RPG Adults
FROM TENT TO TEMPLE
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30
Isaiah 54:11-17
Psalm 31:1-6
"In thee, O LORD,
do I put my trust…"
FROM TENT TO TEMPLE
In the first part of Isaiah 54, the prophet used the figure of a tent for a dwelling place of the restored wife and her children. In the same vein, he then advanced from the tent to a temple, from a mobile to a more permanent abode. What further comfort was given to the estranged wife of the Holy One of Israel!
"Now she (the Jewish Church) is in disgrace, but God promises that which will be her beauty and honour… Also that the glory of the New Testament Church shall far exceed that of the Jewish Church; not in external pomp and splendour, but in those gifts and graces of the Spirit which are infinitely more valuable? Things which the children of this world lay up in their treasuries, and often in their hearts, the children of God make pavements of, put under their feet, the fittest place for them" (adapted from Matthew Henry).
Do not the precious stones mentioned by Isaiah here find a counterpart in Paul’s instruction to the church in Corinth? "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest…" (1 Cor 3:12-13)? And do we not see them reappear in Revelation 21?
"But its meaning is translated into non-pictorial terms in vv.13ff where the ‘righteousness’ of v.14 and the impregnability of vv.15-17 are rooted in the fact of universal personal discipleship (v.13; cf.8:16; Jer 31:34) which is one of the marks of the new covenant. This is the true strength of God’s city, which is promised not immunity from attack, but the unanswerable weapon of truth (v.17; cf. Lk 21:15)." (New Bible Commentary, Revised)
THOUGHT: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor 3:16)
PRAYER: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise." (Ps 57:7)
Posted in Adult RPG
Isaiah 54:11-17
Psalm 31:1-6
"In thee, O LORD,
do I put my trust…"
FROM TENT TO TEMPLE
In the first part of Isaiah 54, the prophet used the figure of a tent for a dwelling place of the restored wife and her children. In the same vein, he then advanced from the tent to a temple, from a mobile to a more permanent abode. What further comfort was given to the estranged wife of the Holy One of Israel!
"Now she (the Jewish Church) is in disgrace, but God promises that which will be her beauty and honour… Also that the glory of the New Testament Church shall far exceed that of the Jewish Church; not in external pomp and splendour, but in those gifts and graces of the Spirit which are infinitely more valuable? Things which the children of this world lay up in their treasuries, and often in their hearts, the children of God make pavements of, put under their feet, the fittest place for them" (adapted from Matthew Henry).
Do not the precious stones mentioned by Isaiah here find a counterpart in Paul’s instruction to the church in Corinth? "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest…" (1 Cor 3:12-13)? And do we not see them reappear in Revelation 21?
"But its meaning is translated into non-pictorial terms in vv.13ff where the ‘righteousness’ of v.14 and the impregnability of vv.15-17 are rooted in the fact of universal personal discipleship (v.13; cf.8:16; Jer 31:34) which is one of the marks of the new covenant. This is the true strength of God’s city, which is promised not immunity from attack, but the unanswerable weapon of truth (v.17; cf. Lk 21:15)." (New Bible Commentary, Revised)
THOUGHT: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor 3:16)
PRAYER: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise." (Ps 57:7)
Posted in Adult RPG