SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/13/2013
11:01 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God Delivers
His People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
14:1-23
Message of the
verses: We will look at the third
sub-point under the main point entitled “Babylon.”
God delivers His people (Isaiah 14:1-23): “1 ¶ When the LORD will have compassion on
Jacob and again choose
Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them
and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them along
and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an
inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and
they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. 3 And
it will be in the day when
the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in
which you have been enslaved,
“4 ¶ that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon,
and say, "How the oppressor has ceased, And how fury has ceased! 5 “The
LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers 6 Which used to
strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in
anger with unrestrained persecution. 7 “The whole earth is at rest and is
quiet; They break forth into shouts of joy. 8 “Even the cypress trees rejoice
over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ’Since you were laid low, no tree
cutter comes up against us.’ 9 “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet
you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders
of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. 10 “They
will all respond and say to you, ’Even you have been made weak as we, You have
become like us. 11 ’Your pomp and the music of your harps Have been brought
down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are
your covering.’ 12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son
of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the
nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of
God, And I will sit
on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I
will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 “Nevertheless you will be
thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. 16 "Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying, ’Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms, 17 Who made the
world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his
prisoners to go home?’ 18 “All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in
his own tomb. 19 "But you have been
cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are
pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled
corpse. 20 “You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined
your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be
mentioned forever. 21 “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the
iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities." 22 “I will rise up against
them," declares the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon
name and survivors, offspring and posterity," declares the LORD. 23 “I
will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will
sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.”
First of all I want to look at Proverbs 16:18 which says,
“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” What we see in this section is the pride that
the king of Babylon had, but there is a bigger picture here as we look at
verses 1-14, for these verses are speaking about Satan and his famous “I will”
statements which are all about his pride.
God, through the prophet Isaiah tells His people that
they will go into captivity, in to captivity in Babylon and then Jeremiah tells
them that they will be there for 70 years before they are able to go back to
the land of Israel. In the fifth chapter
we read of the pride of the king of Babylon in the story about the handwriting
on the wall. He thinks he is safe inside
the great city of Babylon, but Daniel tells him that he will not live the night
out and so this prideful man was killed and Isaiah explains how the Jewish
people are happy about his death.
As far as this passage speaking about Satan I want to
quote from Dr. Wiersbe: “The highest of
God’s angels tried to usurp the throne of God and capture for himself the
worship that belongs to God (Matthew 4:8-10).
The name ‘Lucifer’ (‘morning star’) indicates that Satan tries to
imitate Jesus Christ, who is ‘the bright and morning star’ (Rev. 22:16). ‘I will be like the Most High’ reveals his
basic strategy, for he is an imitator (Isa. 14:14; 2 Cor. 11:13-15). Like the king of Babylon, Satan will one day
be humiliated and defeated. He will be
cast out of heaven (Rev. 12) and finally cast into hell (20:10).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Pride is a terrible
thing to process as we see in this passage that it was the first sin ever
committed in the newly created universe that God created. Pride is saying that we can do things better
than God can do them as Satan says in this passage.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Proverbs 3:5-6 are good verses to stop
me from becoming prideful.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalms 46:1-10
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 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 and 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. 9 He makes wars to cease to the
end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the
chariots with fire. 10 “Cease striving
and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted
in the earth.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Moses” (Numbers 11:14).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Name the city to which Joshua
sent two spies?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
8/13/2013 11:33 PM
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