Category: Isaiah

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

The song of the vineyard is a parable of God’s dealings with Israel and theirs with Him. The list of things that distress God about how God’s people live is very thought provoking.

SJA Notes

* Father God, please write Your word on our hearts today.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,”

Woe.

There are many woes in this passage from Isaiah.

This is a message from God to His people, us the church, today.

We read that God’s vineyard is His people (branches from the TRUE VINE).

And over and over read of woes.

“Woe to those who …”

These are valid for us today. Our practice as God’s people must match our preaching!

We can see evil being swapped out for good today.

We can see those who are wise in their own eyes instead of seeking God’s wisdom.

We can see those given to the temporal fleshly desires, the world calling this behaviour heroic.

We can see that justice is not upheld at times, the weak and lost are not always taken care of.

God’s anger was kindled against His people. He struck them and the mountains quaked.

It is healthy and good for us to reflect on this, on what this passage tells us, today.

How good it is then that Jesus took God’s anger for the sin of His people upon Himself!

* Dear Lord,

Thank You that through Jesus we escape Your just and holy wrath.

Please help us to practice what we preach. That is, Christ Jesus crucified, buried, risen and ascended!

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Isaiah has some of the most memorable and beautiful passages in the Bible. Judgment and mercy are the constant twin themes of this book. The Branch of the Lord is the promised Messiah of King David’s family. Other Biblical metaphors of parallel meaning are the seed of David; the stump of Jesse; the tender shoot.

SJA Notes

* Faithful God, please open our hearts to Your word today.

“And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbour; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.”

Look at what happens when God removes support and supply from the people.

Oppression and insolence mark a nation bereft of the Lord.

But even though He has removed support and supply, there is the promise that ON THAT DAY,

“… The branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious,”

In John chapter 15 we read that Jesus in the true vine.

Here we see that He is THE TRUE BRANCH of the Lord.

On that day, He shall be beautiful and glorious.

The Lord is our SHADE and REFUGE, our SHELTER.

These are all important words. They hold significance and a wealth of meaning and hope that we find layered over and over again through all of God’s word.

Praise God for His word to us!

* God of refuge and strength,

Thank You for this passage from Isaiah.

Thank You that we read of Jesus, Your BRANCH.

Thank You that in You we find SHADE and REFUGE, SHELTER from the storms of life.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Another name for the Mountain of the Lord is the Rock of Israel. Isaiah 30:29 Think of the important mountains in the Scriptures: Ararat, Babel’s ziggurat, Sinai, the split Rock of Moses, Zion, the split mountain of Zechariah which provides the way of salvation, Transfiguration, Ascension, Mount Zion heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12:22 (Jerusalem Above which is eternal as opposed to Jerusalem Below which is temporal).

SJA Notes

* God Above, please open our eyes today to know You better today from Your word.

“For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up – and it shall be brought low;”

It can be hard for us to see proud and lofty people and not get frustrated, especially when those aspects are paired with injustice and avarice.

How does God’s word help us deal with this?

God has a day prepared!

“And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”

This day is coming. God has promised it in His word. God in the Person of the Son, Jesus our King, promised it while He was on earth. Examples can be found in John 14:3 and Revelation 22:7.

But when will this day come?

Peter helps us wrestle with this in 2 Peter 3,

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

SALVATION!

God’s timing of the _when_, in His patience, is tightly linked with His salvation plan!

Peter goes on,

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned  up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

This day will be when BIG THINGS happen.

* Gracious Father,

Thank You that we can read of Your coming day in Isaiah and in Revelation, in John and in Peter’s words, and many other passages beside.

Prepare our hearts Lord, please aright our spirits.

Amen.