Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 20 - Isaiah 49

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November 20 - Isaiah 49 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. Great to have your company.
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  Welcome to a new week. It is Monday, it is the 20th of
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  November, and boy are we in the back half of things getting
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  serious heading into the crazy season.
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  I hope your life hasn't gone completely upside down just yet.
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  Maybe you've even got a night or two free this week, but boy, it
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  starts to hot up with end of year functions for this and
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  that. And boy, throw some kids and
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  school function in there and it's a busy, busy time.
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  But it is all good stuff. And Speaking of good stuff,
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  that's not a very neat segue, but we're just going to roll
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  with it. Thank you so much.
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  We are moving forward in the book of Isaiah, really entering
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  into the last couple of sections, this section.
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  This is still while God's people are in exile.
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  They have done the wrong thing. And the consequence of that as
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  God has dragged them out of the promised land, far away into
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  Babylon under the rule of the Babylonians.
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  And the last couple of weeks we've heard God speak words of
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  comfort, but he's still been saying you guys, you guys have
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  really been stubborn, stiff necked people, and This is why
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  you're here. But I will take down the
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  Babylonians and I will remain faithful to you.
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  But now we enter the next phase this week and next, where really
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  God talks about the fact that he is going to restore them.
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  He is going to restore their homeland and that is full of
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  hope as these poor people far away are wondering whether God
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  is ever, ever going to remember them.
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  Yes, they did the wrong thing. Yes, he will be faithful, but
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  what is that going to look like? So as we travel forward a few
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  thousand years, here we are, Here we are living in a very
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  different part of the world, a very different time, but still
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  we have this faithful God. So as we hear these words spoken
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  to these people in exile long ago, we can hear God speaking to
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  us through this prophet, Speaking of his faithfulness and
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  that he will restore the promises of where we're going to
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  live with him. It's a beautiful section, so
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  join me as we read together. Isaiah, chapter 49.
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  Listen to me, all you in distant lands.
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  Pay attention, you who are far away.
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  The Lord called me before my birth.
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  From within the womb He called me by name.
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  He made my words of judgement as sharp as a sword.
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  He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.
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  I'm like a sharp arrow in his quiver, he said to me.
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  You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory, I
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  replied. But my work seems so useless.
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  I've spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose, yet I
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  leave it all in the Lord's hand. I will trust God for my reward.
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  And now the Lord speaks the one who formed me in my mother's
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  womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel
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  back to him. The Lord has honoured me and my
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  God has given me strength. He says You will do more than
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  restore the people of Israel to me.
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  I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my
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  salvation to the ends of the earth.
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  The Lord, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says to the one
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  who was despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who was
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  the servant of rulers. Kings will stand at attention
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  when you pass by. Princess will also bow low
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  because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of
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  Israel, who has chosen you. This is what the Lord says.
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  At just the right time. I will respond to you on the day
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  of salvation. I will help you.
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  I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant
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  with them. Through you I will re establish
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  the land of Israel and assign it to its own people.
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  Again I will say to the prisoners come out in freedom,
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  and to those in darkness come into the light.
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  They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills
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  that were previously bare. They will neither hunger nor
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  thirst. The searing sun will not reach
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  them anymore. For the Lord in His mercy will
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  lead them. He will lead them beside cool
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  waters. And I will make my mountains
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  into level paths for them. The highways will be raised
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  above the valleys. See, my people will return from
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  far away from lands to the north and West, and from as far South
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  as Egypt. Sing for joy, O heavens,
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  rejoice, O earth burst into song, O mountains, For the Lord
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  has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in
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  their suffering. Yes, Jerusalem says the Lord has
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  deserted us. The Lord has forgotten us.
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  Never can a mother forget her nursing child, can she feel no
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  love for the child she has borne.
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  But even if that were possible, I will not forget.
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  You see, I have written your name on the palm of my hands.
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  Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem's walls and ruins.
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  Soon your descendants will come back and all who are trying to
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  destroy you will go away. Look around you and see, for all
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  your children will come back to you as surely as I live, says
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  the Lord. They will be like jewels or
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  bridal ornaments for you to display.
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  Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be
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  crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you
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  will be far away. The generations born in exile
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  will return and say we need more room.
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  It's crowded here. Then you will think to yourself,
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  who has given me all these descendants, For most of my
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  children were killed, and the rest were carried away into
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  exile. I was left here all alone.
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  Where did all these people come from?
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  Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?
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  This is what the Sovereign Lord says.
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  See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.
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  They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms.
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  They will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
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  Kings and Queens will serve you and care for all your needs.
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  They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust
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  from your feet. Then you will know that I am the
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  Lord. Those who trust in me will never
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  be put to shame. Who can snatch the plunder of
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  war from the hands of a warrior who can demand that a tyrant
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  lets his captives go. But the Lord says the captives
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  of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will
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  be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight
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  you, and I will save your children.
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  I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.
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  They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.
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  All the world will know that I, the Lord am your saviour and
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  your Redeemer, the mighty one of Israel.
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  Your ways are so far beyond anything that we can fathom.
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  My Lord, Your plans stretch for generations and generations.
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  And as we get caught up in today and this week and this month, if
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  we're broad minded, we can feel frustrated and like you've
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  forgotten us. We hear these words spoken
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  through your prophet long ago that you do not forsake your
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  chosen people. You write our names on the palms
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  of your hands and you deliver us.
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  And Father, we know that you have already delivered us.
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  You have given us Jesus. You have won that victory over
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  sin and death so that we can be with you.
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  You are magnificent and you are victorious through history.
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  Help us remember that. Help us stand firm in the
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  surefire knowledge of who you are and what you have done for
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  us and who we are in you. We just praise you, our mighty
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  God, and it's in the saving name of your son Jesus that we pray.
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  Amen. Play song.