Tuesday, July 07, 2009, 6:35 a.m. – This song is in my head:
I AM / L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith
I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah, I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last – I am, I am.
I am faithful and true, I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection and He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 52:
Lord, grant wisdom to your servant today as I work on these writings you have given to me. I pray you will put your words into my mouth. Grant me Your understanding, I pray, of these dreams, scriptures and songs that you give to me daily. Order up my day for me today, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
My Understanding: “Awake, awake” is a call to spiritual awakening in revival. Zion is the people of God; his holy city; the true church, which is in great need of revival. The strength that the church is to put on is the power of Almighty God, instead of relying upon the strength of man. My Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary states this:
“Her garments typify armored might and perhaps priestly beauty, fitting in view of her new God-given holiness, having now a reality formerly lacking.”
What I saw in that statement is that the church presently is lacking in this new God-given holiness that will come to her via revival (the awakening). When she is awakened spiritually through revival, she is thus to put on these garments:
“You were sold for nothing…” At first God’s people looked to their “Egypts” for security, and then their “Assyrians” are and will oppress them. God is telling his people here that the decisions they made for their lives and their futures that they made in the flesh and without the consultation of God will only lead them to slavery and to no avail. The men in which they have put their faith and trust will only abandon them and oppress them. Those they thought would save them would desert them. He is telling his people that they sold themselves out for nothing. And, only God can redeem them, but his redemption does not come through the use of money. Jesus has redeemed us through his blood shed on a cross for our sins.
Because the people of God have become complacent and because they have looked to anyone and everything else to “save them” and they have not looked to the Lord Almighty, God is going to visit them in judgment (his divine discipline) and then his people will know his name. They will know that He is the I AM. He is the One who is faithful and true. He does not lie to us. He is the Word of God on which we can rely and depend, instead of on the teachings of man. He is the Resurrection. He is not a dead idol that the church has been worshiping (TV, movies, entertainment, man-idols, man-made religion, etc.), but he is risen from the dead and he lives to return and to take us to be with himself for all eternity. He is King over all earthly “kings” that the church has looked to for their salvation, support, leadership, etc. And, he is holy, not fleshly, worldly and sinful like our man-idols. He was and is and is to come!
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring “good news” – sometimes we think “good news” means only what sounds good to us or what makes us feel good and if anyone is preaching messages of judgment, a need for repentance, etc. that they are not bringing “good news,” but in fact, they are.
My husband and I started reading a book entitled “Crazy Love,” by Francis Chan. Last evening we read chapter 3. So far, this is a good book about the lukewarmness of today’s church and about God’s relentless love for his people. The author was asked a question by a college student: “Why would a loving God force me to love him?” He asked the student to clarify his question, so the student rephrased the question to this: “God threatens me with hell and punishment if I don’t begin a relationship with him.” The author was unable to truly answer what was at the heart of this young man’s question at the time, but then he states:
I believe the obvious answer to that is “Yes.” So, bringing the “good news” is not merely messages of peace, but proclaiming salvation includes addressing sin issues, complacency, apathy, idolatry, spiritual adultery – all within the church. Yet, the message of salvation does not leave us there in our sin; in captivity. It promises hope, deliverance, freedom, and even peace. And, it calls upon each and every one of us to give God the glory, to give him the honor and praise he so deserves - to honor him with our obedience, our service, and with our very lives on the altar.
The “ruins of Jerusalem” I believe are metaphorically speaking of the ruined spiritual condition of the church of today. Yet, God is able to take those ruins and to redeem us, i.e. to bring us back to Him. There is never a point in which we are without hope as long as we live on this earth, I believe. God is always calling to us to return to Him. And, when we do, he will comfort His people. God will never leave us, but his power has left the church, I believe, so the returning of the Lord to Zion is the returning of His power and His blessing upon his people once more. All the ends of the earth will see this.
The final call in this passage is again to “Leave Babylon!” God is calling us to depart from the ways of the world and its influences on our lives and to touch no unclean thing. It would behoove each and every one of us to do an evaluation of all the things we take into our lives and minds every day to see what “unclean” things we need to no longer “touch.” God is calling us to come out from following after the pattern and the ways of the world, and he is calling us to lives of purity – to those of us who “carry the vessels of the LORD”, i.e. to the temple of God, God’s church. This is not something we can do on our own or in our own strength. God must go before us and he must be our rear guard, as well. If we are to truly forsake the ways of the world and to follow after God in purity and holiness, our trust must be completely in Him and in no other. May it be so for each one of us that we have made God alone our trust!
I AM / L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith
I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah, I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last – I am, I am.
