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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 365

Dec31

Day 365 – Reading – Revelation 19 – 22

Read and believe in Jesus!

The Revelation 19.

After the horrendous events of the previous seven chapters, we finally see evil defeated and the Lord Jesus Christ victorious.

“Hallelujah!” cry the multitudes in heaven.

“Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just.”

“Amen! Hallelujah!” cry the 24 elders.

“Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, great and small.”

“Hallelujah! cry a great multitude with the voice of thunder.

“For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready;

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen (the righteous deeds of the saints), bright and pure.”

 

“Write this,” said the angel. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And John was so overcome, he fell at the feet of the angel and worshiped him.

“You must not do that!” cried the angel. “I am a fellow servant. Worship GOD!”

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Next, John saw the heavens split and a WHITE HORSE gallop out. Riding on it was One called “Faithful and True.”  John recognized Him from His appearance and what He wore.  “It is The Word of God.” (Remember John’s Gospel 1:1?) 

“The King of kings and the Lord of lords!” was written on His thigh.

And with Him were the armies of heaven, dressed in white and pure. These were: the church, the tribulation saints, the O.T. believers, and even angels.

“And the beast was captured, and with it, the false prophet who, in its presence, had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped the image. THESE TWO were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire that burned with (stinky) sulfur.

All the rest of the enemies of God were slain by the sword (the Word) that came out of the mouth of the white horse rider. And all the birds gorged on their flesh.

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Revelation 20.

And the GLORIOUS ACT OF JUDGMENT ON SATAN!! 

“And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain.  And he SEIZED THE DRAGON, THAT ANCIENT SERPENT, WHO IS THE DEVIL AND SATAN, and bound him for a thousand years.  (The Millennium, when Israel will get its time of rule on the earth, with their Messiah reigning as King in Jerusalem.)

The angel threw the devil into the pit and shut it and sealed it so that he might not DECEIVE the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. (And then only for a little while.)

Saints who had been martyred for their testimony of Jesus and the Word of God came to life now and reigned with Him for those thousand years.  (The rest of the dead did NOT come to life until after the 1,000 years.)

When the thousand years are ended … Satan will be released to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle and “take” the Holy City.  But fire will come from heaven and consume them all.

Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet.  They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. AMEN!!

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THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.

And then…. John saw a great white throne, and HIM who was seated on it.   From His presence …. the earth and sky fled away and were no more.

Then John saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.  And the books were opened (with the deeds of the people). And another book was opened – The Book of Life.  And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 

(No good works recorded, ever, will grant them LIFE, only if they had trusted in the finished work of Jesus and their names were in the Book of Life.)

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EACH ONE was judged. 

And if his name was not in the Lamb’s Book of Life …

… he was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

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Revelation 21.

Then John saw a glorious new heaven and earth, and a new Jerusalem coming down from God like a Bride prepared for her Husband.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

God said, “I am making all things new.” 

Then to John, “Write this down.  It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

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Then one of the “bowls” angels came again to John and said, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  

And he carried John away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain. He showed him the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel like jasper (diamond), clear as crystal….”

And John describes (or tries to describe) what this glorious city looked like. See 21:12-27, ending with “…only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life will ever enter it.”

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Revelation 22.

The angel showed John the river of the Water of Life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the Tree of Life with twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves were for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be ANYTHING accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. And….. They will see HIS FACE!

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the LORD God will be their light.  And they will reign forever and ever.

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Then the angel said to John, “These words are trustworthy and true, to show God’s servants what must soon take place.”

“And behold, I am coming soon.  Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

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John, signing his signature:  “I John, am the one who heard and saw these things.”

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He continued to John, “Do NOT seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.“

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

 

Then, it’s as if Jesus also “signed His signature” as proof of the truths in this book.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.  I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

 

In response, the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”

 

Then a warning from John.  “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone ADDS to them, God will ADD to him the plagues described in this book,  and if anyone TAKES AWAY from the words of the book of prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life in the holy city which are described in this book.”

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“Surely I am coming soon.”

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

 

 

 

 

 

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In 2026, I hope to do a smaller, simpler study/reading of the four Gospels, beginning with Mark on January 1st.

After Mark, will be Luke (on March 5th) and John (on June 11th). Matthew (on September 7th) will end the year. (The Lord willing.)

This will be in Monday through Friday postings only. (Weekends off)

Join me if you like.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 364

Dec31

Day 364 – Reading – Revelation 12 – 18

Read and believe in Jesus!

The Revelation 12 – 18

The next seven chapters escalate. Satan, the Beast (Monster), the Antichrist appear. The Tribulation escalates. And there is all-out War in Heaven. Michael and his host of mighty angels battle. The seven bowls of wrath and the seven plagues do their worst, and the “great prostitute, Babylon” (who is a dwelling place of demons) appears and …. falls!

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Revelation 12

“And A GREAT SIGN appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

A SIGN:  A symbol pointing to something else. This is the first of SEVEN SIGNS in the last half of Revelation. This first sign, the Woman giving birth, represents Israel. 

(There are three other symbolic women in Revelation. Jezebel (2:20) represents paganism, the Scarlet Woman (17:3-6) represents the Apostate Church, and the Wife of the Lamb (19:7) represents the True Church.

The next sign we see is the Great Red Dragon, which represents Satan. He is the woman’s mortal enemy. He has ceaselessly tried to destroy “her” to keep the Savior from coming, but he failed, and then he was unable to kill the baby, despite using Herod to massacre hundreds of infants at the time. Then Jesus did His redeeming work and ascended back to Heaven.

 

Although Satan and 1/3 of the angels (who are now his demons) fell from heaven after they rebelled, they still had access to it. (Remember Job?)  But now, after fighting with Michael and his host, they are THROWN DOWN to earth.  That old ACCUSER OF BELIEVERS who stood to accuse us day and night before God is cast down (and locked out).

Heaven rejoices, but “Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down in great wrath, because he knows his time is short.”

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Furious, Satan pursued the Woman/Israel to kill her.  But she was given “two wings” (heavenly protection) and fled to the wilderness, where God kept her safe and nourished her for 42 months.  Frustrated and angry, Satan then went to wage war on the rest of her offspring (believing Jews and Gentiles), “who kept the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Unable to destroy these, Satan went and stood on the sand of the sea………….

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Revelation 13.

…………….. And it seemed he summoned up his strongest and most horrible demon. 

John saw “a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and BLASPHEMOUS NAMES on its heads. And to this monster, Satan (the dragon) gave his power and his throne, and his great authority. 

The whole earth marveled as they followed the Beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the Beast, and they worshiped the Beast, saying, “Who is like the Beast, and who can fight against it?”

The Beast was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.  It opened its mouth and uttered blasphemies against GOD, blaspheming His NAME and His Dwelling Place.  It was also allowed to make WAR on the saints and conquer them – from every tribe, people, language, and nation.

And ALL who dwelt on the earth… were made to worship it.  ALL whose name was NOT written from before the foundation of the world … in the Book of Life of the Lamb, who was slain.

