Saturday, January 11, 2025

Isaiah 65 and 66 Judgement and Final Salvation

Hello friends!  I'm am finishing up the Book of Isaiah for the second time.  I woke up in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago with a voice in my head that was telling me to read Isaiah.  This happened to me one other time, that voice was telling me to read the Book of John.   This post is about the last 2 chapters in the Book of Isaiah and an observation I have connected to it.  

When I read the Bible I see so many similarities in today's world and when speaking with others I see that things come back full circle.  You know the saying the "World Goes round and round", well it certainly seems to be doing that.  I feel like I'm watching God's plan unfold right in front of me.

There is 2 passages I want to share especially today as we watch the fires consume the City of Angels, better known as Los Angeles.  

The Lord tells us that everyone will see his anger against his enemies and the earth will be consumed by fire.  Is the Lord rebuking the unbelievers? The sin he sees all over this area?  It's not just LA by the way, he will consume the world with fire and by his sword (His sword is the word of God, His Bible is his sword).  The bible tells us he will judge the earth and many will be killed by Him.  Look around, we see fire in many of our states over the last years, especially California.  We are watching people lose their lives and everything they own.  Is the sin of fornication, greed, idol worship, human trafficking, theft and all the other corruption coming to a head?  This isn't just happening in the United States but all over the world.

I heard another theory for these fires, are they destroying evidence of the crimes against humanity of the Diddy arrest and all involved? Or is it an Land grab like Hawaii? Interesting observations.  Is it God's wrath or the human hand  behind these fires? Not sure about it but it's definitely an interesting theory and one to think about.  My humble opinion is this is the wrath of God.

So here is what the Lord says about the punishment for the world and their sins.

66:4  I will send them great trouble—
all the things they feared.
For when I called, they did not answer.
When I spoke, they did not listen.
They deliberately sinned before my very eyes
and chose to do what they know I despise.”

14  Everyone will see the LORD’s hand of blessing on his servants—
and his anger against his enemies.

15  See, the LORD is coming with fire,
and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger
and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.

16  The LORD will punish the world by fire
and by his sword.
He will judge the earth,
and many will be killed by him.

Judgment and Final Salvation

1  The LORD says,
“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.


2  All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.

3  All day long they insult me to my face
by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens
They burn incense on pagan altars.


4  At night they go out among the graves,
worshiping the dead.
They eat the flesh of pigs
and make stews with other forbidden foods.

5  Yet they say to each other,
‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!
I am holier than you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
an acrid smell that never goes away.

6  “Look, my decree is written out in front of me:
I will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
Yes, I will repay them—


7  both for their own sins
and for those of their ancestors,”
says the LORD.
“For they also burned incense on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills.
I will pay them back in full!


8  “But I will not destroy them all,”
says the LORD.

“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones
(and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—
some of those grapes are good!’),
so I will not destroy all Israel.
For I still have true servants there.

9  I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel
and of Judah to possess my land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
and my servants will live there.

10  The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks
for my people who have searched for me,
and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.

11  “But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD
and have forgotten his Temple
and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate
and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,

12  now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword.
All of you will bow down before the executioner.
For when I called, you did not answer.
When I spoke, you did not listen.
You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes—
and chose to do what you know I despise.”


13  Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“My servants will eat,
but you will starve.
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
but you will be sad and ashamed.

14  My servants will sing for joy,
but you will cry in sorrow and despair.

15  Your name will be a curse word among my people,
for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you
and will call his true servants by another name.

16  All who invoke a blessing or take an oath
will do so by the God of truth.
For I will put aside my anger
and forget the evil of earlier days.

17  “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

18  Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.

19  I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard in it no more.

20  “No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!

21  In those days people will live in the houses they build
and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.

22  Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

23  They will not work in vain,
and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the LORD,
and their children, too, will be blessed.

24  I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

25  The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.

I, the LORD, have spoken!”

66

 1  This is what the LORD says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?
Could you build me such a resting place?

2  My hands have made both heaven and earth;
they and everything in them are mine.
I, the LORD, have spoken!
“I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts,
who tremble at my word.

3  But those who choose their own ways—
delighting in their detestable sins—
will not have their offerings accepted.
When such people sacrifice a bull,
it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice.
When they sacrifice a lamb,
it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog!
When they bring an offering of grain,
they might as well offer the blood of a pig.
When they burn frankincense,
it’s as if they had blessed an idol.

4  I will send them great trouble—
all the things they feared.
For when I called, they did not answer.
When I spoke, they did not listen.
They deliberately sinned before my very eyes
and chose to do what they know I despise.”

5  Hear this message from the LORD,
all you who tremble at his words:
“Your own people hate you
and throw you out for being loyal to my name.
‘Let the LORD be honored!’ they scoff.
‘Be joyful in him!’
But they will be put to shame.

6  What is all the commotion in the city?
What is that terrible noise from the Temple?
It is the voice of the LORD
taking vengeance against his enemies.

7  “Before the birth pains even begin,
Jerusalem gives birth to a son.

8  Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin,
her children will be born.

9  Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth
and then not deliver it?” asks the LORD.
“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”
says your God.

10  “Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad with her, all you who love her
and all you who mourn for her.

11  Drink deeply of her glory
even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

12  This is what the LORD says:
“I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity.
The wealth of the nations will flow to her.
Her children will be nursed at her breasts,
carried in her arms, and held on her lap.

13  I will comfort you there in Jerusalem
as a mother comforts her child.”

14  When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.
You will flourish like the grass!
Everyone will see the LORD’s hand of blessing on his servants—
and his anger against his enemies.

15  See, the LORD is coming with fire,
and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger
and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.

16  The LORD will punish the world by fire
and by his sword.
He will judge the earth,
and many will be killed by him.

17  “Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the LORD.

18  “I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 

19  I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.

 20  They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. 

21  “And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites.
 I, the LORD, have spoken!

22  “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,
so will you always be my people,
with a name that will never disappear,”
says the LORD.

23  “All humanity will come to worship me
from week to week
and from month to month.

24  And as they go out, they will see
the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me.
For the worms that devour them will never die,
and the fire that burns them will never go out.
All who pass by
will view them with utter horror.”

There is still time for repentance. Repentance will be the first step to salvation.  You will have to put in the work, freedom isn't free.  

Innocent people will suffer, God's chosen will be persecuted.  Mocking God has a high price to pay.



With knowledge comes sorrow.  The knowledge I have gained from reading God's word is immense.  The feeling is indescribable. The fruit I've acquired is unmeasurable.  The journey is one I'll never forget.  The goal is the narrow path that leads to salvation.  The wide path is the one most are on, It's before your eyes.  Those who have eyes to see will see, those who have ears to hear will hear.

Jesus, the Way to the Father -  John 14

1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 

2  There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you. 

3  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

4  And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

 7  If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”


2Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 




Praying for our nation,
 Love to you all,

Debbie

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