Free Daily Bible Study Podcast

2 Chronicles 27–28 | Revelation 14 | Zechariah 10 | John 13

In today’s reading, we find one of the rare times a story about the northern nation of Israel is recorded in the Chronicles. In 2 Kings 16 we read the account of Judah’s King Ahaz, and there, we found many details about his interaction with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. But here in 2 Chronicles 28, we read about the faithfulness of the northern Israelites—faithfulness that stands in stark contrast with the unfaithfulness of Judah’s King Ahaz, who was so wicked as to burn his own sons as offerings to the pagan gods (2 Chron. 28:3).

Because of Ahaz’s evil, Yahweh hands him over to be defeated by the kings of Syria and Israel (2 Chron. 28:5–6). Pekah, the king of Israel, inflicts great losses on Ahaz’s military, so that the southern nation of Judah loses 120,000 men of valor in a single day of battle—and all of this happens, the author of 2 Chronicles reminds us, “because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 28:6).

But even more than the wickedness of killing their own brothers in battle, Israel’s victory also enables them to take two hundred thousand of the people of Judah into slavery (2 Chron. 28:8), despite the fact that the people of Israel were forbidden from enslaving their fellow Israelites (Lev. 25:35–55). In response, a faithful prophet rebukes the people of Israel: “Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you” (2 Chron. 28:10–11). Additionally, certain chiefs of the tribe of Ephraim refuse to allow the slaves to be brought into their cities, saying, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the LORD in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel” (2 Chron. 28:13).

On the one hand, we are meant to see here that the wheels are coming off the tribe of Judah, so that they will continue to be handed over to greater defeats the further they rebel against Yahweh. But we are also meant to see that there were indeed faithful members from the northern tribes of Israel. Seeing Yahweh preserve a remnant who fears him and obeys his commandments ought to give us hope as we witness the church fall into all kinds of unfaithfulness and immorality in our own day. God will continue to build his church, even when that church survives as only a remnant at times, until the last day when Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Pray that God might give you the grace to persevere with the saints to the end, no matter how badly things might go around you.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 26 | Revelation 13 | Zechariah 9 | John 12

Uzziah, the king we read about in 2 Chronicles 26, also goes by the variant name Azariah in the record of his reign in 2 Kings 15:1–7. His mention in 2 Kings 15 is fairly brief, mixed in between all the accounts of Israel’s kings, but there we find this statement without any explanation: “And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house” (2 Kgs. 15:5). Why would Yahweh, all of a sudden, strike a relatively godly king (2 Kgs. 15:3) with leprosy? While 2 Kings does not say, we find out the rest of the story in our reading today.

Even though during most of Uzziah’s life he has faithfully sought Yahweh, and Yahweh has therefore made him prosper (2 Chron. 26:5), the king becomes proud in his strength toward the end of his life (2 Chron. 26:16). Because of his pride, he wickedly enters the temple of Yahweh to burn incense, even though he is forbidden to do so as a king from the line of David, since he is not a priest from the line of Aaron. The priests faithfully stand up to Uzziah, and when Uzziah responds in anger, Yahweh strikes him with leprosy, and he lives out the rest of his days quarantined from the rest of the people—and particularly, quarantined from the temple—in his disease (2 Chron. 26:16–23). Uzziah, we should remember, was not the first king to usurp the role of the priests—King Saul also offered a sacrifice rather than waiting for Samuel to come to offer it in 1 Samuel 13. The consistent message through the Old Testament is that Israel’s kings may not approach God as priests.

But yet, when Jesus came into the world, he came to become our high priest forever, despite being a king from the line of David and not from the line of Aaron. For this reason, Hebrews 7 points us back to the example of the king-priest Melchizedek from Genesis 14, who was greater than Abraham (and therefore greater than Levi), as well as to the prophecy from Psalm 110:4 that some coming king would also be “priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus becomes a priest, but not by pridefully demanding the role as Uzziah does in 2 Chronicles 26. Rather, the Father appointed Jesus as a priest because of the weakness and uselessness of the former priesthood (Heb. 7:18) so that Jesus might save us to the uttermost and permit us to draw near to God through him (Heb. 7:25).

