American Loon

All glory to God our Father.

Let us turn to Isaiah 42. I want you to keep in mind while we go through this scripture that the Holy Spirit was speaking through Isaiah about Our Savior Jesus Christ 600 years before Christ was born. Imagine if we were given an important message 600 years before the event. How would we as a people react? 600 years ago was 1419. That was before the printing press, which was still a couple of decades to come, and even before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. A very large chunk of time, and the amazing thing to me is this book spans 1500 years, written by around 40 authors. A consistent story of the Grace and Mercy of God and the coming of His Son Jesus Christ. I have had people tell me that the Bible is a fairy tail, couldn’t be true. 

How could it not be? People generally can’t agree on the color of the sky, but this Book, written by many different men, over a really long period of time, and they kept the message? How does that happen except by the hand of God. Yet the unbelievers scoff, can’t understand, it just don’t make sense to them. It does to us and that in itself is proof of God’s hand. Just something to consider…

1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

    and he will bring justice to the nations.

An interesting observation of content and meaning between different versions of the Bible. I primarily have used the NIV version because it is a bit easier to read and I really get tired of all those Thees and Thous. However, the NIV version has been known to condense or paraphrase the Word of God down to something that changes the meaning, at least for me. We keep a King James version, in fact my wife uses it, to check on things now and then. This is one of those times. The King James version of verse 3 is this:

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,

My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

 

Did you notice the difference? Just one word, will over have, put a gnat in my orange juice, so to speak. Does it change the meaning for you? It did for me. The NIV states that God will put His spirit on Jesus. The King James states that He did put His spirit on our Savior. Both are true. When Isaiah was speaking it was a future event, where God will do this thing. But God is everlasting, meaning that there was never a time when God was not around. And He knew that we, the people of this day would be reading it and His spirit had already been placed on Jesus.

Now, in the big picture view, where we all hold hands and sing Kumbiya, I suppose it doesn’t change all that much, but it sort of bugged me.

Getting back to verse 1 of Isaiah 42, I think we will go with the King James version at least verse one.

1 “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,

My Elect One in whom My soul delights!

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

Matthew 3:16-17

16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

2 He will not shout or cry out,

    or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4  he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Our Lord Jesus is the servant that our Heavenly Father delights in. So gentle that he does not break a bruised reed.

 Matthew 21:7-9

7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!”

Matthew 20:28 Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Jesus rode a donkey when he came the first time. 

Yet when he comes back the second time, He will be riding a white horse and come as a conquering King. 

Revelation 19:11-16

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 

12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 

13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 

14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 

15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

5 This is what God the Lord says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

    who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

    who gives breath to its people,

    and life to those who walk on it:

6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;

    I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

    to be a covenant for the people

    and a light for the Gentiles,

7 to open eyes that are blind,

    to free captives from prison

    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!

    I will not yield my glory to another

    or my praise to idols.

9 See, the former things have taken place,

    and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

 I announce them to you.”

10 Sing to the Lord a new song,

    his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

    you islands, and all who live in them.

11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;

    let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

    let them shout from the mountaintops.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord

    and proclaim his praise in the islands.

13 The Lord will march out like a champion,

    like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;

with a shout he will raise the battle cry

    and will triumph over his enemies.

14 “For a long time I have kept silent,

    I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now, like a woman in childbirth,

    I cry out, I gasp and pant.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills

    and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn rivers into islands

    and dry up the pools.

16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

    and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

    I will not forsake them.

What a wonderful message, the mighty hand of God stretches out and gives us breath. He opens the eyes of the blind and frees captives of their prison. Our enemies are but dust before Him. He will smooth the rough places and will not forsake us. 

That was the good news part of the scripture. God will do and has done all these things, but we must fear our Creator too. Those who do not accept his Son as Lord and Savior and walk in righteousness will suffer His wrath.

17 But those who trust in idols,

    who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’

    will be turned back in utter shame.

18 “Hear, you deaf;

    look, you blind, and see!

19 Who is blind but my servant,

    and deaf like the messenger I send?

Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,

    blind like the servant of the Lord?

20 You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;

    your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

21 It pleased the Lord

    for the sake of his righteousness

    to make his law great and glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted,

    all of them trapped in pits

    or hidden away in prisons.

They have become plunder,

    with no one to rescue them;

they have been made loot,

    with no one to say, “Send them back.”

23 Which of you will listen to this

    or pay close attention in time to come?

24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,

    and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord,

    against whom we have sinned?

