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Luke 19:10 - (Jesus said) "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."Way back when, a newspaper once asked Daniel Boone if he had ever been lost. The old explorer answered, "I've never been lost, but I once was mighty confused for three days."
Using that logic, most of us could say, "We've never lost our glasses, our wallets, our purses, our tools, or anything else. We've just misplaced them for an unknown period of time." And then we optimistically have to add, "But we expect to have them back very soon."
I suppose that is also true for the man in Frankfurt, Germany, who had his car stolen in 1997. He reported the theft to the police and had every hope that the vehicle would be found and returned. Sadly, it was a false hope. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty years came and went without a hint. Then, when all seemed lost, the vehicle turned up.
It was found in a warehouse which was going to be destroyed. Those who were entrusted with the demolition told the police who traced the vehicle to its last owner: the man who had reported his vehicle as having been stolen. The truth was the vehicle had been in that warehouse for 20 years. It hadn't moved from the spot where the absentminded man had left it.
That report isn't much different from a German man who went to Oktoberfest in Munich. After a few beers, the man went to get his car, but it was not where he was sure he had left it. It took two years before the police found the vehicle two and a half miles from where he thought he had lost it. Oh, in the trunk of that vehicle, there was over $100,000 in cash and tools.
Now folks, it's one thing for a person to lose some belongings -- even a car -- but it's quite another thing for a person to lose his faith in his Lord.
Sadly, most of us know more than one person who has lost both.
Now the reason I bring it up is simple: we are entering the season of Advent and then Christmas. Both of these events on the church calendar are unique in their ability to touch lost souls and bring them back to the Lord and Savior whose life was offered to rescue us. The theme of God's Son coming to rescue all the world's lost is an emphasis which appeals to many.
So, why not invite such a soul to church with you this Advent? Wouldn't it be great to hear him or her say, "I once was confused and lost for a while, but now I'm saved and I know where I m going."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today I pray for those who have forgotten their faith and the love which comes to them in the Savior whose birth we remember and whose second coming we prepare for. Keep us ready for that unknown hour and help us prepare others so they, too, may know where they are -- and where they're going. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Harry Cockburn on November 17, 2017 for the Independent. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
Note: Beginning tomorrow, I will be stepping away from the Daily Devotions until after Epiphany, in January of next year.
During these weeks, Dr. Kari Vo will present her Advent devotional, Love Came Down. Dr. Vo says, "Jesus came to be in our lives, a part of our lives, one of us. He came to be our Savior, and that is not a job someone can do by standing safely at a distance. Instead, He embraced our human nature: He was born, He grew, He lived, worked, and suffered. He died, and then He rose from the dead."
As this is my last day with you for over a month, please permit Pam and myself to wish you a blessed Christmas and a New Year which begins and is filled with Your loving Lord. In Christ, I remain His servant and yours, Ken Klaus.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Ezekiel 42-44; 1 John 1
Ezekiel 42:1 Then he led me into the outer courtyard — the route went north — and brought me to the [block of] rooms opposite the separated yard and opposite the building to the north. 2 The length of the front was 175 feet on the north side, where the door was; the width was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 3 It was located between the inner courtyard, which was thirty-five feet wide, and the flooring of the outer courtyard. It had galleries, one above the other, on three floors. 4 In front of the [block of] rooms was a walkway seventeen-and-a-half feet wide and a path twenty-one inches [wide]; their doors faced north.
5 The upper rooms were shorter, because the galleries took up some of their space, more than from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors] of the building. 6 For the rooms were on three floors, and they didn’t have columns like those in the courtyards; therefore space was taken away from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors], in comparison with the ground. 7 The length of the wall outside, next to the rooms, toward the outer courtyard in front of the rooms, was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 8 For the length of the rooms toward the outer courtyard was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet, whereas [the length of] the side facing the sanctuary was 175 feet. 9 Under these rooms was the entrance to the east side, leading in from the outer courtyard.
10 In the width of the courtyard wall on the east, facing the separated yard and facing the building, there were rooms, 11 with a passageway in front of them, similar to the rooms on the north. They were the same length and width and had similarly made exits and entrances.
12 By the entrances of the rooms on the south there was an entrance at the end of the passage, the passageway right in front of the wall, toward the eastern entrances.
13 Then he said to me, “The north and south [blocks of] rooms in front of the separated yard are the holy rooms where the cohanim who approach Adonai will eat the especially holy things. This is where they will put the especially holy things — the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings; for the place is holy. 14 When the cohanim come, they will not go out of the [Especially] Holy Place into the outer courtyard; rather, they will leave [in these rooms] the clothes they use when ministering, because they are holy. They will put on other clothes and only then approach the areas permitted to the people.”
15 After he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by way of the gate facing east and measured the whole area. 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 17 He measured the north side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet with the measuring rod. 20 He measured its four sides; it had a wall around it; and it was 875 [feet] long and 875 [feet] wide. Thus a division was made between what was holy and what was common.
43:1 After this, he brought me to the gate facing east. 2 There I saw the glory of the God of Isra’el approaching from the east. His voice was like the sound of rushing water, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 The vision seemed like the vision I had seen when I came to destroy the city; also the visions were like the vision I had seen by the K’var River; and I fell on my face. 4 Adonai’s glory entered the house through the gate facing east.
5 Next, a spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and I saw Adonai’s glory fill the house. 6 I heard someone speaking to me from the house, and a man was standing by me. 7 He said, “Human being, this is the place for my throne, the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Isra’el forever. The house of Isra’el, both they and their kings, will never again defile my holy name by their prostitution, by [burying] the corpses of their kings [on] their high places, 8 or by placing their threshold next to my threshold and their door-frames next to my door-frames, with only a common wall between me and them. Yes, they defiled my holy name by the disgusting practices they committed; which is why I destroyed them in my anger. 9 So now, they should put their prostitution at a distance and the corpses of their kings far away from me; then I will live among them forever.
10 “You, human being, describe this house to the house of Isra’el, so that they will be ashamed of their crimes. And let them measure accurately. 11 If they become ashamed of all they have done, show them the elevation and plan of the house, its exits and entrances, all its details and decorations, and all its specifications, its design and its Torah. Sketch it for them to see, so that they can observe the entire design with its specifications, and carry them out. 12 This is Torah for the house: the whole surrounding area on the mountaintop will be especially holy. This is Torah for the house.”
