OUR FATHER WHO FREES HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE

The book of Isaiah 14 verse 3 says this;

On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, 

Verse 4 continues this way;

you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: 

How the oppressor has come to an end!

How his fury has ended!

This pivot point marks the day that the people of God are freed from their oppressors.

The king of Babylon, who had imposed suffering and turmoil and unrelenting harsh labor on God's people, is suddenly dispossed of his position and cast down and God's people will exclaim in triumph that the time of hateful  oppression has ended.

The king of Babylon is defanged and the power he held is stripped away from him leaving him weak and helpless.

The Lord, on the strength of His righteousness and justice, is victorious over the powers of darkness and His faithful ones are vindicated.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO RENDERS THE OPPRESSOR POWERLESS

The book of Isaiah chapter 19 verse 15 says this;

There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm branch or reed.

Parallel to Isaiah chapter 14 verse 3, the power of the kingdom of darkness is brought to nothing.

The Lord is victorious over the oppressor and His people are freed from the hold of bondage.

The expression in this verse that goes ' head or tail, palm branch or reed' speaks of the totality of the kingdom. From the highest rank to the lowest rank, all are rendered powerless and they cannot enforce their oppression at any level.

Victory is absolute. 

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO GLORIFIED HIS SON

The book of Isaiah chapter 6 verse 4 says this in the KJV;

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

The NIV says it this way;

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

The prophet Isaiah was shown a vision and he saw the Lord on a throne high up and exalted  and the train of His robe filled the temple.

And a striking class of beings with six wings named Seraphim in the text, were calling one another saying these words found in verse 3;

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;  the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices as they said these things, the door posts  ( and the thresholds) moved (or shook/trembled) and temple was filled with smoke.

What the prophet Isaiah is reminiscent of what Ezekiel the prophet wrote of in the book of Ezekiel chapter 1. Ezekiel saw the Lord in great glory on a throne and he saw beings who were similar to Isaiah's seraphim but with two differences. 

Ezekiel's beings had four wings while Isaiah's had six. 

Ezekiel's beings were called cherubim while Isaiah's were called seraphim.

In both cases, the prophet, upon witnessing the scene of the glory of God, was overwhelmed in terror of they saw. 

Isaiah wrote of his response; “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Ezekiel wrote;

When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.

Holy is the word of the Lord.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO RESCUES HIS PEOPLE FROM OPPRESSION

The book of Isaiah chapter 19 verse 13 says this;

The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.

Revisiting this verse, we examine the categories  of the enforcers of the oppressive regime who are targeted by the Lord to force them to relinquish control over His people.

Firstly, there are officials based in the town of Zoan (otherwise known as the princes of Zoan) and these are the ones who oversee the area of Goshen where the children of Israel lived. They are struck with foolishness.

Secondly, there are leaders ( or officials ) from the city of Memphis ( also known as the city of Noph ) who are deceived ( or deluded ). Memphis was a capital city of Egypt and those who were administrating the affairs of the people of God from afar are struck with deception or delusion. Their understanding of reality is distorted and so any policies of control they try to establish are misguided.

Thirdly, the cornerstones of her people are the leaders whom the people of Egypt trust to guide them during crises. With the propagation of foolishness and delusion through the ranks of the Eyptian officialdom, the leaders make bad decisions and the path they lead Egypt down is wrong and the children of God are able to depart from their oppression.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WARNS US ABOUT THE DANGER OF FALSE DOCTRINE THROUGH HIS SPIRIT

The book of 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 - 2 says this;

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

This passage begins with an unusual predicate saying that the Holy Spirit clearly ( or expressly in other versions) says that some will abandon the faith and follow after deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

The clarity by which the Holy Spirit spoke highlights to us how urgent and how costly this type of breach into the body of Christ is.

Through the vector of hypocritical liars whose consciences are seared into a state of insensitivity, deceptions and demonic doctrines are injected into the minds of believers and can have the effect of causing them to drift away from their original beliefs and towards fruitless and destructive beliefs and practices.

Examples given by Paul of these false doctrines are dietary restrictions and constraints placed on marriage that are made to seem like spiritual practices but are distractions from the path of righteousness by claiming to be alternateawa sources of righteousness.

Paul advises Timothy in verse 6 that these infestations can be displaced by merely pointing them out to the people;

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, a you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 

As long as all doctrine is held up for examination, the false doctrines that attempt to sidle into the general body of belief will die off.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO FAVORS THOSE WHO RESIGN THEMSELVES TO WHATEVER FATE RESULTS FROM SERVING HIS KINGDOM

The book of Esther chapter 4 verses 9 - 11 says this;

Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

This passage is preceded by the account of the efforts by a man named Harman  to destroy the people of God.

He had manipulated the legislative machanisms in the kingdom to enact a law that would permit the destruction of the Jewish people.

When the plot came to light, Esther's uncle Mordecai sent a note to her in the palace of the king to urge her to go to the king to plead for the lives of the Jewish people.

In response, she sent a note back informing her uncle that she could not approach the king in his inner court  at any time but had to wait to be summoned. Any person approaching the king without an invitation was likely to be subjected to the death penalty unless the king lifted his gold scepter to spare the intruder.

Mordecai sent a note back to Esther to implore her to take action inspite of the risk because she herself would not be spared the judgement against the Jews and it was likely for the reason of the existential threat against the Jews that that she was placed in the position she was in.

Esther took Mordecai's charge to heart and she called for the Jewish community and her staff to undertake a three day fast alongside her to prepare for her attempt to get an audience with the king.

She braced herself by saying, 'If I perish, I perish' and after the fast,  she went to see the king in the inner court and as she approached, the king lifted his gold scepter to spare her and she was able to plead with the king for the lives of her people.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO PROVIDES PROTECTION FROM THE OPPRESSOR THROUGH HIS PEOPLE

The book of Isaiah chapter 16 verse 4 says this;

Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.”

The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.

This verse, an excerpt from a prophecy that foretells of a terrible time of judgement that is to fall on Moab, advises God's people to be a shield for the people of Moab as destruction comes for them as they escape the calamity in their own country as refugees.

The counsel to God's people is in keeping with the mandate given to them to be a refuge for the lost and a people to whom those seeking reprieve can run.

In this verse, it is foretold that the oppressor of Moab will be terminated and the destruction will stop. The ones who bring aggression into the land will disappear. 

This prophecy, topical in its scope, speaks of an aggressor who takes over a territory and begins to carry out a program of destruction on the citizens. The people of God respond with concern over the treatment of the citizens and when they take action to protect them, the regime of destruction is suddenly struck from the territory they have gained and they vanish.

The engagement of God's people to help the oppressed is an unassailable counterforce to the efforts of the kingdom of darkness.

As Mathew chapter 16 verse 18 says;

 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

Amen.

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