SEPTEMBER 23
Isaiah
41:17-43:13
One thing
we'll see in these verses is a promise for those who trust God, and a challenge
to those who don't. Also, God begins more and more to show us what the purpose
of prophecy is. Why does God say in advance what He's going to do? Is it like a
magic trick so we'll be impressed? The strange effect of sin in us is that we
are not impressed by anything God does. For the unbelieving the fulfillment of
prophecy is a testimony to their stubbornness and sin. God has said what needs
to be said, in advance. For the believing, prophecy gives hope. We might be
awed by God's character and attributes and power, but the purpose is hope. That
will be clear in all we are reading from here to the end of Isaiah. Paul also
says this in Romans 15:4, For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and
through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
When you see what God is saying to Isaiah,
you understand that some of that hope was for those people receiving the
prophecies as Isaiah spoke. Some of that hope was for the godly people in
Jerusalem as the city was being besieged by the Babylonians, and some of that
hope was for those who were taken into exile, for those who returned to a
shattered land after the exile. Some of that hope was for the people living in
the time Jesus was on the earth. Some of that hope is for Jews now, and then
later for the Jews during the Tribulation. There is one message of this
prophecy: God will redeem His people. Yet this message is applied to many
generations of followers of God.
We should be able to identify with the
challenge of living in present circumstances, but knowing, as Paul says in
Ephesians 2:6-7, that God has seated us
with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so
that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Even now, working in the harvest, lugging around this body of death,
having to cry out to God for mercy and strength as we take up our cross every
day to follow, we have a future blessing promised to us to give us hope today.
In faith we draw near to God and draw strength. Those who trust in themselves
just go, "Yeah, nice verses."
Isaiah 41:17-29
Vs. 17-20 God will answer those who repent
and are faithful in calling to Him. Notice that this prophecy is given so they
may see and know and understand that this was the hand of the Lord.
Vs. 21-24 This is the challenge to those who
pursue other gods or human means.
Vs. 25-27 God declares that He is the one who
is foretelling and determining the return of the people to Jerusalem.
One note here: Because of where Jerusalem is,
everything came from the north. To the west was the Mediterranean Sea and to
the east was the great desert. No one came over the desert. So even though the
Babylonians and Persians were east of Jerusalem, they had to travel north along
the rivers and then south to Jerusalem. They called this route "the
fertile crescent," because of the arc the river takes. Therefore, most of
the threat that Jerusalem faced came from the north.
V. 25 This one is thought to be Cyrus, the Persian king who sent the people
back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Vs. 28-29 Again, those who follow or worship
anything but the Lord are only fooling themselves.
Isaiah 42
There are two servants in view. The one servant was the nation that was supposed
to give testimony to the world. They failed. So, God sent the other Servant, the Messiah, who was
successful. God always knew the first servant would fail their first mission,
and Jesus was appointed before the foundation of the world to be the Savior of
the world. The Jews will get another chance, and they will fulfill their
destiny.
Vs. 1-16 are about the Messiah. Some of this
was fulfilled and mentioned in the Gospels and some of this will still be
fulfilled in the Tribulation and in the Millennial Kingdom.
There are a lot of things in these verses.
Look for structure and commands. I am
is used to help follow the flow of the passage. Notice how often God bases His
promises on the fact He is the creator. It is almost as if He is using creation
as a symbol of hope, saying, "Just as I made this, you can be sure of
that."
Vs. 1-4 are quoted in Matthew 12:20, and they
are great verses. Since this is said of the Lord, we as His followers should
see some of this as our mode of operation. You didn’t see Jesus yelling on
street corners or in angry debate. To those who were leading the people astray,
He was hard, but then only at the end of His ministry after He had given them
many opportunities to believe Him. Jesus allowed the word the Father had given
Him to attract or repel people. He didn’t yell or demand.
Vs. 5-9 These words could be from the Father
to the Son, His Servant. They might also apply to the nation and their ministry
to the nations. Yet, these words remind me of what Jesus quoted when He taught
in Nazareth and almost got thrown off the cliff. What He quoted was from Isaiah
61 and from Isaiah 58. But it is close to this too. It was a summation of
Jesus’ ministry.
Vs. 10-13 In light of the coming of God’s Servant,
there will be victory and restoration. The believing should rejoice. What
follows shows that this peace and redemption will come through victory, and
victory means there is a coming conflict and judgment.
Vs. 14-16 The conflict will end with those in
darkness receiving light.
Vs. 17-25 This is the failed servant Israel,
as opposed to the Messiah. But Israel will not end its service as a failure.
Isaiah 43:1-13
Vs. 1-7 These are powerful words of
encouragement to the repentant and faithful among the exiles back then and in
the future. Verses 1-2 are great comfort and great verses to memorize.
Vs. 8-13 Yet there will always be people who
will worship and trust something or someone other than God.
Notice God's own declaration to His greatness
and power and sovereignty.
The height of sin and insanity is to deny
God's existence. And for those of us who say there is a God, our insanity is in
not trusting Him and following Him. If you read the Upper Room Discourse, John
13-17, note how many times Jesus says the people of Israel did not know Him.
