Devotionary

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Ep 844 – Isaiah 53:1-12 Apr 09, 2019

Show notes

When reading the book of Isaiah, one must never lose sight of the fact that it is a prophetic book. While it provides an accurate historical record of the fate of the people of Judah, it also revealed many things that had not yet taken place. It provides a vivid portrait of future events that God had planned for His people. Some of these events took place not long after the book was written, but many of them would remain unfulfilled for centuries. And Isaiah 53:1-12 provides us with a glimpse into God's revelation concerning His coming servant, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This chapter is a Messianic passage, containing God's promise concerning the coming servant and much of it deals with Jesus' gruesome death. While other prophetic passages promise the coming of the Messiah in much more glowing terms, portraying Him as the conquering king, Isaiah 53 portrays Jesus as the Suffering Servant. He would suffer and die, paying the debt owed for the sins of mankind. And His faithful submission to God's will was to be an example for the people of Judah as they faced difficult days ahead.

Ep 843 – Isaiah 52:1-15 Apr 08, 2019

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We like to think of God as being in control of all things. But the problem is, we don't really believe that it's true. As we look at all that is going on in the world, it is so easy to conclude that God is not in control. In fact, things appear to be spiraling out of control. Even within the context of our own personal affairs, we can begin to feel like God has somehow vacated the premises or somehow lost His grip on the reigns of our life. That's exactly how the people of Judah must have felt as they assessed their situation and attempted to figure out where God was in all that was going on around them. But in Isaiah 52:1-15, God is going to assure His people that He rules and reigns, in spite of all that their circumstances may say to the contrary. He wasn't asleep. He hadn't been distracted. And their difficult situation was not a sign that He didn't care. He was simply sticking to His divine plan and keeping to the timeline He had established before the foundation of the world. God wasn't in a panic and He was in no rush. The times were difficult, but the message was simple: Your God reigns.

Ep 842 – Isaiah 51:16-23 Apr 07, 2019

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Nobody likes to wait. Impatience seems to be bred into the human DNA and affects each and every individual to one degree or another. And yet, the Bible is full of admonitions from God encouraging His people to wait on Him. And in Isaiah 51:16-23, God encourages the people of Judah, reeling from the news of their pending fall to the Babylonians, to wait on Him. He has plans for them. While the coming days were filled with the threat of God's punishment, He wanted them to know that there was good news on the horizon. It might not arrive immediately, but it would come in time, according to God's perfectly orchestrated plan. God even issues a much-needed wake-up call to His people, challenging them to come to grips with the reality of their situation and to acknowledge their culpability for their circumstances. They had sinned against Him, and yet He was going to do great things for them. Not right away. Not even in their lifetime. But they were expected to wait in Him, trusting that He would implement His plan at just the right time and in perfect compliance with His promises to them. Waiting can be hard, but when we wait for the Lord we know we will not be disappointed.

Ep 841 – Isaiah 51:1-15 Apr 06, 2019

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If I were able to ask you if you believed God to be powerful, you would likely respond with an enthusiastic, "Yes!" But the truth is, there have been plenty of times in your life when you doubted the power of God. And, more than likely, your assessment was based on your circumstances. When things take a turn for the worst, we tend to doubt God's power or question His love. But God would have us remember that His love never wavers and His power never diminishes. And that is the message He tried to convey to the people of Judah as recorded in Isaiah 51:1-15. In these verses, God addresses a small remnant of His faithful followers. In all of Judah, there was only a handful of those who pursued righteousness and remained true to God. And God wanted them to know that they could trust Him, in spite of all that was going on around them. He knew that they were beginning to have their doubts. They were looking around and starting to question whether God was going to come through for them. And God wanted them to know that His righteousness was drawing near. They could count on it. It may not be in their lifetime, but they could rest in the knowledge that God never abandons His own.

Ep 840 – Isaiah 50:4-11 Apr 05, 2019

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You've probably heard someone refer to history as His story, the story of God and His relationship with mankind. And the Bible is a record of that story, beginning with God's creation of the first man and woman and spanning across the generations to His call of Abram and His choosing of the people of Israel as His chosen possession. And if you fast-forward to the end of the book, you come to the literal end of the story, where God sends His Son to bring judgment to the nations and restoration to His chosen people. And in Isaiah 50:4-11, God reveals to the people of Judah that He has plans to send His servant, the Messiah, to shine as a light in the darkness brought on by own their sin and rebellion. But there is a sense in which the Jews were going to have to embrace the light that God was sending, refusing to live by the dim glow of their own self-righteousness. The arrival of the servant was centuries away, but they were expected to take God at His word and trust His promises. God had already told them, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light," but they were going to have to believe that it was true.

