Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.
A [a]Psalm.
98 O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done marvelous and wonderful things;
His right hand and His holy arm have [b]gained the victory for Him.
2
The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has [openly] revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.(A)
3
He has [graciously] remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have witnessed the salvation of our God.(B)
4
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Shout [in jubilation] and sing for joy and sing praises.
5
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
6
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout with joy before the King, the Lord.
7
Let the sea thunder and roar, and all the things it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
8
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the mountains sing together for joy and delight
9
Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with fairness.
Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple
10 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse (firmament) that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared something [glorious and brilliant] above them looking like a [huge] sapphire stone, formed to resemble a throne. 2 And the Lord spoke to the man (seventh angel) clothed in linen and said, “Go between the whirling wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered as I watched.(A)
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered; and a cloud [the Shekinah glory of God] filled the inner courtyard. 4 Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord moved upward from the cherubim to [rest over] the threshold of the temple; and the temple was filled with the cloud and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.(B) 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard [even] as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of [a]God Almighty when He speaks.(C)
6 It came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man entered and stood beside a wheel. 7 Then a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between [the four of] them, and took some [of it] and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and departed. 8 Beneath their wings the cherubim seemed to have [something in] the form of a man’s hand.
9 Then I looked and behold, [there were] four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside each other cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a sparkling Tarshish stone (beryl). 10 As for their appearance, all four looked alike, as if one wheel were within another wheel. 11 When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. 12 Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even the wheels belonging to all four of them. 13 Regarding the wheels [attached to them], I heard them called, “the whirling (rolling, revolving) wheels.” 14 And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the [b]cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 Then the cherubim rose upward. They are the [same four] living beings [regarded as one] that I saw by the River Chebar [in Babylonia].(D) 16 Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would go beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels would remain beside them. 17 When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose upward, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in these [wheels].(E)
18 Then the [Shekinah] glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and rested over the cherubim. 19 As I looked at them, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth, they departed with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel hovered over them.
20 Now having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a visible display; 21 nor will people say, ‘Look! Here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the kingdom of God is among you [because of My presence].”
Second Coming Foretold
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see [even] one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look [the Messiah is] there!’ or ‘Look [He is] here!’ Do not go away [to see Him], and do not run after them. 24 For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part [a]of the sky, gives light to the other part [b]of the sky, so [visible] will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be repudiated and rejected and considered unfit [to be the Messiah] by this [unbelieving] generation. 26 And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the [c]time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man: 27 the people were [d]eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, [they were indifferent to God] until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.(A) 28 It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building [carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins]; 29 but on the [very] day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.(B) 31 On that day, whoever is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, must not come down [and go inside] to take them out; and likewise whoever is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember [what happened to] Lot’s wife [when she looked back]!(C) 33 Whoever seeks to save his [e]life will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] will keep it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].(D) 34 I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the [f]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the [g]other (the believer) will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the [h]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. 36 [i][Two men will be in the field; [j]one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And they asked Him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”
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