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Isaiah daily bible notes

Daily Bible thoughts 637: Thursday 12th June 2014:

 Isaiah 11: 10-16

Here are three things about the Messiah who is to come:

  • He will be a ‘magnet’ (10, 12a; see also Rev.22:13, 16): ”In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples…He will raise a banner for the nations…” He will be a rallying point, drawing to Himself people from all over the globe. The Apostle Paul quotes (10) to show that God intended the Gentiles to put their hope in Christ. The Messiah would come into the world not only for Jews (Romans 15:12; see also Acts 4:12). ”For God so loved the world…” (Verse 11 may refer to the remnant of Israel and Judah that would return from captivity. Some scholars believe Isaiah is referring to the Jewish remnant that was dispersed throughout the earth following the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70,and their restoration in and around the time of Christ’s second coming.)
  • He will be a unifier (12 – 14): He will ”gather…the scattered…” (12). The divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah (1 Kings 11:9-13) will one day be brought together under the reign of the Messiah. Where they were at each other’s throats in hostility, they will once again be by each other’s side in battle. There will be a great family reunion. Jesus reconciles people to God and to each other.
  • He will be a liberator (15, 16): In these verses a second and greater exodus is envisaged. This theme will be developed more fully in later chapters, e.g. 35:1-10; 48:20, 21. The captives will return. But the Messiah will release people not just from physical chains but also spiritual bondage.

Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for all that you are, and all you have done, and do, in my life.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 636: Wednesday 11th June 2014:

Isaiah 11:1-9                                                                                                                                                                                        How did Jesus fulfil His ministry in the world? The answer is, He was totally dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18). That reliance on the Spirit’s anointing was prophesied by Isaiah centuries before Jesus came (1-3a). Jesse was David’s father. After the fall of Jerusalem, the house of David did indeed become a ”stump” (1). It was seemingly dead. There was no nation to rule, no throne to sit on and no power to wield. Yet Isaiah could see that this stump was not completely dead, but would one day produce a ”shoot”. If you remember, Isaiah had previously spoken about the ”Branch of the LORD and about the ”stump” that would become a ”holy seed” (Isaiah 4:2; 6:13). In those verses Isaiah was thinking mainly about the remnant of Judah, the faithful Jews who would return to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. But here he sees the emergence from among the Jews, of an individual, the Messiah, in the more distant future. God’s Spirit will ‘‘rest’’ on Him and equip Him for ministry. (The idea of resting might well suggest a sense of ease and comfort about coming on Jesus. There was nothing in the Lord to drive away the sensitive, dove-like Spirit of God. He could feel at home with Him.)

Even as God’s Son, Jesus delighted ”in the fear of the LORD”(3a). He spent His life in ”reverent submission” to God (Hebs.5:7, 8; see also Mark 14:36). The Spirit of God will be glad to inspire such an attitude in you and me. I know that I need everything the Spirit of God brought to Jesus. When the Messiah comes, He will not deal with people superficially. He will rule with justice, protecting the poor and needy and punishing the wicked (3b-5). The anointing of the Spirit will give a man a fiery concern for justice, along with the ability to see beyond the surface of things.  The Messiah is ruling now in one sense, but Isaiah seems to be looking way beyond the current church age to a time when Christ’s Kingdom will be fully established over all the earth (6-9). These verses clearly look to a future Messianic Kingdom in which hostility and killing will come to an end, even among the animals. The great predatory beasts will recognise the rule of mankind over all living creatures (Gen.1:28), so that even a ”little child” will be able to ”lead them” (6). Isaiah seems to see a restoration of the Garden of Eden in which there will be perfect harmony. What a day it will be when The whole earth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive, a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide. The Message.

So, God would fell the mighty trees of Assyria (10:33, 34), but from a ”stump” bring about His eternal purposes in the world. Let’s not despise the day of small things

Prayer: I ask just this, Lord, that I will not look down on things that you are in, just because they appear small at the moment. Little is much when you are in it.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 635: Tuesday 10th June 2014:

