Jesus
says, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.
Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in
my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Think about that as you read these
passages.
From
the Torah: Deuteronomy 7:6-9
From
the Former Prophets: 1 Kings 6:1-38
From
the Latter Prophets: Malachi 2:1-16
From
the Books of Wisdom and Poetry: Psalm 103:1-22
From
the Late Books: Nehemiah 9:1-38
From
the Gospels: John 14:15-31
From
the Epistles: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
From
the Torah
For you are a
people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the
peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
The Lord did not set his
affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples,
for you were the fewest of all peoples. But
it was because the Lord loved you and kept the
oath he swore to your ancestors
that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land
of slavery, from the power of
Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know
therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful
God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love
him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy
7:6-9
From
the Former Prophets
In the four hundred
and eightieth year after the
Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over
Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build
the temple of the Lord.
The
temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits
long, twenty wide and thirty high. The
portico at the front of the main hall of the
temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten
cubits from the front of the temple. He
made narrow windows high up in the
temple walls. Against
the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the
building, in which there were side rooms. The
lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle
floor six cubits and the third floor
seven. He made offset ledges around the
outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
In
building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were
used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the
temple site while it was being built.
The
entrance to the lowest floor was on the
south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there
to the third. So
he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. And
he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five
cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.
The
word of the Lord came to Solomon: “As
for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and
keep all my commands and obey them, I
will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David
your father. And
I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
So
Solomon built the temple and completed it. He
lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the
temple to the ceiling, and covered the
floor of the temple with planks of juniper. He
partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from
floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy
Place. The
main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. The
inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds
and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
He
prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple
to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. The
inner sanctuary was twenty cubits
long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and
he also overlaid the altar of cedar. Solomon
covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains
across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. So
he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar
that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
For
the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood,
each ten cubits high. One
wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five
cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. The
second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in
size and shape. The
height of each cherub was ten cubits. He
placed the cherubim inside the
innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one
cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall,
and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. He
overlaid the cherubim with gold.
On
the walls all around the
temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open
flowers. He
also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with
gold.
For
the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were
one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. And
on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim,
palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with
hammered gold. In
the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive
wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. He
also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in
sockets. He
carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with
gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
And
he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone
and one course of trimmed cedar beams.
The
foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the
fourth year, in the month of Ziv. In
the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was
finished in all its details according to its
specifications. He had spent seven
years building it.
1
Kings 6:1-38
From
the Latter Prophets
“And now, you
priests, this warning is for you. If
you do not listen, and if you do not
resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will
send a curse on you, and I will
curse your blessings. Yes, I have already
cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
“Because
of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival
sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And
you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says
the Lord Almighty. “My
covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to
him; this called for reverence and he revered me
and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth
and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many
from sin.
“For
the lips of a priest ought to preserve
knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people
seek instruction from his mouth. But
you have turned from the way and by your
teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated
the covenant with Levi,” says
the Lord Almighty. “So
I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the
people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the
law.”
Do we not all have
one Father? Did not one God create
us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by
being unfaithful to one another?
Judah
has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been
committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a
foreign god. As
for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents
of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
Another
thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no
longer looks with favor on your offerings
or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You
ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the
wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your
partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has
not the one God made you? You belong to him
in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard,
and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your
youth.
“The
man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he
should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be
unfaithful.
Malachi
2:1-16
From
the Books of Wisdom and Poetry
Of David.
Praise
the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being,
praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my
soul,
and forget not all
his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all
your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with
love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all
the oppressed.
He
made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the
people of Israel:
The Lord is
compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor
his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according
to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for
those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.
As
a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who
fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we
are dust.
The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a
flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers
it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness
with their children’s children—
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to
obey his precepts.
The Lord has established his throne in
heaven,
and his kingdom rules over
all.
Praise
the Lord, you his
angels,
you mighty ones who
do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his
heavenly hosts,
you his servants who
do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his
works
everywhere in his
dominion.
Praise
the Lord, my soul.
Psalm
103:1-22
From
the Late Books
On the
twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting
and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all
foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of
their ancestors. They
stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a
quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping
the Lord their God. Standing
on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua, Bani,
Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud
voices to the Lord their God. And
the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah
and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from
everlasting to everlasting.”
“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be
exalted above all blessing and praise. You
alone are the Lord. You made the
heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on
it, the seas and all that is in
them. You give life to everything, and the
multitudes of heaven worship you.
“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out
of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him
Abraham. You
found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to
his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your
promise because you are righteous.
“You saw the suffering of our
ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry
at the Red Sea. You
sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how
arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which
remains to this day. You
divided the sea before them, so that they passed
through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into
mighty waters. By
day you led them with a pillar
of cloud, and by night with a
pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.
“You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them
regulations and laws that are just and right, and
decrees and commands that are good. You
made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them
commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. In
their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst
you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go
in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.
“But they, our ancestors, became
arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not
obey your commands. They
refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among
them. They became stiff-necked and in their
rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a
forgiving God, gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in
love. Therefore you did not desert them, even
when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is
your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful
blasphemies.
“Because of your great compassion
you did not abandon them in the
wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to
guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way
they were to take. You
gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not
withhold your manna from their mouths,
and you gave them water for their thirst. For
forty years you sustained them
in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did
not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
“You gave them kingdoms and nations,
allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of
Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of
Og king of Bashan. You
made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought
them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. Their
children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the
Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands,
along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they
pleased. They
captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession
of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug,
vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and
were well-nourished; they reveled in
your great goodness.
“But they were disobedient and
rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had warned them
in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them.
But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them,
and in your great compassion you gave them
deliverers, who rescued them
from the hand of their enemies.
“But as soon as they were at rest,
they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned
them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they
cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.
“You warned them in order to
turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your
commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person
who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they
turned their backs on you, became
stiff-necked and refused to
listen. For
many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through
your prophets. Yet they paid no
attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. But
in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are
a gracious and merciful God.
“Now therefore, our God, the great
God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his
covenant of love, do not let all this
hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come on
us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and
all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. In
all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted
faithfully, while we acted wickedly. Our
kings, our leaders, our priests and our
ancestors did not follow your
law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned
them to keep. Even
while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the
spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their
evil ways.
“But see, we are slaves today, slaves in
the land you gave our ancestors so they could eat its fruit and the other good
things it produces. Because
of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us.
They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great
distress.
“In view of all
this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in
writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our
priests are affixing their seals to it.”
Nehemiah 9:1-38
From
the Gospels
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be
with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot
accept him, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you
as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the
world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you
also will live. On that day you will realize
that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my
commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me
will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show
myself to them.”
Then
Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But,
Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus
replied, “Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we
will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not
love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they
belong to the Father who sent me.
“All this I have
spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all
things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world
gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
“You heard me say,
‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you
would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is
greater than I. I have told you now
before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much
more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no
hold over me, but he comes so that
the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has
commanded me.
“Come now; let us
leave.
John
14:15-31
From
the Epistles
We do, however, speak a message of
wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom
of this age or of the rulers of
this age, who are coming to nothing. No,
we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God
destined for our glory before time began. None
of the rulers of this age understood it, for
if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However,
as it is written:
“What no eye has
seen,
what no ear has
heard,
and
what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has
prepared for those who love him—
these
are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches
all things, even the deep things of God. For
who knows a person’s thoughts except their own
spirit within them? In the same way no one
knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who
is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught
by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The
person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit
of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot
understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The
person with the Spirit makes judgments
about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the
mind of the Lord
so as to instruct
him?”
But we have the
mind of Christ.
1
Corinthians 2:6-16
