Reading the Bible Together

Passage for the Day

 1 LORD, you are my God; 
       I will exalt you and praise your name, 
       for in perfect faithfulness 
       you have done wonderful things, 
       things planned long ago.

    2 You have made the city a heap of rubble, 
       the fortified town a ruin, 
       the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; 
       it will never be rebuilt.

    3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you; 
       cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

    4 You have been a refuge for the poor, 
       a refuge for the needy in their distress, 
       a shelter from the storm 
       and a shade from the heat. 
       For the breath of the ruthless 
       is like a storm driving against a wall

    5 and like the heat of the desert. 
       You silence the uproar of foreigners; 
       as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, 
       so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

    6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare 
       a feast of rich food for all peoples, 
       a banquet of aged wine— 
       the best of meats and the finest of wines.

    7 On this mountain he will destroy 
       the shroud that enfolds all peoples, 
       the sheet that covers all nations;

    8 he will swallow up death forever. 
       The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears 
       from all faces; 
       he will remove his people’s disgrace 
       from all the earth. 
       The LORD has spoken.

    9 In that day they will say, 
       “Surely this is our God; 
       we trusted in him, and he saved us. 
       This is the LORD, we trusted in him; 
       let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Points of interest:

·         ‘You have made the city a heap of rubble’—this isn’t what I expected when Isaiah mentioned the ‘wonderful things’ God had done.  I wonder what exactly this city was like that its total destruction was such good news.  It could be that Isaiah is talking about Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, or about Babylon.  Assyria and Babylon were the two places responsible for bringing the Israelites into foreign captivity (the Assyrians conquered Ephraim, and the Babylonians later conquered Judah).  So, perhaps the destruction of this city allows for the return of the exiles we saw in our last passage.  This verse also reminds me of the Tower of Babel, the overthrow of which allowed God’s plans for humanity to move forward.

·         ‘cities of ruthless nations will revere you’—apparently, the destruction of the strong city has positive results even for the strong city itself.  God gets the attention and respect of the strong by showing his strength.

·         ‘a shade from the heat’—the rich and powerful are like a relentless desert sun, beating down on the poor.

·         ‘On this mountain’—this mountain would be Zion, where the temple is located.  Throughout our study, we’ve noticed a dynamic tension between God’s worldwide goals and his local plans: God wants to bless all the nations, but he starts by blessing just one person, Abram; God is too big for the entire world to contain, but God’s presence rests in a unique way on one building in Jerusalem; God designates the Israelites a special nation, but for the sake of the rest of the nations.  Over time, the Israelites put a greater and greater emphasis on the ‘special’ part, and tended to forget the ‘for the sake of the rest’ part.  Isaiah seems to be restoring the balance here.  He affirms that the temple is indeed the center of the action, but what happens there is for everybody, not just the people of Israel.

·         ‘a feast of rich food for all peoples‘—in the verse above, God silences the ‘uproar of foreigners.’  It turns out that he’s settling them down so that he can throw them a great big party.

·         ‘he will swallow up death forever‘—the rich and the poor have their differences, but they also have a common enemy: death.  In the end, this is the enemy God is most interested in defeating.

 Taking it home:

·         For you: Isaiah starts this chapter by declaring, ‘’LORD, you are my God’.  Try starting your day by putting yourself in God’s hands.  Write it down or say it aloud.  Tell him that you want to rely on Him—his goodness, faithfulness and love—today .  How does it feel to put your trust in God’s ability to perform ‘wonderful things’?  Keep tabs on this throughout the day.  Thank God whenever it seems like he has come through for you; and try letting him know when your trust in him is waning, and why.

·         For your six: God knows how to appreciate a good party.  Consider how you could follow God’s example of preparing ‘a feast of rich foods’ for your six.  Maybe it isn’t actually a meal specifically (although it might be….who doesn’t like a well prepared home-cooked dinner?) but any way of showing your six that they are known and celebrated.  Ask God if there is a way he would like to use you to lavishly love one or all of your six. 

For America: Pray today for the hungry.  Compared to other nations, America as a whole has an ABUNDANCE of food.  However, there are still some fairly large discrepancies in who experiences that abundance.  Pray for the physically hungry in America (ProjectBread reports that in Massachusetts alone there are ½ a million people struggling to put food on the table) that God would watch after them. Pray that every family in our nation would get a healthy share of its abundance.

²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All whom the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” ²³ The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

²¹ ” ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’

²⁷ “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

²⁹ ” ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰ ” ‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. ³² So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³ Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

¹ Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.

² You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.

³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.

⁴ Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

⁵ You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,

⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.

⁹ You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.

¹⁰ You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.

¹² The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.

¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.