JUNE 29 READINGS...Isaiah 1:21-5:30
Today’s chapters are hard to read. They speak of the certain judgment that the Lord is going to bring on Jerusalem and Judah. Israel has already fallen to the Assyrians…and the prophet tells Judah the day is coming when they will be carried away into captivity to a foreign land. History tells us that approximately 100 years after the fall of Israel, God raised up the Babylonian empire and they conquer Judah, taking the people captive to the camps of Babylon. Isaiah tells them the reason for this happening, giving us a picture of what Jerusalem used to be, and what they had become. He says they were once faithful, but now they have become a prostitute. They once were a place of justice and righteousness, but now it is filled with murderers. Once Jerusalem was like silver, but now it is like useless slag. Their leaders have become rebels against God, and their companions are thieves…they take bribes, demand payoffs, and use the orphans and widows as devilish schemes to fill their pockets. Therefore, the Lord says He will bring judgment on them…He will completely destroy the rebels and sinners…all those who have deserted the Lord. How is our nation any different from what Isaiah describes here? We had better hear clearly the words of God’s prophet…His judgment is on the way.
The Lord has a warning for any people, including us, that would say…”that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.” Like Israel our nation has those with a proud look, and display their sin like the people of Sodom…they don’t even try to hide it…they are PROUD of their perversion. We need to know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has a day of reckoning…He will punish the proud and the mighty…and bring down everything that exalts itself. Isaiah tells us that human pride will be humbled, and only the Lord will be exalted. Be careful, don’t put your trust in mere humans…in human wisdom…in the standards set up by the ungodly…they are no use. The Lord will have the final say in all things. In the last days the “Mountain of the Lord” will be the highest of all…the most important and special place on earth. In that day the Branch (Messiah) of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious. The remnant will be saved, and the Lord Himself will wash the filth from Jerusalem, and the entire world. Until His return we are instructed to trust Him only…stay in His Word…be led by His Spirit…and worship and love the Lord alone!
Please share any thoughts you might have from today’s reading. Make up your mind now that no matter where the world goes…you are going to follow the Lord alone.
TOMORROW’S READINGS…2 Kings 16:19-20 & 2 Chronicles 28:26-27 & Isaiah 13:1-16:14