September 26th
Isaiah 1
1:
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah,
kings of Judah. 2:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I
have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled
against me. 3:
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel
doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4:
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have
provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away
backward. 5:
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6:
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in
it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7:
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your
land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as
overthrown by strangers. 8:
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a
lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9:
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto
Gomorrah. 10:
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11:
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith
the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of
fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs,
or of he goats. 12:
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your
hand, to tread my courts? 13:
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the
new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away
with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14:
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a
trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15:
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full
of blood. 16:
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17:
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow. 18:
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19:
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20:
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 21:
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment;
righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22:
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 23:
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one
loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the
fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.24:
Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of
Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine
enemies: 25:
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross,
and take away all thy tin: 26:
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as
at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of
righteousness, the faithful city. 27:
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with
righteousness. 28:
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be
together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29:
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye
shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30:
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that
hath no water. 31:
And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and
they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Isaiah 2
1:
the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. 2:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3:
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4:
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people:
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. 5:
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6:
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because
they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the
Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
7:
Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end
of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is
there any end of their chariots: 8:
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own
hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9:
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself:
therefore forgive them not. 10:
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD,
and for the glory of his majesty. 11:
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men
shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
12:
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is
proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall
be brought low: 13:
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and
upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14:
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are
lifted up, 15:
And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16:
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
17:
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of
men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that
day. 18:
And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19:
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of
the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty,
when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20:
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of
gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles
and to the bats; 21:
To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged
rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when
he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22:
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he
to be accounted of?
Isaiah 3
1:
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of
bread, and the whole stay of water, 2:
The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and
the prudent, and the ancient, 3:
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counseller, and
the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 4:
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule
over them. 5:
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every
one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against
the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 6:
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father,
saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be
under thy hand: 7:
In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in
my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the
people. 8:
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue
and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his
glory. 9:
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul!
for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10:
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they
shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11:
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his
hands shall be given him. 12:
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over
them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and
destroy the way of thy paths. 13:
The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 14:
The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people,
and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil
of the poor is in your houses. 15:
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of
the poor? saith the LORD GOD of hosts. 16:
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and
mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: 17:
Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of
the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
18:
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling
ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires
like the moon, 19:
The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, 20:
The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and
the tablets, and the earrings, 21:
The rings, and nose jewels, 22:
The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples,
and the crisping pins, 23:
The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. 24:
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be
stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair
baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and
burning instead of beauty. 25:
Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26:
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall
sit upon the ground.
Today’s bible reading
is the first three chapters of the book of Isaiah. This book is one
of the largest books of the Bible with 66 chapters. Isaiah was a
prophet during the life of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. His
ministry seems to have ended with the Babylonian servitude. There
were other prophets at the same time as Isaiah – Hosea, Micah and
Nahum. The book could be described as follows…
A.
Exhortations – Prophetic 1v2-5v30
B.
The Voice from the temple – The Scatterings 6v1-13
C.
Historic – Events and Prophesies (Ahaz) 7v1-12v6
D.
Burdens – Israel’s blessings 13v1-27v13
D.
Woes – The LORD’s glories 28v1-35v10
C.
Historic – Events and Prophesies (Hezekiah) 36v1-39v8
B.
The Voice from the wilderness – The Gathering 40v1-11
A.
Exhortations – Prophetic 40v12-66v24
So
the first section after the title of verse 1, Isaiah begins a series
of exhortations in the context of the deplorable spiritual state of
the nation. Then he calls on heaven and earth to hear ‘The Word of
the LORD’ because The LORD has spoken. Isaiah does not enter into
debate or discussion he declares what God has to say. The whole book
is summarised by the first few lines. ‘I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me’. Then he goes on to
describe a terrible state of affairs. He says the ox knows his master
but Israel has forgotten the LORD. They are a sinful nation loaded
down with iniquity. They have provoked the LORD to anger. He
describes a nation as a patient that is sick from head to toe. The
country has come under the judgments of the LORD already making
everywhere a wasteland. Just a small remnant is left that the LORD
has preserved otherwise they would have been no more like Sodom. The
message comes to the rulers saying listen to me what good are all
your sacrifices? I have had my full of them – so don’t bring any
more to me. They disgust me, I don’t even want your assemblies.
Your religious celebrations are a burden to me. When you pray, I shut
my eyes and ears. Your hands are covered in blood. Wash yourself and
make yourself clean and put away the evil things that you do. Cease
to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek righteous judgments, relive the
oppressed, judge the fatherless. (Provide the inheritance for sons
without fathers) Plead the case of widows. The LORD speaks in the
most friendly terms, he says come on lets sit down and talk about it.
Even though your sins are like a red stain I can make them white as
snow. But there is one obstacle – IF you are willing to be obedient
– to the Mosaic Law. Because if you are will then you will be
blessed by fruitful crops. BUT if you rebel against me then you will
be killed in war. I the Lord has spoken this. We see what it was like
to live in Israel under the law. If the people rebelled the Lord took
their lives but if they obeyed they lived and were blessed in fruit
for food. Then the LORD says how has the ‘faithful city’ become a
prostitute? Once id was a place of righteousness and fair judgment
but now it is full of murderers. He says I will turn my hand against
you but (In a future day) I will restore the judges and advisors that
you had in your early years and the city will be called the city of
righteousness – the faithful city. The Lord just before the
Millennium and at the end of the Tribulation will judge Israel. Only
the righteous will enter the Kingdom. They will be ashamed of their
idolatry and at their Oaks and Groves. Because you will be like an
oak without leaves and a garden without water. The wicked will be
burnt with unquenchable fire. In chapter 2 v1-5 Isaiah has a vision
of Israel’s future glory. He says that one day the mountain of the
LORD’s house will be established in the top of the mountains. There
will be a major geographic transformation of topography. In that day
All nations will flow into it. It seems that Israel will be the major
thoughfare for the worlds commerce. All the peoples of the world will
go up to Zion to request the knowledge of the LORD so that they will
be enabled to live under law before God. The law of the Lord will go
out of Zion. The LORD will settle national disputes and he will
rebuke nations and all nations will turn all of their arms into
instruments of agriculture. There will be no more war nor will anyone
learn the arts of war anymore. And Israel will live righteously
before the LORD in the light of his knowledge. Then from v6-22, the
rest of the chapter, Isaiah describes the sin of the men of Judah and
pronounces judgment on them. He says they have forsaken the LORD and
filled the city with mediums and soothsayers – the demon possessed.
When the religious leaders are addicted to demonic influence then
look out. The land is full of idolatry and images are everywhere. The
high and low bow down to the work of their own hands. Then Isaiah
speaks of a day of judgment, called ‘The Day of the LORD. In which
he will raise up the humble and put down the proud. All men on the
day will be brought to kneel before the LORD. And all images will be
destroyed forever. Men will try to escape the wrath of God. Even the
earth will tremble before him. All the images of brass and gold will
be thrown down mole hills and caves, before the fear of the LORD and
the glory of his majesty. In chapter 3v1-15 he describes the
political ruin of Judah. The LORD himself will smash the food
economy, by drought, of Judah. Every level of Judah’s society will
be destroyed. Children and babies will be the leaders. Jerusalem will
be destroyed and the nation ruined. They have brought the judgment of
God on themselves. From v16-4v1 Isaiah pronounces the judgment.
Because the daughters of Jerusalem are sexually provocative the Lord
will bring sore skin diseases to them from head to toe. Instead of
sweet perfume their bodies will stink. They will walk bald and in
rags. The men of war will be killed in battle.
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