Ep 839 – Isaiah 50:1-3 Apr 04, 2019

Show notes

There is no situation so bad or circumstance so hopeless that God is not able to step in and bring help and rescue. His power is never limited or His strength insufficient to handle whatever it is we are facing. And yet, how easy it is to look at our circumstances and draw the conclusion that God is either too weak or too busy to deal with our problem. But sometimes our suffering is due to our own sin. Our poor choices end up bringing the discipline of God and then we try to make Him responsible for our situation. And in the first three verses of Isaiah 50, that is exactly what we see the people of Judah doing. Unhappy with their lot in life, they try to blame God for their less-than-satisfactory situation. They attempt to hold Him responsible for the sorry state in which they find themselves, but God will not allow them to pass the buck. While He would be the one responsible for sending the Babylonians, it would be because of the sins of the people of Judah. Their circumstances were not to be seen as proof of God's weakness or as evidence of His lack of love for them. It was all a reflection of His holiness and His hatred for sin. He had the power to deliver, but He also had the responsibility to discipline those whom He loves.

Ep 838 – Isaiah 49:8-26 Apr 03, 2019

Show notes

There are times in the life of every child of God when they feel abandoned by Him. The circumstances surrounding their life seem to indicate that God has turned His back on them. The darkness feels overwhelming and the light of God's presence seems distant and dim. And it at those moments, we are tempted to say, "My Lord has forgotten me." That is exactly what we see happening in Isaiah 49:8-26, as the hopelessness and helplessness of the people of Judah are made painfully apparent. But God, speaking in prophetic terms, assures His people that their feelings are unreliable and their conclusions about Him are inaccurate. He has not forgotten or forsaken them. He has not abandoned them. Yes, their immediate circumstances were bleak and the outlook for the foreseeable future wasn't any better. But God has long-term plans in place of which they were unaware. And He wanted them to know that He could be trusted because He is faithful, just, and committed to His covenant promises. While their immediate comfort and happiness was all they could think of, God had greater plans in store that included eternal life, not just temporary relief from pain.

Ep 837 – Isaiah 49:1-7 Apr 02, 2019

Show notes

One of the joys that comes from reading the Old Testament books of prophecy is that you discover some of the things that remain still unfulfilled. The messages given by God through His prophets and concerning future events, have not all taken place yet. There are aspects of God's prophetic word that remain on the horizon of world history. But God is faithful and He always keeps His word. What He says will happen will happen. What He promises to do, He will do. And in Isaiah 49:1-7, we are given a glimpse into a future day when God sends His special servant to accomplish some amazing things on behalf of the people of Judah and Israel. This Old Testament passage reveals the future work of Jesus, the Messiah, when He returns at His second coming. On that day, He will complete the decrees outlined by God in these verses, doing for the people of Israel and Judah all that God has promised. Jesus, who came the first time as the Suffering Servant, will come again, but this time He will come as the all-victorious

Savior.

Ep 836 – Isaiah 48:12-22 Apr 01, 2019

Show notes

It's easy to slam the wicked. Finding fault with the faithless comes naturally to most of us. But, as Christians, we sometimes fail to understand that even our sin has ramifications. Just because we are followers of Christ doesn't make us immune to the consequences of sinful choices. When we sin, there are ramifications. Yes, we enjoy forgiveness, but that doesn't mean we can sin with impunity and without any fear of consequences. In Isaiah 48:12-22 God is going to let the people of Judah know that He had plans for them. Some of those plans had to do with their destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. But it didn't have to be that way. God had repeatedly offered them the chance to repent and return to Him, but they had refused. They could have enjoyed a restored relationship with God, if they would have heeded His warnings and humbly returned to Him with penitent hearts. Now, they would suffer similar fates as the wicked pagans from Babylon. And they would learn the painful lesson that there is no peace for the wicked, even those who are called by God's name.

Ep 835 - Isaiah 48:1-11 Mar 31, 2019

Show notes

No one in their right mind would want to have God as their enemy. But as we have seen throughout the book of Isaiah, the people of Judah seem to have gone out of their way to get on God's bad side. They had regularly and repeatedly disobeyed Him, even being so bold as to replace Him with false gods. And in Isaiah 48:1-11, God is going to spell out His disfavor with His chosen people. They were little more than hypocrites, claiming that they still honored and worshiped Him as their God, but proving otherwise by their actions. As we will see, they were quick to confess Yahweh as their God, but not in an honest and just manner. In essence, they were lying, saying one thing and doing another. They claimed allegiance but demonstrated their true colors by their actions. They were disobedient and unfaithful. And yet, God promises to redeem and restore them, not because they deserved it, but because of His own reputation. They had dishonored God, dragging His reputation through the mud by virtue of their infidelity. But God would protect the honor of His name by redeeming them in spite of them.

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