以賽亞書6:7 將炭沾我的口，說：「看哪，這炭沾了你的嘴，你的罪孽便除掉，你的罪惡就赦免了。
閱讀經文：以賽亞書6:1-13
1當烏西雅王崩的那年，我見主坐在高高的寶座上，他的衣裳垂下，遮滿聖殿。2其上有撒拉弗侍立，各有六個翅膀，用兩個翅膀遮臉，兩個翅膀遮腳，兩個翅膀飛翔，3說：「聖哉，聖哉，聖哉，萬軍之耶和華！他的榮光充滿全地！」4因呼喊者的聲音，門檻的根基震動，殿充滿了煙雲。5那時我說：「禍哉！我滅亡了。因為我是嘴唇不潔的人，又住在嘴唇不潔的民中，又因我眼見大君王萬軍之耶和華。」
最近有一位傳道人和我分享她蒙召的經過，當她在敘述時，雙眼發光，滿臉喜樂，因為神的呼召是那麼明確，神的印證是那樣信實。我相信每一個服事神的人在回想領受神的呼召時，都會忍不住熱血澎湃，情緒激動。因為與神相遇是一件何等奇妙的事。這個經驗對以賽亞而言，也是再奇妙不過了。因為在烏西雅王駕崩的那年，原是國喪之年，大家都應該在悲傷的情緒之中。卻沒想到神就在此時向以賽亞顯現了。
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 7:1-25. Let’s go!
Isaiah 7:1-3 (NIV)
1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.
On verses 1-3: By now years have passed since the events described in Isaiah 6. Many scholars estimate the date to be 734 B.C. To help protect themselves against the threat of Assyria, the nation of Aram led by King Rezin and the nation of Israel led by King Pekah form an alliance. Aram and Israel want the nation of Judah to join their alliance, but when Judah’s King Ahaz refuses, Aram and Israel threaten to attack Judah and replace King Ahaz with a new king of their choosing, a man called Tabeel (v6). King Ahaz and the people of Judah are terrified, like “trees of the forest…shaken by the wind” (v2).
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 6:1-13.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. — Isaiah 6:1
One summer during my teen years, the King Tut exhibit came to a city only five hours’ drive away from our farming community, and a group of us took the challenge of trying to get in to view it. Since the exhibit was highly advertised, it drew people from hundreds of miles around. We left home in the middle of the night to make the journey, arriving early in the morning. Even so, we waited in an extremely slow line for many, many hours before entering the front doors of the museum.
Once we were inside, we were quite thrilled at what we saw! The magnificence of those displays was beyond anything my little country girl’s heart could imagine. There was more gold in one place than I will probably ever see again in my lifetime. King Tutankhamen’s burial mask was shaped of smooth gold, and painted with the youthful, elegant features we have come to associate with these rulers of long ago. Aside from the sheer value of the gold, there was the priceless significance of these centuries-old treasures. My opportunity to view this amazing collection was certainly the chance of a lifetime.
