SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/8/2013
10:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: What Isaiah
Saw PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah 1:16-31
Message of the
verses: As we look at verses 16-31
we will see in them that Isaiah will give the prescription for the diagnosis
that he gave in the first fifteen verses.
“16 ¶ “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your
deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.18 “Come now, and let us reason
together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will
be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson wool, they will be
like wool. 19 “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; 20 “But
if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the LORD has
spoken.
21 ¶ How the faithful city has become a
harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now
murderers. 22 Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels And
companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards.
They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them. 24
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel, declares, "Ah,
I will be relieved of My adversaries And avenge Myself on My foes. 25 “I will
also turn My hand against you, And will smelt away your dross as with lye And
will remove all your alloy. 26 “Then I will restore your judges as at the
first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called
the city of righteousness, A faithful city." 27 Zion will be redeemed with
justice And her repentant ones with righteousness. 28 But transgressors and
sinners will be crushed together, And those who forsake the LORD will come to
an end. 29 Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, And
you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen. 30 For you will
be like an oak whose leaf fades away Or as a garden that has no water. 31 The
strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn
together And there will be none to quench them.”
As I study the attributes of God I can see them better in
different passages that I read in His Word.
In verse eighteen we see the grace and mercy of the Lord in action as He
offers His people salvation, even though they do not deserve it, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, so none of us deserve salvation as
it is a gift of God. Dr. Wiersbe points
out that the word “reason” in verse eighteen means “to decide a case in court,”
however instead of giving the guilty party justice the judge offers mercy to
them. Now this mercy can be offered to
them along with grace because of what the Lord Jesus Christ would do on the
cross, as they looked forward to the Messiah suffering for their sins, while we
look back at what He did not the cross for us.
In verses 16-17 Isaiah gives some things for the people to do as they
are to care for the widows and orphans and also they are to repent and turn
from their sins.
Let us look at some of the sins that the nation of Judah
had to confess before the Lord: We see
murder in verse 21; and then robbery, bribery, and exploiting the helpless in
verse 23. We see the worship of heathen
idols in verse 29. Because God is a
Jealous God, the sin of idolatry is a sin that God truly hates: “4
"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what
is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 "You shall not worship them or
serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of
those who hate Me, 6 but showing
lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments
(Exodus 20:4-6).” Isaiah speaks of the
dross that comes from silver and because I used to work in a foundry for thirty-five
years I know something about the difference between slag (dross) and the real
cast iron that we were making. We would
melt over three thousand tons of cast iron every day and it was my job to make
sure that the iron was pure and at the proper temperature when it was
transported to the mold lines where the castings were made. One of the biggest problems that I could run
into was having too much slag in the metal for the slag was to be separated
from the iron when it came out of the cupola where it was melted. If there was
a problem there it made huge problems for me.
In the Scriptures the dross or slag represents sin and the silver, the
pure silver represents those who are walking in obedience to the Lord, for they
have pure hearts with no dross in them.
Isaiah writes about a people that had a lot of dross, in fact mostly
dross and this is why the Lord is so upset with them. When we get to the book of Ezekiel we will
see that these same people Isaiah is writing about are worshiping idols in the
very temple that was dedicated to the Lord by King Solomon. Of course today the body of believers is the
temple of the Lord and so when we sin we are doing similar things, and in need
of repentance and forgiveness from the Lord.
(See 1 John 1:9.)
In verses 24-31 we see what the Lord would do to His
people if they continued in sin, and as we compare Scripture written later on
we will see that this is what the Lord did to His people.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Remembering that
my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that I am forgiven for my sins is
a good reminder for me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live by the power of the Holy Spirit so that my
life will bring glory to the Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46:1-5
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear
though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, 3 thought its waters roar
and foam, though the mountains quake at 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.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Judas Iscariot” (Matthew
26:48).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What was the name of the
place where Jacob wrestled with an angel?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
7/8/2013 10:59 AM
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