SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 7/24/2013 9:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Immanuel: A Message of Hope PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Isaiah 7:1-25
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we move back
to our study of the book of Isaiah, and we will begin to look at chapter seven
which is one of five chapters that Dr. Wiersbe looks at in his second chapter
of his commentary on Isaiah, “Be Comforted.”
He entitles this chapter “God is with Us!” and remarks that the key
verse in understanding this section (chapters 7-12) is Isaiah 8:18 which says, “Behold,
I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in
Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” Dr. Wiersbe writes “In his previous messages,
Isaiah focused on the spiritual needs of his people, but in this section he
deals with the political situation and the failure of the leaders to trust the
Lord. Four symbolic names are involved
in Isaiah’s messages, each of them with a very special meaning: Immanuel, Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
Shear-jashub, and Isaiah.”
A promise to King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:1-9): “1 ¶
Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of
Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but
could not conquer it. 2 When it was reported to the house of David, saying,
"The Arameans have camped in Ephraim," his heart and the hearts of
his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind. 3 Then the
LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son
Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to
the fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, ’Take care and be calm, have no fear and
do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on
account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5
’Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against
you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for
ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the
midst of it," 7 thus says the Lord GOD: "It shall not stand nor shall
it come to pass. 8 "For the head of
Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years
Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), 9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the
head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely
shall not last.’ ‘ “
Dr. Wiersbe mentioned that this section was about
political issues and chapter seven begins with a political issue between the
Northern Kingdom (Ephraim), the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and also Syria (a
nation that is been in the news for some time in our time). We read in 2 Kings 16:5-9 that Ahaz had
already made a secret deal or treaty with Assyria, and this was wrong because
he was not trusting in the Lord and His promises to handle the problems he and
Judah were facing: “5 ¶ Then Rezin king
of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage
war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6 At that time Rezin
king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely;
and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent
messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant
and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from
the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me." 8 Ahaz took
the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the
treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 So
the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against
Damascus and captured it, and carried the people of it away into exile to Kir,
and put Rezin to death.” (Aram is
Syria.) We see in this section that Ahaz
took money from the temple of the Lord to pay the Assyrians to defeat both
Syria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
What a shame he did not trust the Lord and the promises that the Lord
had made to Israel, for if he would have then there would have been no need in
stealing the Lord’s money from His temple.
Dr. Wiersbe writes this about what we should do when we are in
trouble: “Faith in God’s promises is the
only way to find peace in the midst of trouble.
‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You’ (Isaiah. 26:3).”
The name of Isaiah’s son mentioned here is Shear-jashub
and that names means “A remnant will return.”
Isaiah’s message was a message of peace to Ahaz who was
very nervous over what was about to happen as we see in verse 2b “his heart and
the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.” God tells him in verse four that these two
kings he feared were nothing more than “smoldering stubs of firewood.” Nothing for him to fear over, as God was
surely in control. God says that they
will be off the scene soon and mentions sixty-five years for the Northern
Kingdom to last. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following
to explain this: “within sixty-five
years, Ephraim (Israel, the Northern Kingdom) would be gone forever. Isaiah spoke this prophecy in the year 734 B.
C., Assyria defeated Syria in 732 B. C. and invaded Israel in 722 B. C. They deported many of the Jews and
assimilated the rest by introducing Gentiles into the land. By 669 B. C. (sixty-five years later), the
nation no longer existed.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The quote that
Dr. Wiersbe made about finding peace in trusting the promises of the Lord is
something I surely need to do more of.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust in the promises of the Lord, and one of
them is Proverbs 3:5-6.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46:1-7
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of
the sea; 3 though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its
swelling pride. Selah. 4
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy
dwelling place of the Most High. 5 God
is in the midst of her, she will not be moved, God will help her when morning
comes.
6 The nations make an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He
raised His voice, the earth melted. 2
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Answer to our last Bible
Question: “Decapolis” (Mark 5:20.
Today’s Bible
Question: “Which queen of Ethiopians is
mentioned in the book of Acts?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
7/24/2013 10:16 AM
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