Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 11 - Isaiah 37

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September 11 - Isaiah 37 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it is Sean. Here it is a Monday morning and
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  welcome to you to this Bible reading podcast.
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  So great that you have chosen to invite me into your day as your
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  week begins on the 11th of September, a day forever marred
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  by those tragic events. Some poor 22 years ago, yeah.
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  But here we are and the world has seen so many more terrible
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  events and wonderful events and the whole spectrum of life as we
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  continue to live on this planet with the human race and our God
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  who loves us and who communicates with us through His
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  scriptures. And that is why we are here, to
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  frame our daily walk with the eternal God and His message to
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  us. And this week we will conclude
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  this part of Isaiah which talks through a theological reflection
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  or or judgment on the way that has Akaya ruled Judah.
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  And then we will move all the way into the New Testament and
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  begin reading together the book of Acts on Thursday.
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  So this is a good week. So the next three days we will
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  continue here about the story of Hezekiah responding to the
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  threat of the Assyrian Empire knocking on his doorstep, and we
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  will see what Isaiah has to say about the way he responds.
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  So throw away your 21st century mindset.
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  Let's go all the way back to those years before Christ, about
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  700 BC, as we hear this story of ancient empires brushing up
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  against each other, one with the Almighty God on its side and 1
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  without, as we read together Isaiah chapter 37.
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  When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and
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  put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord.
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  And he sent to like him the palace administrator Shebner,
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  the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in
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  burlap to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos.
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  They told him this is what King Hezekiah says.
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  Today is a day of trouble, insults and disgrace.
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  It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has
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  no strength to deliver the baby. But perhaps the Lord your God
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  has heard the Assyrian chief of staff sent by the king to defy
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  the living God and will punish him for his words.
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  I'll pray for those of us who were left after King Hezekiah's
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  officials delivered the King's message to Isaiah, the prophet
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  replied. Say to your master, this is what
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  the Lord says. Do not be disturbed by this
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  blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian King's
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  messengers. Listen, I myself will move
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  against him and the king will receive a message that he is
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  needed at home, so he will return to his land.
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  Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to
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  consult the King of Assyria, who had left Lakish and was
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  attacking Libna. Soon afterward, King Senacharab
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  received word that King Tahaka of Ethiopia was leading an army
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  to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the
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  attack, he sent messages back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this
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  message. This message is for King
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  Hezekiah of Judah. Don't let your God in whom you
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  trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be
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  captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the
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  kings of Assyria have done. Wherever they have gone, they
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  have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way.
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  Why should you be any different? Have the gods of other nations
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  rescued them? Such nations as Gozan, Haran,
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  Rezaf, and the people of Eden? Who would tell Assa my
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  predecessors destroyed them all. What happened to the king of
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  Hammeth and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of
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  Sefavayem, Henna and Eva? After Hezekiah received the
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  letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the
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  Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord.
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  And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord, O Lord of
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  Heaven's armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the
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  mighty cherubim. You alone are God of all the
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  kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens
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  and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen.
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  Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Senna cherubs, words
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  of defiance against the living God.
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  It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all
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  these nations, and they have thrown the gods of these nations
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  into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians
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  could destroy them. They were not gods at all, only
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  idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
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  Now, O Lord, our God rescue us from His power.
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  Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone,
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  O Lord, are God. Then Isaiah son of Amos sent
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  this message to Hezekiah. This is what the Lord, the God
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  of Israel says. Because you prayed about King
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  sent a cherub of Assyria, The Lord has spoken this word
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  against him. The virgin daughter of Zion
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  despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes
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  her head in derision as you flee.
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  Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
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  Against whom did you raise your voice?
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  At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
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  It was the Holy One of Israel. By your messengers you have
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  defied the Lord, you have said. With my Chariots I have
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  conquered the highest mountains, yes, the remotest peaks of
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  Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest
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  Cedars and its finest Cypress trees.
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  I have reached its farthest heights and explored its deepest
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  forests. I have dug wells in many foreign
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  lands and refreshed myself with their water.
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  With the sole of my foot I stopped up all the rivers of
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  Egypt. But have you not heard?
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  I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now
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  I'm making it happen. I planned for you to crush
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  fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
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  That is why their people have so little power, and they're so
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  frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as
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  easily trampled as tender green shoots.
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  They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it
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  can grow lush and tall. But I know you well, where you
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  stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged
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  against me. And because of your raging
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  against me and your arrogance, which I've heard from myself, I
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  will put a hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth.
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  I will make you return by the same Rd. on which you came.
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  Then, as I said to Hezekiah, here is the proof that what I
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  say is true. This year you will eat only what
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  grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs
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  up from that. But in the third year you will
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  plant crops and harvest them. You will tend vineyards and eat
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  their fruit. And you who are left in Judah,
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  who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down
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  in your own soil and grow up and flourish.
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  For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a
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  group of survivors from Mount Zion.
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  The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven's armies will
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  make this happen. And this is what the Lord says
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  about the king of Assyria. His armies will not enter
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  Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an
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  arrow at it. They will not March outside its
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  gates with their Shields, nor build banks of earth against its
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  walls. The king will return to his own
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  country by the same Rd. on which he came.
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  He will not enter this city, says the Lord.
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  For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will
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  defend this city and protect it. That night, the Angel of the
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  Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian
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  soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians
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  woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
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  Then King Senna Cherub of Assyria broke camp and returned
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  to his own land. He went home to his capital of
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  Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was
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  worshipping in the temple of his God Nisrok, his son Zadramalek
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  and Sharaza killed him with their swords.
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  They then escaped to the land of Ararat and another son, as a
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  harden, became the next king of Assyria.
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  You're in charge, Lord. You are sovereign.
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  There is nothing anyone can say or do that can possibly diminish
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  you, For you are larger and greater than our universe and
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  everything in it. And we worship You, our almighty
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  God, our powerful Lord. And we thank you that your power
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  is not one that you flex for your own sake, that your power
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  is such, that you use it to draw us back to you and make your
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  love complete through Jesus. We love you and we thank you,
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  and we worship you. And it's in His name that we
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  pray. Amen SMS Akshay.