Daily Bible Devotionals

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel.  He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.  For before the boy knows enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.” Isaiah 7:14-16 (NASB)

Ahaz, the king of Judah, was in a desperate situation.  The apostate Northern Kingdom of Israel had partnered with their pagan neighbors, Syria.  Furthermore, the two were advancing toward Jerusalem, intent on sacking it.  While he was searching for a military or political solution, God sent Ahaz a spiritual solution in the person of Isaiah.  God was willing to deliver Judah by His grace, but only if Ahaz would believe His message (through His messenger) by faith.  Ahaz had a choice to make, and there would be harsh consequences if he chose wrongly.

“If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.” Isaiah 7:9b (NKJV)

As a sign that Isaiah’s prophecy was from God, the Lord promised to give confirming markers of progress along the path to Judah’s deliverance.  Since Judah’s greatest enemy was not Israel or Syria (rather, it was their own sinfulness), the Lord began with a prediction of the distant future, a virgin birth.  Then, the prophet works his way toward Judah’s more immediate threat: Israel and Syria.

Focusing for a moment on Judah’s (and the world’s) ultimate need for personal salvation and victory over sin, God gives, as a sign, the miracle of Messiah’s virgin birth.  The title “Immanuel,” translated as “God with us,” does not merely mean “God is on our side, so He sent us a leader.”  “Immanuel” speaks of the deity of Messiah.  Consider the prophet Micah’s announcement concerning the coming Messiah, the place of His birth, and Who He is:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2 (NKJV)

Eternal in origin, yet born as a human child, Messiah Jesus had to grow up and learn as any boy.  The Living Word of God (John 1) had to learn the Word of God to “refuse evil and choose good.”  But, by the time He reached the age of accountability, He was fully trained, and no sin was found in Him.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Messiah’s humble upbringing, referenced as “eating curds and honey,” is in stark contrast to how the haughty leaders of Israel and Syria would be forced into humility.  “It shall be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; so it shall be, from the abundance of the milk they give, that he will eat curds; for curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.” (Isaiah 7:21-22)  It serves as a lesson to us: Be humble before the Lord through Jesus, or be humbled by the Lord!

“So I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’  Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.’  Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’  Then I said, ‘Here am I!  Send me.’” Isaiah 6:5-8 (NKJV)

Excuses, excuses.  Everybody has one.  Moses had one:

“But Moses replied to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent--either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant--because I am slow and hesitant in speech."  Exodus 4:10 (HCSB)

Jeremiah had one:

“But I protested, ‘Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don't know how to speak since I am only a youth.’”  Jeremiah 1:6 (HCSB)

10 of the 12 spies who scouted the land of Canaan after the exodus had one:

“But the men who had gone up with him (Caleb) said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.’” Numbers 13:31 (NKJV)

And the list goes on.  So, what is YOUR excuse?  What excuse do you give for not living faithfully, as God calls us?  Do you not realize that where God GUIDES, God PROVIDES?  He does not call you because He needs your giftedness and in order to accomplish His purposes.  God has gifted you because you need His provision in order to be successful in the things He calls you to accomplish.

So, like Isaiah, we must first realize we are unworthy in His presence and confess that sin to Him.  Then He cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) when we place our faith in Him, and He fills us with His Holy Spirit.  (Romans 15:13)  Then He calls us specifically equipped for the work He has called us to.  (Hebrews 13:20-21)  And when we obey and heed His call, He literally works through us (even as He is working on us through sanctification) to accomplish the goal to which we are called.  

“I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ [Messiah] Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)

So, what is your excuse for not stepping up and shouting, “Here am I!  Send me!?”

“Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.  He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine.  He built a tower in the midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.”  Isaiah 5:1-3 (NKJV)

Isaiah’s prophetic words were echoed by Jesus many generations later:

"Listen to another parable: There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.” Matthew 21:33 (HCSB)

What are Isaiah and Jesus talking about, and why was God so disappointed with His vineyard?

“For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.  He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.” Isaiah 5:7 (NKJV)

“When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first.  And they did the same to them.  Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’  And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.  When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?  They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.’”  Matthew 21:34-41 (ESV)

In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Israel’s religious leaders held to a belief that Messiah would soon deliver them.  They believed that Messiah would levy justice upon Israel’s oppressors (Rome) and reward Israel’s faithfulness.  So, when Jesus quoted Isaiah in such a direct way, He knew that the religious leaders would recognize the parallel stories.  He was making the statement that Israel’s religious leaders were not to expect Messiah to reward their perceived good deeds.  Rather, they should expect justice and harsh rebuke against themselves for having turned from His Word and oppressing the people.  The “cry for help” the Lord answered was not to deliver His people from Roman oppression but from Jewish religious oppression.  This was not Judaism as He prescribed.  It was what Judaism had become by following the vain interpretations and traditions of men, traditions that held a form of Godliness but ultimately blocked the path of true worship.

