Is. 45:14–25
45:14 This is what the Lord says:
“The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia,
along with the Sabeans, those tall men,
will be brought to you and become yours.
They will walk behind you, coming along in chains.
They will bow down to you
and pray to you:
‘Truly God is with you; he has no peer;
there is no other God!’”
15Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,
O God of Israel, deliverer!
16They will all be ashamed and embarrassed;
those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.
17Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord;
you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.
18For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky—
he is the true God,
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order,
he formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
19I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place.
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’
I am the Lord,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements.
20Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations.
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
21Tell me! Present the evidence!
Let them consult with one another.
Who predicted this in the past?
Who announced it beforehand?
Was it not I, the Lord?
I have no peer, there is no God but me,
a God who vindicates and delivers;
there is none but me.
22Turn to me so you can be delivered,
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
23I solemnly make this oath—
what I say is true and reliable:
‘Surely every knee will bow to me,
every tongue will solemnly affirm;
24they will say about me,
“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’”
All who are angry at him will cower before him.
25All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord
and will boast in him.
(NET Bible)Ps. 29
29:1 A psalm of David.
Acknowledge the Lord, you heavenly beings,
acknowledge the Lord’s majesty and power.
2Acknowledge the majesty of the Lord’s reputation.
Worship the Lord in holy attire.
3The Lord’s shout is heard over the water;
the majestic God thunders,
the Lord appears over the surging water.
4The Lord’s shout is powerful;
the Lord’s shout is majestic.
5The Lord’s shout breaks the cedars;
the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes them skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young ox.
7The Lord’s shout strikes with flaming fire.
8The Lord’s shout shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9The Lord’s shout bends the large trees
and strips the leaves from the forests.
Everyone in his temple says, “Majestic!”
10The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters;
the Lord sits enthroned as the eternal king.
11The Lord gives his people strength;
the Lord grants his people security.
(NET Bible)John 12:27–43
12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him. 30Jesus said, “This voice has not come for my benefit but for yours. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33(Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.)
34Then the crowd responded, “We have heard from the law that the Christ will remain forever. How can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35Jesus replied, “The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them.
37Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him, 38so that the word of the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled. He said, “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39For this reason they could not believe because again Isaiah said,
40“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
so that they would not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart,
and turn to me, and I would heal them.”
41Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s glory and spoke about him.
42Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. 43For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
(NET Bible)
In his lectures on the Psalms Luther regards the ex- pressions, “God speaks,” and, “the Scriptures speak,” as convertible [synonymous]. To hear or to read the Scriptures is nothing else than to hear God. They are His sanctuary in which He is present. Therefore we dare not despise one single word of the Scripture for “all its words are weighed, counted, and measured.” The prophets who spoke or wrote the Word were the organs of the Spirit; that is the precious fact that in them God himself is heard. For this reason we read in the Prophets, “The Word of the Lord came to me.” This is the friendliest and most intimate inspiration there is. Every word of the Scriptures must be precious to us because it comes from the mouth of God, is written for us, preserved for us, and will be proclaimed to the end of days. Why in one place we read so and not otherwise can be understood only by him who will permit himself to be guided by God. How unconditionally Luther accepted the authority of the Scriptures is evident from the fact that he is willing to accept things as true and real which in any legend would be rejected as absurd, if they are covered by a word of Scripture. No one should prefer his own opinion to that of the Scripture even if it seems much more plausible. (14)
–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.