Jesus and His mission

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Devotions: Ps 66, 67, 116, 117; Isa 11:10-16; Rev 20:11-21:8; Lk 1:5-25

Let all creation make joyful sounds before our God! Sing the glory of His name; give Him glorious praise. Lord, enemies cringe and Your creatures praise You with awe and delight. Our God is awesome and terrible in aspect and in deed. He made all that is; He chose a people for Himself and guided them through the water and the desert to His holy land. Let all peoples bless our God, Who has given us life and saved us to this very hour. Lord, I come to You with praise and thanksgiving; I offer You myself and all that You have been pleased to give me. Let me speak and sing of Your grace and goodness, Your might and holiness, Your steadfast love and faithfulness. This infinite, eternal, almighty God has heard and answered my prayers. Gloria in excelsis Deo! May God let His face shine upon us and give us His peace. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, as God blesses those He chooses; let all creation fear and praise Him! God has heard and answered in my extremities; He has saved me in wilderness and in conflict; He blesses great and small—and all are small before Him! Bless us, Lord, in every generation; and bring us home to Your Presence. We live by His grace, and we will bless the Lord from now and forevermore. Hallelu Jah! Let all peoples praise YHWH; great is His steadfast love; eternal is His faithfulness. Praise the Lord!

Jesus, the Root of Jesse, stands as an ensign, a banner, for all the peoples—Nes Ammim. Nations seek Him; and He dwells in majesty and glory forever. God will gather His righteous remnant, His chosen people, from all corners of creation. He destroys His enemies and exalts His faithful ones. He Is our Home and our Refuge, our Savior and Deliverer. All praise and thanks to You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

John writes: I saw a great white throne and Him Who sat upon it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and found no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. One was the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what the books recorded and reported, concerning what each had done. The sea, and Death, and Hades gave up all the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And all whose names were not in the Book of Life also were thrown into the lake of fire! Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. I heard a great voice from the throne; it said, 'Behold, the dwelling of God is with mortals. He will dwell with us; He will wipe away every tear for their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither will there be mourning nor crying nor pain ever again, for former things had passed away. He Who sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said, 'Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.' And He said to me, 'It is finished! I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To all who thirst I will give, freely with no cost, the water of life. All who conquer shall have this heritage, and I will be their God and they shall be my children. But for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.'

During the rule of Herod, king of Judea, lived a priest named Zechariah, of the Levitic division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also of Aaronic stock. Both were righteous before God; blamelessly they observed all the commandments and ordinances of YHWH. But Elizabeth was barren, and they had no children; and both were advanced in age. While Zechariah's division was serving at the Temple an Zechariah was serving as YHWH's priest, by lot it fell to him to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. A multitude of people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. Seeing the angel, Zechariah was troubled, and fear overcame him. But the angel said, 'Don't be afraid, Zechariah: your prayers are heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many sons of Israel to YHWH their God, and John will go before God in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for YHWH a people prepared!' Zechariah said, 'How shall I know this? I am an old man, and my wife also is advanced in years.' The angel answered, 'I am Gabriel; I stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to bring you this good news. Behold: you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that all these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words.' Meanwhile, the people waiting for Zechariah outside began to wonder at the delay. When Zechariah emerged, he could not speak; the people perceived that he had seen a vision while inside the temple. He made signs to them, but did not speak. And when his time of service was completed, he returned home. And in due course, Elizabeth conceived; she hid herself for five months, saying 'The Lord has done thus to me in the days when He looked upon me, to take away my reproach among the people.'