Imagine for a moment you are a citizen of Judah during the prophetic span of Isaiah’s ministry. The dates maybe somewhere around 740-700 BC. You saw your brothers in the North fall under siege to the Assyrians and there are strong, very strong warnings that the Babylonians are coming your way to do the same to you in the South. Mingled in Isaiah’s words are those of hope. A surprising mention of a servant. In obviously distinctive and fresh language, a vision and an application of a servant who will do things for the nation never before seen or heard. The ‘servant of God’ strand flowing through Isaiah marks a significant mysterious character whose qualities rival any prophet, priest, or king. Five ‘songs’ are featured in the latter portions of Isaiah.
Who is this servant? If you were hearing Isaiah’s words, you would truly be baffled. Is it Cyrus, Hezekiah, Eliakim, a missionary, Isaiah himself, a reincarnated Moses or Elijah, the nation of Israel, another king, God himself, is it the people of God corporately, are they individual ‘believers’, or is it an individual who is a messianic figure? The options abound for the hearers. He is a mystery man!
The servant is first introduced in Is. 42:1-9 “Here is my servant” the great solution.
Vv. 1-4 God addresses Israel. Justice is used three times in these verses (1, 3, and 4). He is not just for Israel, but for the nations (Gentiles) (1). Notice how gentile he is and full of humility (2, 3).
Vv. 5-7 God (Ha’ El- “He who is indeed the true transcendent God”) addresses the Servant. His purpose is delineated in (6,7) “a light for the Gentiles.” There is a future reference to Is. 61 in v. 7 “to free the captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Also this verse looks back at Isaiah 7.
Vv. 8-9 God address Israel again.
There is a hint of opposition; his task is not easy, but doable. The character and mission of the Servant: will bring salvation and a new world order. The Spirit and justice dominate this ‘song.’
Posted in B90X
Tagged Assyrians, Babylonians, Cyrus, Elijah, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Israel, Judah, Moses, servant, Servant Song
http://www.charismanews.com/world/32608-archaeologists-find-rare-pure-to-god-temple-seal
Archaeologists digging near the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City unearthed a rare find used in the daily work of the ancient Jewish Temple.
The small clay seal is inscribed with two words in Aramaic meaning “pure to God.”
“This is the first time we got [found] something that belongs to God, belongs to something that came from the temple,” Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Eli Shukron said.
Archaeologists say the seal is the first archaeological evidence of the administrative workings of the Second Temple. That temple was built around 500 B.C. after Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed. More here.
Who says there isn’t anything good in the last twelve books of the Old Testament? It is packed full of many verses we see on calendars, daily scripture flip charts, and encouraging verses of the day. Yah sure there is some of the difficult stuff we don’t understand because of culture and when it happened, but who doesn’t like “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” (Nahum 1:7)? That is hopeful material!
Continue reading →
Posted in B90X
Tagged Amos, Assyrians, Bethlehem, David, discipline, Holy Spirit, Hosea, Israel, Joel, Jonah, Judah, judgment, Lord, Micah, Nahum, Nineveh, Obadiah, Old Testament, refuge, repentance, Zion
For one of the best sermons on Daniel I have ever heard, refer to our website under “Media” and click on the tab for Sunday, Feb 27th by Scott Wenig. Scott joined our B90X series for Daniel and idea of “Standing for God.” Please take the time to listen- here is the link http://www.castlerockbiblechurch.org/media/sermons
We finished up Ezekiel, the last of the longer prophetic books and we now get into the last group of books, also prophetic, but of a lesser length, of which there are thirteen. The first one is quite enigmatic, especially the last six chapters. To avoid redundancy, I will keep the information short about Daniel.
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Another beautiful day in Colorado Saints! 
Imagine for a moment you are a citizen of Judah during the prophetic span of Isaiah’s ministry. The dates maybe somewhere around 740-700 BC. You saw your brothers in the North fall underseige to the Assyrians and there are strong, very strong warnings that the Babylonians are coming your way to do the same to you in the South. Mingled in Isaiah’s words are those of hope. A surprising mention of a servant. In obviously distinctive and fresh language, a vision and an application of a servant who will do things for the nation never before seen or heard. The ‘servant of God’ strand flowing through Isaiah marks a significant mysterious character whose qualities rival any prophet, priest, or king. Five ‘songs’ are featured in the latter portions of Isaiah.
Who is this servant? If you were hearing Isaiah’s words, you would truly be baffled. Is it Cyrus, Hezekiah, Eliakim, a missionary, Isaiah himself, a reincarnated Moses or Elijah, the nation of Israel, another king, God himself, is it the people of God corporately, are they individual ‘believers’, or is it an individual who is a messianic figure? The options abound for the hearers. He is a mystery man! Continue reading →
Posted in B90X
Tagged ANE, Assyrians, Babylon, Elijah, exile, Gentiles, Hezekiah, Holy Spirit, Isaiah, Israel, Jesus, king, Moses, priest, prophet, servant, Sovereign
Another beautiful January morning for us to enjoy Saints~ 
It may seem today that you are repeating yourself and you wonder why in the world we would be reading something so similar to something written before. Why would the Holy Spirit consider the books of 1st and 2nd Chronicles to be included in the Bible if they are duplicates? Let’s look closer at what is going on.
The books of Chronicles are uniquely special. They possess a richness of texture and and interpretative challenges that surpasses that of most OT historical books. Much of the richness is due to the close parallel to the four books previous to them. Fifty percent of Chronicles is the same material found in Samuel and Kings. Yet in actuality, the remaining 50% which is not found in the previous four books, contains the rich theological and spiritual material so important to its hearers and us today.
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Good morning~
I will have to admit, it takes a high degree of fortitude to keep up with this pace of reading. And boy is it worth it! Great stuff today.
Key dates to jolt your memory:
971 BC The anointing of Solomon
931 BC The division of the United Monarchy into North (Israel) and South (Judah)
722 BC The fall of Samaria, the capital of Israel (invader: Assyria)
612 BC The fall of Nineveh (the Assyrian capital)
605 BC The battle of Carchemish
605, 597, 586 BC The three attacks on Jerusalem and the fall (invader: Babylon)
I have attached several charts today from a book I own, John H. Walton, Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament (1994, Grand Rapids: Zondervan). One is a map of the kingdom at its zenith, another at the split, one is all about family and ancestry of David, another the history of the United Monarchy, and a cool one, a list of the deities of the ANE we read about.
Elijah calling down fire upon the altar on Mt Carmel and the prophets of Ba'al.
Posted in B90X
Tagged B90X, Elijah, Elisha, healing, Israel, Jerusalem, Judah, Luke, Nineveh, Samaria, Solomon, worship
