SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2013
10:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Lord
Will Restore the Nation PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
26:1-11
Message of the
verses: As we look back to the beginning
of the chapter from “Be Comforted” which is Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the
book of Isaiah we say that he wrote the following: “Isaiah makes three declarations that will
comfort God’s chosen people in that awesome day of judgment.” He goes on to say that the declarations that
Isaiah makes will be a help to God’s people throughout the history of God’s
people, including in the Church Age. We
will begin to look at the third declaration in today’s SD.
The Strong City: “1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"We have a strong city; He sets up walls and ramparts for security. 2 “Open the gates, that the
righteous nation may enter, The one that remains faithful. 3 “The
steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. 4 “Trust
in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. 5 "For He has brought low those who
dwell on high, the unassailable city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the
ground, He casts it to the dust.’”
I want to first of all quote verse three from the KJV, as
it is one of my favorite verses from Isaiah: “3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
The verse says that in order to have perfect peace we need to keep our
mind on the Lord, but how did we get peace in the first place? Dr. Wiersbe writes: “Israel is singing once more (24:14-16;
25:1ff), and this time the emphasis is on righteousness and peace. There can be no true peace apart from
righteousness (32:17), and there can be no righteousness apart from God’s
salvation in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-31).
It is at Calvary that ‘righteousness and peace have kissed each other’
(Ps. 85:10). When Jesus Christ reigns on
earth, the promise of 72:7 will be fulfilled:
‘In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until
the moon is no more’ (NKJV). Jesus
Christ is our true Melchizedek—King of Righteousness and King of Peace (Heb.
7:1-3).”
We have seen the phrase “In that day” many times in this
section and it refers to “The Day of the
Lord,” and also the blessings that will follow.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “In these two chapters (26-27), the prophet
encourages God’s suffering people by describing in seven pictures the kingdom
blessings that await them in the future.”
In verses 1-6 Isaiah speaks of the strong city,
Jerusalem, that is the future of that city for we know that Samaria fell to the
Assyrians, and the Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and in the future “tribulation”
period Jerusalem will be a cup of trembling as described by Zachariah, but then
when the Lord Jesus returns as described in Revelations chapter nineteen He
will redo not only the earth, but Jerusalem too, and then after the 1000 year
of His reign He will “un-create” the earth as Peter describes in the third
chapter of second Peter and then a new Jerusalem will come down as described in
Revelations 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven
and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as
a bride adorned for her husband.”
That city will only be for those who have trusted the
Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and they will live with Him for
eternity in that city. In that city all
will find true peace, and “peace is not just an absence of war for it includes
blessings such as wholeness health, quietness of soul, preservation, and
completeness.” I am looking forward to
that day, for in that day and in that place I will not have to fight the battle
of living a righteous life, for there will be no more sin there.
The level path (Isaiah 26:7-11): “7 The way of the righteous is smooth; O
Upright One, make the path of the righteous level. 8 Indeed, while following
the way of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name,
even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. 9 At night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth
experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10
Though the wicked is shown
favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the
majesty of the LORD. 11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not
see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; Indeed, fire
will devour Your enemies.”
Isaiah seems to be talking about a “highway” which is one
of the words and themes that we have seen in this book before, and I suppose
that we will see it again. We know that
it has been a pretty rough road for the Jewish people, and most of it is
because of their own sinfulness, but rough it has been for them, and in the
future it will be smooth. As I was
reading through these verses verse ten seemed to kind of jump out at me and my
first thoughts about it were that there are many people in this world that are
receiving favor from the Lord, but they do not realize that the favor that they
are getting is from the Lord. I suppose
that another way of explaining this is that they are receiving “common grace,”
things like food to eat, air to breathe, a place to live, things like that, but
they just don’t want to give credit to the Lord for providing these things for
them. We have to remember that this earth
is the Lords and all the things in it belong to the Lord, as we are just
stewards of what He has given to us. Dr.
Wiersbe concludes his remarks on this section by writing: “According to Isaiah 26:9-11, God wants the
world to learn righteousness. He sends
his judgments, but the people still will not repent (Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9). He shows them His grace in a thousand ways,
but they continue to do evil. His hand
is at work, but they will not see it.
The prophet prays that God will reveal Himself through His people as He
works on their behalf. The reviving and
restoring of Israel should help to convince a lost world that God is not dead
and that He keeps His promises.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I think about
the many “common graces” that the Lord has given to me I can’t help but think
that I need to do a better job in thanking God for them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Thank God for the common graces that He has
given to me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Mark.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “From which son of Noah did
the Jewish people come from?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/31/2013 11:47 AM
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