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The Amazing Love of God

2023-03-24 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 42:10-43:7.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 42:10-25 (NIV)
10  Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.
11  Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.
12  Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13  The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.

On 42:10 to 43:7:  God’s people had persistently turned a deaf ear and a blind eye (42:18-19) to God’s great and glorious laws (42:21).  As a result they were captured and taken away like loot (42:22-25).  Now they were exiles in Babylon.  So the LORD says to the Jewish exiles in Babylon that He is coming to the rescue.  Despite all the ways that His people have been stubborn and rebellious toward Him, God is committed to rescuing them (43:1-7).

43:1-7 shows us that God treasures His people and loves them, so much so that He is willing to exchange someone else for them (“I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life” v4).  He wants to have a personal relationship with them.  Because of this, the only fitting response from His people is to “sing to the LORD a new song, His praise to the ends of the earth” (42:10).

以东受审象征列国的荒凉

2023-03-23 in , /by

以赛亚书34:8   因耶和华有报仇之日，为锡安的争辩有报应之年。  

阅读经文：以赛亚书 34:1-17

1列国啊，要近前来听！众民哪，要侧耳而听！地和其上所充满的，世界和其中一切所出的，都应当听！ 2 因为耶和华向万国发愤恨，向他们的全军发烈怒，将他们灭尽，交出他们受杀戮。 3 被杀的必然抛弃，尸首臭气上腾，诸山被他们的血溶化。 4 天上的万象都要消没，天被卷起好像书卷；其上的万象要残败，像葡萄树的叶子残败，又像无花果树的叶子残败一样。 5 「因为我的刀在天上已经喝足，这刀必临到以东和我所咒诅的民，要施行审判。 6 耶和华的刀满了血，用脂油和羊羔、公山羊的血，并公绵羊腰子的脂油滋润的，因为耶和华在波斯拉有献祭的事，在以东地大行杀戮。 7 野牛、牛犊和公牛要一同下来，他们的地喝醉了血，他们的尘土因脂油肥润。」

本段属卅四章，先知提到神对列国的审判，这是因为列国的罪不容于耶和华神。而先知叙述中的审判是以以东这个国家做为列国的代表，因为以色列乃是神所特别拣选的民族，是背负宣扬神属灵救恩大使命的。但是，以东这个原本是属同根生之邦，却肆无忌惮地破坏攻击他们的手足以色列，因而惹动了耶和华神的震怒。所以，神定意要报复以东。

就在先知宣布了神的报复决心之后，紧接着先知便描述了神如何报复以东。这一波审判包括四个方面，在希伯来文中，第2, 5, 6下, 8等节开头都以「因为」一词作开头，并且以相仿的结构表达神的宣告──「有忿恨」（v.2）、「有刀」（v.5）、「有祭」（v.6下）、「有日子」（v.8）：

Only God Knows the Future

2023-03-23 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 41:21-42:9.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 41:21-29 (NIV)
21  “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22  “Bring in [your idols] to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
23  tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

On verses 21-29:  Here Isaiah shares another way that the idols of the nations cannot compare to the LORD: the idols of the nations are useless in helping their worshipers discern the future (v21-23).  Thus these idols are “detestable” (v24), false (v29), and reduce those who worship them to “less than nothing” (v24), leaving their worshippers with “no one among them to give counsel” (v28).

The One Who Holds Your Hand

2023-03-22 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 41:1-20.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 41:1-4 (NIV)
1  “Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
2  “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
3  He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4  Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD–with the first of them and with the last–I am he.”

On verses 1-4:  Many scholars believe that this “one from the east” is a reference to Cyrus, King of Persia, whose kingdom would be located east of Judah and east of Babylon.  Cyrus would rise up to become the most formidable force in the ancient Near East conquering many other nations.  In 539 B.C. would conquer Babylon and allow the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to their homeland of Judah.

神以亚述之道还治其身

2023-03-22 in , /by

以赛亚书33:2  耶和华啊，求祢施恩于我们，我们等候祢！求祢每早晨做我们的膀臂，遭难的时候为我们的拯救。 

阅读经文：以赛亚书 33:1-24

1祸哉！你这毁灭人的，自己倒不被毁灭；行事诡诈的，人倒不以诡诈待你。你毁灭罢休了，自己必被毁灭；你行完了诡诈，人必以诡诈待你。 2 耶和华啊，求你施恩于我们，我们等候你！求你每早晨做我们的膀臂，遭难的时候为我们的拯救。3 喧嚷的响声一发，众民奔逃；你一兴起，列国四散。 4 你们所掳的必被敛尽，好像蚂蚱吃尽禾稼；人要蹦在其上，好像蝗虫一样。 5 耶和华被尊崇，因他居在高处，他以公平、公义充满锡安。 6 你一生一世必得安稳，有丰盛的救恩并智慧和知识，你以敬畏耶和华为至宝。

本段为第六个「祸哉」的内容，论到亚述权势的倾覆。本段又分为两部份，第一部份为33:1-13，提到耶和华神对亚述的惩罚，第二部份为33:14-24主要是说到神的选民因此而得到和平的光景。

正如前一章所述，亚述必倒在耶和华的刀下，他们必要从耶路撒冷退兵。一开始，先知宣告亚述以前如何以诡诈待人，今日人也必以诡诈待它；它以前如何尽行毁灭，如今自己也必被毁灭（33:1）。这一切报应的实现，都因着神垂听了祂子民的呼求，做为祂百姓的膀臂与拯救（33:2）。