 

John inserts a warning to his readers:  “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.”

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“Then I (John) saw another beast rising from out of the earth.  It had two horns… like a lamb… and it spoke like a dragon.” 

(We now have an unholy Satanic trinity of despicable evil.)

Unlikely as it looked, this lamb-appearing beast is the “enforcer” for the Beast.  It made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.  It also performed great miracles, even making fire come down from Heaven to earth in front of people. It deceived those who dwelled on earth.  It told the people to create an image of the Beas.  And it gave the image … speech.

All who did not worship the image were killed.

All who would not receive the mark of the Beast on forehead or right hand could neither buy nor sell… anything.

 

John again inserts a warning to his readers. “This calls for wisdom; let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is …. 666.”

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Revelation 14.

Then John looked, and in his vision he saw THE LAMB of God standing on Mount Zion, with the 144,000 who had NOT taken the mark of the beast. On THEIR foreheads was written the name of the LAMB and the name of His Father.  These 144K are the first fruits for God and the Lamb.  And a special song was sung to them and about them by the hosts of Heaven.

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Next, John saw three flying heralding angels, each with a message.

  • The first – “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
  • The second – “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
  • The third – “If anyone worships the Beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or hand, he also will drink of the wine of God’s wrath … and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

 

John again inserts a warning. “This is a call  for endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”

 

Then, a voice from Heaven spoke a chilling statement.  “Write this: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.“

 

Then came angels and One, like the Son of Man, with sickles.  It was the time of THE REAPING OF THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH.  (Remember those parables Jesus told of just such a thing!)  

  • “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.
  • So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 
  • And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle for 184 miles!”

 

You might be reminded of that old song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic right now.

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

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Revelation 15.

Then John saw another great and amazing SIGN in heaven – seven angels with seven plagues.  

Here’s how it went down…..

John saw what looked like a sea of glass mingled with fire… and standing next to this sea were those who had conquered the Beast and its image and the number of its name.  They had harps and they sang “The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb.”

  • “Great and amazing are Your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
  • Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!
  • Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
    All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

And as they sang, the Holy Place was opened in Heaven and out from the Santuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues.  One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels the seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.

And the sanctuary was filled with the glory of God and His power, and no one could enter it until the seven plagues were finished.

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Revelation 16.

The voice came from the Temple, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

  • The first angel – poured out harmful and painful sores on the people who bore the mark of the Beast.
  • The second angel – poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like blood, and every living thing died in it.
  • The third angel – poured out his bowl into the rivers, and they became blood.

“Just are You, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. 

It is what they deserve!”

  • The fourth angel – poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fierce heat.  (And they cursed the name of God. They did not repent. They did not give Him glory.)
  • The fifth angel – poured out his bowl on the throne of the Beast, and its kingdom plunged into darkness. People cursed God for their pain. They did not repent of their deeds.
  • The sixth angel – poured out his bowl on the great River Euphrates, and its water was dried up — to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

(Then John saw coming out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and False Prophet, demonic spirits that looked like frogs.  They did miracles and went to all the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY.  And the assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called … ARMAGEDDON.)

  • The seventh angel – poured out his bowl into the air. And a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “IT IS DONE!”   

 

  • Followed by lightning, thunder, and a great earthquake.  And the great city – Jerusalem – split into three parts, and the cities of the earth fell. 
  • And God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
  • And great hailstones – 100 pounds each – fell from on heaven on the people and they cursed God.

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Revelation 17.

One of the seven angels then came to John and said, “Come, I’ll show you the judgment of The Great Prostitute (remember this represents the Apostate Church) who is seated on many waters (the nations of the world), with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality.”

  • The angel carried John away in the spirit to a wilderness. He saw the Prostitute sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names.  The woman wore purple and scarlet, gold, jewels, and pearls.  In her hand, she held a golden cup FULL of abominations and impurities and immorality. 
  • On her forehead was written: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 
  • And she was drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus…….

The angel then explains the “mystery” about this woman and the beast with its multiple heads and horns,  and what they mean.

  • The multitude of the nations and people hate her and plan to kill her and burn her with fire, and hand over her royal power to the Beast until the Words of God are fulfilled.  That woman is … the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth … Babylon the Great.
  • These kings also plan to make war on the LAMB, but the LAMB will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those fighting with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

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Revelation 18.

After that private lesson from one of the angels, John saw another bright and mighty angel descended from heaven and call out,

FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON THE GREAT, the haunt for every demon, every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, every unclean and detestable beast!

 

And the rest of the chapter goes on to describe this great and evil nation…. her sins, her false evil glories, her deceptions, her evil fruit, jewels, and gold with which she deceived the nations, and made them rich. How the world will mourn her destruction, and how they will miss her wealth.

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Then the mighty angel said,

“And so Babylon, the great city, will be thrown down with violence and will be found no more.” 

“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her.

 

Whew!

 

Tomorrow we finish THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.  It is a beautiful ending of what heaven will be like without the devil, sin, and sorrow.  The glorious new Jerusalem. Seeing God face to face.  I can’t wait.

The last book in the chronological study/reading, and the end of the year.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 325

Nov21

Day 325 – Reading – Acts 13-14

Read and believe in Jesus!

Acts 13 – 14

These two chapters tell of Paul’s first Missionary Journey.

Note the circumstances of his name change in 13:1-13.

In the Antioch church, there were five main prophets/teachers. Barnabas, Simeon (a black man), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (of Herod Antipas’s court), and Saul, the ex-persecutor of Christians. (Wow, what an eclectic group!)  A perfect combo to lead and grow the Gentile church at Antioch.

During one worship service, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul for missionary work. The group prayed and fasted, and then laid their hands on these two men to send them off.  Barnabas took along his young cousin, John Mark, even though the Holy Spirit did not call the young man. 

The Holy Spirit leading them, the men went down to the port of Seleucia and sailed to Cyprus, Barnabas’ homeland. 

In the town of Salamis, SAUL proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the JEWS.  When the men had visited synagogues throughout the island, they came to Paphos and happened upon a certain magician or sorcerer. He is described as “a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.”  It seems he may have been an adviser to the Roman Proconsul, Sergius Paulus. 

The Proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul, because he wanted to hear the word of God. However, the sorcerer opposed them, seeking to turn Sergius away from the faith. 

SAUL, now called by his Roman name, PAUL, looked sternly at the man and proclaimed, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?  Now, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”

Immediately, darkness fell on the man, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Then the Proconsul BELIEVED the message of salvation, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

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Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga.  (Did you notice that now Paul is leading the group and not Barnabas?)  Also, this “missionary business” with all the travel, and maybe especially the cursing of sorcerers, was too “heavy” for the young John Mark, and he left the team at Perga and went home to Jerusalem. 

(This could be a warning that believers are to wait for the definite calling of the Lord in their lives before starting out. Jesus had told his followers to “count the cost.”)

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From the port town of Perga, Paul and Barnabas went on to Antioch in Pisidia.  There, they attended a synagogue service. And as was the custom, after the reading of the scriptures, they were invited to give a “word of encouragement” for the people.  So Paul stood up and began … preaching.

