Scripture Readings
Second Isaiah celebrates with fulsome praise their God who has enabled the Israelites to return from exile in Babylon. God has cleared the way for their return, just as He led his people during the Exodus from Egypt. Then God was visible in a small area as a pillar of cloud or fire. Now God’s work should be shouted throughout the whole world.
The second letter of Peter, written probably towards the end of the first century, addressed doubts about when Christ would return in majesty. God patiently guides mankind to the promised land of his kingdom, giving everyone plenty of time to turn to him. But the Day of the Lord will come, and it will come to all creation, and when we least expect it.
In each gospel a prologue suggests who Jesus is. Luke and Matthew identify Jesus as Son of God at his conception, while for John, writing much later, Jesus was God before creation. Mark’s gospel, the earliest, says only that the coming of Jesus was proclaimed by Isaiah and the Baptist. God was revealed to the Jews during the Exodus and in their return from exile. Now God is being revealed to the whole world through his Christ, Jesus, confirmed at his baptism as his son.
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