The Book Of Isaiah. Day 187, A Song Of Praise, Part Two

The section we are currently studying in Chapter 42 is titled "A Song Of Praise". The Lord talks about how He will bring forth help and healing.

"For a long time I have kept silent. I have kept quiet and have held Myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant." (Isaiah 42:14) A new thing will be done and the Lord likens it to a new life being born. He is going to bring forth deliverance for His people.

Nothing can get in His way. "I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools." (Isaiah 42:15) The Lord is certainly able to literally flatten mountains and dry up rivers, although I think He is speaking figuratively here. He will remove all obstacles. Nothing is able to thwart His plans.

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth." (Isaiah 42:16a) The Lord opens our eyes to His truth. His word is truth and He uses it to light the way for us. As Psalm 119:105 expresses it: "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." As children of God, we never have to stumble around blindly in the dark. 

The Lord intends to do these wonderful things. He is not making empty promises. Every word He speaks is absolutely true. "These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." (Isaiah 42:16b) In our frail mortal bodies and in our human way of thinking we sometimes doubt God is going to do anything good for us. We know we are not perfect and this makes us feel as if God should not or cannot do something good for us. But His goodness doesn't depend on us! God does good things because He is good! 

The Lord knows His children and the Lord loves His children. Those who reject Him are rejecting love and mercy and forgiveness. That is why He says this about those who reject Him in favor of idolatry: "But those who trust in idols, those who say to images, 'You are our gods,' will be turned back in utter shame." (Isaiah 42:17) In contrast to what happens to idolaters, the Lord says this about those who trust in Him: "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." (Psalm 34:5)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 186, A Song Of Praise, Part One

Chapter 42 began with some words regarding the Messiah, whose advent was yet to come during the era of the prophet Isaiah. Now the narrative moves on into a song of praise. 

The Lord reminds predicted the things regarding the Messiah long before they took place. He predicted many things in the Bible that have already been fulfilled. The things that remain to be fulfilled with take place exactly as He said they would. No one but God could do this and these things are some of the credentials that prove He is who He says He is.

"I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." (Isaiah 42:8-9) No idol ever did what the Lord has done. No idol never did anything because they are images of deities that don't exist. 

With this in mind, a song of praise breaks out, I presume from the lips of the prophet Isaiah. "Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim His praise to the islands. The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior He will stir up His zeal; with a shout He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies." (Isaiah 42:10-13)

The Lord has never lost a battle. It is impossible for Him to lose a battle. All power and authority belong to Him and He has dominion over all things. There is nothing too hard for Him. What an awesome thing it is to be a child of the living God! So many resources are at our disposal because we belong to the Father. I confess I don't always avail myself of these blessings because I allow myself to get caught up in fear and I allow myself to think the Lord won't do marvelous things for somebody like me. I can believe He will do them for someone else but at times it's very difficult for me to believe He will extend the same mercy to me. I am so aware of my failures and faults and I feel so unworthy. But the truth is that the Lord knew everything about us before He ever created us and He loved us anyway. He is not put off by our imperfections. Let us remind ourselves that, in spite of knowing all our weaknesses, the Lord Jesus Christ thought we were worth dying for.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 185, A Messianic Prophecy, Part Two

As we continue on through Chapter 42 we are looking at words that reference the coming Messiah. In Isaiah's era the people did not fully understand how the advent of the Messiah would come about but in our era---the church age---we are blessed to know how this unfolded. As we read these words we are to read them in the knowledge that they are speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"This is what God the Lord says---the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 'I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." (Isaiah 42:5-7) 

I believe we are to take these verses most specifically as a promise God the Father is making to God the Son. He is calling Him in righteousness and will make Him a covenant and a light for the people. But in a sense He is making this promise to mankind as well, for it is through God the Son that the Lord shines light on us. It is through God the Son that the Lord makes a new covenant with mankind. 

There are a number of places in the Old Testament and in the New Testament regarding the One in whom the Gentiles will put their hope. This One is the Lord Jesus Christ, the One the Lord promised would come from the descendants of Abraham who would be a blessing to all nations. As a person of Gentile heritage, I am thankful that the Lord did not leave the Gentiles out of His plan of salvation! The Lord Jesus Christ, who was of Jewish heritage, came not only to save His own people but to save people of all nations. My ancestors were pagan idolaters but the Lord invited them to come to Him and be saved. Although I don't know all of my heritage and I don't know how or when the gospel message came to them or how many of them accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, I know that the Lord invited them to do so. I know He never rejected them as not being "good enough" to become His children. I know that as many of them that came to Him in faith were accepted by Him and made part of the family of God.

It doesn't matter what is in our own past or what is in our ancestry. The New Testament provides the family tree of the Lord Jesus Christ and He had at least two Gentiles of heathen nations on that tree: Rahab who was formerly a prostitute of the heathen city of Jericho and Ruth of the pagan nation of Moab. But both of these women became believers of the one true God and became ancestors of the Messiah! What, then, can the Lord do with you and with me?

I've made a lot of mistakes. There are sins in my past that I'd be ashamed to talk about here. I've made mistakes since I've become a believer and I'm ashamed of those too. As long as we live in frail human bodies in a fallen world we are not going to be perfect. But the Lord helps us with our infirmities (Romans 8:26) and the Lord knows what it's like to live in a human body in a world where it feels like everything is falling down around us. I'm so thankful He inhabited a human body because, as the Apostle Paul stated, He is able to "empathize with our weaknesses". (Hebrews 4:15) Paul reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His human form, was faced with everything we are faced with in our daily lives. Although He did not sin when faced with those things, this doesn't mean His human form didn't feel the pressure of those things. If He had not been God the Son, He could not have withstood those pressures, and this means He has so much sympathy for what it feels like to be us. He knows we are not going to be able to withstand all the pressures that come against us because we are mere mortals. Because He knows what it feels like to be us, He can strengthen and comfort us like no one else can. He understands us like no one else does. 

Since Jesus feels our feelings right along with us and is able to do something about our situation, the Apostle Paul encourages us with these words: "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Isaiah 4:16) Our confidence is that we are children of God through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17) As children of God, we are the brothers and sisters of Christ, and the Lord will not turn us away anymore than He would turn God the Son away. For the sake of Christ, who saved us, God cannot and will not refuse us forgiveness and mercy and help. This is why we are to approach Him in the confidence that He hears us and will strengthen us. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 184, A Messianic Prophecy, Part One

This next segment we are going to study is titled "The Servant Of The Lord" in the NIV Bible that we use. This prophecy is not about a servant in the usual manner, such as when a believer is referred to as a "servant" of God. Although this person does serve God, this service is not in the mere capacity of a frail and mortal human being but it is in the power of the One who is both wholly God and wholly man: the Messiah.

In the original Hebrew the word rendered here as "servant" can also mean a vassal king. In that context we also see the Messiah, for He is both a servant in His human nature and also the King of kings in His position as God the Son. 

Our current chapter is not the only one that describes the Messiah as the "Servant", for later on we will find Isaiah describing the crucifixion of the Servant centuries before it happened, centuries before the Roman Empire ruled over Judea, centuries before crucifixion as a method of execution was invented.