For they would not follow his ways;

    they did not obey his law.

25 So he poured out on them his burning anger,

    the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;

    it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

God the Father will shower Blessings upon us if we do as He asks. And as our Holy Father, He will discipline us when we stray and we will stray. The price of sin is death but He has given us His Son, our High Priest and Savior, that we might live.

Let us now step back a bit further and turn to 1 Kings 1 and see just how God’s children, those brothers of Joseph, who became very fruitful on the plains of Goshen, why had they become the idol worshipers of Isaiah’s day. 

This is one of the great stories of the Bible. David, the King of Israel is now an old man and could not keep warm. So his administrators searched the land and found a beautiful virgin named Abishag to nurse him and keep him warm. I think this is where the saying “It’s good to be King” arose from. It was during this time that one of his sons decided that he would now be king. It appears that David was a father that spared the rod and spoiled the child. You will recall that this had happened before with another Son. Absalom was another who exalted himself, and he had great hair. 

2 Samuel 14:25-26

25 Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 

26 When he cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king’s weight.

That’s almost 5 pounds of hair. He tried to be king but it didn’t work out. You could say his hair did him in.

2 Samuel 18: 9-15

9 Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. For Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And his head caught fast in the oak, so he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him kept going. 

10 When a certain man saw it, he told Joab and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 

11 Then Joab said to the man who had told him, “Now behold, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 

12 The man said to Joab, “Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Protect for me the young man Absalom!’ 

13 Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” 

14 Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. 

15 And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor gathered around and struck Absalom and killed him.

David’s sons thought much of themselves and now while David is an old man, just trying to stay warm, another son, Adonijah, decides now is the time to be King. But God makes the decisions here, not man and it was such that Solomon was made King. Because it was promised to Solomon’s Mother, but mostly because God wanted Solomon to be King. Much like God chose David to be King, instead of his handsome brothers.

1 Samuel 16:6-13

6 When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” 

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 

9 Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 

10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 

11 And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

David Anointed

12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” 

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

Another would-be king finds that his aspirations did not meet with God’s approval.

So now David now charges Solomon to walk in the Lord’s way…

1 Kings 2:1-4

1 As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, 

2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. 

3 Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, 

4 so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

David now goes to be with the Lord and Solomon starts to get busy with running the Kingdom. His father, David, left him a bucket list of people needing attention.

Adonijah the would-be King was executed. He asked for Abishag as a wife and Solomon did not find favor with that request.

Joab the bloody and traitorous head of David’s army is executed.

Shimei is executed for leaving his home when Solomon had told him not to. Shemei had cursed David mightily and David had told him that he would not put him to the sword. Never said anything about his son not doing it.

Solomon marries the daughter of Pharaoh and gets asked a question from God.

1 Kings 3:1-15

Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 

2 The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 

4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 

5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

Solomon’s Prayer

6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 

7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 

8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 

9 So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

God’s Answer

10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 

11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 

12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 

13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 

14 If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”

15 Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

What a deal! Solomon only wanted discernment and wisdom enough to run his kingdom. God was delighted with that humble request and said yes to that and MORE. Which we will find is a double edged sword in a sense. Get everything you didn’t even ask for and see what a mere sinful man will do with it. And we will pursue that next time.

All glory to God our Father.

I’ve been reading much about prophets of late and it’s got me curious. When you think of prophets, you might think that Jesus was our last prophet and yes, Jesus was a prophet. What then is a prophet, you might ask? In the dry and unbelieving world that we live in, I found this when searching in online: A prophet is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on that entity’s behalf, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. That definitely sounds like Jesus and I wonder if that surprises you. That Jesus was a prophet among all his other glorious attributes and our Savior. These are things that come to me in the middle of the night and cause me to ponder just a bit.

Let’s turn to Isaiah 41 and see what our prophet of God’s word has for us today.

Isaiah 41 seems to be a continuation of the questions asked in Chapter 40. Basically that chapter and this one deal with the greatness of God and the weakness of man. This chapter can be broken down into 3 segments. 

Verses 1 through 6: God overrules individuals.

Verses 7 through 20: God asks Israel to trust Him.

Verses 21 through 29: God overturns and mocks idols

1 “Be silent before me, you islands!

    Let the nations renew their strengths

Let them come forward and speak;

    let us meet together at the place of judgment.

