SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2013
2:52 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Israel
Redeemed
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah 43:1-7
Message of the
verses: It is rare when Warren
Wiersbe does not comment on different chapters in the Bible from the books that
he writes, but I do have to say that he has commented a little bit on chapters
43 & 44 of Isaiah, but not in the usual way that he does. We will take a look at these two chapters and
see what we can come up with. I have
listened to them and found that Isaiah 43 indeed warms my heart from what it
has to say.
“1 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I
have called you by name; you are Mine! 2
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through
the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you
will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. 3 “For I am the LORD your
God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your place. 4
"Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I
love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for
your life. 5 “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from
the east, And gather you from the west. 6 “I will say to the north, ’Give them
up!’ And to the south, ’Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My
daughters from the ends of the earth, 7 Everyone who is called by My name, And
whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.’”
When we look at the nation of Israel from its beginning we
can only say that God has created them.
Why would I make that statement?
Let me quote from the 4th chapter of the book of Romans to
help us answer that statement: “19 Without becoming weak in faith he
contemplated his own body,
now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of
Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with
respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in
faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being
fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22
Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” In this section of Romans chapter four Paul
is showing that it was by faith in the Lord that Abraham was saved, and not by
works, but the point I want to make here is that Abraham was 100 years plus in
age and Sara was ninety years old, thus both of them had dead reproductive organs,
and yet God enabled them to have a son.
Yes Abraham had another son, Ishmael and will have more sons when Sarah
dies, but the son of Abraham and Sarah had was the promised son, the son in whom
the Messiah’s line would come through, and he was a miracle child. Humanly speaking this could not have
happened, and that is why I say that God created the nation of Israel.
Now you may remember what Dr. Wiersbe had said about the
word “redeemed” in a former SD, for that word can be and has been translated as
“kinsman redeemer.” Dr. Wiersbe had
pointed out that God took in place of Israel other nations which are mentioned
in verse three to be given some of the punishment that Israel was to get, thus
we get the term kinsman redeemer, but there is more to this than that for the
kinsman Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ who took the punishment of our sins
on Him on the cross in order that we might be saved. The picture of Israel coming out of Babylon
and into the Promised Land again pictures Him bringing them back into the Land
of Israel in the future. I believe this
happened in May of 1948, for I do not believe that anyone will be able to take
them out of the Promised Land again. The
prime minister of Israel stated this to the United Nations not more than a
month ago.
Verse two speaks of different calamities that Israel had
and will go through in the future, and God says that these calamities will not over
through them. The Lord keeps mentioning that He is the Lord, the Holy One of
Israel, and that He is their Savior in this section. He also mentions to them that they should not
fear, and states that He will bring all their offspring from around the world
back to the Promised Land. It was just a
few years ago that Israel finally had more Jews in the Promised Land that were
in the city of New York, and so God is steadily calling His people back home.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: God will keep His
promises is the spiritual meaning for my life today, and just as He promised to
bring Israel back to the Promised Land He also has promised that all of His
children will eventually be with the Lord Jesus Christ serving Him in the new
heaven and new earth and also the New Jerusalem.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord and the promises that He has
given to all His children that are found in His Word.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Peter 1:1-9
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; 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.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “John.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did Noah build after
coming out of the Ark?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/23/2013 3:37 PM
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