July 15, 2012 … Father God: “Don’t mess with My kids!”

Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 197 

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapters 13-17 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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 Highlight Passage: Isaiah 13: 1; 19-20 : [NIV] … 1 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: … 19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.  
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 14: 1; 5-6 : [NIV] … 1 The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob. 5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked [i.e., reference to Babylon, symbolic of any nation who oppresses God’s people], the scepter of the rulers, 6 which in anger struck down peoples [i.e., God’s chosen peoples] with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.  
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Highlight Passage #3: Isaiah 15: 1 : [NIV] … 1 A prophecy against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night!
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Highlight Passage #4: Isaiah 16: 12-14 : [NIV] … 12 When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail. 13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: "Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab's splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble."
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Highlight Passage #5: Isaiah 17: 1: 7-9; 12-14 : [NIV] … 1 A prophecy against Damascus: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. 7 In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles the incense altars their fingers have made. 9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation. 12 Woe to the many nations that rage — they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar — they roar like the roaring of great waters! 13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. 14 In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us. 

My Journal for Today: It’s quite obvious that those who’ve been oppressors of the Jews over the centuries, including those enemies of the Israelites living in the times of Isaiah, either were ignorant of Isaiah’s prophesies or they simply didn’t believe this Prophet of God was actually bringing a true word of judgment against anyone who would come against God’s chosen and covenant peoples.

But any reader who studies these five chapters of Isaiah’s OT book, with any degree of historical understanding, would have to come away with the message which is the title of my journal entry for today, … that being God’s message – “Don’t mess with MY kids!”

 Isaiah, in today’s reading chapters, predicts that three peoples who came against the Israelites, i.e., the descendants of Jacob, would ultimately be destroyed. And even in the time of Isaiah’s ministry, those hearing his words should have been impressed by the accuracy of his predictions about the Moabites, about which Isaiah predicted that they would be eradicated within three years of his prophesies for their oppression against Israel. And as we read in Isaiah, Chapters 15-16 and know from history, that’s exactly what happened to those Arab tribes who were descendants of Esau.

Now, granted, in the times in which Isaiah was writing, God’s peoples weren’t able to see the outcomes of Isaiah’s prophesies about the Arameans and the Babylonians, which Isaiah prophesied would be totally wiped out. In those days, God’s people were being consumed and enslaved by these oppressive Assyrian peoples. But we now know – from the 20/20 vision of history, that the Arameans, first, and then the Babylonians, later, were decimated by other nations. And, at one point in history, after Babylon conquered Judah, though the Babylonians seemed – at the time – to rule in worldly glory, we now – again from the 20/20 of history – can see that this area of the middle-eastern geography is uninhabitable – JUST AS ISAIAH PROPHESIED.

And yet, down through history, so many people who have been able to read these prophesies either ignored them or simply mocked God’s word by oppressing God’s people, much as we saw in even more modern times with Hitler who tried to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. And even today, radical Islamists are doing all they can to drive Israel out of their lands or to eliminate as many Jews as they can, as well as any people who support Israel.

But God’s word is still clear; and again, I harken to my title for today by saying that anyone, who does not read and believe Isaiah’s prophesies about Israel, as God’s chosen people, as well as any Gentiles who are grafted into God’s Old or New Covenants with God’s children, is figuratively spitting in the face of God. And that is not a good thing to do!

My Prayer Today: … Lord, You are taking care of Your children. Amen