Heaven Is God’s Throne

1Thus says the Lord,

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.

Where then is a house you could build for Me?

And where is a place that I may rest?

2For My hand made all these things,

Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.

“But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

Hypocrisy Rebuked

3“But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man;

He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck;

He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood;

He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.

As they have chosen their own ways,

And their soul delights in their abominations,

4So I will choose their punishments

And will bring on them what they dread.

Because I called, but no one answered;

I spoke, but they did not listen.

And they did evil in My sight

And chose that in which I did not delight.”

5Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word:

“Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake,

Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’

But they will be put to shame.

6A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple,

The voice of the Lord who is rendering recompense to His enemies.

7“Before she travailed, she brought forth;

Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.

8Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?

Can a land be born in one day?

Can a nation be brought forth all at once?

As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.

9Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.

“Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.

Joy in Jerusalem’s Future

10“Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her;

Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her,

11That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts,

That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom.”

12For thus says the Lord, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river,

And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees.

13As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you;

And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

14Then you will see this, and your heart will be glad,

And your bones will flourish like the new grass;

And the hand of the Lord will be made known to His servants,

But He will be indignant toward His enemies.

15For behold, the Lord will come in fire

And His chariots like the whirlwind,

To render His anger with fury,

And His rebuke with flames of fire.

16For the Lord will execute judgment by fire

And by His sword on all flesh,

And those slain by the Lord will be many.

17“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens,

Following one in the center,

Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice,

Will come to an end altogether,” declares the Lord.

18“For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. 19I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. 20Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the Lord.

22“For just as the new heavens and the new earth

Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord,

“So your offspring and your name will endure.

23And it shall be from new moon to new moon

And from sabbath to sabbath,

All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.

24“Then they will go forth and look

On the corpses of the men

Who have transgressed against Me.

For their worm will not die

And their fire will not be quenched;

And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

4although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

17Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

PSALM 74

An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.

A Maskil of Asaph.

1O God, why have You rejected us forever?

Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

2Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,

Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;

And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

3Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;

The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

4Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;

They have set up their own standards for signs.

5It seems as if one had lifted up

His axe in a forest of trees.

6And now all its carved work

They smash with hatchet and hammers.

7They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;

They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

8They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”

They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9We do not see our signs;

There is no longer any prophet,

Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

10How long, O God, will the adversary revile,

And the enemy spurn Your name forever?

11Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?

From within Your bosom, destroy them!

12Yet God is my king from of old,

Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.

13You divided the sea by Your strength;

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15You broke open springs and torrents;

You dried up ever-flowing streams.

16Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;

You have prepared the light and the sun.

17You have established all the boundaries of the earth;

You have made summer and winter.

18Remember this, O Lord, that the enemy has reviled,

And a foolish people has spurned Your name.

19Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast;

Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

20Consider the covenant;

For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21Let not the oppressed return dishonored;

Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

22Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause;

Remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long.

23Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,

The uproar of those who rise against You which ascends continually.

15Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;

Do not destroy his resting place;

16For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,

But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.