以賽亞書5:26 祂必豎立大旗招遠方的國民，發嘶聲叫他們從地極而來。看哪，他們必急速奔來！
閱讀經文：以賽亞書5:18-30
18禍哉，那些以虛假之細繩牽罪孽的人，他們又像以套繩拉罪惡，19說：「任他急速行，趕快成就他的作為，使我們看看！任以色列聖者所謀劃的臨近成就，使我們知道！」20禍哉，那些稱惡為善，稱善為惡，以暗為光，以光為暗，以苦為甜，以甜為苦的人！21禍哉，那些自以為有智慧，自看為通達的人！22禍哉，那些勇於飲酒，以能力調濃酒的人！23他們因受賄賂，就稱惡人為義，將義人的義奪去。
在第五章裡先知譴責了以色列人的六項罪：1.剝削他人；2.酗酒；3.在罪中持嘲笑的驕傲態度；4.顛倒道德水準；5.自欺；6.歪曲正義。因著這些罪，神使用亞述毀滅以色列，懲罰了他們。 如果猶大不脫離這些罪惡的話，等待他們的將是同樣命運。
18-19節：有些人帶著他們的罪到處走，有些人還以此來炫耀。但是對於其他人來說，這些人的罪對他們造成的壞影響，會把他們腐蝕掉。你有沒有拉著一車你不願放棄的罪到處走呢？我們在自己被腐蝕掉之前就要懸崖勒馬並轉向神。神已應許要除去我們的罪惡重擔，並換上一個充滿快樂的人生目標（參太28-30）。
以賽亞書5:4 我為我葡萄園所做之外，還有什麼可做的呢？我指望結好葡萄，怎麼倒結了野葡萄呢？
閱讀經文：以賽亞書5:1-17
1我要為我所親愛的唱歌，是我所愛者的歌，論他葡萄園的事。我所親愛的有葡萄園，在肥美的山岡上。2他刨挖園子，撿去石頭，栽種上等的葡萄樹，在園中蓋了一座樓，又鑿出壓酒池，指望結好葡萄，反倒結了野葡萄。
3「耶路撒冷的居民和猶大人哪，請你們現今在我與我的葡萄園中斷定是非。4我為我葡萄園所做之外，還有什麼可做的呢？我指望結好葡萄，怎麼倒結了野葡萄呢？5現在我告訴你們，我要向我葡萄園怎樣行。我必撤去籬笆，使它被吞滅；拆毀牆垣，使它被踐踏。
在〈以賽亞書〉裡，神用葡萄園比喻以色列人；在新約裡，主耶穌比喻祂自己是真葡萄樹。為什麼祂們都選用葡萄樹，而不選用無花果樹或橄欖樹呢？後兩種樹在以色列也是經常見到的樹。張文亮教授在《聖經與植物》一書裡說：人類在1970年代遇到能源缺乏的危機；1980年代普世發生糧食不足的動盪。能源不夠，供水不足，加上氣候不穩定，許多農、園藝作物受害減產之際，葡萄樹仍然按照自己的節奏，繼續結果子。在惡劣的環境中，依然保持正常生理代謝，稱為“逆境迴避stress avoidance”的物種，是物逆境生理學非常有趣的探索。(p.108)
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 5:1-30. Let’s go!
Isaiah 5:1-7 (NIV)
1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
On verses 1-7: A masterful communicator, Isaiah takes the message that God has given him and communicates it to the people of Judah in the form of a love song. But this is no ordinary love song. What is the point of this musical parable that Isaiah is singing? As Isaiah explains, the vineyard represents the people of Israel and Judah (v7), and the vineyard owner represents God. The point of Isaiah’s parable is that God had done everything a person in his position could be expected to do to care for his vineyard – that is, the people of Israel and Judah – and to make them fruitful. As God says in verse 4, “What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?” Yet the people of Israel and Judah still remained unfruitful, persisting in bloodshed, injustice and idolatry. So God intends to change His approach. Instead of caring so much for His vineyard, He’s going to remove His protecting hand from the vineyard (“take away its hedge…break down its wall” – v5) and let the vineyard be destroyed (v6).
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 4:1-6. Let’s go!
Isaiah 4:1 (NIV)
1 In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”
On verse 1: Even though both verses 1-2 of chapter 4 both begin with the words “in that day”, verses 1 and 2 appear to be talking about two very different things. Also, verse 1 of chapter 4 seems to continue the final verses of chapter 3 which describe the shame and desperation that the women of Judah would face when Jerusalem and Judah fall to the Babylonians. For this reason it is best to group verse 1 of chapter 4 with the rest of chapter 3.
Keep in mind that Isaiah himself did not insert the chapter and verse references himself; rather these were added in later for convenience and general reference. So the chapter and verse references can often, though not always, serve as a helpful guide, but they are not inspired the way we believe the actual Scriptures themselves are.
