Sun.’s Devo - Our New Covenant

Read: Isaiah 28:14-30:11; Galatians 3:23-4:31; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 23:19-21 Hezekiah had made an alliance with the Assyrians to protect which he ended up breaking but it gave them a false sense of security. God was also talking about their spiritual condition. They were not living their lives with eternity in mind; they were trusting in their own power to protect them. God was going to remove the things they trusted in and the very ones they trusted in would be the ones who would trample them and take them captive. God is the great husbandman of the earth. He taught man how to plant and reap each crop according to its nature and he knows just how to reap every man according to their nature. In Chapter 29, Ariel refers to Jerusalem. Ariel means “the lion of God” but in this case it means “an altar covered with blood”. The people of Jerusalem would be blinded and not be able to hear the prophecies against them. They would not be able to understand what God was doing until Jesus came and took off the seal and revealed truth to them. Since they couldn’t see what God was doing, they thought he couldn’t see what they are doing. God’s judgment were going to come so swiftly it would astonish them because they wouldn’t be prepared. In Chapter 30, God rebuked them for making alliances with Egypt. They sent caravans of treasures to pay Egypt for their support but it would be for naught. Egypt would not help them. They should have asked the Lord for help; he is the only one who cares about them. In Galatians, Paul explains that the law protected them until the way of faith could come. Now that grace has come, everyone that comes to the Lord through Jesus is saved and a child of Abraham. Paul reminds them of Abraham’s two sons. Ishamael was born because Abraham and Sarah tried to make God’s promise come early. He was the son of the slave wife, Hagar. It still kept them in bondage to it. Isaac was the promise fulfilled and he represents Salvation through Jesus. Hagar stands for the covenant given on Mt. Sinai to Moses which enslaved them. Those who live by the law are enslaved by it. Sarah stands for the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman who is our mother. We are her children just as Isaac was. They were being persecuted by those who kept the law just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Ishmael was born by human effort and Isaac was born by the Spirit of God. God through Abraham told Sara to get rid of the slave and her son because they wouldn’t share in the inheritance of Isaac, the child of promise. The same is true of us. The ones who live by the law will not inherit the promise of heaven given to the ones who believe in the Son. Lord, help us to remember our inheritance is not on this earth but awaiting us in heaven. We are children of freedom and life.

Sat.’s Devo - The Fulfillment of God’s Word

Read: Isaiah 25:1-28:13; Galatians 3:10-22; Psalm 61:1-8; Proverbs 23:17-18 Isaiah knows that the great cities of the earth will be turned to rubble, but the poor who take their refuge in the Lord will be saved. He will be their tower of refuge and strength. In Jerusalem, God will spread a feast for all the people of the world. God will remove the cloud of gloom and the fear of death. He will wipe away all tears and remove their shame. The people will rejoice in their God who was mighty to save them. Jerusalem will be a place of blessing once more. This was all fulfilled through Jesus. God will punish Moab and end their evil deeds and their pride. But, the people of the Lord will rejoice in all He has done. They will give God glory for saving their nation. Isiah says all this about the future but for the present, he tells them to go in their houses and wait until the Lord brings them salvation. He will do what he promised to do. Justice will be meted out and the evil will be judged. God will watch over his people while he is judging the earth. They will blossom once again and fill the earth. God judges his people for a while to cleanse them but it is for their good and not their harm. When it is time, God will gather them together and bring them back to their land. God speaks to Samaria, Israel’s capital and declares its end. It had been proud and abandoned the Lord, so he would send a mighty army to destroy it. In the end, God’s army would defend it. The remnant would live there who will honor the Lord and long for justice. God will give them great courage. At the present time, Israel was led by men who were drunks and deceivers. They couldn’t understand why the prophets talked to them as they did. They didn’t understand the prophecies against them and didn’t think they deserved to be judged. Because they couldn’t hear, God would send them messages in sporadic bits. In Galatians, Paul explains that the law is not bad, but Christ redeemed them from the curses of the law. The law must be followed verboten if they choose to live by it, but no one could do it. Grace sets them from from obeying the letter of the law and allows them to live by the Spirit of grace. God gave the promise of Christ to Abraham but he gave the law to Moses. The law was to last until the promise came. The promise has come through Jesus and we can now enjoy the fulfillment of the promise. The law pointed out our sin and the promise set us free from that sin. Lord, thank you for giving us freedom for sin. Thank you for forever taking our sin from us that we might live unto you in joy and freedom. May our lives reflect your love and power.

