SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
11/9/2013 8:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Love & Hope to the discouraged PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
49:24-26; 550:1-3
Message
of the verses: We began this section
yesterday and hope to finish it in today’s SD as we look at the last two
sub-points today.
A
courageous warrior (24-26): “24 "Can
the prey be taken from the mighty man, Or the captives of a tyrant be
rescued?" 25 Surely, thus says the LORD, "Even the captives of the
mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued; For
I will contend with the one who contends with you, And I will save your sons.
26 “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become
drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I,
the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
We have mentioned in earlier SD’s
that in the OT times nations had many gods and because they had many gods when
they conquered another nation they felt that the gods of that conquered nation
was weak and so they would take the idols from them and put them into the
temple of their gods. This surely was
not the case for the nation of Israel even though Babylon would take certain
things from the temple of God and carry them off to Babylon believing that
their gods were better than the God of Israel.
God had a purpose for the captivity of His people, Israel, and He would
bring them back from Babylon and He would cause the defeat of the Babylonians
for He is in charge of everything.
A
constant Lover (Isaiah 50:1-3): “1 Thus
says the LORD, "Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent
your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your
iniquities, And for
your transgressions your
mother was sent away. 2 “Why was there no man when I came? When I
called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot
ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke,
I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of
thirst. 3 “I clothe the heavens with blackness And make sackcloth their
covering.’”
We see a lot of evidence that Israel
was the wife of Jehovah in the OT. We see this in Isaiah 54:4-5; 62:1-5; Jer.
2:1-3; 3:1-11; Hosea 2; Ezekiel 16. In
Exodus 19-20 we see the marriage covenant that God had with Israel at Mt.
Sinai, however we also see much evidence that Israel played the harlot and thus
violated the covenant that they had with the Lord. However the Lord did not forsake His people
even though they were unfaithful to Him.
We see in verse one that God had
divorced the Northern Kingdom as they were assimilated by the Assyrians "And
I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and
given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but
she went and was a harlot also.’” (Jer.
3:8) However the Lord would not divorce
Judah, and we must remember that when the nation of Israel split into two parts
that it was because of the false religion set up in the Northern Kingdom that
many of the people from there would leave and go to the South where the Lord
was worshiped in the right way, so there are not lost tribes of Israel as some
would contend today. The Lord would
bring His Messiah from the tribe of Judah and so it was the Southern Kingdom
that would return from their captivity in Babylon because of the love that God
had for her.
We see another picture in this
paragraph, and that is of a poor parent selling their children into servitude
as seen also in 2 Kings 4:1-7 and also Nehemiah 5:1-5. It was not God who sold His people, but they
had sold themselves because of their sins.
We can read in the history and prophets that God had called them back
but they would not return to Him for they loved their sinful lives more than
they loved the Lord.
How could the people of Israel say
that the Lord had forsaken them when we have seen that the Lord is a passionate
mother, a courageous warrior, and a constant lover? God is faithful to His children even when
they are not faithful to Him: “11 It is
a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12
If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny
us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2
Timothy 2:11-13).” God is faithful to
chasten His children when they rebel as seen in Hebrews 12:1-11, and His is
also faithful to forgive when we repent as seen in 1 John 1:9.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary
on this section with these words: “The
Servant’s message to the Gentiles was one of hope and blessing. He would deal with His people so that they,
in turn, could bring God’s blessing to the Gentiles.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The
section in 2 Timothy above says that if we deny the Lord He will deny us, but
He will always remain faithful to His children, for “He cannot deny
Himself.” God has called His children
and given them eternal life through Christ Jesus and Jesus said that no one is
powerful enough to snatch them out of His hand even His children who sin they
cannot be taken out of His hand or else it would go against what He promised
them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
study the “Exchange” Bible Study and pray that the Lord will make divine
appointments for me so that I can tell the good news of the Gospel.
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, 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, though 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, self-control, and in your self-control, knowledge, 6 and in
your knowledge, 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 sins. 10
Therefore, brethren, be all the more 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: “Handwriting
and ordinances” (Colossians 2:14). “Having canceled out the certificate of debt
consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it
out of the way, having nailed it to the cross Col. 2:14 in the NASB).”
Today’s
Bible Question: “Where was Jesus
raised?”
Answer
in our next SD.
11/9/2013
9:12 AM
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