God’s presence is never to be taken lightly, but because of Jesus, let us draw near to God together through Christ, our great high priest, who always lives to make intercession for us.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 25 | Revelation 12 | Zechariah 8 | John 11

Amaziah, like Joash his father, is a godly king who does not end his life as faithfully as he begins it. So, the summary of Amaziah’s reign goes like this: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chron. 25:2). Amaziah, then, righteously puts to death the servants who had assassinated his father, and he is also obedient not to put their children to death for what their fathers did, according to the law of Moses (2 Chron. 25:3–4). Nevertheless, Amaziah begins to seek the gods of Edom toward the end of his life, and when this happens, Yahweh ordains Amaziah’s demise (2 Chron. 25:20).

In today’s meditation, however, we will look at the story in the middle of this chapter where Amaziah both disobeys and obeys. In 2 Chronicles 25:5–13, we read that Amaziah hires one hundred thousand warriors from the northern tribes of Israel for one hundred talents of silver (2 Chron. 25:6). By doing this, Amaziah betrays the fact that he does not actually believe Yahweh will help him in battle, as a man of God (i.e., a prophet) comes to tell him: “Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down” (2 Chron. 25:8).

So far, this interaction is fairly typical—the leaders and kings of both Israel and Judah have often sought all kinds of interventions to help them in war only to be rebuked by a prophet. Amaziah’s response, however, is fascinating: “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” To this, the man of God replies, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this” (2 Chron. 25:9). This is called the sunk cost fallacy, where we believe that because we have already invested heavily into the wrong solution, we will do better to continue down that road rather than cutting our losses and switching to the right path.

Often, after we have invested heavily in our own plans and schemes for our futures, it is tempting to want to stick the course, no matter what. Even when the Holy Spirit begins to convict our hearts of the faithlessness of our plans, we feel a strong impulse to finish things out anyway after coming so far. Are you convicted of sin but worried about getting your investment back? Repent fully today, and listen to the promise from God’s word: he is able to give you much more than this, and in fact, he is able to do “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).

The question is not whether God can restore our losses, but rather this: Will you trust him to do it?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 24 | Revelation 11 | Zechariah 7 | John 10

The reign of Joash is a tragedy that begins on the best note possible but that eventually takes a sinister turn away from faithful obedience to Yahweh and toward the false worship and idolatry that has plagued the people of Yahweh throughout their story. The unique factor in the story of Joash in 2 Chronicles 24, then, comes as we look at the lynchpin of Joash’s faithfulness: the priest Jehoiada.

Yesterday, we looked at some of Jehoiada’s reforms of the temple, but we find this summary of his influence on Joash at the beginning of our reading for today: “And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (2 Chron. 24:2). Under Jehoiada’s godly leadership, Joash collects taxes from the people to restore and repair the temple so that Jehoiada could again offer burnt offerings in the temple all the days of his life (2 Chron. 24:14). But, when Jehoiada dies at the age of 130, Joash begins to listen to a different set of counselors, with a different message than the godly priest had spoken to him. He abandons the true worship in the temple in order to serve the Asherim and the idols instead, and he ignores every prophet who attempts to call him to repentance (2 Chron. 24:17–19).

This passage echoes the tragic opening of the book of Judges, where we read that “the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:7), but that after Joshua and his elders died, “there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:10). In our reading for today, we see the same phenomenon: when the godly leader dies (formerly Joshua, but now Jehoiada), we discover that the obedience and faithfulness of those around him has had more to do with his life and influence rather than any kind of heart transformation in them. Then, when we begin to reflect on the downward trajectory of the story of the book of Judges, we understand quickly where the narrative of Chronicles is headed now—toward Yahweh’s judgment and exile.

We live in a day when a tremendous amount of youth never return to the church after leaving their parents’ homes, but that is nothing new—we see the same, terrible pattern in the Bible itself. As we consider how to train up the next generation of believers, how might we both we lead them to walk in the truth and also, as they grow older, give them space to make their faith their own? Pray today for the lifelong faithfulness of the next generation of Christ’s disciples.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 22–23 | Revelation 10 | Zechariah 6 | John 9

The stories in 2 Chronicles 22–23 narrate the bloody history by which Judah emerges from chaos, wickedness, and violence in the aftermath of Jehoram’s reign. Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, picks up in Judah where his father left off, walking “in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly” (2 Chron. 22:3). After Yahweh ordains to put Ahaziah to death, his mother—who is Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and the granddaughter of Omri (2 Chron. 22:2)—sees her opportunity for power, so she murders all of her grandsons except for Joash, whom one of her granddaughters hides in the temple under the watchful care of Jehoiada the priest (2 Chron. 22:10–12). Jehoiada then protects him until the day that Joash, the true son of David, may be revealed, anointed, and crowned as king (2 Chron. 23:1–11).

