{"id":25152,"date":"2023-02-08T22:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-7_1-25-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-01-31T23:46:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T06:46:09","slug":"isaiah-8_1-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-8_1-22\/","title":{"rendered":"The Name God Gave You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 8:1-22 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 8:1-22.<\/p>\n

As usual, I highly recommend that you read the whole passage on your own a few times first.\u00a0 Then take a look at my sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 God had impressed upon Isaiah these words \u201cMaher-Shalal-Hash-Baz\u201d, which means \u201cquick to the plunder, swift to the spoil\u201d.\u00a0 God then gets Isaiah to write these words down on a large scroll in the presence of two hostile witnesses (v1-2) who were close associates of King Ahaz of Judah: Uriah the priest (a \u201csketchy\u201d priest in that when Ahaz wanted to build an altar just like the one the Arameans used to worship idols, he got Uriah to make the sketch (2 Kings 16:10)) and Zechariah, who was most likely King Ahaz\u2019s father-in-law (2 Kings 18:2).\u00a0 God even gets Isaiah to pick these words as the name for his newborn son.\u00a0 Both this large scroll and Isaiah\u2019s son would be a reminder to the land of Judah that Damascus (capital city of Aram) and Samaria (capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel) would be plundered soon.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:5-10 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0spoke to me again:
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River– the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, O Immanuel!”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-8:\u00a0 Here Isaiah warns that because the people of Judah rejected the Lord (symbolized by \u201cthe waters of Shiloah\u201d \u2013 v6) and because they will be too busy rejoicing over the defeat of Aram (led by Rezin) and Israel (led by the son of Remaliah), Assyria will come and attack Judah (v7-8).\u00a0 Yet no matter how much Judah\u2019s enemies plan, devise and strategize against Judah, they will ultimately be defeated (v10), \u201cfor God is with us\u201d.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When your enemy or competitor is defeated, don\u2019t just rejoice over their defeat, but ask yourself what you can learn from their defeat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God is sovereign.\u00a0\u00a0No matter how strong or smart a person is, no matter much they plan or strategize, God always has the final say.<\/strong>\u00a0 As Proverbs 16:1 says, \u201cTo man belong the plans of the heart, but from the\u00a0LORD\u00a0comes the reply of the tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you experience anything good, remember that it wasn\u2019t simply your planning or hard work that got you there.\u00a0 It\u2019s God\u2019s grace, \u201cfor God is with us\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:11-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and he will be a sanctuary;\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-14a:\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t place your trust in godless people and think the way they think.\u00a0 Don\u2019t buy into every conspiracy theory you hear.\u00a0 Treat God as holy, fear Him and find rest in Him.\u00a0 When you do this, He will be a sanctuary (v14a), keeping you in peace, away from unhealthy, unproductive ways of thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:14b-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14<\/sup>\u2026but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14b-15:\u00a0 Because both houses of Israel \u2013 Judah and Israel \u2013 rejected the Lord as their God, God will prove to be a stone that causes them to stumble fall and be ensnared.\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0we can keep rejecting God and His ways, but in the end God\u2019s truth and God\u2019s ways will always end up catching up to us.<\/strong>\u00a0 Love God\u2019s ways and they will help you succeed.\u00a0 Reject God\u2019s ways and they will be your downfall.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:16-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will wait for the\u00a0LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Here am I, and the children the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-18:\u00a0 Rather than putting his hope in anyone or anything else, Isaiah chooses to wait for the LORD and to trust in Him (v17).\u00a0 Isaiah sees him and his children as sign posts that God has given to Israel, such that whenever they see Isaiah and his children they will be reminded of what God has been saying.<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0may you and I be signs and symbols in our world from the Lord Almighty, that whenever people see us they are reminded of who God is and the direction they need to head in.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Isaiah\u2019s son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, you and I have been given a name that speaks of victory.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the name of Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Since God has given you His name, may you wear it well and powerfully.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:19-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-20:\u00a0 When people consult mediums and spiritists, they\u2019re looking for life among the dead, \u201cconsult[ing] the dead on \u00a0behalf of the living\u201d (v19).\u00a0 Rather than consulting mediums and spiritists, we have Someone much better to consult: the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

In verse 20 Isaiah gives an excellent standard for judging whether a word is from God or not: he tells his readers to go \u201cto the law and to the testimony!\u201d\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0when you\u2019re trying do decide whether a message you have heard is from God, ask \u201cis what I am hearing in accordance with \u2018the law and the testimony\u2019 (v20), that is, God\u2019s written word?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 If not, then there is \u201cno light of dawn\u201d (nothing from God) in their words (v20).\u00a0 Earlier in verse 16 Isaiah was already promoting the importance of the law and the testimony, saying that his disciples need to bind them and seal them up (that is, hold them close and treasure them).\u00a0 The theme of treasuring God\u2019s written word is evident here.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:21-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-22:\u00a0 These verses describe the ultimate fate of those who place their trust in someone\/something other than the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0When we persist in rejecting God, the result is spiritual starvation, a hostile relationship with God, and much distress, darkness and fear.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for all the lessons we can learn from Your Word today.\u00a0 Thank You for giving Your name that we can wear.\u00a0 May we be effective signs and symbols that point the people around us to You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 8:1-22.<\/p>\n

As usual, I highly recommend that you read the whole passage on your own a few times first.\u00a0 Then take a look at my sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 8:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.”
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 God had impressed upon Isaiah these words \u201cMaher-Shalal-Hash-Baz\u201d, which means \u201cquick to the plunder, swift to the spoil\u201d.\u00a0 God then gets Isaiah to write these words down on a large scroll in the presence of two hostile witnesses (v1-2) who were close associates of King Ahaz of Judah: Uriah the priest (a \u201csketchy\u201d priest in that when Ahaz wanted to build an altar just like the one the Arameans used to worship idols, he got Uriah to make the sketch (2 Kings 16:10)) and Zechariah, who was most likely King Ahaz\u2019s father-in-law (2 Kings 18:2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25152"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25155,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25152\/revisions\/25155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}