SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/14/2013
9:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Servant
& Israel PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
52:7-12
Message of the
verses: Just to let everyone know
that this will be the last SD in the book of Isaiah for a little while as I
will go to the very important 9th chapter of the book of Daniel for
as long as it takes to get through it.
The chapter begins with a wonderful prayer by Daniel and ends with what
some have called the most important prophecy in all of the Word of God.
“Depart, depart” (Isaiah 52:7-12): “7 How lovely on the mountains Are the feet
of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of
happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, "Your God
reigns!" 8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully
together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. 9
Break forth, shout joyfully together, You waste places of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His
people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD has bared His holy arm In
the sight of all the nations, That all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there, Touch nothing
unclean; Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, You who carry the
vessels of the LORD. 12 But you will not go out in haste, Nor will you go as fugitives;
For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”
The Apostle Paul quotes verse 7 in the book of Romans
chapter 10 and verse 15, and the Good News that he speaks of in that book it
those who go out and tell others about the gospel, which means good news, the
good news that Jesus Christ came to earth as the promised Messiah in order to
tell people about the kingdom of God, to train twelve men to tell others about
what Jesus accomplished as He died on the cross for the salvation of all of
those who would confess that they were sinners, believing that Jesus Christ
paid for all their sins on the cross, and believing that He rose from the dead
in order to prove that He truly was the Son of God. Now Isaiah is writing about the good news
that Cyrus had conquered Babylon and would allow the Jews to return to their
land, and this was indeed good news for them.
In verse eight we see the watchmen of Jerusalem who have
seen this good news shout it out for all to hear, and this good news they shout
about is that God is restoring the city of Jerusalem, and also the waste places
around Jerusalem will be restored. Then
we see the phrase that Dr. Wiersbe used to entitle his commentary on Isaiah,
and the phrase Isaiah uses in other parts of his book, “Comfort ye, comfort ye”
(KJV). We next see the words “depart,
depart” and this does seem strange that God has to encourage His people to
leave captivity, but some of them took to literally the words of Jeremiah when
he told them to build houses and live in the city of Babylon where God had
taken them because of their sinful behavior.
Many of them stayed in Babylon because they were comfortable there and
did not want to go back to a city that was in ruins. In the book of Jeremiah 50:8ff; 51:6, 45 we
read that Babylon was a condemned city and this is one of the reasons that God
commanded His people to leave there. It
was God’s desire for them not to linger there but to leave quickly “Go forth
from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful
shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, "The
LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob ‘(Isaiah 48:20).” In verse eleven of our text God instructs
them not to touch anything that was unclean as they were leaving Babylon and
this speaks of the “religious system” of Babylon. Paul writes the following to believers at
Corinth about this, “14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what
partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light
with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a
believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of
God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
"I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND
THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 17 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE
SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I
will welcome you. 18 “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and
daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).”
At the end of verse eleven we see the picture of the
Priests and the Levites carrying the vessels of the temple which were used in
the worship that was conducted in the temple of the Lord which they will build. Dr. Wiersbe writes “This is a good command
for all of God’s servants to obey. If we
defile ourselves we will also defile the work of the Lord. How tragic for a holy ministry to be a source
of defilement to God’s people.”
We see one more encouraging thing from Isaiah as he
writes “The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear
guard” verse 12 and also look at 58:8 which says “"Then your light will
break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your
righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear
guard.’” These statements remind Israel
of their Exodus from Egypt when the Lord stood between the children of Israel
and the Army of Egypt before Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Dr Wiersbe writes “When God’s people obey God’s
will, they can always count on God’s leading and protection.”
He then concludes this third main section in his
commentary with these words: “Isaiah has
prepared the way for the ‘heart’ of God’s revelation of the Servant Messiah,
the fourth Servant Song (52:13-53:12).
We must prepare our hearts, for we are walking on holy ground.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Last night at our Wednesday evening service
our senior’s Pastor spoke about the life of Demas, a man who is only mentioned
three times in the Bible, and the last time we read the following about
him: “for Demas, having loved this
present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica (2 Timothy 4:10a).” The lure of the “world” is powerful and drew
not only Demas to this world system, but also many of the Jews who refused to
leave Babylon. I don’t want to have it
draw me like it did them and I want to do as Paul spoke of in the verses from 2
Corinthians that were quoted above.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Not to be defiled by the “world.”
Memory verse for the
week: 1 John 5:13a
These things I have written
….so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Paul” (Acts 25:9-11).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Which Gospel records the
fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies as it was written to the Jews?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/14/2013 9:57 AM
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