Please see below the Daily Bible Readings for this week:
Sunday
Morning: Revelation 20
Evening: Revelation 21
Prayer Focus: The Apostolic Church UK and Missionaries
Monday
Morning: Revelation 22
Evening: Matthew 1
Prayer Focus: Youth and Children
Tuesday
Morning: Matthew 2
Evening: Matthew 3
Prayer Focus: The Body of Christ
Wednesday
Morning: Matthew 4
Evening: Matthew 5
Prayer Focus: The United Kingdom
Thursday
Morning: Matthew 6
Evening: Matthew 7
Prayer Focus: People with Diverse Problems, Parents and Pregnant Women
Friday
Morning: Matthew 8
Evening: Matthew 9
Prayer Focus: The All Nations’ Center, yourself and your family
Saturday
Morning: Matthew 10
Evening: Matthew 11
Prayer Focus: Praise, Thanksgiving and Worship
Introduction to the Books of the Bible
The Gospel of Matthew
From “Encyclopedia of The Bible“:
“The Gospel according to Matthew” has always occupied a position of highest esteem in the faith and life of the Christian Church.
This, in part, maybe because it heads the four gospels and is the first book of the NT, forming a bridge between the Old and New Covenants; but on the contrary, it would seem that the Early Church placed it in first position in the NT Canon, precisely because of the profound influence of its contents on the Church and the world; so much so, that many have termed it the greatest book ever written.
William Barclay writes, “When we turn to Matthew, we turn to the book which may well be called the most important single document of the Christian faith, for in it we have the fullest and the most systematic account of the life and the teachings of Jesus” (The First Three Gospels, p. 197).
The writings of the Early Church Fathers reveal that it was the most frequently quoted and perhaps the most widely read gospel during the first two centuries of the church’s history. In particular, it is the most complete record of the life, works and words of Jesus Christ. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, there was much interest in knowing who Jesus was and what He said and did. Many believe the gospel was written to fulfil this need.
For this reason, the gospel lessons or pericopes from Matthew to be read in the churches have been favoured by the church’s liturgies. More lessons were chosen from Matthew’s gospel than from any other.
The Book of the Revelation
From “Encyclopedia of The Bible“:
Revelation, frequently called The Apocalypse of John, is the last book of the NT.
The Book of Revelation is unique as the sole, totally apocalyptic work in the NT. In its literary genre, it strongly resembles the Old Testament books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah and, like them, is the product of a writer belonging to a minority group threatened with persecution or suffering under it.
Revelation belongs to the latter part of the 1st Christian century when the Christian Church had withdrawn from Judaism and was initially recognized as a separate movement by the Roman State.
Revelation was written for churches under the shadow of imperial persecution, whether or not it was a general policy. The imminent danger of official repression was a continued threat to their existence. Because of the prevailing uncertainty, they needed both encouragement and warning: encouragement to keep them from despair and consequent abandonment of faith and warning to alert them to the dangers of external attack and internal apostasy. These elements, together with a general reflection of prevalent conditions in the Empire, appear in the Revelation.
The encouragement of the churches was focused on the coming of Christ to judge His enemies, to deliver the church from peril, and to establish the City of God. In almost every one of the letters to the churches occurs some phrase relating to Christ’s expected appearance (2:5; 16, 25; 3:3, 11, 20), and the expression, “I am coming soon” (3:11) is reiterated three times in the Epilogue (22:7, 12, 20). Preparation for the Second Advent is the dominant theme of Revelation.