Disclaimer

Disclaimer: I am not a Biblical scholar. All my posts and comments are opinions and thoughts formulated through my current understanding of the Bible. I strive to speak of things that can be validated through Biblical Scriptures, and when I'm merely speculating, I make sure to note it. My views can be flawed, and I thus welcome any constructive perspectives and criticisms!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Isaiah 46-48

Isaiah 46
- The relationship of the Babylonians and their false gods are “burdensome, a burden for the weary,” because these idols cannot rescue them from the burdens of their lives, and as prophesied, these idols “go off into captivity” because of their inability to save anyone, even themselves. “Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.”

In contrast, the relationship between Israel and God is encouraging and everlasting, because as God said, “I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs. I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

One, idols and false gods have never uttered such powerful promises. Two, God’s promises have been kept throughout time, which is why the Israelites can be certain that the words above aren’t just words. They are promises that God will fulfill. That is, God will sustain and rescue the Israelites.

- God admonishes Israel for being stubborn-hearted and for being far away from righteousness. However, God promises Israel the return of righteousness and salvation.

- The truth about God is that God is the one and only, “There is none like me.” God has revealed what is to come right from the start, and His purpose will be as He has decided. God will bring about righteousness and salvation to Israel.

Isaiah 47
- The people of Babylon will fall and be without a ruler. Their evil deeds will be exposed, and God will not spare any one of them.

- God will bring vengeance upon Babylon because the Babylonians showed God’s people no mercy. God punished the Israelites for their disobedience by delivering them into the hands of the Babylonians. Babylonians took advantage of it and spared no one, not even the aged. Furthermore, instead of recognizing the power of the Lord, the Babylonians declared that it will rule the earth for eternity. They boasted without giving any thought to the consequences of such prideful behavior.

- Babylon claimed that “I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children. No one sees me.” However, God sees them and punished them for their pride, and Babylon lost children and experienced widowhood all in a day.

God foretold the Babylonians that “Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom.” Hence, when God’s judgment comes, no one can escape it, and there is nothing they can do to escape it. It is thus better to heed God’s warnings and never forget that God made us, God can also destroy us.

- According to Daniel 5, the vision revealed to Daniel by God was that God gave Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty, greatness, glory, and splendor. However, instead of remaining a humble servant of the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar became arrogant, and his heart hardened with pride. And so, such greatness was stripped from him by the Lord until he confessed that his success was built upon the glory of the Lord. Once he acknowledged the glory of God, Nebuchadnezzar once again returned to greatness.

Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son and king of the Babylonians, did not learn from his father’s mistake. Despite knowing about what his father had lived through and the lessons he learned, Belshazzar continued on proudly and marched forward, opposing God. He disrespected all things of the Lord and chose to worship idols of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. And as prophesized by Daniel (Daniel 5:25-30), Belshazzar was killed and lost his kingdom.

Isaiah 48:1–11
- The Israelites come from a noble blood line, from Abraham to Jacob to David. And though they proclaim themselves citizens of Jerusalem, the holy city, they remained stubborn and could not see that they have strayed far away from the Lord, as it has been said, the Israelites “take oaths in the name of the Lord… but not in truth or righteousness.”

- God knew how stubborn the Israelites are for He prophesied about these events long before they happened. And when the Israelites continued down the wrong path despite warnings from God, God therefore chose to tell them about things that were not previously foretold.

- God has chosen to delay His wrath on the Israelites because He has promised a covenant with Israel and will not break such a promise. He therefore has delayed His wrath so that in the end, 144,000 Israelites can be saved (Revelation), along with the covenant.

Isaiah 48:12–22
- God often says, “I am the first and I am the last.” God made the Earth and Heaven and all the living creatures. He repeats this often especially to the Israelites to remind them that human pride measures up to nothing when compared to the greatness of God. That is, all the greatness that the Israelites are so proud of would amount to nothing if God hadn’t been there at the beginning to help them. God is also at the end to judge, and so if the Israelites continue stubbornly to discredit God, then all the success they have accumulated would also be diminished to nothing when they meet God on Judgment Day.

- God clearly tells Israel that the Lord is her God, a God who has always been open about His plans and has never spoken in secret. He is a God who teaches what is best, who directs where she should go. If Israel had listened to God’s Word, her peace would have flowed continuously like a river, her righteousness as strong and powerful as the waves of the sea. If Israel had followed God’s Way, no descendant would have been cut off, no descendant would have been destroyed; her children would have grown infinitely.

