2 Tim 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
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PROLOGUE TO MANY MESSAGES OF CONSOLATION
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 18:31-36
"For who is God
save the LORD?"
PROLOGUE TO MANY MESSAGES OF CONSOLATION
Inasmuch as Isaiah 39 closes with Judah’s coming captivity to Babylon (the culmination of God’s judgment on His wayward children), Isaiah 40 leads us into their restoration. Whereas Isaiah 1 to 39 tells of Old Testament judgments, Isaiah 40 to 66 opens a vista to New Testament times of consolation and liberation. Such restoration of God’s people has a two-fold aspect: 1) The gathering of Israel and the raising again of David’s throne in a golden millennial rule on earth. 2) The spiritual blessings that will come to the whole world through Israel by the sufferings of Christ, the greater David.
Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel. Zion, where king David’s palace was, is situated in Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem, often used interchangeably with Zion, will be the centre from which good tidings, the Gospel, will radiate to other cities of Judah, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Isaiah 40:3 (which talks of preparing the way of the Lord by making it straight in the desert, etc.) is claimed by John the Baptist to be his ministry of heralding the Christ (Matt 3:3). Isaiah 40:6 (which contrasts the frailty of mankind with the durability of the Word of God) is elaborated by the Apostle Peter as that which is preached by the Gospel (1 Pet 1:25).
It is important for us to see in the writings of Isaiah a two-fold picture in the things to come, viz. Israel and the Church, the Law and the Gospel, the physical and the spiritual.
The first eleven verses of Isaiah 40 constitute a prologue to this remaining portion of Isaiah. It is a message of "comfort" or "consolation" to God’s own children. This is what the Gospel brings to every sin-oppressed soul, to every struggling heart in a world beset with strife and fear, violence and war.
THOUGHT: "The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come… O spread the tidings round, wherever man is found, The Comforter has come."
PRAYER: O Lord, may Thy Word make me wise.
Posted in Adult RPG
Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 18:31-36
"For who is God
save the LORD?"
PROLOGUE TO MANY MESSAGES OF CONSOLATION
Inasmuch as Isaiah 39 closes with Judah’s coming captivity to Babylon (the culmination of God’s judgment on His wayward children), Isaiah 40 leads us into their restoration. Whereas Isaiah 1 to 39 tells of Old Testament judgments, Isaiah 40 to 66 opens a vista to New Testament times of consolation and liberation. Such restoration of God’s people has a two-fold aspect: 1) The gathering of Israel and the raising again of David’s throne in a golden millennial rule on earth. 2) The spiritual blessings that will come to the whole world through Israel by the sufferings of Christ, the greater David.
Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel. Zion, where king David’s palace was, is situated in Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem, often used interchangeably with Zion, will be the centre from which good tidings, the Gospel, will radiate to other cities of Judah, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Isaiah 40:3 (which talks of preparing the way of the Lord by making it straight in the desert, etc.) is claimed by John the Baptist to be his ministry of heralding the Christ (Matt 3:3). Isaiah 40:6 (which contrasts the frailty of mankind with the durability of the Word of God) is elaborated by the Apostle Peter as that which is preached by the Gospel (1 Pet 1:25).
It is important for us to see in the writings of Isaiah a two-fold picture in the things to come, viz. Israel and the Church, the Law and the Gospel, the physical and the spiritual.
The first eleven verses of Isaiah 40 constitute a prologue to this remaining portion of Isaiah. It is a message of "comfort" or "consolation" to God’s own children. This is what the Gospel brings to every sin-oppressed soul, to every struggling heart in a world beset with strife and fear, violence and war.
THOUGHT: "The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come… O spread the tidings round, wherever man is found, The Comforter has come."
PRAYER: O Lord, may Thy Word make me wise.
Posted in Adult RPG