“In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped.”  Isaiah 4:2 (NKJV)

Isaiah’s message was clear: judgment is coming upon Judah and Jerusalem.  Why?  While they had continued in certain religious practices commanded by the Lord, they had largely abandoned His Word.  Their worship consisted of rote religious actions, but it was void of a personal daily pursuit of God in His Word as led by His Spirit.  If we understand Isaiah’s exhortation, we can make the connection to Messiah Jesus’ Words to his disciples:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, and you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” John 15:1-8 (NKJV)

While we can focus on the negative aspects of Isaiah’s preaching, namely the judgment of the Lord against apostasy-laden Hebrew worship, we are amiss if we do not also recognize the great grace offered in the midst of Isaiah’s pronouncement.

“And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.  When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night.  For over all the glory there will be a covering.” Isaiah 4:3-5 (NKJV)

Yes, judgment will come.  And Jeremiah will be the “on the scene reporter” (many years later) telling the people of Jerusalem that the Word prophesied by Isaiah is coming true in their day.  But the message of encouragement (even giving a 70-year time limit for exile) in Jeremiah 29 echoes the hope of Isaiah 4.  For the remnant, those bent on repenting and returning to the Word of the Lord will again inhabit Jerusalem, experiencing the same signs of the Lord’s presence that accompanied Moses and the exiles from Egypt.  And for believers of Jesus, we expect the same signs of His presence in the New Jerusalem.  (Revelation 21:1-4)

“For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.”  Isaiah 3:8-9 (NKJV)

Just because I have written songs for a living, which involve melodically rhyming words and ideas, does not mean that I like poetry.  I have never purchased a book of poetry, nor do I have any plans to.  So, I identify with the frustration of many folks who had to endure the past six months of the “Poetic Books” of the Bible.  The cry is typically, “When can we get back to something with a concrete narrative?”  Abstract thinking is not easy for most people; they like stories.  The problem is the story we pick up on in Isaiah is not a continuation of the positive deliverance stories we left with Nehemiah and Esther.  After a sizable measure of wisdom and poetry, we are dumped smack into a serious prediction of destruction.  It was this exact destruction that led to the cries for deliverance in Nehemiah's and Esther’s day. We are going way back in Israel’s history, so we know God doesn’t bluff.

God knows His people need a poetic reminder of His graceful wisdom and melodious majesty before they are bombarded with the hard, sin-revealing truths of the rest of the Old Testament.  The prophetic “party pooper” is Isaiah.  And that is what prophet preaching is: sobriety in the midst of a drunken stupor.  Who welcomes the voice of wisdom and righteousness, saying, “Someone has to pay this tab you guys are running up at the bar!?”  The wine the people drank was worldliness, and Isaiah was one of several men whom the Lord called to collect on the people’s sin debt.

Today’s message from Isaiah is simple: because the Church (Jerusalem) has stumbled, the nation (Judah) is fallen.  And that is about as relevant a message as you can hear in our generation!  Yet, in the midst of judgment, God’s people are still offered a word of encouragement; encouragement for true believers, not false ones.

“Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.” Isaiah 3:10-12 (NKJV)

The Word of God through Isaiah is often misunderstood as preaching on behalf of a God Who cannot be pleased.  That is simply untrue.  Isaiah’s words must not be misconstrued as anything other than God’s grace.  God’s first choice for His people is ALWAYS to plead for their repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)

“The Lord stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people.”  Isaiah 3:13 (NKJV)

God’s grace is worthless unless it offers shelter from a certain impending judgment.

“Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?”  Isaiah 2:22 (ESV)

It is hard to imagine a greater contrast than that between the two pictures portrayed in today’s chapter.  One is of unprecedented blessing, and the other of fearful judgment.  Little wonder that the chapter ends with a plea to give up on man.  It literally means, “Stop trusting in man.”

The verse is worthy of closer examination because it summarizes the burden of the prophet: “Put no more trust in man, WHO HAS ONLY the breath in his nostrils.  Of what account is he?”  

The words "trust" and "of what account" correspond exactly to the words “rejected” and “esteemed” in Isaiah 53.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”  Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)

Israel (not all Jews, but the vast majority) gave up on the very One they should have relied upon: Messiah.  Throughout history, the sinner’s epitaph (Jew or Gentile) is that they trusted in everything (and everyone) except God’s Way.  