Fri.’s Devo - The Valley of Vision

Read: Isaiah 22:1-24:23; Galatians 2:17-3:9; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 60:1-12 God refers to Jerusalem as the Valley of Vision which is sort of an oxymoron. You would go up on a mountain to see, not a valley. But, since Jerusalem had lost their ’seeing’, God referred to it as a valley. Isaiah saw Jerusalem full of devastation and disease. The leaders that couldn’t escape surrendered without a fight. He was seeing a day of crushing defeat, confusion and terror brought by the Lord and his army. Isaiah looked forward to the day when the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and Elamites attacked with their bows and chariots. Homes were dismantled to fill up the holes in the wall. Reservoirs were built to bring water into the city. Yet, no one cried out for God’s help. No one realized this was their fault for abandoning God. Isaiah tried to warn them as well as other prophets but they chose to party when they should have repented and walked in burlap. God sent Isaiah to Shebna, the palace treasurer who was building a great monument to be buried in. He asked him what he was doing since his body was about to be sent to a foreign land to die. He would never have any use for the tomb he was building. He told him he was a disgrace to his master. He would be replaced by Eliakim who would serve Hezekiah faithfully. Shebna represented all the dishonest men who ruled the financial world. They would all be replaced by men of integrity like Eliakim. God’s people would be given authority over the finances of the world and would be able to open doors that had been shut before. God gives a word about Tyre, the wealthy city of trade on the sea known as the marketplace of the world. It would be torn down and judged for her pride. Sidon, her sister city would also be destroyed. Babylon would be turned over to wild animals after the Assyrians were through with it. Tyre would be forgotten for 70 years, the life span of a king. Then she would be revived for a time but, in the end, all her wealth would be turned over to the Lord. He would use it to provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord’s priests. Judgment was coming to the whole earth at the same time. The sins of the earth has caused this great curse. The whole earth has lost their joy and they all have the same sad story. Only a remnant is left. Only a little food is left to harvest. Isaiah sees this great shaking of the earth and all the devastation that lies ahead and yet the people still continue to party and act like noting is about to happen. The good news is that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion and he will rule in great glory in the sight of all the leaders of his people. All that we read today reminds me of what is going on right now in our nation. It is encouraging to read that all that is happening in the world is going according to plan. In the end the wealth of the wicked will be in the hands of the righteous who will use it to bless the world. In Galatians, Paul addresses the ones who thought they still had to follow the law to be Christians. He explains that they can’t continue to live by the old system since the new one has come. The new one is based on Christ’s death and resurrection. We too have died to our sins and been resurrected to a new life of freedom and grace. If we live to please God then we will do the things that are right. We now live by the Spirit and not by a list of laws. Abraham is our example who went agains the laws of his day and followed the Lord by faith. God’s plan was given to Abraham when he said that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Now the Gentiles are welcome into GOd’s kingdom which was God’s plan all along. Lord, help us to understand the day we are in and put our trust in what you are doing.