As we read this text we must read it in the knowledge that it is about the Lord Jesus Christ. With this in mind, I will be capitalizing the references to Him.

God the Father says of this Servant: "Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put My spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 42:1) Who but the King of kings and Lord of lords could bring justice to the nations? There has never been a world leader yet who could do such a thing. There never will be a world leader who can unite all the nations together in peace---no one other than the Messiah. Verse 1 describes the supernatural power of this King.

The next portion of our text describes this King's total obedience to the Lord. It describes His gentle spirit, His desire to magnify God the Father above all, and the way He relates so lovingly to frail human beings. "He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on the earth. In His teaching the islands will put their hope." (Isaiah 42:2-4)

In His human form the Son of God humbled Himself before Almighty God. The Apostle Paul, when encouraging believers to humble themselves before God, told them to follow Christ's example: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:6-9)

The references to the bruised reed and the smoldering wick are references to how gently and lovingly the Lord deals with mankind. Although He is so superior to us in every way, He identifies Himself with us. Because He lived on the earth in a human body, He understands our struggles and He comes up alongside us in our troubles. He strengthens us in our weaknesses. He doesn't upbraid us for our failures but enables us to do better, which is why the Lord says, "A bruised reed He will not break." We are bruised by this life on earth, aren't we? We are bruised by our carnal nature and by the troubles of this world and by the temptations that continually beset us. The Lord doesn't come along and see how bruised we are and chop us down to the ground. Instead He wants to gently tend our bruises until they are healed enough for us to stand to our feet again.

I'm reminded of the way all the corn stalks in my neighbor's garden were lying down on the ground after a recent storm that contained a lot of wind. The wind bruised and knocked over the corn stalks so that they were lying flat. But what you have to do when that happens is be gentle with the corn. You don't go grabbing the stalks and forcing them to stand up. You don't pound stakes into the ground and tie the corn up to them. That could cause the stalks to break which would bring about the death of the stalk. What's needed is gentleness and time, for stalks that are not broken will gradually stand up again, which is exactly what happened with all the corn stalks in my neighbor's garden. When the Lord finds us bruised by life, He doesn't grab us roughly and force us back to our feet, chastising us harshly and breaking our spirits. No, He begins ministering to us right where we are, even if where we are is flat on the ground. His intention is not to break us but to heal us so He can gradually raise us back to our feet stronger than we were before.

Likewise, the reference to the smoldering wick means He fans the flame in us that has almost gone out. This life on earth is hard and there are times when the troubles of the world will cause what was once a flaming fire in us to reduce down to a smoldering wick. The Lord doesn't come along and put out what's left. He doesn't conclude that we are of no use to Him or to anyone else. He doesn't want defeat for us; He wants victory for us! Therefore, He gently blows on the smoldering wick to bring the fire back to life. 

I don't know where you are right now in your spiritual journey. Perhaps you currently feel on fire for the Lord and that's a wonderful place to be. But perhaps you feel like a smoldering wick that's about to go out completely because you have been so battered and bruised by the troubles of this world. The Lord invites us to come to Him to be reinvigorated. He can renew us all the way down to the depths of our souls. I confess I desperately need some renewing right now. I need that smoldering wick fanned back into a flame. I need strengthening in my spirit and I need peace in my heart. Maybe you feel the same way. No one can do that for us except the One who says this: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Computer Issues Again And A Prayer Request

I'm sorry I've been having so many computer issues lately with my old laptop. I think I'm just going to have to get another one because this one is too low on memory and is having various problems that take so long for me to deal with in the mornings that I run out of time to do the Bible study before work. That's what's happened this morning. 

Please also remember me in your prayers. I've had three separate health issues over the past two months. They are not life-threatening issues but are beginning to take a toll on me physically and mentally. It seems like I just get one problem cleared up and another one appears. It's like my immune system is low although my checkup and bloodwork were fine. I've seen doctors a number of times since May. Thanks so much for your prayers!

I hope to be able to work on the Bible study after work today when I'll have more time to deal with the computer problem and will probably check some reviews about which one I might want to purchase. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 183, The Helper Of Israel, Part Six

The Lord has been telling Isaiah's people that He is their helper. They are not to look to idols or to their own strength to help them against their enemies. He promises to be their strength.

In addition, He promises to send them help from a human source. "I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes---one from the rising sun who calls on My name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay. (Isaiah 41:25) The Medo-Persian Empire will arise and conquer the lands north of Babylon before conquering Babylon itself and setting the captive people free. This is why the Lord says "from the north". But He also says "from the rising sun" because Cyrus the Great of Persia was born east of Babylon. Cyrus will be the one who conquers Babylon and tells the people taken from Jerusalem and Judah that they can go home.

The Lord says that Cyrus "calls on My name" and although Cyrus' religion was likely Zoroastrianism, he did believe that the God of Israel was real. As we move on through the Bible we will find him giving honor to the name of God and displaying a belief that God told him to liberate the captive people stolen from Jerusalem and Judah.

These things are going to unfold just as the Lord said they would. Therefore, as the people begin to see these predictions coming to pass, they should be encouraged to place all of their faith in God. No idol has ever told them the future. No soothsayer or false prophet has ever predicted any event with complete accuracy, especially not events that don't occur until decades or centuries later. In this next segment the Lord reminds the people to put their trust in the only One who can tell them things to come.

"Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, 'He was right?' No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you. I was the first to tell Zion, 'Look, here they are!' I gave to Jerusalem the good news." (Isaiah 41:26-27)

False prophets are going to arise and tell the people what they want to hear. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets of their era are going to tell the people the truth: that the Lord will allow the nation to fall if they do not utterly reject idolatry. But false prophets will speak soothing words, promising that the Lord would never allow the city of His temple to fall. Thankfully, there were men like the prophets of the Bible who faithfully relayed the message of God (often to their own peril) but as the nation progresses toward its downfall there will be far more people scoffing at the words of truth and far more false prophets promising peace and prosperity. There will be people depending on idols and on soothsayers to tell them what to do. Thinking ahead to this, the Lord says: "I look but there is no one---no one among the gods to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them. See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion." (Isaiah 41:28-29)

The one thing we can absolutely count on in this crazy world is the word of God. We are told a lot of misleading things in this world. Sometimes people deliberately tell us falsehoods; other times they mean well but are just mistaken and are being led by human reasoning and human feelings instead of by the word of God. Sometimes we unintentionally tell ourselves lies when we go by how we feel or by how things look rather than by what the Lord promised. This is why it's so important to study the word of God. It is the foundation---the unmovable foundation---we must stand on.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 182, The Helper Of Israel, Part Five

Today's text begins with the Lord putting the idols on trial. He invites them to bring their evidence that they are gods. They cannot.

"'Present your case,' says the Lord. 'Set forth your arguments,' say's Jacob's king. 'Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.'" (Isaiah 41:21-23a) No idol (or the deity it represents) can tell us the things that happened in ages past; only God can because He was there. No idol can predict the things to come; only God can because He knows the future. 

