Burunche’s Blog

Salvation for Zion

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him. For the LORD will comfort Zion and look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for a law will go out from Me, and My justice will become a light to the nations; I will bring it about quickly. My righteousness draws near, My salvation is on the way, and My arms will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look for Me and wait in hope for My arm.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults. For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

“I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal man, or a son of man who withers like grass? But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive will soon be freed; he will not die in the dungeon, and his bread will not be lacking.

For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name. I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

God’s Fury Removed

Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger. Among all the sons she bore, there is no one to guide her; among all the sons she brought up, there is no one to take her hand.

These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you? Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one, drunken, but not with wine. Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering; from that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again. I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

It has been said many times that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. The Israelites enjoyed a miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt, walking between towering waves of water on dry land as they crossed the Red Sea. Then those same people turned around to watch as God allowed the waves to close over the greatest army of that time, wiping out chariots, horses, and horsemen alike. As the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God provided food and water for them repeatedly. God led them into a land full of all kinds of possibilities. BUT there was a problem. The Israelites had lousy memories! Instead of continuing to worship the One True Living God as He had asked them to, the Israelites wandered off into cults and the farther they wandered, the more spiritually confused they became. Now God is calling them out of that spiritual confusion.

In these verses, God is reminding His people where they started with Abraham the faithful as their ancestor. God is warning His people that they will be punished for their sins but He is already assuring them that their land will eventually be healed and restoration will come to Israel. “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering; from that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again. I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’”

APPLICATION: Who among us does not have times of despair and who among us does not need restoration and healing? Embodied in these verses are some of the brightest promises ever given. : For the LORD will comfort Zion and look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.” Some translations say “waste places” instead of ruins, and many of us can point to parts of our lives that feel like waste places. The glorious news is that God is the Healer who can redeem all of our messes and who can restore our waste places so that we will have joy and gladness.

“So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.” Who are “the redeemed of the Lord?” This is the very best news of all! Anyone who chooses to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to follow Him becomes one of the redeemed as soon as he or she takes that decision. Even though we may have trials and struggles here, even though we may battle with health problems or family upheavals-no matter what our problems are here, one day, we will enter Zion. We will close our eyes in death and open them to eternal life, a life full of unending joy and gladness, a life free of sorrow and sighing.

God makes this offer to anyone who will believe. There are no preconditions, nor do we have to clean ourselves up first. Actually we can’t clean ourselves; only God can do that. But when we allow Jesus to become Lord of our lives, He takes over the cleaning business.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, speak to the hearts of all who read these words. Help them to see that You really do love them and want the very best for them and that You want to restore the waste places of their lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Israel’s Sin

“This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”

The Servant’s Obedience (Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20; Luke 22:63-65; John 19:1-15)

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back. I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me! Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them. Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.”

Again, we read these verses and wonder whether Isaiah is speaking about himself or the Messiah. Both interpretations would work. God called Isaiah by touching his lips with coals of fire, and ever since then Isaiah has been faithfully proclaiming the word of the Lord. But the people of Judah and Jerusalem don’t want truth; they want convenient lies that will allow them to persist in idolatry.

God first questions his rebellious children, stating that he has never divorced Israel, so why wasn’t anybody waiting for Him when He arrived? If God is all-powerful, why haven’t His children trusted Him?

“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back. I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.”

If anybody has born the cost of discipleship, it is Isaiah. God has given Isaiah some of the most comforting messages ever; yet, rather than take those messages to heart, Isaiah’s listeners have abused him. Ultimately, wicked King Manasseh will have him murdered in a ghastly fashion. It’s quite likely that before finally dispatching Isaiah, his tormenters pull out his beard and spit in his face. Beards were a sign of manhood and masculinity; for someone to damage a man’s beard was a major insult. At the same time, these verses can also refer to Jesus’ abuse at the hands of King Herod, the religious establishment, and the Romans.

“Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.” Recently on a reality TV show featuring the Australian border patrol, an incoming tourist was stopped with a huge amount of obviously fake American money. What was going on and why was this lady carrying all this pseudo cash? This lady was Asian and worshiped traditional deities; celebrations included burning money as a symbolic sacrifice. Sadly, once that paper money was burned, the worshipers would still have to repeat that act on a regular basis to ensure good favor with their god. Following false gods only leads to anxiety that one is not doing enough. Demons always demand more; that is their nature.

