SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/30/2013
12:11 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Lord Will Preserve His People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
25:1-12
Message of the
verses: Dr. Wiersbe points out that “this
chapter is a song of praise to the Lord from the believing remnant that He
preserved during ‘the Day of the Lord.’
In this song, three striking images stand out.”
The Ruined City (Isaiah 25:1-3): “1 O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You,
I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long
ago, with perfect faithfulness. 2 For You have made a city into a heap, A
fortified city into a ruin; A palace of strangers is a city no more, It will
never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore a strong people will glorify You; Cities of
ruthless nations will revere You.”
Isaiah did not exactly say what city he was writing about
in verse two, but there are two options that can be used to explain which
city. It could be Babylon for we have
mentioned before that there are two chapters in the book of Revelations, 17-18
that speak of the destruction of Babylon and these chapters speak of the two
Babylonians that the Bible talks about.
One it the “religious Babylon,” while the other it the corrupt type of
government that has been seen since long ago in human history. The other possibility could be that Isaiah is
speaking about all cities that God will destroy during the tribulation period
which culminates the Day of the Lord.
The Refuge (Isaiah 25:4-5): “4 For
You have been a defense for the helpless, A defense for the needy in his
distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the
ruthless Is like a rain storm against a wall. 5
Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens; Like heat by the
shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.”
“4 They’ll see that you take care of the poor, that you
take care of poor people in trouble, Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
provide a cool place when it’s hot. Brutal oppressors are like a winter
blizzard 5 and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert. But you,
shelter from the storm and shade from the sun, shut the mouths of the
big-mouthed bullies (Message).”
What we see here is that God will take care of His own
people during this difficult time which is called the Day of the Lord. He will protect them from the buffeting of a
storm and He will protect them from a burning sun. We can see things like this happening in the
book of Revelations chapters 6-19 where the great plagues are described there
during the last seven years of history as we know it come to an end.
This is not the first time that God has cared for His
people as described from the pages of Scripture for He cared for Noah when He
sent the flood upon the earth, He cared for Israel as He brought her out of the
land of Egypt while destroying Egypt with the great plagues He sent upon
Egypt. He cared for Rahab and her family
when God destroyed everyone else during the destruction of Jericho. We mentioned in an earlier SD about the
eleventh chapter of Hebrews which has been called “God’s Hall of Faith.” The first part of it speaks of those God
protected from death, but also showed their faith working, and then the writer
speaks of those who died for their faith in the later portion of the
chapter. Those who died for their faith
throughout history have been ushered into the very presence of God.
The Feast (Isaiah 35:6-12): “ 6 The
LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A
banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. 7 And
on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears
away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from
all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.
“9 And it will be said in that day, "Behold,
this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD
for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." 10
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, And Moab will be trodden
down in his place As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile. 11
And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it As a swimmer spreads out
his hands to swim, But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the
trickery of his hands. 12 The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will
bring down, Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.”
This section pictures the great feast that will happen
during the first part of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ upon the
earth. What a wonderful time that will
be as there will be no more death for those who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation, and there will be no more tears shed. Dr. Wiersbe says “the funeral will be turned
into a wedding!” If verse eight looks familiar
to you it quoted in 1 Cor. 15:54 and also in Rev. 7:17 and 21:4.”
In verse seven we see a veil mentioned a veil which is stretched
over all nations. One possible meaning
to this is spoken of in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians where he writes
about a veil that covers the eyes of the Israelites, similar to the veil that
Moses had to where when he came from talking to the Lord, as there was part of
the Lord’s glory seen in the face of Moses.
Isaiah may be talking about this veil being lifted as when the Lord
Jesus Christ returns to planet earth and they will look upon Him who they have
pierced and then realize that He is indeed their Messiah. His second coming is described in Revelations
chapter nineteen and Zechariah speaks of them looking upon Him who they have
pierced.
Now why is Moab mentioned when there are many other
countries who have tried to destroy Israel?
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Isaiah probably selected Moab as an example of how
God will humble all of Israel’s enemies.
The imagery here is quite graphic:
The Moabites are compared to straw trampled so deeply into manure that
the people have to swim through the manure to get out! (See the NIV). While Jews are enjoying a feast of good
things, the Moabites are trying to escape from the excrement of the animals the
Jews are devouring! Moab was always know
for its pride (16:6ff), but God will bring them low along with all the other
nations that exalt themselves, exploit others, and refuse to submit to the
Lord.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I see the
Middle East heated up again with trouble in Egypt and Syria and also Iran I can
take comfort that the Lord is in control of all of what is going on there and I
believe that He is getting the nations aligned there for the showdown that will
soon take place that will led the world into the tribulation period that we
have been studying about in this section of Isaiah. I have never been a date setter as to when
the Lord will return for His Bride, but the world has not seen things like what
is happening around the world since time began, and many of those things are
like what an author wrote about before WWII, “The Winds of War.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord in the difficult time of
history to work out His perfect plan.
Memory verses for the
week: I am going over the 46th
Psalm, but will not write it out here.
Answer to our last Bible
Question (08-28-13): “Jairus” (Luke
8:41).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Which Gospel is referred to
as the Gospel of Power?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/30/2013 1:02 PM
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