Wednesday after Jubilate
Posted on May 11, 2022 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 66:10-14 (NKJV)
66:10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
11 “That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
12 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants, and His indignation to His enemies.
Devotion
Isaiah has prophesied times of great sorrow for Jerusalem: destruction and exile for their idolatries and rebellions against the Lord. But in today’s reading, he prophesies times of even greater joy. After punishing His people, after bringing them to repentance in Babylon, the Lord would also have mercy on them, forgive them their sins, restore them to their place, and even bring the Gentiles streaming into the spiritual Jerusalem of the Holy Christian Church. Their sorrow would turn to joy.
Underneath the wreckage of the visible Christian Church as it exists today, the joy-filled invisible Church, the New Jerusalem, still remains. She continues to cling to Christ alone as her Savior from sin. She continues to give birth to new children through preaching and Holy Baptism. And she continues, through her preachers, to bring the comfort of free forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus to those who are already her children, and to those who will become her children. In the midst of all this world’s sorrow, the Church and her children continue to rejoice in Christ and in His resurrection from the dead, and in the promise of the future glory of the New Jerusalem.
Prayer: Almighty God, Who showest to them that be in error the light of Thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness: Grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Religion that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
