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First Reading: Isaiah Chapter 7 and 8Isaiah 7
7:1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin
of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against
Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim";
so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest
are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,
to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the
Washerman's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid.
Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — because
of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim
and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah;
let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel
king over it." 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"'It will not take place,it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is
Damascus,and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.Within sixty-five years Ephraim
will be too shattered to be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,and the
head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son.If you do not stand firm in your faith,you
will not stand at all.'"
10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign,
whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."
13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to
try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will eat curds and honey
when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before
the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the
two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on
your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim
broke away from Judah — he will bring the king of Assyria."
18 In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt
and for bees from the land of Assyria. 19 They will all come and settle in the
steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at
all the water holes. 20 In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond
the River — the king of Assyria — to shave your head and the hair
of your legs, and to take off your beards also. 21 In that day, a man will keep
alive a young cow and two goats. 22 And because of the abundance of the milk
they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds
and honey. 23 In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines
worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. 24 Men
will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and
thorns. 25 As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer
go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle
are turned loose and where sheep run.
Isaiah 8
8:1 The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an
ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and
Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.
And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 Before the
boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and
the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."
5 The LORD spoke to me again:
6 "Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore the Lord is about
to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River — the king of
Assyria with all his pomp.It will overflow all its channels,run over all its
banks 8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,passing through it and reaching
up to the neck.Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,O Immanuel!"
9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!Listen, all you distant lands.Prepare
for battle, and be shattered!Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 10 Devise
your strategy, but it will be thwarted;propose your plan, but it will not stand,for
God is with us.
11 The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow
the way of this people. He said:
12 "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy;do
not fear what they fear,and do not dread it. 13 The LORD Almighty is the one
you are to regard as holy,he is the one you are to fear,he is the one you are
to dread, 14 and he will be a sanctuary;but for both houses of Israel he will
be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.And for
the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them will
stumble;they will fall and be broken,they will be snared and captured."
16 Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. 17 I will wait
for the LORD,who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.I will put my trust
in him.
18 Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols
in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter,
should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of
the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according
to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry, they will
roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and,
looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look
toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they
will be thrust into utter darkness.
Ephesians 2
2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you
used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our
sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were
by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who
is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it
is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness
to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no
one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called
"uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision"
(that done in the body by the hands of men)- 12 remember that at that time you
were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners
to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near
through the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law
with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself
one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile
both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who
were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens
with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple
in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling
in which God lives by his Spirit.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
ISAIAH
Part 4 of 4
The book of Isaiah also has some wonderful words of comfort and encouragement prophesying a time to come:
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