SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/17/2013
9:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Lord Rebukes Jerusalem PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
30:27-33
Message of the
verses: This will be the last part
of this fourth main point from the 30th chapter of Isaiah. It was only the first sub-point that we
actually discussed the Lord’s rebuke of Jerusalem, and then we looked at the
final restoration of Jerusalem and today we will look at “retribution.”
The Lord’s Rebuke of Jerusalem PT-3 (Isaiah 30:27-33): “27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a
remote place; Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled
with indignation And His tongue is like a consuming fire; 28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And
to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin. 29 You will
have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, And gladness of heart as
when one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the mountain of the LORD,
to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause His voice of authority to be
heard, And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the
flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones. 31 For at the
voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod. 32
And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the LORD will lay on him, Will
be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing
weapons, He will fight them. 33 For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has
been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with
plenty of wood; The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it
afire.”
This section talks about how God was going to destroy
Assyria after He had used them to discipline the people of Judah. Dr. Wiersbe writes: “Isaiah used several images to describe God’s
judgment on Assyria: a storm of fire and
hail, a flood, the sifting of grain (see Amos 9:9), and the harnessing of a
horse so that the enemy is led off like a farm animal.”
I think it also is best to quote Dr. Wiersbe on the
meaning of the word “Topheth.” “Topheth
was a site outside Jerusalem where the worshipers of Molech sacrificed their
children (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; Jer. 7:31-32; 19:6; 11-14). It was defiled by Josiah (2 Kings 23:10),
turned into a garbage dump, and named Gehanna,’ which comes from ge-ben-hinnom,
meaning ‘valley of the son of Himmon.’
That was the location of Topheth.
‘Gehenna’ is the New Testament word for ‘hell.’ The funeral pyre for the great king of
Assyria would be a garbage dump! How
humiliating!”
The Jews would celebrate the defeat of Assyria in a
similar way that they celebrated the defeat of Egypt during the first Passover,
and they would sing songs similar to the song that Miriam sang after the Lord
drowned the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea as seen in Exodus
15:20-21. The Jews still sing special songs
during the Passover Celebration as seen in Matthew 26:30.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The Jewish people
are a passionate people and it shows when they can sing songs after the defeat
of an enemy, a defeat that the Lord has made possible. God surely has enemies in the world today,
just as He has always had enemies in the world.
The devil is of course the biggest enemy of the Lord, but the Lord will
use the things that the devil does to actually bring honor and glory to
Himself. There are many enemies of the
Lord in our country today, portably more than at any other time in the history
of our country. I will not feel bad when
these enemies of the Lord will go to the same place that is spoken of in the
passage where the king of Assyria went.
My Steps of Faith for Today: God will prepare my heart to go to a meeting
this coming Saturday with a person that means much to me.
Memory verses for the
week: Review of 2 Peter 2:1-4
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 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.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The royal official’s whole
house” (John 4:53).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘Go, call thy
husband, and come hither?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
9/17/2013 10:12 AM
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