The Invasion Crisis PT-3 (Repentance) (Isaiah 36:22-37:20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2013 11:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus: The Invasion Crisis PT-3 (Repentance)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Isaiah 36:22-37:20

            Message of the verses:  “22  Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

            “1 And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD. 2 Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, ’This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. 4 ’Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’" 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, ’Thus says the LORD, "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7 “Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."’"

            “8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ’Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." 11 ’Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? 12 ’Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 ’Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’" 14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, 16 “O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 “Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. 18  "Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19  and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20  "Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.’”

            This is a wonderful section of Scripture that we have before us today.  This is the kind of Scripture that will increase our faith in the Lord, for we see in this section that God keeps His Word, for in Isaiah 10:5-34 we saw that God promised that the Assyrians would not enter Jerusalem to destroy it.  He allowed the Assyrians to come within 30 miles of Jerusalem, but that was a far as they would go.  It seems to me that Hezekiah was determined in his mind that he did not think that God would deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrians for he says “Therefore offer a prayer for the remnant in Jerusalem.”  I may be wrong about this, but in John MacArthur’s study Bible he writes the following about this statement “Only Jerusalem remained unconquered.  Hezekiah asked Isaiah’s prayer for the city.”

            We see in this section that Hezekiah first of all tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, he then had his people tear their clothes and put on sackcloth and then he sent them to see Isaiah.  Next Hezekiah went to the temple of the Lord to pray.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that he may have had 2 Chronicles 7:14 in mind as he went to the temple “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  This is what will happen as we will see.

            The Lord said that “Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”  John MacArthur writes on this verse (7) “The Lord promised to incline Sennacherib’s attitude in such a way that he would leave Jerusalem unharmed and return home.”  This is what happened, but that did not stop his commander to send a letter to Hezekiah again asking him to surrender the city to him.  What Hezekiah did with that letter is most interesting to me, for he took that letter to the temple and spread it out before the Lord, for that letter was blasphemous to the Lord, and then Hezekiah prayed a wonderful prayer to the Lord.  Before we go into the prayer, which is similar to one found in Acts chapter four, I want to write about what a former Pastor of mine did.  It was very early in my Christian life, perhaps six or seven years into it that I visited our church on a weekday and entered into our Pastor’s office.  If I remember right it may have been a surprise to him that we were there, but the point I wish to make is that he had papers on the floor and I sensed that he was about to begin to pray about what was on those papers.  Now I never thought too much about it until I read and studied this passage, or a similar one in 2 Kings.  This seems to be  a wonderful pattern of prayer to me.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about his prayer:  “Hezekiah’s prayer (Isa. 37:15-20) is saturated with biblical theology and is not unlike the prayer of the church in Acts 4:24-31.  He affirmed his faith in the one true and living God, and he worshiped Him.  Jehovah is ‘Lord of hosts,’ that is, ‘Lord of the armies’ (Ps. 46:7, 11).  He is the Creator of all things (96:5) and knows what is going on in His creation.  His eyes can see our plight, and His ears can hear our plea (see Ps. 115).  King Hezekiah did not want deliverance merely for his people’s sake, but that God alone might be glorified (Isa. 37:20; Psalm 46:10).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  A few weeks back on a Wednesday evening prayer service our Pastor was speaking on the prayers of Paul and gave the following quote:  “Our chief concern in petition must not be that we might become successful, wealthy, popular, healthy, brilliant, triumphant, happy or beautiful.  Still less does Paul encourage us to pray that all problems will disappear.  Paul’s prayer is constrained by the framework he brings to it…he pray’s with eternity’s values in view.”  (D. A. Carlson)  I believe that the prayer that Hezekiah prayed to the Lord fit into that viewpoint of Paul’s prayers.  If we pray for the Lord’s will to be done in our lives then even though we may not like the results we will know that as far as eternities values it will be done, and we can be thankful for that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Have that kind of attitude in my prayer life.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-6

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Paul” Acts 17:23).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Why did Solomon ask God to give him an understanding heart?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/30/2013 12:17 PM   

 

The Invasion Crisis PT-2 (Reproach) (Isaiah 36:4-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2013 9:28 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Invasion Crisis PT-2 (Reproach)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Isaiah 36:4-21

            Message of the verses:  “4 Then Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, ’Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What is this confidence that you have? 5 “I say, ’Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6  "Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 “But if you say to me, ’We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ’You shall worship before this altar’? 8 “Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 “How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 “Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ’Go up against this land and destroy it.’"’"