13 These are the measurements of the altar in cubits (a cubit here is defined as a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]): the base, one cubit [twenty-one inches] deep and one cubit wide; with the molding surrounding it at its rim about a hand-span [nine inches] in width. The height of the altar is thus: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, three-and-a-half feet, with the width twenty-one inches; from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, seven feet, with the width again twenty-one inches. 15 The hearth measures seven feet [high], with four horns on top of the hearth. 16 The hearth is a square twenty-one feet on each of its four sides. 17 The ledge measures a square twenty-four-and-a-half feet on each of its four sides; the molding around it ten-and-a-half inches [across]; and its base twenty-one inches [larger than the rest, all the way] around. Its steps face east.
18 He said to me, “Human being, Adonai Elohim says, ‘These are the regulations for the altar when the time comes to construct it, offer burnt offerings on it and splash the blood against it: 19 you are to give to the cohanim, who are L’vi’im descended from Tzadok and who approach to serve me,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘a young bull as a sin offering. 20 You are to take its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge and on the molding all the way around; this is how you will purify it and make atonement for it. 21 You are also to take the bull which is the sin offering and have it burned up at the designated place [on the grounds] of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect as a sin offering, and they are to purify the altar as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull without defect and a ram from the flock without defect. 24 You are to present them before Adonai, and the cohanim will throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to Adonai. 25 Every day, for seven days, you are to prepare a goat as a sin offering; they are also to prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock without defect. 26 For seven days, they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; in this way they are to consecrate it. 27 When these days are over, then, on the eighth day and afterwards, the cohanim will present your burnt offerings on the altar and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ says Adonai Elohim.”
44:1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east; and it was shut. 2 Adonai said to me, “This gate will remain shut; it will not be opened, and no one will go through it; because Adonai, the God of Isra’el, has gone through it. Therefore, it is to be kept shut. 3 Only the prince, since he is a prince, is to sit there to eat his meal before Adonai; he is to enter through the vestibule of the gate and leave the same way.”
4 Then he brought me through the north gate to the front of the house. I looked, saw Adonai’s glory filling the house of Adonai, and fell on my face. 5 Adonai said to me, “Human being, pay attention; see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything I tell you about all the regulations of Adonai’s house and about all its Torah; pay attention to who can enter the house and who must be excluded from the sanctuary. 6 You are to tell the rebels, the house of Isra’el, that this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘House of Isra’el, enough of all your disgusting practices! 7 You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary and profane it — yes, my house — when you offered my food, the fat and the blood; thus in addition to all your disgusting practices, they broke my covenant. 8 Instead of taking care of my holy things yourselves, you have put these people in charge of my sanctuary.’ 9 Here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘No foreigner, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, is to enter my sanctuary — no foreigner living among the people of Isra’el.
10 “‘Rather, the L’vi’im, who went far away from me when Isra’el went astray, going astray after their idols — they will bear the consequences of their guilt, 11 but they are to serve in my sanctuary. They will have charge of the gates of the house and of serving in the house; they will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people; and they will attend and serve them. 12 Because they served them in the presence of their idols and became an occasion of sin for the house of Isra’el, I am raising my hand against them,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘and they will bear the consequences of their guilt. 13 They will not approach me to serve me in the office of cohen or approach any of the holy things or the especially holy things; but they will bear their shame for the disgusting practices they committed. 14 Yet I will put them in charge of the house and all its maintenance and everything to be done in it.
15 “‘However, the cohanim, who are L’vi’im and descendants of Tzadok, who took care of my sanctuary when the people of Isra’el went astray from me — they are the ones who will approach me and serve me; it is they who will attend me and offer me the fat and the blood,’ says Adonai Elohim. 16 ‘They will enter my sanctuary, approach my table to minister to me and perform my service.
17 “‘Once they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they are to wear linen clothing; they are not to wear any wool while serving at the gates of the inner courtyard or inside it. 18 They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes on their bodies, and they are not to wear anything that makes them sweat. 19 Before going out to the people in the outer courtyard, they are to remove the clothes in which they minister, lay them in the holy rooms, and put on other clothes; so that they won’t transmit holiness to the people by means of their clothing. 20 They are not to shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must keep their hair carefully trimmed. 21 No cohen is to drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard. 22 They may not marry a widow or a divorcee but must marry virgins descended from the house of Isra’el or a widow whose deceased husband was a cohen.
23 “‘They are to teach my people the difference between holy and common and enable them to distinguish between clean and unclean. 24 They are to be judges in controversies, and they are to render decisions in keeping with my rulings. At all my designated festivals they are to keep my laws and regulations, and they are to keep my shabbats holy. 25 They are not to come to any dead person, because this would make them unclean; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister who has had no husband they may make themselves unclean. 26 After a cohen has been purified, he is to wait seven days. 27 Then, on the day he enters the sanctuary, when he goes into the inner courtyard to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer his sin offering,’ says Adonai Elohim.
28 “‘Their inheritance is to be this: I myself am their inheritance. You are not to grant them any possession in Isra’el — I myself am their possession. 29 They are to eat the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings; and everything in Isra’el devoted [to God] will be theirs. 30 The first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every voluntary contribution of everything, from all your offerings, will be for the cohanim. You are also to give the cohen the first of your dough, so that a blessing will rest on your house. 31 The cohanim are not to eat anything, bird or animal, that dies naturally or is torn to death.
1 John 1:1 The Word, which gives life!
He existed from the beginning.
We have heard him,
we have seen him with our eyes,
we have contemplated him,
we have touched him with our hands!
2 The life appeared,
and we have seen it.
We are testifying to it
and announcing it to you —
eternal life!
He was with the Father,
and he appeared to us.
3 What we have seen and heard,
we are proclaiming to you;
so that you too
may have fellowship with us.
Our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah.
4 We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.
5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none!
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. 7 But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.
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Depending on what historian you believe, it was the Scots, or the Welsh, who came up with a prayer which reads: "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!" Now the odds are that the person who first wrote that prayer had never seen any ghoulies or ghosties. Nor is it likely that he or she had had any encounters with long-leggedy beasties.
Still, that prayer has survived. It comes down to us partly because of its quaint language but also because it touches something deep down inside all of us: the fear of the unknown and the things which we cannot control.