He started with the history of Israel (like Stephan had).  The patriarchs, the time in Egypt, the wilderness wanderings, conquering the Promised Land, the time of the judges, the prophet Samuel, and the first king. He ended with King David, a man after God’s heart. THEN came the “main point.”   

“Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as He promised.”  And then, “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this savior/salvation.”

Paul goes on to describe that, although He was sinless, Pilate executed him. And this was according to the scriptures.  And how this Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, again according to the scriptures.

“And we bring you the Good News that what God promised to our fathers, this He has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus.”  “Let it be known to you, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the Law of Moses.”

Whoa, Paul!! 

But as they left the synagogue, the people begged that these things might be told them again the next Sabbath.  And after the meeting, the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas.

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The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. BUT… when the Jews saw the crowds… they were FILLED with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul said.

Paul enraged them more by saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you FIRST.  But since you thrust it aside, you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.  Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”

At this, the Gentiles rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.  And the Word spread through the whole region. 

BUT THE JEWS incited devout WOMEN of high standing, and the leading MEN of the city, who stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out.  At the city line, the missionaries shook off the dust of the city of Antioch in Pisidia from their feet (as Jesus had instructed his apostles)  and went on to Iconium.  

And, the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

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Acts 14.

In Iconium, they again FIRST entered the synagogue and spoke “in such a way” that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

But again, the unbelieving Jews stirred them up and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

However, Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who granted them signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 

Eventually, the unbelieving Jews stirred up some people to attempt to stone the apostles.  They learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country. And … they continued to preach the Gospel.

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Now at Lystra, a crippled man who had NEVER walked, listened to Paul speaking, and faith was built up in him.  Paul looked at him, seeing the faith, and said aloud, “Stand upright on your feet.”  The man, crippled from birth, sprang up and began walking! 

WHOA!

When the crowds saw this miracle, they immediately thought Paul and Barnabas were the Greek gods, Zeus and Hermes, come to visit them.  The priest of Zeus brought out garlands and oxen and wanted to offer sacrifices. 

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! 

When Paul and Barnabas saw what they were about to do, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, saying. “Men, why are you doing this? WE are men like you, and have brought the Good News that you should turn from these things to THE LIVING GOD, Creator of Heaven and Earth.”

But even with these words, they were scarcely able to restrain the people from offering sacrifices to them!

About then, the men from Antioch and Iconium came and persuaded the roused crowds to stone Paul.  They did!!!  And they dragged him out of the city as dead.

But, when the new believers gathered about him (did they pray?), Paul rose up and entered the city again.  (FEARLESS!)  

The next day, Paul and Barnabas went on to Derbe.  They preached the Gospel there and many were made disciples. 

Then the pair circled back through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, strengthening the new disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”  Paul also appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting.

Then the missionaries continued back through Pisidia, and to Pamphylia, and Perga.  There, they caught a boat back to the home church in Antioch, where they had been commissioned.

And, as missionaries do today, they gathered the church together and told them all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 

Then they rested for a while.

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 238

Aug26

Day 238 – Reading Lamentations 3 – 5

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Lamentations 3. 

In the first 20 verses, Jeremiah shows himself as “a man who has seen affliction” by the hand of God. Yes, even the righteous experience it.

  • “I am a man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath; He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me He turns his hand again and again the whole day long.

WOW!  That is hard to read.  It reminds me a little of Job.  How can God do this with His own prophet??  And yet, haven’t I sometimes felt the same?

  • “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; He has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, He shuts out my prayer;

Did Jeremiah feel this way in that deep, dark cistern, sunk to his armpits in stinking mud?

  • I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.

Yes, Jeremiah was put into literal stocks and laughed at while he groaned in pain.

  • He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace.

And then, it seems as if Jeremiah comes to his senses. He is considering the grace, mercy and compassion of God!  And his attitude totally changes.

  • But … I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.  The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. 

Wow, it seems like Jeremiah has been recalling some psalms of David!  And then Jeremiah gives us some advice.  When the LORD calls you, there is a time of learning, but persevere because He loves you.

  • It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 
  • It is good for a man that he bear “the yoke” in his youth.  Let him sit alone in silence when “it” is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust – there may yet be hope;  let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. 
  • THE LORD WILL NOT CAST HIM OFF FOREVER.  Though He causes grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

And a bit more good advice.

  • Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to the God in Heaven.

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Lamentations 4.

This chapter goes back to the horrors of the long siege and horrific assault by the Babylonians.

First, the appearance of devastated Jerusalem.

  • How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. 

And the deprivation of food, as God foretold.

  • The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness (no thought for their young).  The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets.  Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away by lack of the fruits of the field.  The hands of “compassionate women” have boiled their own children; they became their food!

Whoa! Yuck!  But who knows what I would do in such hunger….what gross sin lurks in my own heart?

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Lamentations 5.

Even knowing the gross sins the people committed in their heyday, lusting after idols and each other, hurting the poor out of greed, defiling holy things… still Jeremiah pleads for the people.

  • Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
  • Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
  • We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest.

More of the horrors of captivity…..

  • Our fathers sinned and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. 
  • Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. 
  • We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. 
  • Our skin is hot as an oven, with the burning heat of famine.
  • Women are raped…
  • Princes are hung up by their hands…
  • No respect is shown to the elders..
  • Young men are compelled to grind at the mill…
  • Boys stagger under loads of wood.

And the LORD listens, but does not see repentance, only moaning.

  • The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.
  • The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, FOR WE HAVE SINNED.

Yes!  Confession of sin!

  • But You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures to all generations.
  • Why do you forget us forever? Why do you forsake us for so many days?
  • Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!
  • Renew our days as of old.

Unless….. You have utterly rejected us, and You remain exceedingly angry with us….

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(Can you imagine the Jewish synagogue-goers reading this book aloud every year?  Can you imagine the thoughts they’ve had about God and their own sin, an how cruelly the world as a whole as treated them. (Think of the holocaust!)   There must be silence and anguish at the reading of that last line….

Unless….. You have utterly rejected us, and You remain exceedingly angry with us….

Oh, praise God, that there will be a day when Israel as a whole will turn to God and His Messiah, and be blessed.  God has NOT forgotten or rejected them.  As with the 70 years of exile, these are the times of the Gentiles, when God has graciously allowed us come in and be a part of Abraham’s family.  But one day!)

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 233

Aug21

Day 233 – Reading – Jeremiah 41 – 45

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Jeremiah 41.

We are back in Jeremiah to finish the book in the next few days.  

Remember yesterday, that King Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedaliah as governor over the remaining Judeans after the majority of religious and political leaders were deported. 

(Gedaliah’s grandfather was secretary for the good King Josiah, and G’s father was in the group that brought the book of the law to King Josiah when it was found.  G. was a supporter of Jeremiah.)

A group of Judeans related to the Royal family, and led by Ishmael, came to the representative for the Chaldeans and killed him. They also killed all the Judeans who were with him, and all the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

Ah-Oh.  Sounds like an act of war to me.