In the Bible we find many prophecies and a number of them have already been fulfilled. They came about just as the Lord said they would. It doesn't matter how far ahead He gave the prophecies, whether the event was predicted to come within days or within hundreds of years or within thousands of years, for there is no point so far in the future that God cannot see it. These things have unfolded exactly as He said they would. This is proof that He is God. This is proof that He is God alone; no idol ever predicted anything. Indeed, no idol has ever done anything.

The Lord continues His speech to the mute and useless idols of this world. "Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable." (Isaiah 41:23b-24) If we were to paraphrase the Lord's taunting words to useless idols, it might go something like this: "Don't just stand there! Do something! Amaze us with signs and wonders. Shake the ground underneath our feet. Display amazing sights in the heavens above. If you really are anything, prove it!"

Of course all the idols remain standing exactly where they are, doing and saying nothing. In contrast, let us consider the mighty works of our God! He spoke the word and created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He holds all of creation together. He works on behalf of those who love Him. He knows the future and can guide our decisions accordingly so we don't get off track. He knows our weaknesses but loves us anyway, choosing to provide a way of redemption for us. He did not withhold anything good from us. But idols---what have they ever done for anyone?

Idols in modern times are usually not graven images. If someone brought an idol into my house and set it up on a pedestal and ordered me to bow down and worship it, I would be horrified. I would resist. Everything in me would recoil from such an act. That's why the enemy of our souls has chosen to dress idolatry in different clothing than it wore in ancient times. Today's idols are things like money, status, popularity, ambition, possessions, relationships, substances, habits, and so on. I daresay we have all knelt at some type of altar at some point in our lives, perhaps not even realizing it. But can any of these things save our souls? Can any of these things provide us with a lasting source of peace? Can any of these things work miracles in our circumstances? Can any of these things change the hearts and lives of those around us? I'm not saying it's a sin to make a good living or to enjoy relationships with our loved ones or to have a nice house. But we have to keep in mind that those things are only the icing on the cake. And if we were to lose those things today, were they all we had? Or do we have the Lord and is He the bedrock of our lives?

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 181, The Helper Of Israel, Part Four

We closed our last study session with the Lord telling Isaiah's people, "Do not fear". He continues with His promise to help them.

"'Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I Myself will help you,' declares the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 'See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.'" (Isaiah 41:14-16) 

The Lord does not call Israel a "worm" in a derogatory way. Instead He is speaking of the power with which He will enable them to conquer their enemies. A worm's body is soft but there are many types of worms that can destroy crops and wood with their mouths. The Lord has enabled the lowly worm to cut down forests and in this same way He will enable His people to subdue enemies.

The Lord will look after His people, even the lowliest of them. The world often overlooks the poor and needy but the Lord never does. "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." (Isaiah 41:17)

The Lord is able to turn wastelands into fruitful fields and forests. He can turn deserts into springs. "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it." (Isaiah 41:18-20) 

Such miracles as those outlined above can be performed only by God. The people will see this and believe in and glorify Him.

Just as the Lord is able to turn barren wastelands into lands of plenty, He is able to turn the barren places of our lives into places of blessing. We may be going through tough times but our God is able to turn our circumstances around. Our God is able to give us peace in the midst of the storm while we are waiting for things to change. Our God is able to comfort us like no one else can.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 180, The Helper Of Israel, Part Three

As we concluded yesterday's study we found the Lord cautioning the people of Isaiah's nation not to seek help in the places where the pagan nations seek help. They are to seek help from Him. They are to remain faithful to Him, having nothing to do with idols. In time He will defeat their every enemy---including sin, death, and Satan himself.

"All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all." (Isaiah 41:11-12) The Lord has already allowed many nations and regimes, which were the enemies of the Jewish people, to fall. He will continue to keep the promise He made to Abraham that anyone who curses his descendants will be cursed and that anyone who blesses his descendants will be blessed. (Genesis 12:3) 

This does not mean that everything the descendants of Abraham have done has been good. On the pages of the Bible we find many of them falling into the same snares of sin that confront us today. On the pages of the Bible we even find a number of them falling into idolatry and bowing down to idols. So the Lord doesn't mean He is protecting them based on their own righteousness. But what He does means is that He is merciful and is faithful to His word and what it does mean is that there will always be people from among Abraham's descendants who remain faithful to the Lord and are blessed by Him in return.

The Lord has made many beautiful promises to the descendants of Abraham and to the Gentiles who accept the Lord as their God. Though we fail to lead perfect lives, this doesn't negate the mercy of God. This doesn't void His promise that if we place our faith in Him we will be redeemed from our sins. We make mistakes but, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Our salvation is not by works but by faith. Our salvation depends on the Lord's ability to purify us, not on our ability to purify ourselves.

How will the descendants of Abraham be delivered from their enemies? How will anyone on the earth be delivered from their sins? By the power of the Lord, who says this: "For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.'" (Isaiah 41:13)

Thanks be to our God who loves us too much to leave us without any remedy for sin! Thanks be to our God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves! I am so glad that my salvation doesn't depend on my ability to perfectly keep the laws of a holy God, for I cannot do it. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 179, The Helper Of Israel, Part Two

In the first portion of Chapter 41 the Lord called upon all the nations to witness the fact that He alone predicts things that come to pass exactly as He says they will. Way back in generations past He foretold many things that had already come true by Isaiah's day, yet we find a lot of the nations not taking this knowledge to heart in today's text.

Seeing the mighty works of the Lord causes a lot of the citizens of the world to fall into fear but in our passage today it's not the holy and reverent fear that leads to repentance. It's a worldly fear that causes them to double down on looking in the wrong direction for help.

"The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; they help each other and say to their companions, 'Be strong!' The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, 'It is good.' The other nails down the idol so it will not topple." (Isaiah 41:5-7)

Earlier in our study this week we found the Lord reminding mankind that He is the source of true and enduring strength. But here we find the people of the pagan nations encouraging each other to find strength in the inner man. And what do they do when they summon a little strength by sheer effort of will? They make more idols! They call upon false gods instead of calling upon the Lord their Creator.

The Lord cautions the people of Isaiah's nation not to do what the heathens do. They are not to fall into worldly fear and fall into the trap of idolatry. They are to remember who they are. "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham My friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are My servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you." (Isaiah 41:8-9)

These people are to remember who their God is and who they are in Him. This will anchor them in the truth. This will keep them from falling into the sins of the nations. This will keep them connected to the source of their protection and strength. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

I daresay that verse 10 is the "life verse" of a lot of believers. It is a beautiful and comforting verse for the child of God---not only for the descendants of Abraham who believe in Him but for the Gentiles who believe in Him. This verse is for everyone who has made Him their God: "for I am your God". Because He is always with us every second of every day, we can rely on Him like a small child relies on his father. When I was a small child I was never afraid whenever one of my parents was with me. In that same way we can trust in and rely on and rest in our heavenly Father. He is with us, so we need not fear. He has everything under control, so we need not be dismayed. He will provide the strength we need. He will uphold us with His powerful and righteous and loving hand, just as an earthly father holds the hand of his child to keep the child from stumbling. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 178, The Helper Of Israel, Part One

As we closed Chapter 40 we found the Lord promising to be the strength of His people. Chapter 41 continues with that theme and in this chapter the Lord promises to call up someone who will deliver His people from captivity over one hundred years later. 

