Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 50:4-51:8.  Let’s go!

The previous passage, 49:14-50:3, dealt with three complaints that God and Isaiah expect the Jewish exiles to make in response to God’s promise of deliverance.  Having dealt with those complaints, Isaiah goes back to talking about the Servant again.
 
Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)
4  The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
 
On 50:4:  Here we learn something about the LORD and about His servant.  About the LORD, we know His heart is to speak words that sustain the weary.  He is the God who “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29). 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 49:14-50:3.  Let’s go!

To me this passage reflects the genius of the LORD and Isaiah working together.  In Isaiah chapters 40-48, not only does Isaiah predict future events and write down messages for a people not yet born; even more, Isaiah anticipates how this future people might complain and object to those messages and addresses those complaints and objections in advance. 
 
In particular, Isaiah addresses three complaints that he expects the Jewish exiles in Babylon would have when they hear the news that the LORD will deliver them from their captivity.  I wonder if the Jewish exiles in Babylon, upon reading Isaiah’s messages, must have felt like Isaiah and the Holy Spirit had read their minds, or that they were carrying on a debate with someone who lived 150 years before. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 48.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 48:1-7 (NIV)
1  “Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel– but not in truth or righteousness–
2  you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel– the LORD Almighty is his name:
3  I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
4  For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze.
5 Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’
6  You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.
7  They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.’
 
On verses 1-7:  So as to hopefully bypass the hardness of His own people’s hearts, God decided to tell the Jewish exiles way in advance (i.e. 150 years in advance) through Isaiah that they would be released from captivity in Babylon.  That way they could not credit their release from captivity to an idol (v5) or claim that they knew this themselves (v7).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 45:14-25.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 45:14 (NIV)
14  This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans– they will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you, saying, ‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.'”
 
On verse 14:  In verses 14-25 we see God speaking reassuring words to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, encouraging them to not give up seeking the LORD and to put their trust in Him regardless of whatever anyone else around them does. 
 
Here in verse 14 in particular we see a picture of other nations recognizing the Lord as the one true God.  The image of the Egyptians, Cushites and Sabeans coming over to the Jews in chains may sound like the Jews are going to imprison and enslave these other nations, but I think a better reading of this is that the Egyptians, Cushites and Sabeans will come to the Jews for help with their pre-existing chains.  That is because idolatry produces bondage but where the Spirit of the LORD is there is freedom.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 44:6-22.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 44:6-8 (NIV)
6  “This is what the LORD says– Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
7  Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come– yes, let him foretell what will come.
8  Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
 
On verses 6-8:  One of the biggest themes in Isaiah 40-66 is that the LORD is the one true God.  Only God is able to foretell what is to come.