    “11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." 12 But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?" 13 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14  "Thus says the king, ’Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15  nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." 16 ’Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ’Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 ’Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ’Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 ’Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’" 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, "Do not answer him.’”   

            We would have to search the Scriptures thoroughly to find a more blasphemous and insolent statements found in the Scriptures.  I will have to admit that some of the things were true, but the motive in which he gave them was not right.  He was saying these things in the language of the people of Judah, and doing it deliberately too, for this was psychological warfare at its finest.  He was speaking great things about the king of Assyria, but terrible things about the Great God of Israel.  Hezekiah had sinned when he made a treaty with Egypt to help Judah and although he did not call it sin, he did know that Egypt was a “weak reed” something Isaiah had already told Hezekiah.

            He wanted the people to hear so that they would put pressure on Hezekiah, and he offered the people comfortable homes in Assyria if they would just give up.  I suppose that this was easier for the Assyrians if they could get Judah to surrender so that they would not have to fight against them, but this was not the way the Lord wanted this to happen.

            We are told by the Assyrian commander that it was actually God who told the Assyrians that they should destroy Judah, and he did have one thing right it was God who was in control of all things.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “According to the field commander, Judah could not trust in its strategy, its military resources, or in its God.  Nor could its people trust in their king (Isa. 36:13-20).”

            Dr. Wiersbe sums up his commentary on this section by writing: “God summons us to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).  To those Jews in Jerusalem who were living in unbelief, the field commander’s arguments must have seemed reasonable, and his evidence compelling.  But God had promised to deliver His people from the Assyrian army, and His Word would stand.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In this evenings message at church we heard from one of the presidents of a mission’s organization about how God helped the mission in many different ways, and one of the statements that he made was about faith in the Lord to provide what was needed at just the right time, and that does not mean in the timing that they thought was right.  Hezekiah demonstrated great faith in the Lord in the keeping of His Word, and faith is a very important aspect of the Christians walk with the Lord. The disciples as Jesus to help them have their faith increased and He told them if their faith was as small as a mustard seed that would be enough.  Faith the size of a mustard when placed in the Lord and in the will of the Lord is enough.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to not allow me to go too low after being on such a Spiritual high because of the visit I made with a person that I have not spoken to in 38 years just last week.  I cannot underestimate how special this person is to me and how great it was to me to meet with them.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-6

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

    5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Solomon.”

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God’”?

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/29/2013 10:09 PM

Hezekiah's Invasion Crisis PT-1 (Isaiah 36:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2013 8:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  The Invasion Crisis PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Isaiah 36:1-3

            Message of the verses:  Warren Wiersbe entitles his eight chapter from “Be Comforted” is “God Save The King” and the king that he is speaking of is King Hezekiah, who was one of Judah’s bests kings.  This chapter covers Isaiah 36-39 and in this chapter we will look at three crisis that King Hezekiah has, of which two he successfully handles and one was not so good.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Hezekiah was a great and godly man, but he was still a man and that meant he had all the frailties of human flesh.  However, before we find fault with him, we had better examine our own lives to see how successfully we have handled our own tests.”

            2 Chronicles 32:1 says “After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.”  What was it that Hezekiah had done so faithfully?  Hezekiah had taken care of the problems of idols by getting rid all the idols, especially the ones on the high places that had been there for a very long time.  He had restored the temple and the temple worship, and what we see is a revival in Judah.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “crisis often come when circumstances seem to be at their best.” 

            It may seem that God had let His people down after all that they had just done, but it was the plan of God for them to trust Him alone, and not to trust in the treaties and treasures that they had used to solve the problem of the Assyrian’s, for Hezekiah had made a treaty with Egypt to have them help Judah which was wrong, and he had paid the Assyrians not to attack them, but they kept the money and attacked them any way.  God want their complete trust to be in Him.

            Let us see what this first crisis is all about by looking at the first three verses of Isaiah 36.  “1 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.”  These Assyrians names in this section are military names.  They came from Lachish which was 30 miles from Jerusalem and wanted Hezekiah to surrender Jerusalem to them.  The place where the meet with the leaders of Judah was the same spot that Isaiah had meet with the father of Hezekiah, Ahaz about thirty years before as we looked at in Isaiah 7:3.  Isaiah told Ahaz that this would happen because he did not trust in the Lord and now his prophecy is being fulfilled.  We see this prophecy in Isaiah 7:17-25, “17 ‘The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria." 18 In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places. 20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard. 21 Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; 22 and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. 24 People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.”