They were this blind servant. In the future, they will know Him and serve Him
and lead many in every nation to salvation during the Tribulation.
Ephesians
2
Just like yesterday, go slowly through these
first 10 verses. There are some thoughts in these verses that are capable of
changing a life.
Vs. 1-7 In the Greek, these verses are one
big, happy sentence without punctuation. If you are a former grammar teacher,
you might want to hunt down the main verbs and the subject and then graph all
the subordinate clauses. This explains why some translations begin with the
phrase, which isn't there but is referred to later, "And you He made alive
when." This introductory phrase is implicit in what Paul is saying.
Putting that phrase first puts the opening words in context quickly. Grammar is
fun.
V. 4 God is the subject of this sentence.
V. 5 By
grace you have been saved is a parenthetical, emotional outburst on Paul's
part. Can you see from the sentence why this is? We, as described by the past
four verses, were made alive together
with Christ? The dirty and the dead are linked to the divine? Paul is
saying, "Whoa, dude! By grace we have been saved."
V. 6 is positional. We are physically not yet
there; but in reality, in God’s sight, our future is secure.
V. 7 This thought is pretty unbelievable, and
really, more than the mind can grasp.
Vs. 8-10 The this in v. 8 is the entire process of redemption. It is not a
question of grace or faith, per se, saving us. God did it all. Some people
think to have faith is a work. That is no more a work than putting a pill in
your mouth. You didn't make the pill or build the manufacturing plant or
engineer the formula. God did it all. Faith is mere trust in what God has
accomplished and is offering. This opportunity and the offer are not necessary
on God’s part. It is amazing grace. Obviously then, good works are not how we are saved. They are what God gives us to
do as "keys" that open doors in the harvest. When we get to Titus,
we'll see good deeds are mentioned quite a bit. Conspicuous by its absence in
Titus is any mention of sharing the gospel. I think good works to the person
next door is what God has given us to open the door next door for the gospel.
It's loving our neighbor.
Vs. 11-17 This isn't just an explanation of
how God united Jew and Gentile. It is an explanation of how God brought all
people together in Christ to make a people for Himself during this time. There
is no contradiction between Judaism and Christianity. Christ fulfilled the law
in His sinless life and became the payment for all humanity (for all had violated the law). He became a
curse for them, thereby satisfying the justice of God. Now, as said in
Galatians, there is just one man in Christ. Paul is actually beginning to
describe the creation of the church…a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Notice that in those last verses the pronouns are plural. You means all of you.
These verses may contain a hint of a problem
where some might have said, as in Galatians, that being a Jew was better. Paul
is not only laying that to rest, but he is also about to talk about the mystery
of the gospel; that is, that God would create a people for this
"dispensation" (administration of time) who would carry the message
forth until it is time for the Jews to fulfill their calling.
Vs. 18-22 This is another way of saying the
wild olive tree was grafted into the cultivated olive tree. (Rom. 11:24) The
entire focus is on Jesus. He is the Cornerstone and He is the one we are built
into as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Just so you don't get lost "in the
Spirit," if you read John 16 or Acts 1:8 you'll see that it is the Spirit
who gives us our pizzazz in the harvest. He is all about the harvest and if you
want to see the Spirit do His stuff, you have to be in the harvest following
Jesus, reaching out and making disciples, who make disciples.
Psalm
67
Vs. 1-3 This psalm begins with the blessing
which God gave to Aaron to bless the people of Israel in Numbers 6:24. What is
interesting, then, is that the writer goes on and expresses God's purpose in
blessing Israel, to make Israel a witness to the world that all people might be
saved. Notice that all the nations and peoples are to praise God.
V. 4 This expresses relationship. While
praising God could be an obligation, having gladness and singing and expressing
joy means the nations know the Lord.
Vs. 5-7 This is a great song about the
fulfillment of the promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and to Israel. It is
what the Millennium will look like as Jesus reigns.
This is now the mission of the church, to
bear testimony in the harvest. The day will come when Israel will turn to their
Messiah and bear the light of His Word in the world's darkest hour. There will
be joy in every nation and gladness among all people, and they will praise the
Lord, that He reigns.
Proverbs
23:29-35
There are few things on earth that lend
themselves to greater misuse than "drink." It is obvious from
Scripture that God made wine, and wine is spoken of as a sign of His blessing;
but in a fallen world it has become a danger. Here, without God, we seek the
relaxation it gives as an escape and we get lost in being lost in our escapes.
As disciples we need to look to our own
hearts on this one. Is this something God has given us liberty to enjoy? Can we
control it? Jesus drank wine, but Jesus controlled it. Paul probably drank wine
and was against those who forbade it on legalistic grounds, but Paul was
against drinking wine around the weak, flaunting personal freedoms. Paul told
Timothy to drink a little wine to deal with the stressful effects that ministry
was having on his stomach.
It might also be true that many people don't
drink wine, but the warning of excess is still here. Everything that is good
can be twisted: games, TV, following a favorite sports team, shopping,
computers, sex, everything. We each need to see what we can control, what we
might need help controlling, and what we might just need to eliminate.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting
weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make
disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we
have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused
on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to
provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of
redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us
focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in
these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others
to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making
disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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