Thurs.’s Devo - Judgment to the Nations

Read: Isaiah 19:1-21:17; Galatians 2:1-16; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 23:13-14 God had a warning for Egypt. His army was advancing on Egypt. God would cause civil war in Egypt. Upper Egypt would fight Lower Egypt. They would call upon their false gods to no avail. The wisdom of their false priests would give them nothing but bad advice. Their economy would sink, their food supply grow scarce and there would be no answers. In fear, they will turn to the Lord and God would set up his altar in the heart of Egypt and a monument to Him at its border. These will be signs that Egypt worships the Lord. When the people cry out for help, God will send them a savior to rescue them. God will send his Spirit to heal them. There will be a road connecting Assyria and Egypt and both countries will worship the Lord. Israel will join them in worshipping the Lord. The prophesies began to come true when the Assyrians attacked the Philistine city of Ashdod. God told Isaiah to take off his outer tunic exposing his inner vest. This was a picture of what was about to happen to the Egyptians possessions. They were about to be taken and their sins exposed. Egypt had been under Ethiopian rule for over 50 years so they were synonymous. When the Assyrians take Egypt, the Philistines will panic because they were counting on the Egyptians helping them. Chapter 21 gives the account of the fall of the Babylonian kingdom and the rise of the Persian kingdom. It happened on a night when the Babylonians were feasting and drunk. The sight that Isaiah sees frightens and sickens him. Babylon had abundant towers where their watchmen looked for invaders. Isaiah was one of God’s watchmen who watched and told what he saw coming. Many prophets saw the same thing and warned them. Isaiah as a watchman told Edom what he saw coming to them. They cried out to have some relief and he saw a quick relief but it would not last. He saw the Edomites and the Assyrians being run out of their own lands into unknown roads they would take to escape. They would hide in the deserts of Arabia and the people of Tema would bring water and food to help them survive. Only a remnant of Arabians would live. In Galatians, Paul finally is able to revisit the church in Galatia. He meets with the leaders to make sure they are all on the same page especially about circumcision and find that they agree in their doctrines. Paul is so pleased even though he meets a few who were planted in the church just to take away their freedom. Paul doesn’t give them an inch. The leaders of the church recognized that Paul had been given the commission to preach to the Gentiles and that Peter had been given the mantle to preach to the Jews. They encouraged Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles. Paul had had to confront Peter about his hypocrisy with the Gentiles but he had repented and was now walking in truth. Lord, may we appreciate the discipline of your hand and repent. Thank you for forgiveness.

Wed.’s Devo - God’s Word to Moab and Galatia

Read: Isaiah 15:1-18:7; Galatians 1:1-24; Psalm 58:1-11; Proverbs 23:12 It is believed that Isaiah gave this prophecy against Moab in the first year of Hezekiah’s reign and it was fulfilled four years later when Shalmaneser seized the strongholds of Moab on its way to invade Israel. Moab had probably joined with Israel and Syria against Assyria. God used Assyria to take down the places of idolatry and idols worship in Moab. The surprise attack happened so fast that the army didn’t have any time to do anything but cry out like the people. They only had time to flee. In Chapter 16 the prophecy continues and the prophets of Moab tell the people to send the lambs to the king of Judah. They had paid Israel lambs during King David’s rule but had stopped. They hoped that by providing Judah with lambs, they would take them in as refugees. They will cry out to their pagan gods but they will not be able to save them. Nothing they do will save them from God’s wrath. Isaiah says that this would happen to Moab within the next three years. Chapter 17 begins Isaiah’s prophecy about Damascus. It will end in a heap of ruins. Syria will look like Israel after the Assyrians took it. Their land will look like a field after harvest - totally desolate. Only a remnant will survive. Then the people will look to God as their creator and God. The will realize that all this happened because they abandoned the Lord. Their harvest will not be fruit and grain but grief and pain. Those who plunder them will be plundered themselves. Chapter 18 was a word to the people of Ethiopia. They were fierce warriors who were feared by other nations. They would be cut off before they started. The good of their land would be gifts sent to Jerusalem. In Galatia, the Judaizers said that Paul had taught them wrongly. They said that Paul taught other churches that they must be circumcised. Paul wrote them this letter to set things straight. He makes the point that he didn’t teach anything using human reasoning but he heard from God and spoke what he heard. When Paul was saved on the road to Emmaus he spend three years in Damascus listening to the Lord and being taught by him. Then he went to Jerusalem to meet Peter and spend time with him. After that he launched out on his missionary journeys. During those three years, the church had gone through growing pains and struggles to keep the truth from becoming blurred and tainted. Paul came back full of God’s spirit and full of the truth. His mission was to bring truth to the church and help cleanse them from false doctrines that had worked their way into the churches. Lord, may we look into our own hearts and see if any false doctrines have sifted in. Thank you for truth that stands the test of time.

