Today’s Reading: Isa 41:1–42:9, Luke 15:1–32, Job 9:20–24

Today’s Theme: God’s Faithful Servant

Jesus, God’s Servant

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6–7, ESV)

Earlier in today’s OT reading we heard God telling the people that they should not fear but trust in him, then we see God judge the false idols and idol worshippers who have no power to help anyone.

Now we see the prophecy of God’s solution in the form of a chosen and faithful servant in whom God delights, he will be meek, humble, determined, focussed, powerful and will bring justice and light to the nations. This prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus.

Through Jesus the prison doors are opened, the blind receive their sight and light comes to those in darkness. Jesus is the revelation of God, God’s great name, the answer to all the false gods.

Thank God today that Jesus was obedient even to the death on the cross as God’s servants and thus forming a new covenant by which we are now saved.

The bad servant

but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. (Luke 15:29, ESV)

Learn the double lesson form the parable Jesus taught of the prodigal son, both sons were in need of repentance, grace and mercy.

The first is obvious because his sin was one for the world to see, the second, from the older brother, was far more subtle and harder to see.

The older brother was serving but with the wrong attitude and heart. If we are serving God begrudgingly, always complaining and bellyaching about the woes of service for the Lord, how hard it is and seek some kind of recognition or reward then the we need to refocus our hearts on loving God and serving him form that place.

Don’t be a bad servant like the older brother, be a good and faithful servant like Jesus.

Also remember as the rest of the NT passage illustrates we were all like the lost sheep or coin and God sought us and found us, so we should humbly repent and be gracious to others who need the same grace we have been shown.

The devil’s servants

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it? (Job 9:24, ESV)

This same sentiment which is of course incorrect is expressed everywhere today, it goes something like this “if there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the world” or “God is cruel to allow all these things to happen”

These are popular, non-biblical views of the sovereignty of God, winding all events down to God’s responsibility and letting evil men and spirits of scot-free.

The fact is the devil has servants in the form of evil spirits and all men under sin are by default salves to sin and so slaves to the devil. The responsibility for the evil in the world lies squarely at the feet of sin and it’s agents.

Combat this lie today and point people to God’s faithful servant Jesus Christ and the provision that has been made through him.

“For the week commencing Sunday 17th August the Daily Bible Reading notes will take a shorter summarised format while the author is away on vacation with the family, notes will return to the usual format on Sunday 24th August.”

Today’s Reading: Isa 39:1–40:31, Luke 14:1–35, Job 9:12–19

Today’s Theme: Heralds for God

Behold your God

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9, ESV)

We have been called to proclaim the good news as heralds of our king, we go out and declare his kingship, greatness and goodness through the proclamation of the Gospel.

The word used for Herald in this verse literally means messenger of good news, bring good news, to tell, to announce and publish. The sense is “To announce or convey a message of positive information about recent and important events”. It is connected to the word euangelion which is to evangelise.

We call upon all men to behold the greatness and wonder of God, to consider the rewards and payments he will give, to know him as a shepherd, to acknowledge him as creator, the God who is eternal and does not grow weary and by his power can strengthen those who wait on him (serve him).

The Good News we proclaim is the Gospel that through God’s only Son Jesus Christ, by his life, death and resurrection a way has been made in the wilderness for man to be with God, to be forgiven of their sins and to escape the wrath to come.

A salty message

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:34–35, ESV)

Our Christian distinctiveness must be evident and sharp, clear and without confusion.

We must enhance the taste of the world around us and give the taste of the Gospel with its sharp and distinct flavours of justice and grace and not the mushy pea tastelessness of compromise.

As heralds of the king our message must be clear, full bodied and seasoned to be appealing to the taste buds. So our presentation of the gospel matters, if our lives do not match up to the message then our message is not salty but bland and without taste which is useless and unappealing.

We are called to be disciples who count the cost and therefore live the message we speak which gives the message real power and authenticity to those who hear it.

As you meditate on this point today consider the uses of salt which include being seasoning, fertiliser and a preservative.

The wrong message

If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. (Job 9:16, ESV)

Job has the wrong picture of God here as an unloving God who is too high to listen to the concerns of a mere man. Scripture and our experience of walking with the Lord tell us the opposite, God cares, listens and responds.

We must ensure the image we portray of God as his heralds is true to scripture and reality, we must not paint God as jus angry and unapproachable or as so “loving” he lets us get away with everything.

The true picture of God can only be found in the bible and is expressed best through his Son Jesus the Christ.

“For the week commencing Sunday 17th August the Daily Bible Reading notes will take a shorter summarised format while the author is away on vacation with the family, notes will return to the usual format on Sunday 24th August.”

Today’s Reading: Isa 37:14–38:22, Luke 13:1–35, Job 9:1–11

Today’s Theme: The only God

For the week commencing Sunday 17th August the Daily Bible Reading notes will take a shorter summarised format while the author is away on vacation with the family, notes will return to the usual format on Sunday 24th August.