Isaiah 10: 24 – 34

There are bully-boy nations. There are mighty men and women in the world, and they can frighten you with their threats, and their ability to make them good. The Assyrians were the world superpower in Isaiah’s day, strutting arrogantly on the stage of world history. They had muscle; they had clout, as well as volume. They kicked up a storm. But mighty as they were, they were going to find themselves in the ring with ”the LORD Almighty” (24, 26 and 33), with an inevitable outcome. No man comes out of a fight with God with a smile on his face. It was true that God was going to use the Assyrians to punish His sinful people. He had made that clear. But the Assyrians would get away with nothing. They too would be judged. Just as God delivered Israel at the rock of Oreb” (Judges 7:25) and at the Red Sea, so He was going to rescue Judah from Assyria. There would be a limit placed on their success (32). They would get close enough to Jerusalem to be able to shake a ”fist” at the city (32), but they would not succeed in conquering it. Really they were raising their fist at the Lord Himself. (All the places Isaiah lists in 28-32 were within 15 kilometres of Jerusalem.) Then they too would be brought down in judgment. Though they could be likened to the mighty cedars of Lebanon, they would feel the divine axe cutting the ground from under them (33, 34; see 2 Kings 19:32-36).

Can you hear ”the LORD Almighty’’ speaking to you today and saying ”do not be afraid of…” (24)? Whoever and whatever it is may look and feel scary. But seeing your ‘Goliath’ in the light of God will bring the perspective you need. There isn’t anyone so big and mighty that God can’t fell him/her/it! If you came to today’s reading feeling discouraged, then you can take encouragement from it.  ”The destruction of Sennacherib is anticipated as resembling the overthrow of Midian by Gideon, and of Egypt in the Red Sea. Then the burden and yoke would be destroyed, so far as Jerusalem was concerned, in answer to the anointed priests who had pleaded for her deliverance. But how much more will the prayer of our anointed Savior bring help to us! ”F.B. Meyer: Devotional Commentary, p.298.

‘’Isaiah – and indeed the whole Old Testament – is showing us that God is the Sovereign King over every nation. Evil nations and their evil leaders, though they prosper for a time, will eventually be destroyed. These words of Isaiah apply just as much to nations today as they did to the nations of Isaiah’s day. Furthermore, those who claim to be God’s people, but who turn from Him will also be judged. Isaiah’s words of judgment against Judah in these opening chapters are also words of warning to the church today. Have we also, like Judah of old, ceased to serve God with all our heart and soul? Have we also begun to love the world and to worship its idols? (1 John 2:15-17; 5:21). This book of Isaiah, together with the entire Bible, is as vital today as when it was written.’’ Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1009.

Prayer: Thank you for your truth contained in every part of the Bible. Thank you for what I have seen today. These are ‘’the very words of God ‘’ (Romans 3:2).

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 634: Monday 9th June 2014:

 Isaiah 10:20-23

I remember meeting one of our lecturers just before he was about to preach at a Wednesday night meeting at our College. I asked him how he was feeling. I’ll never forget his reply: ”Leaning hard brother!” The responsibility obviously weighed on him. But he also knew where to lean his weight.  Verses 20, 21 look forward to the day of Israel’s/Judah’s deliverance from Assyria and Babylon when a ”remnant will return” to the land. (The symbolic name of Isaiah’s first son, ‘Shear-Jashub’ means exactly that: 7:3) These survivors will no longer rely on foreign alliances, such as the one Ahaz made with the king of Assyria. He was the very one who ”struck them down” (20). Instead they ”will truly rely on the LORD”. ”They’ll lean on GOD” The Message. They will be ”leaning hard”. God does not want us to put our trust in idols, and He will do what is necessary to get His people to the place where they rely on Him alone. There is no true help for us apart from Him. We will simply be hurt by our idols.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the ”sand on the seashore” (Gn.22:17). Here, at first glance, God seems to be cancelling his promise to Abraham (22, 23). But, in fact, the saving of a ”remnant” was to be the very means of fulfilling that promise. The preservation of a remnant would ensure the survival of the Jewish people, and from that remnant there would eventually come Jesus Christ, whose followers – Jew and Gentile alike – would indeed become as numerous as God said to Abraham (Romans 9:27,28).

God always keeps His promises. We may go through years when the fulfilment looks unlikely, but the Lord knows what He is doing. He is working out His plans, as we will see. For now, ‘believing is seeing’. Let’s ‘lean hard brother/sister’. He can take our weight.

