SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/1/2013
9:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The False
gods Disgraced
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
46:1-13
Message of the
verses: “1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo
stoops over; Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The
things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. 2 They
stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden,
But have themselves gone into captivity. 3
"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house
of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth And have been carried from
the womb; 4 Even to your old age I will
be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it,
and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
“5 "To whom would you liken Me And
make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike? 6 “Those who lavish gold
from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it
into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. 7 “They lift it upon the
shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does
not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot
deliver him from his distress. 8 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind,
you transgressors. 9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and
there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end
from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ’My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good
pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from
a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have
planned it, surely I will do it. 12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are
far from righteousness. 13 “I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My
glory for Israel.”
One thing that we should keep in mind as we look at certain
passages in the books of the prophets, and that is that a good deal of it is
written in Hebrew poetry, and if we remember from our study in the book of
Psalms that there are different kinds of Hebrew poetry. The following is a quote from my Spiritual Diary
from December 10th 2012 that helps to explain Hebrew Poetry. ““Hebrew poetry is based on ‘thought lines’
and not rhymes. If the second line
repeats the first line in different words, as in Psalm 24:1-3 (“The earth is
the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For He
has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.3 Who may
ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?”) If the second line contrasts with the first,
as in Psalm 1:6 (“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of
the wicked will perish.”) and also Psalm 37:9, it is antithetic parallelism.
Psalm 19:7-9 (“7 ¶ The law of the
LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making
wise the simple 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing
the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The
fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are
true; they are righteous altogether.”) But when the second line completes the
first, it is climatic parallelism
(Psalm 29:1 “Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the LORD
glory and strength.”). With iterative parallelism, the second line
repeats the thought of the first as seen in Psalm 93, and in alternate parallelism, the lines carry
the same thought as in (Psalm 103:8-13 “8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in
lovingkindness. 9 He will not always
strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us
according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as
high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward
those who fear Him. 12 As far as the
east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on
those who fear Him.”). You don’t bring
these technical terms into the pulpit, but knowing what they mean can give you
great help when you study. To interpret
Psalm 103:3 “3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;”
as God’s promise to heal every sickness is to ignore the synonymous parallelism
of the verse: the forgiveness of sins is
like the healing of disease (see Psalm 41:4). “4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious
to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.’”
The entire 46th chapter of Isaiah is written
in Hebrew poetry.
The god’s mentioned in verse one, Bel and Nebo are gods
of the Babylonians as Bel was the sun and Nebo was his son. Idols were prevalent in the OT times, and I
am speaking of idols like mentioned in verse one. Paul writes about idols in some of his NT
letters and at one point says that there is no such thing as an idol, but idol
worship seems to have started in Babel, which is where Babylon was and still is
located. Idol worship is some form of
worshiping Satan. In ancient Babylon,
where God changed the languages the people were building Ziggurats, and these
Ziggurats were the first astrological observatories where they began to chart
the stars and planets, and this kind of stuff is still going on today. This was done to tell one’s future and thus
idol worship began as the Babylonians had names for different gods, and when
different countries would conquer them then they would just change the names of
their gods to fit their culture. Back in
the third chapter of Genesis God told Eve that the “Seed” would be of the
woman, and thus in ancient times there would be a mother son cult having gods
of different names, and this has actually continued in our own time.
Even
to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear
you! I have done it, and I will carry you;And I will bear you and I will
deliver you. I want to mention
that verse fours according to Dr. Wiersbe is the basis for a stanza of the
familiar song “How Firm a Foundation,” but this song is not sung as much as it
use to be and is omitted from many newer hymnals. The Song’s lyrics are as follows:
- “How firm a
foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? - “Fear not, I
am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand. - “When
through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. - “When
through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
5.
“The soul that on
Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
Isaiah 46:4 “Even to your old age I will
be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it,
and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.”
To
kind of sum this chapter up we see that there is a great deal of difference
between our God and idols, for our God, the God of Heaven and Earth will never
fail us, He will always be there to hear our prayers and as we think about it
He will be with us from the womb to the tomb.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “How comforting it is to know that our God cares for
us before we are born (Ps. 139:1-16), when we get old and each moment in
between!”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: This section was uplifting to me lifted me up
above the problems that are going on in my life at this time.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Renew my trust in the Lord as He will care
for me forever.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question: “Abednego” (Daniel 3:13).
Today’s Bible Question: “What was the principal Jewish weight by
which others were regulated?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/1/2013 10:38 AM
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