OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS JUDGEMENT BUT SHIELDS THE REMNANT OF HIS PEOPLE

The book of Isaiah chapter 4 verses 4 - 6 and chapter 5 verse 1 - 3 says this;

Isaiah chapter 4 verse 4 - 6;

The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. 

Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. 

It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain

This portion of the text speaks of the care that the Lord shows toward the beautiful branch of the Lord, Israel. The remnant left in Zion are cleansed by the Lord by the spirit of judgement and the the spirit of fire.

The Lord will then create a canopy of His glory over the whole of Zion and will be a shelter from the heat and also from the storm.

The canopy will shield the people of God from the harshness of the conditions of judgement.

Isaiah chapter 5 verse 1 - 3;

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

This portion out of Isaiah chapter 5  speaks of a vineyard being tended by a diligent farmer. He tends the vines and provides the best possible conditions for the  vines.

He prepared the soil and then planted the best vines available to him.

He then built the facilities on the premises needed to provide security over the land and he also prepared the components needed to process the grapes when they were ready.

In the end, he went to inspect the fruit he had invested so much effort into and he found that the grapes were bad.

The Lord's response to the bad fruit that were yielded by His people Israel was to bring about judgement of destruction upon His own people and His judgement was destruction.

The Lord visits calamity upon His people when He judges them but for the remnant in the land whom he chooses and exempts from judgement, he protects by His glory.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SUSTAINS US

From Psalm 3

I will not fear 

Though on every side 

Tens of thousands assail me 

I will call to you My God

My shield and my Glory

Arise Lord 

From your Mountain

From Zion  

Lord lift my head

Arise Lord 

For You sustain me

You're my glory

Lord Deliver me 

Hear me Lord, 

Turn your ear to Me 

And hear my prayer

Show me Lord

The wonders of

Your Love and faithful care (×2)

Keep me as the apple of your eye

And hide me in the shadow of your wings (×2)

OUR FATHER WHO WHOSE JUDGEMENT IS FEARSOME

The book of Isaiah chapter 15 verses 4 - 8 says this;

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out, and their hearts are faint.

My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the hill to Luhith, weeping as they go; on the road to Horonaim they lament their destruction.

The waters of Nimrim are dried up and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone and nothing green is left.

So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab; their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.

This passage captures the tumult and anguish that follows from the judgement that is brought down on Moab by the Lord.

The cries of the fleeing people are so loud that they are heard in the neighboring towns causing the military personel based there to exclaim in fear.

Convoy of refugees begins to flee the destruction of judgment and they are weeping and lamenting as they go.

The Lord's heart cries out over Moab as the scene of terror unfolds.

Their land has turned into a barren wasteland in which nothing grows and springs of water have stopped flowing.

The people of Moab gather anything of value they had stashed away and make a break for it through the ravines but they are so distraught that their wailing can be heard for miles around.

They are experiencing a time of distress they had never experienced before.

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OUR FATHER WHO WILL CLEAR AWAY THE USURPING POWERS OF DARKNESS

The book of Isaiah chapter 14 verse 22 says this;

“I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors, her offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.

The totality of Babylon's destruction is declared in this verse.

Babylon, under the tutelage of the king of Babylon, usurped authority on earth and designed a mode of existence that excluded God and embedded a proud and selfish culture to govern the lives of men.

This kingdom of darkness is judged and in verse 22, sentenced to obliteration by the Lord himself so that the Babylonian system would never again take root on the earth.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER PRESCRIBES THE ERADICATION OF A REBELIOUS CIVILIZATION

Moving further in Isaiah chapter 14 , we examine verse 21 which reads this way;

Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again.

Prepare a place to slaughter his children for the sins of their ancestors; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.

This passage begins with the last line out of verse 20 in order to encapsulate the whole thought which is a pronouncement of a judicial sentence on the descendants of the king of Babylon.

The text contains the commands to erase the progeny of the wicked Babylonian system from knowledge and to put to death the agents of its propagation. This to prevent the rebellious system from reclaiming the territory of earth and being able to rebuild its civilization on the face of the earth.

The Lord God is to be feared.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO JUDGES THE OPPRESSORS OF HIS PEOPLE

Continuing with the next verse in book of Isaiah chapter 14, we look at verse 20 which reads this way;

Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people.

This verse is speaking of the king of Babylon who is standing in for Satan, the oppressor of God's people.

The image is presented where the chaotic and undignified scene of a dead person being stepped on by passing crowds of people.

The honors of a formal and orderly funeral that are given to world leaders are denied to him and the reason given for this exemption is that during his reign, he destroyed the land and murdered his own subjects.

Also given the name, 'the Assyrian, this person is judged severely for the rebellion and reign of mayhem that he fostered against the Lord's people.

As verse 25 says;

I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down.

His yoke will be taken from my peoplek, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

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OUR FATHER WHOSE VICTORY IS ABSOLUTE

The book of Isaiah chapter 14 verse 19 says this;

But you are cast out of your tomb  like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit.

The king of Babylon, in judgement for his actions, is brought down to the lowest pit after being cast out of the normal state of repose for a world leader.

A diginified tomb rejects him and he is trampled underfoot and covered with the dead who have themselves have done wicked things and cast down into the lowest pit.

This judgement is metted out because of the destructive and murderous practices of his regime and as verse 20 says;

Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people.

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OUR FATHER WHO IS THE JUDGE

The book of Isaiah chapter 15 16 verse 12 3 says this;

“Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night—at high noon.

Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.

The people of Moab, facing a destroyer who  came to ruin them, scattered from the land of Moab in convoys of refugees.

In this verse, Moab sent a petition for asylum to the nation of Israel who was their neighbor.

As Israel vacillated on whether to grant asylum, Moab pressed her to make a decision one way or another. 

Moab asked Israel to discreetly conceal the refugees from those who sought to destroy them.

Israel is then prophetically counselled to provide refuge to the people of Moab because the day of the destroyer will come to an end.

Those who acted in mercy and love for their neighbor in distress will be noted by the throne that will be established in love as verse 5 says;

In love a throne will be established;  in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Amen.

OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD IS ETERNAL

The book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8 says this;

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

This verse speaks metaphorically of grass and flowers with the grass representing human beings on earth and the flowers representing the good works that they do that make humanity beautiful.

Even if human beings wither away and their righteous and faithful works are shed, the word of the Lord God will endure forever.

This paralells the words of the Lord Jesus in Mathew chapter 24 which says;

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Word of God is eternal.

Amen.

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