            We will continue to look at Isaiah 36 in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wish to focus in on what we learned about the time when crisis’s can come, and that is when all seems to going well.  When things are going well in my life and a crisis comes then how am I suppose to handle it?  I am to trust the Lord, knowing that He loves me and that there is a purpose for the crisis coming into my life, and even though I probably will not like it I can choose to trust the Lord wanting to see what the Lord will teach me through it.  These can be tough times but for me not to trust the Lord it times like this would not be right even though the first thing in my mind would be to complain about it. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord and not to lean upon my own understanding.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-5

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.  5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

Answer to our last Bible Question: “Elijah” (1 Kings 18:31-35).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who wrote Ecclesiastes?”

Answer in our next SD.

9/28/2013 9:25 AM

 

Interlude (Isaiah 36-39)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2013 6:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                                 Focus:  Interlude

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Isaiah 36-39

            Message of the verses:  Because we are following the commentary that comes from Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe which he entitles “Be Comforted” I want to quote this portion of it before we move into chapters 36-39 of Isaiah.

            “Except for David and Solomon, no king of Judah is given more attention or commendation in Scripture than Hezekiah.  Eleven chapters are devoted to him in 2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chronicles 29-32, and Isaiah 36-39.  ‘He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him’ (2 Kings 18-5).

            “He began his reign about 715 BC, through he may have been coregent with his father as early as 729 BC.  He restored the temple facilities and services of worship, destroyed the idols and the high places (hill shrines where the people falsely worshiped Jehovah), and sought to bring the people bace to vital faith in the Lord.  He led the people in a nationwide two-week celebration of Passover and invited Jews from the Northern Kingdom to participate.  ‘And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to see His God, he did with all his heart, and prospered’ (2 Chron. 31:21).

            “After the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC Judah had constant problems with Assyria.  Hezekiah finally rebelled against Assyria (2 Kings 18:7), and when Sennacherib threatened to attack, Hezekiah tried to bribe him with tribute (vv. 13-16).  It was a lapse of faith on Hezekiah’s part that God could not bless.  Sennacherib accepted the treasures but broke the treaty (Isa. 33:1) and invaded Judah in 701 BC.  The account of God’s miraculous deliverance of His people is given in Isaiah 36-37.

            “Bible students generally agree that Hezekiah’s sickness (Isaiah 38) and foolish reception of the envoys (Isa. 39) took place before the Assyrian invasion, possibly between the time Hezekiah sent the tribute and Sennacherib broke the treaty.  Then why are these chapter not arranged chronologically?

            “ The prophet arranged the account as a ‘bridge’ between the two parts of his book.  Chapters 26 and 37 end the first part of the book with its emphasis on Assyria, and chapters 38-39 introduce the second part of the book, with its emphasis on Babylon.  Isaiah mentions Babylon earlier in his book (13:1ff; 31:1ff), but this is the first time he clearly predicts Judah’s captivity in Babylon.

            “Chapters 36-39 teach us some valuable lessons about faith, prayer, and the dangers of pride.  Though the setting today may be different, the problems and temptations are still the same; for Hezekiah’s history is our history, and Hezekiah’s God is our God.

            We will pick up our lessons on the 36^th and 37^th chapters of Isaiah in our next SD.  Since I have already written on the subject that Isaiah has in these chapters I may borrow some of it as we go through these sections.  I have earlier studied Kings and Chronicles a few years ago.

9/27/2013 6:24 AM

The Glorious Kingdom Will Be Established (Isaiah 35:1-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2013 9:29 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  The Glorious Kingdom Will Be Established

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Isaiah 35:1-10

            Message of the verses:  “1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus 2  It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God. 3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. 4 Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you."

            “5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. 8 A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. 9 No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

            In yesterday’s SD we looked at the wilderness being destroyed, but when the Lord Jesus comes back to establish His Kingdom on earth for 1000 years then He will transform the earth into something like the Garden of Eden.  We can read in chapters 40-48 about how Jerusalem will be expanded at this time and where all of the tribes of Israel will live, and in the center of it will be where the Lord Jesus will rule the earth.  This chapter is quite a contrast to the last one.

            Romans 8:19 says “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”  Psalms 96:11-13 says “11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; 12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy 13 Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”  One more and that is Isaiah 55:12-13:  “12  "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13  "Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.’
           

