The Robert Murray M‘Cheyne
Bible Reading Plan
December 25
Private Reading
Zechariah 12-13:1
Jerusalem to Be Attacked
1 The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel.
Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of
the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,
2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all
the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be
against Judah.
3 “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone
for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations
of the earth will be gathered against it.
4 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse
with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house
of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
5 “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support
for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God.’
6 “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces
of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right
hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem
again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.
7 “The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory
of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not
be magnified above Judah.
8 “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the
one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of
David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.
9 “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come
against Jerusalem.
10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they
have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and
they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning
of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
12 “The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house
of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of
Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;
13 the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the
family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;
14 all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.
Chapter
13
False Prophets Ashamed
1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.
John 15
Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every
branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him,
he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries
up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.
8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove
to be My disciples.
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My
love.
10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have
kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and
that your joy may be made full.
Disciples’ Relation to Each Other
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved
you.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his
friends.
14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his
master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard
from My Father I have made known to you.
16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would
go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask
of the Father in My name He may give to you.
17 “This I command you, that you love one another.
Disciples’ Relation to the World
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated
you.
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because
you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the
world hates you.
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater
than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;
if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake,
because they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but
now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they
would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as
well.
25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their
Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that
is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)