15th February
Read Psalm 148
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
Older members will remember this Psalm well in its metrical form – “The Lord of heaven confess, on high his glory raise”. It is a Psalm summoning all of creation to praise God, starting with the heavens, the angels, the earth and all creatures, to praise God because He is the creator of all that exists. We know that at the moment creation is in bondage to decay and extinction (Romans 8:20-23) and we wait for the coming again of Jesus to redeem all things.
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday: Isaiah 55:1-5
This is a chapter full of verses that have formed texts for preachers who look for them to form the basis of their sermons. It opens with “Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat”. John Calvin says of this verse that it is ‘a remarkable commendation of the grace of God’, indeed it is. It tells of the free offer of grace which is bought without money or cost. The only way we receive God’s grace is with repentance and an open hand. The passage goes on to ask why spend on what does not satisfy in other words comparing the goodness and grace of God which comes freely with the pleasures of little value with worldly effort.
The word comes that God will make an everlasting covenant with the people saying it is just the continuation of his faithful love promised to David. In v4 we are seeing once again a messianic reference to Jesus who he will make ‘a ruler and commander of the peoples’ and nations who did not know would coming running to him. The gospel started to spread around the world with the evangelists moving out from Jerusalem and Judea. The Acts of the apostles show the start of this movement. The invitation to come and receive without cost only with the open hand of faith in the death and resurrection of Christ is a continuing call to all the world.
Tuesday Isaiah 55:6-7
“Seek the Lord while He may be found” is the next summons to men and women everywhere. It is wise to note the “while He may be found” because we must remember that God is not a kind of stall holder in a market with goods always available for purchase. The initiative in salvation is not ours but always God’s, the Bible says “Today, if you hear his voice don’t harden your heart” (Hebrews 3:15). It is tragically possible for someone to hear the call of God for salvation and to turn their back or, as Exodus tells of Pharoah, to harden their heart.
Shakespeare in Julius Ceasar has Brutus speaking to Julius Ceasar saying:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries”
This is what the charge to call on the Lord is all about. As the writer to the Hebrews emphasised also “Now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation”. If God summons you to give your heart to Christ, do it, for he will have mercy and he will freely pardon (v7)
Wednesday Isaiah 55:8-13
Verse 8 is a good reminder for us all – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord”. Never try to fit God into your own thoughts for you are his creature, He is the Creator. God says that as rain comes down from heaven and makes seed grow so his Word that he speaks does not return void but accomplishes what he intends (v11).
In the final verses of the chapter he tells what his Word is going to achieve and it is liberty and rejoicing for his people – “you will go out in joy and be led forth in peace”. But redemption and salvation is not just for us but for all creation which Paul says has been subjected to futility and in bondage to corruption (Romans 8) but will, at the last, when God’s people are redeemed be set free; the trees will clap their hands, the jagged bushes will grow as the juniper and the myrtle (v13). All of this is to give encouragement to the people of God both then and now.
Thursday Isaiah 56:1-5
This passage would be a good advent reading for it speaks of a salvation ready to be revealed and in preparation for that to live righteously. We know of the promise of Christ coming again but the way to wait is to live quietly and well, this is what the apostle Paul tells the Thessalonian Church Church because some have been downing tools and living carelessly waiting for Christ’s return.. Isaiah speaks of the people holding fast to the law which he particularises in the keeping of the Sabbath but he goes on to speak of the foreigner living amongst them who has pledged himself to the Lord, he mustn’t- say, “the Lord will surely exclude me from his people”. What a wonderful inclusion of those outside the Jewish community because being bound to the Lord they will be included. The next part always raises a lump in my throat for it speaks of Eunuchs who will never have children – and having family in that time was keenly felt, barreness being seen as a sign of rejection by God – he promises that those who hold fast to the covenant he will give them a memorial and a name in the temple courts, an everlasting name that will endure forever.
The Hebrew for “a Memorial and a name” is “Yad Vashem” which people will know as the name given to the institution of the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem to remember the names of those lost in the terrible holocaust in the second world war.
Friday Isaiah 56:6-8
In these verses we find Isaiah’s prophecies speaking of the inclusion of Gentile foreigners who have come to pledge themselves to the God of Israel being being welcomed and brought into the place of worship (‘the holy mountain’ ‘the house of prayer’) and their worship (‘offerings and sacrifices’) being accepted by God.
The end of verse 7 is the verse quoted by Jesus when he cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem chasing out the money lenders and commercial exploiters saying, “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”. (Matt 21:13). The beginning of the message of the gospel for all nations started with the inauguration on Pentecost and continues to this day where the Church seeks to spread the gospel to every nation and people group. Jesus also spoke of this when he said, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16).
Saturday Isaiah 56:9-12
The end of chapter 56 comes to a charge against the leaders of the people of Israel, the priests and teachers spoken of as Israel’s watchmen. When attacks from outside were always a threat, cities had watchmen posted on their walls to keep a lookout for them, here Isaiah sees the leaders as being blind to what God has been saying and instead, “they lie around and dream, they love to sleep”. He pictures them as watchdogs like this who are just interested in their mighty appetites. In other words the priests just sought their income and wealth and didn’t care for the people.
How sad this is when we see Church leaders only ‘in it’ for the prestige and position rather than for the growth and pastoral care of God’s people. I can remember being shocked as a young minister hearing a senior minister in a small country charge not far from me speaking of his games of golf every week and commenting, “can’t be bad”. Another minister, referring to a missionary meeting near at hand, saying ‘why can’t they just leave these (foreign) people alone, they have their own religions’. It made me wonder where the Church of Scotland was going.