            In verse two Isaiah speaks of Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon, which are the three most beautiful places in that region, and yet the desert will become more fruitful than these in “that day.”

            One of the reasons for Isaiah giving this prophecy is that he wanted to encourage those who were frightened and downhearted during the time of his writing as seen in verses 3-4.  There will be no more blind people or those with handicaps in the kingdom of the Lord.  When the Lord Jesus was on earth at His first advent He healed people and took care of those who had the types of infirmities during that day and when the disciples of John the Baptist came to find out if He was the chosen Messiah He quoted these verses in Luke 7:18-23.

            I have highlighted the word “highway” in verse eight and this is one of the themes that is found in Isaiah’s writings for it is seen in 11:16; 19:23; 40:3; and 62:10.  We have seen in the past that when the Assyrian’s were coming against Judah that the highways will not be safe, but in the millennial Kingdom the highways will only be for the righteous, and it will be perfectly safe to travel.  There will be one special road in the kingdom and that will be “The Highway of Holiness,” and this is kind of like what happened in ancient kingdoms as there was a road in which only the kings and priests could use, “but when Messiah reigns, all of His people will be invited to use this highway.  Isaiah pictures God’s redeemed, ransomed, and rejoicing Jewish families going up to the yearly feasts in Jerusalem, to praise the Lord.”  (Warren W. Wiersbe)

            During the invasion of the Assyrians the people of Jerusalem were cooped up because of their fear of them in the city of Jerusalem, and God promised to deliver them.  He kept His promise to the people then as we will see in the next few chapters of Isaiah, and just as He kept His promises then, He will keep all of his promises He has made to us too.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is wonderful to read verses like this in the Word of God, knowing that the Lord will keep every promise that He has made in His Word.  I was saved in January of 1974 listening to a man speak of coming prophecies that have not yet taken place but they will take place in the future.  God used this man and His Word to bring me to a saving knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that I have always been interested in the prophetic portions of Scripture and have used these prophetic sections to lead others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ too.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to fulfill His promised and trust the Lord to bring the person that I now have a new renewed relationship with to a saving knowledge of Christ.  This would mean the world to me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-5

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

            5 Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:2).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who prepared a sacrifice and then ordered twelve barrels of water poured on it?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/26/2013 10:26 AM

The Sinful World Will Be Judged PT-2 (Isaiah 34:5-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2013 8:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  The Sinful World will be Judged PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Isaiah 34:5-17

            Message of the verses:  We continue looking at Isaiah 34 in today’s SD, seeing how it is that God will judge this sinful world.

            I want to look at verses 5-8 and because these verses are so difficult to understand I will quote Dr. Wiersbe to help us better understand them:  “5 For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; Thus their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat. 8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”

            “In Isaiah 34:5-8, the prophet moves from the battlefield to the temple and sees the worldwide judgment as a great sacrifice that God offers.  (See Jer. 46:10; 50:27; Ezek. 39:17-19.)  The practice was for the people to kill the sacrifices and offer them to God, but now it is God who offers the wicked as sacrifices.  Bozrah was an important city in Edom; the name means ‘grape-gathering’ (See Isa. 63:1-8).  God sees His enemies as animals: rams, goats, lambs, oxen, and bulls o be sacrificed, along with the fat (Lev.3:9-11).  These nations sacrificed the Jews, so God used them for sacrifices.”  I know that these are hard words to get a hold of, but we must remember that two of God’s attributes are wrath, and also justice, and we can see both of them in these verses.

            We will now look at Isaiah 34:9-10 which will show that the prophet will change the picture again, comparing the Day of the Lord to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is seen in Genesis 18-19.  “9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch. 10 It will not be quenched night or day; Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be desolate; None will pass through it forever and ever.”

            When we look back at the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah we can get a picture of what hell is like, for there was fire burning there and there will be endless fire burning in hell.  When we look at Revelations 14:8-11; 19:3 which shows the destruction of Babylon and this too reminds us of these verses.  Luke 17:28 says “"It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building.’”  The Lord Jesus is saying that the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah came quickly, and just before the coming of the Lord society will be similar to the way Sodom and Gomorrah was. (See highlighted portion of the verse above.) 

