Tag Archive | judgment

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 234

Aug22

Day 234 – Reading – Jeremiah 46 – 48

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

Jeremiah 46.

(In chapters 46 – 51, Jeremiah speaks of the judgment of God that is coming to the nations mentioned in Jeremiah 25:15-26.  (Judah has already been covered.) (Here’s the list again of the nations surrounding His beloved Israel. )

  1. Jerusalem/Judah
  2. Egypt
  3. Uz
  4. Philistines
  5. Edom
  6. Moab
  7. Ammon
  8. Tyre
  9. Sidon
  10. the Coastlands (Dedan, Tema, Bus)
  11. Arabia
  12. the Mixed Tribes in the desert
  13. Zimri
  14. Elam
  15. Media
  16. the North, far and near
  17. Babylon
  18. Damascus
  19. Kedar and Hazor

After Jerusalem in Judah, the judgment goes to Egypt.

The section begins with Pharaoh Neco, who came through Judah when Josiah was king, heading north to join Nebuchadnezzar and attack Assyria at Carchemish. 

Then the focus is back in Egypt near the Nile River, with proud claims by Egypt. “Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge?  Egypt rises like the Nile. He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth, I will destroy cities and their inhabitants! Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots!”

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt. Declare in Egypt, “Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you. Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt!  A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.  The day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.”

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Jeremiah 47.

Next are the Philistine cities.

“Behold, the waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all in it.  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels … because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines.

The LORD is destroying the Philistines … Gaza. Ashkelon … ah, sword of the LORD!

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Jeremiah 48.

And now Moab.

“Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! The fortress is put to shame and broken down; the renown of Moab is no bore.  In Heshbon they planned disaster against her (Israel); ‘Come let us cut her off from being a nation!’  YOU, also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue YOU. 

“Flee! Save yourselves! The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoke.  Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon (river), that Moab is laid waste.

Judgment has come upon the table land, and all the cities of the land of Moab, for and near. The horn (strength) of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,’ declares the LORD. ‘Moab shall be destroyed and be NO LONGER A PEOPLE, because he magnified himself against the LORD.  Woe to you, O Moab.”

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(Tomorrow:  Ammon, Edom. Syria, and …. Babylon, part 1.)

 

(Oh, LORD, thank You for these fulfillments of your promises. At last, Israel’s enemies will stand before you in judgment.  It’s been so long, but you are a God of mercy and patience. You give chances beyond our belief for people(s) to repent and turn to You.  There is forgiveness with You!  But, the Day of Judgment will surely come.  O Father, help me to have that compassion on unbelievers an persecutors; help me to share Your love and Your Son, Jesus… before it is too late!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 213

Aug1

A NEW MONTH!

Day 213 – Reading – Isaiah 64 – 66.

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

Isaiah 64.

We finish the wonderful and challenging book of Isaiah today. 

Isaiah continues to pray for mercy.  Remember, his prophecy is of Israel in exile, while they have not actually been captured yet. He is looking toward those dreadful times. “Oh, do the things You used to do!” he prays. 

  • When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God beside you, who acts for those who wait for him.
  • You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.”

But God’s people turned from him, and Isaiah mourns.

  • We sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
  • We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
  • There is no one who calls upon your Name, who rouses himself to take hold of you;  for you have hidden your face from us, ad made us to melt in the hand of our iniquities.
  • O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 
  • BE NOT SO TERRIBLY ANGRY, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever.

Can you hear Isaiah pleading for the people and for what they lost because of their sin?

  • Please look, we are all your people.
  • Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness,
  • JERUSALEM is a desolation.
  • OUR HOLY AND BEAUTIFUL HOUSE, where our fathers praised You, has been burned by fire….

And a desperate cry…

  • Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

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Isaiah 65.

The LORD answers, repeating His warnings of judgment.  It’s harsh, but oh, did Israel deserve it.

  • “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ to a nation that was NOT called by My name. 
  • I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; 
  • …a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;
  • …who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places;
  • …who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
  • …who say, ‘Keep to Yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for You.’
  • THESE ARE SMOKE IN MY NOSTRILS….

How, oh how, and a chosen people treat their God in such evil ways.  (Indeed, how can we do it??)  But then God shows mercy on a remnant, a small “cluster.”

  • I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall posses it and my servants shall dwell there.

And even greater and more wondrous!

  • Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind….. I create Jerusalem to be a joy…. I will rejoice in Jerusalem…. no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 

And Isaiah goes on to describe more of the wonderful things of the Messiah’s Kingdom on earth.

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Isaiah 66.

The LORD reminds Isaiah and Israel (and us), that He is not looking for a Temple made of stone to dwell in, but a heart, a special kind of heart.   

  • This is the one to whom I will look (with favor); he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

David knew this as well, as he cried, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”   And, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

And Isaiah continues with the final judgment and wrath of God on an unbelieving, grossly sinning people.  “For behold, the LORD will come in fire… to render His anger in fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.  for I know their works and their thoughts and the time is coming.”

And then to the remnant of Israel, the survivors, “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.”

Halleluia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 130

May10

Day 130.  Reading Psalms 50, 53, 60, and 75

 
 
Read Today’s Scriptures. Psalms, songs, prayers to read and savor.
 

Psalm 50.

This psalm is quite different. It quotes God Himself throughout. And so, it’s like a prophetic writing or an oracle. It tells the difference between true and false worship. First, God is introduced, then the different kinds of false worship are shown, and finally, the very last verse reveals true worship

1-6 – Who God is.

  • The Mighty One, God the LORD, the perfection of beauty, before Him a devouring fire, around Him a mighty tempest …
  • The heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge.

7-15 – Ritualism as worship, no!

  • Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
  • (But it’s for their attitude in sacrificing. As if they were giving to God what HE needs.) I will not accept your bulls … your goats.  EVERY BEAST of the forest (already) is MINE. 
  • I own the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is MINE.
  • If I were hungry, I would not tell YOU, for the world and its fullness are MINE. 
  • NO!  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, perform your vows, and call on Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

16-21 – Rebellion as worship, no!  To the wicked —

  • What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
  • You hate discipline. You cast My Words behind you. You are pleased with thieves. You keep company with adulterers. 
  • You give your mouth free rein for evil. Your tongue frames deceit. You speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son. 
  • You’ve done these things, and I’ve been silent. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

22-23 – Right approach to God.

  • The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God!”

 

Psalm 53.

This psalm is very much like Psalm 14, which we’ve already read. 

  • The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

 

Psalm 60.

Now this is unusual. David actually tells when he wrote this psalm. Remember yesterday, when we read of all the ways God helped him to defeat his enemies?  Zorbah, plus the thousands of Edom in the Valley of Salt? 

David here seems discouraged before God gives him victory in both the extreme North (Syria) and South (Edom) of Israel.  Then, David sees the victories.  

  • O God, You have rejected us, broken our defenses; You have been angry; oh, restore us!
  • God has spoken in his holiness, “Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom, I cast my shoe; over Philistia, I shout in triumph!”  (Talk about God getting into the fray enthusiastically!)
  • And David, “With God we shall do valiantly; it is He who will tread down our foes.”

Don’t you love reading these psalms in their proper places in Israel’s history?

 

Psalm 75.

Note, that the writer, Asaph, says this psalm is to be sung to the tune of “Do not destroy” as he wrote on Psalm 57.  Don’t you wonder what that tune sounded like?

  • “We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your Name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

If you have read through the Book of The Revelation recently, much of this psalm sounds similar.

  • At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.
  • When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.
  • For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and He pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

WOW!

  • But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
  • All the horns (power) of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns (strength) of the righteous shall be lifted up. 

Yea, and amen!

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 199

Jul17

    Day 199—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading and are continuing in Isaiah.

    Day 199 – Isaiah 23 – 27. (severe judgment, the Day of the Lord, and HOPE for God’s people)

Chapter 23 is the oracle of judgment on Tyre and Sidon. They are the traders of the world, and now the port cities are amazed at the judgment on them. Verses 8 & 9: “Who has purposed this against Tyre….”   “The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.”

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Chapter 24 describes the judgment on THE WHOLE EARTH!  “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”   “The earth shall be utterly empty   plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.” 

“The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the EVERLASTING COVENANT.  Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their GUILT; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.  (Maybe see Genesis 9:5-16.)

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Chapter 25 speaks of home in that God will end death.  “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.”

“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

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Chapter 26 continues with a song that will be sung in the land of Judah. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

“Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed. For behold, the LORD is coming out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover up the murdered.”

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Chapter 27. Israel will be redeemed. “In the days to come, Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom, and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”   

“In that day, from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt, the LORD will thresh out the grain, and YOU will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.  And in that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain of Jerusalem.”