Isaiah has depicted the glories and woes that are coming for Israel.  Could the same be predicted for the Church-at-Large today?  That really is the big question, isn’t it?  There are those who will make their way to a celebration in “Zion;” they are the redeemed of the Lord.  But there are others who have rejected Jesus, God’s Messiah (anointed One), to their doom.  Salvation is offered to Jews and Gentiles alike through Messiah Jesus, just as damnation awaits all who reject Him, Jew or Gentile.  The determining factor in salvation (or damnation) has nothing to do with genetics: Who's your daddy?  Rather, salvation is by God’s grace when we faithfully believe on Messiah: Who's your Father?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

The wise will sit up and learn the lesson:

“O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Isaiah 2:5 (ESV)

Are you walking in His Light?  Have you chosen to trust Him Who was rejected by men yet accepted by God?  He Who was of no account to men, yet is esteemed by God, graciously imputes His righteousness into the bankrupt spiritual accounts of all who will receive Him.

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 1. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“(Shulamite: To the Daughters of Jerusalem) His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases. (A Relative Speaks) Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; there she who bore you brought you forth.” Song of Solomon 8:3-5 (NKJV)

We all have that awkward “relative” who shows up, seemingly out of nowhere, and makes an uninvited statement.  Clark Griswold had cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation.  Napoleon Dynamite had Uncle Rico.  Today’s chapter ends the Song of Solomon with a powerful statement about the importance of legacy.  And that statement comes out of the blue from a person described simply as “Relative.”  

As the Shulamite is exhorting the daughters of Jerusalem (for the third time) concerning the utmost importance of not stirring-up or awakening love until it pleases, her relative speaks up, “Hey!  I remember the day you were born!  Look at how godly you have grown up and how joyful you are because your relationship with the Lord has remained intact!”  No, the relative does not say it that plainly.  We must recall that the Song of Solomon is poetry, so it compels us to think more abstractly with Scripture, as did the parables Jesus told.  But a major theme of the last chapter underscores the importance of the Shulamite being “sealed” on her heart and arm, a direct Scriptural reference to being governed by God’s Word.

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NKJV)

Furthermore, the talk of beautifully adorned walls and towers, matched with the Shulamite’s exhortation/warning to the daughters of Jerusalem (including her own sister), are further indicators that the “love of loves” is not a chance thing; rather, it is the product of discipleship, passed down through the generations.  The Shulamite is acting as a “watchman” for future generations of Israelite girls.

“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 33:7-9 (NKJV)

The ”Love of Loves” is obtainable to ANYONE who will seek the Bible and live it out!

“(The Beloved Speaking)…The fragrance of your breath like apples.  And the roof of your mouth like the best wine.”  (The Shulamite Speaking) “The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved, moving gently past the lips of sleepers. I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” Song of Solomon 7:8b-10 (NKJV)

As we are approaching third base, here in chapter 7 of Solomon’s song, before our minds drift toward the next batter (a huge slugger named Isaiah), perhaps, we should pause and recall how this relationship between the Shulamite and her Beloved has grown from dating to marriage.  Because we are almost at the end of this book, and I am over halfway thru yet another decade of marriage, I cannot help but identify (in this passage) with the hope of a strong marriage that lasts a lifetime.  Who, when they stand before the preacher and respond, “For better or worse, richer-or-poorer,” doesn’t assume (or at least hope for) their marriage would be passionately devoted for a lifetime?  Yet so few stand the test of even seven years time. Could it be that these two lovebirds have found the secret?  That their love song could be atop God’s “best of all time” playlist, on eternal repeat as “Song of Songs”?  Well, God does and separated it from the Psalms.

While Song of Solomon is poetic, it is written from the perspective of historical-literal (observation of two actual people).  That is of utmost importance because it tells us that the relationship we read about here is not just theoretical, only replicated in a laboratory under strictly controlled conditions.  No, it is OBTAINABLE for any marriage!  Imagine overhearing an older couple talking to each other in this manner; the "wine" of their love getting better with age.  I want that.  Who doesn’t?  Well, then, go for it!  Marital love is supposed to be a forever thing.  It is only distorted when the world entices us with hollow advertisements promising the thrill of a perverted and unfaithful alternative.  Consider this: What do your kids think about marriage by watching yours?  Obtainable faithful love is available for anyone who wants to receive it and reciprocate.  Of course, it is displayed best by Jesus, our “Bridegroom.”

“This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Ephesians 5:32-33 (NKJV)