SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2013
9:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Lord will Judge the Enemy
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
10:5-34
Message of the
verses: Today’s SD is from the third
sub-point under the third main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline of the second
chapter of his commentary on the book of Isaiah. This third main point is named after one of
Isaiah’s sons and is entitled “Shear-jasub: A Promise of Mercy” and it covers
chapters 9:1-11:16, so that means we have one more sub-point to look at in the
next SD.
The Lord will Judge the Enemy (Isaiah 10:5-44): “5 ¶
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My
indignation, 6 I send it against a
godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize
plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. 7 Yet it does not so
intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to
destroy And to cut off many nations. 8 For it says, "Are not my princes
all kings? 9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like
Damascus? 10 "As my hand has
reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than
those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 Shall I not do to Jerusalem and
her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?" 12 So it
will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on
Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of
the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness." 13 For he has said,
"By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, For I have
understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their
treasures, And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants, 14 And my
hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned
eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing or
opened its beak or chirped." 15 Is the axe to boast itself over the one
who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That
would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who
is not wood. 16 Therefore
the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout
warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. 17
And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it
will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day. 18 And He will
destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. 19 And the rest of the trees of
his forest will be so small in number That a child could write them down.
“20 ¶ Now in that day the remnant of Israel,
and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them,
but will truly rely on the
LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22
For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will
return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. 23
For a complete destruction, one
that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the
whole land.
“24 ¶ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "O
My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the
rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. 25 “For in a very
little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be
directed to their destruction." 26 The LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge
against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff
will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. 27 So it
will be in that day,
that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your
neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness. 28 He has come against
Aiath, He has passed through Migron; At Michmash he deposited his baggage. 29
They have gone through the pass, saying, "Geba will be our lodging
place." Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled away. 30 Cry aloud
with your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah and wretched
Anathoth! 31 Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge. 32
Yet today he will halt at Nob; He shakes his fist at the mountain of the
daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 33 Behold, the Lord, the GOD of hosts,
will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash; Those also who are tall in
stature will be cut down And those who are lofty will be abased. 34 He will cut
down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon will fall by the
Mighty One.”
As I listened to this chapter last night I was having a
great deal of trouble understanding it, so I hope to learn things from this
section as I study it this morning.
The Assyrians were a tool in the hand of God to
discipline Judah and also the Northern Kingdom, but when they go to the
Southern Kingdom they were using too much power and so they were not giving
glory to the Lord for being used by Him.
Thus the Lord, through Isaiah begins this section by saying “Woe to
Assyria.” When we read that word “woe”
in the Bible it is often times a judgment by God upon a people or a nation as
it is in this section a woe upon Assyria.
I posted another post on the second blog that I have and
it was entitled “Pride,” and it covered a section from the ninth chapter of
Judges, and as I read this section of Isaiah I can also see the pride of
Assyria, and we have talked about pride before that is something that God
hates, as pride does not leave any room for giving glory to God, but gives
glory to the person or in this case the nation and not to God. We can see in verses 8-14 of the boasting of
the Assyrians.
Not it was because of their arrogant attitude, or their
pride that God would judge Assyria as shown by the workers having mastery over
His tools. We see this type of language
seen in this section of Isaiah’s prophecy, as Isaiah used words like a blazing
forest being burnt down, and that forest would be Assyria, and her
soldiers. As we fast forward to when
Hezekiah is king of Judah we will see that God will strike down 185,000
Assyrians in one night by an angel of the Lord.
The Assyrian’s would eventually fall in 609 B. C.
Dr. Wiersbe writes these very important words in his
commentary on this section: “In spite of
Assyria’s conquest of the Northern Kingdom and its intention to destroy Judah,
God would save a remnant so that ‘the twelve tribes’ would not be annihilated
(Acts 26:7; James 1:1; Rev. 21:12). ‘The
remnant shall return’ (Isaiah 10:21) is the translation of the name of Isaiah’s
older son Shear-jashub.” This is important
to understand because there are some who say that there are ten lost tribes of
Israel, and some even say that those tribes are part of the British
royalty.
As we look at verses 28-32, we see some names of towns or
cities that are very hard to pronounce, and these towns trace the way that the
Assyrian army was marching towards Jerusalem.
Isaiah the following “O My people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of
the Assyrian!” to assure them that God was in control of what was going on, and
Isaiah will give this message again to King Hezekiah later on in his life.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with
these words: “God used Assyria to
discipline His people, but He would not permit this godless nation to go beyond
His purposes. God may use unbelievers to
accomplish His will in the lives of His people, but He is always in
control. We need never fear the
disciplining hand of God, for He always disciplines in love (Hebrews
12:1-11).
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The portion in
Hebrews 12:1-11 speaks of the discipline of God upon His children as He does it
in love, like a parent is to do for their children, and we know that discipline
is not something we look forward to.
Remembering when I was a child and remembering that if I got a spanking
in school I would get another at home makes me think how unpleasant discipline
is. Kids don’t have to worry about this
today because our country is so “advanced” that we cannot spank kids in school
today.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord to give me great wisdom to
make right choices in my life today.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46:1-8.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear
though the earth should be changed, though the mountains slip into the heart of
the sea; 3 though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake with its
swelling pride. Selah. 4 There is a river whose streams make glade
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 dawns.
6 The nations make an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He
raised His voice, the earth melted. 7
The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
8 Come behold the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations in the
earth.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Heaven” (2Kings 2:11).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who was called ‘a mighty hunter
before the Lord?’”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
7/31/2013 10:43 AM
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