Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 13 - Isaiah 45

Transcript

November 13 - Isaiah 45 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it is Sean here. It is great to have your company
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  on this Monday morning, midday or evening or afternoon or
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  wherever it is this finds you. G Day, good to see you.
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  Well, good to have your company anyway.
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  I can't see you, but I'm imagining you look dapper as
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  ever. And here we are, ready for
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  another week in God's word. Now for almost half of you, last
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  week ended a little bit strangely.
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  Somehow, for those of you who listened on Spotify, Thursday's
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  reading got gobbled up in the ether.
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  It exists on all the other platforms.
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  Just somehow Spotify glitched it out of existence and as luck
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  would have it, it is the first half of a two chapter section.
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  This is where Isaiah is speaking to his people who are exiled far
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  away from the homeland in Babylon and they are wondering
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  what does this mean about God's sovereignty.
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  Because back then in the in the ancient Near East, your success
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  as a people group really showed how powerful or impotent your
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  God was, and they have just been taken away from their homeland
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  and sent into exile. And surely does this mean it
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  can't canneth that their God who they have faithfully well not so
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  faithfully worshipped and followed all these generations,
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  is actually not a very powerful God at all.
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  And so this is God through Isaiah responding to their
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  concerns and questions about is their God powerful?
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  Do the Babylonians worship a more powerful God?
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  And so in chapter 44, God pulls apart all of their gods, saying
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  that they are not actually real gods, they're just lumps of wood
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  and pieces of metal. And then that continues in
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  chapter 45 as he speaks about the fact that he is still in
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  charge and that he will restore Jerusalem in the future and
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  offer salvation to everyone. So if you want to catch up on
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  chapter 44, feel free to do that on Apple Podcasts or Pod Bean.
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  I'm sure you'll find it somewhere if you're keen.
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  Otherwise, let's read together this week, opening chapter,
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  Isaiah 45. This is what the Lord says to
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  Cyrus, his anointed one whose right hand he will empower
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  before him. Mighty kings will be paralyzed
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  with fear. Their fortress gates will be
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  opened, never to shut again. This is what the Lord says.
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  I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains.
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  I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of
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  iron. And I will give you treasures
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  hidden in the darkness, secret riches.
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  I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of
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  Israel, the one who calls you by name.
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  And why have I called you for this work?
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  Why did I call you by name when you did not know me?
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  It is for the sake of Jacob, my servant Israel, my chosen. 1.
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  I am the Lord. There is no other God.
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  I have equipped you for battle, though you don't even know me.
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  So all the world from east to West will know that there is no
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  other God. I am the Lord and there is no
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  other. I create the light and make the
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  darkness. I send good times and bad times.
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  I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.
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  Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness.
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  Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can
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  sprout up together. I, the Lord, created them.
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  What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator?
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  Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
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  Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it saying, stop,
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  you're doing it wrong? Does the pot exclaim how clumsy
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  you can be? How terrible it would be if a
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  newborn baby said to its father, why was I born?
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  Or if it said to its mother, Why did you make me this way?
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  This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and your
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  creator. Do you question what I do for my
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  children? Do you give me orders about the
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  work of my hands? I am the one who made the earth
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  and created people to live on it.
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  With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
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  All the stars are at my command. I will raise up Cyrus to fulfil
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  my righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions.
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  He will restore my city and free my captive people without
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  seeking a reward. I, the Lord of Heaven's armies,
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  have spoken. This is what the Lord says.
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  You will rule the Egyptians, The Ethiopians and the Serbians.
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  They will come to you with all their merchandise and it will
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  all be yours. They will follow you as
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  prisoners in chains that will fall to their knees in front of
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  you and say God is with you and he is the only God.
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  There is no other truly, Oh God of Israel our Saviour.
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  You work in mysterious ways. All Craftsman who make idols
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  will be humiliated. They will all be disgraced
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  together. But the Lord will save the
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  people of Israel with eternal salvation throughout everlasting
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  ages. They will never again be
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  humiliated and disgraced. For the Lord is God, and He
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  created the heavens and earth and put everything in place.
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  He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty
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  chaos. I am the Lord, he says, and
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  there is no other. I publicly proclaim bold
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  promises. I do not whisper obscurities in
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  some dark corner. I would not have told the people
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  of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.
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  I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is
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  right. Gather together and come you
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  fugitives from surrounding nations, what fools they are who
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  carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot
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  save. Consult together, argue your
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  case, Get together and decide what to say.
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  Who made these things so long ago?
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  What idol ever told you what would happen?
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  Was it not I the Lord? For there is no other God but
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  me, a righteous God and Saviour. There is none but me.
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  Let all the world look to me for salvation, for I am God.
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  There is no other. I have sworn by my own name, I
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  have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word.
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  Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare
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  allegiance to me. The people will declare.
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  The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength, and
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  all who were angry with him will come to him and be ashamed.
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  In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified, and
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  in Him they will boast. Oh Lord, thank you for the
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  clarity that you give us through our eyes, words, clarity.
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  That means that you don't sit beside anyone else, but you
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  stand proud of everything, because you are God.
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  You are God of everything. You laid out the heavens, You
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  created the earth and created people to live in it.
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  You are unrivalled, and we place you atop the highest throne in
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  our life. Let it be you that our heart
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  desires to please. Let it be your truth that is the
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  true north of our compass. Let it be your love that we seek
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  more earnestly than anything else.
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  And thank you that you offer your love and your saving grace
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  to us with your arms open wide. Thank you for the gift of Jesus,
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  in whom all of this is possible. We love you when we praise you,
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  and it's in His name that we pray.
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  Amen.