Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The God of Power and Justice

A song.

The Coals of Fire

10 Then I looked and saw the sky above the heads of the living creatures. I saw something like a sapphire gem. It looked like a throne. ² The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, “Go in between the wheels under the living creatures. And fill your hands with coals of fire from between the living creatures. Scatter the coals over the city.”

As I watched, the man with linen clothes went in. ³ Now the living creatures were standing on the south side of the Temple when the man went in. And the cloud from the Lord filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the glory of the Lord went up from the living creatures. And it stood over the door of the Temple. The Temple was filled with the cloud. And the courtyard was full of the brightness from the glory of the Lord. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the living creatures was heard all the way to the outer courtyard. It was like the voice of God All-Powerful when he speaks.

⁶ The Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the living creatures.” Then the man went in and stood by a wheel. ⁷ One living creature put out his hand to the fire that was among them. The living creature took some of the fire. And he put it in the hands of the man dressed in linen. The man took the fire and went out.

The Wheels and the Creatures

⁸ Something that looked like a man’s hand appeared under the wings of the living creatures. ⁹ I saw the four wheels by the living creatures. One wheel was by each living creature. The wheels looked like shining chrysolite. ¹⁰ All four wheels looked alike. Each looked like a wheel crossways inside another wheel. ¹¹ When the wheels moved, they went in any of the directions that the four living creatures faced. The wheels did not turn about. The living creatures did not turn their bodies as they went. But they followed wherever their faces pointed. ¹² All their bodies, their backs, hands, wings and the wheels were full of eyes all over. Now each of the four living creatures had a wheel. ¹³ I heard the wheels being called “whirling wheels.” ¹⁴ Each living creature had four faces. The first face was the face of a creature with wings. The second face was the face of a man. The third was the face of a lion. And the fourth was the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ The living creatures flew up. They were the same living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. ¹⁶ And when the living creatures moved, the wheels moved by their sides. The living creatures lifted their wings to fly up from the ground. And the wheels did not leave their sides. ¹⁷ When the living creatures stopped, the wheels stopped. When the creatures went up, the wheels went up also. This was because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord left the door of the Temple and stood over the living creatures. ¹⁹ The living creatures spread their wings. And they flew up from the ground while I watched. As they went up, the wheels stayed by their sides. They stood where the east gate of the Temple of the Lord opened. The glory of the God of Israel was over them.

God’s Kingdom Is Within You

²⁰ Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”

Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. ²¹ People will not say, ‘Look, God’s kingdom is here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ No, God’s kingdom is within you.”

²² Then Jesus said to his followers, “The time will come when you will want very much to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not be able to see it. ²³ People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or, ‘Look, here he is!’ Stay where you are; don’t go away and search.

When Jesus Comes Again

²⁴ “The Son of Man will come again. On the day he comes he will shine like lightning, which flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other. ²⁵ But first, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the people of this time. ²⁶ When the Son of Man comes again, it will be as it was when Noah lived. ²⁷ In the time of Noah, people were eating, drinking, and getting married even on the day when Noah entered the boat. Then the flood came and killed all the people. ²⁸ It will be the same as during the time of Lot. Those people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. ²⁹ They were doing these things even on the day Lot left Sodom.^[a] Then fire and sulfur rained down from the sky and killed them all. ³⁰ This is exactly how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

³¹ “On that day, if a man is on his roof, he will not have time to go inside and get his things. If a man is in the field, he cannot go back home. ³² Remember what happened to Lot’s wife?^{[b] 33} Whoever tries to keep his life will give up true life. But whoever gives up his life will have true life. ³⁴ At the time when I come again, there may be two people sleeping in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There may be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁶ [Two men will be in the same field. One man will be taken, but the other man will be left behind.]”^[c]

³⁷ The followers asked Jesus, “Where will this be, Lord?”

Jesus answered, “People can always find a dead body by looking for the vultures.”