Now no one at the table knew why [Jesus] said this to [Judas].

 John 13:21-30

Now no one at the table knew why [Jesus] said this to [Judas]. John 13:28

I continue my study of John and today I focus on John 13:21-30, where Jesus shares how Judas will betray Him.  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method. 

• What do we learn from the text about God?: Jesus loves all of His creation and it troubles Him when someone does not believe, follow Him, and surrender his life to Him be saved. V21 shares (emphasizing His authority via the words "[t]ruly, truly" at the same time) how Jesus was troubled as He prophecies that one of the disciples will betray Him.  When asked by one of the disciples who will betray Him, Jesus does not specifically name Judas as His betrayer, but in vv26-27, He gives them an obvious clue tipping off the disciples that His betrayer will be Judas.  Then, in v27, the text shares that "Satan entered into [Judas]", and Jesus tells Judas "[w]hat you are going to do, do quickly."  Jesus does not stop Judas from what He was going to do and He allows or orchestrates Satan influence and actions.      
• What do we learn from the text about people?: The disciples at first do not know who will betray Jesus, but even though Jesus helps them understand that it will be Judas, their understanding of how this betrayal should work is incomplete - see vv28-29.  Believers should know that God is in everything, including allowing sin and brokenness' existence.  Judas was part of God's plan - but not in a positive way.  This is the mystery of God - why some are saved and why some are not - all in control by God (Ephesians 2:8).  What is not a mystery is that (1) God uses sinful and broken people as part of His plan, (2) every single one of us, believer or not, are sinful and broken, and (3) God knows all and we can trust that what He says will come to pass - He is faithful and He is Truth.  We don't know how God works (Isaiah 55:8) but we do know He is control of all details and nothing can stop His promises or plan.
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid sinful influences (and Satan entering you) in your life by understanding sin (read scripture).  Claim the promise that God is in everything, His Word is Truth, He is faithful, and what He says will come to pass.  Follow the example of Jesus to save as many as possible (all the disciples except Judas) and use a troubled spirit to urge you into action (Jude 22-23). Know and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd (vs Satan who is real). 

Comment and discuss this post

My Prayer: Father God You are an awesome God who loves and saves.  Thank You for saving me - I know this is not of my own doing.  Thank You for also protecting me from sinful influences.  I am not deserving of how You save and provide refuge.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 John 5:19-24

Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:23b-24

I continue my study of John, and today, I move to start unpacking Jesus' extended response to the Jews persecuting and seeking to kill Him (which started in vv16-18).  This response continues through the end of the chapter (last verse is v47), so I am going to tackle this in chunks starting with vv19-24 - here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method. 

• What do we learn from the passage about God?: Jesus speaks with authority as the Son of God, sent by the Father - v19 uses language from scripture elsewhere "truly, truly" as He emphasizes His authority on the matter.  He not only speaks with authority, He acts with authority doing what the Father tells Him to do, as the Father does the same and because the Father "loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing" (v20). Both Father and Son raise the dead and give life, and the Son gives life "to whom He will" (v21).  This is key because we know that some believe in Jesus and some do not - faith is a gift from God, not of our own doing (Ephesians 2:8), and He alone saves. Vv22-23 share how the authority to judge has been delegated from the Father to the Son and that we are then called to honor the Son based on this authority.  V24 gives us an important promise repeated most famously in John 3:16 that whoever hears the gospel, believes that Jesus was sent by God and believes God (affirms authority of both God the Father and the Son) has eternal life and will not be condemned (implied also that such a person - believer - will have rebirth or regeneration).  
• What do we learn from the passage about people?: While not explicitly stated, we can infer in the text that those who do not believe in Jesus and His authority as Lord of All (and Savior) will suffer eternal condemnation.         
• Is there anything from the passage God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid not honoring God or not believing in Him, follow the example of Jesus who did the will of the Father (dying on the cross, etc.), claim the promise of ("greater works") life now to the full and for eternity in Heaven based on belief in Him.  

Comment and discuss this post

My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves, saves and gives life now to the full and for eternity.  Thank You thank You!  Of course I am not deserving of such love and blessing....my sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 3:1-21

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. John 3:21

I continue my study of John, reviewing John 3:1-21 using the Sword Bible Study Method, where I started yesterday at vv1-15, and today my focus is vv16-21.   

• What do we learn from the passage about God?: Nicodemus continues his evening discussion with Jesus, with Jesus building on v15 where He shares that "whoever believes in him may have eternal life."  Next we have the very oft-quoted v16 (and v17 which really should be read and spoken together with v16) that is the core gospel message: (1) God loved us SO MUCH that He gave His only Son Jesus to save the world for a full life now reborn through Christ, and for eternity with Jesus in Heaven with all the saints (other believers); (2) we should be be clear that the gospel is a HOPEFUL message, not one of judgment - yes, all will be judged, but this is NOT WHY Jesus came to earth as the Incarnate Son of God.  The gospel is a SAVING message, not one of CONDEMNATION.  Yes, there will be condemnation but that is because they are rejecting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  God knows why people reject Him....it is because people don't want to come to terms that everyone is a sinner and that accepting Jesus means you have to confess sin and turn to Him as Your Lord and Savior.      
• What do we learn from the passage about people?: Fear and shame grip people into holding onto their sin as a secret - vv19-20.  In contrast, believers are no longer slaves to their sin, and as we bear fruit from our faith, believers become a light onto others where we reflect the light of Jesus as we become image-bearers and ambassadors of God - v21.    
• Is there anything from the passage God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid,Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Scripture is clear that believers should not judge those who don't believe - it is NOT our role to judge.  Jude 22-23 is instructive here - we are to show mercy not judge. Claim your free gift of salvation - confess sin, repent and believe!             