When European explorers set out across the sea, that might well have been their prayer.
With only the most rudimentary of navigational tools and maps based on guesswork rather than fact, the unknown was a constant terror. Would they sail to the end of the earth and fall off into a bottomless abyss? Who could tell! When these explorers returned, mapmakers poured over their ships' logs and began to fill in the great unknowns across the sea. Eventually, major rivers, islands, navigable ports were shown. But there was still great expanses of ocean that had not been seen. There were still locations where all that was known was the unknown. In such places the mapmakers, the cartographers, with trembling hands wrote: "Here there may be dragons."
They weren't sure, so they imagined the worst.
It's not so different today. A recent poll taken in Great Britain has come up with a number of surprising statistics. For example, 64 percent of British adults admit they are still afraid of the dark. Nearly two-thirds of the nation disliked putting the lights out when they went to bed, and 36 percent regularly feel someone or something is in the room with them.
As many as 20 percent regularly check under the bed for lurking monsters; 17 percent sleep with a light on most nights of the week, and 25 percent believe they have seen a mysterious shadow in their bedroom.
If this poll is to be believed, it would appear that there are a lot of people who can, with their ancestors, honestly pray, "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!"
Now the Bible is silent concerning ghoulies and the others that prayer mentions. But that doesn't mean Scripture does not address the unseen spiritual realms. St. Paul spoke by inspiration when he wrote that we fight "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
These things, according to Paul, were very real. And so they are. But equally real is the power of the Lord who sent His Son into this world as the sacrifice who could rescue us from these forces of darkness. Comforted and strengthened by the power of God, Paul also wrote, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, from things seen and unseen deliver us. Keep my eyes on the Savior and the victories He has won to forgive and to rescue sinners In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Note: This Sunday, the beginning of Advent, the Daily Devotions will be written by Dr. Kari Vo. Her devotional, Love Came Down speaks of God's activity in the world. From ancient prophecies foretelling the coming Messiah to Jesus' birth in a crude manger, the stage was set for God to enter our lives in the flesh.
As Dr. Vo says, "Jesus came into the world to be one of us, the Man Christ Jesus. He took the penalty for our rebellion upon Himself, all the way to death on a cross, so we wouldn't have to pay that price. He broke the power of sin and evil on that day. And when He rose from the dead three days later, He broke the power of death over everyone who is willing to trust in Him."
I will resume the Daily Devotions in January, after Epiphany. So, my friends, a most blessed Christmas and New Year! In Him, Pastor Ken Klaus
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3
Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month — this was the fourteenth year after the city [of Yerushalayim] was struck — it was on that very day that the hand of Adonai was on me, and he took me there. 2 In visions God brought me into the land of Isra’el and put me down on a very high mountain; on it, toward the south, it seemed that a city was being built. 3 That is where he took me, and there in front of me was a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. 4 The man said to me, “Human being, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to all the things I am showing you; because the reason you were brought here is so that I could show them to you. Tell everything you see to the house of Isra’el.”
5 There was a wall surrounding the house. The man had in his hand a measuring rod six cubits long [ten-and-a-half feet], each cubit [twenty-one inches] being a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]. He measured the wall’s width at ten-and-a-half feet and its height ten-and-a-half feet. 6 He went to the east gate, climbed its steps and measured one of the gate’s doorposts at ten-and-a-half feet wide and the other one the same. 7 There were guardrooms, each ten-and-a-half feet square; the distance between the guardrooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet. The threshold of the gate adjoining the gate’s entranceway facing the house measured ten-and-a-half feet. 8 He measured the gate’s entranceway facing the house at ten-and-a-half feet. 9 Then he measured the gate’s entranceway itself, fourteen feet, and its supports, three-and-a-half feet; the gate’s entranceway was on the side facing the house. 10 There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all the same size; and on each side the supports [between the guardrooms] were also all the same size. 11 He measured the width of the opening to the gateway at seventeen-and-a-half feet and the width of the passage through the gateway at twenty-two-and-three-quarters feet. 12 There was a partition in front of the guardrooms [on one side] twenty-one inches [wide] and a partition on the other side twenty-one inches [wide], with the guardrooms themselves being ten-and-a-half feet square. 13 He measured [inside] the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other a distance of forty-three-and-three-quarters feet, the openings [to the guardrooms] being opposite each other. 14 He made the posts 105 feet, likewise the posts of the other gates around the courtyard. 15 The distance along the passage from the outer opening of the gateway to the far side of the entranceway at the inner end of the gateway was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 16 There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.
17 Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There I saw rooms and paved mosaic flooring made for the courtyard all around its perimeter, and thirty rooms facing the flooring. 18 The flooring was alongside the gates and corresponded to the length of the gates [from outside to inside], this lower flooring. 19 He measured at 175 feet the distance from inside this lower gate that faced east to the outside of the inner courtyard, and he did the same for the gate that faced north.
20 Next he measured the length and width of the outer courtyard gate that faced north. 21 It had three guardrooms on each side, and its supports and vestibule were the same size as those at the first gate; its length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and its width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 22 Its windows, vestibule and palm trees were the same size as those at the east gate. Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside.
23 There were gates to the inner courtyard across from the gates to the north and east; he measured 175 feet from each outer gate to its corresponding inner gate.
24 He led me toward the south, and there I saw a gate that faced south. He measured its supports and vestibule; they were the same size as the others. 25 There were windows in it and all around its vestibule like the other windows; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 26 Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside. It had palm trees, one on each side, on its supports. 27 The inner courtyard had a gate on the south; he measured from gate to gate toward the south 175 feet.
28 He brought me to the inner courtyard through its south gate. He measured this south gate as being the same size; 29 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. 30 There was a vestibule around it forty-three-and-three-quarters feet long and eight-and-three-quarters feet wide; 31 this vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, and it had eight steps leading up to it.
32 He brought me into the inner courtyard, went toward the east and measured that gate as being the same size; 33 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. 34 Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.
35 He brought me over to the north gate and measured it as being the same size; 36 it had guardrooms, supports and a vestibule with windows all around; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 37 Its supports faced the outer courtyard; palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.
38 There was a room with its entry by the supports at the gates where the burnt offerings were washed. 39 In the entranceway to the gate were two tables on the one side and two on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. 40 On the outside, as one goes up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side of the entranceway to the gate were two tables. 41 So there were four tables on the one side and four on the other side, by the gate — eight tables on which to slaughter sacrifices. 42 There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, thirty-one-and-a-half inches square and twenty-one inches high, on which to lay the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and other sacrifices. 43 Hooks a handbreadth long were fastened all around the inside of the room; the flesh of the offerings was to be placed on the tables.
44 Outside the inner gate, in the inner courtyard, were rooms for the singers, one facing south alongside the north gate, and one facing north alongside the east gate. 45 He said to me, “This room facing south is for the cohanim in charge of the house; 46 while the room facing north is for the cohanim in charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Tzadok, who are the descendants of Levi designated to approach Adonai and serve him.”
47 Then he measured the courtyard at 175 feet long and 175 feet wide — it was square. The altar was in front of the house.
48 He brought me to the vestibule of the house and measured at eight-and-three-quarters feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance. On each side, these walls extended five-and-a-quarter feet from the side-walls of the vestibule. 49 The length of the vestibule was thirty-five feet and the width nineteen-and-a-quarter feet; steps led up to it. There were columns on each side of the entrance.
41:1 He brought me to the sanctuary and measured at ten-and-a-half feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance, which was [also] the thickness of [the walls surrounding] the “tent” [that is, the sanctuary together with the Especially Holy Place]. 2 The width of the entrance was seventeen-and-a-half feet. The sides of the entrance were eight-and-three-quarters feet on the one side and the same on the other. He measured its length at seventy feet and its width at thirty-five feet.
3 Next, he went farther in [to the entranceway leading to the Especially Holy Place] and measured at three-and-a-half feet [the thickness of] each entrance support. He measured at ten-and-a-half feet the total thickness of the walls on either side of the entrance; and he measured at twelve-and-a-quarter feet the width of the entrance. 4 [Continuing into the inner room,] he said to me, “This is the Especially Holy Place.” He measured its length at thirty-five feet and its width at thirty-five feet along the wall nearest the sanctuary.
5 [On his way out,] he measured the thickness of the wall of the house at ten-and-a-half feet [at ground level], and the width of all the side-rooms surrounding the house, seven feet [at ground level]. 6 There were three floors of side-rooms, thirty on each floor; and the wall around the house was terraced, so that the side-rooms rested on the terraces and were not supported on [the vertical parts of] the wall. 7 The higher side-rooms surrounding the house were wider than the lower ones, as were the passageways next to the side-rooms on each floor; thus the width of the side-rooms plus that of the passageways increased as one went up from floor to floor. The ascent from the lowest floor to the highest was [by a ramp] through the middle floor.
8 I saw that the house had a raised pavement all around it which extended outward a full rod of ten-and-a-half feet from where the foundations of the side-rooms joined it.
9 The outer wall of the side-rooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet thick [at ground level], likewise the empty space left [between] the structure containing the side-rooms [and the house itself also measured eight-and-three quarters feet wide]. 10 On all sides around the house itself was a space thirty-five feet wide between it and the [block of] rooms [for the cohanim]. 11 The doors of the side-rooms opened toward an empty space, one door facing north and the other facing south; the empty space was eight-and-three-quarters feet [wide] all around.
12 The building on the west facing the separated yard had a[n interior] width of 122 1/2 feet, a[n interior] length of 157 1/2 feet and exterior walls eight-and-three-quarters feet thick all the way around.
13 He measured the length of the house at 175 feet; then a distance that included [the width of] the separated yard, [the interior width of] the building and [the thickness of] its [front and back exterior] walls, at 175 feet. 14 The distance along the facade of the house on the east through the separated yard[s to the north and south] was 175 feet. 15 He measured the length of the building facing the separated yard behind [the house], together with its galleries on both sides, at 175 feet.
The sanctuary, the inner place and the vestibules [leading from the house] to the courtyard, 16 as well as the thresholds, narrow windows and galleries around these three, had wood panelling around them as far as the thresholds and from the ground up to the windows; and the windows were covered. 17 From the area above the entrance to the interior of the house, as well as outside, and on the entire wall all the way around, both inside and outside, was a pattern 18 consisting of k’ruvim and palm trees, with a palm tree between every two k’ruvim. Every keruv had two faces; 19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on its one side and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on its other side — this was the pattern all the way around the house. 20 The k’ruvim and palm trees ran from the ground to above the door, and likewise on the wall of the sanctuary. 21 As for the sanctuary, the door-frames were squared, and the appearance of the [Especially] Holy Place was like the appearance [I saw at the K’var River]. 22 The altar was of wood, five-and-a-quarter feet high and three-and-a-half feet long; its length and walls were also of wood. He said to me, “This is the table which is in the presence of Adonai.”
23 The sanctuary had two doors, and the [Especially] Holy Place 24 had two doors. The doors had two swinging leaves each — two leaves for the one door and two for the other. 25 On them, that is, on the doors of the sanctuary, were carved k’ruvim and palm trees like those on the walls; and on the exterior facade of the outside entrance were thick beams of wood. 26 There were narrow windows flanked by palm trees on both sides of the entrance; the side-rooms of the house and the thick beams also [had palm trees].
2 Peter 3:1 Dear friends, I am writing you now this second letter; and in both letters I am trying to arouse you to wholesome thinking by means of reminders; 2 so that you will keep in mind the predictions of the holy prophets and the command given by the Lord and Deliverer through your emissaries.
3 First, understand this: during the Last Days, scoffers will come, following their own desires 4 and asking, “Where is this promised ‘coming’ of his? For our fathers have died, and everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But, wanting so much to be right about this, they overlook the fact that it was by God’s Word that long ago there were heavens, and there was land which arose out of water and existed between the waters, 6 and that by means of these things the world of that time was flooded with water and destroyed. 7 It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Moreover, dear friends, do not ignore this: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day[2 Peter 3:8 Psalm 90:4] 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins. 10 However, the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief.” On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.
11 Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives, 12 as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat; 13 but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth,[2 Peter 3:13 Isaiah 65:17; 66:22] in which righteousness will be at home. 14 Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace. 15 And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. 16 Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position. 18 And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory, both now and forever! Amen.
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Luke 19:10 - (Jesus said) "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."Way back when, a newspaper once asked Daniel Boone if he had ever been lost. The old explorer answered, "I've never been lost, but I once was mighty confused for three days."