以賽亞書4:2 到那日，耶和華發生的苗必華美尊榮，地的出產必為以色列逃脫的人顯為榮華茂盛。
閱讀經文：以賽亞書4:1-6
1在那日，七個女人必拉住一個男人，說：「我們吃自己的食物，穿自己的衣服，但求你許我們歸你名下，求你除掉我們的羞恥！」
2到那日，耶和華發生的苗必華美尊榮，地的出產必為以色列逃脫的人顯為榮華茂盛。3主以公義的靈和焚燒的靈，將錫安女子的污穢洗去，又將耶路撒冷中殺人的血除淨。那時，剩在錫安留在耶路撒冷的，就是一切住耶路撒冷在生命冊上記名的，必稱為聖。5耶和華也必在錫安全山並各會眾以上，使白日有煙雲，黑夜有火焰的光，因為在全榮耀之上必有遮蔽。6必有亭子，白日可以得蔭避暑，也可以作為藏身之處，躲避狂風暴雨。
在這章經文裡，把以色列人的救恩講得何等清楚啊！以色列（包括猶大）原本該是滅亡的，她將會落到一個地步，七個女人拉住一個男人，因為她們沒有了男人的保護，沒有家，也沒有國。她們不在任何人的名下，也不屬於任何人。從現代人的眼光來看，一個女人沒有男人有什麼問題呢？她們可以自己去工作，賺錢，養活自己，甚至也像男人一樣穿起軍服，接受訓練去打仗，為何非要歸在男人名下才不羞恥？
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 3:1-26. Let’s go!
Isaiah 3:1-3 (NIV)
1 See now, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
2 the hero and warrior, the judge and prophet, the soothsayer and elder,
3 the captain of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.
Verses 1-3: Isaiah warns that in response to Jerusalem and Judah’s sins, God is about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah the things which they used to rely on for supply and support. In addition to a famine (v1), there would also be a leadership drought in Jerusalem and Judah (v2-3), such that everyone that Jerusalem and Judah would otherwise rely on for leadership and guidance will be taken away by the Lord.
以賽亞書3:13 耶和華起來辯論，站著審判眾民。
閱讀經文：以賽亞書3:1-26
1主萬軍之耶和華從耶路撒冷和猶大除掉眾人所倚靠的、所仗賴的，就是所倚靠的糧、所仗賴的水；2除掉勇士和戰士，審判官和先知，占卜的和長老，3五十夫長和尊貴人，謀士和有巧藝的，以及妙行法術的。4主說：「我必使孩童做他們的首領，使嬰孩轄管他們。5百姓要彼此欺壓，各人受鄰舍的欺壓。少年人必侮慢老年人，卑賤人必侮慢尊貴人。6人在父家拉住弟兄說：『你有衣服，可以做我們的官長，這敗落的事歸在你手下吧！』7那時，他必揚聲說：『我不做醫治你們的人，因我家中沒有糧食，也沒有衣服，你們不可立我做百姓的官長。』」8耶路撒冷敗落，猶大傾倒，因為他們的舌頭和行為與耶和華反對，惹了他榮光的眼目。9他們的面色證明自己的不正，他們述說自己的罪惡，並不隱瞞，好像所多瑪一樣。他們有禍了！因為作惡自害。10你們要論義人說，他必享福樂，因為要吃自己行為所結的果子。11惡人有禍了！他必遭災難，因為要照自己手所行的受報應。
查爾斯.史丹利牧師曾說：“聖經中的詩人大衛曾這麼說：‘耶和華阿，我知道你的判語是公義的，你使我受苦是以誠實待我。’有些苦難臨到的時候，我們常會想，神在做什麼？事實上，祂正忠實於祂的話語。神極愛我們，因此不希望我們犯罪、得罪祂、悖逆祂，所以有的時候祂會怎麼做呢？祂會用苦難引起我們注意，使我們改變心態，然後開始順服神，這也就是為什麼詩人會說‘祢使我受苦，是以誠實待我’的緣故了。有時我們認為苦難和艱辛都是壞事，都不是從神而來的，但是我們錯了，有些苦難的確是從神而來的管教，那事實上是神信實的舉動，為了使我們歸正，活在神的心意中”。
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