Archive for the ‘Isaiah--BibleTrekToday’ Category

Dear Friends,

What a beautiful day of resurrection celebration!  The first day of the week is when Christians gather because it was the day Christ rose from the dead and neathly folded the burial shroud.  He laid it aside and the tomb was empty!  Angels rolled away the stone so that His disciples and followers could see for themselves what had transpired.  This brought awe and wonder and led to worship as Mary recognized Jesus after mistaking him for the gardener.  Worship is our response today and awe and wonder should still be our response to the risen Christ!

Reflecting on this week’s reading, Isaiah 25:7-8 stands out for me.  “On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.” On Mt. Zion, Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy by offering Himself as the sinless sacrifice for our sins.  He was laid in an empty tomb and wrapped in a burial sheet.  Early on the first day of the week, Sunday, the Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb.  A strong earthquake shook the earth, guards fell over, and an angel of the Lord came and rolled away the stone.  (Matthew 28:1-7)  Peter came sometime later and saw the strips of linen cloth lying by themselves.  (Luke 24:12)  The grave was empty and Jesus was no longer there!

Death had been conquered and this shroud of death that covers all men because of Adam’s sin had been removed.  Faith in Jesus Christ removes the shame and disgrace of our sins and opens eternal life for us!  This is reason to celebrate and worship!  “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1st Corinthians 15:54)  By faith we wait in hope for that glorious day!

In His Love, Pastor John

Scripture reading for July 24th: Isaiah 24-27

“The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind: so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls–never to rise again.  In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.” (Isaiah 24:19-21)

Isaiah expounded on the theme of judgment.  He saw a day when the entire earth will be shaken and wobble.   He saw a day when God Himself would act to bring punishment on the forces of darkness in the heavens as well as the wicked rulers of the earth.  The cause of this judgment was the guilt of their rebellion.  He had given them time and opportunity to repent, but their rebellion took them away from His grace and brought His wrath.  Isaiah saw these wicked herded like prisoners into a dungeon for punishment.

“The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, before its elders, gloriously.  O Lord, your are my God; I will exalt You and  praise Your Name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned from long ago.” (Isaiah 24:23, 25:1)

In conjunction with this judgment on the earth, Isaiah also saw the Lord reigning in control of all from Mt. Zion! He saw the brightness of the Lord making the sun and moon dim by comparison.  He saw a glorious kingdom brought into being according to plans made by God long ago and announced by His servants the prophets!  God’s timing and power brought praise and exaltation from those who know Him!

“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:  We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.  Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.  You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:1-3)

A song on the lips of the redeemed and faithful is recorded by Isaiah.  He hears singing from the ends of the earth, “Glory to the Righteous One”.  (Isaiah 24:16) He hears praise for Mt. Zion and the wonderful salvation and eternal refuge it provides.  Perfect peace is enjoyed by those resting in God!

Scripture reading for July 23rd: Isaiah 21-23

The oracle in Isaiah 22 concerns the “Valley of Vision”.  According to ancient sources, this was an early name for Jerusalem because it was situated on a hill that offered a view of the surrounding countryside and the valley all the way down to the Dead Sea, some 3600 feet below.  Another reason for this name could be associated with God’s Temple and His manifest presence there behind the veil in the Holy of Holies.  Isaiah’s vision, was not one of joy and delight, but one of coming judgment because of the pride and arrogance of God’s people.

Isaiah saw a vision of a city in tumult without leadership.  Their leaders had been captured while fleeing to escape an enemy that was still far away.  Isaiah wept bitterly because of the destruction of his people. (Isaiah 22:2-4)  He saw the day of the Lord’s judgment on the city, it’s walls battered down and it’s defenses stripped away.  People were busy trying to defend and store up water for the siege, but they forgot to call on the Lord.  (Isaiah 22:8-11)  Instead of weeping and fasting and seeking God, they were caught up in revelry and a party atmosphere with a grabbing of pleasure for the moment before the trouble came!  “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” (Isaiah 22:13b)

God also warned the steward of the palace, Shebna, that he would also be removed.  God was going to take hold of him and hurl him away.  He thought himself a mighty man, but God would throw him out like a ball.  (Isaiah 22:17-19)  God is really in control of all authority and can change leadership in an instant in response to the needs and plans of His heart.  Man may look mighty, but God is mightier!