Using that logic, most of us could say, "We've never lost our glasses, our wallets, our purses, our tools, or anything else. We've just misplaced them for an unknown period of time." And then we optimistically have to add, "But we expect to have them back very soon."
I suppose that is also true for the man in Frankfurt, Germany, who had his car stolen in 1997. He reported the theft to the police and had every hope that the vehicle would be found and returned. Sadly, it was a false hope. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty years came and went without a hint. Then, when all seemed lost, the vehicle turned up.
It was found in a warehouse which was going to be destroyed. Those who were entrusted with the demolition told the police who traced the vehicle to its last owner: the man who had reported his vehicle as having been stolen. The truth was the vehicle had been in that warehouse for 20 years. It hadn't moved from the spot where the absentminded man had left it.
That report isn't much different from a German man who went to Oktoberfest in Munich. After a few beers, the man went to get his car, but it was not where he was sure he had left it. It took two years before the police found the vehicle two and a half miles from where he thought he had lost it. Oh, in the trunk of that vehicle, there was over $100,000 in cash and tools.
Now folks, it's one thing for a person to lose some belongings -- even a car -- but it's quite another thing for a person to lose his faith in his Lord.
Sadly, most of us know more than one person who has lost both.
Now the reason I bring it up is simple: we are entering the season of Advent and then Christmas. Both of these events on the church calendar are unique in their ability to touch lost souls and bring them back to the Lord and Savior whose life was offered to rescue us. The theme of God's Son coming to rescue all the world's lost is an emphasis which appeals to many.
So, why not invite such a soul to church with you this Advent? Wouldn't it be great to hear him or her say, "I once was confused and lost for a while, but now I'm saved and I know where I m going."
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today I pray for those who have forgotten their faith and the love which comes to them in the Savior whose birth we remember and whose second coming we prepare for. Keep us ready for that unknown hour and help us prepare others so they, too, may know where they are -- and where they're going. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Harry Cockburn on November 17, 2017 for the Independent. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
Note: Beginning tomorrow, I will be stepping away from the Daily Devotions until after Epiphany, in January of next year.
During these weeks, Dr. Kari Vo will present her Advent devotional, Love Came Down. Dr. Vo says, "Jesus came to be in our lives, a part of our lives, one of us. He came to be our Savior, and that is not a job someone can do by standing safely at a distance. Instead, He embraced our human nature: He was born, He grew, He lived, worked, and suffered. He died, and then He rose from the dead."
As this is my last day with you for over a month, please permit Pam and myself to wish you a blessed Christmas and a New Year which begins and is filled with Your loving Lord. In Christ, I remain His servant and yours, Ken Klaus.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Ezekiel 42-44; 1 John 1
Ezekiel 42:1 Then he led me into the outer courtyard — the route went north — and brought me to the [block of] rooms opposite the separated yard and opposite the building to the north. 2 The length of the front was 175 feet on the north side, where the door was; the width was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 3 It was located between the inner courtyard, which was thirty-five feet wide, and the flooring of the outer courtyard. It had galleries, one above the other, on three floors. 4 In front of the [block of] rooms was a walkway seventeen-and-a-half feet wide and a path twenty-one inches [wide]; their doors faced north.
5 The upper rooms were shorter, because the galleries took up some of their space, more than from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors] of the building. 6 For the rooms were on three floors, and they didn’t have columns like those in the courtyards; therefore space was taken away from the [rooms on the] lower and middle [floors], in comparison with the ground. 7 The length of the wall outside, next to the rooms, toward the outer courtyard in front of the rooms, was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 8 For the length of the rooms toward the outer courtyard was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet, whereas [the length of] the side facing the sanctuary was 175 feet. 9 Under these rooms was the entrance to the east side, leading in from the outer courtyard.
10 In the width of the courtyard wall on the east, facing the separated yard and facing the building, there were rooms, 11 with a passageway in front of them, similar to the rooms on the north. They were the same length and width and had similarly made exits and entrances.
12 By the entrances of the rooms on the south there was an entrance at the end of the passage, the passageway right in front of the wall, toward the eastern entrances.
13 Then he said to me, “The north and south [blocks of] rooms in front of the separated yard are the holy rooms where the cohanim who approach Adonai will eat the especially holy things. This is where they will put the especially holy things — the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings; for the place is holy. 14 When the cohanim come, they will not go out of the [Especially] Holy Place into the outer courtyard; rather, they will leave [in these rooms] the clothes they use when ministering, because they are holy. They will put on other clothes and only then approach the areas permitted to the people.”
15 After he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by way of the gate facing east and measured the whole area. 16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 17 He measured the north side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 18 He measured the south side; it was 875 feet by the measuring rod. 19 He turned to the west side and measured 875 feet with the measuring rod. 20 He measured its four sides; it had a wall around it; and it was 875 [feet] long and 875 [feet] wide. Thus a division was made between what was holy and what was common.
43:1 After this, he brought me to the gate facing east. 2 There I saw the glory of the God of Isra’el approaching from the east. His voice was like the sound of rushing water, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 The vision seemed like the vision I had seen when I came to destroy the city; also the visions were like the vision I had seen by the K’var River; and I fell on my face. 4 Adonai’s glory entered the house through the gate facing east.
5 Next, a spirit took me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, and I saw Adonai’s glory fill the house. 6 I heard someone speaking to me from the house, and a man was standing by me. 7 He said, “Human being, this is the place for my throne, the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Isra’el forever. The house of Isra’el, both they and their kings, will never again defile my holy name by their prostitution, by [burying] the corpses of their kings [on] their high places, 8 or by placing their threshold next to my threshold and their door-frames next to my door-frames, with only a common wall between me and them. Yes, they defiled my holy name by the disgusting practices they committed; which is why I destroyed them in my anger. 9 So now, they should put their prostitution at a distance and the corpses of their kings far away from me; then I will live among them forever.
10 “You, human being, describe this house to the house of Isra’el, so that they will be ashamed of their crimes. And let them measure accurately. 11 If they become ashamed of all they have done, show them the elevation and plan of the house, its exits and entrances, all its details and decorations, and all its specifications, its design and its Torah. Sketch it for them to see, so that they can observe the entire design with its specifications, and carry them out. 12 This is Torah for the house: the whole surrounding area on the mountaintop will be especially holy. This is Torah for the house.”
13 These are the measurements of the altar in cubits (a cubit here is defined as a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]): the base, one cubit [twenty-one inches] deep and one cubit wide; with the molding surrounding it at its rim about a hand-span [nine inches] in width. The height of the altar is thus: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, three-and-a-half feet, with the width twenty-one inches; from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, seven feet, with the width again twenty-one inches. 15 The hearth measures seven feet [high], with four horns on top of the hearth. 16 The hearth is a square twenty-one feet on each of its four sides. 17 The ledge measures a square twenty-four-and-a-half feet on each of its four sides; the molding around it ten-and-a-half inches [across]; and its base twenty-one inches [larger than the rest, all the way] around. Its steps face east.
18 He said to me, “Human being, Adonai Elohim says, ‘These are the regulations for the altar when the time comes to construct it, offer burnt offerings on it and splash the blood against it: 19 you are to give to the cohanim, who are L’vi’im descended from Tzadok and who approach to serve me,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘a young bull as a sin offering. 20 You are to take its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge and on the molding all the way around; this is how you will purify it and make atonement for it. 21 You are also to take the bull which is the sin offering and have it burned up at the designated place [on the grounds] of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect as a sin offering, and they are to purify the altar as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull without defect and a ram from the flock without defect. 24 You are to present them before Adonai, and the cohanim will throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to Adonai. 25 Every day, for seven days, you are to prepare a goat as a sin offering; they are also to prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock without defect. 26 For seven days, they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; in this way they are to consecrate it. 27 When these days are over, then, on the eighth day and afterwards, the cohanim will present your burnt offerings on the altar and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ says Adonai Elohim.”
44:1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east; and it was shut. 2 Adonai said to me, “This gate will remain shut; it will not be opened, and no one will go through it; because Adonai, the God of Isra’el, has gone through it. Therefore, it is to be kept shut. 3 Only the prince, since he is a prince, is to sit there to eat his meal before Adonai; he is to enter through the vestibule of the gate and leave the same way.”
4 Then he brought me through the north gate to the front of the house. I looked, saw Adonai’s glory filling the house of Adonai, and fell on my face. 5 Adonai said to me, “Human being, pay attention; see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything I tell you about all the regulations of Adonai’s house and about all its Torah; pay attention to who can enter the house and who must be excluded from the sanctuary. 6 You are to tell the rebels, the house of Isra’el, that this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘House of Isra’el, enough of all your disgusting practices! 7 You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary and profane it — yes, my house — when you offered my food, the fat and the blood; thus in addition to all your disgusting practices, they broke my covenant. 8 Instead of taking care of my holy things yourselves, you have put these people in charge of my sanctuary.’ 9 Here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘No foreigner, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, is to enter my sanctuary — no foreigner living among the people of Isra’el.
10 “‘Rather, the L’vi’im, who went far away from me when Isra’el went astray, going astray after their idols — they will bear the consequences of their guilt, 11 but they are to serve in my sanctuary. They will have charge of the gates of the house and of serving in the house; they will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people; and they will attend and serve them. 12 Because they served them in the presence of their idols and became an occasion of sin for the house of Isra’el, I am raising my hand against them,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘and they will bear the consequences of their guilt. 13 They will not approach me to serve me in the office of cohen or approach any of the holy things or the especially holy things; but they will bear their shame for the disgusting practices they committed. 14 Yet I will put them in charge of the house and all its maintenance and everything to be done in it.
15 “‘However, the cohanim, who are L’vi’im and descendants of Tzadok, who took care of my sanctuary when the people of Isra’el went astray from me — they are the ones who will approach me and serve me; it is they who will attend me and offer me the fat and the blood,’ says Adonai Elohim. 16 ‘They will enter my sanctuary, approach my table to minister to me and perform my service.
17 “‘Once they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they are to wear linen clothing; they are not to wear any wool while serving at the gates of the inner courtyard or inside it. 18 They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes on their bodies, and they are not to wear anything that makes them sweat. 19 Before going out to the people in the outer courtyard, they are to remove the clothes in which they minister, lay them in the holy rooms, and put on other clothes; so that they won’t transmit holiness to the people by means of their clothing. 20 They are not to shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must keep their hair carefully trimmed. 21 No cohen is to drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard. 22 They may not marry a widow or a divorcee but must marry virgins descended from the house of Isra’el or a widow whose deceased husband was a cohen.
23 “‘They are to teach my people the difference between holy and common and enable them to distinguish between clean and unclean. 24 They are to be judges in controversies, and they are to render decisions in keeping with my rulings. At all my designated festivals they are to keep my laws and regulations, and they are to keep my shabbats holy. 25 They are not to come to any dead person, because this would make them unclean; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister who has had no husband they may make themselves unclean. 26 After a cohen has been purified, he is to wait seven days. 27 Then, on the day he enters the sanctuary, when he goes into the inner courtyard to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer his sin offering,’ says Adonai Elohim.
28 “‘Their inheritance is to be this: I myself am their inheritance. You are not to grant them any possession in Isra’el — I myself am their possession. 29 They are to eat the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings; and everything in Isra’el devoted [to God] will be theirs. 30 The first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every voluntary contribution of everything, from all your offerings, will be for the cohanim. You are also to give the cohen the first of your dough, so that a blessing will rest on your house. 31 The cohanim are not to eat anything, bird or animal, that dies naturally or is torn to death.
1 John 1:1 The Word, which gives life!
He existed from the beginning.
We have heard him,
we have seen him with our eyes,
we have contemplated him,
we have touched him with our hands!
2 The life appeared,
and we have seen it.
We are testifying to it
and announcing it to you —
eternal life!
He was with the Father,
and he appeared to us.
3 What we have seen and heard,
we are proclaiming to you;
so that you too
may have fellowship with us.
Our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah.
4 We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.
5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him — none!
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. 7 But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.
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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Ghoulies and Ghosties" for Friday, December 1, 2017
Ephesians 6:12-14 - For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.Depending on what historian you believe, it was the Scots, or the Welsh, who came up with a prayer which reads: "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!" Now the odds are that the person who first wrote that prayer had never seen any ghoulies or ghosties. Nor is it likely that he or she had had any encounters with long-leggedy beasties.
Still, that prayer has survived. It comes down to us partly because of its quaint language but also because it touches something deep down inside all of us: the fear of the unknown and the things which we cannot control.
