“PROGNOSTICATORS” OR “A MORE SURE WORD”

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 47-48

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

A young man embraces God’s Word while standing in front of the Colosseum in Rome. Over and over in recent readings, the words, “Thus says the Lord,” appear. God desires to communicate with His human family. Romans 10:17 tells us that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Isaiah 48:17-18

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

The Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

Who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you by the way you should go.

Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea…”

Chapter 47 prophesies the fall and humiliation of Babylon years before it rose to become a world power. The polar opposites of God’s Prophetic Word are the efforts of astrologers, stargazers, and monthly prognosticators (47:13). The horoscopes in our newspapers contain clever generalities, as does the slip of paper inside a fortune cookie, but, as Isaiah points out, these things cannot “stand up and save you.” Babylon’s eventual destruction is inevitable as prophesied by Isaiah.

Chapter 48 prophesies that God, who has allowed His people to go through the “furnace of affliction” in order to refine them, will not forsake them. When these prophesied events come to pass, as they did, God’s people will know that their God is the “First” and the “Last” and is the One and Only God!! Isaiah 48:16 gives us a glimpse into the nature of God, One God in three Persons, “Lord God” (the Father), “His Spirit,” and “Me” (the One sent by God, God the Son). The Hebrew scholars point out that in 48:16 the singular verb, “Have sent,” is used with the plural subject. Is this a mistake in grammar or is this the verbal inspiration of the Word of God pointing to the Trinity? We see this in other places in the Hebrew Scriptures. For example, in Genesis 1:1, God, (Elohim, a plural word) “created” (a verb which is singular). Isaiah says that “The Lord your God”…”teaches” and “leads.” We should experience the result, “peace… like a river” and “righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Again today, Lord God, I ask for continued effectiveness in doing as Isaiah 48:20 urges me to “declare, proclaim…With the voice of singing,” and to “utter it to the end of the earth.” I pray that this blog, along with a multitude of other ministries, will be more and more effective than ever in convincing people everywhere that You exist and that You “are a Rewarder of them that diligently seek” You (Hebrews 11:6). I ask for these opportunities in the Name of the One Who has fully communicated Who You are, Father God, Your Son and my Saviour, Jesus Christ! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

A while back Norma-Jean and I had dinner at a Chinese food buffet restaurant in Brantford, Ontario. I opened the fortune cookie and discovered a generality on the paper inside which could apply to anyone. It said that I would meet someone that would change my life for the better. Actually that has happened many times during my many years on earth, but the most far-reaching and forever change happened when I met Jesus Christ through believing His Word (John 6:37-40), and my life was forever and ever altered! When I saw the word “prognosticator” in today’s reading, I thought of that cookie. I also thought of what the Apostle Peter has written to us in 1 Peter 1:15-21. He declares, “We also have the prophetic word made more sure!”

Yours for reading, underlining, understanding, digesting and then with the spiritual energy derived from all this, proclaiming God’s message to the “end of the earth,”

David

P.S. Over 25 years ago, Crossroads began working with a group of Toronto Pastors from Chinese language churches. We produced, financed, and released weekly telecasts on Toronto’s multilingual TV station. After about two years, we encouraged the pastors to incorporate, raise their own finances from the Chinese churches, and strike out on their own, with God’s enablement. Today, this television ministry, called “Showers of Blessing Evangelistc Ministry” (SOBEM), is reaching multiplied millions all over the world, providing a mighty utterance to “the end of the earth” to all those who understand the languages of China. At the 20th anniversary of that great ministry, I was given the plaque pictured below. Here is a musical sample of this ministry. The song is called “There is a God!” With the official atheism of the People’s Republic of China, this message is so very powerful! (click here).

Click on photo to enlarge.