            In yesterday’s SD we mentioned that the prophet was using a description of Edom as an example of what the Lord will do to all the Gentile nations during the Day of the Lord.  We see a description of what the world will look like after God’s judgment during the final stages of the tribulation period.  “11 But pelican and hedgehog will possess it, And owl and raven will dwell in it; And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness. 12 Its nobles-there is no one there Whom they may proclaim king-And all its princes will be nothing. 13 Thorns will come up in its fortified towers, Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of jackals And an abode of ostriches. 14 The desert creatures will meet with the wolves, The hairy goat also will cry to its kind; Yes, the night monster will settle there And will find herself a resting place. 15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its protection. Yes, the hawks will be gathered there, Every one with its kind. 16 Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they will dwell in it.”

            Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:10a “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”  We wonder as we look around at this sinful world why the Lord is waiting to bring His judgment upon the earth, but then we read in verse nine of 2 Peter 3 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  Jesus said the following in John chapter ten “"I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.’”  As I look at these two verses I see the perhaps the reason God is waiting is because not all of His sheep are alive and saved, but when they are He will come to take us to heaven in what we call the rapture of the church as seen in 1 Thes. 4:13-18.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I see all of the horrible things that will happen during the Day of the Lord, it makes me want to tell others how they can miss out on this awfulness and become a part of the body of Christ so that when the trumpet sounds they too will be raised up to be with the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to pray for the salvation of the person which I meet after not seeing her for 38 years so that she too can be with all of us who have been saved at the rapture of the Church.

Memory verses for the week:  Reviewing 2 Peter 1:1-5

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

            5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Stephen” (Acts 7:60).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Where did the Lord tell Cyrus to build him a house?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/25/2013 9:51 AM

           

The Sinful World Will be Judged PT-1 (Isaiah 34:1-4)

                                        SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2013 9:46 AM         

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  The Sinful World Will Be Judged PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Isaiah 34:1-4

            Message of the verses:  As we begin to look at this subject from Isaiah chapter 34 we must first look at some of the attributes of God.  Most everyone would say that God is love, and that of course it true, but God is also just and wrath is also part of His attributes, and many people do not want to look at these as they are unpleasant to think about.  We live in a world that is full of violence and when violence happens to us or a person that we know or love we desire retribution to be given to them, and unfortunately in the world we now live in it seems that the people who commit the crimes have more rights that those the crimes were committed on.  I have written about the wrath of God in earlier SD’s and used a verse from the book of Revelations to show that one day His wrath will be complete, and the timing of that verse is just before the last seven judgments fall upon the earth in the tribulation period.  In chapter five we learn of a scroll which has seven seals on it, and this scroll is what many Bible scholars have called the title deed to planet earth, and there was only One person who could open this scroll and that of course is the Lord Jesus Christ.  When the scroll is opened there are seven judgments taken out on planet earth, but the seventh seal opens seven more judgments, the trumpet judgments, the seventh trumpet judgment opens the final seven judgments called the bowl or vial judgments and it is right at this time when we read about the wrath of God being complete once these judgment come upon the earth.  These judgments are rapid fire judgments, as they happen very quickly, much more quickly that the other judgments.  “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished (Rev. 15:1).”   

            As we begin to look at Isaiah 34 we see a picture of what God will do to all of the Gentile nations, but we see it through judgment upon Edom, who are a great enemy of God.  Remember that Edom was established by Jacob’s brother Esau and so they were a distant relative of Israel, yet they hated Israel in the same way that Esau disliked his brother Jacob.  There is a verse in Romans that speaks of this and it comes from the book of Malachi:  “Ro 9:13 Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’”  There is a verse in the book of Zechariah which speaks of Israel being the apple of God’s eye.  “Zec 2:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.”  Now let us look at Genesis 12:1-3 “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”  We see in these verses the calling of Abraham who was called Abram at that time, and what we really have is the calling of the nation of Israel, and God says that He would bless those who bless Israel, but the ones who curse Israel He will curse.  You can see this down through history as God has kept His world.  We know who is behind the cursing of Israel and that would be Satan, for Satan hates Israel because the Messiah came through the nation of Israel and that means that Satan was judged at the cross as the Lord took care of our three enemies at that time, the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  Let’s look a section in the book of Revelations that shows this hatred that Satan has for Israel, and also how the Lord cares for Israel.  “1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2  and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5  And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”  Many of the things spoken of in this section of Revelations happened earlier in history as the male child is of course Jesus, the dragon is Satan, and the sweeping away of one third of the angels happened when Lucifer fell and became Satan, and this happened soon after God created the earth.  However that last part that speaks about Israel being taken care of in the wilderness has not yet happened as this will happen in the tribulation period.

