Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 59:15b-21.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 59:15-19 (NIV)
15  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
16  He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
17  He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18  According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due.
19  From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along.

On verses 15b-19:  In verses 1-15 Isaiah gave vividly showed the effects that sin has on our lives, how all of us have sinned and how our sins separate us from God.  After presenting this problem, Isaiah is now going to offer the solution.   He says that God saw our helpless predicament.  Since no one else could help, “his own arm worked salvation for him” (v16).  “His arm” isn’t just a poetic way of saying that God did something. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 58.  Let’s go!
 
Isaiah 58:1 (NIV)
1  “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
 
On verse 1:  In Isaiah 57:14-21, Isaiah declared the forgiveness, the mercy and the freedom from captivity to sin that God has made possible for His people.  Yet here in Isaiah 58, God tells Isaiah to raise his voice like a trumpet and declare to the people their rebellion and their sins.  What does this teach us?   Even after we have received the forgiveness, the mercy and the freedom that God freely makes available to us, there is still work for us to do.  It’s the sanctification after the salvation.  It’s the growing up after being born again.  It’s about becoming mature after you become a member of God’s family. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 56:9-57:13.  Let’s go!
 
Isaiah 56:9-12 (NIV)
9  Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
10  Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
11  They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain.
12  “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”
 
On 56:9-12:  Isaiah has just finished explaining how those who were once thought to be excluded from God’s people – eunuchs and Gentiles – can actually have a place in God’s house and God’s family if they keep His covenant (Isaiah 56:1-8).  Now Isaiah turns his attention to those whose place in God’s kingdom no one would usually question, but Isaiah is going to question it.   Starting in verse 10, Isaiah speaks about the leaders of Israel, “Israel’s watchmen”. 

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!

More than any other passage in Isaiah, Isaiah 53 points us to what Jesus Christ would do for us, how He would die for our sins so that we could be forgiven.  It is incredible to think that 700 years before Jesus walked on this earth, Isaiah perceived what this Servant would do on behalf of all of us. 

Isaiah 52:13-15 (NIV)
13  See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14  Just as there were many who were appalled at him– his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness–
15  so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53:1-12 (NIV)
1  Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2  He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.