The Israelites should rejoice in how the Lord has redeemed Jacob and his descendents and remember that God quenched their thirst while they were being led through the deserts. Despite the hardships the people have had to endure to reach safety, God has always been there to provide for them, to provide food and water for not just the body but for the spirit as well.

-  In Isaiah 48, the most important verse for me is, “‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked.’” This stresses that until we return to God’s side, we will never be at peace.

It is important to remember that Hell is the absence of God. Wicked thus means straying away from God and becoming easier to be seduced by Satan.

We may fret about things in life, from what clothes/cars/houses/boats/stocks/etc to buy to how to increase one’s own social status. Such are the earthly things that Jesus warned us not to get attached to, for becoming attached to such materialistic things is following the master of money/power (one of the forms of Satan’s seducing ploys). For it has been said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

Peace, therefore, has at least two levels of meaning.

In terms of the battle for human souls between God and Satan, God will bring peace to the souls who chose to return to Him because God has made a promise to protect all those who willingly live in the glory of God. Satan, on the other will never bring peace. By definition, he fell from Heaven because he chose to rage war against God. Satan stands for exactly the opposite of God’s will, and to those who side with Satan, they will thus share the fate of war and hate.

In terms of peace in the sense of peace for our internal soul, following God’s Way will allow us to realize that there is no need to fret over materialistic means of our earthly world. The two most important commandments are 1) to love God, our Lord, and 2) to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:28-31). And as long as we try to follow these two commandments to the best of our abilities, we will be walking the Way of the Lord, and there will be a sense of peace settling in our souls. Even if we lived on the streets with no shelter over our heads, we could still feel like the richest people in the world, because we would be blessed with God’s promise of a great Kingdom to come (Matthew 19:16-30).

Hence, “There is no peace for the wicked.”

If we fall away from God, we inch closer to Satan, and there will be no peace for our souls. If we hold on to earthly values and things, we stray away from God, and there will also be no peace for our souls. Only when our mind, body, and soul all are one with God would we then be in perfect harmony with God’s will. And when we are one with the Lord, we need not worry about simple things such as food, clothes, and shelters—For God is all powerful, has He not fed thousands of men with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish? And when we are one with the Lord, we need not worry about humanly power and social status—For God is the beginning and the end, how does humanly power and social status even compare to the glory that God has planned for us as heirs to His Kingdom?


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Isaiah 44:24–45:25

Isaiah 44:24–28
- The concept of “I am the Lord; there is no other” shows that God made all things (including us), that God is the only being that was at the beginning of the world.

2 Chronicles 36:22–23
Ezra 1:1–7; 5:13
Isaiah 41:2–3
- Cyrus was the King of Persia who received word from the Lord to build the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, just as God had promised: “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’”

Isaiah 45:1–13
- Anoint means to be chosen by God. God therefore chose Cyrus to subdue all other nations. God will therefore pave the road before Cyrus, to ensure that he succeeds in his mission.
- God promised Cyrus that He would strengthen Cyrus and help him conquer all difficulties that lay ahead even though Cyrus at the time did not know God yet.

2 Chronicles 36:22–23
Ezra 1:2–4
- When Cyrus fulfilled God’s prophecy by building God’s temple, Cyrus came to know God and acknowledged God, “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’”

Daniel 5:30–31; 6:1–28; 10:1
- Cyrus was led to do God’s will because the Persian empire was overtaken by the ungodly Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus was thus chosen to overcome Nebuchadnezzar to rebuild Jerusalem.

Isaiah 45:1–13
Romans 9:19–21
- God is the maker of all. Everything that happens, it is all part of His plan. As His children, we often do not have the ability to understand why He does certain things. Therefore, to those who resist God’s Word and wisdom, to those who question God, God responds, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

- When we do not understand why God does certain things, we must always remember that it is near impossible for us to fully comprehend God’s will and His plans for the future. When we question God’s decisions, we are just like the rebellious teenagers who always doubt their parents’ wisdom. It is hard for teenagers comprehend their parents’ wisdom because they haven’t acquired the ability to see what the parents see. They are too young and inexperienced to know the consequences of their actions. And when they don’t heed the warnings of their parents, they often end up falling. Similarly, we are God’s children. God sees all and wants to protect us from harm and thus gives us warnings. If we ever want to question God’s will, we must first consider whether we are mature enough to understand what’s going on or we should understand that God’s warnings should be seriously pondered. In general, we should never question God’s will because we simply do not have the ability to do so. Our view is not as broad, and our abilities are very limited. There is no way we can every do things better than God, and we therefore have no ground to judge how God does things.