This oracle is instructive for us today.  As we read the word of God, we can see that judgment is not far off and that God has said that Christ will come suddenly.  (Matthew 24:42-44)  Some will be caught unprepared.  Others will have the attitude of Jerusalem’s residents, grabbing pleasure while they can or frantically trying to prepare without calling on the Lord!  God warns us to make preparations under His guidance and to be working and watching when He comes.  (Matthew 24:45-46)  He truly loves each person and offers mercy and escape to those who will respond and live by faith.

Scripture reading for July 22nd: Isaiah 17-20

Isaiah was not only a prophet to his own people, but was used by  God to speak words of warning concerning coming judgment to other nations.  One of the powerful nations of that day was Egypt.  It was the nation that had held the Israelites as slaves about 750 years earlier and had experienced God’s judgment in the miracles wrought through Moses.  Egypt was the nation that Israel turned back to for help and actually desired to return to as they wandered in the wilderness.  It is a type of the world in its humanist power and idolatry.  God will judge the nations of the world and the world system as well.

The reason for this judgment was sin against God.  They were responsible for the light that they had; God had demonstrated His power over their idols earlier and given them time to repent.  They persisted in idolatry and witchcraft.  (Isaiah 19:3-4)  They made plans in their human thinking and consulted mediums instead of the Lord.  God’s judgment would expose their folly and devastate their plans as well as their land.

Isaiah was instructed by God to dress as an exile, stripped and barefoot and was to walk around like that for three years. (Isaiah 20:2-4)  The message of God’s judgment was visual as well as spoken to these sensual people. God would send the Assyrians against Egypt and Cush and the Egyptians would be led stripped and barefoot into exile! Their shame would be exposed and they would become an example to all who trust in the power and idols of Egypt.  Even God’s people would learn a lesson in this regard!

What lessons can we learn today as we read of God’s judgment on these nations that trusted in idols and human wisdom?  Our nation must take heed!  We, like Egypt, have had much light from the Lord.  To choose to depart from that light and trust in human wisdom will not escape God’s notice.  He watches every nation and all of it’s people and will judge them.  He warns them first through His messengers.  Today the church bears this responsibility.  Sadly, many in the church are caught up in “Egypt” themselves!  God is watching and warning us.  Today is a good day to evaluate your own life and realign it with God’s purposes!

Scripture reading for July 21st: Isaiah 13-16

God is in control of history and the future.  He alone knows the future and can accurately predict what will happen.  When God chooses to reveal his knowledge of coming events, He chooses a prophet or prophetess to tell what He will do.  He is merciful so He warns those headed for His wrath so that they can escape through repentance.  This time of judgment often spoken of in the Old Testament is called the “day of the Lord”.  (Isaiah 13:9)

“See, the day of the Lord is coming–a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger– to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.  The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.  The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.  I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.  I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and humble the pride of the ruthless.” (Isaiah 13:9-11)

This day of the Lord is appointed by God.  Man doesn’t know the time, but does know what it will bring.  It will be a time of wrath against sin.  Sinners, as well as the land, will be destroyed.  The heavenly bodies will not shine forth their light as is usual.  Even the sun will be darkened in the morning and the moon will not give any light.  This day will be a day of punishment for the world and the wicked.  The arrogant and ruthless will be dealt with and broken.  God will be exalted on this day as the supreme ruler over all!

Jesus Christ warned his followers of this day.  They were to be aware of the signs of the approaching day and not be caught unprepared.  In Matthew 24:29 Jesus quotes Isaiah 13:10 as the event that will immediately precede His coming again to gather His elect from the corners of the earth. No one will know the day or the hour, but we are to be watchful and not be caught sleeping or unprepared!  (Matthew 24:36-44)  We must be ready because this day of the Lord could come at any time and only those who are ready will go!  Check out your preparedness today!  Tomorrow may be too late!