Prayer: Lord God, I thank you that you are trustworthy; that you will never give way under the ‘strain’ of my life.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 629: Monday 2nd June 2014:

 Isaiah 10:5-19

God was going to use the Assyrian superpower (5-11) to punish a ‘‘godless nation” (Judah). Judah was ”full of idols” (2:8; see 11). ”God is going to send the Assyrians to loot and plunder Judah and to trample its people down like mud in the streets! The people of Judah had become like salt that has lost its saltiness and is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Matthew 5:13).” Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1008. The Assyrians, for their part, were proud and arrogant and did not see themselves as the instruments of God; they did not view themselves as ‘His'(5). They were out to get power and glory for themselves. They planned to conquer as many nations as they could (7) and boasted of their great success (8-10). ”But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He’s out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can.” The Message. (7)

So, once Assyria had been used to punish Judah, Assyria itself would be punished (12). God was going to deal with them for the pride that said: ”I’ve done all this by myself. I know more than anyone. I’ve wiped out the boundaries of whole countries. I’ve walked in and taken anything I wanted. I charged in like a bull and toppled their kings from their thrones. I reached out my hand and took all that they treasured as easily as a boy taking a bird’s eggs from a nest. Like a farmer gathering eggs from the henhouse, I gathered the world in my basket, And no one so much as fluttered a wing or squawked or even chirped.” The Message. (13, 14).

Verse 15 is surely the key question in this section. It is folly for a tool to suppose it is greater than the one using it. In fact that would never happen. It’s like a pot thinking it is greater than the potter (Ro.9:20, 21). ”This thought underlays the apostle’s reply to those who magnified him against Apollos or Cephas. What are we, he cries, but ministers through whom ye believed, even as God granted to each of us? We are only instruments of God’s husbandry, implements through which He fulfils his plans (1 Cor.3). It dates an era in the life, when we cease to work for God, and allow God to work through us. Thoughts like these correct alike pride and despondency. Pride, because whatever is the result of our work, we can no more take the credit of it than the pen that wrote the ”Paradise Lost” could take to itself the credit of its production. At the best, it is not you, but the grace of God that was with you. You are only a pipe in the organ, but the breath that educed your music was divine. And in despondency it is very helpful to remember that if we are nothing, God is all-sufficient; if we have failed, it is the more needful for Him to exert more power. Throw back the responsibility of all results on God. Only see to it that you are a polished shaft, an unblunted saw, and leave Him to do through you what He will.” F.B.Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.272. If God uses you it doesn’t do to boast.

In (16-19) Isaiah describes the punishment to come to Assyria. A ”wasting disease” will kill his troops (16). This happened. They died of a plague during the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. King Sennacherib of Assyria later died by the hand of his own sons        (2 Kings 19:20, 32-37). In Isaiah’s day flaming torches were used for both light and heat. God is a ‘light’ of salvation’ to those who trust Him, but He is a ‘fire’ of judgment to those who don’t. This is similar to Isaiah’s earlier teaching about God being a rock of protection to some but a stone of stumbling to others (8:13-15). The Assyrian empire was to fall ”in a single day’’ (17). It’s thought likely that Isaiah is referring to the fall of the capital city, Nineveh, in 612 B.C., about a hundred years after Isaiah wrote these words.

Prayer: ‘’I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom.’’

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 628: Friday 30th May 2014:

Isaiah 10: 1-4

How we treat others is a matter of great importance to God, and it will be taken into account in the judgment!                                  This is the final part of the message to Israel that we began to listen to yesterday. It begins at 9:8 and concludes at 10:4. It is a stinging message; direct and hard on the ear. This last section deals with some of the evil practices of the people. It is important to remember that God hates injustice. He is burning with anger over the oppression of the poor and helpless by the rich and powerful, and, we need to ensure that we are never complicit with such conduct. God states clearly that a ”day of reckoning” is coming upon these unjust people (3), and they will either become ”captives” or ”fall among the slain” (4). Even then, God will not be finished with them (4b). Perhaps that is indicating that beyond any preliminary, and terrible, judgment that may be visited upon them in this world, there is still the final judgment to come.

”Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims – Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, Exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you? What good will your money do you? A sorry sight you’ll be then, huddled with the prisoners, or just some corpses stacked in the street.” The Message.

”What will you do on the day of reckoning…To whom will you run for help?” (3; see Job 31:14). These are big and important questions. Only those who are trusting in Christ for salvation can give the right answer. Every other supposed refuge will prove illusory on that day. There are many people who hope to shelter under ‘rocks’ that are like the sort you find on a stage set.           They might look good from a distance, but the truth is they are flimsy and not the real thing.

”Where will you leave your riches? (3b). One thing is for sure, you will leave them. Two ladies were talking about a wealthy man who had died. ‘How much did he leave?’ asked one. ‘Everything!’ replied the other. Everyone does. There are ‘no pockets in a shroud.’ Remember the story told by Jesus about the rich fool (Lk.12:13-21) and his words about the shrewd manager: ”I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Lk.16:9). What good is our wealth if we are not ready to meet God? What use is it if we do not steward it as He dictates?