"Be silent before Me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment." (Isaiah 41:1) Whenever the Bible uses the expression "the nations" it is a reference to Gentile nations. In Chapter 40 the Lord encouraged the descendants of Jacob to look to Him for strength; in Chapter 41 the Lord calls to all the Gentiles to look to Him for strength. In Isaiah's day the Gentile nations were looking to idols for strength and those individuals who continue to do so can expect only judgment in the court of the Lord. By contrast, those who place their trust in Him will receive mercy there.

We know that Isaiah has already begun predicting the Babylonian invasion. This will not occur until over a century later but the nation of Judah will fall to the Neo-Babylonian Empire and all but the poorest and least educated and least skilled of the citizens will be carried away captive. But there will also be a prophecy, spoken later by the prophet Jeremiah, in which the people are promised that the captivity will only last approximately seventy years. This next segment is believed by a number of mainstream Christian scholars of today to be a reference to the person who will set the captives free.

"Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to His service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed by a path his feet have not traveled before." (Isaiah 41:2-3) This passage is most likely to be about Cyrus the Great, born east of Babylon, who united the Medo-Persian Empire and conquered many nations, including the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Later in the Bible we will find this man mentioned by name more than a century before he was born! Cyrus will give the captive people of Judah permission to return to their land and rebuild, thus fulfilling the prophecies spoken of him on the pages of the Bible. Although Cyrus was almost certainly a Zoroastrian, he did appear to believe in the God of Abraham and he claimed to be setting the people free and helping them to rebuild because he was commanded to do so by the God of Abraham. 

We will explore this subject in far greater detail as we move on through the Old Testament. But for now the Lord speaks these prophecies so that, when they come true, people will put their trust in Him. They will be able to look back at how many decades ahead of time He made these predictions and will believe that He is God. "Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord---with the first of them and with the last---I am He." (Isaiah 41:4) 

The Lord calls upon all people---Jews and Gentiles alike---to consider the fact that He is the only One whose word is everlasting and true. Ever since the beginning of human life on earth, many things He has predicted have already come true exactly the way He said they would. The prophecies that remain to be fulfilled will come true exactly as He said they would. Who else has ever done this? Who has ever predicted in detail and with complete accuracy what would happen many generations later? No one but the Lord has ever done this! No one but the Lord ever could do this! And yet many have not taken these facts to heart, as we will see when we continue on in this chapter and find people continuing to fashion idols and bow down to them instead of to the one and only Helper.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 177, The Lord Renews Our Strength

We are looking at the remainder of Chapter 40 today and it reminds us that we are never outside of the reach of the Lord to save us, to strengthen us, and to restore us.

"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isaiah 40:26) Beholding the glory of the heavens above reminds us of the great power and intelligence of our God. He created the universe exactly as it needed to be in order to support human life on earth. There are exactly as many stars as there should be. There is exactly as much matter as there should be. There is exactly as much gravity as there should be. The earth is the perfect size and in the perfect position in our solar system. Can we not call upon a God who can do this? Can we not trust Him to know the answers to our problems? Can we not depend upon His strength?

The God who spoke into being everything that exists has His eye on us at all times. He is aware of our needs and He is able to supply those needs. We must never fall for the lies of the devil (or of our own frail mortal minds) that the Lord cannot see us or help us. Apparently some of the people of Isaiah's nation thought their troubles were too severe for the Lord to help them---perhaps some even thought He didn't care about their plight---so the Lord reminds them that there is nothing He cannot do for them.

"Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?'" (Isaiah 40:27) Have you ever been in so much distress that you wondered whether the Lord could even see you? Have you ever wondered whether He cares? Some of Isaiah's people were struggling with such thoughts and the Lord assures them that He sees them, that He cares about them, and that He will strengthen them. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." (Isaiah 40:28)

The Lord never needs a nap. He has always been alert, all the way back into eternity past, and He always will be alert, all the way into eternity future. Besides not growing weary in Himself, He never grows weary of us! We may think that He grows tired of rescuing us over and over. We may think that He is weary of how many times we mess up. We may think that He actually doesn't even like us very much. But nothing could be further from the truth! Could the God who gave His own Son for us ever grow tired of coming to our aid? No, no more than a loving parent would ignore the needs of his child, even if that child has fallen into a problem of their own making.

The Lord's strength is not like man's strength. Human strength is going to fall short. No matter how young and fit a person may be, that person is going to need sleep and food and recreation in order to keep going. But the Lord never needs any of those things and, because His strength is inexhaustible, He always has a supply of it for us. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:29-31)

A soaring eagle is not frantically flapping its wings; it is being held aloft by the wind below it. In this same way, the child of God does not have to frantically flap his wings and depend on his own strength. Our own strength will run out. But when we place our hope in the Lord and in His strength, He upholds us. He takes on the burden. He bears us up. 

I need some bearing up, don't you? I can't do this on my own and the good news is I don't have to do this on my own and neither do you. Our God will hold us up! Our God will strengthen us! Our God will encourage our weary minds and our weary spirits and our weary bodies!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 176, Nothing Compares To Him

Isaiah continues on with the theme that there is no one like God.

"With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken Him? As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A person too poor to present such and offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple." (Isaiah 40:18-20) 

An idol has to be made; it does not make anything---in contrast to the Lord who is the Maker of all things. Look at the things the makers of idols have to worry about: rot and toppling. Could a real god not prevent an image of itself from rotting? Could a real god not keep an image of itself from toppling? A false god can't protect itself, much less protect anyone else.

The only One who can do anything for us is the Lord. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers." (Isaiah 40:21-22a) We are so small compared to Him and our deeds are so small compared to His. What could we ever fashion that could replace Him? Why do we look to the works of our own hands for help instead of to His all-powerful hands?

"He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff." (Isaiah 40:22b-24) The Lord raises up kingdoms and the Lord allows kingdoms to fall, according to His will. Many a national ruler has scoffed at Him but He is able to remove them from their seat of power as easily as a gust of wind sweeps chaff off a hilltop. 

"'To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal?' says the Holy One." (Isaiah 40:25) There is no one like God! He has no counterpart. He existed before all things and He created all things and He holds all things together. Why put our trust in ourselves or in other human beings? Why put our trust in idols? No one except the Lord created us and no one except Him sustains us.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 175, No One Is Like God

Today's segment illustrates the magnitude of the glory of God. Our last study session ended with a promise of the coming King who will reign in peace and love over His people forever. When He comes as King, all forms of idolatry will cease. Today's passage reveals how useless idolatry is, for no one except the Lord created all things, no one except the Lord holds all things together, and no one except the Lord has a wonderful eternity in store for those who are His.

We begin with a series of rhetorical questions. "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, or with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as His counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way? Who was it that taught Him knowledge, or showed Him the path of understanding?" (Isaiah 40:12-14) 

God has always existed and He always will exist. Although this is a difficult concept for the human mind to grasp, there was nothing before Him---He just always was. No one taught Him anything because no one existed before Him. In addition, no one needed to teach Him anything because all knowledge rests with Him. There is no knowledge that could be attained that He does not possess.

Did any other deity do the things outlined above? No, because there is no other. The Lord simply spoke the word and created all things. He knows the exact number of grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. He knows how many blades of grass are on the ground. He knows how many leaves are on the trees. And He knows the number of every hair on our heads! (Luke 12:7) What an awesome thought that the God who created all things deeply cares about every aspect of our lives. He is so far above us and so superior to us, yet He knows us so intimately that He has counted every hair on our heads. 

What are idols compared to Him? What are kingdoms compared to Him? This final portion of today's study regards how no kingdom can stand before Him and how no regime can eradicate His people. When these verses speak of how the nations are "worthless" this doesn't mean that the Lord regards people as worthless. He regards idols and idolatry as worthless, because they are, and He regards the plans of His enemies (and the enemies of His children) as worthless. In this next segment "the nations" is likely a reference to the Gentile nations of Isaiah's day because in that era all the Gentile nations were pagan nations. The enemies of Isaiah's people were heathen Gentiles. 

"Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken Him?" (Isaiah 40:15-18) Isaiah will continue to expound on this theme as we move on through the book: the Lord is the only God and nothing worthwhile is accomplished without Him---nothing in this life or in the life to come.

Vacation Days

I will be temporarily off the study blog until Sunday due to my husband and me being off work and doing some day trips out of town and some family things until then. I plan to resume on Sunday morning. 

Have a blessed day!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 174, The Word Of God Endures

As we move on through Chapter 40 we find the prophet Isaiah proclaiming that the word of the Lord is what endures, not the things of this world as we know it. Isaiah also relays to us his vision of the coming King.

"A voice says, 'Cry out.' And I said, 'What shall I cry?'" (Isaiah 40:6a) I am reading this as the Lord saying to Isaiah, "Cry out," and as Isaiah replying, "What shall I cry?"

This is the message from the Lord: "All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." (Isaiah 40:6b-8) The lives of humans, plants, and animals are frail and fleeting. But the eternal God and His plans and purposes will endure forever. 

You and I are reading the word of God together today, even though these words were written down thousands of years ago. But where are the people who were alive at that time? Where is the grass that was growing at the time? Where are the flowers of the field from that time? They have all passed from this earth. By contrast, the word of God is eternal, infallible, and unbreakable. What was true in Isaiah's day is still true in our day. 

I think that the voice crying out in the book of Isaiah represents not only the prophet Isaiah but all the prophets and all the godly men and women who ever have or who ever will share the word of God with mankind. Primarily I think this next segment looks forward to those who have been proclaiming the gospel message ever since Christ ascended to heaven. The king in these next verses is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

"You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!' See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and He rules with a mighty arm. See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:9-11)

The Lord Jesus spoke words like these in reference to Himself when He said, "Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done." (Revelation 22:12) The Lord isn't preaching "salvation by works" when He says each person will be given something in accordance to what they have done. Salvation has always been by faith. But good works should accompany salvation and much has been said in the books of the New Testament about that. Salvation isn't earned by good works but rewards are. The Apostle Paul discusses this in more detail in 1 Corinthians 3, for example, when he speaks of those who are basically just saved by the skin of their teeth and then never do much for the kingdom of God compared to those who get saved and then diligently work for the kingdom of God. There are degrees of rewards for believers, just as I assume there are degrees of judgment for those who reject Him, for there are unbelievers who live basically moral and law-abiding lives and then there are unbelievers who actively work to commit all types of wickedness on the earth and who perpetrate abominable deeds against their fellow man. 

 

I love the way today's passage ends with the Lord being depicted as the Good Shepherd. Note how tenderly He cares for those who belong to Him! He's so gentle and loving. It will be a fearful day for the Lord's enemies when He returns in power and might but it will be a day of celebration for those who long for His kingdom to come. It will be a day of celebration that never ends!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 173, The Voice Of One Calling In The Wilderness

We begin Chapter 40 today and it contains a verse that will be very familiar to us. 

As we closed Chapter 39 we found Isaiah predicting the Babylonian invasion, which occurred over a century after he gave the prophecy. This is bad news for the nation but the fall of the nation will not be permanent. The Lord will turn things around. In time the people will be able to return and rebuild.

"Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." (Isaiah 40:1-2) The phrase translated as "hard service" is a word used for "warfare" in Hebrew. By the time the Neo-Babylonian Empire invades Judah and causes the fall of Jerusalem, the people will have fallen into a great deal of heinous idolatry. It will begin soon after Hezekiah's death; his son Manasseh will be one of the most idolatrous kings Judah ever had and he will even sacrifice one of his sons to a heathen god. The Bible makes it clear that the nation fell due to idolatry and these types of idolatrous sins are what are being referenced when the Lord twice repeats the phrase "her sins".

Why did the Lord pay her back "double"? This word does not appear to mean "twice as much", as we commonly understand it. In the original Hebrew the word means "folded in half", such as in the manner of folding in half a piece of paper (doubling it over onto itself). Some of the commentary material I studied offered the opinion that the Lord is saying that the people's sin is met with forgiveness. We might picture this as a sheet of paper with the word "sin" written at the top edge and the words "paid for" written at the bottom edge, then when you fold the page in half the two words touch each other. The forgiveness meets the sin and cancels it out. 

"A voice of one calling: 'In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'" (Isaiah 40:3) In the New Testament we will find this verse being applied to John the Baptist who prepared the way for the Lord Jesus Christ by coming onto the scene like an Old Testament prophet preaching a message of repentance. The preaching of John the Baptist prepared the hearts of many people to accept Jesus as the Messiah when He appeared on the scene.

In ancient times it was the practice of a king's subjects to go ahead of him to clear the roadway of obstacles. They would remove things like fallen limbs and large rocks that would impede the king's chariot wheels. They would fill in crevices caused by washouts. The roadway was to be made as smooth as possible for the king. This is what John the Baptist did for the King of kings. This is what godly men and women have done throughout the ages as they proclaim the goodness of a holy God and urge people to turn to Him and repent of their sins. My heart had been softened by hearing the gospel message a number of times. Proclaiming the gospel is a way of preparing the way for the Lord and making a straight, smooth path for Him into the hearts of our fellow human beings.

As we conclude today's study we find the Lord continuing to use the same analogy. "Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 40:4-5) A time is coming when every eye will see Him. (Revelation 1:7) The sight of the King of kings is a welcome sight to those who have given their hearts to Him. But the sight of the King of kings is an unwelcome sight to those who have rejected Him. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 172, Envoys From Babylon

When the son of the king of Babylon hears of Hezekiah's recovery from a deadly illness, he sends envoys to him bearing letters and a gift. Hezekiah makes a mistake in the way he receives these visitors. Some Bible commentators believe the king's son (the crown-prince or co-regent) does this upon his father's request. Either way I think it was done with the king's knowledge and approval.

"At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses---the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil---his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them." (Isaiah 39:1-2) Babylon wants to ally itself with Judah against Assyria. One of the commentaries I consulted described Marduk-Baladan as a "freedom fighter" who wanted to liberate his nation from Assyrian domination.

The Bible doesn't tell us what the letters said or how many there were. My guess is that there were probably two letters, one of which dealt solely with the subject of Hezekiah's illness and recovery, one of which proposed an alliance of the two kingdoms against their common enemy. Upon receiving the great honor of being visited by envoys of the king of such a great and ancient nation as Babylon, Hezekiah's good judgment is overwhelmed by pride from being treated as an equal of the king of Babylon. His good judgment is overwhelmed by his eagerness to prove himself worthy of being considered an ally. Another thing that overwhelms his good judgment is the fear he still harbors regarding the Assyrian threat. Although the Lord miraculously prevented the Assyrians from laying siege to Jerusalem, Hezekiah is afraid the king of Assyria will come back again just as he threatened. A lack of faith is at work here. 

"Then Isaiah the prophet went to Hezekiah and asked, 'What did those men say, and where did they come from?' 'From a distant land,' Hezekiah replied. 'They came to me from Babylon.' The prophet asked, 'What did they see in your palace?' 'They saw everything in my palace,' Hezekiah said. 'There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.'" (Isaiah 39:3-4) In my head I hear Hezekiah's words being spoken in an attitude of pride and awe. He's deeply honored that men would come from so far away to bring letters and a gift from a much larger nation. There's nothing really wrong, I don't think, in feeling honored that another head of state would show him respect. The problem is that he eagerly brought out all his treasures, bragged of the fruitfulness of the land, and bragged of the storehouses and wealth throughout his nation---all so that the king of Babylon would consider him a worthy ally against Assyria, when Hezekiah doesn't need an ally against Assyria. He already has the one and only ally he needs: the Lord. 

Isaiah is about to burst his bubble. "Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" (Isaiah 39:5-7) It will be over a hundred years before this happens. First the Neo-Babylonian Empire must rise from the ashes of the old Babylonian Empire and throw off the shackles of Assyria. But at that time, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the king and officials of Babylon will recall the treasures of Judah and will want them and will come and take them. Everything will happen just as Isaiah says it will.

How does Hezekiah react to this news? Not as we might expect. "'The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,' Hezekiah replied. For he thought, 'There will be peace and security in my lifetime.'" (Isaiah 39:8) Earlier in the book of Isaiah, when the Assyrian army was at the gates, Hezekiah turned to the Lord for help. Also, when Hezekiah lay deathly ill, he turned to the Lord for help. But this time he does not. Instead his attitude about eventual invasion by Babylon is, "Very well, then. At least it won't happen in my lifetime."

There have been people throughout the ages with this attitude. They do not care what kind of world they leave for their descendants. Thankfully, all people don't have this attitude: many want to leave the world a better place for their descendants. Who knows how things would have turned out if Hezekiah had repented of wanting to ally himself with a heathen king against the Lord's instructions? Maybe revival would have broken out in the nation like never before. Maybe the son (and heir to the throne) whom Hezekiah sired after recovering from his illness wouldn't have fallen into such abominable idolatry. Maybe the majority of the citizens wouldn't have fallen into idolatry, which is what led to the Lord allowing Babylon to conquer them. If Hezekiah had repented, the Lord would have forgiven him and may have relented from allowing the nation to fall a century later. Hezekiah's repentance might have changed the course of history.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 171, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Seven

Today we are concluding our study of the writing King Hezekiah composed after the Lord healed him of his deadly illness.

I will back up and pick up with the verse we ended with on Friday and go forward from there, since it is closely connected to the remainder of his writing. "The living, the living---they praise You, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about Your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord." (Isaiah 38:19-20)

Hezekiah rejoices over the Lord's goodness to him. The Lord has saved his physical body from death. The Lord has saved his soul from spiritual death as well, for Hezekiah has been a believer for many years. It is right for Hezekiah, upon his recovery, to go up to the house of the Lord to praise Him there. It is right for Hezekiah to sing the praises of the Lord, both for his physical healing and for his salvation. 

Earlier in the book of Isaiah we found Hezekiah going up to the temple of the Lord to spread out the threatening letter from the king of Assyria and pray over it. We talked about how Hezekiah could have remained in his palace to pray since there's nothing wrong with praying to the Lord in our own homes. But we also talked about how there can be a feeling of special closeness to the Lord in His house. When something is weighing heavily on our hearts, it can be more comforting to pray in a house of worship than to pray in our own homes. Even though we may have a special place in our homes where we regularly go to the Lord in prayer---and that place can certainly feel like holy ground to us!---there is just something so powerful about talking to Him on the ground consecrated for His worship. 

While Hezekiah was lying sick in bed he was unable to go to the house of God to pray to Him there but it's easy to see why he would want to go there and give his thanks "in person" in a sense. I imagine that many of his family members and his top officials went up with him to the temple to thank God for sparing his life. I imagine that a great number of the people of Jerusalem and of the nation of Judah gave praises to the Lord for restoring their king to health.

This next verse provides a clue as to the nature of his illness. "Isaiah had said, 'Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.'" (Isaiah 38:21) This verse is what has led many physicians and historians and Bible scholars to conclude that the king was afflicted with the Bubonic Plague, for it creates large painful boils. These boils can become so infected that the entire body becomes septic, often leading to death after that happens. There is also evidence from the historical annals of ancient Egypt that an outbreak of Bubonic Plague occurred there around the same time period. In addition, a very much speeded up version of the Bubonic Plague may be what struck 185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead outside the gates of Jerusalem at this same time. The Lord is certainly capable of causing the disease to be magnified in such as way as to cause those soldiers to come down from it and actually die of it in a matter of hours.

A poultice of figs was a fairly common treatment for various minor skin ailments because it was known to help bring down inflammation and to draw out fluid. It was not known to cure deadly illnesses though, and I do not believe the poultice itself was curative for Hezekiah. You may recall, for example, that the prophet Elisha told people to cast salt into a body of undrinkable water and that the water immediately became safe for consumption. It was not the salt that cured the water; it was the Lord's power and the people's faith in the Lord's power that cured the water. In the same way it was the Lord's power and the faith in the Lord's power that cured Hezekiah. 

Another example of this would be when the prophet Elisha told the leper Naaman to dip himself in the waters of the Jordan seven times to be healed of his disease. Naaman considered the waters of the Jordan to be unclean and to be inferior to the waters of his own nation. He scoffed at the idea and was about to go home without even trying it when his servants pleaded with him to try this simple thing. He tried it and it worked. The power was not in the Jordan; the power was in God and in Naaman's faith (weak though it was) that Elisha's God might really be able to help him.

Our God is able to help us! No matter whether we use a home remedy, a prescription medication, a surgery, or just time for our immune systems to do their work, the healing actually comes from the Lord. He created our immune systems. He created the substances on this earth from which home remedies and prescription medications are formulated. He gave mankind enough intelligence to be able to figure out how to perform many surgical procedures and how to formulate thousands of medications. We owe Him our gratitude every time we recover from anything at all because our recovery is from Him!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 170, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Six

We are continuing to view the writing King Hezekiah composed after he was healed of his deadly illness.

He is thankful for the Lord's words to him and for the Lord's mercy toward him. "Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live." (Isaiah 38:16) Everyone in Jerusalem and most of the people of Judah heard of Hezekiah's miraculous healing. This must have given them a great deal of encouragement: "by such things people live". Hezekiah is a living example of the Lord's power and goodness.

"Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction; You have put all my sins behind Your back." (Isaiah 38:17) King David said something similar: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your word." (Psalm 119:67) 

Sometimes troubles come as correction for wayward behavior. Sometimes troubles come, not because of any specific sin, but as training or as a method of strengthening our faith. We don't know whether Hezekiah was in the midst of any particular sin when he fell ill but we know that he wasn't sinless because no one is. Or it could be that the Lord allowed the illness as a method of strengthening the faith of the king and the entire nation. As such a major public figure, many people would have been aware of his deadly illness and many people would have been aware of his healing.

In Old Testament times there wasn't a clear understanding of the afterlife. Believers understood that there would be a bodily resurrection at the end of days but the time between death and resurrection was unclear to them. Would their souls have any awareness or would their souls exist in a state of "sleep"? Hezekiah perhaps wasn't certain of that and this is why he says what he says next.

"For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot sing Your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, the living---they praise You, as I am doing today. Parents tell their children about Your faithfulness." (Isaiah 38:19) It may be that Hezekiah does believe the soul has awareness between death and resurrection but that he's speaking of the fact that if he is not alive on earth he cannot proclaim the goodness of the Lord on earth. But since he has been restored to health he is able to tell others what the Lord has done for him. 

This is something we should all be doing. We should tell others about the goodness of the Lord; this can help lead unbelievers to Him and it can help to strengthen the faith of those who already belong to Him.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 169, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Five

Today we are continuing our look at the writing King Hezekiah composed after he recovered from a deadly illness. The king gives the Lord the credit---credit where credit is due---for healing him. "But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of the anguish of my soul." (Isaiah 38:15)

What can Hezekiah say in thanks to the Lord? No words will be enough to express his gratitude. No words exist to adequately describe the power of the Lord or to describe Hezekiah's relief. In verse 5 of our current chapter the Lord sent word to the king by Isaiah that He had heard his prayers and would heal him of this illness, so Hezekiah says, "He has spoken to me." What an awesome thing it is to have the God of the universe to speak to a mere mortal! We were created from the dust of the ground and yet our God desires to communicate with us and to have a relationship with us. As King David once expressed this thought: "What is mankind that You are mindful of them, human beings that You care for them?" (Psalm 8:4)

In response to how bountifully the Lord has dealt with him, King Hezekiah vows to walk humbly before the Lord all the days of his life. I believe Hezekiah sincerely means his promise when he makes it. I believe he thinks he will be able to keep this promise. However, something doesn't go quite right in the spiritual life of King Hezekiah during the additional fifteen years he is going to live. Humility somehow turns into complacence and pride.

You may recall from our study of the kings that, upon hearing that the Assyrian troops have withdrawn from Jerusalem and that King Hezekiah has recovered from a deadly illness, the king of Babylon sends envoys with many fine gifts to Hezekiah. This is likely done in hopes of making an alliance between the two nations against their common enemy of Assyria, for Assyria had already subjugated Babylon during the years it was on the decline. No doubt a friendship and an alliance with the king of Babylon looks like a good prospect to King Hezekiah, from a human standpoint, but from a spiritual standpoint it is the wrong thing to do. Isaiah has already cautioned him against making alliances with heathen kings but Hezekiah ignores his warnings and welcomes the envoys with open arms, proudly showing them all the treasures of his kingdom in an effort to compete with the riches of the king of the larger nation of Babylon. Hezekiah hopes these treasures will make him appear as a valuable friend and ally but, when Babylon rises from the ashes and throws off the shackles of its oppressor, the tales of the riches of Judah will come to mind and Babylon will want them for itself.

We can find this passage in 2 Kings 20 when the prophet Isaiah comes to the palace and demands to know what Hezekiah told the envoys and what he showed them. Hezekiah, feeling proud that the king of Babylon would seek friendship with him, will announce to the prophet, "They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them." In response Isaiah answers, "The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon." We might expect Hezekiah to be alarmed at this news, to turn his face to the wall and weep and cry out to the Lord as he did during his illness. But instead he has the attitude of, "Very well, then. At least it won't happen in my lifetime."

We see this attitude in our world today and have seen it in times past: people not caring what kind of world they are leaving for their descendants. And speaking of descendants, during Hezekiah's additional fifteen years of life he fathered his son Manasseh who was one of the most wicked kings---if not the most wicked king---that Judah ever had. What went wrong spiritually for Hezekiah during those extra fifteen years? Why did he not obey the words of the prophet Isaiah, which were words that came straight from the Lord? Why did he not bring Manasseh up in the fear of the Lord? I realize that there are a lot of people who bring their children up in the fear of the Lord and yet their children go astray as adults, but Manasseh will only be twelve years old when he ascends to the throne upon his father's death. Twelve years is old enough to have been provided with a secure foundation of faith and religious instruction but it seems too young to have already become spiritually reprobate and morally destitute. 

Would Hezekiah and the nation of Judah have been better off if Hezekiah had perished of his illness instead of living those additional fifteen years? Many have asked that very question. The answer is we do not know. If it had been the Lord's will to allow Hezekiah to die, then I presume he would have died, so I think the problem here is how the king handled his reprieve from death. Perhaps he didn't handle knowing the approximate year of his death very well, causing him to think, "Life is still so short. Why start any more major religious reforms in the nation? And why spend my time with my son making him memorize Scripture when we could just be having fun?" Or perhaps he became prideful that the Lord heard his prayers and he slacked off on godly living, as if he were constantly living in the favor of the Lord no matter what he did. We will never know in this lifetime exactly what happened to the king's manner of thinking but we can strive not to let it happen to us. We can commit every morning to living in a way that pleases the Lord and, though we will fail at times due to living in mortal bodies in a world polluted by sin, we don't have to let sin overtake us and cause us to drift from the Lord. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 168, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Four

Yesterday we began our look at a writing (or song) which King Hezekiah composed after recovering from his illness. In yesterday's portion of the writing we found him mourning the idea of no longer being able to serve the Lord on earth and of no longer being with his loved ones on earth. Those are normal emotions that anyone would feel when faced with a life-threatening illness. Today's portion of the writing continues with that theme as he describes the threat to his life in poetic terms.

"Like a shepherd's tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me." (Isaiah 38:12a) These references to his "tent" and his "house" are probably references to his earthly body. The Apostle Paul used that type of terminology when speaking of his own earthly body. Using the phrase "shepherd's tent" symbolizes the impermanence of human life. A shepherd would move from place to place to allow his sheep to graze in new pastures, so he would use a tent in order to make his shelter easily portable. The reference to the "house" may also have to do with the king's royal house and his seat on the throne of the kingdom. If he had died, he would no longer have been the head of the nation or the head of his family.

"Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and He has cut me off from the loom; day and night You made an end of me." (Isaiah 38:12b) After cutting a length of cloth from the loom, a weaver would roll it up. In this scenario, Hezekiah thought the Lord would cut his life short like a weaver cutting cloth away from the loom.

"I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion He broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me." (Isaiah 38:13) This verse makes me think of the way we hope to feel better in the morning when we are sick. Rest is restorative. Often when we are sick we find, upon waking, that there have been improvements to our condition during the night. But morning after morning Hezekiah woke up without being any better. I think he likely grew worse with each passing day because, as we learned earlier in our chapter, he was given the news that his illness would be fatal. I can only imagine that his condition deteriorated each day. 

"I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!" (Isaiah 38:14) He prayed for healing. He prayed with many tears. He cried out for the Lord to come and save him from this ever-worsening illness. We don't know how many days he lay ill but it was long enough for him to feel weakened by his crying and discouraged by what he perceived as a lack of action on the Lord's part.

The answers to our prayers come in various ways. I've had prayers answered while I was still praying them. I've had prayers answered the same day or within a few days. I've had prayers that I've had to pray for years before the situation turned around. And, as we all will experience in this earthly life, I have had prayers not answered the way I hoped. For example, I prayed for my mother not to pass away from cancer but instead she went on to heaven. She was healed in that regard, which was not the way I'd hoped, but she is free from her pain and in the presence of the Lord, so in that sense I believe she would regard herself as being healed and would not want to leave the Lord's presence to return to this world.

We don't always know when or how the Lord will answer our prayers. But we can be certain He hears our prayers and cares about our troubles. Hezekiah cried out to the Lord because he believed the Lord was listening. This gave him the hope that the Lord would turn his situation around. And in this case He did turn it around. We will continue taking our look at the king's illness and recovery as we move on through the chapter.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 167, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Three

The Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer and healed him of his deadly illness, promising him fifteen more years on earth. He provides a sign to him that not only will he recover but that the Lord will prevent the Assyrians from attacking Jerusalem.

Isaiah says, "'This is the Lord's sign to you that the Lord will do what He has promised: I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.' So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down." (Isaiah 38:7-8) When we did our study of the kings we learned that the Lord allowed Hezekiah to choose his sign: the sun could either move forward on the steps or backward on the steps. Hezekiah chose backward because he felt that was harder to do. It was the natural progression of the sun to move forward across the steps (which may have been a sundial he could see from his bedroom window) but it was not at all natural for it to go backwards.

We don't know how the Lord accomplished this. We know that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa so did the Lord actually turn the earth a little bit backwards? Or did He create a refraction of light in such a way that the shadow moved backwards ten degrees (ten steps)? Symbolically speaking, to make the shadow go backwards represents giving more time---more time in the day and more time in Hezekiah's life.

I am not sure I would want to know the approximate amount of time I would be granted. Hezekiah is given a reprieve of fifteen years and while he does not know the exact date of his death, he knows the year in which it will occur, unless of course he hopes for another reprieve at that time. 

We don't know how this knowledge affected Hezekiah mentally and emotionally but we know how his deadly illness affected him mentally and emotionally because he wrote about it. This writing may have been used as a song as well as an essay about his experience.

"A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: I said, 'In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?' I said, 'I will not again see the Lord Himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.'" (Isaiah 38:9-11) 

As most anyone would do, Hezekiah mourned the idea of leaving this world and leaving his loved ones. He didn't want to be parted from them and that's a very understandable feeling to all of us. Even though he would be going to be with the Lord, in Old Testament times the people's idea of the afterlife was somewhat hazy. They didn't use the saying we use as Christians: "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8) I think they believed they would be with Him in some capacity or perhaps they believed they would exist in a spiritual "sleep state" until the end of days and the resurrection---for they did believe in the resurrection, with the exception of the sect of the Sadducees who believed in the eternal life of the soul but not the resurrection of the body. 

Time does not permit us to study Hezekiah's writing today, for it is quite lengthy, so we will continue our look at it in our next study session. But for now we close while thinking about Hezekiah's very human and very common reaction to the thought of death. Even though he is a believer, he is reluctant to leave this world and to leave his loved ones. I believe we can all relate to that. Even though we are believers and know that in death we go to be with the Lord, the idea of parting from our loved ones and from the only life we know is a very anxiety-ridden concept.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 166, Hezekiah's Illness, Part Two

As Chapter 38 opened yesterday we found King Hezekiah coming down with a deadly illness. The prophet Isaiah visited him and told him to get his house in order because he would not recover.

Hezekiah does what we would expect a person to do when given such bad news. "Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 'Remember, Lord, how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in Your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly." (Isaiah 38:2-3) If I were faced with such news I know I would weep and cry out to the Lord. 

It is true that Hezekiah has been faithful to the Lord. In our study of the kings we learned that Hezekiah had a heart like David's for the Lord. Hezekiah tore down all the idols of his late father and tore down the hilltop altars around Jerusalem. Those hilltop altars had been used in the past for worship of the Lord before the temple was built but, now that the temple is in Jerusalem, those altars weren't to be used anymore. They presented a temptation to people to go about their religion in the way that suited them, not in the way that the Lord commanded. They also presented a temptation to mix pagan religious practices with their worship of the Lord. Now that the temple exists, people are to worship together there where they are taught the word of God and where worshiping as one body will help them not to stray from the word of God.

The Lord hears and answers Hezekiah's prayer. I don't know why the Lord allowed Hezekiah to get sick but am certain there was a purpose for it. Perhaps there was some sort of wrong attitude in his heart that he needed to face and repent of to the Lord. Although he has been faithful to the Lord, he is not a perfect man because no one is perfect. He is stating his faithfulness to the Lord but that does not mean there isn't something that needs work. Or it could be that this trial is a form of training for the remainder of his reign. Not everything bad that happens to us is a result of sin. Sometimes it is but sometimes it is simply the result of living in a world polluted by sin---a world where bad things happen. But when the Lord allows a bad thing to happen in the life of a believer, it is for a purpose. We don't know what the purpose was for Hezekiah but I believe there was one. 

This is the Lord's response to the king's prayer: "Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 'Go and tell Hezekiah, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.'" (Isaiah 38:4-6)

The text above indicates that Hezekiah became ill around the time that the Assyrian army was threatening the city. We have already studied the portion of the book of Isaiah regarding the Lord's deliverance of the city, which would make us think Hezekiah's illness took place after that, but the text above makes us think that these events aren't being related to us in precise chronological order. 

Hezekiah's illness and the plague that struck down 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army may be closely linked together in a biological sense as well. It has been speculated that Hezekiah was sick with the Bubonic Plague and that this is what struck the army too, albeit the soldiers' illness and death was quite swift, taking place in only one night. But later in our chapter we will find a clue that Hezekiah may have been ill with that particular plague. In addition to that, in the annals of ancient Egypt there is a reference to an outbreak of the plague at a time that would line up with the reign of King Hezekiah.

As we continue on in our chapter we will find the Lord giving Hezekiah a sign, we will find Hezekiah composing a song about the trial he endured, and we will find a clue regarding the nature of his illness.