And just then, a group of 80 men from the old northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria, Shechem, and Shiloh) came bringing offerings to present at the Temple of God. (They obviously hadn’t heard that it had been destroyed!)  Ishmael pretended gladness to see them and welcomed them inside.  But then, he murdered 70 of them and threw their bodies in the cistern.  But TEN of them said, Wait!  We have supplies hidden in the field. Don’t kill us!  So Ishmael didn’t.

Then Ishmael took captive all the people left from the deportation and headed across the Jordan to the Ammonites.

But one of the men with Ishmael, Johanan, saw what he’d done and where he was going and fought against him. Ishmael fled, and Johanan led the people to Bethlehem.  He intended, then, to go to Egypt out of fear of the Babylonians, because they had killed Gedaliah, the governor. They were afraid of retaliation.

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Jeremiah 42.

But there was some reluctance.  All the people and the forces, as well as Johanan, came to Jeremiah. “Pray to the LORD your God for us, for all of this remnant that are left are but a few. Pray that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” They promised that whatever the LORD said, they WOULD DO.

(That was a good start!!)

Jeremiah prayed, and after 10 days, the LORD answered.  Jeremiah brought the answer to Johanan and the people.

  • Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent to plea for mercy,  “IF you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 
  • Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 
  • I will grant you mercy that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.
  • BUT, if you say, ‘We will not remain in the land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God, and saying ‘No we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or be hungry, and will dwell there…
  • THEN the sword you fear shall overtake you there in Egypt. 
  • And famine will follow you.
  • You will die. You will have no remnant or survivor.” 
  • As My anger and wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem… so it will be poured out on you in Egypt.   
  • O remnant of Judah…  DO NOT GO TO EGYPT! I have warned you this day.”

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Jeremiah 43.

The leaders and the people listened, then they said, “Jeremiah, you are telling a lie. God did not say that to you. If we stay here, the Chaldeans will kill us.”

So, Johanan and the other guards took all the people, AND Jeremiah the prophet, and went to the land of Egypt.  They did not obey the voice of the LORD, for which they had asked.

So the LORD said to them,

  • Behold, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon – my servant – and I will set his throne here. 
  • He will come and strike the land of Egypt. He will burn the temples and break the obelisks.
  • And he shall carry away captive those who are doomed to captivity. 
  • He will totally destroy Egypt.

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Jeremiah 44.

  • “Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves?  Why do you provoke me to anger in the land of Egypt? 
  • Therefore, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for HARM, to cut off all Judah. 
  • As I have punished Jerusalem with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence…. so I will do to Egypt. 
  • And I will give Pharaoh Hophra into the hands of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.  Period. The End.

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Jeremiah 45.

FLASHBACK to the time when King Jehoiakim was still reigning:  A message to Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah, back when he wrote all the prophet’s words into a book. Baruch had been complaining, “Woe is me.” God had said to him, “Do not seek great things for yourself.  Seek them not.  I am bringing disaster upon all flesh. But I will give you (Baruch) your life as a prize of war in all the places to which you go.” 

(This was a similar message of hope that God also gave to Abed-Melech, the Ethiopian who had helped keep Jeremiah alive. Jer. 39:16-18)   

(God rewards those who even “offer a cup of cold water to a believer in His Name!” Matt, 10:42)

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(So much turmoil and death in this lesson. The remaining people were confused and scared.  But they DISOBEYED the direct word of the LORD. And will suffer the consequences.  But a few will obey, serve the LORD, and be rewarded.  Only a very few.  LORD, oh, my I obey you always!  Please!)

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 229 & 230

Aug18

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted on Mondays.

Day 229 – Reading – Jeremiah 35 – 37

Day 230 – Reading – Jeremiah 38 – 40 and Psalm 74, 79

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Day 229 – Jeremiah 35.

This chapter again goes back in time more than 20 years, during the reign of King Jehoiakim, soon after the good King Josiah died, and the evil King Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt. 

In contrast to the Jews’ absolute disobedience toward the LORD their God, these Rechabites showed remarkable obedience to their ancestor for over 400 years!  These non-Jews, related to Moses’s father-in-law, had made a vow not ever to drink wine, to own no land, and to dwell in tents all their lives.  They were nomads living in Israel, peaceably.

But when Nebuchadnezzar first came to Judah, they decided to come up and dwell close to Jerusalem (for protection? Or, to be identified as God’s people?)

When Jeremiah told them to come up to the Temple and have some wine, they refused and told their story. 

The LORD told Jeremiah to remonstrate with Judah in the face of this loyalty, and challenge the Jews to listen and amend their ways … and not go after other gods, but incline their ears to their God.

As for these Rechabites, God told them they would never “lack a man to stand before Him.”  In other words, there would always be a remnant from that family to serve God.  (In Nehemiah 3:14, we see just such a man, working along with the returned Jews, repairing the wall of Jerusalem.)

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Jeremiah 36.

A few years after the above story of the Rechabites’ faithfulness, the LORD told Jeremiah to write down ALL THE WORDS that He had given to him, so far. (Think: the first 35 chapters of this book!  WOW, that’s a lot!  This was done, so the “house of Judah” would be reminded of all the disaster God had planned for them … SO THEY WOUD TURN FROM EVIL, AND GOD MIGHT FORGIVE THEM.

(Doesn’t it twist your heart to see how much God cared for His people, and tried again and again to bring them back to Himself?  He does this today too.  He is slow to anger, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance.” See 2 Peter 3:9 & Exodus 343:6)

Jeremiah called Baruch, his secretary, and dictated all the words of the LORD, while the man wrote it on a scroll. It took about a year.   Then Baruch, at the command of Jeremiah, read the scroll in the Temple. 

Micaiah, the grandson of the secretary, heard all these words and went to the king’s house and into the secretary’s chamber.  All the officials were there, and Micaiah told them the words he had heard when Baruch read the scroll. 

They sent for Baruch and commanded that he “sit down and read it” to them.   When they’d heard the whole thing, they turned to each other in fear.  “We must report all these words to the king!”

They asked Baruch if HE had written the words, or if they had been dictated to him. Baruch answered, “He (Jeremiah) dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.”

“Go and hide,” they said, “you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”  Then they took the scroll to the secretary of the king, and he read it to Jehoiakim in the presence of all the officials..  It was during the winter, and the king had a fire going.  As the scroll was read … King Jehoiakim cut off a section of the scroll and threw it into the fire until the whole thing was read … and destroyed. 

And neither the officials nor the king were afraid, sorrowful, or repentant.  WOW.

So God told Jeremiah to WRITE THE SCROLL AGAIN. 

And concerning the king, his future was dreadful, and he would not have a single descendant to sit on the throne of David.  

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Jeremiah 37.

Jeremiah jumps ahead to the kingship of Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar had put in place when he took the 3-month reigning King Jehoiachin to Babylon. 

This was before Jeremiah had been put into prison.  It was when the Babylonian army had temporarily ended the siege of Jerusalem to deal with an invading Egyptian army. (They would soon return and destroy Jerusalem.)

Zedekiah had (surprisingly) sent for Jeremiah to pray for him and the people.  But no words of comfort came from Jeremiah. Instead, the LORD said that the Babylonians would return, fight against the city, capture it, and burn it with fire.  WHOA!

Interestingly, while the Babylonians had withdrawn, Jeremiah thought he would go out and visit his hometown in Benjamin.  But at the gate of the city, a sentry seized Jeremiah, accusing him of “deserting to the Chaldeans.” 

Jeremiah denied it, but the guard would not listen to the prophet.  The city officials were enraged.  The beat Jeremiah and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan, the secretary, for it had been made a prison.  He was thrown into the dungeon and remained there MANY days. 

Then King Zedekiah sent for him secretly, asking if there had been any new word from the LORD…. 

“Nope,” said Jeremiah.  You WILL be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah asked, “What wrong have I done that you have put me in prison? Please don’t send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan.”

Surprisingly, the king agreed and gave orders for Jeremiah to be held at the court of the guard. AND, that a loaf of bread be given to him daily … until all the bread in the city was gone.

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Day 230 – Jeremiah 38.

Jeremiah kept telling the people the LORD’s compassionate words.  “This says the LORD, ‘He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence … BUT, he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. (Surrender and live.) This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.”

But the city officials said to the king, “LET THIS MAN BE PUT TO DEATH, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them.”

“Behold, he is in your hands,” said the king.

So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes.  There was no water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud.

When the Ethiopian eunuch, who was in the king’s palace, heard of that, he went to the king and said, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern. He will die there of hunger.”

“Take 30 men with you and lift Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies,” said the king.

The Ethiopian took rags and clothes and let them down into the cistern to Jeremiah.  “Put these rags between your armpits and the ropes.”  

Jeremiah did that, and they lifted him out of the cistern and kept him in the court of the guard.  Later, King Zedekiah called for Jeremiah and said to him, “If I ask you a question, hide nothing from me.“

Jeremiah: “If I tell you, will you not put me to death. And if I counsel you, you won’t listen.“

“I will listen,” promised the King, “and not put you to death.”

Jeremiah:  ‘If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house will live.”  “But if you do not surrender, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.”

Zedekiah: “I’m afraid of the Judeans who have deserted already, let they hand me over and deal cruelly with me.

Jeremiah:  “You shall not be given to them. OBEY NOW the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life will be spared.   But if not…. oh boy will you regret it!!”

Zedekiah:  “Let no one know of these words, or you shall die.“

Jeremiah obeyed and remained in the court of the guard …. until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

(I guess the king did not surrender.)

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Jeremiah 39.

No, the king did not surrender.  He tried slipping out a narrow gate and running for Jericho! (Seriously!)

Jerusalem – the City of Gold, the City of the LORD God, the Holy City where God had put His name – fell to the Chaldeans on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh (and last) year of Zedekiah’s reign.  And the officials of the Chaldean army came flooding in. 

When Zedekiah saw it, he and his close soldiers slipped out the narrow gate in the king’s garden and ran for their lives toward Jericho that night.   He was heading towards the Arabah wilderness on the other side of the Dead Sea, where David had hid from King Saul those many years ago.

But the Chaldean army pursued and captured him before he got to Jericho.  They took him to Riblah, 230 miles north of Jerusalem, where King Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters.  And so, Jeremiah’s prophecy came true. King Zedekiah saw the Babylonian king face-to-face and eye-to-eye.

Remember, when the Babylonians took King Jehoiachin off to Babylon (he’d surrendered)? King Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah king of Judah in his place. Zedekiah promised to send tribute to Babylon and did so for a few years. Then he broke his vow and stopped it. 

So, now, Nebuchadnezzar saw him as a traitor, and treated him like one. The Babylonian King killed all of Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes (Oh, what a horrible sight!).  Then the Babylonian put out Zedekiah’s eyes, so the last thing he saw was his sons being massacred. Then he was hauled off to Babylon in chains.

Oh, if only he’d listened to Jeremiah.  But this was God’s plan.

Back in Jerusalem, the Chaldeans set the king’s house afire, and burned the House of the people (the Temple). They broke down the walls of Jerusalem, leaving the city in ruins.  Only the very poor remained to care for the vineyards and fields.

About Jeremiah…. King Nebuchadnezzar told his army captain, “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.”  So the Captain took Jeremiah from prison and sent him home to live among his people.

God also took care of that Ethiopian who’d rescued Jeremiah. “I will deliver him on that day, declares the LORD.  He shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom he is afraid. For I will deliver him on the day the city falls.  I will save him, and he shall not fall by the sword… because he has put his trust in the LORD.”

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Jeremiah 40.

A few more details about Jeremiah’s release are listed here.  The Captain of the guard gave him three choices….

  1. “If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well.
  2. “Or, if not, the whole world is before you; go wherever you want.
  3. “Or you can return to Gedaliah and dwell among your people.

Jeremiah chose option #3, and after receiving an allowance of food and a present, went to live under Gedaliah’s leadership. 

When the captains of the scattered forces of Judah, who had escaped and dwelled in the wild, heard that Gedaliah was governor, they met with him. The governor assured them everything would be okay. “Live on your land, gather the fruits of the field and vine. As long as we serve (pay tribute) to the Babylonian king, all will be well.”

One of the captains later came to Gedaliah, saying the king of the Ammonites had sent Ishmael, his warrior, to kill the governor.  But Gedaliah did NOT believe him, and forbade the captain from going to “taking care of” Ishmael.

(Stubborn Gedaliah! We’ll see tomorrow that Ismael does come … and kill him. (Sigh.)

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Psalm 74. 

Wow, this psalm tells of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 

  • “Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage!
  • Remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
  • Direct Your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!”
  • All its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
  • They set Your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of Your Name, bringing it down to the ground. 
  • They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

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Psalm 79.

This psalm also tells of that time.

  • “O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
  • They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
  • They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem…. and there was no one to bury them.
  • “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name deliver us and atone for our sins, for Your name’s sake!

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 206

Jul25

Day 206 – Reading – Isaiah 37 – 39 and Psalm 76.

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Isaiah 37.

This chapter continues the story from yesterday.  Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come up against Jerusalem. He’s sent his Commander/spokesman, Rabshakeh, to harass the people on the wall and King Hezekiah.  He called to them all sorts of things to intimidate them and cause them to give up.  Hezekiah’s spokesman told him to speak in Aramaic instead of Hebrew so the people wouldn’t understand, but the man refused and laughed.  They need to know! 

Then Rabshakeh continued to tell the people that NO PEOPLE OR GOD has prevailed against the Assyrians so far. And the God of Israel is no exception.

The people answer zero, as per Hezekiah’s instructions.  Eliakim, took the horrible news to Hezekiah.

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As soon as King Hezekiah heard the words, he tore his clothes (grief, repentance) and went to the Temple. He then sent Eliakim to Isaiah, telling him how the man mocked the living God and asking him to “PRAY for the remnant that is left.”

Isaiah encouraged him by saying Sennacherib would hear a rumor (from God) to return to his own land, and there he would be killed. But before that rumor hit his ears, the Assyrian King summarized the vile things that Rabshakeh said about the Living God and sent it in a letter to Hezekiah. “Do YOU think you shall be delivered???”

After Hezekiah got the letter and read it, he went back to the Temple and spread it out before the LORD. And he prayed. 

  • “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, YOU ALONE, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth.  Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open You eyes, O LORD, and see; all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent TO MOCK the Living God.
  • “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and lands (around us) and their gods made by the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. And they were destroyed.
  • “So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, THAT ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT YOU ALONE ARE THE LORD.”

Isaiah sent to Hezekiah, “because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib… this is the what the LORD has spoken concerning him…..

Isaiah then proclaims in poetic form the fallacies and the destruction of the king of Assyria. Verses 22-29. Then…   “Because you have raged against Me and your complacency has come to My ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.”

“He shall NOT come into this city or (even) shoot an arrow there …. ” declares the LORD. “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And then!!!  WOW!!!  “The angel of the LORD went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians.  And when the people (of Jerusalem) arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria departed and returned home to Nineveh. (As the LORD said.)  And while he was worshiping his god, his two sons struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And another of his sons reigned in his place.  (All according to the LORD’s words to Isaiah.)

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Isaiah 38.

Then comes Hezekiah’s “less great days.”

He became sick, and Isaiah told him to get his house in order because he was going to die.

Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness, and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.”  And he wept bitterly.

So Isaiah returned to Hezekiah with a new message from God. “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”  WHOA!

Then he gave Hezekiah a sign to “prove” the LORD would do it.  He made the shadow on the sundial move BACKWARDS (!!) ten degrees. 

(This was like turning back time several hours!  Something like in Joshua’s days when the LORD made time stand still so Joshua could win the battle. Joshua 10:12-13  Hey, God created the sun and time. He can do anything!)

The rest of the chapter is Hezekiah telling his story in poetic form – about being consigned to die, praying, and then the LORD answering. And then his thanking God.

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Isaiah 39.

Ah-oh……  Here comes Hezekiah’s big mistake. (From arrogance or foolishness. Had the extra years or age made him diminished?)

The son of the king of Babylon sent “get well cards and a present” to Hezekiah because he’d heard Judah’s king was seriously ill, but recovered.  Hezekiah welcomed the envoy, showed them his treasure house, the silver, gold, spices, precious oil, his whole armory, and all that was in his storehouses.”

SERIOUSLY, HEZEKIAH!!!!  Was that hospitality, or stupidity, or…. arrogance?

Isaiah came to Hezekiah in anger. “What did these men say?  Where are they from?”

Hezekiah answered, “Oh, they are from some far country … Babylon.”

Isaiah, “What have they seen in your house?“

Hezekiah, “Everything. There’s nothing I did not show them.”

Isaiah, angry, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold the days are coming when ALL that is in your house … shall be carried to Babylon. NOTHING shall be left, says the LORD.  And furthermore, some of your own sons shall be taken away and made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Hezekiah:  “Oh, well, at least there will be peace and security in my days.”

REALLY, HEZEKIAH??  Maybe those last 15 years weren’t so good after all………

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Psalm 76.

Written by Asaph in David’s time, this psalm almost seems to point to the glorious salvation from the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time.

In Judah, God is known: His name is great in Israel.
His abode has been established in (Jeru)Salem,
His dwelling place is in Zion.

There, He broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
Glorious are You, more majestic
than the mountains of prey.

The stout-hearted were stripped of their spoil;
they sank into sleep; all the men of war
were unable to use their hands.
At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.

But You, You are to be feared!
Who can stand before You 
when once your anger is roused?

LORD, truly You are to be feared, worshipped, honored, and obeyed. Your power and majesty are to be praised. You see, You hear, You answer prayer. You do marvelous things for us, even when we are weak … or foolish.  Thank You for being in utmost control, O Sovereign LORD.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 198

Jul17

Day 198 – Reading – Isaiah 18 – 22

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

Isaiah 18.

Cush (Ethiopia), a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide. (The Nile River and its tributaries extend south through Ethiopia.)  

At that time (Messiah’s Kingdom) tribute will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide …. to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of hosts.”

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Isaiah 19.

Behold the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt (to execute judgment); and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

“I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers; and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king (Assyria) will rule over them,” declares the LORD GOD of hosts. 

‘And the river will be dry and parched, and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away…..

  • And the fishermen, who cast hooks and spread nets will mourn and lament…
  • The workers in combed flax and weavers of white cotton will be crushed and grieved….
  • And there will be nothing for Egypt to do.

Nevertheless, “in THAT Day” (Messiah’s Kingdom)….

  • “there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts…. 
  • And there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of Egypt…
  • And the LORD will make Himself known to the Egyptians…
  • And the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship….
  • They will return to the LORD and He will listen… and heal them.

IN THAT DAY, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria (through Israel), and the Egyptians will worship (the LORD) with the Assyrians. 

IN THAT DAY, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth whom the LORD has blessed.  “Blessed be EGYPT my people, and ASSYRIA the work of my hands, and ISRAEL, my inheritance.

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Isaiah 20.

But, BEFORE the Day of the LORD comes, Egypt and Ethiopia will be shamed and conquered by Assyria, and taken captive.

The LORD told Isaiah to strip off his clothes and sandals and walk about naked. WHAT??  Often the prophets of God did things to “symbolize” what they were also speaking.  This nakedness was to show the shame of Egypt and Ethiopia being conquered and taken away.

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Isaiah 21.

Then suddenly, we go past Babylon’s conquest of Jerusalem and captivity of the Jews, to a time IN PROPHECY, that Babylon itself will be conquered by the Medes 

Isaiah says, “A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys.  Go up, O Elam (Persia); lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she (Babylon) has caused I will bring to an end.

Then God reveals to Isaiah the wicked feast of Belshazzar (Daniel 5), “They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink…” when amid the celebration the call to fight the attacking enemy invading the city came. (Remember the writing on the wall?)

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon…”

Isaiah finishes the chapter with Oracles against other smaller nations.

Isaiah 22.

And then… Isaiah circles back to Israel, and JERUSALEM.  He portrays a picture of destruction (without a sword, for Babylon starved the people of Jerusalem) and of capture. But all the while Jerusalem is celebrating with wild parties.  THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN SACKCLOTH, REPENTING!!

Judah is shown trying to withstand the enemy by their own methods (which will surely fail) instead of looking to God for help.

The LORD:  Weep and mourn, shave your heads and wear sackcloth (evidence of repentance).

The people of JUDAH:  Joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, saying, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
The LORD:  Surely this iniquity will NOT BE ATONED FOR YOU until you die.”