Prayer: Lord, everyone I will meet today bears your image. Help me to see you in them and treat them as I should.

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 627: Thursday 29th May 2014:

Isaiah 9:8-21

”Those who were supposed to lead this people led them down blind alleys, And those who followed the leaders ended up lost and confused.” The Message. The leaders of Israel led the people astray. They led them in pride and arrogance and dismissing God’s Word (8-12). Leaders always carry the greater responsibility (James 3:1), but the people who follow are also held responsible (17). They were a guilty lot. In (8-12) Isaiah begins a new prophecy. It is specifically directed against ”Jacob” (the northern kingdom of Israel) and its capital city, ”Samaria”. From the outset the northern kingdom had always been more godless and wicked than Judah. Now God’s judgment was ready to fall on Israel. Yet God’s Hand was ”still upraised” . In other words, His full judgment was yet to come. Recently I was loaned a powerful dvd in which a Messianic Jew, a preacher in America, was showing how major U.S. leaders quoted Isaiah 9:10 publicly after recent traumatic events, without realising that they were expressing words from a passage about judgment. (A similar message of proud defiance is engraved on one of the topmost stones of the new Number 1 World Trade Centre, by the way). These prophetic words are not ones you would want to quote if you really understood the context, for they invited, and in fact led to, more judgment. ”The Master sent a message against Jacob. It landed right on Israel’s doorstep…they were a proud and arrogant bunch. They dismissed the message, saying, ”Things aren’t that bad. We can handle anything that comes. If our buildings are knocked down , we’ll rebuild them bigger and finer. If our forests are cut down, we’ll replant them with finer trees.” So GOD incited their adversaries against them…The Message.

Clearly God wanted the people to respond to His chastisement (13-17), and return to Him. But that did not happen (13) and, as we have seen, the leadership of the land did not lead the way in what was required (16). So the punishment was going to intensify, and God was going to deal with the bad leaders.

”Surely wickedness burns like a fire” (18 -21). Unchecked wickedness spreads rapidly throughout a nation. There is a clear warning here for the U.K., and for every nation under heaven. The message through Isaiah goes on to say that the spreading fire of human wickedness will soon be followed by the fire of God’s judgment (19). Part of God’s judgment on Israel will come in the form of civil war, in which brother will eat brother. ”Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh” (21) and they together ”will turn against Judah” (20, 21). But still God’s anger will burn against them because of their refusal to repent. (Manasseh and Ephraim were sons of Joseph and founders of the two most prominent tribes in the northern kingdom).

”Their wicked lives raged like an out-of-control fire, the kind that burns everything in its path…’ The Message.

Prayer: Lord, so fill me with Holy Spirit fire that I light up everyone and everything in my path for good, and your greater glory.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 626: Wednesday 28th May 2014:

 Isaiah 9:1-7

Yesterday we considered the darkness that people get into by rejecting God’s Word, and true preaching such as Isaiah’s, and when they start dabbling in false religion; particularly when they splash around in the muddy waters of the occult. There was great darkness in Isaiah’s day, brought on through sin, the rejection of God’s revelation and turning to false gods. This would ultimately lead to the darkness of invasion and captivity. But when we step into to chapter 9 there is a huge contrast. Bright light floods the stage. In the darkest days of Israel’s history, the prophet Isaiah received this vision of light and hope, and it concerns the coming of Jesus.

God will save His faithful people in the end (1). A day will come in the future when He will once more give His people ”light”. In (1) Isaiah mentions the humbling of ”Zebulun” and ”Naphtali”, Israel’s two northernmost tribes. These were the first areas to be invaded by Assyria; they would also be the first to witness the ”light” of salvation in Christ. Jesus was to commence His ministry in northern Israel, in Capernaum, a Roman (Gentile) town on the Sea of Galilee. In this way God would ”honor Galilee of the Gentiles” (see Mt.4:12-15).  Compare 9:2 with 8:20. The ”light” was Christ, who is the ”light of the world” (John 8:12). He is a ”light for the Gentiles” (Is.42:6; 49:6). It’s interesting to look at the tense Isaiah uses. He says the people in darkness ”have seen a great light”. Bible writers often spoke of future events in the past tense. They did so to indicate their complete certainty that their words would come true. If God says it, it’s as good as done already. Isaiah did not know when the Messiah would come, but he was sure that he would. Likewise we do not know when Jesus will come a second time (Mark 13:32, 33) but we know that He will. His Word says so repeatedly.

