Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / Hope Rising Over Jerusalem | Isaiah’s Promise of Peace (Sept 30)

Transcript

Hope Rising Over Jerusalem | Isaiah’s Promise of Peace (Sept 30) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  I have a word today for the nation of Israel that's come
• 0:04
  straight from the Word of God, a promise from
• 0:08
  heaven where He says violence will
• 0:11
  disappear from your land, Israel. The desolation
• 0:16
  and destruction of war will end, and instead
• 0:20
  of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a
• 0:24
  double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.
• 0:32
  Be encouraged, O Israel. Even though this
• 0:35
  very week the United Nations took a vote and France,
• 0:40
  the UK, Canada, and Australia decided to
• 0:44
  reward terrorism by recognizing
• 0:48
  a Palestinian state, there is a day coming in the
• 0:52
  not too distant future when violence will truly disappear
• 0:56
  from your land and the desolation and destruction
• 1:00
  of war will come to an end.
• 1:03
  Be encouraged, O Israel.
• 1:06
  Welcome to the Daily Audio Torah. Today is September 30th.
• 1:10
  Now let's continue our journey reading through the entire Bible in
• 1:14
  one year. This week we are reading from the New Living Translation for
• 1:18
  the Old Testament And for the New Testament.
• 1:26
  Isaiah 60:1-62:5.
• 1:32
  Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all the
• 1:37
  nations to see, for the glory of the Lord is shining upon you.
• 1:41
  Darkness as black as night will cover all
• 1:44
  the nations of the earth, But the glory of the Lord will shine
• 1:48
  over you. All nations will come to your light.
• 1:52
  Mighty kings will come to see your radiance.
• 1:55
  Look and see, for everyone is coming home. Your sons
• 1:59
  are coming from distant lands. Your little daughters
• 2:03
  will be carried home.
• 2:09
  Your eyes will shine and your hearts will thrill with
• 2:13
  joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you.
• 2:18
  They will bring you the wealth of many lands. Vast caravans
• 2:22
  of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah.
• 2:26
  From Sheba they will bring gold and incense for the worship
• 2:30
  of the Lord. The flocks of Kedar will be given to you, and the rams
• 2:33
  of Nebaioth will be brought from my altars.
• 2:37
  In that day I will make my temple glorious.
• 2:41
  And what do I see flying like clouds to Israel, like doves
• 2:45
  to their nests? They are the ships of Tarshish reserved to bring
• 2:49
  the people of Israel home. They will bring their wealth with
• 2:53
  them, and it will bring great honor to the Lord your God,
• 2:56
  the Holy One of Israel, for he will fill you with splendor.
• 3:00
  Foreigners will come to rebuild your cities.
• 3:04
  Kings and rulers will send you aid. For though I have destroyed
• 3:08
  you in my anger, I will have mercy on you through my grace.
• 3:13
  Your gates will stay open around the clock to receive
• 3:16
  the wealth of many lands. The kings of the world will be led
• 3:20
  as captives in a victory procession,
• 3:24
  for the nations that refuse to be your allies will be
• 3:27
  destroyed. The glory of Lebanon will be yours, the forests of
• 3:31
  cypress, fir, and pine, to beautify My Sanctuary.
• 3:36
  My Temple will be glorious. The children
• 3:40
  of your tormentors will come and bow before you; those who
• 3:44
  despised you will kiss your feet. They will call you the City of
• 3:47
  the Lord and Zion of the Holy One of
• 3:51
  Israel. Though you
• 3:55
  were once despised and hated and rebuffed by all,
• 3:59
  You will be beautiful forever. You will
• 4:03
  be a joy to all generations, for I will make you so.
• 4:06
  Powerful kings and mighty nations will bring the best of their goods
• 4:10
  to satisfy your every need. You will know at last that
• 4:13
  I, the Lord, am your Savior and Redeemer,
• 4:17
  the Mighty One of Israel. I will exchange your bronze for
• 4:21
  gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze,
• 4:25
  and your stones for iron. Peace and righteousness
• 4:29
  will be your leaders. Violence will disappear
• 4:33
  from your land. The desolation and destruction of
• 4:37
  war will end. Salvation will
• 4:41
  surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who
• 4:44
  enter there. No longer will you need the sun
• 4:48
  or moon to give you light, for the Lord your God will
• 4:51
  be your everlasting light, and He will be your glory
• 4:55
  The sun will never set, the moon will not go down,
• 4:59
  for the Lord will be your everlasting light.