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From Egypt and Cush in the south, to Assyria, to Babylon’s fall, and the refusal to repent in Jerusalem, Isaiah proclaims the truth of God, hard as it may be (or as embarrassing as when he’s naked). 

God had asked for a servant to proclaim His message, even they wouldn’t listen,  Isaiah had said, “Send ME!”  Now God was using this faithful prophet to predict His purposes. 

(And Isaiah would one day pay for his faithfulness with martyrdom.

He would be sawed in half by a wooden saw under wicked King Manasseh.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 194 & 195

Jul14

NOTE: Sunday’s and Monday’s studies are posted together on MONDAY.

Day 194 – Reading – 2 Chronicles 27 and Isaiah 9 – 12

Day 195 – Reading – Micah 1- 7

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

Day 194 – 2 Chronicles 27.

We step back from the prophets for a chapter in history, looking at the southern kingdom of Judah.  Uzziah has died, and his son Jotham, who has been managing things for his father since God gave Uzziah leprosy and they put him in isolation.  Now, Jotham becomes king in his own right. He was 25 and he reigned until he was 41.  He did what was RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, as Uzziah had done in the early part of his reign. 

Jotham did a lot of building and fortifying of cities. He warred and won with the Ammonites and so received a lot of tribute from them for Judah.   Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.  

Jotham was buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz reigned. Ahaz was a nasty, idol worshiping man, who even sacrificed his son to a pagan god.

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Isaiah 9.

These chapters in Isaiah alternate from predictions of TERROR by invasion, destruction, exile, and death … and the HOPE of the coming Messianic Kingdom.

So much is familiar here about the birth, ministry, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Verses 9:1-2 are quoted in Matthew 4:12-16, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali is where Jesus’ primary ministry took place.
  • The people who walked in great darkness have seen a great light. John 3:19-21 and 8:12 reveal that Jesus is the light of the world. Follow Him and you’ll not walk in darkness.  However, some will HATE the light, while others love it.
  • Verse 9:6 are very familiar words to us at Christmas time.  “For unto us a child is born.” See Luke 2:11-12.  “…Unto us a Son is given.”  See John 3:16.  And then those beautiful titles for Jesus: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  He was and IS all of these, THANK YOU, Jesus!

Isaiah’s prophecy foretells Jesus’ glorious reign on earth: with no end… on the throne of David… with justice and righteousness, and forevermore. 

No wonder the Jews and the disciples of Jesus’ earthly ministry expected him (If he was really the Messiah) to rise up in rebellion against Rome and rule on a throne.  From OUR view, we know there is a great “time valley” between the two “mountains” of his comings..  And this glorious kingdom is YET TO COME. 

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Isaiah 10.

The LORD continues with Woes to the arrogant and proud people of Israel, naming specific groups or sins, in the last part of chapter 9, 10, and into 11.  His response?  “For all this, His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.”

Then Isaiah predicts a horrific judgment on the arrogant Assyria (who had repented for a short time under Jonah).  They turned back to even MORE wicked ways only a generation later.  They were known for their barbaric cruelty.

BUT FIRST, God will use this cruel nation to judge Syria, Israel, and then Judah. 

THEN, “When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.”

The Assyrian Empire was massive. No wonder Israel felt so small and HOPELESS.  Here’s a map of the approx. 200 years of their rule.

Then Isaiah turns once again to HOPE. He prophesies of the “Remnant of Israel” and her survivors.  

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Isaiah 11.

Isaiah writes of the Righteous Reign of the BRANCH (or root of David). 

  • And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.   These are the qualifications that will enable Jesus the Messiah to rule justly.  (Also compare Revelations 1:4.)
  • Then Isaiah writes of the Idyllic  Millennium Reign, when: wolf & lamb, leopard & young goat, lion and calf, and cow & bear shall all graze together and lie down together in safety.  AND A LITTLE CHILD WILL LEAD THEM.   In fact, a nursing child will play with a cobra, a weaned child with an adder. (both deadly snakes) and they shall not be hurt.
  • Instead of a scarcity of the Word of God, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the water covers the sea.
  • “In that day the Lord will extend His hand yet a second time to recover the REMNANT that remains of His people, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath and from the Coastlands of the sea.”
  • “And he … will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

Oh, my, what a dream the people of God had to hide deep in their hearts, and collectively remember in that Day.

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Isaiah 12

And then the beautiful Psalm-like chapter. Can you hear Isaiah singing…..

"You will say in that day;
I will give thanks to You, O LORD,
for though You were angry with me,
Your anger turned away,
that You might comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water 
from the wells of salvation.
And in that day, you will say;
Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon His name,
make know his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that His Name is exalted.

Sing praises to the LORD, 
for He has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."


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Day 195 – Micah 

Micah (Who is like God?) was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, but he prophesied mainly to the southern kingdom of Judah. (The northern kingdom was about to fall to Assyria.)  God used him in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Like Amos, he was a “country” man from a small town near the Philistine border. 

His message was primarily to the princes and people of Jerusalem, condemning the social injustice and religious corruption he saw there. When Israel fell, northern refugees flooded into Judah, bringing their idol worship (Baals) with them. Micah  addresses this briefly, especially since King Ahaz was a part of it.

Like Isaiah, Micah prophesied horrific doom to Judah from the Assyrians and then the Babylonians.  But he alternates his dark messages with passages of HOPE for the coming Messiah-King and a restored Israel in the Millennial Kingdom.

 

 Micah 1 – 3.

Micah calls the world to witness what God is going to do in Israel and Judah.

Samaria (capital of Israel) will be made into “a heap.”  Then he bewails that Israel’s idolatry has come to Judah.  Now, “disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.”

Micah condemns those who devise wickedness “on their beds” and then perform it in the morning … because it’s in their power to do so.  These rich and powerful “covet” fields and “seize” them (a reminder of King Ahab and the vineyard of Naboth?). They covet houses and take away a man’s house and “his inheritance,”  which was forbidden in the Law.

Micah tells them that it will happen TO THEM TOO in the time of disaster, when the LORD will “allot OUR fields to an apostate.”

Micah, in God’s name, rails against the heads and rulers of Jacob, for hating good and loving evil, committing horrendous injustice against the poor, which he pictures as butchering animals!

He also condemns the false prophets for misleading the people and prophesying “Peace.” They are led by greed, saying anything pleasing … for money.  God promises THEY will be struck blind for “blinding” the people with their lies.

  • Rulers detest justice and make crooked that which is straight.
  • Heads of the house of Jacob give judgment for a bribe.
  • Priests teach for a price
  • Prophets practice divination for money.

Therefore, Zion (Jerusalem) will be plowed as a field with nothing left but a heap of stones.

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Micah 4 – 5.

Micah also prophesies HOPE about what will come to pass “in the latter days.”

God will establish the “mountain of the House of the LORD, and people will flow to it and say …

  • “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
  • “They will beat swords into plows… neither shall they learn war anymore.
  • “They will sit every man under his vine and his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid....”

Then the prophecy that is still TWO HUNDRED YEARS OFF —

  • “Writhe and groan, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for NOW you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to BABYLON.  THERE you shall be rescued, THERE the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies!”

