AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Wednesday – January 25, 2023, Sh’vat 3, 5783
YOU HAVE MOCKED AND BLASPHEMED
Greetings dear and precious saints of God and welcome back to our Bible Study of the Bible Book of Isaiah. This is not just an interesting intellectual exercise or a way to check off a religious box, this is our light, our life. Before moving forward please take a moment to share this teaching as widely as possible by every means available to you. Thank you for sharing. The featured picture today was taken of Bob and Kathy French’s porch about the 18th of December. These dear saints are true students of the Word of God. Going forward don’t forget to be reading out loud. Now let’s turn our attention to our primary Bible, Book of Isaiah, text.
Isaiah 37:23-26 (HCSB)
23 Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Who have you raised ⌊your⌋ voice against and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 You have mocked the LORD through your servants. You have said, “With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its distant heights, its densest forest.
25 I dug ⌊wells⌋ and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.”
26 Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.
As we pick up from yesterday, we see that God takes King Sennacherib’s treats against His people (Israel) as threats against Himself. Now, as we follow our text, we find the first part of God’s response to King Sennacherib and He is ticked. As we come into verse twenty-six the Lord points out to King Sennacherib that none of his feats would have been accomplished had God not allowed them. This brings us to an interesting point of discussion and perhaps a great deal of misunderstanding. It is my understanding that in the Hebrew mind, that causing something and allowing something are the same thing. I think we can all allow that there is a thin line between the two. However, thin the line it is extremely important to distinguish between the two.
God is good and nothing but good. Remember John 10:10 where Jesus tells us that the thief (Satan) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but He came to give an abundant life. Is there a wrath side of God? Yes, is that what we see over and over in Scripture, no. We see wrath poured out in the Book of Revelation but in other places (and even wrath) it is the carrying out of justice in response to sin. This applies to saint and sinner alike. The point I am getting at is that God did not make Assyria do the things they did, it was allowed due to judgment of sin. Just like in the courts of today, judgments have limits, like say 5 years in jail or community service, and so on. Think about what God said to Satan concerning Job.
Job 1:12 (HCSB)
12 “Very well,” the LORD told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job ⌊himself⌋.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.
Why was this allowed? Fear!
Job 1:5 (HCSB)
5 Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send ⌊for his children⌋ and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought: Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts. This was Job’s regular practice.
Sin opens the door to the thief, obedience to the Word of God keeps the door closed. Read Deuteronomy chapter 28 again. Jobs’ sin opened him up to the thief. He put not only his possessions at risk but his family. Very sobering. Before concluding for today let look at some more of what God said to King Sennacherib through the Prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 37:27-30 (HCSB)
27 Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
28 But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me and your arrogance have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.
30 “‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Although it is not apparent in the HCSB translation, verse thirty is a shift from God talking to the king of Assyria to talking to King Hezekiah. Look at the Complete Jewish Bible translation.
Isaiah 37:30 (CJB)
30 “‘This will be the sign for you [people of Isra’el]: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Receive the blessing in Jesus’ name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (MSG)
24 GOD bless you and keep you,
25 GOD smile on you and gift you,
26 GOD look you full in the face and make you prosper.
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