Scripture and Devotion for the Tuesday after Populus Sion: December 10, 2013
Scripture: Isaiah 26:20—27:13 (NKJV) 26:20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. 21 For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain. 27:1 In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. 2 In that day sing to her, "A vineyard of red wine! 3 I, the LORD, keep it, I water it every moment; Lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day. 4 Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. 5 Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; And he shall make peace with Me." 6 Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. 7 Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck him? Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him? 8 In measure, by sending it away, You contended with it. He removes it by His rough wind in the day of the east wind. 9 Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered; And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: When he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand. 10 Yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down and consume its branches. 11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will show them no favor. 12 And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. 13 So it shall be in that day: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Devotion: The Book of Isaiah is often referred to as the Fifth Gospel because it contains so many prophecies of Christ and His New Testament Church. In our reading for today Isaiah is writing of the Lord's mercy on His people, both after the exile and in His Church. What is written is true for the Church, both after the restoration and in these latter days. In St. Luke 2 we find Simeon, on the day Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple, saying:"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." Simeon was brought to the Temple by the Holy Spirit. You and I also have been brought into the Church by the Holy Spirit. In the waters of Holy Baptism God worked "forgiveness of sins, (He) rescues us from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare." (S.C., p. 22) St. Paul says in Romans 6:4: "We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Christ has made our peace before the Father. Isaiah 27:12 says: "And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel." Thanks be to God that we have been gathered one by one to worship the Lord eternally.
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