For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
If you give to the poor you will find that you have all that you need. However, those who ignore the needs of those less fortunate than themselves will never have enough. When the wicked are in charge, everyone seeks to avoid the notice of the government because everything is a crime. When the wicked suffer for their wickedness the righteous prosper.
I will not look to the mountains or the sea for help. I will look to God, because He is the only one who can always aid. He does not slumber nor sleep. Whenever trouble comes, whether by day, or by night, He will be watching and ready. Remember this psalm and read it whenever you are feeling afraid.
The writer tells us that the idea that the AntiChrist is a single individual is mistaken. The antichrist is anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Those who refuse to acknowledge the Father and the Son are antichrists. Such people are liars and many of them had once been in fellowship with the Body of Christ. Many of them had associated with the Church in order to pursue their own selfish interests, not out of any genuine interest in serving God.
The writer proceeds to remind us that we are God’s children if we do what is right. We do not yet know how God will change us when Christ returns, but we will be like Christ for we will see Him as He truly is. Therefore we purify ourselves so that we will pure as He is pure. If we truly live in Christ we will not keep on sinning because there is no sin in Christ. The degree to which we do keep on sinning suggests the degree to which we are apart from Christ (since there is no sin in Him). I strive to put such sinning aside so that I can become ever closer to Christ.
Daniel offered up a prayer for the people of Israel. He recognized that the people of Israel were punished for their sins as a group. I think we can easily make too much out of this prayer and the concept of corporate guilt which it presents. Nevertheless there is a degree to which we will suffer because of the sins of those others who belong to the same groups which we do. If we do not wish to be punished along with those around us we must separate ourselves from them and from their sin. And we must acknowledge the sin which the society we live has committed and is committing, recognizing that it is sin and seeking to make recompense for that sin to the best of our ability.