{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"NL-Day365 Malachi 4; Isaiah 66; Revelation 22","description":"As I finish this podcast series, I am really thankful for this year-long experience. If you are one of the faithful ones who have listened through a year\u2019s worth of daily podcasts\u2014 and no matter whether this has taken longer than a year, I say Way to go! I sincerely hope these podcasts have been a blessing for you\u2014 as they have been for me. I hope that nothing that I have said has caused you to stumble or decreased your desire to study God\u2019s Word. I started this project in the hope that my four grandchildren would\u2014 in some future year, listen to this series of recordings. Now we have five grandchildren. If you are Luke Fields, Laura Fields, Ava Baughn, Joel Baughn, or Devan Baughn, know that Grampa loves you and that I desired to share spiritual treasures with you. I am proud of you and wish that we could have shared these readings in person. I urge you to stay centered upon God\u2019s Word. And to ALL of you in the family of Christ Jesus our Savior, I send warm greetings and love. May the Lord bless you as you continue your journey with Him! MALACHI 4: As people like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2) waited for the Messiah to come, I am sure that they were thinking of verses like Malachi 3:1: Mal. 3:1 NLT \u201cLook! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,\u201d says the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies. Re-reading ISAIAH 66: Isaiah ends with blessings and promises  that foreshadow Revelation, such as these: Is. 66:12 GNT The Lord says, \u201cI will bring you lasting prosperity; the wealth of the nations will flow to you like a river that never goes dry. \u2026 22 \u201cJust as the new earth and the new heavens will endure by my power, so your descendants and your name will endure. In stark contrast to the promises and blessings, Isaiah also ends with vivid warnings against judgments and punishments that are like those in Revelation. Jesus himself quoted that final verse about the worms and the unquenchable fire. (Mark 9:48) You can take that as Jesus\u2019 stamp of approval on all that Isaiah said! REVELATION 22: In chapter 21 we heard the invitation to receive free life-giving water for anyone who is thirsty, and that invitation is repeated in today\u2019s chapter. The culmination of everything promised and the healing of everything sick and broken occur here. God says, \u201cLook, I am making all things new.\u201d There is again symbolism in every aspect of the New Jerusalem\u2014 including even the shape of a huge cube. As noted above at the end of Isaiah, in stark contrast to the eternal blessings for God\u2019s people are the vivid ending warnings of eternal judgment in the last two chapters of Revelation. In Rev. 22:8-9, most translations make it sound that John made the same mistake twice\u2014 bowing down again to the angel that was showing everything to him. But the Greek in those verse in chapter 22 can be understood to be retelling that event that happened in chapter 19, and I think that makes better sense. The probable reason that John included the story twice was to emphasize that angels should not be worshipped. Let\u2019s beware of such heresy! Because such false teaching keeps on resurfacing and some forms of Gnosticism remain to the present day. Congratulations on finishing the Digging Deeper Daily reading plan! NLT Translation Notes: Rev. 22:1b  On each side of the river grew [the\/a] tree of life, 8b  And when I heard and saw them[\u2014 as I said before], I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. 16b  I am both the [founding] source of David   Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright \u00a9 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. ","author_name":"Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields","author_url":"http:\/\/dailybiblereading.info","html":"