16th November
Read Psalm 135
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
This Psalm praises God and compares him and his doings to the idols of the nations, from Pharoah to the gods of the Canaanites. It looks on the enduring nature of God compared to the passing nature of all else. Well may we sing the song of a more modern time “Immortal, invisible, God only wise”. If ever we think we are wise we should pause, ….. no, we are not.
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Isaiah 5:8-30
“Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land”
This is pretty obvious, it is about the accumulation of property and wealth – and, we could say, at the expense of others. Isaiah says that God has declared that the great houses will become desolate and the vineyards and fields only produce a pittance. The party people have no care for the needy and so exile will await because God will summon distant nations to come and take them away (v26). These warnings are not only for ancient Israel, they apply wherever v26 applies – “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”. When we see things like this happening around us we need to keep our eyes open for God will not allow it to carry on forever.
Uzziah was struck with tzaraath (translated as leprosy in many Bibles) in 750/1 at which time his son, Jotham took over the government with Uzziah living on for around 10 years so Isaiah had his vision around 740 BC. Uzziah had a promising start as a King but his pride resulted in him seeking glory for himself, he took over the priestly role of entering the temple to make offerings, a thing which was forbidden and so God struck him down with his affliction and he had to live in separate accommodation because of the leprosy until he died (2 Chronicles 27).
On his death Isaiah had this vision mentioned in chapter 6 which is a quite remarkable one speaking of the holiness of God. Such is the effect upon him that he cries out certain of his demise about to happen because he has seen God and such a thing meant death. I wonder if the holiness of God means anything like this to us today because it should as he is the same God as thes one who revealed himself to Isaiah. It is one thing to look out at the degradation of the nation about but another to behold the utter holiness of God who is above all. Let us ponder Isaiah’s vision as we go about our day today.,
What happens next is a great revelation of what God can do for poor sinners, One of the Seraphim takes a coal from the altar which is burning the incense, symbolic of the prayers of the people, and touches his mouth telling him that his guilt was taken away and his sins atoned for (v7). If we think of our own lives and our sin and its forgiveness it is solely the sovereign power and will of God who takes them away. Isaiah is humbled by the vision of the holiness of God but his cleansing and forgiveness is entirely the work of God.
Immediately after Isaiah hears a voice saying “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” (v8) to which he immediately replies, without knowing what the role will be, “Here am I, send me”. Was he brave? Yes, but how could he do anything else after what he had experienced? If we realise our forgiven state before God and are aware of his call to serve him in whatever way he desires we need to offer ourselves as well.
Thursday Isaiah 6:9-13
When Isaiah says that he is willing to go God then tells him what his task is to be and it does not seem encouraging. “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never pe arceiving.’” (v9) and he tells him that his role will cause the people’s hearts to be calloused, their ears dull and their eyes closed so that they will not turn and be healed of their hardness of heart and disobedience.
Imagine a new minister entering a charge and being told that no-one is going to respond to what he preaches, they are going to be as dull and unhearing as ever. They won’t turn and be converted; their stubbornness will persist despite all he does. Not a great induction service for our new minister.
But that is not all, Isaiah asks how long must he preach like this? He is told “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged” (v11) but what’s more, the Lord is going to send them far away until the land is utterly forsaken. It’s like our new minister being told that he has to carry on with his task until the Church is empty and the weeds are growing out of the roof of the abandoned building.
We might think but when God gets involved in something doesn’t everything get bright and rosy? The answer is not so as this chapter tells us. The challenge for us in our Christian lives is to live out the gospel even when things are crumbling all about. Faithfulness is what we are called to.
In chapter 7 we come to the story, told in 2 Kings 16, of the Kingdom of Judah being under threat from the allied Kings of Israel and Syria (Aram). The King of Judah at this time was Ahaz, the sone of Jotham, the son of Uzziah and he was not a nice piece of work. 2 Kings tells us that he did not do right in the sight of God but followed in the ways of the Kings of Israel and part of that involved him in sacrificing his son in fire which was part of the idolatry of Molech.
The kingdom came to find themselves under threat from the forces of Israel and Aram and they shook with fear (v2). Was God shaking his fist at the King after his behaviour?
At any rate God had a message for him through Isaiah whom he sent to meet Ahaz at a particular place (v3). The message was not to lose heart because these conspiring Kings and their forces would not be successful in their invading intentions. If Ahaz was inclined not to believe what Isaiah was saying he was to ask God for a sign that what he was being told was true. Ahaz refused to ask however and what we find next becomes one of the most recounted incidents in the Bible.
Isaiah tells him that he is trying the patience of God but that despite his refusal to ask for a sign from God, God will give him a sign nevertheless and the next phrase we hear will be one heard in the New Testament and read in many Christmas services: “The virgin will conceive and bear a son and will call him Immanuel”. The word virgin refers to a young marriageable woman and in the context of the Isaiah passage the verses 13-15 speak of the length of time for a pregnancy to last and for a child to be weaned- about 2 or 3 years. Isaiah’s prophecy says that by that time the two Kings that Ahaz dreaded (Israel and Aram) would be crushed under the foot of a much larger power in those days which was the growing Empire of the Assyrians.
It is as though he is saying, “if you are scared of these two little countries, wait until the huge Empire of Assyria comes down on you”. The order of the day will not be cultivation of fields but fleeing with their livestock into arid places.
The gospel references to the birth of Jesus indicate that this is the beginning of the end. He is God with us (Immanuel) and for those who are saved, that means rejoicing, but his coming again will introduce the finality of the world.
In spiritual terms we might say that if we are anxious about the little earthly things and troubles that worry us here, we should look ahead to the return of Christ in power and glory as Judge of all the Earth.