Skip to main content

Isaiah 13:6 Thoughts on "the day of the Lord" Day 134

Good morning brothers and sisters,

I want to encourage you to be strong in these difficult days.  We see things as out of control and we get anxious.  Isaiah saw difficult times and God comforted him by revealing His plans for Babylon.  The same God that had a plan in Isaiah's day is the same God that has a plan for our day.

Blessings,

Jeff

This chapter is prophecy of coming judgment on Babylon.  Judah has not yet gone into captivity in Babylon.  So before God uses Babylon to judge Judah & Benjamin, He gives Isaiah the understanding that there is a plan for what Judah will soon experience.  The end is known from the beginning.

Described as "the day of the Lord".  In Daniel 5, we read about the rather sudden fall of Babylon when Darius the Mede takes over after the handwriting was on the wall.  But Babylon had been in decline for sometime prior to this.  But then we see that Babylon is still a spiritual reality in Revelation.  So there is a temporal judgment and there is also final judgment.  The temporal is a shadow of what the eternal will be.  

This day is near, but it is not immediate.  God's judgment happens according to the counsel of His will, not according to human timelines or expectations.  

 I have been memorizing ten commandments (Exodus 20) and the related Westminster Catechism questions.  Regarding taking the Lord's name in vain: 

Q. 56. What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.

The principle that people (individuals and nations) may escape punishment in this life but God will not suffer them to escape His judgment is very comforting to me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leviticus 18:21 - Partial restoration of creation order

Dear Friends, Some times we forget that Moses wrote Genesis.  Obviously, he did not have first hand knowledge of the events of creation.  But God did and revealed them to Moses.  The "story arc" is clear to Moses despite the millenia of history between Genesis and Leviticus.  The plan for ultimate restoration is hazy, but God is at work repairing some of the damage. Blessings, Jeff What is the prohibition on child sacrifice doing in the list of prohibited sexual relations? Be fruitful and multiply - First commandment in Genesis.  God made the world to be inhabited.   Having children is how this  was to happen.  So child sacrifice was a direct violation of this first command to Adam and Eve. Marriage is one man and one woman is the creation order. Seems simple enough.  I can imagine men thinking, Yeah but God didn't say which woman.  I will do the one woman thing if she is my sister, or aunt or …..  So God gives all these examples of unlawful unions.  To this day, man stil
Post a Comment
Read more

1 Chronicles 24:1-6 How about those Levites! Day 332

Good morning friends, Good foundations are important.  Our author turns to the religious life of the returning exiles. Blessings, Jeff We have seen the emphasis on the Davidic line in the  political life of Israel.  The other area of emphasis is the Aaronic priesthood and Levitical workers. In this passage we have a quick review of the somewhat sanitized picture of the start of Aaron's line.  The returning exiles would have known that Nadab and Abihu did not just "die before their father without children".  They rebelled against God by offering unauthorized fire and were themselves consumed by fire from the Lord. Leviticus 10.  The case of Abiathar  son of Ahitub son of Ahimelech, who was faithful to David, but later rebelled with Adonijah is also not mentioned. But the passage points to the importance of the Aaronic line to the rebuilding of the temple by the exiles.  The history of the northern kingdom which was without the Levites from the beginning could not be repeat
Post a Comment
Read more

Matthew 22:23 - the danger of not knowing Scripture - Day 193

Yesterday's passage was not very theological.  Today's is very theological.  I have only scratched the surface, but hope this encourages us to question ourselves about "knowledge of Scripture and the power of God". Blessings  Jeff This is a fascinating dialogue between Sadducees and Jesus.  So let's interrogate the passage. What distinguishes the Sadducees from other Jewish doctrinal positions?  They deny that there is a resurrection.  They are absolutely committed to this doctrine. How does their commitment shape their thought and questions? Even though they don't believe in the resurrection, they formulate a question focused on showing the absurdity of the resurrection.  They are not pointing to a passage of scripture that supports them, but asking a hypothetical question to make resurrection look silly. What is the purpose of the "Levirate marriage"? Deuteronomy 5:5-8.  First this is not a violation of the 7th commandment (adultery).  Brothers wer
Post a Comment
Read more