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
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