• 5:02
  Your days of mourning will come to an end.
• 5:05
  All your people will be righteous. They will possess their
• 5:09
  land forever, for I will plant them there with My own hands
• 5:13
  in order to bring Myself glory. The smallest family
• 5:17
  will multiply into a large clan. The tiniest
• 5:21
  group will become a mighty nation. I, the Lord,
• 5:24
  will bring it all to pass at the right time.
• 5:29
  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
• 5:32
  because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the
• 5:36
  poor. He has sent me
• 5:39
  to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives
• 5:43
  will be released and prisoners will be freed.
• 5:47
  He has sent me to tell those who mourn, that the time of
• 5:50
  the Lord's favor has come, and with it the
• 5:54
  day of God's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn
• 5:58
  in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes,
• 6:02
  joy instead of mourning, praise instead of
• 6:06
  despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and
• 6:10
  graceful oaks for his own glory. They will rebuild
• 6:14
  the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed,
• 6:18
  They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations.
• 6:22
  Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your
• 6:26
  flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.
• 6:29
  You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God.
• 6:33
  You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in
• 6:37
  their riches. Instead of shame and dishonor,
• 6:41
  you will inherit a double portion of prosperity
• 6:45
  and everlasting joy.
• 6:51
  For I the Lord love justice. I hate
• 6:55
  robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward
• 6:59
  my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant
• 7:04
  with them. Their descendants
• 7:08
  will be known and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize
• 7:13
  that they are a people the Lord has blessed.
• 7:16
  I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God,
• 7:20
  for He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and
• 7:24
  draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am
• 7:29
  like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with
• 7:32
  her jewels. The Sovereign Lord will show His justice to the
• 7:37
  nations of the world. Everyone will praise him.
• 7:40
  His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
• 7:43
  filled with young plants springing up everywhere.
• 7:49
  Because I love Zion, because my heart
• 7:52
  yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent.
• 7:56
  I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines
• 8:01
  like the dawn and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
• 8:05
  The nations will see your righteousness. Kings will
• 8:09
  be blinded by your glory. And the Lord will give you a
• 8:13
  new name. The Lord will hold you in his hands for all
• 8:17
  to see. A splendid crown in the hands of God.
• 8:21
  Never again will you be called God-forsaken city
• 8:25
  or the desolate land. Your new name will
• 8:29
  be the City of God's Delight. And the bride of God. For the
• 8:33
  Lord delights in you and will claim you as his own.
• 8:37
  Your children will care for you with joy, O Jerusalem,
• 8:41
  just as a young man cares for his bride.
• 8:45
  Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom
• 8:48
  rejoices over his bride.
• 8:52
  Philippians 1:27-2:18.
• 8:57
  But whatever happens to me, Paul, You Philippians must live
• 9:01
  in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ as citizens
• 9:05
  of heaven. Then, whether I come and see you again or
• 9:09
  only hear about you, I will know that you are standing
• 9:12
  side by side, fighting together for the good news.
• 9:16
  Don't be intimidated by your enemies. This will be a
• 9:20
  sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are
• 9:23
  going to be saved even by God himself.
• 9:27
  For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ,
• 9:32
  but also the privilege of suffering for Him.
• 9:35
  We are in this fight together. You have seen me suffer for
• 9:39
  Him in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst
• 9:43
  of this great struggle.
• 9:47
  Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort
• 9:51
  from His love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit?
• 9:55
  Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? Then make Me truly happy
• 9:59
  by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another,
• 10:03
  and working together with one heart and one purpose.
• 10:08
  Don't be selfish. Don't live
• 10:12
  to make a good impression on others.
• 10:15
  Be humble, thinking of others as better than
• 10:19
  yourself.
• 10:23
  Don't think about only your own affairs,
• 10:27
  but be interested in others too and what they are
• 10:31
  doing. Your attitude should
• 10:35
  be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God,
• 10:39
  he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.
• 10:42
  He made himself nothing. He took the humble position
• 10:46
  of a slave and appeared in human form.