I am faithful and true, I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection and He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 52:
Lord, grant wisdom to your servant today as I work on these writings you have given to me. I pray you will put your words into my mouth. Grant me Your understanding, I pray, of these dreams, scriptures and songs that you give to me daily. Order up my day for me today, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
My Understanding: “Awake, awake” is a call to spiritual awakening in revival. Zion is the people of God; his holy city; the true church, which is in great need of revival. The strength that the church is to put on is the power of Almighty God, instead of relying upon the strength of man. My Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary states this:
“Her garments typify armored might and perhaps priestly beauty, fitting in view of her new God-given holiness, having now a reality formerly lacking.”
What I saw in that statement is that the church presently is lacking in this new God-given holiness that will come to her via revival (the awakening). When she is awakened spiritually through revival, she is thus to put on these garments:
- Armored might (see Ephesians 6:10-18):
- The belt of truth buckled around your waist
- The breastplate of righteousness in place
- Witnessing - With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace
- The shield of faith
- The helmet of salvation
- The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
- Prayer - Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests
- Alertness - Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints
- Priestly beauty:
- “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16).
- “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 2:4-5).
- “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (I Pet. 2:9).
- “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Rev. 1:6).
“You were sold for nothing…” At first God’s people looked to their “Egypts” for security, and then their “Assyrians” are and will oppress them. God is telling his people here that the decisions they made for their lives and their futures that they made in the flesh and without the consultation of God will only lead them to slavery and to no avail. The men in which they have put their faith and trust will only abandon them and oppress them. Those they thought would save them would desert them. He is telling his people that they sold themselves out for nothing. And, only God can redeem them, but his redemption does not come through the use of money. Jesus has redeemed us through his blood shed on a cross for our sins.
Because the people of God have become complacent and because they have looked to anyone and everything else to “save them” and they have not looked to the Lord Almighty, God is going to visit them in judgment (his divine discipline) and then his people will know his name. They will know that He is the I AM. He is the One who is faithful and true. He does not lie to us. He is the Word of God on which we can rely and depend, instead of on the teachings of man. He is the Resurrection. He is not a dead idol that the church has been worshiping (TV, movies, entertainment, man-idols, man-made religion, etc.), but he is risen from the dead and he lives to return and to take us to be with himself for all eternity. He is King over all earthly “kings” that the church has looked to for their salvation, support, leadership, etc. And, he is holy, not fleshly, worldly and sinful like our man-idols. He was and is and is to come!
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring “good news” – sometimes we think “good news” means only what sounds good to us or what makes us feel good and if anyone is preaching messages of judgment, a need for repentance, etc. that they are not bringing “good news,” but in fact, they are.
My husband and I started reading a book entitled “Crazy Love,” by Francis Chan. Last evening we read chapter 3. So far, this is a good book about the lukewarmness of today’s church and about God’s relentless love for his people. The author was asked a question by a college student: “Why would a loving God force me to love him?” He asked the student to clarify his question, so the student rephrased the question to this: “God threatens me with hell and punishment if I don’t begin a relationship with him.” The author was unable to truly answer what was at the heart of this young man’s question at the time, but then he states:
I believe the obvious answer to that is “Yes.” So, bringing the “good news” is not merely messages of peace, but proclaiming salvation includes addressing sin issues, complacency, apathy, idolatry, spiritual adultery – all within the church. Yet, the message of salvation does not leave us there in our sin; in captivity. It promises hope, deliverance, freedom, and even peace. And, it calls upon each and every one of us to give God the glory, to give him the honor and praise he so deserves - to honor him with our obedience, our service, and with our very lives on the altar.
The “ruins of Jerusalem” I believe are metaphorically speaking of the ruined spiritual condition of the church of today. Yet, God is able to take those ruins and to redeem us, i.e. to bring us back to Him. There is never a point in which we are without hope as long as we live on this earth, I believe. God is always calling to us to return to Him. And, when we do, he will comfort His people. God will never leave us, but his power has left the church, I believe, so the returning of the Lord to Zion is the returning of His power and His blessing upon his people once more. All the ends of the earth will see this.
The final call in this passage is again to “Leave Babylon!” God is calling us to depart from the ways of the world and its influences on our lives and to touch no unclean thing. It would behoove each and every one of us to do an evaluation of all the things we take into our lives and minds every day to see what “unclean” things we need to no longer “touch.” God is calling us to come out from following after the pattern and the ways of the world, and he is calling us to lives of purity – to those of us who “carry the vessels of the LORD”, i.e. to the temple of God, God’s church. This is not something we can do on our own or in our own strength. God must go before us and he must be our rear guard, as well. If we are to truly forsake the ways of the world and to follow after God in purity and holiness, our trust must be completely in Him and in no other. May it be so for each one of us that we have made God alone our trust!