When European explorers set out across the sea, that might well have been their prayer.
With only the most rudimentary of navigational tools and maps based on guesswork rather than fact, the unknown was a constant terror. Would they sail to the end of the earth and fall off into a bottomless abyss? Who could tell! When these explorers returned, mapmakers poured over their ships' logs and began to fill in the great unknowns across the sea. Eventually, major rivers, islands, navigable ports were shown. But there was still great expanses of ocean that had not been seen. There were still locations where all that was known was the unknown. In such places the mapmakers, the cartographers, with trembling hands wrote: "Here there may be dragons."
They weren't sure, so they imagined the worst.
It's not so different today. A recent poll taken in Great Britain has come up with a number of surprising statistics. For example, 64 percent of British adults admit they are still afraid of the dark. Nearly two-thirds of the nation disliked putting the lights out when they went to bed, and 36 percent regularly feel someone or something is in the room with them.
As many as 20 percent regularly check under the bed for lurking monsters; 17 percent sleep with a light on most nights of the week, and 25 percent believe they have seen a mysterious shadow in their bedroom.
If this poll is to be believed, it would appear that there are a lot of people who can, with their ancestors, honestly pray, "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!"
Now the Bible is silent concerning ghoulies and the others that prayer mentions. But that doesn't mean Scripture does not address the unseen spiritual realms. St. Paul spoke by inspiration when he wrote that we fight "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
These things, according to Paul, were very real. And so they are. But equally real is the power of the Lord who sent His Son into this world as the sacrifice who could rescue us from these forces of darkness. Comforted and strengthened by the power of God, Paul also wrote, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, from things seen and unseen deliver us. Keep my eyes on the Savior and the victories He has won to forgive and to rescue sinners In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Note: This Sunday, the beginning of Advent, the Daily Devotions will be written by Dr. Kari Vo. Her devotional, Love Came Down speaks of God's activity in the world. From ancient prophecies foretelling the coming Messiah to Jesus' birth in a crude manger, the stage was set for God to enter our lives in the flesh.
As Dr. Vo says, "Jesus came into the world to be one of us, the Man Christ Jesus. He took the penalty for our rebellion upon Himself, all the way to death on a cross, so we wouldn't have to pay that price. He broke the power of sin and evil on that day. And when He rose from the dead three days later, He broke the power of death over everyone who is willing to trust in Him."
I will resume the Daily Devotions in January, after Epiphany. So, my friends, a most blessed Christmas and New Year! In Him, Pastor Ken Klaus
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3
Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month — this was the fourteenth year after the city [of Yerushalayim] was struck — it was on that very day that the hand of Adonai was on me, and he took me there. 2 In visions God brought me into the land of Isra’el and put me down on a very high mountain; on it, toward the south, it seemed that a city was being built. 3 That is where he took me, and there in front of me was a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. 4 The man said to me, “Human being, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to all the things I am showing you; because the reason you were brought here is so that I could show them to you. Tell everything you see to the house of Isra’el.”
5 There was a wall surrounding the house. The man had in his hand a measuring rod six cubits long [ten-and-a-half feet], each cubit [twenty-one inches] being a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]. He measured the wall’s width at ten-and-a-half feet and its height ten-and-a-half feet. 6 He went to the east gate, climbed its steps and measured one of the gate’s doorposts at ten-and-a-half feet wide and the other one the same. 7 There were guardrooms, each ten-and-a-half feet square; the distance between the guardrooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet. The threshold of the gate adjoining the gate’s entranceway facing the house measured ten-and-a-half feet. 8 He measured the gate’s entranceway facing the house at ten-and-a-half feet. 9 Then he measured the gate’s entranceway itself, fourteen feet, and its supports, three-and-a-half feet; the gate’s entranceway was on the side facing the house. 10 There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all the same size; and on each side the supports [between the guardrooms] were also all the same size. 11 He measured the width of the opening to the gateway at seventeen-and-a-half feet and the width of the passage through the gateway at twenty-two-and-three-quarters feet. 12 There was a partition in front of the guardrooms [on one side] twenty-one inches [wide] and a partition on the other side twenty-one inches [wide], with the guardrooms themselves being ten-and-a-half feet square. 13 He measured [inside] the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other a distance of forty-three-and-three-quarters feet, the openings [to the guardrooms] being opposite each other. 14 He made the posts 105 feet, likewise the posts of the other gates around the courtyard. 15 The distance along the passage from the outer opening of the gateway to the far side of the entranceway at the inner end of the gateway was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. 16 There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.
17 Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There I saw rooms and paved mosaic flooring made for the courtyard all around its perimeter, and thirty rooms facing the flooring. 18 The flooring was alongside the gates and corresponded to the length of the gates [from outside to inside], this lower flooring. 19 He measured at 175 feet the distance from inside this lower gate that faced east to the outside of the inner courtyard, and he did the same for the gate that faced north.
20 Next he measured the length and width of the outer courtyard gate that faced north. 21 It had three guardrooms on each side, and its supports and vestibule were the same size as those at the first gate; its length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and its width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 22 Its windows, vestibule and palm trees were the same size as those at the east gate. Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside.
23 There were gates to the inner courtyard across from the gates to the north and east; he measured 175 feet from each outer gate to its corresponding inner gate.
24 He led me toward the south, and there I saw a gate that faced south. He measured its supports and vestibule; they were the same size as the others. 25 There were windows in it and all around its vestibule like the other windows; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 26 Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside. It had palm trees, one on each side, on its supports. 27 The inner courtyard had a gate on the south; he measured from gate to gate toward the south 175 feet.
28 He brought me to the inner courtyard through its south gate. He measured this south gate as being the same size; 29 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. 30 There was a vestibule around it forty-three-and-three-quarters feet long and eight-and-three-quarters feet wide; 31 this vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, and it had eight steps leading up to it.
32 He brought me into the inner courtyard, went toward the east and measured that gate as being the same size; 33 its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. 34 Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.
35 He brought me over to the north gate and measured it as being the same size; 36 it had guardrooms, supports and a vestibule with windows all around; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. 37 Its supports faced the outer courtyard; palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.
