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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Is. 23
Tyre – mighty in trade; powerful in wealth. They, too, would be brought low by God. Their downfall, however, had a 70 year limit. After 70 years – restoration. “She will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world throughout the earth.” (Is. 23:17b). That description of “prostituting herself” gives me the impression that her 70 years of humility failed to bring about a change of heart. But I don’t really know. What I do know is that when God acts, things do change. Though Trye would go right back to prostituting herself, she would no longer stockpile her wealth to build herself up on. Instead, God would use her profits to provide for those who dwell with Him. People do what people do. And God uses all of it – the good, bad, and ugly – for the good of those who love Him.
Is. 24-25
“The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD” (Ps. 24:1). There is no height, no depth, no faraway place beyond God’s reach. And He will strip the whole earth bare to show every nation that He is God. “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will give praise to God” (Rom. 14:11). Revealing His glory is not a mere power play, however. It is an appeal; an offer of salvation. He shows us our need and that He is the answer to it. And He will leave no stone unturned to reach and rescue every person who belongs to Him. “On that day it will be said, ‘Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and He has saved us.’” (Is. 25:9a).
Is. 26
“LORD, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.” (Is. 26:12). This is the promise of Jesus. He did all the work for our salvation so that we might have true peace forever.
The following verse is also interesting. “LORD our God, lords other than you have owned us, but we remember your name alone.” (Is. 26:13). The footnote in the CSB offers an alternate translation for the word “owned”. The verse could read, “lords other than you have married us”. That makes me think how the Church – all believers collectively – are Christ’s bride. The beautiful thing in that is that we are not a pure, virgin bride. We gave ourselves to so many others before Him. But when we give ourselves wholeheartedly to Jesus, remembering His name alone, He graciously takes us as His own.
Is. 27
The message I see in this chapter is that God scattered His people, crushing their fortresses, so that He could gather the faithful back to Him. The prophecy mentions threshing grain. Well, isn’t this the process of threshing? You cut down everything in the wheat field and trample it to separate the wheat from the chaff. This process eliminates both the weeds and the worthless parts of the wheat. Is it a painless process? Not by a long shot! But it is the only way to safely and effectively gather up clean, fully mature grains of wheat.