Daily Devotions

What’s the Big Idea?

World affairs played a heavy role in Israel’s and Judah’s destinies. Yet, the author of 2 Kings directly connected the Israelites’ apostasy—led by their wicked kings—to their national destruction, pointing it out as God’s judgment on His wayward children. Despite repeated warnings from God’s prophets to turn from their ways and return to God, the people continued to live in sin. To their regret, they did not believe that God would allow their nation to be ruined by foreign invaders.

Yet God did not forget His promise to David, either. God saved a remnant from among the people and kept the royal line intact so that one day His people could return to their land to await the promised Redeemer. 

https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-historical-books/first-kings

Day 1 (April 21)
2 Kings 17:1-41
Key Verses: 24-26

Day 2 (April 22)
2 Kings 18:1-37
Key Verses: 13-16

Day 3 (April 23)
2 Kings 19:1-37
Key Verses: 32-34

Day 4 (April 24)
2 Kings 20:1-21
Key Verses: 16-19

Day 5 (April 25)
2 Kings 21:1-26
Key Verses: 10-13

Day 6 (April 26)
2 Kings 22:1-20
Key Verses: 18-20

Memory Verse
Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost

How do I Apply This?

Second Kings teaches an important life lesson: actions have consequences. “Repent! Sin will incur judgment,” God warned in effect through the prophets. Israel and Judah learned the hard way that God means what He says.

How will we learn? Consider your heart. Is it hard, resistant to God’s call? Or can you acknowledge your sin and turn back to Him?

https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-historical-books/second-kings

Day 1 (April 28)
2 Kings 23:1-37
Key Verses: 34-35

Day 2 (April 29)
2 Kings 24:1-20
Key Verse: 14

Day 3 (April 30)
2 Kings 25:1-30
Key Verses: 8-9

Day 4 (May 1)
Matthew 1:1-25
Key Verse: 23

Day 5 (May 2)
Matthew 2:1-23
Key Verses: 1-3

Day 6 (May 3)
Matthew 3:1-17
Key Verse: 11

Memory Verse
Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Who Wrote the Book?

While Matthew did not sign his own name to “his” gospel, the early church uniformly attested to the apostle’s authorship of the book. As early as AD 140, a Christian named Papias wrote that Matthew had compiled the sayings of the Lord in Hebrew (presumably before Matthew translated them into Greek for a larger audience).

Matthew’s name appears in all the biblical lists of the twelve apostles, though Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. His history as a tax collector distinguished him from the other apostles, and immediately after his call to follow Jesus—an event he recorded in Matthew 9:9—Matthew hosted a feast for Jesus in his home with an invitation list made up of Matthew’s sinful friends. Apparently Matthew did not think it odd that Jesus and he would associate with the sinful and downtrodden of society.

https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-gospels/matthew

Day 1 (May 5)
Matthew 4:1-25
Key Verse: 17

Day 2 (May 6)
Matthew 5:1-48
Key Verses: 38-42

Day 3 (May 7)
Matthew 6:1-34
Key Verse: 5

Day 4 (May 8)
Matthew 7:1-29
Key Verse: 12

Day 5 (May 9)
Matthew 8:1-34
Key Verse: 34

Day 6 (May 10)
Matthew 9:1-38
Key Verses: 37-38

Memory Verse
Matthew 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Where Are We?

Matthew is the most Jewish-centric of the four gospels. The apostle regularly invoked the writings of the Old Testament prophets in an effort to illustrate Jesus’s identity as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.

However, the gospel of Matthew has been notoriously difficult to date. Several factors speak to a date ranging from AD 60–65. First of all, the book makes no mention of the destruction of the temple, an event which occurred in AD 70. Such a cataclysmic event likely would have received some comment, particularly in a book so clearly influenced by Judaism. The largely Jewish character of the book also suggests it was written at a time when much of the evangelism by Christians was directed more exclusively at Jews, something that became less and less common as the decades passed. Finally, many scholars believe Mark to have been the first gospel composed, making it most probable that Matthew was written soon after.

https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-historical-books/second-kings

Day 1 (May 12)
Matthew 10:1-42
Key Verses: 5-8

Day 2 (May 13)
Matthew 11:1-30
Key Verses: 16-19

Day 3 (May 14)
Matthew 12:1-50
Key Verse: 12

Day 4 (May 15)
Matthew 13:1-58
Key Verses: 31-32

Day 5 (May 16)
Matthew 14:1-36
Key Verse: 30

Day 6 (May 17)
Matthew 15:1-39
Key Verse: 5

Memory Verse
Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Coming Soon.

Coming soon.