APPLICATION: We call them “the persecuted church,” and they number in millions and billions. Around the world, Christians are suffering and dying for their faith. Worshipers in Nigeria and other places are being slaughtered during church services and their church buildings torched. Believers in North Korea can be run over by bull dozers in public for daring to show a Christian video to a few friends. Believers in Muslim countries know that they and their children face an uncertain future as they try to share the Gospel with those around them. When will one of their listeners turn out to be a spy for extremists? Will they have to watch as their children are beheaded? What comfort can these people take?

“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back. I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me! Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them. Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.”

In 1937 Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book entitled The Cost of Discipleship. At that time, Hitler’s Nazi regime was gaining control of much of Europe while he appealed to the churches by manipulative statements. Bonhoeffer’s message was centered on the Sermon on the Mount, and he pointed out that true discipleship might cost everything, including one’s life. Later, Bonhoeffer himself paid with his life for his stand as part of the Confessing Church, just as the prophet Isaiah had paid with his life centuries earlier. Let’s examine these verses.

1. “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word.” Nobody can be strong 100% of the time. If we as believers fail to encourage others, there will be nobody to encourage us when we need help.
2. “He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” Early morning Is the best time to begin the day with the Lord by reading His Word and praying. Once embarked on, days have a nasty habit of overwhelming us if we are lacking spiritual resources.
3. “The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.” If you think God is Santa Claus and that He will always tell you what you want to hear, then you don’t know God very well! A story is told about Saint Teresa of Avila, a Spanish saint. When Teresa’s oxcart got stuck in the mud, she is reported to have rolled her eyes heavenward to say, “No wonder you have few friends if this is how you mistreat them!” We can refuse to obey God openly or we can merely shrink back a little; either way, we are still being disobedient and rebellious. We should pray that God will open our ears AND our hearts, so that we will be obedient, no matter what.
4. “I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.” Standing for righteousness is never easy; there are always those who want to pull you down, either because they once were righteous and have now turned away or because they were never righteous in the first place. Generally, those who were once righteous and have since turned away are far more dangerous because your stand puts them under conviction. Such people will do anything to destroy you.
5. “The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me! Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me?” In the midst of Job’s suffering, he still affirmed, “I KNOW that my Redeemer lives!” God stands with the righteous, even when they are suffering. As the apostle Stephen was being stoned to death, he cried out that he saw Jesus at the right hand of God. We must stand for the right, trusting that God will strengthen and uphold us.
6. “See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.” Here “moths” may refer to any kind of spiritual or physical attack. One thing is clear: actions have consequences and sin has everlasting ones.
7. “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.” There are many times when we feel we are wrapped in darkness so deep that it is sinking into our very spirits. But God is there, and God can penetrate any darkness with His glorious light. Keep trusting in the Lord and leaning on Him. Darkness flees at the sound of His Word!  Recently, I was reviewing some documents from several years ago at a time when I was still heading our mission hospital. I realized that I had forgotten just how difficult some of those times were and how fragile we felt. There were many issues about which we could only maintain silence while our critics continued to rage against us. But even when we saw no light at all, God was still there and God sustained us. Remember that after Jesus’ death at Calvary, he still arose on Easter at Gethsemane. Calvary was not the end of the story!

Perhaps you have entered a season of suffering and see no light at all. We used to joke that the only light we saw at the end of the tunnel was on the front of an approaching train that was about to annihilate us! BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL!!! God will NOT allow you to be destroyed. Trust God! Hold on! Joy comes in the morning!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, please help all those downhearted and broken who are reading these words to take fresh courage and hope! Speak to their hearts and assure them that You are closer than their breath and their heart beats. Lord, help us to trust You and to lean on You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

“Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break into joyful song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride. For your ruined and desolate places and your ravaged land will now indeed be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. Yet the children of your bereavement will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; make room for us to live here.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? For this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

As things become worse in the world, entertainment has turned to the revival of movies about super heroes or heroines with special powers who can do incredible feats. But God has always had super powers of all kinds. It is God who spoke the universe into existence with a single word. Could that word have been the word “BE!”

At the time Isaiah was writing these words, things were becoming dire for the Israelites. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and now the Assyrians were threatening Jerusalem. Isaiah played an important role in encouraging King Hezekiah when the Rabshakeh was threatening to destroy Jerusalem.

““Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.” God never wanted Jerusalem to be destroyed; it was the citizens of Jerusalem who determined their own fate by their idolatry. But here God was promising that he would not allow Jerusalem to deteriorate into a mound of dirt. Throughout Israel today there are tells, places that once held vibrant cities teeming with life. Now there are only heaps of rubble through which archaeologists sift to find clues to the civilization that once lived there.  

“Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride. For your ruined and desolate places and your ravaged land will now indeed be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. Yet the children of your bereavement will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; make room for us to live here.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

God always keeps His promises, whether or not people do. One friend in my mother’s generation told me that she never believed the Bible until God brought the Jews back to Israel and then established Israel as a country. When those events took place, my friend realized that God was fulfilling His promises to Israel, and she became a true believer.

“Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Since Israel has been established as a nation, there have been many times when she could have been destroyed, but yet, God has preserved her. When I was in Israel in 1979, I heard many tales of miraculous deliverance. Even today, Israel suffers under continual bombardment, a fact that international news media refuse to acknowledge. Why hasn’t this small country disappeared from the map? Only God can deliver!

APPLICATION: There are so many parts of Isaiah that work on several different levels and these passages are yet another example. Who doesn’t hope that God will remember them? At times, any of us may feel that nobody cares, and yet, God assures us that He has engraved our names on his hands so that every time He looks at His hands, He will see our names.

We all need protection. We all need reassurance, both for ourselves and also for our children. Many parents throughout the centuries have claimed God’s promise that “I will save your children.” That promise is still valid today.

Sometimes people get caught up in arguments, feeling that since ancient Israel sinned, these promises no longer apply to modern Israel. But God takes a very long view of things; after all, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. How can we possibly limit God when God has clearly stated that He loves the whole world?

God’s plan has always been a global one; God sent His Son Jesus to die for the sins of the entire world, not merely for one ethnic group. God’s love is available to any of us who will choose to believe Him and who will follow Him. Let’s pray.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for Your wonderful promises! Lord, we acknowledge that we are sinners and that we cannot free ourselves from our sins. We beg You to save us from our sins, to help us repudiate them, and to follow hard after You all our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

You Are My Servant

Listen to me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called me from the womb; from the body of my mother He named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a polished arrow; He hid me in His quiver. He said to me, “You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will display My glory.” But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength in futility and vanity; yet my vindication is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.”

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him—for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is my strength—He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel.

I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances, to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill. They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all My mountains into roads, and My highways will be raised up. Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”

This chapter is another one of those prophecies in Isaiah that can have a dual meaning. The first part of the prophecy appears to refer to Isaiah; however, we rapidly realize that much of this prophecy must refer to the coming Messiah. Let’s examine this in depth.

1. “And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him—for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is my strength…” Both Isaiah and the Messiah are chosen from the womb. When God brought Isaiah’s parents together, He was already creating the genetic codes that would cause Isaiah to become one of the greatest prophets of all time. When God chose the Virgin Mary, He sent His Holy Spirit to create Jesus in Mary’s womb.
2. “I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Both Isaiah and Jesus have become lights for the nations, Isaiah as the prophet foretelling the coming of Jesus. The preaching of the Gospel has brought hope and healing to untold numbers of people.
3. “This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances, to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’  Isaiah urged the Israelites to return to the Lord, so that the land would be restored. Jesus, the Messiah, brings restoration, hope, deliverance, and healing to all who will believe on Him. All of us who are believers have actually been kept and appointed to do these very same things. Belief in Jesus Christ does not mean that you make a decision and then ride around on a silken pillow; true believers have a duty and a calling to follow their Master and do the same things that He did.
4. “I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances, to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill. They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all My mountains into roads, and My highways will be raised up. Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.” When the time came for the Israelites to return from Babylon, God protected Ezra and Nehemiah as they brought large groups of people loaded with treasure back to Jerusalem. Later on, God delivered many Jews as they fled war – torn Europe at the end of World War II to settle in Israel.

God has ways of sheltering and protecting those whom He loves. When the Communists took over China, many missionaries found themselves claiming these verses as they made their escape. Some failed to escape but went into prison camps where they became shining lights to all those around them.

APPLICATION: “to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Chuck Colson was a prominent lawyer and politician under the Nixon regime in America but he went to prison for his malfeasance. While in prison, Colson began reading the works of C.S. Lewis and other strong Christian writers and realized that he had failed spiritually. Once Colson repented and became a Christian, he began witnessing to his fellow prisoners. From that point onward, Colson never looked back. Once free, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, a group that has come to minister to prisoners around the world.

