Jer. 33:1–13
33:1 The Lord’s message came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse. 2“I, the Lord, do these things. I, the Lord, form the plan to bring them about. I am known as the Lord. I say to you, 3‘Call on me in prayer, and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things that you still do not know about.’ 4For I, the Lord God of Israel, have something more to say about the houses in this city and the royal buildings of Judah that have been torn down for defenses against the siege ramps and military incursions of the Babylonians: 5‘The defenders of the city will go out and fight with the Babylonians. But they will only fill those houses and buildings with the dead bodies of the people that I will kill in my anger and my wrath. That will happen because I have decided to turn my back on this city on account of the wicked things they have done. 6But I will most surely heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. 7I will restore Judah and Israel and will rebuild them as they were in days of old. 8I will purify them from all the sin that they committed against me. I will forgive all their sins that they committed in rebelling against me. 9All the nations will hear about all the good things that I will do for them. This city will bring me fame, honor, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it.’
10“I, the Lord, say: ‘You and your people are saying about this place, “It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it.” That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places. 11Once again there will be sounds of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” For I, the Lord, affirm that I will restore the land to what it was in days of old.’
12“I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, say: ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep. 13I, the Lord, say that shepherds will once again count their sheep as they pass into the fold. They will do this in all the towns in the hill country, the foothills, the Negev, the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah.’
(NET Bible)Ps. 12
12:1 For the music director, according to the sheminith style; a psalm of David.
Deliver, Lord!
For the godly have disappeared;
people of integrity have vanished.
2People lie to one another;
they flatter and deceive.
3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that boasts!
4They say, “We speak persuasively;
we know how to flatter and boast.
Who is our master?”
5“Because of the violence done to the oppressed,
because of the painful cries of the needy,
I will spring into action,” says the Lord.
“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.”
6The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable.
They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground,
where it is thoroughly refined.
7You, Lord, will protect the oppressed;
you will continually shelter each one from these evil people,
8for the wicked seem to be everywhere,
when people promote evil.
(NET Bible)Acts 20:17–38
20:17 From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him.
18When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, 19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews. 20You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. 22And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. 24But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.
25“And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again. 26Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all. 27For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God. 28Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. 29I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them. 31Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears. 32And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 34You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. 35By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed. 37They all began to weep loudly, and hugged Paul and kissed him, 38especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
(NET Bible)It was not only in connection with the Sacrament that Scripture was for Luther the absolute and uncorrupted authority. Throughout the following years he held to the same view. We shall cite a few examples … .
In the exposition of the Second Epistle of St. Peter, of the same year [1524], is the statement: “Says Peter, what has been written and proclaimed in the Prophets has not been imagined nor invented by men, but holy and devout men have spoken it through the Holy Ghost.”
Between 1524 and 1526 Luther held his Praelectiones in prophetas minors. In these, in the exposition of Joel, he says: “ The prophets do not state what they imagined and thought good but what they had heard from God himself and what He, who had created all things, disclosed to them either through dreams or vision; this they reveal and display to us. Consequently they are true hearers
of God’s Word, for the eternal, almighty God, the Spirit of God governs their hearts and tongues.”
In the year 1526, commenting on Jeremiah 23, Luther wrote, “God’s Word is not for jesting. If you are not able to understand it, take off your hat before it.”
In his Declamationes in Genesin, of 1527, he emphasizes again and again: Even if we do not grasp the reason for what is written we honor the Holy Ghost and trust that he knows better.
Between 1530 and 1533 Luther preached on week- days on John 6 to 8. Here he repeatedly emphasized the thought that the Word of God is the touchstone (Prüfstein, Streichstein), the rule and plumbline, that tells us what should be preached and whether it is in agreement with God’s will and revelation. …
In Praelectio in Psalmum 45, of 1532, he asks, If one could attain to these [divine] things by his reason and senses, what need would there be for faith, what need for a Scripture that is given us from above through the Holy Ghost? … “In theology only one thing is necessary: that we hear and believe and conclude in our heart: God is truthful, however absurd what He says in his Word may seem to our reason.” (33–34)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.