Scripture reading for July 20th: Isaiah 9-12

From the remnant or stump, comes a Branch.  This branch will come from the stump of Jesse.  From the roots of this stump, the Branch will produce fruit! (Isaiah 11:1)  Sounds like a riddle, but there is great prophetic insight contained in these word pictures from Isaiah.  The Branch is none other than Jesus Christ, the son of David through Jesse.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on the Branch and cause Him to manifest the character of His Father.  This Spirit will be a Spirit of wisdom and understanding.  The Branch will be wise and have great understanding concerning God and His will.  He will be anointed with the Spirit in order to rule justly and judge righteously.  (Isaiah 11:2-4)  The Spirit will be a Spirit of counsel and power and knowledge.  The Branch will give wise counsel and manifest the power of God to do God’s will.  He will possess knowledge and ability to share His understanding to help others.

The Spirit of the fear of the Lord will also rest on this Branch.  He will delight in the fear of the Lord!  This fear or holy respect will be evident by his total obedience to God and His will.  This Branch will judge with righteousness and give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth.  This means that His words will have great power to shake the earth and bring down the wicked.

This Branch will have righteousness for His belt and faithfulness for the sash around His waist.  He will bring in an era of peace on earth that will come from His righteous rule.  He will broadcast the knowledge of the Lord over all the earth.  He will stand as a banner to the peoples of the earth as well as gathering up the scattered people of Judah!  (Isaiah 11:10-12)

As we read this prophecy, we can see how Jesus fulfilled much of what is written.  He came full of God’s Spirit and was totally righteous and faithful to God.  He feared His Father God and delighted in obedience.  He has promised to come again and gather His people from Israel and the nations.  He will usher in a rule of peace for a thousand years.  He will shake the earth and judge the wicked!  The Branch will produce fruit!

Scripture reading for July 19th: Isaiah 5-8

Isaiah continued calling out the sins of God’s people and telling of the coming judgment.  Prophets must keep an open ear to the Lord and maintain the ability to communicate clearly with His people.  They are not always well-received because of the message that they must give.

Isaiah sings a song to the Israelites to help them hear the message.  Isaiah 5:1-7 is called the song of the vineyard.  In this song, God uses the analogy of planting a vineyard, setting up a watchtower in it, and cutting out a wine press to process the grapes.   He had done all that was necessary to develop a fruitful vineyard but when God looked for fruit, it yielded only bad fruit.  He was furious and decided to take away his care from this choice planting.

“The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of His delight.  And He looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed;  for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (Isaiah 5:7)  Israel was the vineyard in this song.  God was angry with their lack of fruit.  They were not responding to God’s careful cultivation and the watchfulness of the prophets.  They were supposed to produce a crop of justice and righteousness, but all God could find was bloodshed and violence.

The fruit of God’s vine was bad.  Isaiah pronounced “woe” over those who were greedy for land and houses.  God spoke to him of the destruction of the great houses and mansions of those who would be judged.  Those who were drunkards and were self-indulgent would also reap woe.  They forgot God and neglected His work.  “Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:13)

Jesus Christ told His followers that He was the true Vine and they were the branches.  His Father was the gardener and He would cut off any branch that did not bear fruit.  He would prune all fruitful branches to maximize fruitfulness.  (John 15:1-7)  His followers must remain in Him in order to produce fruit.  Jesus probably got this analogy from Isaiah and used it to encourage and warn His followers.  Are you abiding in the True Vine today and is the fruit of your life good and abundant?

Dear Friends,

Greetings on this day of rest and reflection!  God is good to us and we have much to praise and thank Him for!  We have a rich inheritance in Jesus Christ!  He is our portion and the way to our promised eternal inheritance!  As you gather today with God’s people for worship and receiving His Word, bow your head and heart and thank Him for loving you and saving you!  Offer your heart to Him afresh today and humbly receive His grace!

Reflecting on the reading from this week, I would focus our attention on Isaiah 4 and the “Branch of the Lord”.  Isaiah had been seeing a vision of Jerusalem and Judah under God’s judgment for their sin of rebellion.  After that harsh judgment, Isaiah saw this “Branch of the Lord” that would be beautiful and glorious.  He would come from the remnant that the Lord left by His grace.  This remnant would be called holy and remain in Jerusalem.  (Isaiah 4:2-3)

The Lord would wash away their crimson stains by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.  His glorious presence would enshroud Mt. Zion and those assembled there with a cloud of smoke by day and a flaming canopy of fire by night.  This glorious presence would be a hiding place and a shelter from storm and rain.