Brother Andrew was a Dutch mercenary when he became a Christian. Andrew began smuggling Bibles into closed parts of Europe and Asia. Eventually, large numbers of people joined him in risking their lives so that believers could have their own copies of the Bible. Many miracles of protection accompanied these people; however, some of them were caught and imprisoned or punished in other ways.

Several years ago, we participated in training for Community Health Evangelism. In our training group were several men from South Korea, including an upper – level Sony executive. These men were planning for the day when the two Koreas might be reunited; however, they were also praying about infiltrating North Korea. At that time, believers in North Korea were being run over by bull dozers and murdered in other gruesome ways, all in an effort by the North Korean government to suppress the Gospel. We were humbled to realize that our friends were preparing to risk their lives for the salvation of the North Koreans.

Today there are many parts of the world where people remain enslaved to drugs or to hate-filled political regimes. These people need the hope that only the Gospel can give. As we go through our days, may we remember that we might be the only Gospel those around us ever read. May our lives reflect the light and the glorious hope of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the promise of eternal life!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You that Jesus has come as Messiah and that because of His death and resurrection, we have the promise of eternal life. Help us to be hope – bearers to all those around us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Israel’s Stubbornness

“Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness— who indeed call yourselves after the Holy City and lean on the God of Israel; the LORD of Hosts is His name.

I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze. Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’

You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge them? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’

You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth. For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off. See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.

Deliverance Promised to Israel

Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last. Surely My own and founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together. Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.

Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit. Thus says the LORD your Redeemer,

the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!” They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out. “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Just in case the Israelites are laboring under a misapprehension that they had fooled God, God nails all those who have been playing spiritual games. ““Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness… For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze. Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’”

OUCH! No doubt about it, God knows all the games the Israelites have been playing and wants to demonstrate graphically that he knows the future as well as the past. Repeatedly, God has tried to correct the Israelites and they have essentially shoved their fingers in their ears and chanted meaningless stuff to avoid hearing Him. “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.” As it is, many Israelite families will be decimated by Babylonians or Assyrians, never to be heard of again. And now God is issuing a new warning: Leave Babylon!!

God knows that the Medes and Persians will take over the Babylonian empire, putting all its citizens at risk. There are many Jews living in Babylon who have become quite comfortable there; why leave when business is so good? Now God has to use the threat of another invasion to shake these people up and also to remind them that “there is no peace for the wicked.”

APPLICATION: When I was growing up on a Midwestern farm, we raised pigs in open pastures with small individual hog houses. The pigs got part of their nourishment from the vegetation in those pastures; however, eventually, the pigs would nibble the clover, alfalfa, and timothy down to the nub, forcing us to move them someplace else. Using a front-end loader on the tractor, we would move those hog houses into a new pasture, and then the fun would begin. We would open a gate hole and begin driving those pigs toward it. Do you think those pigs would welcome fresh new pasture with delicious things to graze on? Are you kidding? Those pigs liked the old pasture; they were comfortable in it and it was familiar. Nope! No new pasture for them, thanks! So we would have to drive the pigs toward the gate hole and then form a three-sided pen with three people each manning a long gate. We would keep reducing the size of the pen, forcing some of the pigs through the open gate hole. The most conservative pigs would continue to face us as we gradually reduced the space where they were standing. Frequently, we would have to bump those pigs on their noses – the only tender spot on a pig – before they would finally RELUCTANTLY go through the hole and inch their way into fresh green pasture.

Most people are just as short-sighted and as stubborn as those pigs; certainly, that was the case for the Israelites. Once they had settled in, it took invading armies to drive the Israelites in the direction God wanted them to go. But are any of us any better? God has a perfect plan for our lives, a plan that would bring us rich contentment. The fruit of the Holy Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23 are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self – control. God wants us to have victory right in the midst of our problems. Sadly, many of us refuse God’s great gifts, deluding ourselves that we will find rest and peace somewhere else through our own efforts. In our own way, we are just as foolish and as short – sighted as those pigs were all those years ago.  

