The Lord's words in Red
My words in Blue
Isaiah for Today and Tomorrow
Chapters 57 to 60
From the New-Living Translation CHAPTER 57 1 "The righteous pass away, the godly often die before their time. And no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. 2 For the godly who die will rest in peace." Here is a truth that is not a contradiction of the Bible, just a truth as part of the whole of the Bible and the whole of human life. Sometimes it is not the will of the Father that every Christian lives to ripe old age. There are generalities in the Bible, as the 3 score and 10 (70 years of age spoken about by David in the Psalms) and by reason of strength even more, is a generality for the span of human age. Some live to VERY OLD age - into their late 80s or even 90s, a few to 100 and fewer yet to over 100. How long we live is the bottom line as they say, to what the Eternal God determines. The main thing for the child of God is to live each day we are given as His servant, doing His will, being more like Christ, helping and serving others in the best way we can and with the means that the Lord has given us. To those who are given more then more is expected. From the time you are called to serve God, it is the QUALITY not the quantity that counts. My friend and co-worker in the Lord, Jesse, did not live but to be 46 years old, but in the years she was given to serve the Lord after being called and chosen, she left a service to you all with her website, which is on my website. There is QUALITY in her work. For those of us who will live to see the coming of the end of this age, the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, there will be MUCH sorrow and pain and hardship and death (as never in human history). It will not be a pleasant sight or experience to endure through. Those of us who die in the Lord BEFORE that time of the end, will be spared and protected from the evil to come. These verses here tell us that at times there is peace and rest in death. Idolatrous Worship Condemned 3 "But you - come here, you witches' children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! 4 Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars! 5 You worship your idols with great passion beneath every green tree. You slaughter your children as human sacrifices down in the valleys, under overhanging rocks. 6 Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with drink offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Does all this make me happy? 7 You have committed adultery on the mountaintops by worshipping idols there, and so you have been unfaithful to me. 8 Behind closed doors, you have set up your idols and worship them instead of me. This is adultery, for you are loving these idols instead of loving me. You have climbed right into bed with these detestable gods. 9 You have given olive oil and perfume to Molech as your gift. You have travelled far, even into the world of the dead, to find new gods to love. 10 You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. You strengthened yourself and went on. 11 Why were you more afraid of them than of me? How is it that you don't even remember me or think about me? Is it because I have not corrected you that you have no fear of me?" This is the overall state of our peoples Israel and Judah, the Western world in the main. We are more and more materialistic, pleasure seeking, sports crazy, entertainment crazy. We sacrifice our children to the sound and sight of the TV, the Computer, the wild Music, the drinking Parties of High Schools and Universities, the secularism and evolution of our Education. We travel far today to export or import the evil and sin of our de-moralized ways. We grow weary with this fad and so look for another fad. We go into the world of the occult and the star-gazers, the wizards and witches. We are ever, more and more, NOT even thinking about the creator of this universe. God asks the question that is it because we have not YET been CORRECTED by the Lord that we have gone far from Him and His way of life. Yes, it probably is. It is the nature of Israelites to FORGET our God when things increase for us in a materialistic way. But this will not go on forever. God will CORRECT!! 12 "Now I will expose your so-called good deeds that you consider so righteous. None of them will benefit or save you. 13 Let's see if your idols can do anything for you when you cry to them for help. They are so helpless that a breath of wind can knock them down! But whoever trusts in me will possess the land and inherit my holy mountain. " THE DAY OF RECKONING IS COMING. All that we have will not save us. Even what some consider to be our righteous deeds, will not count for anything. God says He will put our thoughts to the test! Our thoughts of our gods that we have created in our minds (power, might of physical arms, modern space age technology in our machines of war etc.) will not save us when the time comes for The Almighty to PUNISH AND CORRECT us!! We shall be like a piece of paper in the wind - blown away, weak and helpless. But those who will turn and trust the Lord, have living FAITH in Him, REPENT and accept Jesus as PERSONAL Savior, shall in the end, possess the land of promise and all the earth, nay even the whole universe, and the very family of God. 14 "I will say, "Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity." Yes, as we have seen throughout the book of Isaiah, Israel and Judah are in a state of CAPTIVITY, scattered in many nations of the world, when Jesus returns in power and glory. The way will be open for them to return to the land of promise, they shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, they shall come with WEEPING and in DEEP REPENTANCE. They shall then KNOW that God LIVES and that He has NOT forsaken His chosen people. They shall at last be a people that shines forth the righteous and holy ways of God to the rest of the world as it marches into that 1,000 years of the Kingdom of God on earth under Jesus Christ. God Forgives the Repentant 15 "The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in that high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts. 16 For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always show my anger. If I did, all people would pass away - all the souls I have made." Truly, if God kept His anger and showed no mercy, not one person would be left alive on this earth. 17 "I was angry and punished these greedy people. I withdrew myself from them, but they went right on sinning. 18 I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them and comfort those who mourn. 