The only God

So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:20, ESV)

We boldly declare that God is the only God, there are no other God’s, idols are not true gods neither are demons or men. Only God is God.

This is one of the most important developments in the biblical narrative, that that there is only one God, Lord, Creator, Redeemer and King worthy of worship.

We remember this today as we pray to God, knowing he alone is God and so can do anything. Hezekiah prays with great wisdom, he appeals to Gods desire to glorify his name in the earth and spread his fame as the one and only God over and above the false gods of men.

God answered this prayer of Hezekiah declaring he had determined to defeat the enemy long ago and sent his Angel against the enemies army, later when Hezekiah prays for God to extend his life, God also responds. God’s ability to answer these prayers makes clear that our God is sovereign over all, this truth should strengthen our faith as we approach God in prayer today.

Repent or perish

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5, ESV)

Jesus makes clear that the thoughts of those in Israel which reflected the same thoughts as expressed in Job and in today’s world which was that disaster was connected to sin and judgement.

Jesus does away with this faulty understanding of natural disasters and bad events by summing all man up in the same predicament, we will all face death and the judgement that comes after death so we are all called to repent.

We must turn from our sin, or we will perish eternally in Hell. This is not God’s desire for you which is why he calls us to repent.

When we truly repent we will also bear fruits of repentance that God and men can eat from our lives like forgiveness, love, kindness and mercy. We will strive to live for God in holiness and enter the straight gate to eternal life.

It is significant that our Women’s conference is on today and our reading includes the account of the woman with the issue of blood who Satan had bound for many years, Jesus comes and sets her free which is a picture of the freedom we receive in Christ when we repent of our sin.

God wins

If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?— (Job 9:3–4, ESV)

God is the only God, he is sovereign and if God is put on trial he will always win, so don’t fight a losing battle, repent and believe the Gospel, you can not harden yourself against the only God and win.

Thank God that we are made righteous by Christ before God.

Today’s Reading: Isa 35:1–37:13, Luke 12:22–59, Job 8:11–22

Today’s Theme: The way of the redeemed

For the week commencing Sunday 17th August the Daily Bible Reading notes will take a shorter summarised format while the author is away on vacation with the family, notes will return to the usual format on Sunday 24th August.

The way of the redeemed

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. (Isaiah 35:8–9, ESV)

This chapter is a beautiful poem prophesying about the glorious kingdom to come, when Christ will reign form Jerusalem, war will have ended and all enemies will be defeated.

We will be strengthened as his people with our new bodies given to us in resurrection, we will be avenged because the devil will be judged and we will walk on the Kings holy highway, this imagery is the most encouraging.

In a way we are on the Kings highway today because Jesus said he is the Way the Truth and the Life, Jesus is the way for us today. However this points to the glorious day in God’s kingdom when we will walk on an actual highway, one where the enemy (the lion) cannot come near.

Even fools like us will not go astray, we will walk with the redeemed in God’s kingdom forever. May this fill you with encouragement today, look forward to walking in the way of holiness as God’s redeemed people.

Don’t worry

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32, ESV)

Jesus teaches us not be be anxious or worried about how we will eat, what we will wear or where we live. Instead of worrying about these things which are genuine concerns to many in the world today, Jesus points us to the Father by telling us as his disciples to seek God’s kingdom first and trust God to take care of our physical needs (not wants but needs).

Our Father takes great pleasure in giving us the kingdom and bestowing his treasures upon us, so we must store our treasure in heaven and not get caught up in the worry and stress of the rat race on the earth, we are here as ambassadors of God’s kingdom. The truth is God himself should be our most precious treasure.

Instead of being distracted buy the worries of this life, we must stand always ready for the Lord’s return or call, living in a way that honours him everyday.

Jesus brings truth which because of the evil of mens hearts brings division, we must be aware that our stand for our King and his Kingdom will bring us opposition, but we must stand looking forward to walking on the way of holiness with the redeemed in the kingdom.

The way of hardship

Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring. (Job 8:19, ESV)

Some interpreters see the plant as referring to the ungodly making the point that God will quickly remove them form their place and they lose everything, which is true, the way of the world is superficial and temporary.

Others see the wider context of Bildad using the picture of this plant triumphing over hardship to encourage Job that his later end will see restoration, growth and fruitfulness again.

As you walk in the way you can be encouraged by both truths, on one hand do not desire the way of the wicked it is false gold, and will not last on the other hand as you go through hardship on the way, know that you will overcome.

Jesus said in John 12:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Today’s Reading: Isa 33:1–34:17, Luke 11:37–12:21, Job 8:1–10

Today’s Theme: Fear God, Our King

Today’s theme is about the reverential fear we should have for God our King. We will look at the results of having or not having a healthy fear of the Lord and where even being afraid of the Lord is healthy (in particular his purpose to judge all men).

Isaiah 33:1–34:17

The fear of the Lord is our treasure

and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. Isaiah 33:6 (ESV)

In this prayer Isaiah cries out for God to be gracious to Judah. God is exalted as the only source of salvation over against the Judean officials, Egypt and Assyria.

