Who we are, where we're going, and Who will take us there

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Friday, December 26, 2008
Devotions: Ps 80, 146, 147; Isa 29:13-24; Rev 21:22-22:5; Lk 1:39-48a

Listen, Great Lord! Stir up Your might and save us. Restore Your people, YHWH; let Your face shine, that we may be saved! You have created, selected, nurtured and blessed Israel; but she has also been ravaged by the wicked forces in this world. Have regard for the vine You have planted and tended; shine on us today, I pray. I will praise YHWH as long as I live; happy are we who hope in YHWH our God, the One Who frees prisoners, Who gives sight to the blind and uplifts the despairing. He watches over sojourners and loves the righteous; he upholds widows and orphans, but brings ruin on the wicked. All praise to the Lord! He builds up Jerusalem and gathers the outcasts of Israel; He heals the brokenhearted and binds our wounds. He is Master of all nature, almighty, eternal, wise beyond measure. Let us sing to YHWH with thanks and make a new song for Him. He takes pleasure in those who hold Him in awe and hope in His steadfast love. The seasons are in His hands. Let all with voice praise the Lord!

What’s up, Ariel, [Mountain of God]? I will encamp against God’s mountain, and bring relentless foes against you. But amid your afflictions, suddenly God will visit you in power, and your enemies will melt away like a bad dream. God was angry: ‘My people give me lip service, but their hearts are far from Me. Woe to those who seek to hide from Me; I Am the Maker, and my creatures cannot succeed against Me. Soon, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the meek will receive fresh joy from YHWH, as the poor exult! The ruthless will come to nothing, and scoffers will be silenced. My children will glorify My name and sanctify Me; they will stand in awe; those who err will turn to the truth, and the murmurers will accept instruction.’

There is no temple in God’s holy city: the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple! There is no sun or moon, for God’s glory is its light and the Lamb, its lamp. The nations will walk by this Light, and earth’s kings will bring God their glory. The city's gates will never shut—for there is no night there! And nothing unclean can enter this holy city—only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life! In the New Jerusalem, a river springs from under God’s throne. With water of life, bright as crystal, it flows through the midst of the city; on either side grow trees of life, with twelve kinds of fruit, and leaves that heal the nations. God’s servants will live and worship there; we will see God’s face and His name will be on each of us. With our God we will reign forever and ever.

Soon after she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth in the Judean hills. As Mary entered the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, she greeted her cousin; and the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb! She spoke as one filled with the Holy Spirit: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb! Why is this blessing granted me, that my Lord’s mother should come to me? When your greeting reached me, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed God’s word to her would be fulfilled.’ And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has regard the low estate of His handmaid.’