SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/25/2013
8:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The burden
of Tyre PT-1 (Phoenicia)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
23:1-7
Message of the
verses: This is the last of eleven
nations that Isaiah has written about concerning the burden or oracle depending
on which version of the Bible you read.
Phoenicians were a merchant people whose land was in modern day
Lebanon. They were a people who dealt in
merchant ships to send the worlds goods around the known world at that
time. Both David and Solomon made use of
the workers from Tyre and Sidon for building buildings during their time. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “King Ahab married
the Phoenician princess Jezebel, who promoted Baal worship in Israel (1 Kings
16:29-33).”
Declaration (Isaiah 23:1-7): “1 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships
of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; It is reported to
them from the land of Cyprus. 2 Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,
You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea 3 And were on many
waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; and
she was the market of nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea speaks, the
stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have neither travailed nor given birth,
I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins." 5 When the report
reaches Egypt, They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. 6 Pass over to
Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland. 7 Is this your jubilant city,
Whose origin is from antiquity, Whose feet used to carry her to colonize
distant places?”
It would be in 332 B. C. that Alexander the Great would
conquer the island part of Tyre as prophesied by Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 26,
but Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Phoenicia in 572 B. C. What Isaiah is writing about are ships from
Spain which is Tarshish that were docked in Cyprus and they would not be
delivered because Tyre was destroyed.
Dr. Wiersbe writes that there is a parallel to this in Revelations 17-18
“and note that both Babylon and Tyre are compared to prostitutes [Isaiah
23:16-17]. One can only be amazed at how
the Lord, through His prophets can foretell things will happen years from the
time that they are written. This is one
of the ways that we can know that the Word of God is true and can be relied
upon. Miracles and fulfilled prophecies
go together in proving that the Word of God can be trusted. I read some place or heard from some Pastor
that if the state of Texas was filled with silver dollars six foot high and
that if a person could go there and pick out one certain silver dollar that
would be the same odds of all the fulfilled prophecy that came about with the
first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He accomplished during that
visit to planet earth. One more
interesting thing and that is that the prophet Jonah was heading to Spain
(Tarshish) when he was disobeying the Lord.
God wanted him to go to Nineveh which was in the opposite direction.
We will try and finish this section in our next SD, as it
will finish this forth chapter in Dr. Wiersbe commentary on Isaiah, “Be
Comforted.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Knowing that the
Bible is true about the prophecies that are in it and knowing that the Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilled much prophecies with His first coming causes me to
believe the truth of Salvation that is seen in the pages of the Bible. Man is born into sin because of the sin that
our first parents committed, and therefore in order for us to come into a
personal relationship with God, Jesus Christ died in our place on the cross, He
became sin for us and then exchanged our sin for His righteousness so that God
can now look upon us who believe in this as forgiven sinners who have a perfect
relationship with God our Maker. It is
all about God’s grace, love and the justice that He took out upon His One and
Only Son on the Cross. What amazing
grace!!
My Steps of Faith for Today: Pray that the Lord will bring someone into my
life for me to tell the good news of the gospel with today.
Memory verses for the
week: Review Psalm 46.
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 its 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 places 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 made 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. 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." 11 The LORD of
hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “For wrath and for conscience
sake,” (Romans 13:5).
Today’s Bible
Question: “In the parable of the lost
coins, how many pieces of silver did the woman have?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
8/25/2013 9:29 AM
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