One Year Bible, September 13

ISAIAH 12:1 - 14:32                                                                                                               
"IN THAT DAY":  The day of Jesus Christ, which has already begun - - - He has ministered among us, given His life, and resurrected from the dead and is now alive and available.  We are living "in that day"!   Chapter 12 is Our Song of Redemption.

WATER FROM THE WELL: "On the last day of the feast of the Tabernacles Jesus stood in the Temple and cried out, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me, and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." By this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:37-39).

The Presence of God Himself is the well; the Holy Spirit is the water welling up.  He is all-sufficient and complete.   My whole being can be penetrated and filled with God.  The process of drawing from the well is to come to Jesus, believe what He said, and ask for the Holy Spirit.

BABYLON IS DOOMED:  Babylon is the world-spirit of antichrist.   It is a religious spirit that is "tolerant" (mean and hateful), counterfeit, a substitute for the real deal, legalistic and unfeeling.   Chapters 13-14 tell of Babylon's destruction.   All of us were partakers of this before we got born again - - - and God then sends refining fire, wind, and water of the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of any and all portions of Babylon that is in us.   James 4:4 says, "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."   And so the Holy Spirit opposes "friendship with the world" in us, like these two chapters tell us, in "the day of the Lord".   It is the day that rebellion against God is revealed for what it is, and brings with it the fear of God.   In that day, He will "punish the world for their evil, and their wicked for their iniquity."   When things start shaking, anything that Babylon has "hatched" will be doomed too.  Stop looking to the future, and pay attention to NOW.  This isn't "doom and gloom"; it is deliverance.

HOW GOD JUDGES EVIL (satanic-inspired lust for power):
(v.1-8) When evil is judged, the righteous are delivered. The same flood that killed Pharaoh, freed the Israelites.   (v.9-11) Hell is stirred up "to meet thee at thy coming".   (v.12-15) Rebellion against God is revealed for what it really is - fleshly, evil, arrogant desires "to climb higher, to compete, to be recognized, to escape hardship, and to be as god".   (v. 16-20) Judgments appropriate to the evil desires: "cast out, thrust through, trodden under feet, shall not be joined in death, shall never be renowned (eminent)".   (v.21-23) Utter destruction of even the fruit and the memory of evildoers.

ASSYRIA and the PHILISTINES ARE DOOMED:  ASSYRIA and PHILISTIA both represent the worst of the FLESH or self-life.   All the self-hyphenated words: self-interest, self-preservation, self-exaltation, selfishness, etc. etc.   Their destruction is certain because "the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?"

RESPONSE:   (Gal 5:24) "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."   They are all marked for destruction anyway.   And if we live by the energy and life of the flesh, we will be destroyed along with it.  My flesh lusts for power, "to climb higher, to compete, to be recognized, to escape hardship, and to be as god" - - - it must be crucified.   It stands opposed to God and instead of God.   Its "children" are marked for destruction also - anything the flesh "hatches" up.  The flesh is marked to be "cast out, thrust through, etc. etc."  YIKEES!!   You can call it demonic if you want to - - - but the fact it, this passage describes the "mind of the flesh", the world-spirit of antichrist, the SELF-life - man at his "normal". God's jealousy will burn like fire at our rebellion and unfaithfulness, and we might as well bow.

2 CORINTHIANS 13:1-14                                                                                                      
"DON'T MAKE ME COME BACK THERE!!!" My dad used to threaten to get into the backseat of the car (where all 6 of us kids sat squished together), to deal with us when we made too much noise while he was driving.   That's what I think of when Paul told the Corinthians that if I come again, I won't spare the guilty, because I'm no weakling!   The world has this idea that because Jesus was "crucified in weakness" that He and His followers will "roll over and play dead" when evil is committed where we can see it.  But, He lives NOW "by the power (GR: "dunamis") of God."   And in cases where evil must be confronted, He lives in us "by the power of God" also!   In the face of evil, we aren't "tolerant" or "politically correct".

EXAMINE YOURSELVES:  Who are you, really?  Are you a counterfeit?  When we rebel against authority, we need to examine our hearts to see if we are defending our own bad conscience.  If you want to come to grips with your true spiritual condition, you start by doing an inventory on your attitude toward sin, particularly toward your own sin.  What makes us Christians is the fact that Jesus Christ lives in us! It is not that we joined the church, or even attend church regularly.  Is there evidence that Christ lives in you? Do you have a new attitude towards Truth?  If you are a real Christian, you will know that the Word has real authority.

RESPONSE:  Has anyone ever said to you - - - "I thought you were a Christian!"  "Outsiders" sometimes confuse "meekness" with "weakness".  We must NEVER defend ourselves, NEVER insist on our rights, and NEVER complain.  HOWEVER, we must stand up for righteousness' sake, for justice (for others, not ourselves).  When we live holy, sanctified lives, there should be a distinction between us and everyone else.   Here, Paul was saying that if Christ lived in them, it was proof of HIS apostleship, since it was by his ministry that they were saved at all!  But it is still a legitimate exercise for us to "examine ourselves"; "prove your own selves"; "know you not your own selves"....  Especially if we are having rebellious issues.

PSALM 57:1-11                                                                                                                    
WHEN GOD IS ENOUGH: Sometimes we have to go THROUGH some things to learn that God is enough.   This is where our joy comes from: our certainty that He is enough.  Our faith is NOT for escape from trouble, but for deliverance in trouble.   We draw near to Him in His Presence until the storm passes by.  "God performs all things for me"   He brings them to His conclusion, completing His purpose with me, perfecting me and bringing me to maturity.   Surrounded by evil, threatened with death, falsely accused, traps set for his failure - - - it takes a "fixed heart" to go THROUGH these things, not AROUND them.   How do I "fix" my heart? "Fixed" means "immovable, firm, established."  It means we are not up-and-down, tossed around by our feelings.   We get our hearts firm like that by what we are TELLING IT.

"I will sing and give praise." "I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people, I will sing unto Thee among the nations. For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds. By Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let Thy glory be above all the earth."

We must INSTRUCT and CONVINCE our own hearts (See Rom 8:7) that it is safe to trust God. We must REASSURE our own minds and feelings that God is GREAT and God is GOOD.   If we must stay up all night to get it done, then do it.  This is how we cling to Him until the storm passes by.

PROVERBS 23:9-11                                                                                                                
Fools don't know they are fools.   They don't believe themselves to be accountable to the Truth, and so you waste your breath to try to instruct them.

Why do we think it's okay to be condescending to poor people?   Why do we take advantage of the poor or the vulnerable?  Are we so self-centered and self-serving that we don't see the injustice of it?