However, there are a few examples of God’s people questioning Him. The example that comes to my mind is Abraham (Genesis 18:16-33). He never questioned God when God asked him to sacrifice his son because he knew God’s plan was greater than himself. However, he questioned God’s decision to kill all the people of Sodom, because he believes there must be righteous people living in that condemned city, and those people should be saved. He thus pleaded God to spare their lives, and because Abraham made a good argument, God was willing to listen. As opposed to saying Abraham questioned God’s decision, we ought to think of it as Abraham pleading God to spare as many righteous people as possible.

What we should take away from Abraham’s experience is that unless we have a rational reason to question God’s decision, we should first heed God’s instructions because God loves us, and everything that God does, He does for our good.

Isaiah 45:14–25
- The invitation to be saved is also extended to all those who turns to God. As is the theme throughout Isaiah, God is the one and only who was there at the beginning of time and will be there at the end of time. There is no use putting faith in idols made by man, for those objects have no life in them and certainly have no ability to breathe life into us. We are God’s children, and if we choose to return to God, God will welcome us home with open arms.

- Acts 11 is a good passage that documents Peter’s determination to save the Gentiles. Peter received Word from God to welcome anyone who is willing to turn to God. It does not matter whether they are Jews. As long as people accept God and choose to follow God and believe in Jesus Christ, all these people will be saved, as it has been noted: “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

Philippians 2:9–11
Isaiah 45:23–25
- Isaiah’s prophecy would be fulfilled in the sense that one day, all knees would bow to Jesus Christ, and all tongues would confess that Jesus is our Lord and give glory to God, our Father. All people will come to acknowledge that God alone is righteous, and those who faithfully remain at God’s side will be saved.


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Isaiah 42:1-44:23

Isaiah 42:1–17
- God says that His servant is chosen by Him, and God will place His Spirit on him, so that His servant can bring justice to the nations. In faithfulness, God’s servant will bring justice. The servant will not falter or be discouraged until he establishes justice on earth.
- God promises to hold His servant’s hand and gives him the mission “to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open the eys that to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
- This “servant” is Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.
- Jesus Christ and His followers are to sing to the Lord a new song, to give glory to the Lord, to sing for joy, so that the Lord will guide His people triumph over enemies.

Isaiah 42:18–43:7
- God speaks of these critical issues against Israel: 1) Israel pays no attention to what it sees or hears; 2) Israel has become a people plundered and looted with no one to rescue them; 3) Israel refuses to follow God’s ways, to disobey His law. Such acts therefore result in God’s wrath pouring out on them, enveloping them in flames, yet the people of Israel do not understand. Even given such punishment, the people of Israel did not take it to heart.
- God’s grace, despite all that Israel has done, is still extended to Israel. God emphasizes that He has redeemed them and that they belong to God. Whatever Israel has to go through, God will be there with them, to protect them from harm, for Israel is precious and honored in God’s eyes, and God will always love Israel.

Isaiah 43:8–28
- God is the beginning and the end. He is the one and only savior; there is no other before or after Him. God summons Israel as His witness. Israel knows of God’s promises and prophesies. Israel is thus God’s best witness because they knew of God’s plans and chose to ignore them. And as the prophesies get realized, Israel thus understands better than any other nation the Truth of God and His Word.
- The Israelites will be delivered from the Babylonians.
- God encourages Israel to not dwell on the past because God has made a new future.
- Israel’s sin against God was that it turned away from God’s way. Instead of honoring God for its fortunes, it turned to idols and took credit that belonged to God. However, because of God’s grace, He forgives such sins and welcomes the return of Israel.

Isaiah 44:3-4; Isaiah 44:5
God will pour His spirit into His children and bless them, just as how He quenches thirst with water. And with His blessings, His children will blossom like grass in a meadow and trees by flowing streams. Eventually, His children will proclaim to the world that God is their Father.

Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:14-21
God will pour out His spirit on all people, allowing them to see what is to come. God will show them about the wonders in the heaven and the signs on the earth. Everyone who places his trust in the Lord will be saved.