19 Then words of praise will be on their lips. May they have peace, both near and far, for I will heal them all, says the LORD. But those who still reject me are like the restless sea. It is never still but continually churns up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace for the wicked," says God. God in some ways has corrected us, He has allowed destructions of various types to come on our towns and cities, but such did not in any deep way, bring us back to serving the Lord in spirit and in truth. He will punish in a final anger as never before, yet He will also comfort them and not keep His anger forever. God will HEAL us from our sins, although some of us continually put out mire and dirt of sin, for them there will be no peace, they will perish in death during the time of the last days of this age, and into the new age. True and False Worship CHAPTER 58 58 "Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Tell my people Israel of their sins! 2 Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf. 3 'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!'" Oh yes, we can claim the name of being "Christian" nations, of having an outward show of Christianity. Some sections of our people say they go to church, want God to be a part of their lives, desire to say we should obey the laws of God. The "Christian" authors out there that write book after book, and sell and sell, is large indeed. True, in some ways we have a "righteous" exterior of Godly religion. We go through the motions of being a righteous people, and then we wonder why God allows sorrow to come our way. "I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers. 4 What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarrelling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 5 You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD? 6 No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. 7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help." 8 If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. 9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer, 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! 10 Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. 12 Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities. True repentance, true attitude of mind, true work of spirituality, is serving others, giving to others as you can. Our wealth in the Western world is so HUGE, it is mind-bending, and we should be doing EVEN MORE than what many of us are doing to serve the needy of our lands and of the rest of the nations that are not in any way blessed as we are in physical wealth. If we would stop just having an outward form of religion then God would be on our side and would fight and protect us. We would then be the light of the world that the Holy One originally chose us for as we find in Deuteronomy chapter 4. 13 "Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD'S holy day. Honor the LORD in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. If you do this, 14 the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Notice, the Lord picks a commandment that most would call the very least commandment. He picks a law to do with the hours in a week. There is a TIME, a number of hours in a seven day period that God says are SPECIAL to Him! The human mind tends to have trouble with this law of the Lord. We may say to ourselves, "What's the big deal over certain 'hours' of the week?" It really matters not how we may think on this; God has hours that are special to Him, and He has told us to honor Him by honoring those hours. Those hours do point to creation. Creation is the GREAT PROOF that God DOES EXIST! We can be mystified by many things concerning God: How can He not have a beginning?: Where did He come from?; all this is beyond the human mind, but how can we not still believe He does exist when we set our minds on CREATION? THE DAY OF THE WEEK THAT LEADS US BACK TO CREATION WOULD KEEP US FOCUSSED ON THE TRUE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. THAT DAY THAT IS SPECIAL TO THE LORD IS THE 7TH DAY SABBATH. In this prophecy of the end-time, we are called to REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY IN OUR WORK AND EVEN OUR WORDS. WE ARE PROMISED THAT IN SO DOING WE SHALL BE GIVEN HONOR. WE HONOR HIM AND HE HONORS US BY KEEPING THE SABBATH DAY HOLY. Warnings against Sin CHAPTER 59 1 Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. 2 But there is a problem - your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. There is a KEY to having God hear you! It has to do with SIN! It is sin that cuts you off from the Eternal One. When the Lord reveals to you what sin is, you have a greater accountability. Our nations have KNOWN what sin is! We were founded on the Bible, and the Bible has revealed to us what is sin. We once could say with assurance this was sin or that was sin, but now that we have turned our back of the Bible we no longer can determine sin. Hence we now call good evil and evil we call good. We once KNEW that practicing homosexuality and lesbianism was SIN, but now we legalize same sex marriages! We could KNOW when life begins by letting the Bible reveal it to us, but we now KILL tens of thousands of un-born children every year! We have in our actions turned God away from us, and we wonder why we have such sorrow and pain and suffering. The bottom line is we have it because of SIN! 3 "Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your mouth is full of lies, and your lips are tainted with corruption." Pretty plain words from God as to some of our sins! 4 "No one cares about being fair and honest. Their lawsuits are based on lies. They spend their time plotting evil deeds and then doing them. 5 They spend their time and energy spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. 6 They cheat and shortchange everyone. Nothing they do is productive; all their activity is filled with sin. Violence is their trademark. 7 Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Wherever they go, misery and destruction follow them. 8 They do not know what true peace is or what it means to be just and good. They continually do wrong, and those who follow them cannot experience a moment's peace." Not a lot of clarity is needed by me here for you to understand many of our nation's sins, and what the Holy One is telling us. God puts it as Israel really knows they are sinning, and they will know it when in destruction at the end Time—— punished in the end time, when destruction comes upon them; then they will see why God had to deal with them in no uncertain way, to bring them to see themselves as sinners, and come to full and deep repentance. IS THERE ANY NATION WHERE IT CAN BE SAID "MY SPIRIT WILL NOT LEAVE THEM"? THERE IS NO NATION ON EARTH TODAY THAT CAN CLAIM SUCH A THING. THIS IS A PROPHECY FOR THE FUTURE! THIS IS THE NEW COVENANT FOR ALL THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL, WHEN THE MESSIAH COMES. THIS PROPHECY IS REPEATED BY MANY OF THE OTHER PROPHETS. Those who will TURN from their sins, God will honor by giving them His Spirit, and they and their children will serve the Eternal forever. The day of reckoning is coming. Those who will not repent of sin will be dealt with in no uncertain way. The Lord will not shut His eyes from the evil and sin of the world. A day of JUDGMENT will come, for now the Lord is patient, giving time to see if the people of Israel and other nations will HUMBLY REPENT! Those that will, will be blessed, those that do not, will see destruction come upon them. covenant and the Spirit of God will never leave them.
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