How can we access the fruit of the Holy Spirit? We must first acknowledge that we are sinners and cannot save ourselves from the consequences of our sins. Then, we must recognize the blood sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made on the cross at Calvary, a sacrifice He has made for the sins of the whole world. If we pray, asking God’s forgiveness and accepting what Jesus has done for us, we will become followers of Jesus. At that point, the Holy Spirit can come alongside us as our unseen Helper who can lead us into all truth. But if we refuse, insisting that we can save ourselves, we remain in our sins and we will have no peace.

God says that there is no peace for the wicked. The choice is ours: peace and contentment or continual turmoil. Choose wisely!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Jesus, thank You for dying for our sins and shedding your blood as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Lord, help all those who read these words to believe in You and what You have done for us, so that they may enjoy Your peace. In Your mighty and precious Name, King Jesus. Amen.

The Humiliation of Babylon

“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel. “

Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke. You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside. This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.”

This passage clearly describes the suffering women of conquered cities would undergo. “Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

“So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.”

Babylon was a very wealthy city, and many of the ladies enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. When the Babylonians conquered Israel, they abused their captives, including the elderly. The Babylonians assumed that they would always remain in power and never suffer the loss of their families to a conquering army. The people of Babylon practiced sorceries and witchcraft in hopes of maintaining power and avoiding suffering and bereavement. But God was watching all the time those people were casting those spells and He was not impressed.   

“You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. “

APPLICATION: God sees all, knows all, hears all, and understands far more than any of us can possibly imagine. The Babylonians practiced full – bore sorcery, and astrologers gave advice on important matters. At the same time, when the Babylonians conquered anyone, they abused their captives. God is rebuking the Babylonians on both these points. God is promising the Babylonians that nobody will come to save them from their enemies.

We take on the qualities of whatever we worship. The Babylonians worshiped demons and consulted the stars, trusting in their own efforts at casting spells. There were Jews living in Babylon, and the Babylonians could have learned about the God of Israel if they had wanted to do so. After giving the Babylonians multiple chances to repent, God eventually allowed Babylon to be destroyed.

We want to believe that we control our own lives and that we have plenty of time to choose or reject God. But really, if we are not serving God whole – heartedly, we have already rejected Him. And none of us controls anything. The nation of America was driven to prayer recently as they watched Damar Hamlin, a big strong football player, go into cardiac arrest when he was hit in the chest by another player. One of the trainers immediately initiated CPR, saving Mr. Hamlin’s life. While Mr. Hamlin is recovering well, this accident emphasizes the fact that even strapping young men can die suddenly. In the wake of this incident, others have come forward, telling stories of those who suffered similar injuries and who did not survive.

Years ago, there was a Christian play making the rounds of many churches entitled “A Thief in the Night.” The play was based on 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The play depicted several different people, each of whom thought he or she had plenty of time to live without God’s interference, who then died by accident, heart attack, or other kinds of illness. Those who had repented and chosen to serve God found themselves welcomed into heaven, while those who had refused to serve God by outright refusal or by delay found themselves in hell.

 We have no other time in which to make a decision apart from now! Now is the day of salvation! Now is the time to serve the Living God. The Babylonians kept engaging in spells and rituals, attempting to control their destinies and to learn the future, rather than serving the God of Israel, who might have saved them. Would Babylon have fallen had the Babylonians chosen to serve the God of Israel? Probably not. Such a choice might have changed the course of history in the Middle East. But the Babylonians missed their chance, and the Medes and Persians moved in to bring about the fate already predicted by Isaiah.

Today, each of us has a choice. We can choose to serve the One True Living God, the One who gave Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, or we can go our own way. The choice may be ours, but the outcome of our choices is already fixed: heaven or hell. Which will you choose?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to choose to follow You, knowing that You will never leave us or forsake us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Babylon’s Idols

“Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike? They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship. They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors! Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come, saying: ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will surely do it. Listen to Me, you stubborn people, far removed from righteousness: I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed.

I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.”

Bel and Nebo were Babylonian gods worshiped throughout their empire. But these idols could not save the Babylonians when the Medes and Persians attacked them, so these idols went into exile with the rest of Babylonia. Very few of the Babylonians may have realized that their gods were no gods and worthless.

There are many different ways in which the elderly are treated around the world. In some Eskimo cultures, traditionally, elders were set adrift on ice floes, where they would die of exposure. Some cultures honor their elderly and care for them in their homes until their deaths. Americans generally allow healthy elderly to stay at home but the elderly themselves may move into retirement centers or assisted living as they become less able to care for themselves. But here God is affirming that just as He has known us from the day of our birth, He will also care for us when we are old. “Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.”

