Daily Reading
Daily Thought
God used prophets such as Isaiah to teach his hard-headed people to trust him, “Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you” (Isaiah 48:4-5).
So, for instance, Isaiah said, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Seven hundred years later, an angel appeared to a girl named Mary and told her she will give birth to the son of God (Immanuel means “God with us”). Mary responded, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34).
“The former things I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass” (Isaiah 48:3).
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” announced Isaiah (11:1), “in the tent of David” (16:5). The first verse of the first Gospel begins “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and Jesse the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:1, 6).
John the Baptist announced Jesus, “preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1-2). Isaiah, 700 years earlier, announced John, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3).
Isaiah even knew how and why Jesus would die, “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), and Jesus said to his disciple, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
God speaks and it happens.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come” (2Peter 3:9-10).
Believe him. Trust him.
Daily Prayer
Saving God, Immanuel, God with us. You promised a Savior, You sent Your Son. Thank You for Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Lord, my God. I trust You in all things. You are the God of Your Word. May I be a man of my word, as well.
O Lord, You are faithful and true. You said Your Son would come. He did. You said He is to come again. He will.
Amen