Devotionary

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Ep 763 – Isaiah 9:18-10:4 Jan 18, 2019

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In our day and age, sin has become little more than an afterthought. We have so minimized the significance of sin, that we tend to refer to it with terms like, mistake. And we seem to think there is no need to confess our mistakes, because, in the grand scheme of things, they are just not that important. We have come to believe that God forgives and forgets. After all, He is a loving and gracious God. But Isaiah 9:18-10:4 paints a starkly different picture of God's outlook on mankind's sin. He doesn't view it as some kind of an oversight or innocent mistake. No, God sees our sins as transgressions against His holiness. He views us as rebels, who stand in stubborn opposition to His divine decrees. He doesn't excuse our sinfulness or take it lightly. His holiness will not allow Him to do so. He must punish sin. He must deal justly and righteously with rebellious men and women. Why? Because He knows that sin, if left unaccounted for, will spread like a cancer. It is deadly. And man is incapable of dealing with its devastating influence on his own.

Ep 762 – Isaiah 9:8-17 Jan 17, 2019

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Things weren't looking good in Judah. Of course, it depended upon your particular perspective. The people of Judah were bothered by the presence of enemies and the threat of invasion. But God was much more concerned about the presence of sin in the midst of His people. In fact, the very reason the people of God were having to worry about invasion was because they had sinned against God. He was the one who was bringing destruction in the form of pagan nations. And He was doing it because the entire nation was marred by sin. From the politicians to the religious leaders, corruption and immorality filled their ranks and trickled down to the people under their care. Spiritual darkness filled the land and, while God had promised to send the light of new dawn, there were going to be some lightless days in the foreseeable future. His judgment was going to fall on the nation. He was not going to tolerate or overlook their rebellion against Him any longer. Everyone was guilty and deserving of His divine wrath.

Ep 761 – Isaiah 9:1-7 Jan 16, 2019

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Darkness. Sometimes it can be palpable, almost as if you can touch it. And when it comes to spiritual darkness, there is a very real and tangible aspect to it. Living in the darkness of sin can become a comfortable place. We can find ourselves believing that our sins remain out of sight and hidden from God's view. The darkness becomes a place where we feel unexposed and our true condition, undetected. But God is all about exposing the darkness of sin in the lives of men. And in Isaiah 9:1-7, He informs the people of Judah, who were living in distress and darkness, that a light was going to dawn. The spiritual night of their circumstances was going to be broken by the dawn of a new day. God was going to do something new. He was going to shine a bright light into the darkened corners and hidden recesses of His chosen people, exposing their true spiritual condition and providing them with a means of being restored to a right relationship with Him. In spite of all that these stubborn and rebellious people had done to offend Him, God was going to show them His grace and mercy, redeeming them even in their unredeemable state.

Ep 760 – Isaiah 8:11-22 Jan 15, 2019

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The author of the book of Hebrews provides us with the following statement intended to encourage us in our walk of faith: "The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?" He was simply paraphrasing Psalm 118:6 which reads: "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" Both authors were attempting to remind their readers not to fear men. With God on your side, there is no reason to fear mortal men. Even Jesus picked up on this theme when He told His disciples, "do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28 ESV). Sure, men can take your life, but they can do nothing to impact the eternal state of your soul. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus are guaranteed an eternal existence with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But we face opposition in this life. We come under threats for our faith. So did Isaiah, and that is why, in Isaiah 8:11-22, God told the prophet to fear Him and not men. He was to stay faithful, even when tempted to compromise and cave in.

Ep 759 – Isaiah 8:1-10 Jan 14, 2019

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Isaiah 8:1-10 continues the theme of God's presence. In chapter 7, we were introduced to the child who would be born of a virgin, and whose name would be Immanuel. The future, long-term fulfillment of this promise would be Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel. But this chapter will reveal that another baby boy would be born to Isaiah, who would end up with two names. One name was decreed by God. The other was given by the boy's birth mother. And we will see that both names were appropriate, because each represented an aspect of God's relationship with the rebellious people of Judah. This infant boy would symbolize God's pending judgment and His unfailing presence. Despite what they would see happening around them and to them, they could trust in the fact that God was there. He would remain Immanuel, God with us. Even the birth of this baby boy, in the face of the coming judgment was meant to be a sign of God's good fortune and future blessing. He would live to see the fall of Judah, but his name was an assurance that God would be with them no matter what happened.

