Monday, September 16, 2013

The Lord Rebukes Jerusalem PT-2 (Isaiah 30: 18-26)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/16/2013 11:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  The Lord Rebukes Jerusalem PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Isaiah 30:18-26

            Message of the verses:  Dr. Wiersbe begins this section by saying “The prophet then turned from the subject of rebellion to the subject of restoration (30:18-26).”

            18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. 19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, "Be gone!" 23  Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.”

            It seems to me as I get a little better accounted with the writings of the Prophet Isaiah that there have been a number of times when he is speaking about the judgment of Judah that he will then go into a section which speaks of the time in the future when the Lord will restore them and he will use the words “on that day” to change the direction in which he is writing about. 

            In verse eighteen we see the word “gracious” and this word means that God is going to give His people what they do not deserve or cannot earn.  The word “mercy” which is not seen here means that God is holding back from His people what they do deserve, and many times in the writing of the apostles we see grace and mercy at the beginning of their letters.  The word “grace” is found eight times in the OT, while “gracious” is found sixty-one times in the OT.  The word “grace” is found 114 times in the NT, and “gracious is found five times in the NT.  I am looking at how many times these words are found in the NASB version of the Bible.

            In verse 25 we see the words “the great slaughter” and this is speaking of the battle of Armageddon, which is probably the most horrifying time that will ever happen on planet earth, in fact Jesus said if He did not return at this time that man would ruin the entire earth, but for the sake of the elect He said He will return and then He will set up His Kingdom here on earth for 1000 years.  What a day that will be!

            I think that we will try and look at the remaining verses in this chapter in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Grace and mercy are two very important words for believers, and as I focus on these words I cannot think that I had anything to do with the salvation that was given to me through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Seek the wisdom of the Lord as I write a very important email. 

Memory verses for the week:  Review 2 Peter 1:1-4

            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 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.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Ye are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Who besides the ‘royal official’ believed in Jesus, after his son was healed?”

Answer in tomorrow’s SD.

9/16/2013 11:36 AM  

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