out of the sky.
00:13:22
Speaker
Its name was Wormwood. Wormwood means bitter. Whenever we see Wormwood in the in the Old Covenant, it is referring to bitterness.
00:13:35
Speaker
It fell on rivers and springs of water. Some of the water got a sour taste. Bitter. And lots of people died from drinking the bitter, sour water.
00:13:51
Speaker
The fourth angel blew his horn. And then part of the sun, moon, and stars turned dark. Part of the day did not have any light. Part of the night did not have any light.
00:14:05
Speaker
And then I heard an eagle flying in the air. It called loudly. How terrible! How terrible for you people on the earth!
00:14:17
Speaker
The next three angels are going to blow their horns.
00:14:23
Speaker
And that is the end of our reading today.
00:14:30
Speaker
Wow. We are only at the very beginning of God's judgment time. He is preparing the earth for Jesus' arrival to rule for a thousand years.
00:14:45
Speaker
And what we see today is despite all of the judgments going on, Jesus is the only one who can save. Anybody living during this time will still be able to come to Jesus and experience salvation and be saved from their sins so that their eternal life will be with God and Jesus in heaven.
00:15:12
Speaker
God is so merciful. He does not want anyone to experience death, complete death. He wants all to come to him so that they can have eternal life with him.
00:15:26
Speaker
God loves us so much. Even during this time, people will still be able to repent of their sins and accept Jesus's free gift while they are still here.
00:15:41
Speaker
So it is my prayer that if you are listening to this in the future, if you have found this event and you are hearing the Bible, that you come to salvation, that you accept Jesus's free gift.
00:15:55
Speaker
We want everybody to come to salvation so that we can have you be with us in heaven and to save your own soul.
Encouragement for Salvation in Tribulation
00:16:04
Speaker
That is what we hope for and we pray for.
00:16:07
Speaker
It's not too late. People on earth will still have to experience this great time of judgment, but they will still be able to save their souls.
00:16:20
Speaker
And that is the big picture. That is what we are looking at this whole year is not just living for the moment for the now, but in order to have eternal life, we're playing the long game.
00:16:34
Speaker
We're running a marathon that is long. It's not a short one. It's not a sprint. This is a lengthy marathon so that we make the right choices knowing that we are making choices for the long run, for our eternal life, after we lose our physical bodies that we don't need any anymore.
00:16:57
Speaker
Oh, God is so gracious and so loving. I hope that you are encouraged with our daily application today to know that our God is so forgiving and so gracious.
00:17:08
Speaker
We don't serve and love a God who is mean and spiteful. yet We serve a God who is loving and gives us examples of how to live godly lives.
00:17:21
Speaker
He sent us Jesus to show us. And then Jesus trained up the apostles. And then the apostles wrote these letters that we have that we can learn from. And then we are also meant to imitate Jesus so that we can help others be brought to salvation so that they follow our example of right living.
00:17:42
Speaker
So I hope that you are encouraged to keep going and to tell others about God's saving grace, that it's not too late for anybody. Even during the tribulation and the terrible times on earth, it will still not be too late.
00:17:58
Speaker
It's too late when we finally die and we get there and we stand before the king. And Jesus tells us that in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord of all.
00:18:13
Speaker
It will go so much better for us if we come to that decision before we come face to face with him.
00:18:23
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining me today. I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas season and remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season.
Promise of New Heaven and Spiritual Rebirth
00:18:32
Speaker
He has always been there.
00:18:34
Speaker
He is part of the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. We have read about him in the beginning, and now we are reading about him in Revelation, which is the ending.
00:18:46
Speaker
But it's not the complete end. There will be a new heaven with a new earth. And we will have new spiritual bodies. And we will even get new names.
00:18:58
Speaker
Everything will be made new again. And we can experience even a a rebirth by accepting Jesus, if you have not done so already, because we become a new creation as God is always transforming us to be more and more like him.
00:19:16
Speaker
No matter how long we live, we should always be growing spiritually.
00:19:22
Speaker
I hope that your Christmas day tomorrow is fantastic. And thank you so much for joining me, whether you are watching or listening on your podcast, whether you are catching up on Christmas or a later day. I'm glad that you are following along and listening to our daily readings out of the day by day kids Bible.
00:19:42
Speaker
When we, get back together again for our next reading. We will pick up with chapters eight, sorry, chapters nine and 10. And then we will be almost done. We have only a week to go and then we will have Revelation and the whole Bible finished.
Audience Engagement and Listener Shoutouts
00:20:00
Speaker
Well, before we go, i would like to encourage you to click that light button. It is never too late to help us spread the word about reading God's word. And I do want to give a couple of shout outs to the people who have been joining us lately. So I want to say hello to Kimberly again. I'm so glad that you are following along, Kimberly, and that you are enjoying the readings with me. We had an awesome time at work today together, and I was so glad that we were able to be paired together today.
00:20:30
Speaker
I love the time that God gives us, and I love how we were able to talk about, and as people came by, that I was able to point out. And there's Patrick. Hello, Patrick. I hope you're listening.
00:20:42
Speaker
Kimberly gave you a hard time today. So we hope you're listening. She was teasing you a lot. And we're so glad that you are our brother. And we are so glad for Cleo.
00:20:53
Speaker
Thank you, Cleo, for being our sister. And we are so glad that to have you with us at work too. There are so many others who are joining us that are at at my work. And I am so thankful for each and every one of you for being here with me and helping us to spread the word about reading God's word.
00:21:12
Speaker
I will see everybody again tomorrow on Christmas Day. Have a great night, everybody.