SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/26/2013
9:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Shortcomings of Israel
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
43:22-28
Message of the
verses: “22 "Yet you have not
called on Me, O Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, O Israel. 23 “You have
not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me
with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you
with incense. 24 “You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, Nor have you
filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather you have burdened Me with
your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities. 25 “I, even I, am the one
who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. 26 “Put
Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together; State your cause, that you
may be proved right. 27 “Your first forefather sinned, And your spokesmen have
transgressed against Me. 28 “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary,
And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.”
We can see in verses 22-24 that although God had chosen
Israel, they had not chosen Him. As we
look at these three verses we can see that the children of Israel have wearied
the Lord with their sins and with their idol worshiping and also their empty
ritualism as seen in Isaiah 1:11-15: “11
“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt
offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in
the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who
requires of you this trampling of My courts? 13 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense
is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies-I
cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed
feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 “So when you spread
out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you
multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
I want to quote the verse note from the MacArthur Study
Bible on verse twenty-five: “I, even I …will
not remember your sins. This verse is
probably the high point of grace in the OT.
In spite of Israel’s utter unworthiness, the Lord in His grace has
devised a way that He can forgive their sins and grant righteousness without compromising
His holiness. This He would accomplish
through the work of His Servant (53:6).
In spite of her failures, Israel will always be God’s chosen people.”
Verse twenty-six seems to be another court room verse, as
we have seen in the past in the book of Isaiah.
This one is a bit different from the other ones as God says “let us
argue our case together; State your cause,
that you may be proved right. Israel’s
only option is the same option that all unbelievers have, and that is to plead
guilty before our Holy God, and do as what was seen in verse twenty-five, and
that is to rely upon the graciousness and on the mercy of God through Jesus
Christ who has paid the price for their sins and all those who call upon
Him. “9
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE
DISAPPOINTED.’” (Romans 10:9-10.)
Isaiah is showing the people that even the first
forefathers sinned and could not claim their “goodness” for salvation, but we
read in the book of Genesis 15: “Genesis 15:6
Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as
righteousness.” The “he” in this verse
is Abram, and this verse is quoted in the book of Romans and other NT books to
show that it was not through any works that Abraham did, but it was His belief
in what God had done for him that he was given righteousness.
John MacArthur writes the following commentary for verse
twenty-eight: “Even though God will
forgive the nation in the messianic age, she still must suffer in the
intervening interval.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am so very thankful
for the salvation that God has provide for me through His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and I want to live for Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit doing the
works that He has planned for me to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 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, 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.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Nobleman’s” (John 4:46).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did Moses see while
tending Jethro’s flock near Mount Horeb?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/26/2013 10:07 AM
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