Isaiah 8
1 Moreover the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large new book, and write on it with a man’s pen concerning making a swift plunder of spoils, for it is near at hand.
2 Then make witnesses for Me of faithful men: Uriah and Zechariah, the son of Berechiah.”
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son, and the Lord said to me, “Call his name Quickly Despoil, Swiftly Plunder;
4 for before the child shall know how to call for his father and mother, one shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord also added this for me to speak as well, saying:
6 “Because this people did not choose the water of Siloam that flows quietly, but chose Rezin and Remaliah’s son to be king over you;
7 therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon you the mighty and abundant water of the river, the king of the Assyrians, and his glory. He shall come up over every ravine of yours and walk over all your walls,
8 and take away from Judah every man able to raise his head or accomplish anything. His encampment will fill the breadth of Your land, O God with us.
9 Know this, O Gentiles, and be defeated. Give ear, all you to the very ends of the earth. Be defeated although you are strong, for even if you should be strong again, you will be defeated again.
10 Then too, whatever counsel you take, the Lord will scatter it abroad; and whatever word you shall speak, it will not continue among you, for the Lord God is with us.”
11 Thus says the Lord: “With a strong hand they rebel against the course of the way of this people, saying,†
12 that you should not say, ‘It is hard,’ for whatever this people says is hard; but do not be afraid of their terror, nor be troubled.
13 Sanctify the Lord Himself, and He shall be your fear.
14 So if you trust in Him, He shall be as a sanctuary for you, and you shall not come against Him as a stumbling stone nor as a rock of disaster. But the house of Jacob lies in wait with a snare, and those in Jerusalem with a trap.
15 Therefore many among them shall be powerless and fall, and be broken, and men who are in safety shall draw near and be conquered.”
16 Then they who seal the law so as not to learn it themselves shall be evident.†
17 But One will say, “I shall wait for God who turned His face away from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in Him,†
18 behold, I and the children God gave me.” This will be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 So if they should say to you, “Seek those who call from the earth and are ventriloquists, who speak from the belly,” should not a nation seek their God? Why do they seek the dead on behalf of the living?†
20 He gave the law to help them, so as not to speak such a word as this, concerning which word there are no gifts to offer with it.†
21 Thus a harsh famine will come upon you, and it shall be, when you are hungry, you will be grieved, and speak badly of your ruler and the idols. Then they shall look up to heaven above,
22 and on the earth below, and behold, tribulation, distress, and darkness. There will be severe despair and darkness, so dark one cannot see.
23 And the one who is in despair shall be perplexed, but only for a time.
Psalms 66
1 For the End, in hymns; a psalm of an ode. †
2 May God be gracious to us, and bless us; May He cause His face to shine upon us, (Pause)
3 That we may know His way on the earth, Your salvation among all the Gentiles.
4 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
5 Let the Gentiles be glad and greatly rejoice, For You shall judge the peoples in uprightness, And lead the Gentiles on the earth. (Pause)
6 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
7 The earth yielded her fruit; May God, our God, bless us.
8 May God bless us, And let all the ends of the earth be in fear of Him.
Proverbs of Solomon 13
16 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, But the man without understanding will die by a snare.†
17 A good understanding gives grace, And to know the law is to be of a good mind, But the ways of scorners are destructive.†
18 Every astute man acts with knowledge, But the man without discernment spreads out his own evil.†
19 A rash king falls into evil things, But a faithful messenger rescues him.
20 Instruction removes poverty and dishonor, And he who gives heed to rebukes will be glorified.†
21 The desires of the godly gladden the soul, But the works of the ungodly are far from knowledge.
2 Corinthians 5
The Hope of the Resurrection
1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.†
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.†
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Apostolic Motivation: Fearing and Loving God
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.†
11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.†
12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Apostolic Vision: The New Creation
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.†
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Apostolic Ministry: Reconciliation
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,†
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.