Topic : Isaiah

Scarlet

Bible commentators say that scarlet portrays sin, not only to denote its dreadful character, but also to emphasize its indelible nature. They tell us that you can immerse a cloth in any other color and the stain can be removed. Once red dye has been thoroughly set in a piece of goods, however, no scientific method is know that can successfully eliminate it without damaging the fabric. Even if the material is rubbed and scrubbed until threadbare, the fibers that are left will still retain their crimson hue.

Sin is thus pictured as being indelible as far as human efforts to remove it are concerned. There is nothing man himself can do to change his evil nature and turn it into the white purity of holiness. God alone has the power to erase the terrible stain of our sin.

Our Daily Bread

Confrontation

1. Isaiah was confronted by God’s preeminence (Uzziah died and he saw God alone).

2. Isaiah was confronted by God’s purity (Holy, Holy, Holy).

3. Isaiah was confronted by God’s power (the foundations trembled).

Strengthen Your Grip, Charles Swindoll

Resource

• The Holiness of God, R. C. Sproul, pp. 29ff

Resource

• “Evangelical Preaching,” Charles Simeon, p. 163

Resource

• New Bible Commentary, p. 28

O Lord, I Will Praise Thee

I will praise Thee every day,
Now Thine anger’s turn’d away;
Comfortable thoughts arise
From the bleeding sacrifice.

Here, in the fair gospel-field,
Wells of free salvation yield
Streams of life, a plenteous store,
And my soul shall thirst no more.

Jesus is become at length
My salvation and my strength;
And His praises shall prolong,
While I live, my pleasant song.

Praise ye, then, His glorious name,
Publish His exalted fame!
Still His worth your praise exceeds;
Excellent are all His deeds.

Raise again the joyful sound,
Let the nations roll it round!
Zion, shout! for this is He;
God the Saviour dwells in thee.

Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

Resource

• Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 302

Resource

• Tales of the Neverending, Mark Littleton, Moody, 1990, pp. 20ff

Leviathan

“In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).

There is a remarkable animal called a “leviathan,” described in the direct words of God in the 41st chapter of Job. It is surprising that most modern expositors call this animal merely a crocodile. Our text plainly calls it a “piercing serpent...the dragon that is in the sea.” He is also said to “play” in the “great and wide sea” (Psalm 104:25,26). God’s description, in Job 41, says “a flame goeth out of his mouth” (v. 21) and “he maketh the deep to boil like a pot” (v. 31). The entire description is awesome! Whatever a leviathan might have been , it was not a crocodile!

In fact, there is no animal living today which fits the description. Therefore, it is an extinct animal, almost certainly a great marine reptile, still surviving in the oceans of Job’s day, evidently one of the fearsome reptiles that gave rise to the worldwide tales of great sea dragons, before they became extinct.

But that is not all. In ending His discourse, God called leviathan “a king over all the children of pride” (Job 41:34), so the animal is also symbolic of Satan, whose challenge to God instigated Job’s strange trials. He is “the great dragon...that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Perhaps, therefore, the mysterious and notorious extinction of the dinosaurs is a secular prophecy of the coming Day of Judgment when God “shall punish leviathan” (Isaiah 27:1) and the “devil that deceived them” will be “cast into the lake of fire...and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). HMM

Our Daily Bread, Saturday, October 31.

Resource

• Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 287

Resource

• Divine Healing Today, Richard Mayhue, Moody Press, p. 60

Resource

• J. O. Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy with God, Moody, pp. 31-38

Life Sentence

In his book Life Sentence, Charles Colson tells of strolling among the ruins where the Roman senate once met. Recalling his feelings, he wrote:

“As I stood snapping photographs, my mind flashed back to the Roosevelt Room in the White House, a few steps across a narrow hallway from the President’s oval office. At 8 o’clock each morning a dozen of us, the President’s senior aides, had gathered around the antique mahogany table; its polished surface reflected the serious, intense expressions of men who believed the destiny of mankind was in their hands.”

“The decisions we must make today,’ Henry Kissinger would often say, ‘will affect the whole future course of human history.’ We believed it. Just as the nearly 2,000 years ago. Yet here sat their once majestic forum in dusty piles of stone and rubble. Would even this much be left of the Roosevelt Room, I wondered, in two centuries, let alone two millennia from now?” - D.J.D.

Our Daily Bread, June 13

Our Thoughts of God

The first question here rebukes wrong thought about God. “Your thoughts of God are too human,” Luther said to Erasmus. This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power. Put this mistake right, says God; learn to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God and Savior.

The second question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves. God has not abandoned us anymore than he abandoned Jacob. He never abandons anyone on whom he has set his love. If you have been resigning yourself to the thought that God has left you high and dry, seek grace to be ashamed of yourself. Such unbelieving pessimism deeply dishonors our great God and Savior.

The next two questions and the statements which follow rebuke our slowness of heart to believe in God’s majesty. God would shame us out of our unbelief. He asks: Have you been imagining that I, the Creator, have grown old and tired? The rebuke is well deserved by many of us.

Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for January 5

Resource

• Ask Him Anything, L.J. Ogilvie, Word, 1981, pp. 13ff

Three Proofs of God’s Wwnership of this Universe

First, it is His because he made it (v. 22).

Second, because he rules over (and sometimes overrules) earthly rulers (23-24).

Third, because of His care for his own (25-31).

Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 6

Resource

• Bibliotheca Sacra 139:553:12

Hand of Mercy

Nowhere in the Old or New Testament do we find an excuse to kick a man when he is down. Rather, we are encouraged to extend the hand of mercy to anyone who is in trouble.

British author John Hunter points out how the mention of a “smoking flax” in Isaiah 42:3 illustrates this truth. Though the verse applies to Christ, it has a lesson for all believers. According to Hunter, Middle Easterners used a simple oil lamp to light their homes. It was a small clay vessel with the front end pinched together to form an opening. A piece of flax, serving as the wick, was inserted through the small hole until part of it was submerged in the oil. When the flax was saturated, it could be lighted. It would then burn with a soft, warm glow. But when the oil in the lamp was consumed, the flax would dry out. If it was ignited again, it would give off an acrid, dirty smoke, making the vessel offensive and useless. Now, you might think that the only thing to do would be to crush and discard the wick. But that would accomplish nothing. If you simply refill the lamp, the wick could burn brightly again.

Occasionally God’s people temporarily “run out of oil.” They become like the smoking flax because they are ill-tempered and offensive. But fellow believers should not abandon them or become angry and impatient with them. Rather, they should seek to restore them by being merciful and understanding. By supporting them with prayer and expressions of concern, they can help them burn again with the soft, warm glow of Christian love. - D.C.E.

Our Daily Bread, August 9

Resource

• Ask Him Anything, L.J. Ogilvie, Word, 1981, pp. 24ff

Resource

• Bibliotheca Sacra, 139:554:129

Resources

• Bibliotheca Sacra, 139:556:312
• Bibliotheca Sacra, 140:557:21

Our Troubles

Half our troubles come from wanting our own way. The other half comes by having it.

The hymnwriter Philip P. Bliss described Jesus’ atoning work on the cross as follows:

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood—
Sealed my pardon with His blood:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Yes, only Christ could be our sin bearer!

Source unknown

Condemnation Certain

After World War 1, 900 German soldiers who had violated international law were summoned to appear before the World Court. Their condemnation was certain. In a dramatic move, however, the former crown prince of Germany volunteered to be their substitute. His offer included taking upon himself both the accusation against them and their penalty. This act, though most noble, was impractical. Although he was royalty, he did not have in his own person the value of the 900.

There is another Prince who took upon Himself the judgment due the entire human race. Unlike that German leader, He is not implicated in any evil. Because of His sinless humanity, He could be “delivered for our offenses.” Because of His deity, He could be “raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). He was able to pay in full the ransom demanded by God’s holy law, because in Him was the intrinsic worth needed to provide salvation. Yes, the Father laid upon His sinless Son the iniquity of us all.

Our redemption has been purchased by Heaven’s Crown Prince. So don’t depreciate the cross. Don’t underrate Christ’s great sacrifice. It will cost you your soul. It will shut you out from God. It will darken your eternity.

Thank God for a royal Substitute! - Romans

Our Daily Bread, April 17

Six-Inch Christians

I met a young man not long ago who dives for exotic fish for aquariums. He told me that one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium you put it in. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet.

That is like what happens to some Christians. I have seen some of the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in a little puddle. You can look at them and comment on how fine they are. But if you were to put them out into a larger arena—into the broad view of a whole creation—they might become great.

God help us not to be confined to a little puddle out of insecurity, but instead to see that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He made us, and if we will both have internal integrity and relate ourselves to the larger structures in the ways he has ordained, we will be able to serve him according to a holistic vision of his purpose on the earth.

Pastoral Renewal, February 1985, p. 111

Unanswered Questions

Pastor William E. Sangster told of an experience in his youth when he went on a vacation with some friends. Within a short time he had spent all the funds given him for the trip, so he wrote home for more. His father, thinking he should teach his son the value of money, did not respond to the request. Sangster’s companions wondered why he had been turned down and suggested several reasons. Young William said to them, “I’ll wait till I get home, and he’ll tell me himself.”

That’s the kind of attitude we as Christians should have toward our Heavenly Father. Life itself holds many unanswered questions. But we know that God is sovereign and that He works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11). Our Lord has said, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). We are limited in our comprehension of all that He is doing in our lives 1 Cor. 13:12). An explanation for many of the problems that confront us, the trials through which we pass, and the wounds that bring such hurt will have to wait until we get to heaven. Although God does not need to explain the reasons for His dealings with us, someday He will unveil His matchless wisdom to us.

We need patience to wait for the final answer. In that day when we awake in glory, we shall be fully satisfied. Though now we may not trace God’s hand, we can always trust His heart. - P.R.V.

Our Daily Bread, December 7

Resource

• His Name is Wonderful, Warren Wiersbe, p. 83