As we look at this passage today, we see God’s grace in sparing a remnant of His people in order to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as King David.  This “Branch” grew out of the remnant and was of the lineage of David.  His ministry was to offer cleansing and forgiveness of sins first to His own people and then to the world.  He took our own sins in His body on the cross and shed His sinless blood to cleanse us by a spirit of judgment and fire of the wrath of God.  He rose again from the dead and ascended to the Father to send the precious Holy Spirit to be a glorious presence residing in His people.  Through the Spirit, they would be kept safe and empowered to be witnesses through any storm.

We are enjoying the initial fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic word.  One day, we who know the Lord will enjoy His glorious presence face to face!  Come Lord Jesus!

In His Love,  Pastor John

Scripture reading for July 17th: Isaiah 1-4

Isaiah is one of the major prophets of the Old Testament and his writing contains a rich treasure of revelation concerning God’s plans to redeem His people and send the Messiah.  He spoke and wrote these words from about 722 BC to 681 BC.  As we begin this book, it would be helpful to take a moment to ask the Lord for His guidance in understanding and applying it to our lives as 21st century followers of Christ.

The first vision of Isaiah recorded in today’s readings concerned Judah and Jerusalem.  “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption!  They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.” (Isaiah 1:4)  People reap what they sow and God does nothing without warning His people by the prophets.  (Amos 3:7)  God sent Isaiah various visions to warn these backslidden people of the coming wrath.  He told them of the desolate land and burned cities that would result.  (Isaiah 1:7-9)  He warned them that only God’s mercy could save them from becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah!

These people attended to the temple and sacrifices, but God was not honored or pleased!  They offered prayers and sacrifices, but did evil in His sight.  They oppressed the widow and orphan and shed innocent blood.  Religion without repentance is hypocrisy and only wearies the Lord.  (Isaiah 1:11-15)  God’s warning was clear and concise!

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:18-20)

God’s people needed to listen and use their heads.  God offered cleansing from these deep stains of sin if they would be humble and willing to change.  If they refused and rebelled, they would be devoured by the sword.  God is offering to reason with people today as well.  Many need to heed His offer of grace through Jesus Christ.  The way is narrow that leads to life and blessing but broad that leads to destruction.  Let those crimson stains be made white as snow!

Scripture reading for August 4th:  Isaiah 63-66?

What are some things that you highly value?  Our culture values material wealth very highly. We love to look at the holdings of the extravagantly rich and imagine what it would be like if we could live in that luxury.  We also value those with talents or abilities that make them famous.  The recent death of the “king of pop”, Michael Jackson, revealed that many people idolized this man.  Nearly two million applied to go to his funeral!  The prices of his albums, music, and other memorabilia went up as people grabbed for them after his death.  News outlets are still talking about him and his legacy and death.  Wealth and fame because of talents and ability have been highly esteemed by our culture.  If we are honest, we have probably been caught up in this in some way or other.

God owns the universe and everything in it has come from His gracious hand. (Isaiah 66:1)  The God who made us and all creation has something that He esteems and values highly.  His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)  “This is the one I esteem:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 65:2b) God values the man or woman or child who is humble and teachable.  He cares deeply for those who value His word.  In fact, He gives His word to them to encourage them that they will be rewarded for their faith and humble spirits!

God promises them that their enemies will be repaid for their mistreatment.  Isaiah 66:5-6 promises that the Lord will repay them!  He will come with fire and destroy those who have opposed God and His people.  (Isaiah 66:15-16)  God promises that those who love Him and Jerusalem will find joy and satisfaction when God delivers Jerusalem and brings in the age of peace!  (Isaiah 66:10-12)  They will enjoy a “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 66:22)  that will endure forever along with the righteous and their descendants!  When God’s people tremble at His word, it brings confidence and assurance.  It enables them to wait on the Lord to bring it to pass and to live quiet and godly lives of faith and trust.  (Isaiah 30:15) (Isaiah 40: 31)  Their strength is renewed and they can finish their race with joy and expectation!

The last words of Isaiah have to do with the final punishment of the wicked.  “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against Me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66:24)  I am so thankful that through faith in Jesus Christ, I am now “highly esteemed” by God!  What a blessing it is that He was broken and contrite and trembled at the Word of God!  He perfectly kept it and offered His life for mine so I can escape this punishment!  What a God we serve!