Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 203
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 28-30 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 28: 1-3; 11-12; 16-18 : [NIV] … 1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley — to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! 2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground. 3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. …
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose" — but they would not listen. …
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. 17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 29: 13-15; 17-20 : [NIV] … 13 The Lord says: "These people [i.e., Judah] come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish." 15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" …
17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest? 18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. 19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down— …
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 30: 1-3; 10-11; 15 : [NIV] … 1 "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; 2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge. 3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace. …
10 They [i.e., many in Judah] say to the seers [to Isaiah and other prophets of God], "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!" …
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
My Journal for Today: After reading of Hosea’s prophesies to the northern kingdom of Israelites the last few days, we return to the plaintive pleas of Isaiah to the southern kingdom in Judah, where God – through His prophet, Isaiah, is trying to get the more obedient children of Israel to realize that they are going astray.
Hezekiah, as we’ve seen in earlier studies of the kings of Israel, had been a pretty good leader in Jerusalem, doing a lot of good things for God. But he let his pride grab him; and he was fearful of what the king of Assyria could do to the Israelites; and he set out to forge an alliance with Egypt. … NOT GOOD!!! … And Isaiah cried out against this move, where Judah was not waiting on God for His promised protection of His children. Rather, … Hezekiah just didn’t want to hear how Isaiah and other prophets were warning Judah. You can read this in the highlight verses above I’ve selected from these three chapters of Isaiah’s writings. And in the last verses – in bold and underlined – one application for all believers is evident. And I call this the phenomena of looking into God’s mirror of truth, which is my title for today’s journal entry.
Hey, ... very few people like to be naked and stand in front of a mirror. By doing so, we see all the flaws on the outside; and most of the time we don’t like what we see. And when we do work up enough muster to look into the mirror, I generally see three reactions taking place.
First, there are the DEFIANT, … the ones who look into the mirror and see the truth and get angry, ... maybe even so angry that they try to destroy the mirror. Those could have been a lot of the Judeans who rebelled in anger as we read in Isaiah 30: 10-11 copied above. These people, not wanting to hear anymore of God’s truth from Isaiah and other prophets, just wanted to strike out in defiant anger when they were shown the mirror of God’s truth.
But, then there are the DEFENSIVE, probably like King Hezekiah, who became self-absorbed when seeing (or hearing) from God’s truth. These may read of truth in God’s word or hear of it from a pulpit sermon or maybe even get it from a discerning friend; and rather than looking deeper or listening more for God’s direction, they turn toward selfish or prideful directions and walk away from the mirror. These are people who, after looking into God’s mirror of truth, may, like Hezekiah, turn to their own way or maybe they just quit getting into God’s word or back away from the fellowship of believers (i.e., the church) for a time. They just get personally defensive when they are shown God’s mirror of truth.
Finally, there are the DETERMINED believers, who, when shown their own clear image in the mirror of God’s truth, are determined to change. Maybe these believers saw themselves clearly from a prophetic message or from studying God’s word deeply or in being confronted by a dear, fellow believer who really wants to help (as in Phil. 2: 3-4 or Gal. 6: 1). No matter how they see the mirror of truth, they clearly see who they are or who they not; and these believers become determined to be reshaped into a more God-like image
The followers of God in Judah in Isaiah’s time were believers; and they even had leaders, like Hezekiah, who wanted to follow God. However, when they were confronted with God’s mirror of truth, many, including Hezekiah, took the very human and natural route of becoming DEFIANT or DEFENSIVE, rather than being DETERMINED to see and hear God’s truth and to wait on God to give them the direction and protection He had promised them.
Oh, how we, SO OFTEN, react by letting our human defaults get in the way and distort what we see when we look into God’s mirror of truth. What about you (or me)? Are we looking into God’s mirror of truth – from His word - daily to see our selves clearly in God’s light; and if so, are we willing to be DETERMINED believers who just really desire to use God’s mirror to let us see and become a more Christlike image?
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I see me in the mirror; and I do so want to become more like You. Amen
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
July 20, 2012 … Choices !!!
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 202
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Hosea, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Hosea 8: 1-4; 13-14 :[NIV] … 1 "Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2 Israel cries out to me, 'Our God, we acknowledge you!' 3 But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. … 13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat, the Lord is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt [figuratively into captivity - this time by the Assyrians]. 14 Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses."
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Highlight Passage #2: Hosea 9: 7; 15-17 :[NIV] … 7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, … the inspired person a maniac. … 15 "Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring." 17 My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.
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Highlight Passage #3: Hosea 10: 1: 12-14 :[NIV] … 1 Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. … 12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. 13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors,14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated …
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Highlight Passage #4: Hosea 11: 1-4 :[NIV] … 1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.
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Highlight Passage #5: Hosea 12: 6: 9; 13-14 :[NIV] … 6 But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. … 9 "I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals…. 13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him. 14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.
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Highlight Passage #6: Hosea 13: 1-3 :[NIV] … 1 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. 2 Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!" 3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.
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Highlight Passage #7: Hosea 14: 1; 9 :[NIV] … 1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! 2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.” … 9 Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
My Journal for Today: Today, we finished out the prophesies of Hosea in chapters 8-14; and I know that the length of such a reading assignment can be daunting; but I hope you’ll at least read through the passages I’ve highlighted above and take in these final comments I’ll make as I went through these chapters today in Hosea.
Hosea, as one of God’s prophets, really had a tough gig. He was called on to paint comparative canvases of truth before the rebellious children of Jacob (renamed to be “Israel”); and at this time in their history, the 12 tribes had separated into two geographically separated and spiritually divided cultural groups. One of them was the northern tribes, referred to in scripture often as “Israel” or “Ephraim,” depending on your Bible translation. These northern Jews had been terribly and almost irrevocably infested by paganism, idolatry, and selfish greed, carrying out all kinds of ungodly living/worship practices. Judah, on the other hand, located where God’s temple was in Jerusalem, further south, had, to some degree, maintained some of the disciplines and practices of the faith they had gotten from Moses, the Priesthood, and the Prophets, the teachers and spiritual shepherds whom God had provided to remind Judah of what was written for them in God’s Book of the Law by Moses. But even Judah began to choose to move toward selfish and sinful practices, forgetting what God had led them to understand was His will and His ways and CHOOSING to disobey Yahweh.
“Choices,” which is the title of my journal entry today, is really the subtext of the last six chapters in Hosea; and in these writings, the Prophet pours out God’s documentation of the waywardness and sinfulness of His chosen people, whom the Lord had delivered from Egypt decades earlier than Hosea was living. But in these chapters, as you can read above, we also see God, in his ever-loving mercy, continually returning to the plea for any of those recalcitrant Jews to repent and turn back to the ways of God, written in the Book of the Law and preached by the Prophets.
Even though God was about to discipline the nation of Israel (both northern and southern kingdoms) for their collective rebellion and sinful worship of idols and lascivious lifestyles, as a culture, Yahweh always provided a choice which involved repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. And back and forth, you see that balance in reading through these last chapters in Hosea. Finally, as we close out the Prophet’s book, in Chapter 14, this choice becomes blatantly apparent; … as God’s children we can CHOOSE to live by God’s ways, seeking and following His will, clearly spelled out in His word; … OR … we can turn away from our Savior and seek the selfish ways which will be clearly laid out for us by Satan and his minions in the world.
Israel, as a nation in Hosea’s time, chose the latter; and we see what happened to them. America, as a nation, is following suit; and can you be prophet to predict, based upon God’s word, what might happen to us in our country’s future – if we, as a nation continue on this path? Duh!
But you and I don’t have to follow the sinful ways of idolatry, selfish greed, and injustice which Hosea and other prophets of God preached about, do we? We can CHOOSE to follow God and to live out what Jesus commanded His disciples to do (that verse I’ve probably quoted more often than any other in my journaling), as our Lord said, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
If you’ve read with me today, our CHOICE is clear … self or Savior!
My Prayer Today: … I choose Your way, Lord! Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Hosea, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Hosea 8: 1-4; 13-14 :[NIV] … 1 "Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2 Israel cries out to me, 'Our God, we acknowledge you!' 3 But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. … 13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to me, and though they eat the meat, the Lord is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt [figuratively into captivity - this time by the Assyrians]. 14 Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses."
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Highlight Passage #2: Hosea 9: 7; 15-17 :[NIV] … 7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, … the inspired person a maniac. … 15 "Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring." 17 My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanderers among the nations.
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Highlight Passage #3: Hosea 10: 1: 12-14 :[NIV] … 1 Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones. … 12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. 13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors,14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated …
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Highlight Passage #4: Hosea 11: 1-4 :[NIV] … 1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.
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Highlight Passage #5: Hosea 12: 6: 9; 13-14 :[NIV] … 6 But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. … 9 "I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals…. 13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him. 14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.
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Highlight Passage #6: Hosea 13: 1-3 :[NIV] … 1 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. 2 Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!" 3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.
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Highlight Passage #7: Hosea 14: 1; 9 :[NIV] … 1 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! 2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.” … 9 Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
My Journal for Today: Today, we finished out the prophesies of Hosea in chapters 8-14; and I know that the length of such a reading assignment can be daunting; but I hope you’ll at least read through the passages I’ve highlighted above and take in these final comments I’ll make as I went through these chapters today in Hosea.
Hosea, as one of God’s prophets, really had a tough gig. He was called on to paint comparative canvases of truth before the rebellious children of Jacob (renamed to be “Israel”); and at this time in their history, the 12 tribes had separated into two geographically separated and spiritually divided cultural groups. One of them was the northern tribes, referred to in scripture often as “Israel” or “Ephraim,” depending on your Bible translation. These northern Jews had been terribly and almost irrevocably infested by paganism, idolatry, and selfish greed, carrying out all kinds of ungodly living/worship practices. Judah, on the other hand, located where God’s temple was in Jerusalem, further south, had, to some degree, maintained some of the disciplines and practices of the faith they had gotten from Moses, the Priesthood, and the Prophets, the teachers and spiritual shepherds whom God had provided to remind Judah of what was written for them in God’s Book of the Law by Moses. But even Judah began to choose to move toward selfish and sinful practices, forgetting what God had led them to understand was His will and His ways and CHOOSING to disobey Yahweh.
“Choices,” which is the title of my journal entry today, is really the subtext of the last six chapters in Hosea; and in these writings, the Prophet pours out God’s documentation of the waywardness and sinfulness of His chosen people, whom the Lord had delivered from Egypt decades earlier than Hosea was living. But in these chapters, as you can read above, we also see God, in his ever-loving mercy, continually returning to the plea for any of those recalcitrant Jews to repent and turn back to the ways of God, written in the Book of the Law and preached by the Prophets.
Even though God was about to discipline the nation of Israel (both northern and southern kingdoms) for their collective rebellion and sinful worship of idols and lascivious lifestyles, as a culture, Yahweh always provided a choice which involved repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. And back and forth, you see that balance in reading through these last chapters in Hosea. Finally, as we close out the Prophet’s book, in Chapter 14, this choice becomes blatantly apparent; … as God’s children we can CHOOSE to live by God’s ways, seeking and following His will, clearly spelled out in His word; … OR … we can turn away from our Savior and seek the selfish ways which will be clearly laid out for us by Satan and his minions in the world.
Israel, as a nation in Hosea’s time, chose the latter; and we see what happened to them. America, as a nation, is following suit; and can you be prophet to predict, based upon God’s word, what might happen to us in our country’s future – if we, as a nation continue on this path? Duh!
But you and I don’t have to follow the sinful ways of idolatry, selfish greed, and injustice which Hosea and other prophets of God preached about, do we? We can CHOOSE to follow God and to live out what Jesus commanded His disciples to do (that verse I’ve probably quoted more often than any other in my journaling), as our Lord said, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
If you’ve read with me today, our CHOICE is clear … self or Savior!
My Prayer Today: … I choose Your way, Lord! Amen
Thursday, July 19, 2012
July 19, 2012 … Our faithful, forgiving God
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 201
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Hosea, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Hosea 1: 1-3 :[NIV] … 1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoasht king of Israel: … 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord."3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
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Highlight Passage #2: Hosea 3: 1-5 :[NIV] … 1 The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you." 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
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Highlight Passage #3: Hosea 4: 1 :[NIV] … 1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. … 15 "Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. "Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives!'
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Highlight Passage #4: Hosea 5: 1; 4 :[NIV] … 1 "Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites. Listen, royal house! This judgment is against you: You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. … 4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. … “
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Highlight Passage #5: Hosea 6: 4-6 :[NIV] … 4 "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. 5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets. I killed you with the words of my mouth — then my judgments go forth like the sun. 6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
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Highlight Passage #6: Hosea 7: 1-2 :[NIV] … 1 Whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim [i.e., Israel] are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets; 2 but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me. … 8 "Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over. 9 Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice. 10 Israel's arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the Lord his God or search for him.
My Journal for Today: The first seven chapters of one of the most intriguing books in the OT, Hosea, provides the meat for my large meal of truth this morning. Wow! To think that Hosea, as a prophet of God, was chosen to be a living allegory for the people to whom he was asked to prophesy must’ve been very daunting for poor Hosea. Here he was asked by God to be a living picture of the Lord to His people; and the prostitute, Gomer, whom he married, become the living picture of Israel (and to some degree, Judah as well). Then, after chapter 3 in the book Hosea, God’s word from Hosea doesn’t focus on his own allegorical marriage anymore. He gets right to the message he has been charged by God to bring to God’s people, and especially to their leaders.
There’s a lot one could comment/journal about with regard to the Hosea – Gomer relationship, especially how it pictures God’s covenant loyalty to His chosen Bride. What an incredible picture was Hosea, by his own life and marriage, of God to God’s people of Hosea’s day and to us, as God’s chosen bride, the church, today. But this morning in this journal entry I want to focus on the verses I’ve highlighted above from Chapter 7.
In these verses, especially verses 1-2 of Chapter 7 [in bold above], we see that God is declaring that we, His people, who become recalcitrant and rebellious to His ways, need to remember that He is always watching; and He ALWAYS cares; and then the toughest of truths, … He will not abide our sinfulness. Yet, as the whole book of Hosea declares, though our Lord may chastise us in disobedience, as He did with Israel/Judah, our God will never forsake His promises and He will always remain faith, … always coming after His children to bring those who remain with Him, in faith, back into a loving relationship with Him.
How are we living and loving our Lord? Are we treating Him like the loving Bridegroom He is or are we being a prostitute, as was Gomer to Hosea? Are we, as it says in Revelation 19, His loving and betrothed bride, preparing our linens for the return of our faithful Groom, Who will one day come to sweep up His Bride and take her to the wedding feast of the Lamb?
I’ll leave you to contemplate and meditate on those questions; because they are at the heart of the message Hosea was bringing to His people in his time and to us in our troubled times today.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, forgive me if I’m in anyway unwilling to love You and patiently wait for You, preparing my linens for Your return. I do so want to be ready when You come for me. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Hosea, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Hosea 1: 1-3 :[NIV] … 1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoasht king of Israel: … 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord."3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
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Highlight Passage #2: Hosea 3: 1-5 :[NIV] … 1 The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you." 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
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Highlight Passage #3: Hosea 4: 1 :[NIV] … 1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. … 15 "Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. "Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, 'As surely as the Lord lives!'
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Highlight Passage #4: Hosea 5: 1; 4 :[NIV] … 1 "Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites. Listen, royal house! This judgment is against you: You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. … 4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. … “
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Highlight Passage #5: Hosea 6: 4-6 :[NIV] … 4 "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. 5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets. I killed you with the words of my mouth — then my judgments go forth like the sun. 6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
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Highlight Passage #6: Hosea 7: 1-2 :[NIV] … 1 Whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim [i.e., Israel] are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets; 2 but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me. … 8 "Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over. 9 Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it. His hair is sprinkled with gray, but he does not notice. 10 Israel's arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the Lord his God or search for him.
My Journal for Today: The first seven chapters of one of the most intriguing books in the OT, Hosea, provides the meat for my large meal of truth this morning. Wow! To think that Hosea, as a prophet of God, was chosen to be a living allegory for the people to whom he was asked to prophesy must’ve been very daunting for poor Hosea. Here he was asked by God to be a living picture of the Lord to His people; and the prostitute, Gomer, whom he married, become the living picture of Israel (and to some degree, Judah as well). Then, after chapter 3 in the book Hosea, God’s word from Hosea doesn’t focus on his own allegorical marriage anymore. He gets right to the message he has been charged by God to bring to God’s people, and especially to their leaders.
There’s a lot one could comment/journal about with regard to the Hosea – Gomer relationship, especially how it pictures God’s covenant loyalty to His chosen Bride. What an incredible picture was Hosea, by his own life and marriage, of God to God’s people of Hosea’s day and to us, as God’s chosen bride, the church, today. But this morning in this journal entry I want to focus on the verses I’ve highlighted above from Chapter 7.
In these verses, especially verses 1-2 of Chapter 7 [in bold above], we see that God is declaring that we, His people, who become recalcitrant and rebellious to His ways, need to remember that He is always watching; and He ALWAYS cares; and then the toughest of truths, … He will not abide our sinfulness. Yet, as the whole book of Hosea declares, though our Lord may chastise us in disobedience, as He did with Israel/Judah, our God will never forsake His promises and He will always remain faith, … always coming after His children to bring those who remain with Him, in faith, back into a loving relationship with Him.
How are we living and loving our Lord? Are we treating Him like the loving Bridegroom He is or are we being a prostitute, as was Gomer to Hosea? Are we, as it says in Revelation 19, His loving and betrothed bride, preparing our linens for the return of our faithful Groom, Who will one day come to sweep up His Bride and take her to the wedding feast of the Lamb?
I’ll leave you to contemplate and meditate on those questions; because they are at the heart of the message Hosea was bringing to His people in his time and to us in our troubled times today.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, forgive me if I’m in anyway unwilling to love You and patiently wait for You, preparing my linens for Your return. I do so want to be ready when You come for me. Amen
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
July 18, 2012 … Humble Worship Restored
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 200
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings 18 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles, Chapters 29-31 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 48 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Kings 18: 1; 5-7; 13 :[NIV] … 1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. … 5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
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Highlight Passage #2: 2nd Chronicles 29: 3-5; 11; 20-21; 29-31 :[NIV] … 3 In the first month of the first year of his [Hezekiah’s] reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them.4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side5 and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. … [Hezekiah to the Levites] 11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense." … 20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the Lord.21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the Lord…. 29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped.30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, "You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord." So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
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Highlight Passage #3: 2nd Chronicles 30: 1; 10-12; 15; 25 :[NIV] … 1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. 10 The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them.11 Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.12 Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord. 15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord. … 25 The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah.
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Highlight Passage #4: 2nd Chronicles 31: 1-2; 20-21 :[NIV] … 1 When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property. 2 Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the Lord's dwelling. 20 This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. 21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.
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Highlight Passage #5: Psalm 48: 1; 14 :[NIV] … 1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. … 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
My Journal for Today: Another rather rigorous reading day in my chronological reading plan, … today studying about King Hezekiah, one of the good guys in 2nd Kings and Chronicles; and the king in Judah who almost wrought a complete turn-around in the worship lives of the Israelites before Hezekiah’s progeny came in and wrecked it all.
But during Hezekiah’s rule, as you can read from today’s study, God was worshiped and the Book of the Law reintroduced; and many of the God-honoring festivals, like Passover, were brought back into the life of the Israelites. Hezekiah even tried to introduce Godly worship and devotion into the lives of the northern tribes; but most of them simply laughed at him. A small number (there always seems to be a remnant seeking God), however, did come back to Jerusalem to join in with the revival which God had released on His people because of Hezekiah’s Godly reign.
And if one does a little biblical study of the great Old Testament revivals, as I did for this journal entry, you would see that every one of these great returns to God from rebellion, idolatry, and the like was accompanied by a collective surrender to God and His word, great movements of fasting/prayer, and a spreading individual obedience to God’s will, usually following some great and Godly leader, like Moses, Samuel, David, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, or our hero of the day, Hezekiah.