• 10:49
  And in human form, He obediently humbled Himself even
• 10:53
  further by dying a criminal's death on a cross.
• 10:57
  Because of this, God raised Him up to the heights of heaven and gave Him
• 11:01
  a name that is above every other name, so that at the name
• 11:05
  of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and
• 11:09
  on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that
• 11:13
  Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father.
• 11:18
  Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions
• 11:22
  when I was with you, and now that I am away, you must be
• 11:26
  even more careful to put into action God's saving
• 11:30
  work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence
• 11:33
  and fear. For God is working in you, giving you
• 11:37
  the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases
• 11:41
  him. In everything you do, stay away from complaining
• 11:45
  and arguing so that no one can speak a word of blame against you.
• 11:50
  You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a
• 11:54
  dark world full of crooked and perverse people.
• 11:58
  Let your lives shine brightly before them. Hold tightly
• 12:01
  to the word of life so that when Christ returns, I will
• 12:05
  be proud that I did not lose the race. And that my work
• 12:09
  was not useless. But even if my life is
• 12:12
  to be poured out like a drink offering to complete the sacrifice of
• 12:16
  your faithful service— that is, if I am to die for
• 12:20
  you— I will rejoice, and I want to share my joy
• 12:24
  with all of you. And you should be happy about this and
• 12:28
  rejoice with me.
• 12:34
  Psalm 72:1-20.
• 12:41
  Give justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king's son.
• 12:45
  Help him judge your people in the right way. Let the poor always
• 12:49
  be treated fairly. May the mountains yield prosperity
• 12:53
  for all, and may the hills be fruitful,
• 12:56
  because the king does what is right. Help him to defend
• 13:00
  the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to
• 13:04
  crush their oppressors. May he live as long as the sun shines,
• 13:08
  as long as the moon continues in the skies, yes,
• 13:12
  forever. May his reign be as refreshing as
• 13:15
  the springtime rains, like the showers that water the earth.
• 13:19
  May all the godly flourish during his reign. May there be abundant
• 13:24
  prosperity until the end of time. May he reign
• 13:28
  from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of
• 13:31
  the earth. Desert nomads will bow before him.
• 13:35
  His enemies will fall before him in the dust.
• 13:38
  The western kings of Tarshish and the islands will bring him
• 13:41
  tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba
• 13:45
  will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him,
• 13:49
  and all nations will serve him. He will rescue the poor
• 13:53
  when they cry to him. He will help the oppressed who have
• 13:56
  no one to defend them. He feels pity for
• 14:00
  the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them.
• 14:04
  He will save them from oppression and from violence,
• 14:07
  for their lives are precious to him.
• 14:11
  Long live the king! May the gold of Sheba be given
• 14:15
  to him. May the people always pray for him and bless him
• 14:19
  all day long. May there be abundant crops throughout
• 14:23
  the land, flourishing even on the mountaintops. May the fruit trees
• 14:26
  flourish as they do in Lebanon, sprouting up like grass in
• 14:30
  a field. May the king's name endure forever; may
• 14:35
  it continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations
• 14:38
  be blessed through him and bring him praise.
• 14:42
  Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone
• 14:46
  does such wonderful things. Bless his glorious
• 14:50
  name forever. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
• 14:55
  Amen and amen.
• 15:02
  Proverbs 24:11-12. Rescue those
• 15:05
  who are unjustly sentenced to death. Don't stand
• 15:09
  back and let them die. Don't try to avoid responsibility by
• 15:13
  saying you didn't know about it, for God knows all hearts and he
• 15:17
  sees you. He keeps watch over your soul and he knows you
• 15:21
  knew. And he will judge all people according to what they
• 15:25
  have done. I want
• 15:29
  to speak to you today from our reading from Isaiah chapter 60 through
• 15:33
  62, and it is a rich section
• 15:37
  of scripture with just shining jewels of promise
• 15:41
  from God, and it really focuses in on and
• 15:45
  zooms in on Israel and on Jerusalem. Beginning with
• 15:49
  Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1: Arise,
• 15:52
  Jerusalem, let your light shine for all the nations to
• 15:56
  see, for the glory of the Lord is shining upon you.
