November 3, 2010
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Isaiah 40 by Pastor Don
There are many false teachings in the Church. Some teach that we do not need to attend church. There is the emerging church. Some teach that things that we have previously called “good” are really bad. They want us to rely on emotions and what “feels” right. If a person does not follow the current tolerant teachings their intelligence and judgment are questioned and they are labeled as condemning. But teachings are in error if they do not line up with the Word of God. Jesus loved a person who sinned, but did not condone their sin. The woman caught in adultery was protected by Jesus so no one would stone her, but he also told her to go and sin no more.
Love puts limits. Love applies judgment and correction in situations. Love without correction makes a person as guilty as the person who commits the sin.
Some take the liberty to freely interpret the Scripture, rejecting the parts they don’t like, they are not hearing the full Word of God. Often they cite the supposed fallibility of Scripture as a reason to reject certain parts. The Holy Spirit, if we listen to Him, will help us to realize when we have made a wrong interpretation of Scripture. Much of what is not considered sound doctrine evolves when a person takes the text out of context.
Jesus asked a poignant question, “Will I find faith?” We can’t fault people who have never been in the Spirit for not knowing the truth by the Spirit. We need to discern if what we are believing is because it lines up with the Spirit and the Word or is it touching our emotions? We need evidence to say that this is true because it is based on Scripture.
Jesus gave each disciple something to base their commitment on. Peter and John were bought out into the water and caught such a great load of fish that Peter tells Jesus to stay away from him because he is an unclean man. Jesus told them that they would become fishers of men.
When we come to God it is based on the Spirit, and we are not taken in by the big lie.
Isaiah 40 is for those mature in faith. Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with chronological age. In Pastor Don’s childhood church some of the deacons were not mature. Pastor asked his father why this was so. His father told him that they were arrested adolescents, they were still a kid in an adult body.
Maturity comes with spiritual experiences that open the heart and mind. Immature people seek to “get even.” They take someone’s disadvantage and make it their advantage. They covet something and find a way to obtain it. Some think that they can buy lottery tickets and pray to God as if God was going to give them a winning ticket. God will not multiply your finances in that manner. Don’t justify it by saying that something that the devil promotes can be made holy by the anointing. What the devil gives you, he will take away. God tells us to invest. To take a percentage of your income and tithe it to the Lord. You can’t reap a harvest without sowing seed. We need to have retirement plans and not depend on Social Security to provide for us. We are to gain houses and lands, and prepare an inheritance for our children.
Isaiah 40:1-2 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”
In Isaiah 39 Hezekiah showed the Babylonian ambassadors all the treasures of Israel, things he had no right to show them, such as the Temple treasures. Isaiah prophesied that because of this the future generations of Israel would face serious repercussions, such as the diaspora, because of Hezekiah’s sin. Hezekiah was not concerned because he would have peace in his life. The previous chapters dealt with a different time period.
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
This is a Messianic prophesy, that describes John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth;
people, circumstances, nations. Jesus was sent with a message to the poor (spiritually and materially).
Isaiah 61:1-2a “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God;…”
The making of the crooked paths straight and rough places smooth is also an end times prophesy of future events.
Isaiah 40:5 “The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Jesus is the glory of the Lord, seen. All flesh will see it together, on the third coming of the Lord – when He sets His feet on the earth. His second coming is in the clouds, for the rapture, but He does not set His foot on the ground in that coming. There are three comings of the Lord but only two touch the earth.
Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
We don’t have a chance if the elect are fooled. Those who have discernment will not be deceived. Those whose flesh prevents them from hearing the truth are the ones that will be fooled. Those with discernment will not be making decisions from the emotions. They will be transparent and correctable. The Holy Spirit will reveal the truth to us.
OUR TRUTH METER HAS TO BE BIGGER THAN OUR CHARISMA.
The elders need to take action in accordance with the truth, teach the truth, and pray for discernment. We are supposed to judge in the light of Scripture. Sin is flesh and theology is good. Anything that we do in the flesh God can pull down. The measure of a person is seen by what does God does with the ministry after they sinned. For example, King David sinned, but repented from his heart and God was still able to use him. If the heart is not right, the devil can manipulate the mouth. You can have successful works and still get no credit, God judges the oat, hay and stubble, from those things that have real value.
Matthew 24:25-31 See, I have told you beforehand. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:38-42 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
These judgments on the earth are huge, and Christ will come again, in the clouds with great glory. It will set off a period of chaos.
In verse 27 we see that there will be signs in the heaven, that all will see. This appearance will be quick, and the rapture will occur. Who will be left on the earth are the unbelievers and those who do not believe the rapture will come.
Matthew 24:37-42 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
This speaks of the rapture.
Matthew 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
This chapter speaks of the third appearance of Christ, when He is sitting on the planet and judging.
Zechariah 14:4-5 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.
After Jesus appears in the clouds and the rapture occurs, He will make His third appearance on the Mount of Olives. The early church called it the Blessed Hope.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Caught up with Christ in the clouds.
Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
There is lots of effort applied to fool the elect, but it is not possible to fool them, if they use discernment and know the Word of God.
Praying your day is blessed.
Heather