The enlarging of the nation (3) may well refer to the return from exile or the growth of Christ’s worldwide church. Perhaps both. There is going to be an ”increase of his government” (7). In (4, 5) Isaiah compares this future deliverance to Israel’s amazing victory over Midian, when God enabled three hundred Israelites to defeat a large and powerful army (Judges 7). But the means of this great future deliverance would not be a small army of 300; it would be a ”child”, a ”son” (6): a royal descendant of David (Matt.1:1), who would ”reign on David’s throne” (7). The coming of this Son would fulfil the promise God made to David that his throne would be ”established forever.” (2 Sam.7:16). Isaiah cannot have in mind merely a future great king of Judah. The person described here is God Himself (6). ‘’He’ll take over the running of the world.’’ The Message. He is the key to the growth of the church (3), the increase of joy (3b) and the releasing of ”their shoulders” (4). He is the One who has ”the government” on His (6). And He is God’s gift ”to us” (6).

”…he who has extended the dominion of Jesus to the furthest limits of his being, will know most of the peace that passeth understanding.” F.B.Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.272.

Prayer: Lord I ask for deliverance for your oppressed people who are under any yoke other than that of Christ. And in my life may I know the increase of your government and enjoy all the peace that goes with that.

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 625: Tuesday 27th May 2014:

Isaiah 8:18-22

Don’t go to the religious rubbish dump to pick up your religion! Listen to God: Seek Him always and seek Him only. We should look to the living God for our answers (19). He is well able to speak to us (18). The people of Isaiah’s day did not need to turn to other religious practices to get their guidance. God had clearly spoken. However, they did not like what they heard. That is regularly the case. The demonic powers will often oblige you with more palatable messages in the short term. They will use the ‘sprat’ to catch the ‘mackerel’. But in the long run they intend to destroy (21, 22). They do not deliver what they appear to promise. They draw you close to them so that they can put a knife in your ribs.  (Note: the writer to the Hebrews applied verse 18 to Christ and His ”children,” His followers. They were a ‘sign’ to the New Testament Jews that the Lord was once again dwelling with His people.)

Stick fast to His Word (20; Ps.119:105): Here is the right way to test preaching; to measure the religious ideas and messages of others. ”When people tell you, ”Try out the fortunetellers. Consult the spiritualists. Why not tap into the spirit-world, get in touch with the dead?” Tell them, ”No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.” People who try the other ways get nowhere-a dead end!” The Message. People who do not ”speak according to this word” have no light to share with those who are in darkness.

Recognise the futility of false religion (21, 22): It will leave you ”Distressed and hungry” and angry and in ‘utter darkness”. In rejecting the truth of the Bible, it is fascinating and shocking to see what some people will turn to and believe. People are incurably religious. They have a ‘God-shaped hole’ in their hearts and must fill it with something. They do try to stuff it full of some pretty ludicrous things. But behind all false religion there are deceiving spirits, and in some forms of religious expression people are actually seeking to make contact with the spirit world. This is dangerous and expressly forbidden in the Bible (Lev.19:31; Deut.18:9-12)

”Frustrated and famished, they try one thing after another. When nothing works out they get angry, cursing first this god and then that one, Looking this way and that, up, down, and sideways – and seeing nothing. A blank wall, an empty hole. They end up in the dark with nothing.” The Message.  Empty religion has ultimately nothing to offer to empty people. It just leaves them feeling even more empty, and hungry!

In reading (21) I am reminded of a couple I met whilst doing ‘door-to-door’ work with my church in Wigan. We were attempting to meet people where they were and engage them in conversation about Jesus. One night a husband and wife came to a particular door. They were both spiritists. While she was gentle and kind, he was livid. He was so angry. In fact I would say he was ”enraged” (21). But they were willing to talk and we spoke to them more than once. What that man got from his religion was not attractive. Although his wife wore more of the form of an ‘angel of light’, tragically they were both lost in the darkness. I trust something we said may have encouraged them into the light, but I have no way of knowing.

In these days there is a renewed interest in occult activity, especially among the young. Here is a solemn warning to steer clear of such deep, dark, demon-infested waters where people will surely be gobbled up and savaged or drown!

Prayer: Lord, in this dark world, and in these dangerous waters, I choose your Word as my constant navigation aid. Let me never stray from the sound of your voice.

 

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