Tues.’s Devo - Babylon’s Fate

Read: Isaiah 12:1-14:32; 2 Corinthians 13:1-14; Psalm 57:1-11; Proverbs 23:9-11 We begin reading what will happen in the end of the ages when God’s people will come to salvation through Jesus. In Chapter 13, Isaiah received a message concerning the destruction of Babylon. It was talking about literal Babylon and spiritual Babylon. Babylon captured Judah and took many captive for 70 years. This prophecy was about their doom. It is also talking about “the day of the Lord” which is the end of days. Every nation will meet and to fight. The Lord will come with his army from heaven. The world will be punished for her sins. In their day, God will use the Medes and it will be a picture of the end. The Medes will attack Babylon and have no mercy just as Babylon had had no mercy on other nations during their reign. This happened during the reign of Belshazzar. Isaiah sees the wild animals taking over the world just as it will be in the end. Chapter 14 gives the hope for the remnant of the earth. God will have mercy on them and they will return to their inheritance, the land of their ancestors. The nations of the world will help them to return to their land. This happened when Cyrus became the king in Persia. He sent Ezra with as many exiles as wanted to go home to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. The leader of Babylon was Satan himself moving through a king. When he was defeated, the ones who went before him to the grave stood to see him arrive in hell. They were amazed at how weak he looked. We should see Satan in that state because when Jesus rose from the dead, he was exposed as a weak loser. When he is taken down in the end, all hell will see how weak he really is. Isaiah says that that king of Babylon will be thrown out of his own grave and dumped into a mass grave where he will ascend to the pit. He will not be given a proper burial because of all the evil he did on the earth. This is a picture of Satan’s fate. Uzziah had placed the Philistines under a heavy yoke of payment. When he died, they saw this as their chance to break out from that bondage under the new king, Ahaz. That never happened so when Ahaz died, the Philistines thought that they would now be delivered but God wanted them to know that Hezekiah would be even more powerful over them. He would be the more poisonous snake. This is a picture of the rising power of the Church. In Corinthians, Paul encourages them to repent before he comes. It reminds me of how Jesus wants us to repent before He comes. He wants to come back and find his children living in righteousness so he doesn’t have to discipline them. He wants to find them repented and walking in truth and obeying God’s Word. This was Paul’s prayer for them. May we be joyful, grow in maturity and encourage each other to live in harmony and peace. May we walk in the grace of Jesus, the love of the Lord and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Mon.’s Devo - God’s Plan of Redemption for the Remnant

Read: Isaiah 10”1-11:16; 2 Corinthians 12:11-21; PSalm 56:1-13; Proverbs 23:6-8 God pronounces his judgment on the unjust judges and the lawmakers who issued unfair laws. Today that would be the judges from the Supreme Court down to the county judges and the ones who make the laws which are the Senators and Representatives…Congress. The unfairness of their laws affected the widow and the orphan the most. They were the most vulnerable. God was sending Assyria to be his punishing rod, then he would turn and punish Assyria for their crimes. The king of Assyria will not understand he is being used because his mind doesn’t work that way. His plan is to simple take over the world, city by city. He will think his own might won him all his victories. His arrogance will be his downfall. God will send a plague among his troops and kill them in a single night with his heavenly army. He will do it with the fire of his glory and it will even consume most of the trees. A remnant will remain who will put all their trust in the Lord. God told them not to be afraid of the coming Assyrians because He was sending them. When it is all over, God will end the bondage of his people and make a way for them to survive. They will come from God’s new Branch (Jesus). The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Jesus and he will have the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Jesus will delight in following the Lord and bring justice to the poor and not be bias. His word will shake the earth and he will walk in righteousness and truth. All who inherit David’s throne will be saved and spread the Gospel throughout the earth. God will reach out to the Jewish nation and bring them to Israel. God speaks of a future time when Judah and Israel will no longer be jealous of one another. In that day Israel will plunder the nations to the east and attack the nation to the west. God will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea and send a wind to divide the Euphrates River so that it can be easily crossed on foot. He will make a highway for his people just as he did when they returned from Egypt with Moses. In Corinthians, Paul admonishes the church for being deceived by these people he calls Super Apostles who are all show and no integrity. He also admonishes the people who have not cleaned up their lives and still tolerate sexual immorality and lustful pleasure. Some of the people complained that Paul took advantage of them through trickery and Paul calls them out and asks them what proof they have. The only thing he regrets is not letting them support him financially while he was there like all the other churches did. The Church in Corinth reminds me of an entitled child that wants to live by different standards than his parents but still wants them to support him. Lord, may we be mature children of God who take responsibility for our actions and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us walk in integrity and freedom. Thank you for the power of salvation.