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Daily Light's Morning Reading
The glory which thou gavest me I have given them.—JOHN 17:22.
I saw . . . the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.—These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.—Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness . . . of a man above upon it. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.—No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.—God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Isa. 6:1-3. -John 12:41. -Ezek. 1:26,28.Exo. 33:18,20. -John 1:18. -II Cor. 4:6.
Spurgeon's Morning Reading
“Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.”
Zechariah 3:1
In Joshua the high priest we see a picture of each and every child of God, who has been made nigh by the blood of Christ, and has been taught to minister in holy things, and enter into that which is within the veil. Jesus has made us priests and kings unto God, and even here upon earth we exercise the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service. But this high priest is said to be “standing before the angel of the Lord,” that is, standing to minister. This should be the perpetual position of every true believer. Every place is now God’s temple, and his people can as truly serve him in their daily employments as in his house. They are to be always “ministering,” offering the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and praise, and presenting themselves a “living sacrifice.” But notice where it is that Joshua stands to minister, it is before the angel of Jehovah. It is only through a mediator that we poor defiled ones can ever become priests unto God. I present what I have before the messenger, the angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus; and through him my prayers find acceptance wrapped up in his prayers; my praises become sweet as they are bound up with bundles of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia from Christ’s own garden. If I can bring him nothing but my tears, he will put them with his own tears in his own bottle for he once wept; if I can bring him nothing but my groans and sighs, he will accept these as an acceptable sacrifice, for he once was broken in heart, and sighed heavily in spirit. I myself, standing in him, am accepted in the Beloved; and all my polluted works, though in themselves only objects of divine abhorrence, are so received, that God smelleth a sweet savour. He is content and I am blessed. See, then, the position of the Christian—“a priest—standing—before the angel of the Lord.”
Old Testament Chapter a Day - Ezekiel 8
8. Idolatry in the Temple
Abominations in the Temple
8
In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.2I looked, and there was a figure that looked like a human being; below what appeared to be its loins it was fire, and above the loins it was like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming amber.3It stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, to the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.4And the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley.
5 Then God said to me, “O mortal, lift up your eyes now in the direction of the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.6He said to me, “Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? Yet you will see still greater abominations.”
7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court; I looked, and there was a hole in the wall.8Then he said to me, “Mortal, dig through the wall”; and when I dug through the wall, there was an entrance.9He said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.”10So I went in and looked; there, portrayed on the wall all around, were all kinds of creeping things, and loathsome animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel.11Before them stood seventy of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the fragrant cloud of incense was ascending.12Then he said to me, “Mortal, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”13He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they are committing.”
14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord; women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.15Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O mortal? You will see still greater abominations than these.”
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord; there, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, prostrating themselves to the sun toward the east.17Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O mortal? Is it not bad enough that the house of Judah commits the abominations done here? Must they fill the land with violence, and provoke my anger still further? See, they are putting the branch to their nose!18Therefore I will act in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in my hearing with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”
New Testament in Four Years - Matthew 12:33-37
12. Lord of the Sabbath
A Tree and Its Fruit
33 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.34You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.35The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.36I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;37for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Psalm a Day - Psalm 109:1-15
109. Psalm 109
Psalm 109
Prayer for Vindication and Vengeance
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1
Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
2
For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
3
They beset me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
4
In return for my love they accuse me,
even while I make prayer for them.
5
So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6
They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand on his right.
7
When he is tried, let him be found guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin.
8
May his days be few;
may another seize his position.
9
May his children be orphans,
and his wife a widow.
10
May his children wander about and beg;
may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.
11
May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
12
May there be no one to do him a kindness,
nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.
13
May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
14
May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the Lord,
and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15
Let them be before the Lord continually,
and may his memory be cut off from the earth.