{"id":25799,"date":"2023-04-06T22:00:02","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T05:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-519-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T20:26:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T03:26:30","slug":"isaiah-51_17-52_12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-51_17-52_12\/","title":{"rendered":"Waking Up to a New Reality in Jesus Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 51:17-52:12 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 51:17-52:12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 51:17-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Of 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.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0These double calamities have come upon you– who can comfort you?– ruin and destruction, famine and sword– who can console you?
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the rebuke of your God.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is what your Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked over.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On 51:17-23:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Before in Isaiah 51:9, the people were telling God to \u201cawake\u201d.\u00a0 But now it is God\u2019s turn to tell His people to wake up, and He does so twice \u2013 once in verse 17 and again in 52:1.\u00a0 What does God want His people to wake up to?\u00a0 First, God wants His people to wake up to reality.\u00a0\u00a0 There are two realities which\u00a0verses 17-20 talk about. The first reality is that Jerusalem has had to drink the cup of God\u2019s wrath because of their sins (v17). The second reality is that over the centuries Jerusalem\u2019s sons have generally failed to guide and provide for Jerusalem (v18). These two realities are related, for the second problem is a big cause for the first problem. When the \u201csons\u201d of Jerusalem (i.e. Jerusalem\u2019s leaders) don\u2019t lead the way they ought to, all the people suffer as a result.<\/p>\n

But God is going to change these two realities. As the \u201cGod who defends His people\u201d (v22) God declares that He has taken the cup of His wrath away from His people, such that they will never have to drink from it again (v22). Instead He will put that cup in the hand of Jerusalem\u2019s tormentors who had oppressed Jerusalem (v23).<\/p>\n

I believe the wrath which God says He is taking away in verse 22 is not political oppression or religious persecution, for history will show that Jerusalem and the Jewish people would suffer and be persecuted in many more ways on many more occasions throughout the centuries well after Isaiah wrote down these prophecies. Rather when God and Isaiah talk about God taking away the cup of God\u2019s wrath, the focus is not political but spiritual. God is taking away His eternal wrath from His people, such that sin and Satan which held them captive will no longer separate them from Him.<\/p>\n

How will God accomplish this? He will do so by providing a perfect Son who will be totally unlike the sons that Jerusalem has been used to. Jesus Christ would drink the cup of God\u2019s wrath on behalf of all of us by dying on the cross.\u00a0 Jesus would then conquer Jerusalem\u2019s oppressor \u2013 sin, death and Satan \u2013 by rising from the grave.\u00a0 Jesus, Jerusalem\u2019s perfect son, would remove the cup of wrath from Jerusalem by drinking it himself and defeat Jerusalem\u2019s oppressor by rising again.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 52:1-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For this is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For this is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“And now what do I have here?” declares the\u00a0LORD. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the\u00a0LORD. “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the\u00a0LORD.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 52:1-12:\u00a0 The first time God told His people in 51:17 to wake up, He was telling Him to wake up to two problems that have been plaguing His people for a long time, which problems we describe above.\u00a0 Now in 52:1 is this second time that God tells His people to wake up (\u201cawake!\u201d), and this time God is telling His people to wake up to a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing themselves.\u00a0 Tired of seeing His people oppressed (52:4) and His name blasphemed (52:5), God is going to do something to change the situation.\u00a0 He wants His people to \u201cshake off the dust\u201d (51:2) of their difficult past and step into \u2013 literally clothe themselves in \u2013 a new glory that He is giving them (51:1).\u00a0 Whereas before they had been captives to sin, God is going to deliver them from their captivity and give them royal robes to wear.<\/p>\n

That is exactly what God does for all of us as well.\u00a0 All of us were captives to sin, living in the dust of our sinfulness and brokenness.\u00a0 But God would \u201clay bare his holy arm in the sight of all nations\u201d (52:10) by sending Jesus Christ to deliver us from our captivity to sin.\u00a0 Through Jesus\u2019 death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave, we go from captives to sin to royal children of God.\u00a0 Through Jesus, we go from captives to bringers of good news to others.\u00a0 This good news is that in Jesus Christ there is salvation available for all the ends of the earth.<\/p>\n

Because we know that God goes before us and protects us from behind, we don\u2019t need to live in the hurry of worry or the flightiness of fear (v12).\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to cling to unholy things for peace and security (v11).\u00a0 Instead we live secure and confident because of Jesus<\/strong>\u00a0(\u201cyou will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard\u201d v12).\u00a0\u00a0Now it is up to us to awake and step into this new identity and reality that Jesus has made possible for us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank You Father for taking away from me the cup of Your wrath and giving me instead status as a royal member of Your family.\u00a0 Help me to shake off the dust of my past and wake up to who I really am in 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 51:17-52:12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 51:17-23 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Of 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.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0These double calamities have come upon you– who can comfort you?– ruin and destruction, famine and sword– who can console you?<\/p>\n

On 51:17-23:\u00a0\u00a0Before in Isaiah 51:9, the people were telling God to \u201cawake\u201d.\u00a0 But now it is God\u2019s turn to tell His people to wake up, and He does so twice \u2013 once in verse 17 and again in 52:1.\u00a0 What does God want His people to wake up to?\u00a0 First, God wants His people to wake up to reality.\u00a0\u00a0 There are two realities which\u00a0verses 17-20 talk about. The first reality is that Jerusalem has had to drink the cup of God\u2019s wrath because of their sins (v17). The second reality is that over the centuries Jerusalem\u2019s sons have generally failed to guide and provide for Jerusalem (v18).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25799","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\/25799","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=25799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25802,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25799\/revisions\/25802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}