Daily Lectionary

January 18, 2019

January 17, 2019 January 19, 2019

These daily readings from the EHV follow the one-year daily lectionary provided in Christian Worship: Hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, and the Treasury of Daily Prayer. In this lectionary, two readings of 15-25 verses each are provided for each day. Under this plan, nearly all of the New Testament and approximately one-third of the Old Testament are read each year. These readings fit well within the daily offices of Matins, Vespers, or Compline as daily family devotions.

Ezekiel 40:1-4, 43:1-12

A Vision of the New Temple^[]

40¹In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year,^[] on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me there. ²In visions of God, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. On the south side there was a structure that resembled a city. ³When he brought me there, I saw a man who looked as if he were made of bronze. In his hand he had a linen cord and a measuring rod. He was standing by the gatehouse.

⁴The man said to me, “Son of man, watch carefully, listen carefully, and pay attention to^[] everything that I am about to show you, because you were brought here so that I could show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”

The Return of the Glory of the Lord

43¹Then he led me to the gate, the gate that faces east. ²Suddenly I saw that the Glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. His voice sounded like the roar of rushing water, and the earth was shining with his glory. ³The appearance of the vision that I saw was like the vision I saw when he^[] came to destroy the city—visions like the vision I saw by the Kebar Canal, and I fell on my face. ⁴The Glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. ⁵Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and the Glory of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶I heard someone speaking to me from the temple while the man was standing beside me. ⁷The voice said to me:

Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and this is the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. Never again will the house of Israel profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, neither by their prostitution nor by the memorials^[] to their dead kings at their high places. ⁸Whenever they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorpost beside my doorpost with only a wall between me and them, they would defile my holy name by their abominations that they did, so I exterminated them in my anger. ⁹Now let them remove their prostitution and the memorials of their dead kings from my presence, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰But you, son of man, are to describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them measure its perfect pattern. ¹¹If they are ashamed of everything they have done, teach them the design of the temple and its layout, its exits and its entrances, all its designs and all its ordinances, all its designs and all its regulations. Write them down in their sight so that they may keep its whole plan and all its ordinances and carry them out. ¹²This is the law for the temple. On the top of the mountain, the whole territory of the temple and all the area surrounding its perimeter will be most holy. This is indeed the law for the temple.

Romans 8:18-39

Suffering Leads Us to Look Ahead to Heaven

¹⁸For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope ²¹that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. ²³And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^[] groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.

²⁶In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we should pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that are not expressed in words. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints, according to God's will.

²⁸We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, ²⁹because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified.

Nothing Can Separate Us From God's Love

³¹What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?

³³Who will bring an accusation against God's elect? God is the one who justifies! ³⁴Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus,^[] who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God's right hand and who is also interceding for us! ³⁵What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶Just as it is written:

For your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.^[]

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors^[] through him who loved us.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.