38 There was a room with its entry by the supports at the gates where the burnt offerings were washed. 39 In the entranceway to the gate were two tables on the one side and two on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. 40 On the outside, as one goes up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side of the entranceway to the gate were two tables. 41 So there were four tables on the one side and four on the other side, by the gate — eight tables on which to slaughter sacrifices. 42 There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, thirty-one-and-a-half inches square and twenty-one inches high, on which to lay the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and other sacrifices. 43 Hooks a handbreadth long were fastened all around the inside of the room; the flesh of the offerings was to be placed on the tables.
44 Outside the inner gate, in the inner courtyard, were rooms for the singers, one facing south alongside the north gate, and one facing north alongside the east gate. 45 He said to me, “This room facing south is for the cohanim in charge of the house; 46 while the room facing north is for the cohanim in charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Tzadok, who are the descendants of Levi designated to approach Adonai and serve him.”
47 Then he measured the courtyard at 175 feet long and 175 feet wide — it was square. The altar was in front of the house.
48 He brought me to the vestibule of the house and measured at eight-and-three-quarters feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance. On each side, these walls extended five-and-a-quarter feet from the side-walls of the vestibule. 49 The length of the vestibule was thirty-five feet and the width nineteen-and-a-quarter feet; steps led up to it. There were columns on each side of the entrance.
41:1 He brought me to the sanctuary and measured at ten-and-a-half feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance, which was [also] the thickness of [the walls surrounding] the “tent” [that is, the sanctuary together with the Especially Holy Place]. 2 The width of the entrance was seventeen-and-a-half feet. The sides of the entrance were eight-and-three-quarters feet on the one side and the same on the other. He measured its length at seventy feet and its width at thirty-five feet.
3 Next, he went farther in [to the entranceway leading to the Especially Holy Place] and measured at three-and-a-half feet [the thickness of] each entrance support. He measured at ten-and-a-half feet the total thickness of the walls on either side of the entrance; and he measured at twelve-and-a-quarter feet the width of the entrance. 4 [Continuing into the inner room,] he said to me, “This is the Especially Holy Place.” He measured its length at thirty-five feet and its width at thirty-five feet along the wall nearest the sanctuary.
5 [On his way out,] he measured the thickness of the wall of the house at ten-and-a-half feet [at ground level], and the width of all the side-rooms surrounding the house, seven feet [at ground level]. 6 There were three floors of side-rooms, thirty on each floor; and the wall around the house was terraced, so that the side-rooms rested on the terraces and were not supported on [the vertical parts of] the wall. 7 The higher side-rooms surrounding the house were wider than the lower ones, as were the passageways next to the side-rooms on each floor; thus the width of the side-rooms plus that of the passageways increased as one went up from floor to floor. The ascent from the lowest floor to the highest was [by a ramp] through the middle floor.
8 I saw that the house had a raised pavement all around it which extended outward a full rod of ten-and-a-half feet from where the foundations of the side-rooms joined it.
9 The outer wall of the side-rooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet thick [at ground level], likewise the empty space left [between] the structure containing the side-rooms [and the house itself also measured eight-and-three quarters feet wide]. 10 On all sides around the house itself was a space thirty-five feet wide between it and the [block of] rooms [for the cohanim]. 11 The doors of the side-rooms opened toward an empty space, one door facing north and the other facing south; the empty space was eight-and-three-quarters feet [wide] all around.
12 The building on the west facing the separated yard had a[n interior] width of 122 1/2 feet, a[n interior] length of 157 1/2 feet and exterior walls eight-and-three-quarters feet thick all the way around.
13 He measured the length of the house at 175 feet; then a distance that included [the width of] the separated yard, [the interior width of] the building and [the thickness of] its [front and back exterior] walls, at 175 feet. 14 The distance along the facade of the house on the east through the separated yard[s to the north and south] was 175 feet. 15 He measured the length of the building facing the separated yard behind [the house], together with its galleries on both sides, at 175 feet.
The sanctuary, the inner place and the vestibules [leading from the house] to the courtyard, 16 as well as the thresholds, narrow windows and galleries around these three, had wood panelling around them as far as the thresholds and from the ground up to the windows; and the windows were covered. 17 From the area above the entrance to the interior of the house, as well as outside, and on the entire wall all the way around, both inside and outside, was a pattern 18 consisting of k’ruvim and palm trees, with a palm tree between every two k’ruvim. Every keruv had two faces; 19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on its one side and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on its other side — this was the pattern all the way around the house. 20 The k’ruvim and palm trees ran from the ground to above the door, and likewise on the wall of the sanctuary. 21 As for the sanctuary, the door-frames were squared, and the appearance of the [Especially] Holy Place was like the appearance [I saw at the K’var River]. 22 The altar was of wood, five-and-a-quarter feet high and three-and-a-half feet long; its length and walls were also of wood. He said to me, “This is the table which is in the presence of Adonai.”
23 The sanctuary had two doors, and the [Especially] Holy Place 24 had two doors. The doors had two swinging leaves each — two leaves for the one door and two for the other. 25 On them, that is, on the doors of the sanctuary, were carved k’ruvim and palm trees like those on the walls; and on the exterior facade of the outside entrance were thick beams of wood. 26 There were narrow windows flanked by palm trees on both sides of the entrance; the side-rooms of the house and the thick beams also [had palm trees].
2 Peter 3:1 Dear friends, I am writing you now this second letter; and in both letters I am trying to arouse you to wholesome thinking by means of reminders; 2 so that you will keep in mind the predictions of the holy prophets and the command given by the Lord and Deliverer through your emissaries.
3 First, understand this: during the Last Days, scoffers will come, following their own desires 4 and asking, “Where is this promised ‘coming’ of his? For our fathers have died, and everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But, wanting so much to be right about this, they overlook the fact that it was by God’s Word that long ago there were heavens, and there was land which arose out of water and existed between the waters, 6 and that by means of these things the world of that time was flooded with water and destroyed. 7 It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Moreover, dear friends, do not ignore this: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day[2 Peter 3:8 Psalm 90:4] 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins. 10 However, the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief.” On that Day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will melt and disintegrate, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.
11 Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives, 12 as you wait for the Day of God and work to hasten its coming. That Day will bring on the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt from the heat; 13 but we, following along with his promise, wait for new heavens and a new earth,[2 Peter 3:13 Isaiah 65:17; 66:22] in which righteousness will be at home. 14 Therefore, dear friends, as you look for these things, do everything you can to be found by him without spot or defect and at peace. 15 And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. 16 Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position. 18 And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory, both now and forever! Amen.
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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