Now, this is a story we studied back in 2 Kings 8–11, and many of the details of how Joash ascended to the throne—as well as the story of how Judah’s leaders put Athaliah to death over her protests of treason—show up almost identically in the narratives there. But, in the section where we read about Jehoiada’s reforms of Judah’s worship, we see a key difference in the telling of this story in 2 Chronicles—namely, the emphasis here is on the way that Jehoiada helps Joash restore David’s organization of the priests and Levites: “And Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of the LORD under the direction of the Levitical priests and the Levites whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the LORD, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David” (2 Chron. 23:18).

Even here, where we read nearly identical stories, the Chronicler uniquely puts David back at the forefront, placing David’s orders on equal footing with the law of Moses. Just as we saw so many times in 1 Chronicles, the point of this is not to exalt David but to anticipate the coming of David’s greater Son—an anticipation that becomes all the more desperate as we see how poorly the immediate sons of David have reigned as kings so far in 2 Chronicles.

All this reminds us that, one day, the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed in glory, returning to depose the treacherous rulers of this world who have oppressed God’s people. On that day, no amount of protesting will protect those who have despised the reign of David’s greater Son. Today, is your hope bound up in patiently waiting for the revelation of David’s true, greater Son, or are you seeking personal gain for yourself no matter whom you trample in the process?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 21 | Revelation 9 | Zechariah 5 | John 8

Jehoshaphat, as we discovered over the last three days, reigned with a mixture of good and evil. Tragically, Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram follows only in the evil footsteps of his father, even going so far as to ally himself with King Ahab by marrying one of the daughter’s of Israel’s wicked king. Jehoram, then, “walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Chron. 21:6).

And indeed, Jehoram commits all manner of wickedness. He murders all of his brothers to eliminate any possible threats to his throne (2 Chron. 21:4), although Yahweh only permitted him to reign for eight brief years because of his wickedness anyway (2 Chron. 21:5). Furthermore, he sets up more high places in the hill country of Judah for idolatrous worship (2 Chron. 21:11–12). Even the prophet Elijah, who rebukes Jehoram and prophesies a plague on his people, children, wives, and possessions, cannot get Jehoram to repent (2 Chron. 21:12–15). For all this wickedness, Yahweh prompts Edom and Libnah to revolt against Judah’s rule (2 Chron. 21:8–10), and he also raises up the Philistines and Arabians against Judah, who ransack Jerusalem (2 Chron. 21:16–17). Finally, Yahweh sends Jehoram a painful, incurable disease in his bowels, which kills him over the course of two long years, to the dismay of no one in Judah (2 Chron. 21:18–20).

Those who have children should see a warning in Jehoram’s upbringing. Jehoram’s marriage alliance with the house of Ahab seems to be a significant factor in his apostasy and wickedness, but he is simply following the example set by his father, Jehoshaphat, who twice created alliances with the kings of Israel. If you knew that your children would certainly inherit your worst sins, what might change in your life today?

But also, we see that Yahweh preserves the lineage of David through grace once again: “Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever” (2 Chron. 21:7). Jehoram inherits his sin from his father, but he is also shown some measure of grace because of the obedience of another one of his ancestors, David.

When you die, will you leave a godly heritage, or will your sins and your wickedness be the heritage you leave behind, so that you depart “with no one’s regret” (2 Chron. 21:20)? Ask God that he might break generational sins in your family, while also extending his covenantal kindness to your children’s children, even to a thousand generations (Deut. 7:9).

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 19–20 | Revelation 8 | Zechariah 4 | John 7

As we have discussed over the previous two meditations, the reign of Jehoshaphat was a mixed bag. Sometimes he obeyed Yahweh, and sometimes he did not. So, while he had appointed the priests and the Levites to teach the law in 2 Chronicles 17, he also foolishly entered into a military alliance with the wicked King Ahab of Israel, for which he is rebuked in 2 Chronicles 19:2. In today’s reading, we see more of the same lurching between good and evil through the rest of Jehoshaphat’s life.

