(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)
(Isaiah 27:1-13)
1 On that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
2 On that day,
“A vineyard of beauty, sing of it!
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
I water it every moment.
So that no one will damage it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I have no wrath.
Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely.
5 Or let him rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”
6 In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?
8 You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore through this Jacob’s wrongdoing will be forgiven;
And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
10 For the fortified city is isolated,
A homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert;
There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.
11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of discernment,
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel. 13 It will come about also on that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
2 On that day,
“A vineyard of beauty, sing of it!
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
I water it every moment.
So that no one will damage it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I have no wrath.
Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely.
5 Or let him rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.”
6 In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the whole world with fruit.
7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?
8 You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore through this Jacob’s wrongdoing will be forgiven;
And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
10 For the fortified city is isolated,
A homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert;
There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.
11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of discernment,
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.
12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel. 13 It will come about also on that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
This passage is prophetic. In the Tribulation, Israel as a nation will turn to the Lord and believe. Then at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will come again and eliminate all unbelievers and evil from the earth, and gather up all believers to take them into the Millennial kingdom.
Even though this is something that will happen in the future - after the rapture, these principles and truths apply to us now. God never sins or commits evil acts. Because He has given everyone a free will, and because He is sovereign, He will use evil to accomplish His will.
The biggest example is when Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah and hung Him on the cross. This was an evil act; but through this, the Lord paid the price for all sin of all time for all people. Because of sin, there needs to be death, so Jesus took our place and died on our behalf. He also rose again to conquer death, so that anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life with Him.
God has given us the choice. We can be opposed to the Lord by relying on and living for ourselves or someone else or some manmade god, or we can make peace with the Lord by accepting His free gift of forgiveness and salvation. When we do, and as we trust in Him alone as our expert gardener, He will protect us and nourish us. And as we worship, serve and honor Him, we will be fruitful and blessed.
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