And then that prophecy we know so well….

  • “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from YOU shall come forth for me One who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”    (See Matthew 2:6)
  • “And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the Name of the LORD his God. And He shall be their peace.“

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Micah 6 – 7

Another courtroom scene, with the LORD, the people, and the prophet speaking as the lawyer for God.

The LORD’s appeal.

  • “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

The LORD reminds them of all the good things He has done for them, from deliverance from Egypt to help in conquering the Land.

MICAH, speaking for the people.

  • With what shall we come before the LORD?  With calves? Rams? Rivers of oil? Our firstborn?

MICAH speaking for God.

  • “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

And because they did NOT do the above, God would send judgment to them as punishment.  All the terrors that fell on their sister nation of Israel would be coming to them as well.  As they walked in the wicked ways of Omri and Ahab, so God will make them a desolation, a hissing, and a scorn.

The MICAH, sounding a bit like Isaiah here, cries, “WOE IS ME!”  for all the evil he sees in Judah.  But he gives his own testimony, “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Then the PEOPLE confess their sin and their faith in the LORD. 

They acknowledge the justice of God’s punishment.

And they look forward to His restoration. 

Then MICAH pleads to God.

  • “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.

Then the repentant PEOPLE praise the LORD’s grace and mercy.

  • “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?
  • “He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love (mercy).  He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot.
  • “YOU will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”

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(**** O LORD, I love this prayer and confession of the people. They know they have sinned, and finally, after Your chastisement, they acknowledge their sin.  They turn to you, confess, and trust in your faithfulness and the promises in Your Word.  LORD, let this be our story too)

 

 

 

 

 







			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 191


					
Jul10
			


	

		
Day 191 – Reading – Isaiah 5 – 8




Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see anything you love in these chapters?


Isaiah 5.


The parable of the vineyard (5:1-7).  I can never read these verses without “hearing” the song that the Christian organization, JEWS FOR JESUS, sang so many years ago.


https://www.invubu.com/music/show/song/Liberated-Wailing-Wall/Vineyard-Song.html


Here is the last stanza of their song:


O, you who seek the Lord today
The lesson still holds true.
For what he sought of Israel
He still requires of you.
O, walk with Him in righteousness
And be a fruitful vine.
And press your life into His hands
That He might drink the wine.


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Anyway, Isaiah said it first, a song he wrote to the Lord, his “beloved.”  It’s a sad song, but it portrays Israel and Judah in that day. God did EVERYTHING for His Chosen Nation, including giving them this land forever. But they (like we all do) turned away from Him.  And the consequences?  They would be removed from that “very fertile land.” 


The LORD looked for justice and righteousness… but found in His people only bloodshed and iniquity. 


Jesus, the true vine, promises good and abundant fruit from us, His Chosen, when we abide in Him. (John 15:1-11)


Isaiah 5:8-30 tells of the consequences of Israel’s “rejecting the law of the LORD of hosts, and despising the Word of the Holy One of Israel.”  (Six woes)  And the LORD was “angry with his people. He stretched out His hand and struck them.”   


Isaiah says that God will “whistle for the nations far away … and quickly, speedily they will come.”  The picture is of a strong and well-equipped army.  “Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and NONE CAN RESCUE.“


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Isaiah 6.


This chapter shows the original calling of Isaiah, before he began to prophesy. He received the prophecies of the first five chapters AFTER this astonishing event.  He describes it here to authenticate what he’s written.  ‘Here’s how it happened, folks. Here’s how God called me…..’


    

  • “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train (hem) of his robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim.” 
    • 

  • “And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’
    • 

  • “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
    • 

  • “And I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
    • 

  • “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he TOUCHED my mouth and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
    • 

  • “And I heard the voice of the LORD saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
    • 

  • “Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.”
    • 



Then God gave Isaiah his ‘marching orders.’  He was to go to the people of Israel and give them the warnings and predictions God would tell him.  They would not hear, their eyes would be blind, their hearts would be without understanding.  But still, Isaiah was to TELL THEM.


“How long, O Lord?” Isaiah asked.  God told him, “Until the cities lie waste and empty and the LORD removes the people far away, and the land is burned.”   


But God promised that a “holy seed” or remnant, WOULD hear and believe.


*** (WOW, what an experience!  Isaiah was changed.  And he went out to prophesy. (Go through the first chapters again, with this image in your mind.)


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Isaiah 7.


And now we see the armies that the LORD “whistled for.”  


In the days of Judah’s King Ahaz (grandson of Uzziah),  the kings of Syria and Israel (north) came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it.  When King Ahaz and the people heard they were coming, their hearts “shook as trees in the wind.”  So God sent Isaiah to meet King Ahaz at a specific location and to tell him…


    

  • “Be careful. Be quiet. Do not fear. Do not let your heart be faint because of these two ‘smoldering stumps of firebrands’ because they have devised evil against Judah.
    • 

  • “It will not stand. It shall not come to pass. Soon, Israel would cease to be a people, and Syria would be conquered by Assyria.
    • 



Then the LORD gave King Ahaz a choice to trust Him or not. 


He even told Ahaz to “ask for a sign to prove it was true … a GREAT sign (deep as the grave or high as heaven).”  But King Ahaz was afraid to “put the LORD to a test.”   (EVEN THOUGH THE LORD TOLD HIM TO!!!)


You can feel God’s exasperation when he says, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary GOD also???  Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.”


Does that sound familiar?  You’ve read it in Matthew 1:22-23.


“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name, Immanuel.   Then the prophecy gets more specific for King Ahaz.  Before a son born in nine months can distinguish between evil and good… the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. They will meet their doom at the hands of the King of Assyria.”  Whew! Good news, right?


(Not so reassuring was that the LORD would also bring the Assyrians against Judah. It would be the beginning of the end for them as well.  Babylon would eventually lead them into captivity.)


And the LORD would whistle for “the fly” (Egypt, known for flies) and “the bee” (Assyria, known for beekeeping).  These insects represented the armies of these countries, which would overrun Judah.


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Isaiah 8.


Then another strange prophecy that would foretell the Assyrian invasion.  Isaiah and his wife would get pregnant and have a son. They would name the boy, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  Yep, you got that right. (Would you call him “Baz” for short?)  The words mean, “the spoil speeds, the prey hastens,” and they are a prophecy to Israel.


BUT, because King Ahaz called for help from Assyria against the nearer enemies, and didn’t call on God, that far enemy would rise like a massive flash flood and overwhelm them too … to their necks.


(***** Imagine if all these scary predictions were leveled at our own country.  Would the words sink in and be believed?  Would we turn from our wicked ways and seek “the gently flowing waters of Shiloah” (the Lord)?)


God gave a message to Isaiah and warned him not to walk in the way of the people, “Do not fear what they fear or dread what they dread. But the LORD of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary … and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and … taken.”


Whoa.


Isaiah answered. “I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Israel, and I will hope in Him.”


I agree with Isaiah. Wait for HIM, Hope in HIM!