SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
7/6/2013 8:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: What Isaiah
Saw PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
1:1-31
Message of the
verses: “1 ¶ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz
concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
“2 ¶
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I
have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its
master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand."
4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed
down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have
abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned
away from Him. 5 Where will you be
stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And
the whole heart is faint. 6 From the
sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises,
welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
7 Your land is desolate, Your cities are
burned with fire, Your fields-strangers are devouring them in your presence; It
is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. 8
The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a
watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. 9 Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few
survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
“10 ¶
Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the
instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. 11 "What are your multiplied sacrifices to
Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And
the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or
goats. 12 "When you come to appear
before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? 13 "Bring your worthless offerings no
longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of
assemblies-I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your
appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 "So when you spread out your
hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
“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, 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.”
In his commentary on the book of Isaiah, “Be Comforted,”
Dr. Wiersbe in his second chapter begins to look directly at the book of
Isaiah. He entitles this second chapter
“Wanted: A Prophet,” and it covers the
first six chapters of Isaiah. He gives a
description of what an OT prophet does and since we are beginning to study the
OT prophets, beginning with Isaiah I think it is best if we understand what
these OT prophets did. “The first thing
you must know about prophets is that their ministry focuses on the present as
well as on the future. They ‘tell forth’
the Word of God as well as ‘foretell’ the works of God. True prophets are like good doctors: They
diagnose the case, prescribe a remedy, and warn the patient what will happen if
the prescription is ignored (See Jer. 6:14 and 8:11). When prophets declare a vision of the future,
they do it to encourage people to obey God today. Peter stated this principle when he wrote,
‘Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?’ (2 Peter 3:11 NKJV).”
If we look at the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel we will
see that at the very beginning of their books they give an account of their calling;
however Isaiah waits until the sixth chapter to do this. Isaiah begins his book with a probing
examination of Judah’s presents situation and will give a passionate plea to
have God’s people return to Him. As we
go through this passionate plea we will probably see some similar things
happening in our country along with all the western countries of the world.
What Isaiah Saw (Isaiah 1:1-31). As we begin to look at
this first chapter of Isaiah we see a courtroom scene with God as the Judge
over Judah. In verses 2-4 we see that
God states the charges against Judah, and then in verses 5-15 God will present
His case against them and pronounce them guilty. We know that God is a God who is
compassionate and long-suffering and so in verses 16-31 God will give them an
opportunity to repent and be forgiven.
We also know that God is just and so if they do not heed the call of
repentance they will be judged, and that judgment began in 6-5 B. C.
Let us again look at verses 2-4: “2 ¶
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I
have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 3
"An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But
Israel does not know, My people do not understand." 4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with
iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned
the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from
Him.” We see here that the people of
Israel have more respect for their animals than they do for the Lord. I have highlighted the words “revolted
against Me,” and the reason is that when Israel was at Mt. Sinai they made a
covenant with the Lord, but now they have revolted against the Lord, not
keeping that covenant with the Lord.
Israel did not appreciate the benefits that they received from the Lord,
and so they rebelled against Him. Taking
the Lord for granted is not a good thing to do, for when we think that we can
live apart from the Lord and the blessings that He gives to us we are in sad
shape. As we look at our nation we will
see similar things happening that happened to Judah during Isaiah’s time. During this time period both Israel and Judah
were prospering, but in the eyes of God they were not prospering, for they were
forsaking the Lord. Let’s again look at
verses 5-6: “5 Where will you be stricken again, As you
continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head sound in it, There is
nothing Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor
softened with oil.
One of the reasons for this problem is that there were
many false prophets in Judah at that time who thought that God would not ever
destroy the temple that was built in Jerusalem, and so they preached that the
people were safe and could do as they pleased, but false prophets are just what
their name indicates, they are giving false information to the people, while
Isaiah was not, but he was in affect giving the body public autopsy of the
political body of Judah.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One of the
problems with history is that it is continually repeated, for people do not
learn from what happened in the past.
This is a shame, for as I look about our country I see similar things
happening in it that were happening in Judah during Isaiah’s time. As a believer in Jesus Christ I want to do
like Isaiah and tell others of the great problem of sin, so that they too can
repent and come to know the Lord in a personal relationship.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I have been praying that God would raise up a
man in our country that will be like a modern day Isaiah or John the Baptist to
be used of God to bring back our country to the Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 46:1-4
1God 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 though 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 dwelling place of the Most High.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “All” (Romans 3:23).
Today’s Bible
Question: “How much food was left over
after Jesus fed the 5000?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
7/6/2013 9:33 AM
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