First, in 2 Chronicles 19:4–11, Jehoshaphat appoints judges throughout all the fortified cities in Judah, as well as priests and Levites who would remain in Jerusalem to judge the more difficult, disputed cases. This is a wise legal structure that Moses himself had set up at the suggestion of his father-in-law, Jethro, back in Exodus 18, and by reestablishing it, Jehoshaphat is seeking to ensure justice in Judah during his reign.

Second, when the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites come out in battle against Judah, Jehoshaphat lays out his case before Yahweh in prayer, asking Yahweh to protect his people (2 Chron. 20:5–12). Jehoshaphat prays a model prayer, citing Yahweh’s promises to hear his people when they pray to him before the temple, where Yahweh had put his name (2 Chron. 20:8–9; cf. 2 Chron. 7:11–22). What is extraordinary about this story, though, is that when Yahweh sends a prophetic word to Jehoshaphat through the prophet Jahaziel (one of the Levite sons of Asaph) to assure Jehoshaphat that Yahweh would give Judah victory in battle, Jehoshaphat marches out the next day in battle by placing his musicians and singers in front of the army. As they march, they sing, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever” (2 Chron. 20:21). When the people begin to sing, the armies fight against each other, leaving nothing but dead bodies and rich spoils of war for the people of Judah to enjoy (2 Chron. 20:24–30).

But third, we also read that Jehoshaphat, at the end of his life, enters into another wayward arrangement with King Ahaziah of Israel to build ships to go to Tarshish. Yahweh is not pleased with this second alliance with a wicked king, so he destroys the ships that the two kings made before they could disembark (2 Chron. 20:35–37).

In the life of Jehoshaphat, then, we see an obedience that can look very much like ours. Sometimes we follow Jesus into dark, difficult situations with joy and singing, while other times the same, besetting sins draw us back down again. Rather than giving up the fight, pray instead that God might grant you the grace of perseverance to finish the race well, following after Jesus faithfully all the days of your life.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 18 | Revelation 7 | Zechariah 3 | John 6

When we read the story of the alliance between King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel back in 1 Kings 22, we didn’t learn much about Jehoshaphat. There, King Ahab was the main character, with Jehoshaphat entering the scene to play a supporting role in the narrative of how Yahweh was bringing judgment and disaster on Ahab for Ahab’s wicked idolatry and rebellion. It seemed as though Jehoshaphat was coming alongside Ahab to be a godly influence, trying to keep Ahab from ignoring the word of Yahweh altogether by demanding that they not go out to war together against the Syrians until they inquire for the word of Yahweh (1 Kgs. 22:5) and hear from a true prophet of Yahweh (1 Kgs. 22:7).

But as we read the narrative of this encounter in 2 Chronicles 18, this alliance becomes confusing. Why on earth would Jehoshaphat ally himself with a wicked king of Israel? Remember, King Ahab continued Israel’s rebellion against the house of David, even though the “LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt” (2 Chron. 13:5). Not only that, Ahab was also a king who did more to provoke Yahweh through his wickedness than all the kings of Israel who had come before him (1 Kgs. 16:33). Even though Jehoshaphat escapes this joint military venture alive, upon his return (as we will see in the reading for tomorrow), Yahweh sends Jehu the son of Hanani the seer to confront Jehoshaphat, saying, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD” (2 Chron. 19:2).

It is a serious thing to enter too deeply into relationships with those who do not love the Lord. Paul warns us specifically about this in 2 Corinthians 6:14, saying, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” It is not legalism to dissuade Christians from engaging in romantic relationships or extremely close relationships of other kinds with unbelievers, since to yoke yourself to those who have not taken upon themselves the yoke of Jesus (Matt. 11:30) has the capacity to destroy your entire life by poisoning your walk with the Lord.

This is not to say that we should not pursue any relationships with unbelievers, for there is no other way for people to hear the good news of Jesus. But, take stock of your relationships today—are there places where you are being influenced away from Christ through people in your life, rather than influencing them toward Jesus? Brothers and sisters, we have nothing if we do not have Christ, so let us take care not to let anyone or anything cause us to stray from our first love.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 17 | Revelation 6 | Zechariah 2 | John 5

Chronologically, when we read about the reign of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 17, we have reached the point in history where the book of 1 Kings began to spend a significant amount of time discussing the prophetic ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, two of the greatest prophets in the history of Israel. So, we met Elijah in 1 Kings 16 and read of his ministry—and especially of his confrontations with the wicked King Ahab—for several chapters before meeting Jehoshaphat at all. Then, we only read two brief passages about Jehoshaphat: one in 1 Kings 22 and another in 2 Kings 3.

