King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Friday, July 2, 2019
Chapters: Isaiah 5-8, II Chronicles 27
Message: Live According To God In The Spirit
Hello My Friend,
If there is one thing that the Old Testament books ought to teach us it is that while God is always merciful, He is a just God, and will place judgment upon all who live in sin. Judgment does not always come in the form of jail or corporal punishment, it often comes in the form of things such as disease, war, famine, or poverty. As you learn about God’s judgment upon Israel, one thing is clear, while God is addressing Israel as nation, He is definitely speaking to all His people, and therefore, it is imperative that we be the godly examples God expects us to be, because we will all give an account to Him. “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” – I Peter 4:4-6.
“but live according to God in the spirit.” Sometimes it seems as though we read the same passages over and over again, especially when reading about His judgments. I imagine it is just God trying to get it through our heads that judgment is coming to our nations as well, and why it is coming. Think about it, if things are as bad as they are while God is placing judgment upon His own people, think about what will happen when He comes to judge the unbelievers? Here is the scenario in Jerusalem during Isaiah’s time, he prophesied during the reigns of four kings in Judah; Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The city was prosperous, and bountiful, but full of sin, even if the king had been godly, he was not strong enough to remove all of the wicked devices used to keep the people in their sin. God refers to Israel as His vineyard, one that has grapes that grew wild and are out of control, He decides it is time to remove His hedge. Through Isaiah, God upbraids Judah for their drunken state.
“Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” – Isaiah 5:11-14,18-23.
“but they regard not the work of the LORD,” If you wonder why children are disrespecting their parents, abortion is acceptable even at birth, which is murder, and diseases are spreading everywhere, it is because God is warning His people that judgment is already in the world, and is coming to His people. While God is very merciful and promises to never let one saved soul get cast into hell that does not mean He will not place judgment upon His people here. And the thing is, it is not just a couple of His people of Christians, it is a multitude of saved, born again Christians. And they have no regard for God’s work, or what He has done for them. When we live a life that is pleasing to God, the Holy Spirit works overtime to keep us from sin, something amazing happens when we allow Him to guide us, and that is conviction, meaning we learn how sinful we are and know we need Jesus every second. We will all stand before Jesus and give an account for all that we have done in our bodies. God gives Isaiah an amazing vision of a heavenly throne, and Jesus, one in which brought great conviction to him.
“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,” – Isaiah 6:5-11.
“or mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” There is something very eye opening when we see Jesus for the first time, everything we ever did wrong that we can remember starts flooding our minds. Seraphims; Fiery serpents. These are angels of the highest order in the celestial hierarchy, represented as servants of the King, and they stand over Him, ready to minister at His command. They are sent by God as His instruments to inflict righteous judgment on people as a penalty of sin. As Isaiah sees this he realizes how unclean he is (that he is a sinner). Then one of the angels comes over, drops a hot coal in his mouth, and all of a sudden he is cleansed. Isaiah was so humbled and grateful that he wanted to tell the world how they could get cleansed. If you recall, Isaiah conferred with Uzziah, who was a godly king until the kingdom became strong, he ran into the temple, unclean, and tried to burn incense, but became leprous, Jotham, his son had to take over as king. Jotham was a good and godly king as his father, only he did not go into the temple, but the people were still corrupt.
“Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly. He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against thm. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third. So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.” – II Chronicles 27:1-6,9.
“because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.” Our ways are not God’s ways, they never have been and never will be. The key to Jotham’s success was not that he was perfect, it was because he did everything knowing that the LORD was his God. We will never be prefect until Christ returns or we are in heaven, but we do not have to be, we just have to know that the LORD us our God. Now Ahaz, he was not godly king at all, in fact, he even set up an altar for a strange god in the Temple (II Chronicles 28:1-4). Now they are at war, and God send Isaiah to reveal an amazing prophecy besides the fact that all of Israel will be overthrown.
“For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.” – Isaiah 7:8-17.
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;” People ask for signs all the time regarding the Word of God, He gives them to us all the time, but unless their eyes are opened to Christ they do not even want to hear what He has to say. Ahaz is like a lot of people who ignore God in an attempt to justify their sinful living, they have the mentality that if they do not know His Word then they can get away with what they are doing. Regardless of whether or not we believe all of His Word, all of His Word is true and everything will come to pass as it is written. Now, God instructs Isaiah to do something rather strange, write about a son was conceived by a prophetess, whom she was to name, Mahershalalhashbaz.
“And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.” – Isaiah 8:3-10.
“Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.” Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means, “swift is booty, speedy is prey”, meaning God will send judgment to Judah, and it will be quick, He will take away all their defenses, and they will be as prey. “and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.” God is speaking directly to His Son here, and He will be the one to judge Israel. Judah is called Immanuel’s land because Jesus was to be born, to live, and to die there; and this is particularly mentioned, to show that, although Samaria will be taken from the Jews, it will not destroyed, until Immanuel (God with us), the son of the virgin, was born here and judges from the throne of Judah. We too have been given numerous warnings, and ample time to heed those warnings, but Jesus is coming, and His judgment will be quick. “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” – I Thessalonians 5:1-6.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” – Isaiah 6:5.
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, It still amazes me that You went through so much pain to save me and only my simple faith and trust in Your finished work is all I need to be saved from my sins. I have Your seal, Your blood in me and when I think of where I would be if I died before I knew the truth, I cringe. Lord, I want to live my life as a Godly example, one in which You shine through me every day, give me Your power, strength, and wisdom to glorify You. Use me to be a witness to the lost, and help me to be bold enough to tell all how they can know You. In Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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