These Islands I imagine would be the pagans, idol worshippers, gentiles and Us. Don’t think that God is just talking to the people of Judah. This passage is in the Bible for a reason. How could it not be about us, too? We are just as wayward as the Jews. Keep in mind you are the only Bible some unbelievers will ever read, and your life is under scrutiny every day. What do others learn from you? Do they see an accurate picture of your God?

Are you constantly needing to remind yourself that this Book is the Living Word of God and useful for our daily living, as much now as it was then? What’s coming is Judgement. Like DelRoy said last week. We’re all going to live forever. Where will you live when judged of your faith?

Lightness is overcoming darkness. Our God is telling them, and us, to be quiet and consider what He is about to say. 

2 “Who has stirred up one from the east,

    calling him in righteousness to his service?

He hands nations over to him

    and subdues kings before him.

He turns them to dust with his sword,

    to windblown chaff with his bow.

Who is this person? Some say Cyrus the King of Persia, but no, I believe it is Jesus and his rule of righteousness at his return to Earth. Who among us could turn Kings to dust? Who among us could do anything but return to dust ourselves.  

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed,

    by a path his feet have not traveled before.

4 Who has done this and carried it through,

    calling forth the generations from the beginning?

I, the Lord—with the first of them

    and with the last—I am he.”

The majesty of our Lord God, from which all has been created. Those Jews, led out of Egypt. How many miracles did they witness. And yet not that long afterward, while Moses was chatting with God, they persuaded Aaron to fashion a golden calf to worship. God came very close to destroying them. And I wonder today, how close we come. We have no Moses to talk God out of it. His Grace and Mercy are truly a blessing, each day. Make sure you tell Him that.

5 The islands have seen it and fear;

    the ends of the earth tremble.

They approach and come forward;

6     they help each other

    and say to their companions, “Be strong!”

7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,

    and the one who smooths with the hammer

    spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.

One says of the welding, “It is good.”

    The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.

The hubris of man. We think that we can overcome what God has wrought. Nail down those idols so they do not topple. What Idols have you nailed down in your life? What is so important, so powerful in its attraction that you put it before all else? Be honest with yourself. We’ve all done it. For me it would be technology, learning new things to do with it. I had a working artificial intelligence of a sort. No, I did not create it on my own but I did get it working on a little tiny computer the size of a deck of cards. I could tell it to turn on and off my lights, start my coffee. I was working on a robot that would follow me around and expedite my supposed needs. Idols come in various forms. You need to recognize that and take measures to remove them from your life. And one of the best ways of doing that is reading the Bible and being around and talking with other believers, like what we are doing now. Remove the people from your life that do not serve the Lord. And if you are going to a Church that serves out only skim milk, find one that serves meat, or speaks the whole truth. They are getting harder to find in these modern times. 

8 “But you, Israel, my servant,

    Jacob, whom I have chosen,

    you descendants of Abraham my friend,

9 I took you from the ends of the earth,

    from its farthest corners I called you

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

10 So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

This is God’s basic argument for all of us. I chose you after calling you from the ends of the earth. Since we have accepted Christ, we are also descendants of Abraham in spiritual sense. We are his servants. Let that sink in a bit. Do you feel like a servant? Act like one? Really? How do you think the Lord feels about our rebellion? He chose us and He did not reject us, meaning that in spite of various sins we commit, and remember He hates sin, He still calls us His children. And do not fear. How could we?

Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

11 “All who rage against you

    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

those who oppose you

    will be as nothing and perish.

12 Though you search for your enemies,

    you will not find them.

Those who wage war against you

    will be as nothing at all.

13 For I am the Lord your God

    who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

    I will help you.

To have the Creator of us and the universe say to us do not fear, he’s got our back. Wow. We are nothing, as you’ll see in the next verse, nothing. God can vanquish your enemies, including satan’s demons. What could we possibly worry about. I used to be very concerned with security, after all, I thought I was in charge of my life. I knew how to shoot, pistol, rifle or shotgun and was good at it. Had my concealed carry. Kept a close watch on large parking lots when shopping among the unwashed. Mildly paranoid if you had to ask. Now, when my Lord is my Savior and protector, the last time my brother in law was visiting, I gave him all my pistols. My nephew will probably get the rifles and shotguns. I have no need for them. I am not concerned about my safety, I am not concerned about anything at all really, that is my Lord’s concern. All I have to do is believe, trust and have faith. And is that all you have to do, too. 

14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,

    little Israel, do not fear,

for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

    new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

    and reduce the hills to chaff.

16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,

    and a gale will blow them away.

