SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/2/2013
10:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Lord
Will Restore the Nation PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
26:19-21
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: We have been
looking at seven kingdom blessings from Isaiah 26 and eventually 27.
The Life-Giving dew (Isaiah 26:19-21): “19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will
rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the
dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms And
close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its
course. 21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish
the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her
bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.”
We don’t find too many passages in the Old Testament
about the resurrection of the dead, but we have one here. Job mentions this promise along with Ezekiel
and now we see it in Isaiah’s writings.
In the 11th chapter of John we find the story of Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead and when He tells Martha and Mary that Lazarus
will be raised from the dead they respond by saying that they know he will be
raised up on the last day. Now we know
that Jesus responded by saying I Am the Resurrection and the life, but the
point I make here is that the sisters knew about a resurrection to come and
they had to have learned if from the Old Testament teachings for that is all
they had. This is a wonderful truth that
Isaiah is talking about here as it would bring comfort to those who have read
it down through the ages and especially the Jews who have been persecuted for
so many years.
In his commentary on this subject Dr. Wiersbe gives a
wonderful teaching on the resurrection that I want to quote: “When Christ returns for His church,
believers who ‘sleep in Jesus’ will be raised from the dead (1Thes. 4:13-18).
When He returns with His church to judge His enemies and establish His kingdom,
there will also be a resurrection (Rev 19:11-20:6). These two events are called ‘the first
resurrection’ and include only saved people.
At the end of the thousand years, when Satan is finally imprisoned, the
lost will be raised to face the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev.
20:7-15). While the Old Testament does
not give the complete revelation about death the resurrection, it does assure
us that there is a future for the human body (Daniel 12:2; Psalm 16:9-10).”
In verses 11-19 we see that the remnant had been praying
to the Lord and in the verses we are looking at today we see His answer. From the time when Cain killed Able the blood
of the innocent has been crying out to the Lord for justice and when the Lord
returns with His Church and establishes His kingdom there will be justice upon
the earth during that 1000 year reign, and at the end of it with the Great
White Throne Judgment we will see God’s final justice.
One more thing that I want to write about that concerns
the resurrection and that comes from the writings of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15,
which has been called “The Resurrection Chapter.” Paul writes “35 ¶ But someone will say,
"How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" 36
You fool! That which you sow does
not come to life unless it dies; 37 and that which you sow, you do not
sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something
else. 38 But God gives it
a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 39
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another
flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 There are
also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one,
and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs
from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it
is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised
in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there
is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam,
BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As
is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so
also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now I say this,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the
perishable inherit the imperishable.”
Paul goes on to speak of what we call the “Rapture of the Church” in the
next section of this chapter. The point
to which I wish to make is that when believers are raised from the dead or go
to be with Christ in the rapture they will have a different kind of body. Lazarus had the same kind of body when Jesus
raised him from the dead, but in the resurrection at the rapture he will have a
new body.
Spiritual meaning
for my life: We spoke briefly about
God answering the prayers of the remnant, and what a wonderful thing it is when
God answers prayers, especially those prayers that one has been praying for a
long time. This recently happened to me,
and although I will not go into all the details I can say that this is one of
the most overwhelming things that has ever happened to me. I have a pretty lengthy prayer list and I
have often said that this particular prayer is the one that I want God to
answer yes for me. It is for a certain
persons salvation and now I have an opportunity to speak to this person that I
was wondering if it would ever happen, and now my prayer continues to be that
God will save this person who is near and dear to my heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Thank God for answering prayer.
Memory verses for the
week: Review 2 Peter 2:1-2
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as
ours, but 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;
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “The Law” (Romans 7:8).
Today’s Bible
Question: “At the time of Jesus’ birth,
who sent out a decree that all the world be taxed?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
9/2/2013 11:18 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment