Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 132

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 132

The Lord has more to say in our passage today about Cyrus of Persia, the man who, about two hundred years later, will set the captives of Judah free from Babylon.

Cyrus was so successful in his military campaigns that his people and the nations he conquered believed he had been especially blessed and anointed by "the gods". No one could explain his great achievements in human terms and so they resorted to crediting the gods for his achievements. But we learn from the book of Isaiah who is the power behind Cyrus' throne. The Lord specifically chose him for a particular time in history to do great things. "This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut." (Isaiah 45:1) The people of Israel and Judah were accustomed to thinking of the Lord's "anointed" as a king with the divine right to rule, such as those of the Davidic dynasty. They thought of the Lord's "anointed" as the coming King and Messiah of the line of David whose kingdom would last forever. A great prophet, such as Elijah or Elisha, would have been considered "anointed" by God. The last thing the people would expect is that God would anoint a pagan ruler to be their deliverer. But God is sovereign and He chooses whom He will. Cyrus worshiped his own god and did not know the God of Israel, but when the God of Israel spoke to him, Cyrus was compelled to act. He did not, and possibly could not, resist the Holy Spirit. Perhaps he felt a special calling on his life all along and then, according to the ancient historian Josephus, he was able to read the book of Isaiah which the captives had taken to Babylon. He saw his name written there and the great deeds the Lord commanded him to perform on behalf of God's people. Cyrus took this calling upon his life quite seriously.

The Lord says to his chosen man, "I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron." (Isaiah 45:2) On a night when King Belshazzar of Babylon partied drunkenly in the palace, Cyrus and his men were busy diverting the flow of the Euphrates into the swamp. Though the people of Babylon knew the Persians were nearby, when Cyrus reached the city gates they already stood open. Some sources state that the reason for the gates being open has no explanation; others state Belshazzar ordered them opened to see what was happening when he heard the noise of the advancing Persian army. Whatever the cause of the open gates, the Lord kept His word to Cyrus. He opened the way for him to take Babylon without having to batter down gates or cut through bars. The Lord took care of this for him.

"I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." (Isaiah 45:3) The wealth of the nations Cyrus conquered became his. The treasuries and storehouses and hidden vaults and safes were discovered and opened by him, their contents his for the taking. But I think the Lord gave Cyrus greater riches than these, a treasure more valuable than gold or silver: the Lord gave Cyrus a calling upon his life, a purpose, a part to play in the grand drama of His people Israel. Is there anything more precious than having the assurance of what we are meant to do with our lives? Cyrus was able to say with confidence, "The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah." (Ezra 1:2) Cyrus likely never fully understood the enormity of his calling or what a vital part he played in God's plans for His people. The captives, including the royal family, had to be allowed to go free so the Davidic royal line could continue on down to Jesus of Nazareth. The nation of Judah had to be revived, the walls of Jerusalem raised, and the temple rebuilt, in order to fulfill Messianic prophecy. Cyrus was probably proud of being called to action by such a great God, and I think he felt he performed a good deed on behalf of the people of Judah, but we simply don't know whether he understood the prophecies from the book of Isaiah about a coming King and an eternal kingdom. The main thing we know about Cyrus is that he had a teachable spirit. He had open ears to the voice of God, unlike the generation of Judah who went into captivity. He was willing to say to this God he did not know, "Here I am. Send me!" Pagan or not, this is a man God could use in a time when God's people were not making themselves available for His use. 

"For the sake of Jacob My servant, of Israel My chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge Me." (Isaiah 45:5) It was important that God name this deliverer two centuries before he would set the captives free. When Cyrus comes on the scene, the people of Judah in Babylon will recognize his name from the book of Isaiah. They will know that God is the Lord and is true to His word. Furthermore, imagine the shock of Cyrus when he finds himself written about in the word of God! The religion of Cyrus was most likely Zoroastrianism and he was not familiar with Israel's God, which is why the Lord said "you do not acknowledge Me". Cyrus had spent his life praying to and making offerings to Ahura-Mazda, the god of the Persians. But upon finding his own name written in the Scriptures, Cyrus is compelled to call Israel's God "the Lord, the God of heaven". 

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged Me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things." (Isaiah 45:5-7) In the Persian religion there were two equally powerful gods. There was Ahura-Mazda, a god of light. and there was Angra-Mainya, a god of darkness. The Lord is saying to Cyrus, "I alone am God. The gods of light and darkness that you worship do not exist. I create the light and I create the darkness. There is no one besides Me."

God allows both the good and the evil according to His purposes. He allowed evil to come upon Judah in the form of the Babylonian captivity so the hearts of the people would turn back to Him. Then he allowed good to come upon Judah in the form of Cyrus the Great, who set them free. As Christians we often think God can only use those who belong to Him, but God's use of Cyrus proves that He also includes people in His plan who do not know Him. How many times has an unbeliever shown kindness to you or done something to help you? That person may not have known the Lord but that is no impediment. God calls whom He will. The people of Judah may have felt themselves above the pagan king who gave them their freedom, but the fact remains that God was able to use Cyrus when He could not use His own people. What glory this is to our God that He can use even those who do not know Him! How powerful He is! How sovereign He is over the world and all the events of past, present, and future. What a mighty God we serve!

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 131

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah
Day 131

Yesterday we looked at a discourse about the foolishness of idolatry, about the folly of believing anything our hands have made can save us. Now the Lord brings the attention of His people back to Himself, for He alone can save. He reminds the people who He is and He reminds them who they are: His covenant people.

"Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are My servant. I have made you, you are My servant; Israel, I will not forget you." (Isaiah 44:21) What unmerited grace this is, that He would not forget those who have forgotten Him! These are the people of whom He said, "Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number." (Jeremiah 2:32b) These are the ones who scorned Him in favor of idols, about whom He said, "All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations---a people who continually provoke Me to My very face." (Isaiah 65:2-3a) God would have been within His rights to write these people off and turn away from them, yet He offers grace. He could have left them in their sins and waywardness but instead He offers redemption.

"I have swept away your offences like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." (Isaiah 44:22) Who is able to sweep away our offences except the One we have offended? Who can extend forgiveness to us but the One we have sinned against? God, as sovereign lawgiver and judge, has the right to make a means of redemption for us if He so chooses, to offer up a sacrifice on our behalf that makes us clean. The forgiveness God offers His people in verse 22 is not based on anything they have done for themselves; it's based on what God is going to do for them. Our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is based on His work, not ours. Before we came to Christ we were every bit as wayward and willfully blind and deaf as God's people in the book of Isaiah, but He reached out to us in grace and mercy anyway. He offered us the terms by which we can be made right with Him and our only participation in this awesome work was to accept and believe.

Being the receivers of such undeserved mercy ought to make us break into song, "Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, He displays His glory in Israel." (Isaiah 44:23) The very heavens and all creation rejoice in God's plan of redemption. How can we, who are made in God's image, hold back our praise? If even the mountains and the trees sing to His glory, how much more should we? I don't know what made God love us so, but the very thing that glorifies Him most is the salvation He wrought for us. His mercy and forgiveness display His glory like nothing else can. The most stunning miracle ever performed is God's saving grace on our behalf. The creation of the universe and everything in it was like child's play to someone of His awesome power, but the act of redemption cost Him dearly. 

"This is what the Lord says---your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by Myself, who foils the signs of the false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of His servants and fulfills the predictions of His messengers," (Isaiah 44:24-26a) This God is a God we can safely trust in. Why trust in an idol? Why trust in anyone or anything without the power to save? The God who made all things will keep His word. He will not break His covenant promise to Israel and He will not break His covenant promise to the church.

In Isaiah's day the people of Judah feared Assyria would lay their nation waste as it had so many nations surrounding them, but by inspiration of the Holy Spirit Isaiah told King Hezekiah that it was Babylon who would rise and overthrow Judah. Captivity is coming several generations down the road but, seventy years after that, freedom is on its way. The God who made everything that exists gives this solemn promise and is the One, "Who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be rebuilt,' and of the ruins, 'I will restore them,' who says to the watery deep, 'Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,' who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, 'Let it be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Let its foundations be laid.'" (Isaiah 44:26b-28) 

The Lord calls Cyrus by name nearly two hundred years before he will set the captives free and allow them to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. God calls this man by name so that, when the prophecy is fulfilled, the people will understand that no idol predicted this. God alone raises up kingdoms and pulls down kingdoms. God alone decides the fate of nations. No idol named a man not yet born as the deliverer of God's people. In addition, God even gives Judah a hint of Cyrus' battle strategy in attacking Babylon, for he and his army will dam up the Euphrates to make a place where they can cross over into the country. They will take the nation by surprise after dark while the king and all his officials, believing they have securely guarded every point of entry into the nation, are celebrating drunkenly in the palace. God foresaw the ingenuity of a man named Cyrus through whom He would say to the river, "Be dry, and I will dry up your streams." 

A God who can predict events centuries into the future and who can call His servants by name hundreds of years before they are born is the God I want to follow! He can be trusted to care for me. The God who keeps the planets spinning in orbit and who maintains the boundaries of the seas and whose eye is on the sparrow is the God I want to serve. The God who worked out a plan of redemption for me, even though I could never have done anything to deserve it, has my loyalty and devotion. He won it. He earned it. Even the rocks and the hills and the tree shout His praise; dare we do any less? Let's glorify His name together! 

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 130

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 130

Today, as promised, we study a passage about idolatry that is intended to be absurdly amusing in a dark sort of way. The Lord explains the fashioning of an idol in simple terms, so simple anyone involved in the practice should have been able to clearly see the foolishness of worshiping anything made by human hands. The Lord is reasoning with idolaters about the foolishness of carving a block of wood from a tree and bowing down to it, asking it to save them. 

The Lord tells us the story of a man who sets out to carve an image from wood. "He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or an oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow." (Isaiah 44:14) As we studied earlier in the book of Isaiah, it was important to choose a type of wood that won't rot, for there's nothing ickier than trying to pray to a rotting god. This troublesome issue alone should have been enough to bring mankind to his senses. Is a god incapable of keeping his image from rotting worth worshiping? If a god cannot protect that which symbolizes him, how can he protect mankind?

When the time comes to cut the tree the craftsman has chosen, he divides it into sections for different purposes. "It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread." (Isaiah 44:15a) The wood which has been reserved for the making of an idol is not considered too holy for ordinary uses, which is another indication that the god the carving will represent is no deity. This god doesn't exist at all except in the mind of its maker. 

Instead of seeing the truth for what it is, Bible scholar J. Alec Motyer describes the warped thinking of the craftsman, "The idolater's 'logic' suggests that what has given him the physical benefit of cooked food and the comfort of bodily warmth can also nourish his soul." (from Isaiah, pp 279-280) Because his thinking has gone so far astray, this is what the craftsman does next. "But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it." (Isaiah 44:15b) His heart has wandered so far from God that he has lost the ability to think logically, to trace the lineage of the tree all the way back to its Maker. Instead he ascribes power to the tree itself instead of to its Creator. His mind is like the mind of the pagan Gentiles of whom the Apostle Paul said, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." (Ephesians 4:18) Earlier in the week we studied the type of ignorance that brings shame. It isn't the ignorance of not having heard the truth. In no way does it indicate any sort of disability or impairment. It's the ignorance of knowing better but doing it anyway, of turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to God and going one's own way. It's the ignorance that comes from deliberately hardening one's heart toward the Lord. 

The idolatrous craftsman has hardened his heart toward God to the point that he cannot think things through. "Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, 'Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.' From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, 'Save me! You are my god!'" (Isaiah 44:16-17) The tree from which the idol was carved wasn't able to save itself from being cut down or to keep part of itself from being used for firewood. How then can this idol save the one who made it?

The Lord, the Great Physician, diagnoses what is wrong with the idolatrous mind. "They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand." (Isaiah 44:18) Who was it that plastered over their eyes and closed their minds? They did it themselves! God gave them healthy eyes but they covered them. He gave them hearing ears but they stopped them up. He created mankind in His image and gave men and women the intelligence to have fellowship with Him, but they closed their minds to Him and walked away. The hardening of our hearts toward the Lord is like committing a crime. The first time we do it, it will bother us. We may disobey Him to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season but thinking about our sin will trouble us. But then we commit the same sin against Him a second time, then a third, then a fourth. And each time it gets a little bit easier. Our consciences don't shout as loudly. In fact, the day comes when we can shut off the voice of our consciences as easily as we can push the mute button on our TV sets. 

The idolatrous craftsman has hardened his heart against the Lord for so long that he might as well be literally blind and deaf and ignorant. He is no longer capable of logical reasoning, nor are any of his fellow idolaters. "No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, 'Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?' Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, 'Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'" (Isaiah 44:19-20) The idol in this man's hand is as worthless as the ashes in his fire pit over which he warmed himself and cooked his food. The idol can no more satisfy his hungering soul than eating the ashes can satisfy his hungering stomach. It's a lie and he has fallen for it.

I have held lies in my right hand. I have held onto lies with both hands. I have held on so tightly that the Lord has had to pry my fingers loose one by one to get me to let go of the lies I clung to so desperately. I have valued other people and other things more than I have valued my precious Creator and Redeemer. Worst of all, I have valued my own ambitions and foolish desires above the righteous living our Lord asks of us. I might as well have been feeding on ashes, so worthless were these things in comparison to our incomparable God. But thanks be to Him, because of His love for me He wanted something better for me. My Redeemer said, "Let go of these worthless things. They will never satisfy your soul. In place of them I will give you a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." (Isaiah 61:3) 

We will never be perfectly sinless so long as we live in human bodies in a fallen world but while we live this earthly life the Lord wants to deliver us from feeding on ashes. Our Father, like any good father, wants the best for us. It would behoove us all from time to time to get quietly in His presence and ask Him to reveal to us anything we have allowed to become an idol in our lives. Temptation faces us every day and we can end up in trouble faster than we think. We live in a world that constantly tells us we will be happier if we just had more money or more status at work or a better spouse or a bigger house or a nicer car or a fancier wardrobe. The world tells us we would be perfectly satisfied if only we were thinner or looked prettier or younger. The world tells us we would be less stressed if only we would drink a lot more or calm ourselves with pills or relieve our anxiety by looking at pornography or having illicit relationships. But nothing will ever fulfill us if our hearts aren't right with God. We were created for fellowship with Him. Nothing short of walking closely with our Creator will cure the emptiness in our souls. We can stop feeding on ashes and instead be given a crown of beauty. We can stop comparing ourselves with others and crying over what we don't have and instead be able to fully enjoy all that the Lord has blessed us with. He promises us the oil of joy and gladness in place of our spirit of mourning. He will even give us a better wardrobe by allowing us to trade in our dowdy old robes of despair for a glorious garment of praise. Who else offers us such benefits? What lie can accomplish what our Lord can accomplish for us? Why would we settle for anything less than His best?

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 129

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 129

The Lord tells the people that He is their only helper. There is salvation in no one else.

"This is what the Lord says---Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6) When Isaiah preaches this message the people of Judah have not yet fallen into the idolatry which will be prevalent in the generation that will go into captivity. In Isaiah's day they had a godly king who followed the Lord and removed the idols from the land. But periods of idolatry were in Judah's past and the human weakness that leads mankind into following after the wrong things is always present. Temptation is in our path daily. The world constantly offers us substitutes for the living God, promising us that more money or things or status or substances or relationships or carnal pleasures will fill up the emptiness in our souls. A false god doesn't have to be a carved block of wood overlaid with silver or gold. Satan has refined his tactics over the millennia. He knows that in prosperous first-world countries we would refuse to bow before a graven image but we would eagerly line up to bow before wealth or success. Anything that means more to us than God, or anything we think about more than God, or anything we spend more time serving than God, is just as much an idol as one carved from a block of wood.

The Lord offers the people an opportunity to prove that there is anyone anywhere like Him. "Who then is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before Me what has happened since I established My ancient people, and what is yet to come---yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there any god besides Me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one." (Isaiah 44:7-8) 

The Lord begins to reason with the people regarding the foolishness of idolatry. "All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame." (Isaiah 44:9-11) It's an awful feeling to look back and realize that we have treasured worthless things. There are things in my past I treasured to the point of near-obsession and now I see how foolish that was. I wish I could say I'll never fall into that trap again, but human nature being what it is, if I escape it will be because of the help of the Lord and not because of my own strength. The idolaters are expending a great deal of energy to produce and worship their idols but it's all in vain. The Lord says their ignorance is shameful. Ignorance isn't shameful when we don't have the opportunity or intelligence to know better, but this is not the case with the people of Judah. They are the witnesses of the Lord. They have seen His power and glory. They have received His awesome deliverance. They have been given the law and the prophets and the written word of God. Their ignorance is without excuse, just as our ignorance today would be without excuse, for we have had the opportunity to hear and to read the word of God.

Now the Lord begins to set forth a very simple and logical argument against worshiping something our hands have made. "The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint." (Isaiah 44:12) Here we find a metalworker pushing himself to exhaustion to craft a useless idol. Everything involved in this industry is done by human strength. If we are not able to help ourselves in our own power, how can an idol we construct by our own power help us? The metalworker keeps with it til he is about to pass out from hunger and thirst, but all his efforts are in vain. The image forged in the fire will be powerless to do anything for the one who made it. This man has lost his strength doing foolish work and he does not know it. We see the contrast between his efforts and what the Lord has promised to those who trust in Him, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and now grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

We are given another example and this one involves a woodworker. "The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine." (Isaiah 44:13) This woodworker takes a tree that the Lord created and carves an idol from it in the image of man who is but a created being. Mankind is indeed glorious, for we are the workmanship of God and are fashioned in His image, but we are not gods. The same hands that made the tree the woodworker is using for an idol are the same hands that made human beings. We are all God's workmanship and He alone is to be worshiped.

Tomorrow the Lord will describe idol-making in such a way that we can actually laugh at the absurdity of it. I think He intended it to strike us as sarcastically funny so that the foolishness of it gets through to us. Whenever I think of idolatry, I can't help remembering being a small child in Sunday school class on a day when the teacher explained idolatry to us. We were very young and weren't quite getting it so she decided to make an example of a Windex bottle that was sitting on the window ledge. She grabbed it and placed it on the floor and bowed down before it, saying, "Oh great Windex bottle, please help us!" Young as we kids were, we immediately saw how absurdly funny this was and the classroom erupted with laughter. None of us would have willingly bowed before a visible idol because even at our tender pre-school age we understood how pointless it was. But it's a safe bet that every one of us who was in that classroom back in the 1970s has bowed before a less tangible idol. Maybe we've served the idol of success and prestige, doing some questionable things to get ahead in our careers. Or we've served unhealthy or illicit relationships. Or perhaps we've trusted in substances or bad habits to get us through hard times. Serving idols like these is every bit as absurd as bowing before that Windex bottle. They are powerless to help or save us. 

God alone is our helper, for He is the only God. The One who created us loves us and wants a relationship with us. He wants to be who we turn to when we need help and He wants to be who we turn to when we are happy and want to shout praises for our blessings. Let's turn to Him first and not last. Let's not allow anyone or anything to take His place in our lives. Then we will soar on wings like eagles, running the race without getting weary, walking through this life without growing faint.

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 128

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 128

We ended yesterday with the Lord concluding that the generation going into exile will be willfully blind and deaf to Him. But today we find the promise that He is going to help them anyway.

"But now listen, Jacob, My servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says---He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen." (Isaiah 44:1-2) The word "jeshurun" means "upright one" and the Lord is applying it to Israel, to the people He has already rightfully accused of being deaf and blind to Him. How can this be? Because of what the Lord said in our passage yesterday, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25) He is not calling Israel upright because the nation has been upright, but because He is going to redeem these people.

We who are in Christ will someday stand before the Holy One in heaven and He will declare us upright, not because we have been upright, but because we have been redeemed by Christ. For His own sake and because He loves us, God has helped us by providing a means by which we can be righteous in His sight, and this could only be done through the spotless Lamb of God. Because of Christ, God has blotted out our transgressions and He remembers our sins no more. 

The people are told not to fear. God has not cast them off due to their sins but has new and wondrous plans for them. "For I will pour out water on a thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants." (Isaiah 44:3) The Lord is not miserly with the Holy Spirit. He pours liberally. As the Lord Jesus said, "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life". (John 4:14) God is promising the outpouring of the Spirit on those who thirst for such an anointing, for those who yearn to know Him. Jesus explained that God will not hold back the Holy Spirit from those who have a heart that seeks Him, comparing God to an earthly father who sees to the needs of his children, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13) If an earthly father, weak and wayward though he may be, knows how to supply the needs of his children, how much more will our righteous and perfect heavenly Father bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit on those who ask?

Faced with the unwelcome news of a coming Babylonian captivity along with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the people may have felt all was lost. They may have believed they were finished and would perish in a foreign land. But no, they will spring up again like fresh new grass. "They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar springs by flowing streams. Some will say, 'I belong to the Lord'; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, 'The Lord's,' and will take the name Israel." (Isaiah 44:4-5) As the Apostle Paul put it, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16) This is how we know we are in Christ and have become the children of God: we have the Holy Spirit who testifies to our adoption into God's family. The Spirit identifies us as the sons and daughters of the living God, so that we confidently assert, "I belong to the Lord!" 

In ancient times a servant might have his master's name tattooed on his hand and that may be what the text means when it says there will be those who write on their hand, "The Lord's." This is a willing submission, a grateful surrender to the One who redeemed them. The Master is not writing His name on the servant's hand, but the servant is writing the Master's name. This is not slavery, but freedom. "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:14-15) 

When we understand that Christ came in the flesh and was willing to be identified with mankind, to take on all our sorrows and cares, to become sin in our place and receive our punishment, we can't help but want to be identified with Him. The Holy Spirit in us causes us to cry out, "I belong to the Lord!" The Spirit causes us to want to surrender our lives to the One who surrendered His life for us. It should be our daily prayer that the Lord pour out the Spirit on us so that we continually become more like Christ and others see Him in us. The joy we have in our salvation will attract others to Jesus. They will want what we have found in Him, to have that same joy liberally poured out on them like water. And thanks be to our Father in heaven, He has more than enough for all of us. He will give and not hold back. There is room in His house for all who want to be called by His name.

Our worship song link for today is below.

Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 127

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 127

The Lord has been promising to defeat Babylon, the nation that is going to conquer Judah. Now He reminds the people of how He brought them out of Egypt, "This is what the Lord says---He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, snuffed out like a wick." (Isaiah 43:16-17) We find this account in Exodus 14, when the children of Israel were crossing the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army gave chase. The Egyptians pursued them and, as the last of God's people achieved safety, the walls of water flowed back over the soldiers and their chariots. "That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant." (Exodus 14:30-31)

Can the God who defeated Egypt not defeat Babylon? He urges the people to think back and remember all He has done for them. This will give them the strength to survive the Babylonian captivity. The people are to remember God's great works of the past but they are not to get stuck in the past. God is always calling us on to bigger and better things. We aren't to let ourselves be bogged down in shame and regret over things the Lord has already forgiven us for; this cripples our Christian lives and hinders our ability to lead others to Christ. Our God is a forward-looking God who has cast our sins behind His back. (Isaiah 38:17) If God has left our mistakes in the past, giving us new opportunities to do good, the least we can do is follow His example. We also aren't to live the rest of our lives drawing strength from one great act of deliverance God has performed for us; He intends to perform many more. God is always thinking ahead, looking confidently toward the future, and He calls us to live in this same confidence. Like the godly woman of Proverbs 31 who trusts in the Lord at all times, we are not to live in fear but to look with anticipation toward the future, "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." (Proverbs 31:25) 

So now God moves the people's attention to the future, to the new and wonderful things He intends to do for them. "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor Me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to My people, My chosen, the people I formed for Myself that they may proclaim My praise." (Isaiah 43:18-21) The journey from Babylon back to their homeland will be hundreds of miles and most of those returning have never been that way before. The Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years, which means the vast majority of the travelers were born in a foreign land. They don't know the way or what they will face but the Lord promises to provide water in the desert for them. He will give them what is needed to keep their physical bodies going and He will give them what they need spiritually to keep their hope alive. 

The Lord now speaks of the generation that went into captivity, the corrupt generation that had lost interest in Him, with many of them turning to idols. "Yet you have not called on Me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for Me, Israel." (Isaiah 43:22) When we studied the kings we noted the very short reigns of the final series of kings, with nothing good being said about them. The nation was falling apart from the inside out. It began at its heart, in the spirits of the people and in the religious practices, and it spread outward until it invaded every corner of the kingdom. 

"You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for Me, or lavished on Me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins and wearied Me with your offences." (Isaiah 43:23-24) In Isaiah's day, King Hezekiah of Judah was a godly leader who reopened the temple doors that had been shut. He reinstated worship services in God's house which had been abandoned. But by the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would come against them, attendance at the temple was a matter of going through the motions for the people who still went at all. The heart had gone out of their worship. Others had abandoned the Lord completely in favor of pagan idols, sacrificing and bringing offerings to false gods. The people were weary, burned out, and tired of worshiping God in spirit and in truth because their hearts weren't right with him. So He says they have made Him feel weary and burned out and tired.

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Review the past for Me, let us argue the matter together; state the cause for your innocence. Your first father sinned; those I sent to teach you rebelled against Me. So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple; I consigned Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn." (Isaiah 43:25-28) The Lord reminds the people that redemption can only be found in Him. He is the One who blots out transgressions, not the false idols of the nations. He is the One who casts our sins behind His back, not gods who do not exist and have no power to save. Furthermore, we cannot trust in ourselves for redemption, for we are saved by faith and not by works. Even at our best, and even when we try our hardest, we fall short of perfection. There is nothing Scriptural about the idea that when we stand before God someday He will weigh our good works against our bad works. Instead we are told by the Lord Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) By the time of the Babylonian captivity, the people had scorned the only One capable of making them whole, so God determined to send them into a dark land where they will learn to trust in Him again. They will learn that the One who rescued them from Egypt and from Babylon is the One who rescues their souls from death. They will learn that the Lord is faithful and true and that, with His help, they can leave the past behind and move into the glorious future He has planned for them. 

Comfort My People: The Prophecies Of Isaiah, Day 126

Comfort My People:
The Prophecies Of Isaiah

Day 126

The Lord has been calling His unfaithful servants deaf and blind, not because He hasn't given them ears and eyes, but because they chose not to use them. Now He asks them to prove that any of their gods has ever foretold things to come, "Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, 'It is true.'" (Isaiah 43:8-9) 

For about a week now Isaiah has been using the imagery of a courtroom, with the Lord seated as Judge and the idols as the defendants. The idols have not been able to do or say anything in their defense, just as they have never been able to do or say anything to help mankind. But it can never be said that the Lord didn't give them their day in court. He asks them to call in witnesses on their behalf but none are found who can testify that the idols have ever done anything. 

The Lord now calls His own witnesses, "'You are My witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me.'" (Isaiah 43:10) Throughout the centuries, God has proven Himself to His people. Time after time He rescued them. They should be eagerly lining up to testify on His behalf, to testify of His goodness and love. 

Bible scholar Barry G. Webb turns this scene around to reveal to us that it is really God who is on trial. The idols may be at the defendant's table, but ultimately it is God's word and His proclamation of who He is that is being challenged. "The Lord Himself is on trial. He claims that He alone is God, but is accused of lying. His rivals, the pagan gods, have as their witnesses the many people who worship them. The Lord has only the blind and deaf captives. As they are led in to take the witness stand a hush falls over the courtroom. Surely the Lord's case is lost. But no; these feeble witnesses produce incontrovertible evidence of the truth of the Lord's claim: He alone foretold the things now taking place, especially the rise of Cyrus. Immediately the whole atmosphere of the courtroom changes. The opposition is reduced to silence and the Lord's case is carried. And something else happens. The witnesses themselves are transformed. Their own blindness and deafness are swallowed up by a new assurance, and they leave the court with a firm tread and heads held high." (from The Message of Isaiah, pg 175-176)

There is noting that makes our faith stronger today than looking back at all the things God has already done for us. How many times did He fix a problem? How many times did He come through when a bill needed to be paid? How many times has He healed us and our loved ones? How many broken marriages has He saved and how many wayward children has He brought home? Would He lead us this far down the road just to leave us here? Would Christ die for us and then say, "You're on your own til you get to heaven?" Isn't He a personal, active, every day and every circumstance kind of God? Well then, we are His witnesses. We are His chosen servants. It is His full intention that we know Him and believe Him and understand what He's saying to us. There is no other Savior. The one who saved our souls from death is able to handle our problems in this life.

"I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from Me there is no Savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed---I, and not some foreign god among you. You are My witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am He. No one can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:11-13) God tells mankind what He is going to do and then He does it. What idol is capable of this? What idol is able to undo anything God has done? 

"This is what the Lord says---your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King." (Isaiah 43:14-15) Isaiah has been preaching a coming captivity and also a coming deliverance. What idol predicted that Babylon would rise and conquer the current enemy Assyria, that Babylon would conquer Judah and take her people captive? And what idol predicted that God would raise up a man named Cyrus to set the captives free? When these things take place, the people will recall that the Lord told them about them beforehand. They will recognize that these things are His doing.

It may seem an odd method to cure idolatry by putting His people smack-dab in the middle of a highly idolatrous nation like Babylon, but the Lord knows what He's doing. His power and glory will shine so brightly in that dark country that, by contrast, His people will see the idols for what they really are: less than nothing.