Comment and discuss this post

My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and saves!  Thank You Jesus for giving me the greatest gift of all time....I am not deserving of such a gift.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and. Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

 Zechariah 3:1-10

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Zechariah 3:1

I continue my study of the last four books of the OT (complete: Zephaniah, Haggai; to complete: Zechariah, Malachi) - using the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary volume for this book.  For this morning, my focus is an unassisted review of Zechariah 3:1, which the commentary outlines as the first of six divisions for the text 3:1-10 (3:1, 3:2, 3:3, 3:4-5, 3:6-7, 3:8-10).  Here, we pivot (see post yesterday) from a vision of restoration and blessing for God's people, to a vision where Satan appears to condemn Joshua the high priest based on His previous sin.  Satan knows God's people are human and as such are imperfect, broken and sinful.  God has provided a vision and a path, however, to restoration, forgiveness, and to fellowship with God.  If we stand with God, vs with Satan, God will protect us.  Standing and walking with God requires effort - spiritual disciplines: prayer and study of God's Word, corporate worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, etc.  God sees His elect who walk with Him as righteous in His eyes. See also Romans 8:1.

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion.  You see me as righteous in Your eyes and I am not condemned.  Thank You Jesus for giving grace and salvation.  I am not deserving...my sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

Romans 10

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. Romans 10:1

I continue to lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion, which today looks at how we pray for unbelievers - similar to yesterday where John Piper sought to help us see what kind of prayer pleases God. Piper looks at Romans 10, where Paul - a Jew - seeks to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Israelite nation. He points out that Paul does not pray for "ineffectual influences, but for effectual influences," and that we should pray as such. Effectual influences are described (not exhaustively - see also this post) as promises of God and examples from scripture provided by Piper include:

• God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give them a new heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)
• Circumcise their heart so that they love you! (Deuteronomy 30:6)
• Father, put your Spirit within them and cause them to walk in your statutes. (Ezekiel 36:27)
• Grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil. (2 Timothy 2:25–26)
• Open their hearts so that they believe the gospel! (Acts 16:14) 

The implication here is that while we can pray for positive earthly influences for unbelievers (a gospel-centered church, Godly friends and disciple-makers, etc.), there is no substitute for God in how He is sovereign and provident over election and salvation.

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus - You are so good and You saved me - pursuing me and giving me a new heart of flesh - that I can desire and seek You.  Thank You Jesus!  Amazing grace - of course I am not deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior - circumcise their heart so that they love you!  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Isaiah 14

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Jude 1:20-23

I came back to my deep dive of Isaiah, based on the Precept Upon Precept study series.  Today, I focused on Isaiah 14, where we focus on Sheol and its discussion in Isaiah and throughout scripture. In Isaiah 14, we see Sheol (or the realm of the dead) and death coming to meet the Babylonian king, as well as the other godless kings from surrounding lands (v9-10).  We also see how the power of those brought to meet Sheol is brought down or humbled to Sheol's level (v11, 15).  In Isaiah 5:14, we read about death as having an "enlarged...appetite," insatiable in its desire to tempt and entice people into a life of sin and eternal damnation (see also 1 Peter 5:8). In Isaiah 28, we see Jewish leaders in a covenant with death and Sheol - unable to see Jesus as the promised Messiah from Old Testament scripture. Additional scriptural examples from my study point to Luke 16:19-31, and other examples to show how Sheol is not only a place that is reserved for those who refuse Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but also a place of eternal torment where one can only enter but never leave. Believers should not only be thankful for eternal life, but also "snatching [others] from the fire (Jude 1:23)."  Believers are also called to persevere in this life, to endure through suffering, etc. as the joy of this life is simply a foretaste of our true home in Heaven where we experience perfect unity and harmony with God.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are indeed a great God who promises both life to the full now and for eternity - thank You Jesus for Your salvation.  I am grateful...but of course undeserving.  My sins continue...many, including anger, impatience, etc.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sins towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus[.]

