SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2013
11:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God Forgives & Redeems
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
44:21-28
Message of the
verses: “21 "Remember these
things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are
My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. 22 "I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud
And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."
23 Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout joyfully, you
lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O
forest, and every tree in it; For the LORD has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He
shows forth His glory. 24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who
formed you from the womb, "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone, 25
Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing
wise men to draw back And turning their knowledge into foolishness, 26
Confirming the word of His servant And performing the purpose of His
messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, ’She shall be inhabited!’ And of the
cities of Judah, ’They shall be built.’ And I will raise up her ruins again. 27
“It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ’Be dried up!’ And I will make your
rivers dry. 28 “It is I who says of Cyrus, ’He is My shepherd! And he will
perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ’She will be built,’ And
of the temple, ’Your foundation will be laid.’"”
If I am not mistaken we have seen the words “My Servant”
a number of times in the book of Isaiah.
We have seen it refereeing to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have seen it as in this passage two times, once referring to Israel, and once referring
to Cyrus who would let the people of Israel leave from captivity and rebuild
Jerusalem and the foundations of the temple.
I want to use the note in my MacArthur Study Bible to
help explain verse twenty-two: “Wiped
out…your sins: Further reassurance of
God’s sovereign grace at work on behalf of Israel were given (43:25). God had blotted out their sins written His
book against them (cv. Rev 20:12). As a
person can’t see what is ahead because it is blocked by a ‘thick cloud,’ so God
obliterated the sins of those He redeemed.
Return to me: God has already
provided for redemption, even before the cross, but based on it alone. For those who turn from sin and return to
Him, there is redemption (because the purchase price for the sinner was paid
for by the sacrifice of Christ). The
Lord calls on His people to repent so they may receive the promised redemption
(cf. Ne. 1:9; Jer. 4:1; 24 7; Joel 2:12; Zec. 1:3; Mal. 3:7; Matt. 3:2; 4:17;
Romans 3:35, 36; Heb. 9:15).
When the Lord Jesus returns to earth from Heaven as seen
in Revelations 19 He will redeem all of Israel as Paul writes in the book of
Romans, and at this time we will also see redemption of nature as spoken of in
Romans 8:19-22: “19 For the anxious
longing of the creation waits
eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility,
not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set
free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the
children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the
pains of childbirth together until now.”
Verse twenty-four again speaks of the Lord as the maker
and the redeemer, and then verse twenty-five speaks of false prophets and the
fact that they must suffer as a result of their false prophesying. The word “omen” is also seen in verse
twenty-five and the meaning of that word is as follows: “1) sign, signal 1a) a distinguishing mark 1b)
banner 1c) remembrance 1d) miraculous sign 1e) omen 1f) warning 2) token,
ensign, standard, miracle, proof.
We actually see another meaning of the term “My servant”
in verse twenty-six and this time is speaks of the prophets of which Isaiah is
one. The true prophets spoke the truth
concerning the future unlike those false prophets. We see from verse twenty-seven the power of
the Lord as He dried up the Red Sea and also the Jordan River allowing Israel
to cross both on dry land. This was no
problem for God and we see the same power in His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ as
He stopped the storm while in the boat, and also walked upon the water.
I think it best to also use MacArthur’s note on verse
twenty-eight as it speaks of Cyrus who will be seen more of in the next
chapter. “The prophecy—given a century
and a half before Cyrus lived and became king of Persia—predicted God’s use of
the Persian king to gather the faithful remnant of Israel back to the
Land. In this role, Cyrus prefigured the
Lord’s Servant who will shepherd the sheep of Israel in their final regathering
(Mt. 4). The title “shepherd” applied to
kings as leaders of God’s people. Paul
compares David to the standard of Cyrus’ obedience.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Understanding
that God is all powerful will help me increase my faith in Him. There is no one or nothing that is as
powerful as the Lord. Think about the
creation as described in the first chapter of Genesis as the Lord spoke and the
world came into existence. He spoke and the entire universes came into
existence, and so we know that His power is above any power for all the power
that man can get comes from what God created.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember that the Lord took my place on the cross
to provide salvation for me. He gave me
His righteous in exchange for my sin.
Humanly speaking this is not a fair trade. It took God’s grace, mercy, and love along
with all His other attributes that are seen at the cross.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:1-10
1Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who 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,
6 and in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render your
neither useless, nor unfaithful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 For he who lacks these
qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his
former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be
all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for
as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question: “The River Jordan” (Matthew 3:13).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who said ‘It is not the
practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn.’”
Answer in our next SD.
10/29/2013 11:59 AM
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