Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / August 24 - Isaiah 28

Transcript

August 24 - Isaiah 28 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it is Thursday and welcome
• 0:17
  to another day with you and me and God's Word as we continue
• 0:22
  reading through the book of Isaiah and we are reaching a new
• 0:25
  section. Now we have just finished the
• 0:27
  section talking about end times and God's judgment and
• 0:32
  salvation, and now we enter this time, which is really specific
• 0:37
  to the moment in which Isaiah was writing this.
• 0:40
  So back to around 700 BC, Israel is split.
• 0:44
  You've got the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern
• 0:46
  Kingdom of Judah. That's where Isaiah is in the
• 0:50
  southern Kingdom. The northern Kingdom has been
• 0:52
  dragged away and disappeared off the face of the earth, dispersed
• 0:57
  into the Assyrian Empire, and there is nothing left of them.
• 1:01
  And here we have this mighty Assyrian empire, destroyer of
• 1:06
  Israel attacking Judah. And Isaiah is telling them don't
• 1:11
  do the same thing that your northern brothers and sisters
• 1:15
  did. Trust in God because ultimately
• 1:18
  it's God who's going to defend you, not your own armies.
• 1:22
  So he is crying out. This is a lament saying, oh
• 1:25
  please don't go the same way. So come back all those thousands
• 1:31
  of years to these battle torn lands where this mighty empire
• 1:36
  is knocking on their door and Isaiah is pleading, pleading
• 1:41
  with the leaders or the people of this land to trust in God.
• 1:45
  So join me. Let's read together.
• 1:48
  Isaiah chapter 28. What sorrow awaits the proud
• 2:02
  city of Samaria, the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel?
• 2:09
  It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty
• 2:13
  will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people
• 2:18
  brought down by wine, for the Lord will send a mighty army
• 2:22
  against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a
• 2:26
  torrential rain. They will burst upon it like a
• 2:29
  surging flood and smash it to the ground.
• 2:33
  The proud city of Samaria, the glorious crown of the drunks of
• 2:38
  Israel, will be trampled beneath its enemy's feet.
• 2:42
  It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty
• 2:47
  will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it
• 2:51
  up as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
• 2:56
  Then at last, the Lord of Heaven's armies will himself be
• 3:00
  Israel's glorious crown. He will be the pride and joy of
• 3:06
  the remnant of his people. He will give a longing for
• 3:10
  justice to their judges. He will give great courage to
• 3:14
  their warriors who stand at the gates.
• 3:17
  Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and
• 3:23
  stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger
• 3:26
  with alcohol and lose themselves in wine.
• 3:30
  They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render
• 3:33
  decisions. Their tables are covered with
• 3:36
  vomit. Filth is everywhere.
• 3:39
  Who does this Lord think we are? They ask.
• 3:42
  Why does He speak to us like this?
• 3:45
  Are we little children? Just recently weaned, he tells
• 3:50
  us everything over and over, one line at a time.
• 3:54
  One line at a time. A little here and a little
• 3:58
  there. So now God will have to speak to
• 4:02
  his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange
• 4:05
  language. God has told his people, here is
• 4:10
  a place of rest. Let the weary rest here.
• 4:13
  This is a place of quiet rest that they would not listen.
• 4:18
  So the Lord will spell out his message for them again, one line
• 4:22
  at a time, one line at a time, a little here and a little there,
• 4:28
  so that they will stumble and fall.
• 4:31
  They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
• 4:34
  Therefore listen to the message from the Lord, you scoffing
• 4:38
  rulers in Jerusalem. You boast we have struck A
• 4:42
  bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave.
• 4:47
  The coming destruction can never touch us, for we have built a
• 4:51
  strong refuge made of lies and deception.
• 4:56
  Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says.
• 5:00
  Look, I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and
• 5:05
  tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone
• 5:10
  that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be
• 5:14
  shaken. I will test you with the
• 5:17
  measuring line of justice and the plum line of Righteousness.
• 5:21
  Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it
• 5:26
  down. Since it is made of deception, a
• 5:30
  flood will sweep it away. I will cancel the bargain you
• 5:34
  made to cheat death, and I will overturn your deal to dodge the
• 5:38
  grave. When the terrible enemy sweeps
• 5:41
  through, you will be trampled into the ground again and again.
• 5:46
  That flood will come morning after morning, day and night,
• 5:51
  until you are carried away. This message will bring terror
• 5:56
  to your people. The bed you have made is too
• 5:59
  short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to
• 6:02
  cover you. The Lord will come, as he did,
• 6:05
  against the Philistines at Mount Perezm and against the Amorites
• 6:10
  at Gibian. He will come to do a strange
• 6:14
  thing. He will come to do an unusual
• 6:17
  deed for the Lord. The Lord of Heaven's armies has
• 6:21
  plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole
• 6:25
  land, to scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.
• 6:31
  Listen to me. Listen and pay close attention.
• 6:35
  Does a farmer always plow, and never so?
• 6:39
  Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
• 6:43
  Does he not finally plant his seeds, Black cumin, cumin,
• 6:47
  wheat, barley, and Emma wheat, each in its proper way and each
• 6:53
  in its proper place. The farmer knows just what to
• 6:57
  do, for God has given him understanding.
• 7:01
  A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin.
• 7:04
  Rather it is beaten with a light stick.
• 7:08
  A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin.
• 7:11
  Instead it is beaten lightly with a flail.
• 7:15
  Grain for bread is easily crushed so he doesn't keep on
• 7:19
  pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels
• 7:22
  of a cart, but he doesn't pulverize it.
• 7:25
  The Lord of Heaven's armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives
• 7:30
  the farmer great wisdom. Lord, we here in this chapter
• 7:44
  your judgment on these leaders who are supposedly leading in
• 7:48
  your name, supposedly being your priests and your governors, but
• 7:54
  doing things their own way. Lord, as we set our lives on a
• 7:59
  course to glorify you, the tempter can so easily just drag
• 8:05
  us off course and we forget that it's our passions and pursuits
• 8:11
  that we are chasing after and not yours.
• 8:15
  Lord, just continue to shape our hearts to be like you.
• 8:19
  Continue to make us ever aware of what your mission is and what
• 8:25
  your heart would have us do so that we can stay true to your
• 8:30
  course and as this prophet calls those people long ago, that we
• 8:35
  can build our lives on your cornerstone that will never be
• 8:39
  shaken. And that's you, Jesus, and your
• 8:44
  victory for us and your promises to us.
• 8:47
  We are so grateful and we love you, and it's on that foundation
• 8:52
  that we choose to build our life.
• 8:57
  We pray all of this in your name.
• 9:00
  Amen.