SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/3/2013
9:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Lord
Will Restore the Nation PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
27:1-11
Messages of the
verses: We will continue to look at
Kingdom Blessings in today’s SD.
The Conquered Beast (Isaiah 27:1): “1 In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.”
John MacArthur has an interesting footnote from the book
of Job on Leviathan, and I will share that here: “The term appears in 4 other OT texts (Job
3:8; Pss. 74:14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1 and here in Job 41:1). In each case Leviathan refers to some mighty
creature who can overwhelm man but who is no match for God. Since this creature lives in the sea among
ships (Ps. 104:26), some form of sea monster, possibly an ancient dinosaur, is
in view. Some feel it was a crocodile,
which had scaly hide (vs. 15), terrible teeth (vs. 14) and speed in the water
(vs. 32). But crocodiles are not sea
creatures, and clearly this one was (vs. 31).
Some have though it was a killer whale or a great white shark, because
he is the ultimate killer beast over all other proud beasts (v. 34). It could also have been some se-going
dinosaur.” This note is from Job 41:1
and so some of the references in it are from the 41st chapter of
Job.
Dr. Wiersbe brings up the spiritual meaning of this
creature as many people around the Middle East were into false religions and
superstitions. We see in this verse the familiar
words “In that day,” and so we know that we are talking about the tribulation
period or the “Day of the Lord.” It will
be in this time that the Lord Jesus Christ will crush all false religions as we
see in the 18th chapter of the book of Revelations. It is not my desire to go into who “Leviathan”
was at this time for that would have to do with talking about creation, and we
are not doing that in this SD.
The Fruitful Vineyard (Isa. 27:2-11): “2 In that day, "A vineyard of wine, sing of it! 3 “I, the
LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment. So that no one will damage it, I
guard it night and day. 4 “I have no wrath. Should someone give Me briars and
thorns in battle, Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely. 5 “Or
let him rely on My protection, Let him make peace with Me, Let him make peace
with Me." 6 In the
days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, And
they will fill the whole world with fruit.
“7 Like the striking of Him who has struck
them, has He struck them? Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been
slain? 8 You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With
His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind. 9 Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will
be forgiven; And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin: When
he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones; When Asherim and
incense altars will not stand. 10 For the fortified city is isolated, A
homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And
there it will lie down and feed on its branches. 11 When its limbs are dry,
they are broken off; Women come and make a fire with them, For they are not a
people of discernment, Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.”
I have mentioned in previous SD’s that when we read OT prophets
we sometimes read of what is going on at that time and what will go on in the
future in the same verses and that seems to be the case here as Isaiah is
speaking about Israel who is the vineyard of God and how God will discipline
His people by bringing on the Assyrians to capture the Northern Kingdom and
then have the Babylonians take some of the people of the Southern Kingdom into
captivity. God does this because of His
great love for His people. Hebrews
12:1-11 speaks of this kind of discipline that God gives to His people in order
to purge them of their sins. After the Babylonian
captivity the Jews had no more problems with idols. Now I am speaking of the idols that people
made out of wood or silver or gold.
During the Kingdom age the vineyard will product fruit as
Israel will be at the center of the Kingdom age with the Lord Jesus Christ at
the center of the Kingdom itself.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about vines: “The Bible speaks of three vines: the people of Israel (Isa. 5; 27), Christ and
His church (John 15), and godless Gentile society, ‘the vine of the earth’
(Rev. 14:18). The vineyard of Israel is
not bearing fruit, the ‘vine of the earth’ is filling the world with poisonous
fruit, and God’s people must be faithful branches in the Vine and produce fruit
that glorifies God’s name.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: John chapter 15
is one of my favorite sections of the NT, as Jesus takes the time right before
He is to be crucified for our sins to teach His disciples the meaning of the
vine and how as believers we are to produce much fruit. We must be available to who the Lord brings
into our lives in order to have the Holy Spirit produce this fruit through us,
and we must have a good knowledge of God’s Word for the Holy Spirit to use it
as He produces this fruit through us.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to work things out for His
glory as I prepare to meet with someone that I have longed to reconnect with
for almost 38 years.
Memory verses for the
week: Review of 2 Peter 1:1-2
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as
ours, 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;
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Caesar Augustus” (Luke 2:1).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who said ‘What I have
written, I have written’?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/3/2013 10:54 AM
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