There are many in our world today who’re clamoring for revival and teaching Godly principles and calling our worldly leaders to repent and return to God’s ways through His word; ,,, men like John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, David Jeremiah (doesn’t he have a great biblical name), Chuck Swindoll, and others. But how many of us are listening; and how many churches are applying their teachings in their own churches? How many of us are fasting and praying for revival? And how many of us are living lives totally surrendered to God’s will from His word?
I believe, when God senses we, as a world, are moving in His direction, He, through His Spirit will release revival on our world; … OR … Jesus will return for His bride. Either one is in my prayers almost daily.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, reign down Your love and righteousness in revival on this land; or come again … SOON!!! Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings 18 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles, Chapters 29-31 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 48 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Kings 18: 1; 5-7; 13 :[NIV] … 1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. … 5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
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Highlight Passage #2: 2nd Chronicles 29: 3-5; 11; 20-21; 29-31 :[NIV] … 3 In the first month of the first year of his [Hezekiah’s] reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them.4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side5 and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. … [Hezekiah to the Levites] 11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense." … 20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the Lord.21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the Lord…. 29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped.30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed down and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, "You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord." So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
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Highlight Passage #3: 2nd Chronicles 30: 1; 10-12; 15; 25 :[NIV] … 1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. 10 The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them.11 Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.12 Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord. 15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord. … 25 The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah.
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Highlight Passage #4: 2nd Chronicles 31: 1-2; 20-21 :[NIV] … 1 When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property. 2 Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the Lord's dwelling. 20 This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. 21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.
============
Highlight Passage #5: Psalm 48: 1; 14 :[NIV] … 1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. … 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
My Journal for Today: Another rather rigorous reading day in my chronological reading plan, … today studying about King Hezekiah, one of the good guys in 2nd Kings and Chronicles; and the king in Judah who almost wrought a complete turn-around in the worship lives of the Israelites before Hezekiah’s progeny came in and wrecked it all.
But during Hezekiah’s rule, as you can read from today’s study, God was worshiped and the Book of the Law reintroduced; and many of the God-honoring festivals, like Passover, were brought back into the life of the Israelites. Hezekiah even tried to introduce Godly worship and devotion into the lives of the northern tribes; but most of them simply laughed at him. A small number (there always seems to be a remnant seeking God), however, did come back to Jerusalem to join in with the revival which God had released on His people because of Hezekiah’s Godly reign.
And if one does a little biblical study of the great Old Testament revivals, as I did for this journal entry, you would see that every one of these great returns to God from rebellion, idolatry, and the like was accompanied by a collective surrender to God and His word, great movements of fasting/prayer, and a spreading individual obedience to God’s will, usually following some great and Godly leader, like Moses, Samuel, David, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, or our hero of the day, Hezekiah.
There are many in our world today who’re clamoring for revival and teaching Godly principles and calling our worldly leaders to repent and return to God’s ways through His word; ,,, men like John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, David Jeremiah (doesn’t he have a great biblical name), Chuck Swindoll, and others. But how many of us are listening; and how many churches are applying their teachings in their own churches? How many of us are fasting and praying for revival? And how many of us are living lives totally surrendered to God’s will from His word?
I believe, when God senses we, as a world, are moving in His direction, He, through His Spirit will release revival on our world; … OR … Jesus will return for His bride. Either one is in my prayers almost daily.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, reign down Your love and righteousness in revival on this land; or come again … SOON!!! Amen
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
July 17, 2012 … Ahead Is Way Scary! … Way Exciting!!
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 199
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 23-27 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 23: 1; 8-9 : [NIV] … 1 A prophecy against Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus word has come to them. … 8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? 9 The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 24: 3-6; 21, 23b : [NIV] … 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. 5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. … 21 In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. 23b … for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 25: 1; 6-9 : [NIV] … 1 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. … 6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 26: 1-3; 7-8; 19 : [NIV] … 1 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. 2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. 3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. … 7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. 8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. … 19 But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise — let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 27: 2-3; : [NIV] … 2 In that day— "Sing about a fruitful vineyard: 3 I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. … 6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit. … 13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
My Journal for Today: Okay, if you’ve come this far to read along with me, I can likely read your mind. You’re probably thinking, … “Aw common, Bill; that’s a bunch to expect me to read and digest!” And you’re right. We’re drinking at God’s fire hydrant fountain of truth again. And if you’ve invested the time to read and meditate on the passages I’ve highlighted above from my chronological reading assignment today, I’ll be brief in my own journal comments; because Isaiah’s prophetic writings in Chapters 24-27, which make up today’s study segment, stand alone in their interpretation.
This segment of Isaiah’s writings is sometimes called “Isaiah’s Apocalypse”, because God, through Isaiah, shifts gears in his prophesies from Isaiah’s earlier warnings to Judah, Israel, Egypt, and other neighboring nations to putting forth a word for the whole world and all of earth’s peoples [including you and me]. And as I’ve titled my journal entry today, these prophesies are “Way Scary And Way Exciting.”
If registered and believed they would have to be WAY SCARY to those who had rebelled against God’s will and His ways through His word; but once digested in these chapters, this word unto the future would be WAY EXCITING for God’s remnant of obedient disciples who’ve believed God’s covenant and have done all they can – in faith – to follow God – i.e., in spite of what God’s spiritual enemies have done to draw believers away from God’s promised ones.
So, I hope you take the time to read, study, and meditate on today’s assigned passages, or at least my highlighted ones copied above. Because if you are motivated enough to do that, you are likely one of those believers whom Isaiah wrote about in God’s pronouncement above in Isaiah 26: 3, … that is, one who lives in peace because your mind is settled and pursuant of God’s will and His ways by being in God’s word. I truly hope you’re one of those; because if you are, reading through Isaiah’s prophesies today had to be WAY EXCITING.
But any who read here today and saw today’s prophesies as WAY TOO SCARY, perhaps you had best take note of just how strongly you believe that today’s word from God is really true or not. If you don’t think so, my dear one, you are headed toward the scariest eternity that anyone can or will face. And all that you need to do is to realize the exciting prospects of heaven, believing that Christ came, as God promised, to provide the way for you to repent, believing that Jesus died to save you and expressing openly/honestly that you want Him to be the Lord of Your life.
Do that … and your eternal future will be more EXCITING than you could ever imagine.
My Prayer Today: … Thank You, Lord, for the eternally exciting times ahead. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 23-27 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 23: 1; 8-9 : [NIV] … 1 A prophecy against Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus word has come to them. … 8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? 9 The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 24: 3-6; 21, 23b : [NIV] … 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. 5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. … 21 In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. 23b … for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 25: 1; 6-9 : [NIV] … 1 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. … 6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 26: 1-3; 7-8; 19 : [NIV] … 1 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. 2 Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. 3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. … 7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. 8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. … 19 But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise — let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 27: 2-3; : [NIV] … 2 In that day— "Sing about a fruitful vineyard: 3 I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it. … 6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit. … 13 And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
My Journal for Today: Okay, if you’ve come this far to read along with me, I can likely read your mind. You’re probably thinking, … “Aw common, Bill; that’s a bunch to expect me to read and digest!” And you’re right. We’re drinking at God’s fire hydrant fountain of truth again. And if you’ve invested the time to read and meditate on the passages I’ve highlighted above from my chronological reading assignment today, I’ll be brief in my own journal comments; because Isaiah’s prophetic writings in Chapters 24-27, which make up today’s study segment, stand alone in their interpretation.
This segment of Isaiah’s writings is sometimes called “Isaiah’s Apocalypse”, because God, through Isaiah, shifts gears in his prophesies from Isaiah’s earlier warnings to Judah, Israel, Egypt, and other neighboring nations to putting forth a word for the whole world and all of earth’s peoples [including you and me]. And as I’ve titled my journal entry today, these prophesies are “Way Scary And Way Exciting.”
If registered and believed they would have to be WAY SCARY to those who had rebelled against God’s will and His ways through His word; but once digested in these chapters, this word unto the future would be WAY EXCITING for God’s remnant of obedient disciples who’ve believed God’s covenant and have done all they can – in faith – to follow God – i.e., in spite of what God’s spiritual enemies have done to draw believers away from God’s promised ones.
So, I hope you take the time to read, study, and meditate on today’s assigned passages, or at least my highlighted ones copied above. Because if you are motivated enough to do that, you are likely one of those believers whom Isaiah wrote about in God’s pronouncement above in Isaiah 26: 3, … that is, one who lives in peace because your mind is settled and pursuant of God’s will and His ways by being in God’s word. I truly hope you’re one of those; because if you are, reading through Isaiah’s prophesies today had to be WAY EXCITING.
But any who read here today and saw today’s prophesies as WAY TOO SCARY, perhaps you had best take note of just how strongly you believe that today’s word from God is really true or not. If you don’t think so, my dear one, you are headed toward the scariest eternity that anyone can or will face. And all that you need to do is to realize the exciting prospects of heaven, believing that Christ came, as God promised, to provide the way for you to repent, believing that Jesus died to save you and expressing openly/honestly that you want Him to be the Lord of Your life.
Do that … and your eternal future will be more EXCITING than you could ever imagine.
My Prayer Today: … Thank You, Lord, for the eternally exciting times ahead. Amen
Monday, July 16, 2012
July 16, 2012 … You said to do what, God?!
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 198
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 18-22 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 20: 1-2 : [NIV] … 1 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it — 2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
My Journal for Today: I read another big historical gulp of God’s word in Isaiah’s book of prophesies, in this case Chapters 18-22 [linked above for your reading. However, today rather than going through each chapter and exposing prophesy after prophesy, God’s Spirit had me hone in on one short passage in Isaiah 20, the first two verses where God commanded Isaiah to walk around stripped of clothing, which would have been considered nakedness by the peoples of his day. So, we might say about God’s word, “What’s that all about, Lord?”
And here’s what my Parson’s Commentary says about that highlight passage:
>>> GOD’S COMMAND TO ISAIAH TO WALK ABOUT [culturally] NAKED FOR THREE YEARS WAS A HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE. GOD WAS USING ISAIAH TO DEMONSTRATE THE HUMILIATION THAT EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA WOULD EXPERIENCE AT THE HANDS OF ASSYRIA. BUT THE MESSAGE WAS REALLY FOR JUDAH: DON’T PUT YOUR TRUST IN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, OR YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THIS KIND OF SHAME AND HUMILIATION FROM YOUR CAPTORS. GOD ASKED ISAIAH TO DO SOMETHING THAT SEEMED SHAMEFUL AND ILLOGICAL.
>>> AT TIMES, GOD MAY ASK US TO DO THINGS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND. WE MUST OBEY GOD IN COMPLETE FAITH, FOR HE WILL NEVER ASK US TO DO SOMETHING WRONG.
Have you ever felt that God was leading you or “asking” you to do something which was very politically incorrect or unpopular or even outlandish or unrealistic? Well, that was what God commanded of Isaiah as he was giving messages to the various nations in the passages I was charged to read today. Here Isaiah was giving tough words from God to Assyria, Egypt, Edom, and Ethiopia; and he was doing this while stripped and seemingly ridiculously dressed (or rather, undressed).
But Isaiah did what God commanded him to do because it was God Who was calling the shots; and Isaiah had made a covenant with God to follow Him… no matter what was God’s leading (see Isaiah 6). Is that our attitude in following Christ? How many times have I harkened back to Christ’s command to His disciples (from Luke 9: 23 ) … for us to deny our selves, take up our crosses daily, and follow HIM.
But do we do this in the way in which He’s asking us to follow Him?
I’m going to link you to a beautiful and lyrical version of the old hymn, I Surrender All, performed by a soloist in the group, Selah; and I ask you to take a few moments to stop and take in this powerful piece, directing us to ask ourselves if we are living our lives in the way Isaiah was asking to people to live as commanded by God’s prophesies. God’s command to His people then and now is to live lives of total surrender to Yahweh. Here is that link for your meditation: And I will pray that Isaiah’s message to the peoples and nations of his day is God’s timeless message to all of His children … to SURRENDER ALL to Him.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I surrender all! And I pray that all who read here with me do too. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 18-22 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 20: 1-2 : [NIV] … 1 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it — 2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
My Journal for Today: I read another big historical gulp of God’s word in Isaiah’s book of prophesies, in this case Chapters 18-22 [linked above for your reading. However, today rather than going through each chapter and exposing prophesy after prophesy, God’s Spirit had me hone in on one short passage in Isaiah 20, the first two verses where God commanded Isaiah to walk around stripped of clothing, which would have been considered nakedness by the peoples of his day. So, we might say about God’s word, “What’s that all about, Lord?”
And here’s what my Parson’s Commentary says about that highlight passage:
>>> GOD’S COMMAND TO ISAIAH TO WALK ABOUT [culturally] NAKED FOR THREE YEARS WAS A HUMILIATING EXPERIENCE. GOD WAS USING ISAIAH TO DEMONSTRATE THE HUMILIATION THAT EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA WOULD EXPERIENCE AT THE HANDS OF ASSYRIA. BUT THE MESSAGE WAS REALLY FOR JUDAH: DON’T PUT YOUR TRUST IN FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, OR YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THIS KIND OF SHAME AND HUMILIATION FROM YOUR CAPTORS. GOD ASKED ISAIAH TO DO SOMETHING THAT SEEMED SHAMEFUL AND ILLOGICAL.
>>> AT TIMES, GOD MAY ASK US TO DO THINGS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND. WE MUST OBEY GOD IN COMPLETE FAITH, FOR HE WILL NEVER ASK US TO DO SOMETHING WRONG.
Have you ever felt that God was leading you or “asking” you to do something which was very politically incorrect or unpopular or even outlandish or unrealistic? Well, that was what God commanded of Isaiah as he was giving messages to the various nations in the passages I was charged to read today. Here Isaiah was giving tough words from God to Assyria, Egypt, Edom, and Ethiopia; and he was doing this while stripped and seemingly ridiculously dressed (or rather, undressed).
But Isaiah did what God commanded him to do because it was God Who was calling the shots; and Isaiah had made a covenant with God to follow Him… no matter what was God’s leading (see Isaiah 6). Is that our attitude in following Christ? How many times have I harkened back to Christ’s command to His disciples (from Luke 9: 23 ) … for us to deny our selves, take up our crosses daily, and follow HIM.
But do we do this in the way in which He’s asking us to follow Him?
I’m going to link you to a beautiful and lyrical version of the old hymn, I Surrender All, performed by a soloist in the group, Selah; and I ask you to take a few moments to stop and take in this powerful piece, directing us to ask ourselves if we are living our lives in the way Isaiah was asking to people to live as commanded by God’s prophesies. God’s command to His people then and now is to live lives of total surrender to Yahweh. Here is that link for your meditation: And I will pray that Isaiah’s message to the peoples and nations of his day is God’s timeless message to all of His children … to SURRENDER ALL to Him.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I surrender all! And I pray that all who read here with me do too. Amen
Sunday, July 15, 2012
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
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.
============
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.
============
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!
============
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."
============
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
Saturday, July 14, 2012
July 14, 2012 … “We have met the enemy; and he is us!”
Chronological Bible Reading - Day 196
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles 25 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings, Chapters 16-17 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Chronicles 28: 1-5; 22-23 :[NIV] … 1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals.3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. 5 Therefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. … 22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord.23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
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Highlight Passage #2: 2nd Kings 16: 10-11; 17-18 :[NIV] … 10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction.11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. … 17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.18 He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.
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Highlight Passage #3: 2nd Kings 17: 1-2; 5-9; 13; 22-23 :[NIV] … 1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. … 5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. 7 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods8 and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. 9 The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. 13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe My commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets." 22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them23 until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
My Journal for Today: Another big historical lesson from the Old Testament in the times when the northern tribes in Israel, who were divided from the southern tribes in Judah, perpetuated their disobedience and idolatry, … doing so until finally God had had enough and He allowed the Arameans to consume and exile the Israelites in the north and ultimately the Babylonians came in and captured Judah.
Really, as one reads/studies these times in today’s chronological read in 2nd Chronicles 28 and 2nd Kings 16-17, it is remarkable (at least to me) that God was so patient and forebearing, allowing His children, the Israelites, to carry on with their disobedience as long as they did. They certainly had, in Moses’ Book of the Law, God’s written warnings; and, as it says above in 2nd Kings 17: 13, which is in bold/underlined, God had sent Prophet after Prophet to try to get his people, especially His kings, to repent and follow God’s will and His ways, through His word. But, … so many of these leaders, like Ahaz in Judah and his priests, as well as Hoshea in Israel, simply relented to the idolatrous practices which had infused their culture from the pagan tribes around them, … even child sacrifice as we read about in Ahaz’s life where he sacrificed his sons to the pagan gods.
Does all of this remind one of a modern nation, founded on God’s will and His ways by following His word in its history, … a nation that has fallen prey to idolatry and the worldly practices of other pagan peoples? … Duh!!!
Years ago, In the Pogo cartoon [depicted above], Walt Kelley, it’s author/artist, gave us that great quote, “We have met the enemy; and he is us!” I’ve adopted Kelley’s quote for my title to my journal entry today because when one looks our founding history and where we are now in this country, could we not say that America has perverted it’s Judeo-Christian roots and taken on the pagan idols and practices of Satan, the world, and the flesh? And now, as a result of our disobedience, just as happened to the Israelites of old, we see God allowing paganism, humanism, and idolatry to consume our culture and our nation. God has lifted His Spirit protection of our nation just as He did so for Israel and Judah.
We are being overtaken by baby killing, just as did Ahaz in Judah. We are being overrun by the idols of pornography and political greed just as were the Israelites in the readings above. And God has sent “prophet” after “prophet,” men quoting and teaching from God’s word, the Bible, to warn our leaders, especially our Presidents, of their disobedience to God’s word. But so many of our leaders, especially since 1960, have ignored the merciful warnings; and we have seen the plague of pornography to proliferate; … we have seen tens of thousands of babies sacrificed in abortion; … and we have seen our leaders march us away from our biblical roots.
And, my dear ones reading here, I’m afraid that we’re seeing God allow the pagan world to consume a nation which was founded to honor the LORD. Oh, for sure, there is the same hope for the remnant of America as there was for the remnant of Israel; and that hope, of course, is now found in the faith that today’s believers have in the One God sent, His Messiah, to save His world and His church.
Oh, how I pray that any who read here are covered by that faith in the blood of God’s Messiah.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, dear God, save us from our sinful ways and bring us to a place of repentance as a nation. Heal our lands; and restore us to a God fearing and God worshipping peoples. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles 25 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Kings, Chapters 16-17 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Chronicles 28: 1-5; 22-23 :[NIV] … 1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals.3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. 5 Therefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. … 22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord.23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
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Highlight Passage #2: 2nd Kings 16: 10-11; 17-18 :[NIV] … 10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction.11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. … 17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.18 He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.
============
Highlight Passage #3: 2nd Kings 17: 1-2; 5-9; 13; 22-23 :[NIV] … 1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. … 5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. 7 All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods8 and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. 9 The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. 13 The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe My commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets." 22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them23 until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
My Journal for Today: Another big historical lesson from the Old Testament in the times when the northern tribes in Israel, who were divided from the southern tribes in Judah, perpetuated their disobedience and idolatry, … doing so until finally God had had enough and He allowed the Arameans to consume and exile the Israelites in the north and ultimately the Babylonians came in and captured Judah.
Really, as one reads/studies these times in today’s chronological read in 2nd Chronicles 28 and 2nd Kings 16-17, it is remarkable (at least to me) that God was so patient and forebearing, allowing His children, the Israelites, to carry on with their disobedience as long as they did. They certainly had, in Moses’ Book of the Law, God’s written warnings; and, as it says above in 2nd Kings 17: 13, which is in bold/underlined, God had sent Prophet after Prophet to try to get his people, especially His kings, to repent and follow God’s will and His ways, through His word. But, … so many of these leaders, like Ahaz in Judah and his priests, as well as Hoshea in Israel, simply relented to the idolatrous practices which had infused their culture from the pagan tribes around them, … even child sacrifice as we read about in Ahaz’s life where he sacrificed his sons to the pagan gods.
Does all of this remind one of a modern nation, founded on God’s will and His ways by following His word in its history, … a nation that has fallen prey to idolatry and the worldly practices of other pagan peoples? … Duh!!!
Years ago, In the Pogo cartoon [depicted above], Walt Kelley, it’s author/artist, gave us that great quote, “We have met the enemy; and he is us!” I’ve adopted Kelley’s quote for my title to my journal entry today because when one looks our founding history and where we are now in this country, could we not say that America has perverted it’s Judeo-Christian roots and taken on the pagan idols and practices of Satan, the world, and the flesh? And now, as a result of our disobedience, just as happened to the Israelites of old, we see God allowing paganism, humanism, and idolatry to consume our culture and our nation. God has lifted His Spirit protection of our nation just as He did so for Israel and Judah.
We are being overtaken by baby killing, just as did Ahaz in Judah. We are being overrun by the idols of pornography and political greed just as were the Israelites in the readings above. And God has sent “prophet” after “prophet,” men quoting and teaching from God’s word, the Bible, to warn our leaders, especially our Presidents, of their disobedience to God’s word. But so many of our leaders, especially since 1960, have ignored the merciful warnings; and we have seen the plague of pornography to proliferate; … we have seen tens of thousands of babies sacrificed in abortion; … and we have seen our leaders march us away from our biblical roots.
And, my dear ones reading here, I’m afraid that we’re seeing God allow the pagan world to consume a nation which was founded to honor the LORD. Oh, for sure, there is the same hope for the remnant of America as there was for the remnant of Israel; and that hope, of course, is now found in the faith that today’s believers have in the One God sent, His Messiah, to save His world and His church.
Oh, how I pray that any who read here are covered by that faith in the blood of God’s Messiah.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, dear God, save us from our sinful ways and bring us to a place of repentance as a nation. Heal our lands; and restore us to a God fearing and God worshipping peoples. Amen
Friday, July 13, 2012
July 13, 2012 … He Will Come Again!
Chronological Bible Reading Plan - Day 195
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Micah, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Micah 1: 1-3; 5 :[NIV] … 1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, you peoples, [also translated “ATTENTION!”] all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. 3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place; He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. … 5 All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel [all of the descendents of Jacob – north and south].
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 2: 6-7; 11-12 :[NIV] … 6 "Do not prophesy," their prophets say. "Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us." 7 You descendants of Jacob, should it be said, "Does the Lord become impatient? Does he do such things?" "Do not my words do good to the one whose ways are upright? 11 If a liar and deceiver [i.e., a false prophet] comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' that would be just the prophet for this people! 12 "I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. ============
Highlight Passage #2: Micah 3: 1-2; 5 :[NIV] … 1 Then I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice, 2 you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; … 5 This is what the Lord says: "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, they proclaim 'peace' if they have something to eat, but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 4: 1-2; 10 :[NIV] … 1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 2 Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 5: 2; 4 :[NIV] … 2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." … 4 He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 6: 6; 8 :[NIV] … 6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? … 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 7: 7-9 :[NIV] … 7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. 8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. 9 Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord's wrath, until He pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.
My Journal for Today: Wow! Another big gulp today from God’s fire hydrant of truth – His word. My reading plan had me read, study, and meditate on the entire book of Micah, a contemporary prophet in the times of Isaiah, about whom I’ve also been studying of late. These were the turbulent times in Israel and Judah, the divided kingdoms of God’s people; and Micah’s prophesies had both bitter and sweet tastes for God’s ones, especially for the leaders, prophets, and kings of the day.
As I read through the prophesies of Micah, I couldn’t help but sit here in awe, over 2800 years after the prophet was predicting both the immediate destruction of God’s chosen peoples and the far distant salvation of the Lord’s peoples when their Messiah comes to save them (i.e., the first coming) and to rule over them forever (i.e., the second coming). And it’s all there in Micah for any believer in Yahweh, … the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, … and me.
God, … time and time and time … again, kept showing how His chosen ones needed to be living. In fact that’s spelled out in what is probably the key verse in this so-called “minor” book of prophesy; and that is [highlighted in red/bold and underlined above] from Micah 6: 8, which states that we, His children, are “… to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
However, God’s chosen ones DID NOT!! And as many of God’s voices, His prophets, in those days, over 700 years before Christ’s first coming, predicted, the descendents of Jacob would be consumed by other nations; and then they would be dispersed throughout the world to be persecuted. And who could deny that those prophesies did not take place? But Micah (and others of the prophets) also predicted that God’s people, the Jews, would one day be returned to their Holy and Promised Lands; and we may see (some say WE ARE SEEING) the beginnings of this return in our times.
But the ultimate return has yet to take place; and when it does, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, Whom we now know is Jesus, will one day (and I believe soon) return to take His Bride, the Church, to live with Him as He reigns in glory. Micah predicted it; and Jesus sealed it on the cross, when He cried out, “It is finished!!”
My Prayer Today: … Come again, SOON, Lord Jesus! Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Micah, Chapters 1-7 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Micah 1: 1-3; 5 :[NIV] … 1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, you peoples, [also translated “ATTENTION!”] all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. 3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place; He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. … 5 All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel [all of the descendents of Jacob – north and south].
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 2: 6-7; 11-12 :[NIV] … 6 "Do not prophesy," their prophets say. "Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us." 7 You descendants of Jacob, should it be said, "Does the Lord become impatient? Does he do such things?" "Do not my words do good to the one whose ways are upright? 11 If a liar and deceiver [i.e., a false prophet] comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' that would be just the prophet for this people! 12 "I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. ============
Highlight Passage #2: Micah 3: 1-2; 5 :[NIV] … 1 Then I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice, 2 you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; … 5 This is what the Lord says: "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, they proclaim 'peace' if they have something to eat, but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 4: 1-2; 10 :[NIV] … 1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 2 Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 5: 2; 4 :[NIV] … 2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." … 4 He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
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Highlight Passage #2: Micah 6: 6; 8 :[NIV] … 6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? … 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
============
Highlight Passage #2: Micah 7: 7-9 :[NIV] … 7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. 8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. 9 Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord's wrath, until He pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.
My Journal for Today: Wow! Another big gulp today from God’s fire hydrant of truth – His word. My reading plan had me read, study, and meditate on the entire book of Micah, a contemporary prophet in the times of Isaiah, about whom I’ve also been studying of late. These were the turbulent times in Israel and Judah, the divided kingdoms of God’s people; and Micah’s prophesies had both bitter and sweet tastes for God’s ones, especially for the leaders, prophets, and kings of the day.
As I read through the prophesies of Micah, I couldn’t help but sit here in awe, over 2800 years after the prophet was predicting both the immediate destruction of God’s chosen peoples and the far distant salvation of the Lord’s peoples when their Messiah comes to save them (i.e., the first coming) and to rule over them forever (i.e., the second coming). And it’s all there in Micah for any believer in Yahweh, … the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, … and me.
God, … time and time and time … again, kept showing how His chosen ones needed to be living. In fact that’s spelled out in what is probably the key verse in this so-called “minor” book of prophesy; and that is [highlighted in red/bold and underlined above] from Micah 6: 8, which states that we, His children, are “… to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
However, God’s chosen ones DID NOT!! And as many of God’s voices, His prophets, in those days, over 700 years before Christ’s first coming, predicted, the descendents of Jacob would be consumed by other nations; and then they would be dispersed throughout the world to be persecuted. And who could deny that those prophesies did not take place? But Micah (and others of the prophets) also predicted that God’s people, the Jews, would one day be returned to their Holy and Promised Lands; and we may see (some say WE ARE SEEING) the beginnings of this return in our times.
But the ultimate return has yet to take place; and when it does, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, Whom we now know is Jesus, will one day (and I believe soon) return to take His Bride, the Church, to live with Him as He reigns in glory. Micah predicted it; and Jesus sealed it on the cross, when He cried out, “It is finished!!”
My Prayer Today: … Come again, SOON, Lord Jesus! Amen
Thursday, July 12, 2012
July 12, 2012 … God’s Promise to His Remnant
Chronological Bible Reading - Day 194
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles 27 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 9-12 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Chron 27: 1-2; 9 :[NIV] … 1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the Lord. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices. …
9 Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz, his son, succeeded him as king.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 9: 2; 6 :[NIV] … 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. …
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 10: 5-7; 12; 15; 20-21 :[NIV] … 5 "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! 6 I send him against a godless nation; I dispatch him against a people [i.e., God’s own chosen peoples] who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. 7 But this is not what he [i.e., Assyria] intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. …
12 When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. …
15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood! …
20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return,t a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 11: 1-3a; 6; 10-11 :[NIV] … 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord — 3 and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. ...
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 12: 1-2 :[NIV] … 1 In that day you will say [some translations have the Hebrew word for “say,” which is “amar,” translated as “sing,” because Chapter 12 was a song of praise] … "I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, … Your anger has turned away and You have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation."
My Journal for Today: As you can see above, I have highlighted quite a few passages from my chronological reading assignment for today; and I did this for any of my fellow readers to get a sense of what God was promising to His peoples in spite of their collective and nationwide disobedience in the times of Isaiah, the Prophet.
I hope you can also read a lot of today into these passages; because we now live in times that parallel those written about in 2nd Chronicles 27 and Isaiah, Chapters 9-12. In those days both Israel and Judah had rebelled in flagrant disobedience to God’s word; and God chose to use an even more idolatrous nation, Assyria, to engulf and capture God’s chosen peoples, though Assyria would also be harshly judged and eradicated in God’s plan. But above all in these days, the promise of God’s Messiah rings through these times of a plague of disobedience and destruction. And that promise, which is now the promise of Christ’s second coming, still rings true today.
And perhaps that is what and why the nation of America was established in our times … to show that God’s promised Messiah would not only come in the form of Jesus, the Lame of God; but He will come again; and God’s people, the Jewish remnant, will once again be returned to the Holy and promised land when the seed of Jesse will, as God has promised through Isaiah, sit on the throne of God, ruling all peoples, everywhere, in a time of eternal peace.
I hope you, as I did this morning, read and mediate on today’s Old Testament history and God’s promises from the Prophet Isaiah with the same joy and praise from God’s prophesy of the coming Messiah, … the One Who will come to claim His Bride, the New Testament church, and to return His Old Testament remnant, Israel, to His promised land to dwell forever with the Lamb of God, … the Lion of Judah, … and the King of kings.
And in these promises, to God be the glory!!!
My Prayer Today: … Oh, my Yahweh, praise Your Holy Name; and I pray that You come soon to rule and reign just as You have promised. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles 27 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 9-12 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: 2nd Chron 27: 1-2; 9 :[NIV] … 1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the Lord. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices. …
9 Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz, his son, succeeded him as king.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 9: 2; 6 :[NIV] … 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. …
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
============
Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 10: 5-7; 12; 15; 20-21 :[NIV] … 5 "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! 6 I send him against a godless nation; I dispatch him against a people [i.e., God’s own chosen peoples] who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. 7 But this is not what he [i.e., Assyria] intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. …
12 When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. …
15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood! …
20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return,t a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 11: 1-3a; 6; 10-11 :[NIV] … 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord — 3 and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. ...
6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. …
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. ============
Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 12: 1-2 :[NIV] … 1 In that day you will say [some translations have the Hebrew word for “say,” which is “amar,” translated as “sing,” because Chapter 12 was a song of praise] … "I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, … Your anger has turned away and You have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation."
My Journal for Today: As you can see above, I have highlighted quite a few passages from my chronological reading assignment for today; and I did this for any of my fellow readers to get a sense of what God was promising to His peoples in spite of their collective and nationwide disobedience in the times of Isaiah, the Prophet.
I hope you can also read a lot of today into these passages; because we now live in times that parallel those written about in 2nd Chronicles 27 and Isaiah, Chapters 9-12. In those days both Israel and Judah had rebelled in flagrant disobedience to God’s word; and God chose to use an even more idolatrous nation, Assyria, to engulf and capture God’s chosen peoples, though Assyria would also be harshly judged and eradicated in God’s plan. But above all in these days, the promise of God’s Messiah rings through these times of a plague of disobedience and destruction. And that promise, which is now the promise of Christ’s second coming, still rings true today.
And perhaps that is what and why the nation of America was established in our times … to show that God’s promised Messiah would not only come in the form of Jesus, the Lame of God; but He will come again; and God’s people, the Jewish remnant, will once again be returned to the Holy and promised land when the seed of Jesse will, as God has promised through Isaiah, sit on the throne of God, ruling all peoples, everywhere, in a time of eternal peace.
I hope you, as I did this morning, read and mediate on today’s Old Testament history and God’s promises from the Prophet Isaiah with the same joy and praise from God’s prophesy of the coming Messiah, … the One Who will come to claim His Bride, the New Testament church, and to return His Old Testament remnant, Israel, to His promised land to dwell forever with the Lamb of God, … the Lion of Judah, … and the King of kings.
And in these promises, to God be the glory!!!
My Prayer Today: … Oh, my Yahweh, praise Your Holy Name; and I pray that You come soon to rule and reign just as You have promised. Amen
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
July 11, 2012 … All Gone? … Well, Almost All !!
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Amos, Chapter 6-9 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Amos 6: 1-2; 14 : [NIV] … 1 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! 2 Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath; and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? … 13 … you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debart and say, "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?" 14 For the Lord God Almighty declares, "I will stir up a nation against you, Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah."
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Highlight Passage #2: Amos 7: 8-9; 14-15 : [NIV] … 8 And the Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. 9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam." … 14 Amos answered Amaziah [Jereboam’s priest in Israel, who was telling Amos to go back to Judah and quit prophesying], "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
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Highlight Passage #3: Amos 8: 11-12 : [NIV] … 11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
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Highlight Passage #4: Amos 9: 1; 8-10 : [NIV] … 1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. … 8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob," declares the Lord. 9 "For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. 10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
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Reference Passage: Deuteronomy 28: 63-68 : [NIV] … To study this passage go to this link:
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Reference Passage #2: Matthew 25: 14-30 : [NIV] … To study this passage go to this link:
My Journal for Today: Yesterday I was led again to the prophesies of Amos in the book by his name and authorship. It’s the rest of that book for me; and today, if you read through Chapters 6-9 of Amos, you will see that Amos’s prophesies to King Jeroboam II and the peoples of the northern tribes in Israel were dire for those whom Amos was declaring that Assyria would wipe them out. Well, almost all of them! Amos’ prophesies, however, do end with a positive and hopeful note (see Amos 9: 8-10), with God reminding His people that some of God’s children – a remnant, who were faithfully obedient to God’s ways from His word - would be spared.
And in this reading today, one passage jumped out at me as an indicator of what God used to judge the remnant of the descendants of Jacob who were saved; and that passage is found above in bold/red above as Amos 8: 11-12 But first note and read the first reference passage from Deut. 28, linked above, where God told the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would always watch over and save those who remained obedient to His word. And here, in the doom-ridden prophesies of Amos, we see that this prophesy, centuries before from God about his people, Israel, was being upheld.
And I believe that one of the ways that God separated those whom He would save from destruction was their loyalty and discipline to stay in, and be immersed in, His truth, i.e., His word (i.e., the Bible as we know God’s word today). And that gets me to a chronic fear which God has deeply implanted in my mind/heart. I’ve labeled it “alogosphobia,” which is a made-up word, taken from the Greek language, which means “a deep fear of being without God’s word.”
There was a time in my life, just like the peoples of Israel in Amos’ time, when I spurned the Bible and would have nothing to do with God’s truth, living selfishly and idolatrously, … just as were those people in Israel to whom Amos prophesied. But Christ came into my life about 30 years ago; and now I’m driven to be in God’s word as I am here this morning, … reading it, studying it, and doing all I can to apply it in my life. I truly believe that those who held on to God’s truth, through His word, in Amos’ day were the ones – the remnant – who were saved by God.
It’s much like Jesus taught in His PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (in Matthew 25: 14-30 linked above), where Jesus set the one servant aside who was unwilling to invest and do all he could with the “talents” God had given him to steward. And we – you and me, as disciples of Christ – are stewards of God’s talents of truth; and I believe that those who are truly Christian will “fear God” (i.e., reverence Him) enough to invest priority time to be in God’s word and to help His truth grow in us through His word. Those are the ones – the true believers in these days of darkness – who will be the ones whom God will one day say, “Well done, my good and faithful slave of My word.”
Oh, how I pray that we all have enough “alogosphobia” to drive us to be in God’s word and to maintain and declare the light of His truth, as did Amos, to a perverse and word-rejecting generation. I believe that only those who are Bible reflecting lights in these dark days will be the ones to whom Christ will one day say in glory, … “Well done … my good and faithful disciple!”
My Prayer Today: … Oh Lord, help me to be in, stay in, believe in, and live in Your word. Amen
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Highlight Passage: Amos 6: 1-2; 14 : [NIV] … 1 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! 2 Go to Kalneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath; and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours? … 13 … you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debart and say, "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?" 14 For the Lord God Almighty declares, "I will stir up a nation against you, Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah."
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Highlight Passage #2: Amos 7: 8-9; 14-15 : [NIV] … 8 And the Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. 9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam." … 14 Amos answered Amaziah [Jereboam’s priest in Israel, who was telling Amos to go back to Judah and quit prophesying], "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
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Highlight Passage #3: Amos 8: 11-12 : [NIV] … 11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
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Highlight Passage #4: Amos 9: 1; 8-10 : [NIV] … 1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. … 8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob," declares the Lord. 9 "For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. 10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
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Reference Passage: Deuteronomy 28: 63-68 : [NIV] … To study this passage go to this link:
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Reference Passage #2: Matthew 25: 14-30 : [NIV] … To study this passage go to this link:
My Journal for Today: Yesterday I was led again to the prophesies of Amos in the book by his name and authorship. It’s the rest of that book for me; and today, if you read through Chapters 6-9 of Amos, you will see that Amos’s prophesies to King Jeroboam II and the peoples of the northern tribes in Israel were dire for those whom Amos was declaring that Assyria would wipe them out. Well, almost all of them! Amos’ prophesies, however, do end with a positive and hopeful note (see Amos 9: 8-10), with God reminding His people that some of God’s children – a remnant, who were faithfully obedient to God’s ways from His word - would be spared.
And in this reading today, one passage jumped out at me as an indicator of what God used to judge the remnant of the descendants of Jacob who were saved; and that passage is found above in bold/red above as Amos 8: 11-12 But first note and read the first reference passage from Deut. 28, linked above, where God told the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would always watch over and save those who remained obedient to His word. And here, in the doom-ridden prophesies of Amos, we see that this prophesy, centuries before from God about his people, Israel, was being upheld.
And I believe that one of the ways that God separated those whom He would save from destruction was their loyalty and discipline to stay in, and be immersed in, His truth, i.e., His word (i.e., the Bible as we know God’s word today). And that gets me to a chronic fear which God has deeply implanted in my mind/heart. I’ve labeled it “alogosphobia,” which is a made-up word, taken from the Greek language, which means “a deep fear of being without God’s word.”
There was a time in my life, just like the peoples of Israel in Amos’ time, when I spurned the Bible and would have nothing to do with God’s truth, living selfishly and idolatrously, … just as were those people in Israel to whom Amos prophesied. But Christ came into my life about 30 years ago; and now I’m driven to be in God’s word as I am here this morning, … reading it, studying it, and doing all I can to apply it in my life. I truly believe that those who held on to God’s truth, through His word, in Amos’ day were the ones – the remnant – who were saved by God.
It’s much like Jesus taught in His PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (in Matthew 25: 14-30 linked above), where Jesus set the one servant aside who was unwilling to invest and do all he could with the “talents” God had given him to steward. And we – you and me, as disciples of Christ – are stewards of God’s talents of truth; and I believe that those who are truly Christian will “fear God” (i.e., reverence Him) enough to invest priority time to be in God’s word and to help His truth grow in us through His word. Those are the ones – the true believers in these days of darkness – who will be the ones whom God will one day say, “Well done, my good and faithful slave of My word.”
Oh, how I pray that we all have enough “alogosphobia” to drive us to be in God’s word and to maintain and declare the light of His truth, as did Amos, to a perverse and word-rejecting generation. I believe that only those who are Bible reflecting lights in these dark days will be the ones to whom Christ will one day say in glory, … “Well done … my good and faithful disciple!”
My Prayer Today: … Oh Lord, help me to be in, stay in, believe in, and live in Your word. Amen
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
July 10, 2012 … God Hates Sin
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Amos, Chapter 1-5 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Amos 1: 1-2 : [NIV] … 1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. 2 He said: "The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers." 3 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Damascus [the capitol of Aram], even for four, I will not relent. …
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Highlight Passage #2: Amos 2: 1; 4-6, 13, 16 : [NIV] … 1 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not relent. Because he burned to ashes the bones of Edom's king, … 4 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, 5 I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem." 6 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 13 "Now then, I will crush you [Israel] as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. 16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," ,declares the Lord.
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Highlight Passage #3: Amos 3: 3-7; 10-11 : [NIV] … 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? 4 Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? 5 Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? 6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? 7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. 10 "They [i.e., the tribes of Israel in the north] do not know how to do right," declares the Lord, "who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted." 11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "An enemy [i.e., Assyria] will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses."
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Highlight Passage #4: Amos 4: 6; 12 : [NIV] … [God’s word through Amos] 6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 12 "Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God."
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Highlight Passage #5: Amos 5: 1, 6; 21-23 : [NIV] … 1 Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: … 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. 21 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
My Journal for Today: Okay! This morning I had to take in another big gulp of truth from God’s fire hydrant of wisdom, … my chronological reading plan taking me to the book of Amos, the first five chapters. Amos was the shepherd Prophet, who was from Judah but prophesied to the northern tribes in Israel about 760-750BC at the time of Kings Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah.
Amos had tough gig for God, prophesying to a recalcitrant and unrepentant nation, Israel, captivated by idolatry; and when you see how this itinerant shepherd missionary brought God’s message to his wayward peoples in Israel, one has to be impressed with his way of getting in to the listening ears of a people whom Amos was to bring a very tough confrontation from God. First he spoke about how God would judge the neighboring tribes, such as the Arameans, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and such. That would have been a “hooray” message to the Israelites. And then Amos even prophesied doom for those in Judah, which also would have been received positively by the northern tribes in Israel. … But then can the slammer in the latter chapter of today’s reading, … a hard case against Israel for their sinful rebellion and the prophesy of a day when the Assyrians would come into their lands, take over, and destroy the northern tribes.
Way bad news for a way bad people!
And as one reads through this scathing indictment and God’s word about sinful disobedience, if one comes away thinking that this is only a history lesson, we would be missing the point of this history scenario being included in God’s Old Testament. This is “bad news,” not only for Israel in the 8th century BC; but it is a hard word for “bad people” like you and me.
Now you may not think of yourself as one of the “bad people,” but if I read and interpret my Bible correctly, when it says, in Romans 3: 23, “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” … that includes me (and you too!). And in Isaiah 53: 6, God’s word says, “… ALL we like sheep have gone astray,” … that’s me (and you) to whom God is referring. So, we’re not any different from those 8th century BC Israelites, are we?
The only difference is found in the last part of that passage above in Isaiah 53, which completes the “good news” message, saying [NKJV], “… All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on HIM the iniquity of us all.” Yes, we’re bad people like those Israelites; but because of being part of those whom Amos and other prophets prophesied, we have been covered by the blood of the Messiah, the Lamb of God; and we stand saved by what Jesus did for us on the cross hundreds of years after Amos prophesied the Lord’s coming to save mankind.
But Amos’ indictment of sin stands true for us today just as it did for God’s people in Israel in 850 BC. Please note above in Amos 5: 21-23 God will not hear and relate to those who come to worship him with lives wrapped in sin and hypocrisy. And in all of his bill of particulars about the sins of Israel 800 years before Christ, we read so much of what we see in today’s world as well, including what is going on in God’s church among God’s people; … yes, among Christians today.
God cannot pour His saving, enabling, and empowering grace into a prideful people who strive to do life their own way, as did these Israelites some 800 years before Christ came to save us. We’re no different than are they. And we need God’s saving grace, through faith and obedience to God, just as Amos prophesied to these wayward children of God.
I hope we get God’s tough message today; … GOD HATES SIN!!!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, oh I desire to be child of Yours, growing in Your grace; and I know that I can only receive your grace by humbling myself to see Your will from Your word. Amen
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Highlight Passage: Amos 1: 1-2 : [NIV] … 1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. 2 He said: "The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers." 3 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Damascus [the capitol of Aram], even for four, I will not relent. …
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Highlight Passage #2: Amos 2: 1; 4-6, 13, 16 : [NIV] … 1 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not relent. Because he burned to ashes the bones of Edom's king, … 4 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed, 5 I will send fire on Judah that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem." 6 This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 13 "Now then, I will crush you [Israel] as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. 16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," ,declares the Lord.
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Highlight Passage #3: Amos 3: 3-7; 10-11 : [NIV] … 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? 4 Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? 5 Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? 6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? 7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. 10 "They [i.e., the tribes of Israel in the north] do not know how to do right," declares the Lord, "who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted." 11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "An enemy [i.e., Assyria] will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses."
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Highlight Passage #4: Amos 4: 6; 12 : [NIV] … [God’s word through Amos] 6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 12 "Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God."
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Highlight Passage #5: Amos 5: 1, 6; 21-23 : [NIV] … 1 Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: … 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. 21 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
My Journal for Today: Okay! This morning I had to take in another big gulp of truth from God’s fire hydrant of wisdom, … my chronological reading plan taking me to the book of Amos, the first five chapters. Amos was the shepherd Prophet, who was from Judah but prophesied to the northern tribes in Israel about 760-750BC at the time of Kings Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah (Azariah) of Judah.
Amos had tough gig for God, prophesying to a recalcitrant and unrepentant nation, Israel, captivated by idolatry; and when you see how this itinerant shepherd missionary brought God’s message to his wayward peoples in Israel, one has to be impressed with his way of getting in to the listening ears of a people whom Amos was to bring a very tough confrontation from God. First he spoke about how God would judge the neighboring tribes, such as the Arameans, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and such. That would have been a “hooray” message to the Israelites. And then Amos even prophesied doom for those in Judah, which also would have been received positively by the northern tribes in Israel. … But then can the slammer in the latter chapter of today’s reading, … a hard case against Israel for their sinful rebellion and the prophesy of a day when the Assyrians would come into their lands, take over, and destroy the northern tribes.
Way bad news for a way bad people!
And as one reads through this scathing indictment and God’s word about sinful disobedience, if one comes away thinking that this is only a history lesson, we would be missing the point of this history scenario being included in God’s Old Testament. This is “bad news,” not only for Israel in the 8th century BC; but it is a hard word for “bad people” like you and me.
Now you may not think of yourself as one of the “bad people,” but if I read and interpret my Bible correctly, when it says, in Romans 3: 23, “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” … that includes me (and you too!). And in Isaiah 53: 6, God’s word says, “… ALL we like sheep have gone astray,” … that’s me (and you) to whom God is referring. So, we’re not any different from those 8th century BC Israelites, are we?
The only difference is found in the last part of that passage above in Isaiah 53, which completes the “good news” message, saying [NKJV], “… All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on HIM the iniquity of us all.” Yes, we’re bad people like those Israelites; but because of being part of those whom Amos and other prophets prophesied, we have been covered by the blood of the Messiah, the Lamb of God; and we stand saved by what Jesus did for us on the cross hundreds of years after Amos prophesied the Lord’s coming to save mankind.
But Amos’ indictment of sin stands true for us today just as it did for God’s people in Israel in 850 BC. Please note above in Amos 5: 21-23 God will not hear and relate to those who come to worship him with lives wrapped in sin and hypocrisy. And in all of his bill of particulars about the sins of Israel 800 years before Christ, we read so much of what we see in today’s world as well, including what is going on in God’s church among God’s people; … yes, among Christians today.
God cannot pour His saving, enabling, and empowering grace into a prideful people who strive to do life their own way, as did these Israelites some 800 years before Christ came to save us. We’re no different than are they. And we need God’s saving grace, through faith and obedience to God, just as Amos prophesied to these wayward children of God.
I hope we get God’s tough message today; … GOD HATES SIN!!!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, oh I desire to be child of Yours, growing in Your grace; and I know that I can only receive your grace by humbling myself to see Your will from Your word. Amen
Monday, July 09, 2012
July 9, 2012 … Here I am, Lord, … Send me!
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 1-4 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 5: 20-22 : [NIV] … 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 6: 5-8 : [NIV] … 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
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Highlight Passage #3: Isaiah 8: 11-16 : [NIV] … 11 This is what the Lord says to me with His strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: 12 "Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. 13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. 14 He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah He will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem He will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." 16 Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God's instruction among My disciples.
My Journal for Today: Sometimes, in my calling to ministry, when I feel inadequate to the task, which happens occasionally, I get a bit dispirited and even discouraged. But my gig for God is small potatoes when compared to Isaiah’s calling. And in today’s chronological reading we get a sense of what Isaiah’s calling to deliver the truth to God’s people in Judah was like.
First, his news was not “good news” to the people of his day. As we can read in Isaiah 5 (highlight passage above), in my best southern dialect, Isaiah was giving a “Woe to y’all!” message, which would not have been received well in Judah in the times just before the southern tribes where defeated and consumed the Babylonians. And Isaiah was likely downhearted to be called to deliver such a message; and so, God gave the Prophet a vision of heaven to give him a boost of sight and encouragement for his prophetic mission. And in (highlight passage #2 above) we read of Isaiah grasping his calling and surrendering to the Lord’s plans for his life.
And in meditating on this passage this morning, I went back to listen to one of my favorites, a lilting and beautiful song, sung by the Messianic Jewish songwriter, Marty Goetz, entitled “Hineni,” which the Hebrew word for “Here am I,” If you can take a few moments, you can listen to this powerful song at this link .
Isaiah was in enveloped in an attitude of what I call “surrender mode,” which is the attitude that all believers need to live out our lives. It seems quite obvious that Isaiah had understood his calling as a Prophet, even before this dramatic episode in Isaiah 6. However, God needed to take Isaiah to a higher level of calling because the Lord knew what was ahead for this Prophet. But, in reading these passages this morning, I realize that I also had my own “Hineni” moment years ago when I received my calling to develop Battle Plan Ministry, the mission God has called me out to lead in these troubled and darkened times. And to God’s calling I too said, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”
My friend, you may not be called to be God’s messenger from a pulpit or a missionary to some 3rd world. But if you are a disciple of Christ, God does have a plan for you and your life; and that plan is for God’s glory, not for your own comfort. And God wants us ALL to bloom where He has planted us, … and to shine a light in the darkness which surrounds us. And … my dear one, the darkness abounds in these troubles times, doesn’t it?
All we need to do is respond as did Isaiah did and go forth with God’s calling in surrender mode with our lives, saying, “Here am I, Lord; send me!” In closing out this journal entry, let me link you to one more song for your devotional edification as you take in this journal entry. It is sung by Daniel O’Donnell and is entitled, “Here I Am, Lord;” and linked here for your meditation . I’ll leave it to you to decide, with the Lord’s guidance, whether you are living in surrender to His calling for your life.
My Prayer Today: … Here I am, Lord! Shine Your light brightly; and I will follow You. Amen
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 5: 20-22 : [NIV] … 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 6: 5-8 : [NIV] … 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
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Highlight Passage #3: Isaiah 8: 11-16 : [NIV] … 11 This is what the Lord says to me with His strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: 12 "Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. 13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. 14 He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah He will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem He will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." 16 Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God's instruction among My disciples.
My Journal for Today: Sometimes, in my calling to ministry, when I feel inadequate to the task, which happens occasionally, I get a bit dispirited and even discouraged. But my gig for God is small potatoes when compared to Isaiah’s calling. And in today’s chronological reading we get a sense of what Isaiah’s calling to deliver the truth to God’s people in Judah was like.
First, his news was not “good news” to the people of his day. As we can read in Isaiah 5 (highlight passage above), in my best southern dialect, Isaiah was giving a “Woe to y’all!” message, which would not have been received well in Judah in the times just before the southern tribes where defeated and consumed the Babylonians. And Isaiah was likely downhearted to be called to deliver such a message; and so, God gave the Prophet a vision of heaven to give him a boost of sight and encouragement for his prophetic mission. And in (highlight passage #2 above) we read of Isaiah grasping his calling and surrendering to the Lord’s plans for his life.
And in meditating on this passage this morning, I went back to listen to one of my favorites, a lilting and beautiful song, sung by the Messianic Jewish songwriter, Marty Goetz, entitled “Hineni,” which the Hebrew word for “Here am I,” If you can take a few moments, you can listen to this powerful song at this link .
Isaiah was in enveloped in an attitude of what I call “surrender mode,” which is the attitude that all believers need to live out our lives. It seems quite obvious that Isaiah had understood his calling as a Prophet, even before this dramatic episode in Isaiah 6. However, God needed to take Isaiah to a higher level of calling because the Lord knew what was ahead for this Prophet. But, in reading these passages this morning, I realize that I also had my own “Hineni” moment years ago when I received my calling to develop Battle Plan Ministry, the mission God has called me out to lead in these troubled and darkened times. And to God’s calling I too said, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”
My friend, you may not be called to be God’s messenger from a pulpit or a missionary to some 3rd world. But if you are a disciple of Christ, God does have a plan for you and your life; and that plan is for God’s glory, not for your own comfort. And God wants us ALL to bloom where He has planted us, … and to shine a light in the darkness which surrounds us. And … my dear one, the darkness abounds in these troubles times, doesn’t it?
All we need to do is respond as did Isaiah did and go forth with God’s calling in surrender mode with our lives, saying, “Here am I, Lord; send me!” In closing out this journal entry, let me link you to one more song for your devotional edification as you take in this journal entry. It is sung by Daniel O’Donnell and is entitled, “Here I Am, Lord;” and linked here for your meditation . I’ll leave it to you to decide, with the Lord’s guidance, whether you are living in surrender to His calling for your life.
My Prayer Today: … Here I am, Lord! Shine Your light brightly; and I will follow You. Amen
Sunday, July 08, 2012
July 8, 2012 … God’s Refining Fire
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Isaiah, Chapter 1-4 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 1: 1; 21; 24-25 : [NIV] … 1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. … 21 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her — but now murderers! … 24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. … 30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. 31 The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."
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Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 2: 8-12; 22 : [NIV] … 8 Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. 9 So people will be brought low and everyone humbled — do not forgive them. 10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! 11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store [i.e., “The Day of the Lord”] for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),… 22 Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?
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Highlight Passage #3: Isaiah 3: 8-11 : [NIV] … 8 Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. 9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. 10 Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. 11 Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done.
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Highlight Passage #4: Isaiah 4: 2-4 : [NIV] … 2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.3 Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.4 The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
My Journal for Today: Okay, my reading plan again has me drinking God’s truth from a fire hydrant, taking in a big gulp of God’s story today in the Book of Isaiah and studying from the writings of the Prophet considered by Bible scholars as being one of the greatest of all the prophets. Isaiah proclaimed God’s word and warning to the people of Israel, especially when the tribes in the northern regions of Israel and Judah in the south had divided. And Isaiah came along chronologically in the times I’ve been reading about in the last few days with a tough message for the believers in Judah, confronting them with their disobedience and idolatry, which was a message they really didn’t want to hear.
And so, if you’re reading along in these journal entries, I charge you to read/study from the link above the messages Isaiah gave to the Jews in his day; and when you do I’m sure you will be note one overriding – VERY LOUD – message; and that is God’s warning for His disobedient children with a prophesy of their ultimate doom if they did not repent and live in obedience to God’s word and His will and His ways.
But right in the midst of all of this doom and gloom prophesy, there is a ray of light and a glimpse of glory for the remnant in Israel who have remained faithful and had walked in obedience to God’s truth and His proclaimed ways; and that glimmer of hope is found in the one verse above which I have copied in bold/red above (see Isaiah 3: 10). And when I see what is going on in our times and in this country, I see a culture and a people who are living in parallel with the unbelieving, recalcitrant Jews in Isaiah’s time.
We are living in a time which very likely could be the times when Jesus, the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah and many other of the Prophets in those days, is about to return and set up His millennial rule prior to that great time of judgment which one can read about in today’s reading. But, as a Christian believer, though it is very hard to take in all the idolatry and unGodly disobedience in my day, I’m uplifted by the hope and the promise of The Messiah’s return and the truth that the remnant of believers and those who seek His righteousness, in any age, will be protected and delivered from God’s wrath; … BUT, sadly, not so with those who’ve mocked our Lord with their rejection.
Therefore, to this truth and promise, I give thanks.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, God, … thank You for watching over, guiding, and protecting Your remnant of believers. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that You come soon to deliver us from evil. Amen
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Highlight Passage: Isaiah 1: 1; 21; 24-25 : [NIV] … 1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. … 21 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her — but now murderers! … 24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. … 30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. 31 The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."
============
Highlight Passage #2: Isaiah 2: 8-12; 22 : [NIV] … 8 Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. 9 So people will be brought low and everyone humbled — do not forgive them. 10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! 11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store [i.e., “The Day of the Lord”] for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),… 22 Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?
============
Highlight Passage #3: Isaiah 3: 8-11 : [NIV] … 8 Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. 9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. 10 Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. 11 Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done.
============
Highlight Passage #4: Isaiah 4: 2-4 : [NIV] … 2 In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.3 Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.4 The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
My Journal for Today: Okay, my reading plan again has me drinking God’s truth from a fire hydrant, taking in a big gulp of God’s story today in the Book of Isaiah and studying from the writings of the Prophet considered by Bible scholars as being one of the greatest of all the prophets. Isaiah proclaimed God’s word and warning to the people of Israel, especially when the tribes in the northern regions of Israel and Judah in the south had divided. And Isaiah came along chronologically in the times I’ve been reading about in the last few days with a tough message for the believers in Judah, confronting them with their disobedience and idolatry, which was a message they really didn’t want to hear.
And so, if you’re reading along in these journal entries, I charge you to read/study from the link above the messages Isaiah gave to the Jews in his day; and when you do I’m sure you will be note one overriding – VERY LOUD – message; and that is God’s warning for His disobedient children with a prophesy of their ultimate doom if they did not repent and live in obedience to God’s word and His will and His ways.
But right in the midst of all of this doom and gloom prophesy, there is a ray of light and a glimpse of glory for the remnant in Israel who have remained faithful and had walked in obedience to God’s truth and His proclaimed ways; and that glimmer of hope is found in the one verse above which I have copied in bold/red above (see Isaiah 3: 10). And when I see what is going on in our times and in this country, I see a culture and a people who are living in parallel with the unbelieving, recalcitrant Jews in Isaiah’s time.
We are living in a time which very likely could be the times when Jesus, the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah and many other of the Prophets in those days, is about to return and set up His millennial rule prior to that great time of judgment which one can read about in today’s reading. But, as a Christian believer, though it is very hard to take in all the idolatry and unGodly disobedience in my day, I’m uplifted by the hope and the promise of The Messiah’s return and the truth that the remnant of believers and those who seek His righteousness, in any age, will be protected and delivered from God’s wrath; … BUT, sadly, not so with those who’ve mocked our Lord with their rejection.
Therefore, to this truth and promise, I give thanks.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, God, … thank You for watching over, guiding, and protecting Your remnant of believers. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that You come soon to deliver us from evil. Amen
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