• 15:58
  Darkness as black as night will cover all the nations of the
• 16:02
  earth, but the glory of the Lord will shine over
• 16:07
  you. Now think about it,
• 16:11
  up until May of 1948 The
• 16:15
  Jews were scattered to all the nations of the world, many in
• 16:19
  Asia, in Europe, and in America.
• 16:22
  And in May of 1948, when the nation of Israel was reborn,
• 16:27
  that's when the Aliyah, the return of the Jewish people,
• 16:30
  began. This is going on to say in verse 4,
• 16:34
  look and see, for everyone is coming home. Your sons are coming
• 16:38
  from distant lands. Your little daughters will be carried home.
• 16:42
  Your eyes will shine and your hearts will thrill with joy.
• 16:46
  For merchants from around the world will come to
• 16:50
  you. Now, right now, Israel is suffering
• 16:54
  greatly.
• 16:57
  Violence is tearing the very fabric of their lives and
• 17:01
  their culture. Between the war with Gaza and
• 17:05
  Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis,
• 17:11
  many IDF soldiers have died. There was the terrible
• 17:15
  atrocities that took place on October 7th,
• 17:18
  2023. And there continue to be terrorist
• 17:23
  attacks against the people from within their own
• 17:26
  borders, from within Judea and Samaria,
• 17:29
  with shootings and bus rammings and explosives.
• 17:36
  The people are greatly suffering, and there is much violence in the land.
• 17:41
  But verse 18 tells us violence will
• 17:45
  disappear from your land. The desolation and destruction
• 17:50
  of war will end.
• 17:53
  And the other thing that's going on with Israel right
• 18:05
  there is much shame and dishonor being placed
• 18:10
  upon the nation, wrongfully so, in many different ways.
• 18:14
  So even as I record this, the United Nations took a vote
• 18:18
  and France,
• 18:21
  Canada, the UK, and Australia all
• 18:25
  voted at the UN to recognize a Palestinian
• 18:29
  state. This is a fake nation. It's a nation on
• 18:32
  paper only. And it's a
• 18:36
  shame and a disgrace that these Western nations
• 18:40
  that have gone so woke and liberal are now rewarding
• 18:44
  terrorism by offering up a
• 18:48
  Palestinian state. Of course, on the ground, on the
• 18:52
  reality on the ground is there is not going to be a Palestinian
• 18:56
  state. But with all of the media
• 18:59
  propaganda and spin and bias against Israel,
• 19:04
  attacking and accusing Israel of committing genocide in the
• 19:10
  Gaza border, when in fact it's quite the opposite is true.
• 19:14
  We saw that Hamas was attempting genocide against the Jewish
• 19:17
  people on October 7th. And even now, they're doing brutal
• 19:22
  things to the Palestinian people. Hamas is
• 19:25
  brutalizing their own people.
• 19:29
  So in verse 7 again, it says, instead of shame and dishonor,
• 19:33
  Israel, you will inherit a double portion
• 19:38
  of prosperity and everlasting joy.
• 19:42
  The Jewish people have suffered for centuries going
• 19:47
  through the pogroms, being expelled from Russia, from Spain,
• 19:51
  from France, going through the Inquisition.
• 19:55
  And the Crusades, going through the Holocaust
• 19:59
  of World War II and Nazi Germany. For so long,
• 20:03
  up until May of 1948, they were a nation— they
• 20:07
  were a people without a country, and they were expelled and
• 20:11
  had really no place to sink their roots. But God
• 20:15
  says here His promise: I
• 20:19
  the Lord love, justice. Verse 8,
• 20:24
  I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward
• 20:28
  my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant
• 20:32
  with them. Their descendants will be known and honored
• 20:37
  among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are
• 20:41
  a people that the Lord has blessed.
• 20:45
  He concludes this section of scripture in Isaiah chapter
• 20:49
  62 in verse 5 and makes
• 20:52
  a comparison of the relationship that God has with Israel
• 20:56
  and with Jerusalem. It's, it's similar to the relationship
• 21:01
  that a husband has with his wife, who is madly
• 21:04
  and deeply in love with his wife.
• 21:09
  In verse 5 of chapter 62, your children will
• 21:13
  care for you with joy, O Jerusalem. Just as a young
• 21:17
  man cares for his bride, then God
• 21:21
  will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices
• 21:26
  over his bride.