The Chronicler, however, takes the exact opposite approach, skipping Elijah and Elisha altogether and devoting four lengthy chapters to Jehoshaphat. Part of the reason for this is that the books of Chronicles are written to the people of the tribe of Judah who returned from exile in Babylon,1 and part of the reason has to do with the fact that Jehoshaphat is a son of David who, like the other godly kings of Judah, anticipates the greater Son of David, Jesus Christ. Jehoshaphat is not perfect, as we will discuss in tomorrow’s meditation, but in the account we find today in 2 Chronicles 17, Jehoshaphat reforms the worship in Judah like other godly kings who come before him and after him (2 Chron. 17:3–6).

But Jehoshaphat does something additional that we do not find with any other king: he appoints Levites, priests, and even his own court officials to teach the law (2 Chron. 17:7–9).2 Other than this point, the only explicit examples in Scripture of teaching the law come after the people of Judah return from their captivity. In the book of Ezra, for example, Ezra the priest sets about the work of studying and teaching the law (Ezra 7). Then, in the book of Nehemiah, we find a beautiful scene where Ezra reads from the law and the Levites go out among the people to help them understand the sense of the law (Neh. 8:7–8), prompting Yahweh’s people to fresh reverence, great repentance, and a renewed covenant (Neh. 8:9–10:39).

God’s people need to be taught God’s word. God teaches us in his word who he is, what he loves, and what he hates. It is impossible to know and love God apart from his word, since he reveals himself in his word. This principle does not become less important under the new covenant but instead takes on new significance, since we come to understand that God reveals the glory of his Son Jesus Christ in his word. God’s people need to hear God’s word not only week after week but even day by day, so that we might better know God, love him, trust him, and serve him.

Do you avail yourself of opportunities to learn God’s word?

1 See the December 10 meditation for 2 Chronicles 10.

2 There is a brief reference to teaching priests during the reign of Josiah (2 Chron. 35:3), but it is unclear whether Josiah was the one to assign them that role or not.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 16 | Revelation 5 | Zechariah 1 | John 4

Yesterday, in 2 Chronicles 14–15, we looked at the positive aspects of King Asa’s reign over the nation of Judah, which were given in far greater detail than what we had seen in the account of Asa in 1 Kings 15. But where we have typically seen the books of Chronicles presenting idealized descriptions of kings as compared to what we read in the books of Samuel and Kings, in 2 Chronicles 16 we actually find a much more detailed picture of the rebellion of King Asa in his old age than what we read in 1 Kings 15.

In fact, the narrative in 1 Kings 15 did not explicitly tell us anything negative about the reign of King Asa. We did find the story of how Asa sought a covenant with Benhadad, king of Syria, to stand with Judah in opposing Baasha, king of Israel (1 Kgs. 15:16–21), but the narrative in 1 Kings didn’t tell us how we should judge that action. To find a definitive pronouncement that this was sinful, we actually need to turn to 2 Chronicles 16, where Hanani the seer confronts Asa, saying, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you” (2 Chron. 16:7).

Shockingly, however, Asa does not respond to this prophetic word with repentance, as we might expect. Where David (1 Chron. 21:8–30) and Rehoboam (2 Chron. 12:6–8) both humble themselves in repentance before Yahweh, Asa instead becomes angry with Hanani and throws him into prison—and then, as Asa hardens his heart further, we read that he begins to inflict “cruelties upon some of the people at the same time” (2 Chron. 16:10). Eventually, at the end of Asa’s life, when he is diseased in his feet, the king continues to harden his heart against Yahweh: “Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians” (2 Chron. 16:12). The point of this verse isn’t to suggest that going to doctors or physicians is somehow a mark of deficient faith; rather, the point is that Asa goes to physicians during his last days specifically to avoid humbling himself, repenting, and seeking Yahweh.

While God assures us that there is no sin so great that it can separate us from the love and redemptive power of Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:31–39), we also find warnings throughout the Scriptures that when we harden our hearts against repentance, there comes a point when we no longer want to repent. Let me plead with you—do not neglect the grace of repentance, lest your heart harden at the end of your life to become like Asa’s, cut off from the grace of Jesus by your own rebellion.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.