Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 56:1-8.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 56:1-2 (NIV)
1  This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2  Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
 
On verses 1-2:  In Isaiah 55, Isaiah has just announced God’s open invitation to everyone to come and freely receive the forgiveness, mercy and freedom that He makes possible.  You would think that this would be a fitting way to end the book of Isaiah.  Yet the book of Isaiah continues on for 10 more chapters dealing with various topics, two of the biggest being what God expects of His people now and what God will do at the very end of time. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 55.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 55:1-7 (NIV)
1  “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
4  See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
5  Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6  Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7  Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
 
On verses 1-7:  In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah has shown himself capable of empathizing with different perspectives.  In Isaiah 54, Isaiah is writing with a woman’s needs in mind, likening God’s people to a woman who longs for security and protection.  In contrast, Isaiah 55 is written from a man’s perspective, speaking to the concerns of a man who desperately wants God’s forgiveness.  Yet the messages of Isaiah 54 and 55 are one and the same: if we want the security, the protection and the forgiveness that we long for so much, we will not be able to get it ourselves.  We need God’s help.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 54.  Let’s go!
 
Isaiah 54:1-8 (NIV)
1  “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.
2  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

On verses 1-8:  Back in Isaiah’s time there were three situations that were specifically difficult and shame-inducing for Jewish women: being barren, being a widow and being a divorcee.  Isaiah compares God’s people to a barren woman in verses 1-3, a widow in verses 4-5 and a divorcee in verses 6-8.  But in each case His point is that the LORD is going to take away His people’s shame and restore them to a place of glory, joy and blessing.  From a barren woman, God is going to supernaturally bless His people with far more descendants than she could ever have had naturally (v1).  She will have so many children that she will need to find a bigger tent and her territory will expand into other nations (v2-3).  We see much of this prophecy fulfilled already in our day.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 51:17-52:12.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 51:17-23 (NIV)
17  Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.
18  Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
19  These double calamities have come upon you– who can comfort you?– ruin and destruction, famine and sword– who can console you?

On 51:17-23:  Before in Isaiah 51:9, the people were telling God to “awake”.  But now it is God’s turn to tell His people to wake up, and He does so twice – once in verse 17 and again in 52:1.  What does God want His people to wake up to?  First, God wants His people to wake up to reality.   There are two realities which verses 17-20 talk about. The first reality is that Jerusalem has had to drink the cup of God’s wrath because of their sins (v17). The second reality is that over the centuries Jerusalem’s sons have generally failed to guide and provide for Jerusalem (v18).