John 7:37-39
By trusting in Jesus, we will be blessed with God’s Spirit.

Acts 1:8
- When we are blessed with the Holy Spirit, we will receive the power of God’s protection. We will also become witnesses of God and His glory.

Isaiah 44:1-23 
- God is the only God because 1) only He can foretell what is to come; 2) only He is the solid rock that His people can rely on.
- The ironies of idol worship are that the worshipers exhaust themselves creating these idols, yet when they turn to these idols for strength, these idols cannot do anything. These idols are worthless because they know nothing and understand nothing. These idols know and understand nothing because they were made by man who knows and understands nothing. Man hopes to create something greater than him, so that the man can turn to it in time of great need. Yet, man never stops to realize that he does not have the power to create anything from nothing. And thus, the greatest irony of it all is man creates his idol to be all-knowing, but his idol, in truth, knows nothing.
- God wants Israel to remember that idols are nothing to be desired, that Israel belongs to God. God will never forsake Israel and will forgive all of its sins. God awaits the return of Israel, for God has redeemed it.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Isaiah 41

Isaiah 41:1–4; 44:28–45:1; Ezra 1:1–4
- The Lord asks the nations who is the one who is righteous, who subdues kings, who decides which nation stands and which nation falls, who has never failed to follow-through with his promises. The Lord’s response to such rhetorical questions is “I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he.”
- The Lord has stirred up Cyrus from the east.
- The Wikipedia gives an account of Cyrus:
From Biblical passages, we learn that Cyrus is deemed by the Lord to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. The Lord will hand over fallen nations to Cyrus and says that Cyrus, his shepherd, will accomplish the Lord’s wishes in building that temple.
- God controls history.
- The attributes of God displayed through His prediction of Cyrus include omniscient and all powerful.
- Fulfilled prophecy is a good argument for God’s sovereignty and the Bible’s reliability because it proves that events predicted by God’s prophets in the past all come true. It shows that every one of God’s promises will be realized. We therefore can have the confidence to know that the Bible is completely reliable, because every event has either happened or will happen.

Isaiah 41:5–10
- The nations that have witnessed the Lord’s power and authority have learned to respectfully fear God. They also help and strengthen each other so that they will not fall.
- Some threats that returning exiles may have faced in their return to Jerusalem include battles for land, foreign laws and customs, lack of food and shelter, onset of severe illnesses, etc.
- Exiles of God, however, need not fear such a return because they are the chosen people of Israel. God has not rejected Israel and her people, and God will strengthen them, to uphold them with His righteous hand.
- God’s righteous right hand symbolizes God’s power, authority, and absolute just.

Isaiah 41:11–20
- God calms His people’s fears through His promise:  “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.” There is no need to fear because God will be there Himself to help, to make them become new and sharp with the ability to crush mountains. And one day, God will redeem Israel’s rejoice in the glory of the Lord.
- God would provide the poor and needy who were parched with thirst with flowing rivers on barren heights, springs within the valleys, and springs in the desert. God will not and will never forsake His people and will always respond to the needs of His people.

“Thirst” can be literally taken, and we can understand that when we are physically thirsty, we can trust the Lord to lead us to flowing rivers and springs to quench such a thirst. “Thirst,” however, can also be metaphorically understood to mean that when we are spiritually thirsty, we can also turn to God. That is, when we feel spiritually attacked and drained, when we feel absolutely beaten, we can turn to God, our father who will never forsake us but who will always be there to help us stand, to strengthen us so that we may overcome whatever difficulties we face.

- Verbs in verse 20 (see, know, consider, understand) stress the importance to witness God’s sovereign power and authority. And upon witnessing, to internalize what we have see and turn that into knowledge. That is, we not only need to think about what we have seen but also to digest all that sensual information and allow that information to become a part of what defines us, a part of who we are. We shouldn’t just know God. We should also live in God.

Isaiah 41:21–29
- God challenges the idols of pagan nations by asking them about their origin and their ability to prophesize what is to come. He also challenges such idols to exhibit its power and authority, forces that would demand respectful fear from the people.
- God calls such idols less than nothing. God also dismisses their works as utterly worthless and deems those who follow such idols to be detestable. God distinguishes Himself from such idols by citing the things He has brought about. No one but God has brought about prophesies of the things to come. And because of such exhibits of power and authority, God is our one true Lord, and the idols are nothing but man-made crafts.