Sat.’s Devo - A Sure Foundation

Read: Isaiah 28:14-30:11; Galatians 3:23-4:31; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 23:19-21 The people of Ephraim and Jerusalem despised Isaiah’s prophecies and accused him of talking gibberish to them. God told them that he would send them a nation that would speak to them in another language and it would sound like gibberish to them. These people would be the Assyrians. Paul used this same scripture in 1 Corinthians 14:21 when talking about speaking in tongues and interpretation. He said it was a sign to the unbelievers. What he meant by unbelievers were the people in the church who were mocking the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He gave them the gifts of tongues and interpretation to warn them to stop mocking his gifts just because they didn’t understand them and couldn’t control them. The people of Ephraim and Jerusalem had made a covenant with the Assyrians to protect them but then had broken that covenant and stopped paying them tribute. The Assyrians were coming to get their payment with interest. God had given them David and his line as the people’s ‘sure foundation’ of a Messiah to come through that lineage. Their ‘sure foundation’ at that time was Hezekiah who was a type of Christ - the ultimate ‘sure foundation.’ God brought the Assyrians against Ephraim to punish them but like a farmer threshing his field, God knew how to do it so it would produce a better crop. God spoke to Jerusalem and reminded her of her other name, Ariel which means “an altar covered in blood.” The Assyrians would come to attack her, but God would do something suddenly and rescue her. Her attackers will vanish like a vapor. The people didn’t believe what Isaiah told them because they were spiritually blind and deaf. They had no faith. Their future events were sealed from their understanding much like Revelation is sealed from ours, though it is becoming more and more open as time progresses. People in Jerusalem had lost their fear of the Lord so they did their sins thinking he couldn’t see them. God did see. A time was coming when the spiritually deaf and blind would hear and see again. The humble would have joy once again. Those who plotted evil, perverted judgment, told lies to destroy the innocent, and gave false testimony would be killed. God’s people would no longer be ashamed but would see the blessings of the Lord. Those who repent would be changed. But, the rebellious went down to Egypt to ask for help to fight the Assyrians instead of relying on the Lord. They paid Egypt, but Egypt disgraced them by not showing up. Isaiah told them all these things before they happened which just made the people mad at him. They wanted him to prophecy good things, not things of judgment. But, Isaiah didn’t care what they said, he cared about what God said. In Galatians, Paul explained that the law was our guardian to keep us protected by telling us how to live to please God. When Jesus came, we no longer needed the law as our guardian, we have the Holy Spirit. We put on Christ like our new clothes making us all the same. We are all children of Abraham and heirs to God’s promises to Abraham. Under Abraham they had the promise but it was not inherited until Jesus came. Gentiles were slaves to gods that didn’t even exist until they met Jesus and were adopted into his family. Paul rebuked both the Jews and the Gentiles Christians for wanting to go back to obeying the rules and rituals of their past. Paul admonishes them to live free from all those laws. False teachers had enticed them to do this. Paul told the story of Issac and Ishmael. Ishmael was the son of slavery to the law while Isaac was the son of promise. Ishmael was born of man’s own effort and lack of faith. Isaac was born of God’s seed and promise. Ishmael stood for the people under the law while Isaac stood for the people living under grace. Paul wanted them to live under grace. Lord, help us to remember that we are free from our own efforts and live for you. We put on Christ as our clothes.