圣灵浇灌的启示

2023-03-21 in , /by

以赛亚书32:17   公义的果效必是平安，公义的效验必是平稳，直到永远。

阅读经文：以赛亚书 32:1-20

1看哪，必有一王凭公义行政，必有首领藉公平掌权。 2 必有一人像避风所和避暴雨的隐密处，又像河流在干旱之地，像大磐石的影子在疲乏之地。 3 那能看的人，眼不再昏迷；能听的人，耳必得听闻。 4 冒失人的心必明白知识，结巴人的舌必说话通快。 5 愚顽人不再称为高明，吝啬人不再称为大方。 6 因为愚顽人必说愚顽话，心里想做罪孽，惯行亵渎的事，说错谬的话攻击耶和华，使饥饿的人无食可吃，使口渴的人无水可喝。 7 吝啬人所用的法子是恶的，他图谋恶计，用谎言毁灭谦卑人，穷乏人讲公理的时候，他也是这样行。 8 高明人却谋高明事，在高明事上也必永存。

本段为第五个「祸哉」的第二部份，主要经文为第卅二章，本章主要论到神必兴起一王（可能指的是22:20-22的以利亚敬，他也是弥赛亚的预表），他要凭公义治理犹大。从更远一点的焦距观察，先知透过此王的统治，透视到弥赛亚对普世列国的掌权。先知说「必有一人」（原文为『每个人』）像避风所和避暴雨的隐密处，意指在弥赛亚的统治之下，每一个属于祂的领袖，都能反映出祂的公平与公义，因着此一理想统治群的治理，使得每一位百姓都如沐春风，安居乐业。先知形容这群领袖要成为百姓的避风所，百姓在他们的统治之下，好像「河流在干旱之地，像大磐石的影子在疲乏之地」，不但能够滋润百姓干旱的心田，更使在战乱中身心疲惫的百姓，好似获得处可以憩息的阴凉处所。

The Incomparable God Who Renews Our Strength

2023-03-21 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 40:15-31.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 40:15-17 (NIV)
15  Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16  Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17  Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
 
On verses 15-17:  The biggest theme coming out of verses 15-28 is that God is the incomparable one.  Nothing can compare to Him.  The nations can’t compare to Him (v15-17).  Even Lebanon, which is a fertile, wooded area of Judah, lacks the wood or animals needed to bring the size of offering that God deserves (v16).

倚靠神得拯救

2023-03-20 in , /by

以赛亚书31:6   以色列人哪，你们深深地悖逆耶和华，现今要归向祂。 

阅读经文：以赛亚书31:1-9

1祸哉，那些下埃及求帮助的！是因仗赖马匹，倚靠甚多的车辆，并倚靠强壮的马兵，却不仰望以色列的圣者，也不求问耶和华。 2 其实耶和华有智慧，他必降灾祸，并不反悔自己的话，却要兴起攻击那作恶之家，又攻击那作孽帮助人的。 3 埃及人不过是人，并不是神；他们的马不过是血肉，并不是灵。耶和华一伸手，那帮助人的必绊跌，那受帮助的也必跌倒，都一同灭亡。

本段为第五个「祸哉」（包含31至32两章），旨在阐述倚靠埃及的不智。因为「埃及人不过是人，并不是神」（31:3），那真正能拯救犹大脱离亚述手的，唯有那「有火在锡安，有炉在耶路撒冷的耶和华」（George Arthur Buttrick  认为火与炉乃是象征锡安祭坛的神圣与毁灭性）。

第卅一章主要论到倚靠埃及不如倚靠万军的耶和华，亚述终必倾倒，不是出于埃及的帮助，而是因耶和华手中的刀。

Let the King of Glory Come In

2023-03-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 40:1-14.  Let’s go!

Here in chapter 40 we come to one of the most beloved chapters in all of Isaiah.  Some early church fathers (like Eusebius of Caesarea, Ephrem of Syria and Cyril of Alexandria) seem to have interpreted Isaiah 40 as an immediate response to Isaiah 39 where Hezekiah unwittingly reveals his nation’s top secrets to the Babylonians.  This would have happened before 701 B.C. However, in the more recent centuries, Christian commentators have interpreted Isaiah 40-55 to be Isaiah talking about a much later event in the future, namely, the time from about 580 to 540 B.C. when the Jewish people were exiles in Babylon and how one day God was going to bring them back to their homeland of Judah.  I will approach Isaiah 40 with this Babylonian exile in mind as the historical background for these verses.  With this approach, I think you’ll find that, like a flower blooming, Isaiah 40 opens up in some beautiful and powerful ways.

The Hero of Your Story

2023-03-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 39.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 39:1 (NIV)
1  At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.
 
On verse 1:  “At that time” refers to the time when Hezekiah miraculously recovered from his life-threatening sickness.  According to the New American Commentary, Merodach-Baladon II was ruler of Babylon until 703 B.C. when Assyria’s King Sennacherib ousted him from power.  This, together with Isaiah 38:6, tells us that the events described in Isaiah 38 and here in Isaiah 39 happened before God delivered Jerusalem from Assyria in 701 B.C.  But why would Isaiah order these events this way?  Why talk about God delivering Jerusalem from Assyria first in Isaiah 36-37 and then flashback to the earlier events of Hezekiah’s recovery from illness and the Babylonians’ visit to Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 and 39?  Scholars have posited many different theories, but the most important reason I believe is that Isaiah is trying to show that this Messiah that Isaiah 1-35 have been talking about is not Hezekiah but someone else.  So rather than end on a note of tremendous victory for Hezekiah, Isaiah ends his account of Hezekiah’s life by talking about his weakness in Isaiah 38 as well as a major mistake that Hezekiah makes here in Isaiah 39.  Let’s see what that mistake was.