Chapter 5 describes a vine yard planted and maintained by God,who finds that the vine produces wild grapes. John 3 describes two accounts about eternal life. The first account concerns the man Nicodemus who Jesus informs that he must be born again. The second account is John the baptist telling the doubters that Jesus is God and therefore Spiritual and must be discovered by Spirit.
The same is true of the vine yard described in Isaiah, for us to live in the vine yard and bear good fruit we must become Spiritual and abide in God. So often we confess our sin and carry on living the same way as before.
In Chapter Isaiah 7:14 God gives the promise of a child, Immanuel, God with us. In the midst of such turmoil and distress God speaks and calls those who hear to himself and at the same time destroys those who resist.
Chapter 9 sees another declaration Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, this child is God in man, who calls people to himself.
John 4 bears this out as Jesus reveals himself to a woman of ill repute, who he asks a drink.This simple question starts a conversation that concludes with Jesus the God man, the child promised in Isaiah, saying to this woman in John 4:10 if you knew the gift and who is asking you would have asked Him and He would give you living water. Here is the truth, Jesus is bringing people to Himself in order to set them free.
In the midst of distress and utter hopelessness, God is with us. For unto us a child is born.
Showing posts with label Lessons in Isaiah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lessons in Isaiah. Show all posts
Friday, 22 February 2013
Friday, 8 February 2013
Isaiah 3/4 John 2
God brings judgement on Judah and Jeusalem. The warning is, what you have is taken away. Materialism and wealth can be a road that sepertes us from God. It is not what we have but how we handle it. Money and wealth in themselves are useful and needful but the love of money and wealth are the root of all evil. It will drive a fence between ourselves and God and eventually lead us to a place where we are dry and barren. Just like the wedding feast in John 2 "the wine had run out", what do we do or where do we look when our wine has run out?
Isaiah 3:8-9 tells us that Jerusalem and Judah have bought their disconnected, disjointed and broken relationships with God upon themselves, For Jerusalem will stumble, and Judah will fall, because they speak out against the Lord and refuse to obey him. They provoke him to his face. The very look on their faces gives them away.They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves.(NLT) "their tounges and their deeds are against God, they do not hide their sin. So it would appear that the manner of our lives and the words from our mouths matter. We should declare God with our speech and honour Him in our work. Has your wine run out?
In John 2 Mary was the one who knew the answer to a desperate situation. She knew Jesus to be God and in John 2:5 she tells the servants to "do whatever He says. This is our deliverance from wanton and reckless living that has wrung us dry spiritually to a place where our wine has run out. "do whatever he says"
In brief what Jesus says is reclaim the disused water pots. John 2:6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.(NLT) The wording in the greek indicates that these pots were not being used for what they were intended, disused and discarded.
God wants us to reclaim and fill the water pots, reclaim our lives for Him and for us to fill them with clean refreshing water. Ah you say "but that is not wine", yes but notice Jesus does the miricle "draw out and bear". If we are obedient to the word of God then He does the miricle and restores us to useful people honouring him with our words and deeds.
Isaiah 3:8-9 tells us that Jerusalem and Judah have bought their disconnected, disjointed and broken relationships with God upon themselves, For Jerusalem will stumble, and Judah will fall, because they speak out against the Lord and refuse to obey him. They provoke him to his face. The very look on their faces gives them away.They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves.(NLT) "their tounges and their deeds are against God, they do not hide their sin. So it would appear that the manner of our lives and the words from our mouths matter. We should declare God with our speech and honour Him in our work. Has your wine run out?
In John 2 Mary was the one who knew the answer to a desperate situation. She knew Jesus to be God and in John 2:5 she tells the servants to "do whatever He says. This is our deliverance from wanton and reckless living that has wrung us dry spiritually to a place where our wine has run out. "do whatever he says"
In brief what Jesus says is reclaim the disused water pots. John 2:6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.(NLT) The wording in the greek indicates that these pots were not being used for what they were intended, disused and discarded.