• 21:30
  And now I want to jump into Philippians,
• 21:34
  and we are in Philippians chapter 1,
• 21:44
  and I want to look at verse 3, actually chapter 2,
• 21:48
  and we're going to zoom in on verses 3 and 4 where
• 21:53
  it says, don't be selfish. Don't live to make
• 21:57
  a good impression on others. Be humble. So what
• 22:02
  does it really mean to be humble? Does it mean you're a doormat?
• 22:05
  Does it mean that you have low self-esteem?
• 22:09
  What exactly really is a biblical definition
• 22:13
  of humility? Well, this verse tells
• 22:17
  us that. It says, be humble, thinking of others as better
• 22:22
  than yourself.
• 22:26
  So have you ever been around someone who had
• 22:30
  kind of an air of superiority, that maybe they're smarter
• 22:33
  than you or they have more wealth than you, more power
• 22:37
  than you, and, and you could just feel the attitude coming
• 22:41
  from that person that they are superior to you, that you need
• 22:45
  to stay in your place because they are superior to you, they are better than
• 22:49
  you. That's pride. And the opposite
• 22:53
  of pride is humility. And in humility, you think of others
• 22:57
  as better than yourself.
• 23:00
  You look up to them. Every single person.
• 23:05
  And then it goes on to say, don't think about only your own
• 23:08
  affairs, but be interested in others too
• 23:12
  and what they are doing.
• 23:15
  So a self-absorbed— may
• 23:21
  I dare even say a narcissist kind of a person— is only going
• 23:25
  to be thinking about themselves and talking about themselves.
• 23:30
  And you've probably maybe been around somebody like that,
• 23:33
  that you get around them and they do all the talking and it's all about
• 23:37
  themselves and their own life. But a
• 23:42
  humble person, a wise person, will be
• 23:45
  interested in you and will ask questions and then listen.
• 23:51
  What's going on with you? How, how are you?
• 23:54
  How is your family? How is your career?
• 23:59
  Uh, what is the ministry that you're involved in? Um, what's the high
• 24:03
  point for you? What are you passionate about? What are your dreams?
• 24:08
  They ask questions and then they listen.
• 24:11
  That is an element of humility, that you're not absorbed,
• 24:15
  self-absorbed with just yourself.
• 24:19
  So we need to take this to heart.
• 24:22
  There are far too many arrogant and prideful people in
• 24:26
  this world and even in the church.
• 24:29
  We need to die to self, die to pride,
• 24:32
  repent of pride, and become more humble,
• 24:37
  thinking of others as better than ourselves.
• 24:43
  And of course, this chapter goes on to give us a beautiful
• 24:47
  example of humility in Christ Jesus, who is fully
• 24:50
  God and who put on humanity, put on skin and
• 24:54
  became a man. He was a God-man, and in human form,
• 24:58
  He obediently humbled Himself by
• 25:02
  dying a criminal's death on a cross,
• 25:06
  even though He was absolutely innocent and never committed
• 25:10
  any sin or any crime. He did not defend himself.
• 25:14
  He went to the cross willingly. He was not a victim,
• 25:19
  and he allowed that to happen to pay the price
• 25:24
  for my sin and for your sin. So these
• 25:28
  are things to think on this week. Lord, I pray
• 25:32
  that this week we will become more humble today and tomorrow
• 25:36
  than we were yesterday and the day before. May we die to
• 25:40
  our pride, our arrogance, our selfishness,
• 25:44
  and may we think of others more highly than
• 25:48
  ourself. And may we not be interested only in our
• 25:52
  own affairs, but take an interest in what others
• 25:55
  are doing and what we can do to serve them and help them and
• 25:59
  support them. May we take these words to
• 26:03
  heart. And put them into practice and walk them out
• 26:08
  in our lives. I ask it in the name of Jesus.
• 26:12
  Amen.
• 26:32
  Yeah,
• 27:17
  The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6,
• 27:20
  24 to 26.
• 27:24
  Adonai bless you and keep you.
• 27:27
  Adonai make his face to shine upon you and
• 27:31
  be gracious to you. Adonai lift up his countenance
• 27:35
  upon you and give you peace.