But you will rejoice in the Lord

    and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Once again, God is reassuring his people and us that he will protect us, strengthen us, make us grind our enemies so that the wind will pick up the pieces of them and blow it away. Our God is an Awesome God!

17 “The poor and needy search for water,

    but there is none;

    their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the Lord will answer them;

    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

    and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

    and the parched ground into springs.

19 I will put in the desert

    the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland,

    the fir and the cypress together,

20 so that people may see and know,

    may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

    that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Our whole purpose in this life of ours is to glorify our God. To know that He is all powerful, all knowing, all involved with our little lives. We so often forget to glorify God in the successes that we have in this life of ours. Could we have accomplished that success on our own? It is all good to be humble and meek, but if you forget to glorify God, you are missing the point and probably the Blessing. 

Quite a few times in the Bible it says to be in constant communication or prayer with God. 

Romans 12:12 

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 

Pray without ceasing,

Philippians 4:6 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Ephesians 6:18 

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

To name a few. 

This constant prayer is part of giving glory to our Lord. I am not sure if they really mean constant prayer as in CONSTANT prayer, by I think that by doing good works, keeping the Lord at the front of your mind, praying with great regularity, not hit and miss with mostly a miss. This in particular is what I think it means. That and loving your neighbor as yourself is going to go a long way toward what the scripture implores us to do. So do so!

21 “Present your case,” says the Lord.

    “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

22 “Tell us, you idols,

    what is going to happen.

Tell us what the former things were,

    so that we may consider them

    and know their final outcome.

Or declare to us the things to come,

23     tell us what the future holds,

    so we may know that you are gods.

Do something, whether good or bad,

    so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

24 But you are less than nothing

    and your works are utterly worthless;

    whoever chooses you is detestable.

I do like when God is using His ironic sense when talking about things made of wood or metal or what have you. He is talking to the people who try to justify themselves with things made of wood, metal or stone. These days we would add plastic and technology to that list of stupid things to worship. I am continually struck by how everything old is new again and there really is nothing new under the sun.

25 “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—

    one from the rising sun who calls on my name.

He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,

    as if he were a potter treading the clay.

King Cyrus who would be considered to come from the East. Who calls upon my name – This expression means, probably, that he should acknowledge Yahweh to be the true God, and recognize him as the source of all his success. This he did in his proclamation respecting the restoration of the Jews to their own land: ‘Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, Yahweh, God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth’ Ezra 1:2. There is no decided evidence that Cyrus regarded himself as a worshipper of Yahweh, or that he was a pious man, but he was brought to make a public recognition of him as the true God, and to feel that he owed the success of his arms to him.

26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,

    or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?

No one told of this,

    no one foretold it,

    no one heard any words from you.

Which of your idols could foretell such things as these from the beginning of the world unto this day? Do not fool yourself in thinking idolatry is of the past and has no connection to our timeline. We idolize many things, to our ruin.

27 I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’

    I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.

The passage means that the hearer of the good tidings of the raising up of a deliverer should be sent to the Jewish people. To them the joyful news was announced long before the event, so long before that many forgot. It would occur as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy recorded among the Jews. Isaiah refers here to his own prophecies uttered so long before the event would occur, and which would be distinctly known when they would be in exile in Babylon.

28 I look but there is no one—

    no one among the gods to give counsel,

    no one to give answer when I ask them.

29 See, they are all false!

    Their deeds amount to nothing;

    their images are but wind and confusion.

A final “outburst of scorn” and fittingly so. Idolatry has been one of the primary sins that his chosen people fell into. The first commandment: God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:1–3

This is why God told Joshua to destroy all who breathe:

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.

Verse 16 and 17 in Deuteronomy is a major argument by nonbelievers, saying God is not a loving, forgiving God. Why would He kill all those people. The answer is in verse 18. And them, being nonbelievers and have not read the Bible, continue to claim what they do, which corrupts others who hear this. These nations were not unaware of God and His ways.

We find in Joshua 2:11 what Rahab the prostitute said to the spies:

I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon, and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

We look to Romans 1:21-25 to find the Cannanites were not Innocent victims:

Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator. 

Is this not still true now? Hear the word of our Lord and heed it!

Let’s finish with this:

Psalm 62:5-8

5  Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 6  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7  My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

This last Wednesday we had a special treat. Pastor DelRoy led Bible study with a talk on the Rapture and Tribulation. I recorded the hour long session with all its small talk, coffee pouring and mysterious noises from out of the blue. It was a great talk by DelRoy, as it always is.