Ezek. 36
36:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message! 2This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The enemy has spoken against you, saying “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights have become our property!”’ 3So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip and slander among the people, 4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about; 5therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Surely I have spoken in the fire of my zeal against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who with great joy and utter contempt have made my land their property and prey, because of its pasture.’
6“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I have spoken in my zeal and in my anger because you have endured the insults of the nations. 7So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I vow that the nations around you will endure insults as well.
8“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they will arrive soon. 9For indeed, I am on your side; I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted. 10I will multiply your people—the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt. 11I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 12I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you, and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.
13“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men and bereave your nation of children,” 14therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Sovereign Lord. 15I will no longer subject you to the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave your nation, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
16The Lord’s message came to me: 17“Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period. 18So I poured my anger on them because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it. 19I scattered them among the nations; they were dispersed throughout foreign countries. In accordance with their behavior and their deeds I judged them. 20But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.’ 21I was concerned for my holy reputation, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they went.
22“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation, which you profaned among the nations where you went. 23I will magnify my great name that has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight.
24“‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 25I will sprinkle you with pure water, and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations. 28Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you. 30I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31Then you will remember your evil behavior and your deeds that were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. 32Understand that it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.
33“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by. 35They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.” 36Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken—and I will do it!’
37“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: I will multiply their people like sheep. 38Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
(NET Bible)Ps. 97
97:1 The Lord reigns.
Let the earth be happy.
Let the many coastlands rejoice.
2Dark clouds surround him;
equity and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3Fire goes before him;
on every side it burns up his enemies.
4His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of the whole earth.
6The sky declares his justice,
and all the nations see his splendor.
7All who worship idols are ashamed,
those who boast about worthless idols.
All the gods bow down before him.
8Zion hears and rejoices,
the towns of Judah are happy,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9For you, O Lord, are the Most High over the whole earth;
you are elevated high above all gods.
10You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He protects the lives of his faithful followers;
he delivers them from the power of the wicked.
11The godly bask in the light;
the morally upright experience joy.
12You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord.
Give thanks to his holy name.
(NET Bible)Heb. 8:1–13
8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one, too, had to have something to offer. 4Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.” 6But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises.
7For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8But showing its fault, God says to them,
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
9It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.
10For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds, and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”
13When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.
(NET Bible)In the passage cited above, that is taken from the Exposition of the First and Second Chapter of John, 1537 and 1538, there is the statement: “But these are questions that remain questions which I will not solve and that do not give me much concern, only there are people so sly and keen that they raise all kinds of questions for which they want to have answers. If one, however, has a correct understanding of Scripture and possesses the true statement of our faith that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has su ered and died for us, it will not be a serious defect if we are not able to answer them.” And following this: “When discrepancies occur in Holy Scripture (namely concerning such chronological questions as these: how many years Jesus taught openly, how the account of the Temple cleansing in John agrees with Matthew, and similar questions) and we cannot harmonize them, let it pass, it does not endanger the article of the Christian faith.” In these statements Luther does not say that it is a matter of indi erence to him whether they contain errors or not but only that his faith would not be endangered, if, in spite of his best efforts, he would be unable to solve the apparent contradictions or to prove the inconsequence of all skeptical questions. He dismisses the matter if he cannot prove it conclusively, but his inability to do so neither commits him to the opinion that these passages really contain error, nor is his faith in salvation thereby imperiled. (49–50)
–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.