            God will judge the Gentile people who hate Israel, and my fear is that our government is going against the nation of Israel for the first time in its history, and that is not a good sign for our country as we have seen in the verses in Genesis 12:1-3. 

            “1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. 2 For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. 3 So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. 4 And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.”  (Isaiah 34:1-4)  Let us look at Revelations 19:11-21 at this time:  “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”  The section is Isaiah and this section from Revelations describe the end of the battle of Armageddon. It is not a pretty sight, but at the end of this when the people are judged, and those who did not receive the mark of the beast will begin to live in the 1000 year kingdom on planet earth with Jesus Christ being the Supreme Ruler over all the earth.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In the Apostle Peter’s second letter near the end he writes about the end of the earth which will take place after the 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth, as the total creation of God will be “uncreated” by fire.  He then writes since we know this is going to happen what kind of people should we be now?  Be a person who is living for the Lord, and doing things that will count for eternity.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord for fruit from my visit of a person that I had not seen for 38 years this past Saturday.

Memory verses for the week:  Review of 2 Peter 1:1-5

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus or Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to use everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 

            5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Fool” (Luke 12:20).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who said ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/24/2013 11:00 AM

Jerusalem will be Delivered PT-3 (Isaiah 33:17-24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2013 8:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  Jerusalem will be delivered PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Isaiah 33:17-24

            Message of the verses:  Well it is hard to believe that we will be half way through the book of Isaiah after the completion of this Spiritual Diary. 

            Jerusalem ruled by the Messiah during the Kingdom Age (Isaiah 33:17-24):  “17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land. 18 Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?" 19 You will no longer see a fierce people, A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, Of a stammering tongue which no one understands. 20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation, A tent which will not be folded; Its stakes will never be pulled up, Nor any of its cords be torn apart. 21 But there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us A place of rivers and wide canals On which no boat with oars will go, And on which no mighty ship will pass- 22 For the LORD is our judge, The LORD is our lawgiver, The LORD is our king; He will save us- 23 Your tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; The lame will take the plunder. 24 And no resident will say, "I am sick"; The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.”

            The victory that God gives to Israel by defeating the Assyrians is only a picture or a dress rehearsal for what will come during the Armageddon War that will take place during the last portion of the tribulation period and will culminate with the battle of Armageddon in which all the Gentile nations will be fighting against Israel.  “1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2  For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.  8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one (Zechariah 14:1-9).”  If you compare some of this section with the 19^th chapter of Revelations you will see similar things.  Jesus left this earth from the Mount of Olives as seen in Acts chapter one and He will return there when He returns to this earth.  The holy ones who are with Him will be the raptured saints who left sometime before the tribulation period began as seen in 1 Thes. 4:13-18. The Lord will stop the war and will soon after that restore the earth and begin to set upon David’s throne and rule for 1000 years from Jerusalem.

            We see from the section from Isaiah that during this time of the 1000 year kingdom that there will be no experience of terror and no army against Israel like during the Assyrian raids that took place before the Lord destroyed the kingdom of Assyria. 

            We see from verses 22-23 that God will save Israel during both battles, the Assyrian attack and also the battle of Armageddon pictured as a ship that almost sank and the portion that says that the Lord will save them.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes a note from the Scofield Reference Bible: “All the functions of government—judicial, legislative, and executive—will be centered in the Messianic King.”

            Verse 24 points out that there will be no sickness during the Messianic rule and iniquities will be forgiven when the people of that day will do the same as people are to do today and that is to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour believing that they are sinners in need of a Savior, and that Saviour is Jesus Christ who took their place upon the cross, dying for their sins and exchanging their sin for His righteousness.  See 2 Cor. 5:17, 21.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust the Lord to do all that He promises to do, which is to keep me from the hour of tribulation as seen in Revelations chapter 3.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to work in the heart of the person that I had a great reunion with this past Saturday, praying that the Lord will save her.

Memory verses for the week:  Continue to review 2 Peter 1:1-5

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2 Grace and peace by multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Hi who called us by His glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

            5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “On a rock” (Luke 6:48.

Today’s Bible question:  What did Jesus call the rich man who wanted to build more barns?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/23/2013 9:48 AM