Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Israel after Solomon (26): Introduction to Isaiah
Bible Verse:Isaiah 1-5 (ESV) (excerpts)
"The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?”
says the Lord;
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts.”
How the faithful city
has become a whore,
she who was full of justice!
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still."
Message:
Isaiah is a long book at 66 chapters, not at all well-organized, and rather windy even by Old Testament standards. Much of it was written by prophets who, although inspired by God, were not named “Isaiah,” and parts of it may have been written centuries after he died. Nevertheless, it is the most influential book of prophecy to Christianity and is, at times, profoundly moving and beautiful.
Today’s Scripture, a selection of verses from the first five chapters, characterize Isaiah’s warnings about the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. Notice the mixing of tenses. Future events are often written in the past tense, which reflect the visionary nature of Isiah’s prophecy. He has been, in effect, transported into a future time by a vision, and thus his prophecy sometimes looks “back to the future”.
The early chapters relate to the sinfulness that characterized the Kingdom of Judah during his youth and middle age. That is, the time under the first three kings named in Isaiah 1:1 — Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, all of whom are utterly forgettable. Under them, Judah had lapsed into full-blown polytheism; foreign idols were erected and worshipped in the Temple itself. The government was corrupt. The greed of the rich and powerful went unchecked by the law of Moses, which had numerous provisions to protect the poor and helpless.
Isaiah by Lorenzo Monaco
Isaiah
The first 33 chapters of Isaiah contain primarily prophecies that the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel will be defeated and destroyed — Israel in the near future by the Assyrians, and Judah at an unspecified time. Chs. 34 and 35 extend this vision of destruction to the entire world. Chs. 36-39 give a detailed historical account of the miraculous defeat of the Assyrian army by Hezekiah, saving Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah from the destruction that had just been visited on the Kingdom of Israel. This salvation of Jerusalem, coming after 35 chapters predicting its destruction, might seem odd. But it follows the chronology of Isaiah the man.
Isaiah played two different roles. The kings had prophets (whether they wanted them or not) to advise them about current times and the immediate future, as Elijah prophesied to Ahab, Nathan to David, etc.(See chart.) Isaiah played this role in advising Hezekiah in his middle or later years, and thus, we find this shorter-term prophecy about the Assyrians in the middle of the book.
But the latter prophets began to foretell God’s plans for the distant future, hundreds or even thousands of years in advance, which is the primary reason they are separate books of the Bible. Isaiah made such prophesies his entire life. In fact, one finds prophecies about the coming of Christ as early as Chapter 7, as well as throughout the later chapters.
Meditation
:
Prayer :
And finally, may the grace of Christ our Savior, and the Father’s boundless love, with the Holy Spirit’s favor, rest upon me, and all of us, from above. Thus may we abide in union, with each other and the Lord, and possess, in sweet communion, joys which earth cannot afford.......Amen
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