November 10: Jeremiah 48; Psalm 119:17-24; 1 Corinthians 15

Jeremiah 48

Judgment on Moab

48 Concerning Moab.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

  “Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!
    Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken;
  the fortress is put to shame and broken down;
    the renown of Moab is no more.
  In Heshbon they planned disaster against her:
    ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’
  You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;
    the sword shall pursue you.
  “A voice! A cry from Horonaim,
    ‘Desolation and great destruction!’
  Moab is destroyed;
    her little ones have made a cry.
  For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;¹
  for at the descent of Horonaim
    they have heard the distressed cry² of destruction.
  Flee! Save yourselves!
    You will be like a juniper in the desert!
  For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures,
    you also shall be taken;
  and Chemosh shall go into exile
    with his priests and his officials.
  The destroyer shall come upon every city,
    and no city shall escape;
  the valley shall perish,
    and the plain shall be destroyed,
    as the LORD has spoken.
  “Give wings to Moab,
    for she would fly away;
  her cities shall become a desolation,
    with no inhabitant in them.

“Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

  “Moab has been at ease from his youth
    and has settled on his dregs;
  he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
    nor has he gone into exile;
  so his taste remains in him,
    and his scent is not changed.

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his³ jars in pieces. Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

  “How do you say, ‘We are heroes
    and mighty men of war’?
  The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,
    and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,
    declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
  The calamity of Moab is near at hand,
    and his affliction hastens swiftly.
  Grieve for him, all you who are around him,
    and all who know his name;
  say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,
    the glorious staff.’
  “Come down from your glory,
    and sit on the parched ground,
    O inhabitant of Dibon!
  For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;
    he has destroyed your strongholds.
  Stand by the way and watch,
    O inhabitant of Aroer!
  Ask him who flees and her who escapes;
    say, ‘What has happened?’
  Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;
    wail and cry!
  Tell it beside the Arnon,
    that Moab is laid waste.

“Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath, and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.

“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

  “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
    O inhabitants of Moab!
  Be like the dove that nests
    in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.
  We have heard of the pride of Moab—
    he is very proud—
  of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
    and the haughtiness of his heart.
  I know his insolence, declares the LORD;
    his boasts are false,
    his deeds are false.
  Therefore I wail for Moab;
    I cry out for all Moab;
    for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.
  More than for Jazer I weep for you,
    O vine of Sibmah!
  Your branches passed over the sea,
    reached to the Sea of Jazer;
  on your summer fruits and your grapes
    the destroyer has fallen.
  Gladness and joy have been taken away
    from the fruitful land of Moab;
  I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;
    no one treads them with shouts of joy;
    the shouting is not the shout of joy.

“From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate. And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.

“For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth. On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD. How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him.”

  For thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle
    and spread his wings against Moab;
  the cities shall be taken
    and the strongholds seized.
  The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day
    like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;
  Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,
    because he magnified himself against the LORD.
  Terror, pit, and snare
    are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!
      declares the LORD.
  He who flees from the terror
    shall fall into the pit,
  and he who climbs out of the pit
    shall be caught in the snare.
  For I will bring these things upon Moab,
    the year of their punishment,
      declares the LORD.
  “In the shadow of Heshbon
    fugitives stop without strength,
  for fire came out from Heshbon,
    flame from the house of Sihon;
  it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,
    the crown of the sons of tumult.
  Woe to you, O Moab!
    The people of Chemosh are undone,
  for your sons have been taken captive,
    and your daughters into captivity.
  Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
    in the latter days, declares the LORD.”
  Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

(ESV)

Psalm 119:17-24

Gimel

  Deal bountifully with your servant,
    that I may live and keep your word.
  Open my eyes, that I may behold
    wondrous things out of your law.
  I am a sojourner on the earth;
    hide not your commandments from me!
  My soul is consumed with longing
    for your rules¹ at all times.
  You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
    who wander from your commandments.
  Take away from me scorn and contempt,
    for I have kept your testimonies.
  Even though princes sit plotting against me,
    your servant will meditate on your statutes.
  Your testimonies are my delight;
    they are my counselors.

(ESV)

1 Corinthians 15

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,¹ of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope² in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God³ has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”⁴Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;⁵ the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall⁶ also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

  “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
  “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

(ESV)