SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/31/2013
9:12 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Blessing
of a New Creation PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah 65:8-25
Message of the
verses: It was because the children
of Israel turned down what the Lord had to offer them as far as salvation, He turned
to the Gentiles which we talked about in our last SD. Next God describes the sins of His people
that kept Him from answering their prayers to Him which are covered in verses 8-25.
“8
Thus says the LORD, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one
says, ’Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’ So I will act on behalf
of My servants In order not to destroy all of them. 9 “I will bring forth
offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from Judah; Even My chosen
ones shall inherit it, And My servants will dwell there. 10 “Sharon will be a
pasture land for flocks, And the valley of Achor a resting place for herds, For
My people who seek Me.
“11"But you who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy
mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And who fill cups with mixed wine for
Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, And all of you will bow down to
the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did
not hear. And you did evil
in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight." 13 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD,
"Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants
will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you
will be put to shame. 14 “Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad
heart, But you will cry out with a heavy heart, And you will wail with a broken
spirit. 15 “You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord GOD will slay you.
But My servants will be called by another name. 16 “Because he who is blessed
in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the
earth Will swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are
forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight!
“17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new
earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. 18
“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create
Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. 19 “I will also rejoice in
Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. 20 "No longer will there be in it an infant
who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of
one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will
be thought accursed. 21 "They will
build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their
fruit. 22 “They will not
build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as
the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones
will wear out the work of their hands. 23 “They will not labor in vain, Or bear
children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD,
And their descendants with them. 24 “It will also come to pass that before they
call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 “The
wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox;
and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My
holy mountain," says the LORD.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “They resisted His grace and His
loving appeals, though He held out His arms to them and spoke to them through
His Word (Romans 10:21). They went their
own way (Isaiah 53:6) and provoked Him with their evil worship of false gods,
getting involved with the occult and demons.
They ate food that was unclean and openly worshiped idols in the high
places. And yet these rebellious people
considered themselves to be better than others!
‘I am holier than thou!’”
In verses 65:8-16 God explains that He had to judge the
nation for hers sins as He called the Babylonians to be His instrument for punishing
them. Israel did learn while they were
punished in Babylon that they should not worship idols any more, but other sins
they would commit as seen when the Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth in
Israel, for after all the killed the King of Glory an awful sin that they are
still paying for.
Verse 65:10 speaks of the valley of Achor and this is
where Achan was stoned to death as described in Joshua chapter seven. Achan was stoned for disobeying the Lord as
he committed the sin of covetousness and stealing. In Hosea 2:15 we read “"Then I will give
her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And
she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up
from the land of Egypt.” This verse also
speaks of the valley of Achor in the distant future from Hosea’s writings.
As we look at verses 11-16 we see that Isaiah writes of
two different kinds of people in the land, first those who forsake the Lord,
and next those who serve the Lord as spoken of by the term “My Servant.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “God saves the best for the last: His description of ‘the new heavens and new
earth’ (the millennial kingdom” in 65:17-66:24.” This is different from what John describes in
Revelations 21:1ff, and the reason we know this is because the characteristics
Isaiah gives do not fit the eternal state which John describes.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on this section with
these words: “Jerusalem will be a source
of joy, not only to the Lord but to the whole earth. It will be a city of holiness, harmony, and
happiness. During the millennial
kingdom, people will work, and God will bless their labors. People will pray, and God will answer
(v.24). Nations will be at peace (vs.
25) because the curse will be lifted.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: We can see a
pattern in this section that kind of goes along with what is still going on in
the lives of the children of Israel, something that Christ also went through
and that is first the suffering and then the glory. We also see something that Dr. Wiersbe has
pointed out through a quote from an old Scottish preacher who said “the successful
Christian life is a series of new beginnings.
My Steps of Faith for Today: As the year 2013 draws to a close I am
thankful that we are one more year closer to the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the clouds above the earth where He will take His bride back to
heaven to be with Him and then return with Him at the end of the tribulation
period. I surely look forward to that
day, hoping that 2014 will be the year that this happens.
Answer to our last Bible
Question: “Hannah” (1 Samuel 1:27).
Today’s Bible
Question: “Where did Amalek fight with
Israel?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/31/2013 9:46 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment