The Book Of Isaiah. Day 181, New Heavens And A New Earth, Part One

A number of times in the book of Isaiah we have found the Lord promising to restore Isaiah's people to their land and to make the land fruitful again. In the remainder of Chapter 65 we find Him promising to restore the entire creation. This will happen after the millennial reign of Christ and the final judgment---at the time when eternity begins and Christ reigns forever over the earth and is the beloved King of all who have made Him their Savior.

"See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people; the sound of weeping and of crying in it will be heard no more." (Isaiah 65:17-19) 

The Apostle Peter makes reference to the new heavens and new earth in 2 Peter 3:13, stating that the Lord will keep the promise we just read about above. The Apostle John actually saw the new heavens and the new earth in the visions the Lord gave him in Revelation. Near the end of the book of Revelation we find John describing an earth restored to an Eden-like state. 

When Christ reigns over the earth, He will reign from Jerusalem, which will be the capitol city of the world during His eternal kingdom. Never again will the sound of weeping and crying be heard in that city. Indeed, weeping and crying will never be heard again anywhere, for the Lord will: "Wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4) This promise is spoken not only to the believing Jews but to people of all nations who are believers. Death itself will die! We will inhabit immortal bodies like Christ's.

Not only will the human race be set free of the curse of sin: troubles and trials and sickness and death. But the animal kingdom and the entire creation will be set free. Just as all creatures lived in harmony with each other in the Garden of Eden, so also will they lived in harmony with each other on the restored and recreated earth. Join us in our next study section when we will go into this subject in more detail.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 180, Past Troubles Forgotten

In today's text the Lord contrasts the fate of His faithful ones with the fate of those who have rejected Him. Although this message was spoken to Isaiah's people, it is as applicable to all of us today as it was to the people of Isaiah's day, for it is spoken to those who have knowledge of God and have chosen to turn Him away. 

"But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget My holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of wine mixed for Destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in My sight and chose what displeases Me." (Isaiah 65:11-12) The references to "Fortune" and "Destiny" are references to idolatry. He is speaking to those who forgot His "holy mountain" (who are not worshiping Him at Jerusalem) and who have chosen to worship other gods.

These words are spoken specifically to the Israelites of Isaiah's day but the message is the same throughout the ages: we can choose to worship God and reap the blessings promised to His children or we can choose to reject Him and reap the consequences of our sin. It's not as if Isaiah's people didn't know about the Lord; they deliberately chose to reject Him. In our day most people of the developed world have heard about the Lord; anyone who has heard about Him but who rejects Him is making a deliberate choice. 

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.'" (Isaiah 65:13) God promises to provide for those who have made Him their Lord. Earlier in the Old Testament, before He took the Israelites into the Promised Land, He spoke about all the blessings that would be theirs if they remained faithful to Him. In this same way, He speaks a promise to us today in regard to His Son, saying that He will provide all of our needs according to His riches in Christ. (Philippians 4:19) He speaks this promise to those who are "in Christ"---who have accepted Him as Lord. 

The Lord continues comparing the righteous with the wicked, saying to the wicked: "My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit." (Isaiah 65:14) We were created for a relationship with our Creator. When we reject Him, we can never be whole in spirit. There is nothing else that can satisfy our souls. 

"You will leave your name for My chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to His servants He will give another name." (Isaiah 65:15) A person's reputation endures after they have left the earth. If they lived a godly life, their name can be used as an example of faith. We find many of these examples on the pages of the Bible. If they lived a wicked life, their name can be used as a "curse"---as an example of the judgment a person can bring upon himself by evil deeds. Their name can become synonymous with shame. 

But those who place their trust in the name of the Lord will be provided for. Those who place their trust in the name of the Lord will be an example of godliness. Those who place their trust in the name of the Lord will have His provision in our mortal lives and will have eternal life with Him after life in our mortal bodies is over. "Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the name of the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My eyes." (Isaiah 65:16)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 179, A Remnant Spared

I am finally back to the Bible study after all the computer issues and delays in receiving the new laptop due to the winter storm. I'm sorry it took so long.

We are still in Chapter 65. We ended the last session with the Lord speaking about the judgment that would fall on those who forsook Him in favor of idols. But not everyone forsook Him for idols. Just as there has likely never been a time when every single descendant of Abraham loved the Lord, there has never been a time when every single descendant of Abraham forsook the Lord. Time and again in the Bible we find the Lord speaking of a "remnant" in regard to those who remain faithful to Him.

In today's passage the Lord compares this remnant to a vineyard in which there are still some fruitful vines among those that have become unfruitful. He compares the remnant to grapes that are still good for something. "This is what the Lord says: 'As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, 'Do not destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,' so will I do on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.'" (Isaiah 65:8)

As we have discussed before, during Isaiah's lifetime the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the nation of Assyria. This happened because the vast majority of people in the northern kingdom had become idolaters. It took an additional 130 years for the people of the southern kingdom of Judah to reach that level of idolatry, but when it did it fell to the nation of Babylon. But the Lord did not allow these people to cease being a separate and distinct group of people on the earth. He preserved a remnant of them in spite of their captivity in foreign lands. He preserved the royal line of David. He allowed many to return to the land of their forefathers.

He says: "I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess My mountains; My chosen people will inherit them, and there will My servants live. Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for My people who seek Me." (Isaiah 65:9-10)

The two locations mentioned above were two of the most fertile areas in the kingdom of Judah. The Lord is promising to make the land and its people flourish again. Though defeat and captivity may look like the end to them, it is not. The Lord will keep His promise to restore them to the land. The Lord will keep His promise to preserve them as a people. The Lord will keep His promise to bring forth the King of kings from the royal line of David.

New Laptop On Its Way

Thank you for your patience during my problems with the old laptop that keeps crashing. 

My husband and I selected a new one and ordered it. It's supposed to arrive on Tuesday if this snowy weather doesn't delay it. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 178, Found By Those Who Did Not Seek Him

We begin Chapter 65 today and will be comparing our Scripture from the book of Isaiah with a portion of Scripture from the book of Romans.

The Lord says to the people of Isaiah's culture: "I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'" (Isaiah 65:1) Isaiah's people, of all the people on the earth, should have known the Lord. They should have called upon Him and clung to Him. But here we find the Lord saying that Gentiles will call upon Him more than the people He led out of bondage in Egypt.

We know He is speaking of Gentiles because the Apostle Paul, a Jewish convert to Christianity, quoted this passage of Isaiah when speaking about Gentiles who had come to faith in the one true God through Jesus Christ. "But not all the Israelites accepted the good news...Isaiah boldly says, 'I was found by those who did not seek Me; I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me...But concerning Israel He says, 'All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.'" (Romans 10:16, 20-21) Paul clearly makes a distinction between Israel and those who "accepted the good news", meaning the believers of Gentile nations.

The Lord points out that He has tried to reason with those He brought out of Egypt---those whom He called by His own name---those who have rejected Him in favor of idols. "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, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!." (Isaiah 65:2-5a)

The list of deeds above is a list of occult practices. They were offering sacrifices and burning incense to pagan deities. They were holding vigils in graveyards at night, hoping to commune with the dead or with evil spirits that were believed to inhabit graveyards. They were living according to their carnal natures: "pursuing their own imaginations". They were disregarding all the Lord's laws. Yet they still thought they were better than people of Gentile nations.

They knew about the Lord but chose not to worship Him. We could compare this to someone in today's world who grew up in church and who knows what the Bible says but chooses to reject the Lord and to live in opposition to Him. That's worse than someone rejecting Him who has heard very little about Him. When Isaiah's people rejected the Lord, they were sinning far more in His eyes than were the Gentiles who knew very little about Him.

The Lord is righteously offended by the refusal of the Israelites to worship Him, for He is the only God who ever did anything for them. He brought them out of Egypt and made them into a great nation. He protected them time and time again from enemies whose military power was far stronger than theirs. Because they are forsaking Him in favor of false gods who never have and never will do anything for them, He says, "Such people are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. See, it stands written before Me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps---both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,' says the Lord. 'Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied Me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.'" (Isaiah 65:5b-7)

The wickedness of the generations who have lived in the Promised Land has reached a tipping point by Isaiah's day. We know from our study of the kings that the northern kingdom fell to Assyria during Isaiah's lifetime and that the southern kingdom fell to Babylon approximately 130 years later. This is because Israelites of generation after generation stopped worshiping the Lord and began worshiping idols, not long after He made them into a nation in the first place. He has pleaded with them through the prophets to repent and they have not done so. He has allowed them to experience various difficulties intended to cause them to ask, "Why are bad things happening to us?", so that they would conclude, "It is because we have turned away from the Lord." But they have not allowed their hardships to cause them to consider their ways. Therefore, He must take more severe action in order to keep their entire race from destroying itself. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 177, We Can't Save Ourselves

I managed to get my laptop up and running again. I'm sorry for the issues yesterday. My husband and I have decided to go ahead and buy a new one because this one is old and outdated and low on memory. It's not worth paying to get it worked on anymore and it will help me with the Bible study and other things to be able to stop dealing with computer issues.

We are continuing our look at Chapter 64 today. We closed our last study session with the people acknowledging that they are sinners and with them saying, "How then can we be saved?" These are two very good things: acknowledging the problem of sin and asking how the problem can be solved. We can't solve the problem ourselves, as they conclude in the portion of Scripture below.

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Isaiah 64:6) This verse isn't saying that there's no value in good works but that we can't be saved by works. We are unclean ourselves; therefore, our works are unclean too. You may recall from our studies earlier in the Old Testament that there were laws regarding uncleanness. A number of things could render a person unclean, such as particular contagious illnesses and conditions that cause seepage of bodily fluids. Anything that person wore and anything they lay upon or sat upon was rendered unclean because they were unclean. In this same way, because we are unclean due to our sins, all of our works are unclean: "like filthy rags". Salvation is by faith, not by works. The Lord doesn't weigh our good deeds and our bad deeds on a scale to see if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds. Even at our best, our works are flawed. 

The people of Isaiah's nation have ignored the Lord's commands to repent for a long time. They have not responded correctly to the discipline He has applied so far. This is why the northern kingdom was conquered during Isaiah's lifetime and why the southern kingdom (which took longer to fall into the utter depravity of idolatry) was conquered 130 years later. Here we find the people admitting that they have failed to respond appropriately and that this is why the Lord is not rescuing them from their troubles. "No one calls on Your name or strives to lay hold of you; for You have hidden Your face from us and have given us over to our sins." (Isaiah 64:7) They are not claiming that the Lord caused them to sin or that He wants them to sin. What's happening here is that, because they insisted on going their own way for so long, the Lord is allowing them to have their way. That is because sometimes the only way a person will repent is for the Lord to let them hit rock bottom.

It can be really hard to allow someone we care about to hit rock bottom but sometimes it's the most loving thing to do. Someone I care about was methodically ruining their life in every way. They made one illogical bad decision after another. When they were on the verge of making a particularly big bad decision, there was actually a way I could have stopped them but the Lord very clearly said to my heart, "Don't do it. This decision is going to bring them to rock bottom and that's the way it has to be in order for them to change." So I held back and watched them make the decision and watched the outcome bring them to the brink of losing everything they had. It was a hard thing to do but I knew what the Lord had said. And He was right, because the tough lesson they learned caused them to repent and accept the Lord as their Savior and He turned their life completely around. Who knows how much longer it would have taken if I'd stepped in and prevented their mistake in spite of what the Lord said to me? 

He knows each of us more intimately than anyone else will ever know us. He knows precisely how much pressure it will take for us to face our sinful state and be sorry for it. He knows what method brings each of us to repentance. For some people, all it takes is hearing the Scripture and taking it to heart. For others, it takes facing up to what a mess they've made of their lives by leaving God out of their lives. I'm one of the latter. It took me facing up to what a mess I'd made of my life. It took me acknowledging that I was lost in my sins and that there was nothing I could do to save myself. That's when I turned to the Lord.

Computer Crashed Again

I'm posting this from my phone because the laptop has crashed again. I am thinking I may have to go ahead and get another one. I will update as soon as I can.