Here we see something wonderful, as God is exalted Isaiah declares that the fear of God is Zions treasure. There is also a sense in the Hebrew where the fear of the Lord is God’s treasure held for those he would restore.

We should cherish the fear of the Lord as our treasure too, we should guard it because it is precious, it is the pathway to life and wisdom and those who lose it lose themselves. The fear of God will be the ultimate determinative for the way we live (conduct and behaviour) as God’s people.

When we speak about fearing the Lord here we are not talking about terror as though we lived under an enemy dictator but the response of adoration and reverence from those who are grateful to, acknowledge and love their benevolent King.

Chaff and stubble

You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you. (Isaiah 33:11, ESV)

The original context here is God blasting the futile pride of the enemy ( Sennacherib).

God alone is exalted. When we attempt to live our lives without fearing him we will give birth to rubbish. What we do may seem valuable now but it will all be consumed when it passes through God’s judgement. Even the words of our own mouths will become like a fire that consumes us without God.

Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 3:12–13 “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.”

We don’t’ want to build rubbish and be burnt out building things in our own way, no, we should fear the Lord, make our plans and do our work in union with him.

Jesus taught us in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Acknowledge God’s might

Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. (Isaiah 33:13, ESV)

God calls the whole world to acknowledge his might, he alone is God almighty. This is why naturalism and atheism is such an awful offence before God as they do not acknowledge God for the wonderful creation he has made let alone the work he has done to redeem us.

Cry out today that your nation will acknowledge God’s might and fear him in the way he deserves.

Behold the king in his beauty

Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar. (Isaiah 33:17, ESV)

This is the climax and summary of the Bible’s overarching narrative of the King and his Kingdom.

This is the day we look forward to when we will see the king in all his glory reigning in his kingdom here on the earth he has made.

Even today we can see and savour Christ as our King, we should look and see the beauty of our king and turn our eyes from evil as the previous verses mention.

Here is a quick breakdown of the King and his Kingdom, the story of the bible (taken from the God’s Narrative message)

Act 1 God Establishes His Kingdom (Creation)
Act 2 Rebellion in the Kingdom (Sin and Judgement)
Act 3 The King Chooses Israel (Blessed to be a blessing)
Act 4 The Coming of the King (Prophecy)
Act 5 The Life of Jesus (Life, death and resurrection of Jesus)
Act 6 Spreading the News of the King (The mission of the church)
Act 7 Return of the King (Restoration completed)

The lawgiver

For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us. (Isaiah 33:22, ESV)

God is the one who gives the law, the judge who enforces the law and is the king. We show we fear the Lord by obeying the law he has given. As we will read in the NT today we should fear God because he is the judge who can condemn us for our sin (Also see James 4:12).

We Rejoice that the lawgiver is the one who saves us.

Luke 11:37–12:21

Don’t be an actor

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. (Luke 11:39, ESV)

Jesus takes time to deal with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Don’t make the mistake of thinking”yeah thats right bad Pharisees” be sure to listen to these woes and rebukes from Jesus and seek how the might be applied to YOUR own life.

The word hypocrite comes from the same word we get the word actor from. If we do not have the fear of the Lord then we are left with dead religion and the traditions of men, and if that is all we have we will be actors by definition, claiming to be something we can’t possibly be without the fear of God.

So we should be clean and serve God from the inside out.

Fear God, the Judge

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:5, ESV)

Jesus tells his disciples and by extension us to not fear those who can and in some cases will kill us physically because their power is limited they cannot kill our souls and cannot cast us into hell…. but God can.

God is the judge and he is the one all mankind should fear because he is the only one with the power to put anyone into hell for all eternity.

We should not let the threats of mere men change our stand for God, our awe and reverence for our God should keep us faithful to him under trial knowing he has the power over our destiny and even in suffering and death we are in his hands.

The fact that Jesus calls this a warning should highlight the importance of this point for all men, be warned God will send send sinners to hell.

Acknowledge Jesus

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, (Luke 12:8, ESV)

Very much connected to the last point, we should not be afraid of what people will say about us or think of us, we must boldly acknowledge and honour Jesus before the world. Don’t fear man, fear God.

Rely on the Holy Spirit

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, (Luke 12:8, ESV)

Fear and anxiety would be understandable if we only had ourselves to rely on in times of trial and persecution but the reality is that we have God the Holy Spirit with us to empower and teach us what to say under trial. So do not fear because God is with you.

Be rich toward God

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21, ESV)

To be rich toward God means God is our treasure, don’t get caught up in the materialism of the age, instead turn your eyes to God and store your treasure in heaven by focusing your life on honouring and serving God in the fear of the Lord.

Job 8:1–10

The fathers

“For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. (Job 8:8, ESV)

This is a good principle, we should look to the church fathers, reformers, puritans etc of old so we can learn lessons from them. A mistake is to think we are the first ones to read and interpret the bible.

However when looking to what the men of old have said we must do so in the fear of God not of a particular tradition or viewpoint.