The Robert Murray M‘Cheyne
Bible Reading Plan
December 30
Private Reading
Malachi 3
The Purifier
1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before
Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger
of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord
of hosts.
2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He
appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
3 “He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify
the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present
to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
4 “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness
against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear
falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow
and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says
the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are
not consumed.
7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes
and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the
Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
You Have Robbed God
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How
have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation
of you!
10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food
in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if
I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing
until it overflows.
11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy
the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says
the Lord of hosts.
12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful
land,” says the Lord of hosts.
13 “Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet
you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it
that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the
Lord of hosts?
15 ‘So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness
built up but they also test God and escape.’ ”
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention
and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who
fear the Lord and who esteem His name.
17 “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day
that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own
son who serves him.”
18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between
one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
John 20
The Empty Tomb
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene *?came early to the tomb, while
it *?was still dark, and *?saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
2 So she *?ran and *?came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus
loved, and *?said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb,
and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb.
4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than
Peter and came to the tomb first;
5 and stooping and looking in, he *?saw the linen wrappings lying there; but
he did not go in.
6 And so Simon Peter also *?came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he
*?saw the linen wrappings lying there,
7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings,
but rolled up in a place by itself.
8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and
he saw and believed.
9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from
the dead.
10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped
and looked into the tomb;
12 and she *?saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the
feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.
13 And they *?said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She *?said
to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where
they have laid Him.”
14 When she had said this, she turned around and *?saw Jesus standing there,
and did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus *?said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing
Him to be the gardener, she *?said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him
away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
16 Jesus *?said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *?said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which
means, Teacher).
17 Jesus *?said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended
to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father
and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ”
18 Mary Magdalene *?came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the
Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.
Jesus among His Disciples
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the
doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood in their midst and *?said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The
disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent
Me, I also send you.”
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *?said to them, “Receive
the Holy Spirit.
23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came.
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But
he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and
put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will
not believe.”
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus
*?came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace
be with you.”
27 Then He *?said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands;
and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving,
but believing.”
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus *?said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed
are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Why This Gospel Was Written
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book;
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
"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)