Thursday, November 7, 2013

Liberty to the Captives (Isaiah 49:8-13)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/7/2013 9:40 AM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus: Liberty to the Captives

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Isaiah 49:8-13

            Message of the verses:  We will be looking at how God’s Servant explains His ministry as “liberty to the captive” in this SD.

            “8 Thus says the LORD, "In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages; 9 Saying to those who are bound, ’Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ’Show yourselves.’ Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture will be on all bare heights. 10 “They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water. 11 “I will make all My mountains a road, And My highways will be raised up. 12 “Behold, these will come from afar; And lo, these will come from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim." 13 Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.”

            Let us start this section by looking at Isaiah 42:6 which says “"I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations.”  This verse is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and it says that He is a covenant to the people and He is also a light to the nations, and this word “nations” is speaking of the non-Hebrew peoples or the Gentiles.  No back to our verses where we learn that “God’s Servant” (Jesus Christ) is also the “new Moses” for He will set His people free, and it is because that He is the “new Covenant” we know that this will happen to those who were in Babylon.  We know that Joshua led the people into the land after the death of Moses in order to claim their inheritance, and God will bring them back to their desolate inheritance as we see in verse 49:8.

            When we began this first main section a couple of days ago we remember that Dr. Wiersbe entitled it “The Servant and the Gentiles,” and so we may ask what does all this have to do with the Gentiles.  Well just think for a moment if the Jews did not go back to their land after being in captivity in Babylon for seventy years.  There would have been no Bethlehem, and there would have been no Jerusalem, and no temple, there would have been no Nazareth for Jesus to grow up in either.  Bethlehem was where Jesus was born and the temple was where He did a lot of His teaching and Jerusalem was where He died for our sins, so this was very important to the Gentiles and Jews alike that God sent His people back to their land.

            I have mentioned on many different occasions that when we read the books of the prophets that there is incorporated into some of the verses things that pertain to both the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ, and this section (verses 10-12), speaks of the glorious kingdom where the Jewish people will be called by the Lord to come from the ends of the earth and gather in the Promised Land.  This is also spoken of in Isaiah 14:1-31; 35:6; 40:11; and 43:19.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Knowing that Jesus Christ is God’s Covenant is very meaningful to me as I am assured that all the promises that He has made will come to past for He cannot lie. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been going to a conference entitled “The Exchange” which is based on 2 Cor. 5:21 which says “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  There is an exchange in this verse a very important exchange, an exchange that does not at all to the human mind seem fair at all and that exchange is that once a person is “born from above” (John chapter three) they are credited from God to have His righteousness as Christ took our sin in exchange for that. As I said this does not seem fair in our human minds.  I want very much to learn all that has been taught here and put it into practice so that the Lord will use me to tell others of the Good News of the Gospel so that people will become a part of the family of God.  Jesus gave to us what is called “The Great Commission,” and part of that is to tell others about how they can have a relationship with the Lord and once they have done that the next part is to disciple them to the truths of His Word.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-11

            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, 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

Answer to our last Bible Question:  “Peter, Andrew, James and John.”  (Matthew 4:18-22)

Today’s Bible Question:  “Why was David not allowed to build a house for God?”

Answer in our next SD

11/7/2013 10:30 AM

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