25 September 2010

Today's Readings -- 25 September 2010

Good Saturday morning to all. I have just gotten in, a bit early in fact, from my 320th episode of the "short stint" on the night shift that I was "asked" to undertake in order to give someone else a "short break" from the horrors of the night shift she was specifically hired to do. But I'm not bitter, no not I. Well, perhaps just a teeny bit.

Ah well. Could be worse. At least the paychecks haven't yet bounced.

This morning's reading is chapters 4, 5, and 6 in Isaiah. I will warn you, this is not light reading. This is heavy duty industrial grade. Don't treat it lightly.
there is some appropriate music here also.
High and lifted up
I See The Lord



1
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2
In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
5
And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
6
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.


1
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9
In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12
And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
13
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
15
And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23
Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25
Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29
Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
30
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.


1
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12
And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.





This evening, Galatians 3. This is sound Christian doctrine, as is all of Galatians. Think "justification by faith" all through Galatians.

1
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12
And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
16
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17
And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
21
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

24 September 2010

Today's Readings -- 24 September 2010

a happy Friday to all to whom these presents shall come. Welcome.
We have been topsy-turvey around here lately. Apologies. We've had a variety of problems, computer ones being prominent among them. We're trying to get things back in order but it will be a bit messy for a while. Pardon our dust.

This morning's reading is chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Isaiah. You want prophecy? We got prophecy.

1
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
21
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
23
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
24
Therefore saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
26
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
30
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
31
And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.



The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
7
Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:
8
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
10
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
11
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
12
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
13
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15
And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
16
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
17
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
18
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
19
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
21
To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?


1
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
2
The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
3
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
4
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
6
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
7
In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
8
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
13
The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
14
The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
16
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
17
Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
18
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
19
The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
20
The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
21
The rings, and nose jewels,
22
The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
23
The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
24
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
25
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
26
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.



This evening's reading is chapter 2 of the Epistle to the Galatians. Martin Luther found much of his doctrine in Galatians. You'll see

1
Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
2
And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
3
But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
4
And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
5
To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
6
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
7
But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8
(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
9
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
10
Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
11
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
15
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
17
But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20
I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.