God wants us to reclaim and fill the water pots, reclaim our lives for Him and for us to fill them with clean refreshing water. Ah you say "but that is not wine", yes but notice Jesus does the miricle "draw out and bear". If we are obedient to the word of God then He does the miricle and restores us to useful people honouring him with our words and deeds.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Isaiah/John
A call to confession and commitment.
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.(KJV) Tells us that confession is done in partnership with God Himself
Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:(KJV) Tells is that commitment is done by ourselves and a setting of our goals in life.
Isaiah 2:5-22 Describes what man becomes when corrupted by money, power and idol worship. A people so luke warm they are no use, But beyond that they are fearful of the day of the Lord. They hide in holes in the rocks from the majesty and glory of God and beyond that Gods very prescence brings them low. The passage describes that it is not only man but his possessions and all he has made that is bought low.
Isaiah 2:19 sums it up, they hide "from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty"
Man will not be able to stand before such a being. Isaiah 2:22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?(NLT) The new king james says severe yourselves from such a man. This is the warning to us and the escape route, it instructs us that we don't havs to live like that. Severe yourselves from such a man, in other words don't be like him Psalm 146 describes an alternative Psalms 146:3 "do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help." Psalms 146:5 "happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help" Also Jeremiah 17:5-8 talks about the man who puts his trust in man and by contrast the man who trusts in the Lord. They are dry and desolute as opposed to vibrant and fertile.
John 1:11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.(NLT) He, that is God as Jesus, came to His own and they did not receive him v12, but some did and to those he gave the right to be children of God, those not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh (sex), nor of the will of man, BUT OF GOD (Spirit).
The theme is spiritual, that of spirit working out in the flesh not flesh working out the spiritual.
God reveals himself to us through Jesus the light of the world, something is illuminated within us and we are changed, no longer fearful of the great day of the Lord as described by Isaiah, but safe in the knowledge that we have been given a right to be children of God. We are no longer stained, shrivelled bushes growing in a parched wilderness but strong trees growing in fertile watered ground bearing much fruit.
In all of this we must decide how we use our time. Do we use it for our own gain or for the gain of others? God has given us so much and yet so often we think it is for our own benefit, yet, in reality it is for the good of others.
Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.(NLT)
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.(KJV) Tells us that confession is done in partnership with God Himself
Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:(KJV) Tells is that commitment is done by ourselves and a setting of our goals in life.
Isaiah 2:5-22 Describes what man becomes when corrupted by money, power and idol worship. A people so luke warm they are no use, But beyond that they are fearful of the day of the Lord. They hide in holes in the rocks from the majesty and glory of God and beyond that Gods very prescence brings them low. The passage describes that it is not only man but his possessions and all he has made that is bought low.
Isaiah 2:19 sums it up, they hide "from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty"
Man will not be able to stand before such a being. Isaiah 2:22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?(NLT) The new king james says severe yourselves from such a man. This is the warning to us and the escape route, it instructs us that we don't havs to live like that. Severe yourselves from such a man, in other words don't be like him Psalm 146 describes an alternative Psalms 146:3 "do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help." Psalms 146:5 "happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help" Also Jeremiah 17:5-8 talks about the man who puts his trust in man and by contrast the man who trusts in the Lord. They are dry and desolute as opposed to vibrant and fertile.
John 1:11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.(NLT) He, that is God as Jesus, came to His own and they did not receive him v12, but some did and to those he gave the right to be children of God, those not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh (sex), nor of the will of man, BUT OF GOD (Spirit).
The theme is spiritual, that of spirit working out in the flesh not flesh working out the spiritual.
God reveals himself to us through Jesus the light of the world, something is illuminated within us and we are changed, no longer fearful of the great day of the Lord as described by Isaiah, but safe in the knowledge that we have been given a right to be children of God. We are no longer stained, shrivelled bushes growing in a parched wilderness but strong trees growing in fertile watered ground bearing much fruit.
In all of this we must decide how we use our time. Do we use it for our own gain or for the gain of others? God has given us so much and yet so often we think it is for our own benefit, yet, in reality it is for the good of others.
Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.(NLT)
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