Sports betting ads swarm my screen when I tune in to watch football. The oddsmakers predict winners and losers, often to a high degree of accuracy. But not enough for me to place a bet—I want a sure thing.

The Bible’s prophecies pay off way better than gambling on quarterbacks. A great number have already proven true, like the prophecies of the coming Messiah. Others, like the predictions of the return of that Messiah, still wait to be fulfilled. But don’t bet against them.

Jeremiah predicted the downfall of Babylon, the greatest city in the world at that time. Under King Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon grew as large as Chicago, filled with elaborate temples, ornate palaces and surrounded by city walls wide enough for two chariots to pass each other side by side on the top.

At the height of the city’s glory the Lord sent a message through Jeremiah: Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.

Not long after Jeremiah, Babylon fell to the Persians. A couple of centuries later a new set of invaders sacked the city, and the long slide into oblivion gained speed. Conquerors and archeologists picked the area clean.

Today a recreation of some buildings exists on the site, a cheap tourist attraction built by Saddam Hussein. But no one lives there. The once magnificent city lies in perpetual ruin, just as the scriptures predicted.

Which helps me understand that when it comes to the words of the prophets, I can place a bet with confidence.

Jeremiah 51 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Corbin Mathias

I know of a young woman who sincerely believes God wants her to be wealthy. At this point in life, however, she’s broke, debt-ridden and mad at God.

Unfortunately, she holds to a false teaching. Somewhere, someone convinced her that if she did everything right, God would bless her with the wealth she so desires. People who accept this can even quote a few verses in defense of their view. Unfortunately, reality smacks back.

Peter and the churches under his leadership dealt with false teachers as well. These guides brought vice and sexual immorality into the church, mirroring the society around them. As the result, the truth of the gospel fell into disrepute, and lives of the saints were ruined.

As Peter wrote, false teachers are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Contrast that to Jesus who told us, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Following the false leads to emptiness. A disingenuous instructor uses religious language and symbols to appeal to our base desires. False teachers hold seminary degrees and quote verses. All the great heresies were spawned by theologians.

But if such a teacher leads you or me toward personal gratification and away from the broad teachings of the Bible, then take pause. Avoid careening toward a dry spring, away from the giver of deep and abundant wealth, which may or may not involve money.

2 Peter 2 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Viacheslav Bublyk

Some promises sound too good to be true, like the life-changing nature of a new brand of toothpaste. The Bible makes the promise that those who follow Jesus can participate in the divine nature.

Which sounds too good to be true. But Peter lays out a step-by-step process for engaging in a life with the Lord. I like the way The Message version of the Bible translates the text:

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.

Peter continues with why we must continue to invest in our initial faith:

With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.

Engagement with our Master Jesus requires an active disposition. To join in with the Lord means paying attention to character, growing in our knowledge of the ways of the God, showing kindness and loving our neighbors as ourselves. These mark the path to maturity.

We participate in the divine nature by actually participating. Active, never static. We don’t wait for a lightning strike, or a voice from heaven, but we go out the door having already made a decision to live our faith in this world. It’s a here we go Lord, mentality.

Perhaps you’d like to pray with me: Lord, as I go through my day, help me build upon my faith and join in your ways. Guide me to maturity, and help me encourage others to participate in your divine nature.

2 Peter 1 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Josh Appel

The tension mounted. Sweat beaded on lips. Legs shimmied in anticipation. A dozen boys sat clutching thick black books, totally alert, waiting for a signal. Finally hearing the clue, the race began, only finishing with the proper reading shouted in response.

As a kid I attended a Sunday School class, and every week we begged for one specific activity—a sword drill.

If you’ve never participated in a sword drill, you’ve missed a highlight of middle-school religious fervor. The leader shouts out a reference, players chase through their Bibles (the sword of the Lord), and the winner reads the verse out loud first. With no electronic devices available, kids dove in, tearing pages and shouting out answers. Victors crowing and losers dreaming of what might have been. Glorious biblical chaos.

At some point in our drills the teacher always requested Obadiah chapter one, verse one. He did this one every time, to the point that many of us had the verse memorized, and the best drillers kept a finger on the text. We yelled the words even before the page emerged in our King James Bibles:

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Years later I thought, I got a handle on the first verse, but I wonder what the rest of Obadiah says? Turns out, the prophet Obadiah wrote a message of condemnation from the Lord against Edom, a people who took pleasure at the downfall of Jerusalem. Their time was coming—as you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. The Lord eventually sets things right and best be prepared.

Obadiah’s book consists of two pages in my Bible. So obscure, it requires a search from middle-schoolers and even adults who study the Bible regularly. But the message should not remain obscure. Oppose the people of the Lord, fight against the God’s ways, and eventually you’ll reap what you’ve sown.

A solid lesson for sword drillers of any age.

Obadiah in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Humble Lamb