xclose menu
  • Times & Directions
  • Giving at Grace
  • Events Calendar
  • Prayer Request

Journey to Bethlehem Day 16

Monday, December 14 Isaiah 65:19-22


19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Isaiah is seeing a vision of a future Jerusalem in which there is shalom, which means peace. Pray for this peace to come. It should be our prayer all the time—Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!


I am sure many of you feel a particular longing for this new Jerusalem this year since our lives are so uncertain in just about every way. Now is toil and trouble all around us, which is nothing new as it has been this way since Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden. But God always gives us hope, just as He did for the Israelites.


Here God is encouraging Israel that they can look forward to the day He will bring peace to Jerusalem. As John records in Revelation 21:3, “I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”


This is great news to those of us who long for better things. We know, as followers of Jesus, we are sojourners together as we journey to a better place of eternity with God


Lord, God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ triumphed over the powers of death and prepared for us our place in the new Jerusalem: Grant that we, who have this day given thanks for his resurrection. May praise you in that City of which he is the light, and where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen