{"id":14309,"date":"2025-12-30T06:37:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14309"},"modified":"2025-12-30T06:37:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:37:52","slug":"december-30th-chronological-bible-readings-chronological-bible-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14309","title":{"rendered":"December 30th Chronological Bible Readings \u2013 Chronological Bible Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\"><strong>You are invited to join us on the Chronological Bible in a Year journey in 2026!\u00a0<\/strong> Click on this link for more details and to sign up!\u00a0Or, you may be interested in joining us on the Bible in a Year (OT, NT, Psalms, Proverbs daily) journey in 2026 and can sign up at this link:\u00a0www.bibleinayearblog.com<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\"><strong>Revelation 15:1-18:24<\/strong><\/span><br \/><em><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">~ Click here to read today\u2019s Scripture on Bible Gateway ~<\/span><\/em><br \/><span style=\"color: black\"><em>~ Listen to today\u2019s Scripture with <\/em><em>The ESV Bible<\/em><\/span> ~<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Revelation chapter 15 titled <strong>\u201cPrelude to the Seven Last Plagues\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">at this link<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\"> and<strong> \u201cThe End is in Sight\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">at this link<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Revelation chapter 16 titled <strong>\u201cThe Bowl Judgments\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span>at this link<\/span><span> and<strong> \u201cThe Super Bowls\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span>at this link<\/span><span>.\u00a0 Below is artist Pat Marvenko Smith\u2019s \u201cThe Seven Bowl Judgments\u201d and \u201cThe Plagues of the Seven Bowls:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.<br \/>To order prints visit her \u201c<\/span><span>Revelation Illustrated<\/span><span>\u201d site.<\/span><br \/><span\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span>Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.<br \/>To order prints visit her \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Revelation Illustrated<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201d site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Today in Revelation chapter 17 we read about the woman and the beast.\u00a0 How have our readings in Revelation about the beast affected your faith or outlook on end times? Do you believe these writings in Revelation are true?  Below is artist Pat Marvenko Smith\u2019s \u201cBabylon the Great riding the Beast\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.<br \/>To order prints visit her \u201c<\/span><span>Revelation Illustrated<\/span><span>\u201d site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Revelation chapter 17 titled <strong>\u201cThe Judgment of Religious Babylon\u201d<\/strong> is at this link and<strong> \u201cUse It or Lose It!\u201d<\/strong> is at this link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In Revelation chapter 18 today we read about the fall of Babylon.\u00a0 This is one of those chapters in Revelation that can be interpreted in many ways by many different people \u2013 with the overriding question\u00a0and interpretation revolving around who is Babylon that John is referring to here?\u00a0 Most commentaries that I have read suggest that John is referring to the Roman empire of the 1st century in this chapter.\u00a0 Much of Revelation is eschatological \u2013 end times prophecy \u2013 and some commentaries suggest that this chapter is too.\u00a0 \u00a0But it seems that most commentaries look at this chapter as a prophecy toward the fall of the Roman empire \u2013 an empire that in John\u2019s time was a \u201ccult of emperor worship\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0An empire that John wrote about here to warn the early Christian churches to be on guard against because it stood against God and His people.\u00a0 However \u2013 other commentaries do consider Babylon in this chapter to represent the political and religious system of the world in general under the rule of the antichrist.\u00a0 And some others see this chapter to be about a literal Babylon in Mesopotamia that is rebuilt and restored in the end times.\u00a0 \u00a0Below is John Martin\u2019s \u201cFall of Babylon\u201d from <em>Illustrations from the Bible<\/em>, 1835:<\/span><br \/><span\/><\/p>\n<p><span>Since we\u2019re nearing the end of the book of Revelation, and in particular because of the questions this chapter 18 can bring up, this is probably a good time for me to re-post this information below about the book of Revelation \u2013 same info I posted up when we started Revelation chapter 1 on December 9th.\u00a0 There are basically 4 lines of thinking on how to interpret the book of Revelation, which I think are helpful to consider before diving into this book.\u00a0 I am editing these comments below from bible.org at this link: <\/span><span>Please check out this link <\/span><span>for more details on these 4 points below and the book of Revelation overall \u2013 these comments were edited on bible.org from M. C. Tenney, <em>Interpreting Revelation<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c(1) The <strong><em>preterist<\/em><\/strong> approach believes that \u201cRevelation is simply a sketch of the conditions of the empire in the first century.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"bodytext\"><span>(2) The <strong><em>historicist<\/em><\/strong> view (or continuous-historicist view) \u201ccontends that Revelation is a symbolic presentation of the entire course of the history of the church from the close of the first century to the end of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"bodytext\"><span>(3) The <strong><em>futurist<\/em><\/strong> approach usually argues that \u201call of the visions from Revelation 4:1 to the end of the book are yet to be fulfilled in the period immediately preceding and following the second advent of Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"bodytext\"><span>(4) In the <strong><em>idealist<\/em><\/strong> approach, \u201cthe Revelation represents the eternal conflict of good and evil which persists in every age, although here it may have particular application to the period of the church.\u201d\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Below is art titled \u201cThe Angel with the Millstone\u201d \u2013 a manuscript illumination from the year 1020 for chapter 18 verse 21 today: <em>\u201cThen a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, \u201cJust like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.\u201d<\/em><\/span><br \/><span\/><\/p>\n<p><span>Bible.org\u2019s commentary on today\u2019s readings in Revelation chapter 18 titled <strong>\u201cDestruction of Commercial Babylon\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span>at this link<\/span><span> and<strong>\u201cUse It or Lose It!\u201d<\/strong> is <\/span><span>at this link<\/span><span>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\"><strong>Worship Video: <\/strong>Today\u2019s readings in Revelation remind me of the incredible \u201cRevelation Song\u201d performed here by Kari Jobe:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/span><br \/>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3dZMBrGGmeE<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Do you look forward to singing the Revelation Song in Heaven one day?<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span><span>Click here and sing!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today:<\/strong> <em>\u201cWho will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.\u201d <\/em> Revelation 15:4 (NIV)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Prayer Point:<\/strong> Pray that you are bringing glory to God\u2019s name with your worship and life.  Pray that you are evangelizing others to fear the Lord and worship Him now and forevermore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\"><strong>Comments from You:<\/strong>\u00a0 What verses or insights stand out to you in today\u2019s readings?\u00a0 Please post up by clicking on the \u201cComments\u201d link below!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">God bless,<br \/>Mike<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our Chronological Bible readings at this link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">p.s. #2 \u2013 Download a schedule of our Chronological Bible readings for the year in PDF format at this link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1.2em\">p.s. #3 \u2013 I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Chronological Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You are invited to join us on the Chronological Bible in a Year journey in 2026!\u00a0 Click on this link for more details and to sign up!\u00a0Or, you may be interested in joining us on the Bible in a Year (OT, NT, Psalms, Proverbs daily) journey in 2026 and can sign up at this link:\u00a0www.bibleinayearblog.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2420,45,46,558,2421,231],"class_list":{"0":"post-14309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-study","8":"tag-30th","9":"tag-bible","10":"tag-blog","11":"tag-chronological","12":"tag-december","13":"tag-readings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}