SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/31/2013
11:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s
Supreme Power
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
45:8-25
Message of the
verses: “8 "Drip down, O heavens, from above, And
let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation
bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it. 9
“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-An earthenware vessel among the
vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ’What are you doing?’ Or the
thing you are making say, ’He has no hands’? 10 “Woe to him who says to a
father, ’What are you begetting?’ Or to a woman, ’To what are you giving
birth?’"
“11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of
Israel, and his Maker:
"Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And you shall commit
to Me the work of My hands. 12 “It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out
the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host. 13 “I have
aroused him in righteousness And I will make all his ways smooth; He will build
My city and will let My exiles go free, Without any payment or reward,"
says the LORD of hosts. 14 Thus says the LORD, "The products of Egypt and
the merchandise of Cush And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you
and will be yours; They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains And
will bow down to you; They will make supplication to you: ’Surely, God is with
you, and there is none else, No other God.’" 15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of
Israel, Savior! 16 They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of
them; The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation. 17
Israel has been saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation; You will not be put to shame or
humiliated To all eternity. 18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made
it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),
"I am the LORD, and there is none else. 19
"I have not spoken in secret, In some dark land; I did not say to
the offspring of Jacob, ’Seek Me in a waste place’; I, the LORD, speak
righteousness, Declaring things that are upright.
“20 "Gather yourselves and come; Draw
near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save. 21 “Declare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has
long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God
besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. 22 “Turn to Me and be
saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. 23 “I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. 24 “They
will say of Me, ’Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.’ Men will
come to Him, And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. 25 “In the
LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will glory.’”
This is kind of a longer section, but it does seem to fit
in together so we will take our time as we go through these verses to see what
the Lord has for us while we study them.
Verse eight speaks of righteousness and salvation and I
believe that this verse is speaking of the Millennial Kingdom when this will
take place, for we can look at Israel today and in the past and also the world
today and in the past and this has not yet happened.
If I am not mistake verse nine is quoted by Paul in his
letter to the Romans showing that the Lord is the One in control, and that men
cannot tell the Lord what to do, especially in future things. Verse ten
continues this argument by Isaiah.
There is a question from the Lord in verse eleven, as the
Lord asks Israel to seek information about what He will do for the nation in
the future for God will reveal it to them.
When we look at verses 23-23 we see that Isaiah speaks of
the Lord’s creation power, and since He has created the world through His power
and wisdom He surely can call Cyrus to bring Israel back into their land.
We will look at John MacArthur’s commentary for verse
fourteen: “three countries to the South
(cf. 43:3) illustrate the worldwide submission to Israel that will prevail
during the messianic kingdom age. Surely,
God is with you: All nations will
acknowledge the presence of the one true God among His people Israel (49:23;
60:14). Paul the apostle found a full
sense in these words when he advised the Corinthians on exercising prophecy
rather than tongues in their meetings.
This brought an acknowledgment from visitors of God’s presence among
them (1 Cor. 14:25).”
MacArthur goes on explaining the following from verse
fifteen where Isaiah writes about God hiding Himself: “The contemporary situation hid God’s
purposes of mercy toward Israel, i.e., that they would repent and He would
eventually regather them and make Jerusalem the center of world attention.”
Verses 16-17 seem to compare those who have made idols
with how the Lord will save Israel, for idols will not save people, but the
Lord, through His Son Jesus Christ can save people.
We see more about the creation of the world through the
Lord in verse eighteen. This is a very
important thing to realize and something that is under much attack in the world
today as evolution is something that is taught over much of the world today,
and we must remember that evolution is impossible, and people know it is
impossible, yet they still teach it so that they will not have to be
accountable to God, but they will be accountable to God. We see this in verse twenty-three: “That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue
will swear allegiance.” John MacArthur
writes the following about this verse: “In
the kingdom age, all nations will worship the one true God of Israel. A further meaning, justified by the NT,
applies this verse to believers’ accountability to God when He evaluates their
words (Rom. 14:11). In assigning the
words another meaning, Paul relates the words to the coming universal
acknowledgement that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
(Phil. 2:10-11).”
We see from verse 19 that the Lord does not do things in
secret like the false gods do for God’s revelations comes through His true
prophets. Verse twenty goes on to show that
the nations who worship idols pray to gods who cannot save, unlike the Lord who
can save.
In verse 21 we see God making His case that He has
declared these things in the past, from of old, and He goes on to say that
there is no other God than Him.
I believe that verse 22 is a verse for the Messianic
Kingdom, when the Lord Jesus Christ rules on David’s throne from Jerusalem for
1000 years. We have already looked at
verse 23, and verse twenty-four speaks more about the Messianic Kingdom age.
We will again look to the MacArthur Study Bible for information
on verse twenty-five: “All the offspring
of Israel: Physical decent from Abraham
alone cannot bring justification. Only
the faithful remnant of Israel will be saved (v.17; Rom. 11:25-27). ‘Justified’ means to be declared righteous,
to be treated as if one is not sinful, but holy through the application of Christ’s
righteousness to the one who believes (cf. 61:10; 2 Cor. 5:21).
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I think of
justification in the Biblical sense I am overwhelmed by this truth knowing that
I can do nothing on my own, but trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ for my salvation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live like the position that I have in Christ,
trusting the Holy Spirit to guide me.
Memory verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-10
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, 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 you neither useless
nor unfruitful 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: “Upon Jesus” (1 Peter 5:7).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who was the companion of
Shadrach and Meshack?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/31/2013 12:08 PM
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