One Year Bible, September 9

ISAIAH 3:1 - 5:30                                                                                                                  
JUDGEMENT AGAINST SOCIETY'S PROPS:  Military, civic and religious leaders will be thrown out, and incompetents will be put in their place, making a way for utter chaos.  Evil rulers led them into sin, and incompetent rulers will finish them off.  They will end up "ruined."  They don't even try to hide their sin!

JUDGMENT AGAINST DAUGHTERS OF ZION:  These are a type of the Bride of Jesus - they are in "Zion" - so they should know better! They are haughty and live a perverted lifestyle, while pretending to be saved and Spirit-filled.   Anything they relied on before will be gone. God will take it all away and burn it.  The purpose of this judgment is to deliver us from substitutes, from counterfeits for God, from independence, and from dependence on other things. This judgment is to bring CORRECTION.

A KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM (Chap 4):  Seven women (#7) is the BRIDE/CHURCH (7 deacons, 7 churches in Rev, etc), and the "one man" is JESUS.   All they want is to be called "Christians" ("called by Thy Name") so they can get into heaven.  They will provide their own self-righteousness and their own sufficiency.   However, God wants a REAL marriage - not a pretense. 

THE BRANCH: Throughout most of the OT, "the Branch" is capitalized to refer to Jesus.  John 15, however, states that the Branches are BELIEVERS - but not just any believer - they are ABIDERS - a REMNANT who insists on living in God's Presence, in an interactive relationship of love and trust.   Either way, to describe Jesus is to describe His image-bearers.

THE WEDDING CANOPY:  The remnant will be called "holy" - that is, separated out to the Lord only. In preparation for the marriage, this remnant will be cleansed and purged by "the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning."  This "Baptism of Fire" is for the purpose of cleansing away uncleanness and self-preservation. "Cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night" will actually be our wedding canopy!  There is intimate communion taking place in there.  This close fellowship will give us insight, wisdom, sight, deliverance, refuge, glory.  This is God's place of rest and provision.  It is, after all, the Presence of God.

THE WEDDING SONG:   "To my beloved:”  God has done everything for us, all we must do is submit and receive.   We should have brought forth wine, but instead we are wild grapes (ewwww!). Sooooo........

WOE! (6 times): Drunkenness is listed twice. The other sins are loosely connected with it and Isaiah seems to really hate it.  (1) The concentration of wealth in the hands of a selfish few land-grabbers. Instead of providing for the poor, they partook of selfish indulgence.  (2) Drunkenness and laziness. They drink and eat all day without lifting a hand to work. And so "hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure".   There are so many people like this that hell couldn't hold them all, so it was made bigger!   (3) These don't wait for sin to draw them, they go looking for it, scorning all the warnings.   (4) "Call evil good, and good evil; put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."  Talk about perversion!  They are tearing up foundations of simple morality and the sense of right-and-wrong.  In justifying their behavior, they have destroyed their conscience. (5) "wise in their own eyes" - now they are self-deceived, like the "Emperor's New Clothes". (Remember the childhood story about the emperor who paraded downtown naked, thinking he wore a new robe?)  These people think they are the illuminated few, freed from the rules that govern the rest of us masses.  They have "outgrown" laws.  (6) Back to drunkenness again! This time with the effect of causing injustices. They pervert justice to serve themselves. They brag about being able to "hold their liquor!"   That is the character of all of these "woes" - the people think they can handle their sin. 

FIRE BURNS:  Isaiah saw a raging fire of judgment, burning across the dry, hardened, inflammable land, destroying everything in its path, clear down to its roots. God would raise a signal to enemy nations to come from the ends of the earth to destroy His own vineyard. But wait, there is more.........

RESPONSE:  God wants everyone to know WHY they are being judged. The desired end is correction, but if not, then they will be destroyed.  This passage could be describing the present world - if people pervert the laws of God long enough, they become like those who claim to be able to "hold their liquor" - they think they are sober, but are, in fact, drunk - not in their right minds. 

2 CORINTHIANS11:1-15                                                                                                   
MORE ABOUT SATAN:  Eve was "deceived" by Satan, and we can be too!  By having "our minds corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."  Our minds can be "corrupted" or spoiled, rotted, messed up!  We are supposed to be "single" in our commitment to Christ Jesus, unwavering, singleness of mind. (The heart of a virgin.) That is "simplicity".  How does Satan corrupt us?  Thru people we should be able to trust:  (1) Someone presents a perverted form of the Gospel - "another Jesus" - (For example, some cults believe Jesus to have been created, or to be brother to Lucifer).  (2) "Another spirit" gains access - seducing us from our loyalty and love to Jesus Christ.  (3) A "different Gospel" - adding things to salvation by faith alone, for example.  Or insisting on conformity to certain traditions for fear of being ostracized.  No wonder Paul was upset!

EVEN MORE ABOUT SATAN: Counterfeit light is still darkness.  "False workers of the Gospel" who spread deceptive doctrine leads people into BONDAGE.  Sometimes they even fool us into giving them our money!  Or they are elitists who abuse the congregation and refuse to eat with them and stay separated.

RESPONSE:   Our concept of Who Jesus is, determines our whole relationship with Him. Our undivided commitment to Him determines our relationship with Him.  I've had my fill of "false workers in the Gospel" who bring reproach on the rest of us - because they sound like all they want is our money!  I've had my fill of elitist ministers who exploit their people and then refuse to have anything to do with the "hoi polloi". ("commoners").  I have always believed that a good shepherd smells like sheep. 

PSALM 53:1-6                                                                                                                        
THE GODLESS ARE FOOLS.  They reason they say there is no God is so that they aren't accountable for their actions.  However, according to God, there is NO ONE that does good - "NO, NOT ONE".  Sinfulness is universal.

PROVERBS 22:28-29                                                                                                   
Cheaters never win. People who do things with excellence will become evident.

RESPONSE:   I remember the first time I saw "River Dance".  I was enthralled. I LOVE just about anything that is done in excellence, just like the Bible says.  Excellence got them on TV.