Reading from Wednesday, December 15

Hey dudes. I have one day to do 16 posts. I don't see it happening. I did start on January 10, so technically I have until 1/10/2011 to finish within a year. Sorry dudes.

Reading for December 15
Micah 1:1-4:13
Hey ho - new book.

Micah opens with a strong negative note:

 ² Hear, you peoples, all of you,
   listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign LORD may bear witness against you,
   the Lord from his holy temple.

So this is a year-end evaluation for everyone on earth. Doesn't sound like they're getting a raise this year. The first chapter is pretty much about how Israel and Judah's surrounding nations were having a negative effect on their behavior. The interesting bit is right after the verse I put above.

 ³ Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place;
   he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
⁴ The mountains melt beneath him
   and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
   like water rushing down a slope.
⁵ All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
   because of the sins of the people of Israel.

At first it seems like God is coming for some supreme vengeance, but think about these verses in the context of Jesus. Emmanuel, another name for Jesus, means God with us. Also, look at verse 5 - this is all because of Jacob's transgression. Jesus came to save us from our sins so that would make sense.

Then God begins talking about the "last days" and speaks up for the outcasts -

⁶ “In that day,” declares the LORD,    

“I will gather the lame;
   I will assemble the exiles
   and those I have brought to grief.
⁷ I will make the lame my remnant,
   those driven away a strong nation.
The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion
   from that day and forever.

This is something Jesus does in his ministry. He pays special attention to the sickly, the outcasts and the dregs of society. I could be interpreting this wrong, but I think this is that 'softer side' that has been peeking through from God as we've started to near the end of the Old Testament. 

Revelation 6:1-17
So remember that scroll that had seven seals that only Jesus could open which we read about last time? Well now he begins opening it, one seal at a time and after each seal is opened something happens.

• First Seal: a guy on a white horse came out and he was given a crown. He was bent on conquest. Jesus?
• Second Seal: a guy on a red horse came out and he had the power to entice war. Could this be Kratos? 
• Third Seal: a guy on a black horse came out and he held a pair of scales. The judge? 
• Fourth Seal: Death/Grim Reaper came out on a pale horse and was followed by Hades. Hades is Satan right? This tag team had the power to kill everyone on earth with plagues and famines and other nasties. 
• Fifth Seal: Martyrs asked God how long until their deaths were avenged. They were given white robes and then their brothers and sisters were killed. Um...what?
• Sixth Seal: Holy crap...

There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³ and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

• Seventh Seal: Everyone on earth hides in fear of what was happening. 

Psalm 134:1-3
This is the whole psalm

 ¹ Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD
   who minister by night in the house of the LORD.
² Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
   and praise the LORD.
 ³ May the LORD bless you from Zion,
   he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.

 Proverbs 30:1-4
Hm...

 ¹ The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance.
   This man’s utterance to Ithiel:
   “I am weary, God,
   but I can prevail.^[a]
2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man;
   I do not have human understanding.
³ I have not learned wisdom,
   nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.
⁴ Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
   Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
   Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
   Surely you know!