Luke 5:1-26    Ezekiel 48    Isaiah 66

Thank you for journeying with us through the Bible this year! I trust that this daily blog has been helpful to you. I would love to know who our fellow travelers have been, so I invite you to use the comment option today to leave your name. Peace to you, beloved of God! May you forever stay in the story and keep singing the song! Now on to our final reflection . . .

“And the name of that city from that time on shall be, The Lord is There” (Ezekiel 48:35). This is the final vision of Ezekiel: the New Jerusalem shall be known as the place where God is. Isaiah, likewise, concludes with an expectation of a new heaven and earth, and envisions “all flesh” coming to Jerusalem to worship before the Lord (Isaiah 66:23). And the year’s final reading from the gospel of Luke leaves us with a picture of  people glorifying God and filled with awe as they come in contact with Jesus (Luke 5:26). What might we learn from these texts as we complete our read through the Bible project and move into a new year?

“And they glorified God” (Luke 5:26). When? Most immediately, as they witness a paralyzed man stand up, take his bed, and go home, “glorifying God” (v.25). But this wasn’t the only “strange” and awe-inspiring thing they had seen . . . Others had been healed. And they had witnessed Jesus forgiving sin. And there was the following (v.11). And the evidence (v.14). And the faith (v.20) . . . What led the people to glorify God? It was a response to seeing Jesus doing the work of God in and through . . . people. Which leads back to a question concerning the prophets and their final word: How will “all flesh” know that “The Lord is There?”  Well.

“This is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). The last phrase is translated in this way in The Message: “reverently responsive to what I say.” Is not this the way folks know that God is present? As people humbly and obediently prove to be “reverently responsive” to God’s word? Observe, by way of example, the man healed of leprosy. Jesus is quite specific: his testimony will be his cleansed and obedient life, not his words (Luke 5:14). And what, then, of us? It is one thing to read God’s word, but it is quite another to be reverently responsive to that word. Are we? Will we be? This much is certain: As we are, people will know that the Lord is present, and they will glorify God! Have you completed the journey through the word? Well done! Have you entered the story and joined the song? Well. The answer to that lies in the testimony of life — yours and mine. May we forever be people of the story and singers of the song. May we be reverently responsive to God’s living word. And may all flesh glorify God! Amen. And Amen.

“For as the new heavens
and the new earth,
which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the Lord;
so shall your descendants
and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon,
and from sabbath to sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.”
— Isaiah 66:22,23