Ephesians 2

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus[.] Ephesians 2:4-6

This morning, until I start a new Bible study, I continue using devotionals from John Piper.  Today, the post focuses on the "freeness of grace" - meaning that the manner in which God brings about our conversion to faith is through a "one-sidedly free and non-negotiated" conversion from spiritual deadness to life with Christ.  Piper remarks at the abruptness of Paul's insertion of how "by grace you have been saved" between v5 and 6 to underscore the depth of God's grace.  This grace is emphasized once again - this time more explicitly and less abruptly - in v8 where in one of the more well referenced verses in the New Testament Paul writes: 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God[.] Ephesians 2:8

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your amazing grace - that I was dead in my sin, hostile to You - yet You brought me to life and made me one of Your elect and gave me faith - thank You!  I am not deserving of such a blessing - the greatest gift of all time.  Yet I am not deserving - I sin...daily, including worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:1-11

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:9-10

This afternoon, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I continued my study of chapter six The Blessings of Justification By Faith, which covers Romans 5:1-11.  My focus today is Romans 5:9-10 where my commentary uses the heading We Have Assurance of Final Salvation. As with this chapter, I've been looking at the blessings of justification - we have in v9-10 the blessing of salvation.  Of course, it's hard to describe salvation with a single word - we must take the time to unpack and ponder what it means. Paul helps us by ensuring we know that prior to salvation we were "enemies" of God and of course deserving of His wrath - death (Romans 6:23).  Keeping in mind our own sin and its ultimate consequences it becomes more clear how precious and valuable our salvation is. We are saved indeed!

My commentary points out our salvation has a "negative" and a "positive" aspect - negative in that we "have no fear of future wrath" (v9).  We are encouraged to be overwhelmed in gratitude and be full of praise, joy and holy awe.  My commentary then states that "[p]ositively, Paul also says believers are reconciled to God now and forever (v10)....[w]e share [Jesus'] life now; we will share his life through the resurrection later."  We know this for sure because of how Jesus accomplished the most difficult aspect of our salvation through His death on the cross. 

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an incredible God who has assured me of salvation both in this life and in the life to come - Heaven!  Thank You Jesus!  The greatest gift of all time - I am of course not deserving of this but deserving of Your wrath.  Thank You for saving me from Your wrath - knowing everything about me.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

Habakkuk 1-3

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:16-19

Day 216 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith) continues as I pause in my study of Jeremiah to look at Habakkuk, whom my commentary* refers to as a "contemporar[y]" of Jeremiah. Although the MacArthur Bible Study Commentary (for purchase) indicates that "as with many of the Minor Prophets, nothing is known about [Habakkuk] except that which can be inferred from the book". MacArthur agrees with LaGard Smith that Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah and further describes how Habakkuk "prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian Empire and the beginning of Babylonia's" rise.

LaGard Smith* writes that "Habakkuk, poses the profound theological question which must nag at anyone who is seriously listening to the prophets. It may even be a question which the various prophets themselves have considered. Certainly Habakkuk is concerned about it. The question is this: How can a righteous and holy God use a wicked nation like Babylonia to bring punishment against God’s own people, rebellious and sinful though they may be? Are not the ruthless Babylonians and the other oppressors of Judah merely acting on their own in great arrogance and with no thought whatever of achieving any divine purpose? How then can God permit these unrighteous nations to succeed in their evil oppressions? And the question stretches beyond even the present conflicts to other related issues. How can God permit the wicked to prosper, often at the expense of the righteous? How can a righteous God permit evil to exist at all?"

*Smith, F. LaGard. The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

On the latter question, we know that sin exists because of Adam and Eve's sin in the very beginning - what is referred to as The Fall (Genesis 3).  LaGard Smith* writes that God addresses the "central question" by responding to Habakkuk that "evil, wherever it is found, always bears within it the seeds of its own destruction. Judah’s sins have condemned it to inevitable destruction. The particular agency by which that destruction comes is of no consequence."  LaGard Smith* summarizes a key point for this morning: "[o]nly in righteousness is there life; sin always brings death".

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Believers concerned about justice can have peace and take comfort that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16) and also have peace and take comfort in knowing that God's justice is perfect. 

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who comforts me and gives me peace - during good and bad times.  Thank You Jesus!  I know You never leave or forsake me.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such a God.  I sin...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me turn from and overcome my sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.

Isaiah 51-54:3

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations. Isaiah 51:6-8

 

Day 197 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith) continues with my study of Isaiah as God seeks to comfort Israel in exile.  This morning, my commentary* starts with Isaiah using Abraham as an example of how God created a great nation from one man - Abraham - all from a promise.  God is faithful.  My commentary* then moves to Isaiah's message and how it describes how our "salvation is coming", how there is "no need to fear" as God's "wrath will pass". 

*Smith, F. LaGard. The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition. 

 

This salvation and restoration is of course Jesus Christ and and in Isaiah 53 we see the prophecy of the coming Messiah:

 

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:2-11

 

God uses Isaiah to comfort Israel in its exile with a promise of restoration and salvation.  This same message of course applies to all believers during any age.  During a period of suffering and trial we must look to God for comfort as what ever challenges we may be experiencing are temporary as we know that we can look forward to eternity in Heaven with Him and this is where we place our hope.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves and who provides comfort and salvation for those who believer in You - thank You Jesus!  What an awesome God!  I am not deserving of such love.  I sin...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept You as Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.