Ep 758 – Isaiah 7:10-25 Jan 13, 2019

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A primary reason that men fail to trust God has to do with their failure to recognize that He is with them. They judge the reality of His presence based on the condition of their circumstances. If things are going well, He is with them and obviously happy with them. But if things happen to take a turn for the worse, the natural assumption is that God has vacated the premises or chosen to forsake His child. But Isaiah 7:10-25 makes it clear that the reality of God's presence must be judged by His character and nature, not the conditions surrounding us. King Ahaz finds himself faced with the difficult choice of trusting God, when he could not clearly comprehend God. Things looked bleak. Conditions were less than ideal. But in the midst of all the confusing circumstances, God gave Ahaz a reassuring word. He promised to send someone to assist the people of Israel. But not just anybody. It would be Immanuel, whose name means, "God with us." It was God's way of letting Ahaz and the people of Judah know that His coming judgment of them would not be a sign that He was no longer with them.

Ep 757 – Isaiah 7:1-9 Jan 12, 2019

Show notes

st me. How many times have you heard someone say that phrase and leave you feeling like it was the last thing you should do? People who ask you to trust them typically do so because they have given you ample reason not to trust them. Someone who has earned your trust through their actions shouldn't have to ask for it. And yet, In Isaiah 7:1-9, God is going to expose the people of Judah's lack of trust in Him, even though He had proven time and time again that He was a trustworthy God. One of the greatest signs of their lack of trust was their worship of false gods. Every time they did so, they were telling God they didn't trust Him. They were putting their hopes in something or someone else. And King Ahaz was going to be faced with the task of taking God at His word, or allowing the circumstances surrounding him to dictate his decision-making. Would He trust God, in spite of what was going on around him, or would he allow his fear to overwhelm his faith in God.

Ep 756 – Isaiah 6:9-13 Jan 11, 2019

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Free will. It's a hotly debated topic in Christian circles and has been for centuries. But in our blatantly self-reliant, me-centered society, it seems to have taken on a life of its own. Modern man sees himself as thoroughly autonomous and self-ruled, vehemently opposed to any outside control and determined to be the master of his own fate. Even God-fearing Christians wrestle with the idea that God might somehow be in control of their lives. Self-rule and self-determination have become like badges of honor that we proudly display and strongly defend. But in Isaiah 6:9-13, we have one of those passages that seems to throw a wrench in our cherished concept of free well and self-determination. As God commissions Isaiah as His mouthpiece, He warns him that the people of Judah were not going to listen to what he had to say. They would prove to be spiritually deaf and blind – incapable of hearing and heeding the message of the prophet. And it would all be the sovereign work of God. The only thing the people of Judah would find themselves free to do would be to continue in sin.

Ep 755 – Isaiah 6:1-8 Jan 10, 2019

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Isaiah was a messenger for God. He had been hand-picked by God Almighty and commissioned to carry a message of warning and a call to repentance to the people of Judah. But before Isaiah could fulfill His God-appointed role and point out the sins of the people of Judah, he had to have his own sins exposed and expunged. In Isaiah 6:1-8, we are shown how God prepared His spokesperson by cleansing him from his own unrighteousness and unworthiness. As God's prophet, Isaiah was going to need purification before he could call the people to repentance. His lips would need to be cleansed before he could communicate the holy words of a righteous God. But, in spite of his awareness of his own unworthiness, Isaiah displays a remarkable enthusiasm to be used by God, saying, "Here I am, send me!" He wanted to serve Yahweh by offering his life in faithful service. And he was willing to go through the painful purification process required by God in order to become a mouthpiece for God. He had been given the privilege of seeing God, and now he wanted to serve Him with his life.

Ep 754 – Isaiah 5:8-17 Jan 09, 2019

Show notes

Contentment. In some ways, it's like the holy grail. For centuries, men have heard about its powers and desired to discover if it can really do all that its legend portends. But like medieval knights on a never-ending quest, most of us spend our entire lives in a vain search for the illusive prize of contentment. And the people of Judah were no different. In fact, in Isaiah 5:8-17, God pronounces a series of woes against the nation because their lives were marked by greed and an insatiable desire for more. They were anything but content, even though God had richly blessed them in a variety of ways. And their self-centered, self-pleasing determination to have more revealed a strong lack of love for God and others. And God condemns them, warning that they would experience His curses, because they refused to be satisfied with Him and all that He had graciously given them. Discontentment is a disease that is communicable. It can spread from one person to the next, infecting the entire family of God. Which is why God, like a surgeon, was going to extract it from their midst.

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