For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday. God bless us every one.

    If you have exalted yourself, blown your own horn, or otherwise promoted how wonderful you are to others, you have been foolish and should be ashamed of yourself. If you have planned evil, you should be even more ashamed of yourself.

    Each generation will tell the next of God’s wonderful power. I will meditate on the works which God has done and proclaim His deeds. If you are a faithful follower of God you will speak of the glory of His kingdom and give examples of His power. Let us tell others how God has worked in our lives and exalt Him before all we meet.

    After the seven plagues, one of the seven angels took John to show him another vision. He saw a woman dressed in purple and scarlet, the colors of royalty and wealth, sitting on a scarlet beast. The beast had seven heads and ten horns. I am sure that John believed the woman to be the Roman Empire, and he may have been correct (at least partially). The passage tells us that the seven heads are seven kings, five of whom have already fallen from power, a sixth who is currently ruling, and a seventh who has yet to rise to power. Then we are told that the beast is an eighth king. We are told that the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power.
    The angel in the vision tells John that the beast was alive, is not now, yet will come up out of the Abyss. Those who do not serve God, whose names are not written in the Book of Life, will be amazed when the beast reappears. The beast and the ten horns will hate the woman. They will combine their power first in order to attack God and those who serve Him. They will be defeated, but before that happens they will destroy the woman. The woman is the city who rules over all the kings of the world.
    As I read this passage, parts of it seem to fit into something I can understand, then I read on, or refer back, and it all slips away. However, there are a few points which always remain. First, secular power is always transient. Those peoples and nations who have power today will lose that power before long. The second is that secular powers will, sooner or later, end up defying God and persecuting those who faithfully serve Him.

    Zechariah prophesies that Israel’s neighbors who are also her enemies will be destroyed. Further he prophesies that the remaining Philistines will join the Jews in worshiping God, becoming a clan of Israel. God promises to protect Israel from being overrun ever again. Does this prophecy apply today? Or is it for some time yet to come?
    Zechariah then gives a prophecy concerning the coming of Israel’s king, a prophecy which I see as clearly a prophecy of the Messiah. Zechariah speaks of Israel’s king riding into Jerusalem victorious, but humble. Zechariah tells us that when the Messiah comes, it will not be with great military power. In fact, the Messiah will destroy all military equipment and bring peace to the world. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, at the height of the crowd’s Messianic fervor for Him, it was this passage which He chose to embody. By doing this, Jesus was telling us that He was already victorious and would not be using military force to bring about His Kingdom.