Isaiah 49
1 “Listen to Me, O coastlands, and take heed, you Gentiles. It will stand for a long time,” says the Lord. “He called My name from My mother’s womb.†
2 He made My mouth like a sharp sword, and hid Me under the shadow of His hand. He made Me as a chosen arrow and covered Me in His quiver.†
3 He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’†
4 Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain and spent My strength for nothing. Therefore My judgment is from the Lord, and my labor is before My God.’
5 Now thus says the Lord—who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, and to bring Jacob and Israel back to Him (for I shall gather and glorify them before the Lord, and My God shall be My strength)—
6 indeed He says, ‘It is a great thing for You to be called My Servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the dispersion of Israel. Behold, I give You as the covenant of a race and as the light of the Gentiles, that You should be the salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
7 Thus says the Lord, who delivers You, the God of Israel: “Sanctify Him who despises His life, who is abhorred by the nations and by the servants of rulers. Kings shall see Him and rise, and rulers also shall worship Him for the Lord’s sake. For the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and He chose You.”
8 Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I heard You, and in the day of salvation I helped You. I give You as a covenant to the Gentiles, to establish the earth and to inherit the inheritance of the desert;
9 saying to those in bonds, ‘Go forth,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Reveal yourselves.’ They shall feed along all their roads, and their pasture shall be along all the paths.
10 They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst, nor shall the burning heat of the sun strike them; but He who has mercy on them will comfort them; and He shall lead them by the fountains of waters.
11 I will make every mountains as a road, and every path as a pasture for them.
12 Behold, these come from afar, these from the north and these from the sea, and the others from the land of the Persians.”
13 Be glad, O heavens, and rejoice exceedingly, O earth. Let the mountains break out in gladness, and the hills in righteousness. For the Lord had mercy on His people, and comforted the humble of His people.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord forsook me, and the Lord forgot me.”
15 “Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have mercy on the offspring of her womb? But even if a woman should forget these things, nevertheless, I shall not forget you,” says the Lord.
16 “Behold, I painted your walls on My hands, and you are continually before Me.†
17 It will be rebuilt quickly by your destroyers, and those who laid you waste shall go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes round about, and look on them. Behold, they gather together and come to you. As I live,” says the Lord, “you shall clothe yourselves with them, and put them on as a bride’s attire.
19 For your deserts and your ruined and fallen places will now be too confined because of the inhabitants; and those who swallowed you up will go far away.
20 For your children, whom you lost, will say in your ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me. Make me a place where I may dwell.’
21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? For I am childless and a widow, but who reared these for me? I was left alone, but these, where are they from?’ ”
22 Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I lift My hand to the Gentiles, and I will set up My signal to the islands. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.†
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you upon the face of the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know I am the Lord, and you will not be ashamed.
24 Will someone take spoils from a mighty man? If anyone should take someone captive unjustly, will that one be saved?”
25 Thus says the Lord: “If someone should take a mighty man captive, he will also take his spoils; and he will also save the one taken captive by that strong man. For I will plead your cause and deliver your children.
26 Those who oppressed you will eat their own flesh and drink their own blood as new wine; and all flesh shall perceive that I am the Lord, who delivers you and supports the strength of Jacob.”
Psalms 92
1 For the day before the Sabbath, when the earth was settled; the praise of an ode by David. †The Lord reigns; He clothed Himself with majesty; The Lord clothed and girded Himself with power; And He established the world, which shall not be moved.
2 Your throne is prepared from of old; You are from everlasting.
3 The rivers, O Lord, lift up; The rivers lift up their voices;
4 Because of the voices of their many waters, Marvelous are the billows of the sea; Wondrous is the Lord on high.
5 Your testimonies are very much believed; Holiness is proper to Your house, O Lord, Unto length of days.
Proverbs of Solomon 20
Double Standards or Single-Mindedness
1 Wine is an intemperate thing, and strong drink is full of violence; And all who commingle with it will not be wise.†
2 The threat of a king does not differ from the anger of a lion, And he who provokes him sins against his own soul.
3 It is glory for a man to turn away from reproaches, But every man without discernment is entangled with such things.
4 A lazy man who is reproached feels no shame; Likewise also is he who borrows bread in harvest.
5 Counsel is deep water in the heart of a man, And a man with discernment will draw it out.†
2 Thessalonians 2
False Teaching on the Second Coming
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
True Tradition on the Second Coming
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,†
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Stand Fast in the Faith
13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.†
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,
17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.