Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Saturday after Populus Sion, The Second Sunday in Advent

Posted on December 15, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-26 (NKJV)
 
33: 14 “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
 
15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ 17 For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.'”
 
19 And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 “Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.'”
 
23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them. 25 Thus says the LORD: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.'”
 
Devotion
 
This is the third day in a row that we have heard the Prophet Jeremiah say, “Behold, the days are coming.” What “days” are coming? They are the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, the days that were promised to King David that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne. These days were certainly fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and was made man. He became incarnate to redeem mankind from sin.
 
But this prophecy is also for us, for we enjoy the fruits of His incarnation. He established His Kingdom on Earth through His Church. In this Church He draws all nations to Himself through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. In this Church He daily and richly forgives the sins of all those who believe on Him.
 
These days are upon us, but the day is coming when the Son of God will sit upon His throne and judge the quick and the dead. May we be made ready to receive that day with thanksgiving, for we will be taken from this vale of tears to our eternal home in Heaven, and there we will dwell with all the saints who have gone before us, with all the company of Heaven. Especially will we be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who redeemed us from sin, death, and the devil, and brought us into His Kingdom.
 
We pray: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Thine Only-Begotten Son, so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Thee with pure minds; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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