”Listen to Me, you stubborn people, far removed from righteousness: I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.” God is promising to grant salvation to Zion – why? Because Zion hasn’t earned salvation; if anything, those in Zion are just as guilty as the Babylonians and don’t deserve any better fate. But God is a covenant – keeping God and will be true even if His people are not. God also promises to adorn Israel with His splendor. This promise has been repeatedly demonstrated in recent times. Modern Israel has become a center of advanced technology and innovative methods of desert farming.

APPLICATION: One of my favorite memes reads “I always knew I’d get old. How fast it happened was a bit of a surprise though.” I work in a mission hospital where I am by far the most senior staff member age-wise. I still operate and care for patients, and it’s still fun and rewarding, if sometimes heart-breaking. But my husband and I have reached the time in our lives where we are beginning to recognize all too many names in the obituaries from the areas in which we grew up. In our situation, these verses from Isaiah 46 are particularly meaningful. ““Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.”

Look at God’s promises:

1. God has sustained us from the womb. Life begins in the womb! Fetuses can play, suck their thumbs, and even do somersaults when someone is doing an ultrasound. This verse is particularly meaningful for me because my mother had several miscarriages before becoming pregnant with me. Even after I was born, Mom was still quite ill. If not for God, I might have died like my siblings before me. Truly, God “carried me along since birth.”
2. “Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray.” Aging comes to everyone, no matter who we are or what attempts we make to forestall it. Our faces wrinkle, our waists thicken, we may find ourselves taking medicine for hypertension or diabetes. We quickly learn that “use it or lose it” is not an idle statement; an old person who sits is falling apart as they sit. Walking, riding bicycles, and working out with weights are three ways I use to maintain muscle tone. But without God preserving us, no potions, medicines, exercise, or diet will help.
3. “I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.” God is the One who has created us and God will carry us throughout our lives. At the end, if we will allow Him, God will deliver us from death, bringing us into eternal life. But we must believe in God, trust in Him, and accept the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross at Calvary for our sins.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You for Your promises to sustain us to the end of our lives. Lord, we admit that we are sinners and that by ourselves we cannot earn our way into heaven. Lord, deliver us from our sins. We do believe in Your Son Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made at Calvary. Please keep us to the end of our lives and take us to be with You in heaven when we die. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’” Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: “How dare you question Me concerning My sons, or instruct Me about the work of My hands? It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host. I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for payment or reward, says the LORD of Hosts.”

This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will go away together in disgrace. But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. i have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.

Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save. Speak up and present your case—yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. In the LORD all descendants of Israel will be justified and will exult.”

God continues to affirm his calling for Cyrus the Persian ruler. But God is also angry with those who are criticizing Him for using someone like Cyrus. “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?”  “I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but, not for payment or reward, says the LORD of Hosts.”

God is predicting that He will reward Cyrus by giving him the products of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush (Ethiopia) and the Sabeans as captives. This victory will be so complete that Egyptians, Cushites, and Sabeans will all testify that there is no God apart from the God of Israel. Those persisting in trusting in idols will hide themselves while Israel will be delivered. Many people believe that the deliverance referred to here actually took place at the end of World War II when the nation of Israel came into being.

Finally, God reaffirms his supremacy. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. In the LORD all descendants of Israel will be justified and will exult.”

APPLICATION: During the last half of the nineteenth century, the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley was very popular, being recited by untold numbers of students on school programs, etc. Look at these words:

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,   
I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.   

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.   
Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.   

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, 
And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.   

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,   
I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

While this poem was once very popular, in fact, it’s a theological disaster! Basically, the writer is asserting that he can control his own fate and he is “the captain” of his soul. Henley essentially made an idol of himself and then became a congregation of one. This thinking fell apart in the trenches of World War I; however, these days, there are many people who tend to copy Mr. Henley, focusing exclusively on themselves and trying to improve themselves so that they will find themselves more suitable as objects of worship.

In Isaiah’s time, there were those who rejected God, preferring to worship the work of their own hands. Given the fact that the God of Israel was the only God who had ever successfully defended or delivered His people, such idolatry made no sense.

God has the final word on all of this when He says, “There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame. In the LORD all descendants of Israel will be justified and will exult.”

PRAYER; Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help everyone who reads these words to turn to You, the Only True God, as Savior and Lord. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.