antonate

The promise that he will swallow death forever makes us rejoice in our hearts that God has triumphed over death and given us victory of eternal life. This promise gives us the assurance that our loved ones who have died in christ are there in heaven close to Jesus and they are living in a wonderful place with our Lord Jesus Christ. It gives us peace and comfort to know that our loved ones who have believed in Christ are not lost in death but they are in heaven enjoying God's presence . when we contemplate our own death we know we are going to a beautiful place called heaven and we are ever enjoying God's presence and the miseries and sufferings of this earth are gone forever! when Christ comes we will expereince victory over sin and sickness, sorrow and pain and he will rescue us from all evil and wickedness and we will be able to expereince his peace and freedom when he rules and reigns as King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

feast of rich food for all p.eoples is a symbol of people dwelling in God's glorious presence. There will be no sorrow and pain but God's elect who have been faithful to him will enjoy riches of heaven. In the new testament it represents the coming of Jesus Christ (Rev 19) where the bride prepares herself for the bridegroom and the wedding of the Lamb symbolises this. Those waiting for Christ's return are blessed when he comes and takes them away to be with him to dwell in his rich glorious presence. It promises eternal life for those who have been obidient to Yahweh and in the last days these chosen ones will reap eternal life in heaven.

Yahweh will devastate the earth because the people of the earth have disobeyed God's laws and statutes and broken the covenant with God. This prophecy makes us realise the consequences of not being faithful to Yahweh. The wrath of God that can fall upon man for his disobidience to God creates a sense of awareness within us as to how much we need to walk in the fear of the Lord God Almighty! This prophecy encourages the faithful disciples to walk in the ways of Yahewh and makes us realise that we cannot break God's laws and statutes. Instead this prophecy helps a faithful disciple to love the Lord and obey his voice and enjoy his blessings. 1John 2: 15-15 exhorts us not to love the world or its ways because love for the world will lead into total destruction. But the man who does the will of God reaps eternal blessings from God here on earth and in heaven.

Judah did not look to the Lord God Almighty as their help. they made preparations of thier own seeking counsel and help of pagan kings rather that trusting God to deliver them . They did not regard God as their source of help. Judah should have sought the face of God and put thier trust in him and relied on the guidance of the Lord Most High. Shebna was a corrupt man who niether feared God nor his prophets. He tried to gain wealth so that he could build a tomb for himself. he robbed people's wealth to gain power and possessions. A self seeking and greedy man who loved money more than God. i too am guilty of being selfish seeking my own gain- may be not in the area of money but may be at times not considering the needs of others and what God expects me to be. but as the Holy spirit of God has shown me my failure to perform my duty towards christ being selfless and do his will i have repented of this sin and did my best to my best for God. i require God's grace everyday to win over selfishness and be selfless like Christ.

Isaiah was commanded by God to go naked just a symbol to show the people of Judah what would be consequence if they had not trusted their God instead trusted the help of pagan kings. Judah did listen to the warning given by God through Isaiah but later failed to obey God's command and was attacked and destroyed by Assyria. A tough question to answer indeed! A shameful act before men but a wise thing in God's eyes. A contradictory act to be noticed by men and to ashamed of because of the shame one has to face is terrible! if i am called by the Lord almighty to do what isaiah did i will seek his strength and grace in the face of shame and mockery and trusting in his comfort alone would step out to do what he commands! The joy is that i have obeyed God and because of his love for me i can endure the shame and mockery of men. i pray God gives us the grace to follow him like Isaiah.

There are times when my opinion has differed from God's will and his word but when i come into his presence daily i have found that i am wrong asked his pardon and cleansed by the Blood of jesus christ submitted to his will and his word because i love him and choose to obey him at all times. the word of God says-- this is the one i esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. this is the attitude we should have towards our God and this differs from the ruler's attitude in 14:12-17 i choose each day to acknowlege that God is my source of everything and seek to do everything that brings glory to His name through my thoughts ,words and deeds. spending time in God's presence and crucifying the sinful nature and obeying the voice of God's holy spirit keeps me humble in his presence.

The attitude of the ruler described by Isaiah is.. the ruler is full of pride to exalt himself and take the place of the Lord God Almighty. the ruler is boastful, proud and does not feat God.

The nations means all the people in the world who have put their faith in Jesus Chirst and awaiting His second coming will rally unto him The remnant of Jews will be gathered at this time. Mark 13: 26-27 also describes the second coming of Christ. The Son of Man will come in clouds with great power and glory and he will send his angels to gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. The time of Jesus coming is unknown.

Isaiah 11:6-9 speaks about a harmony among all people. The strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the harmful and the harmless will live in peace with each other. its a heavenly and a divine peace which extends throughout the whole earth. The Knowledge of the lord means a personal relationship with the Lord. Knowing the ways of the Lord and walking in those ways, knowing the lord intimately and growing in his fullness is to Know the Lord. This knowledge will spread like waters cover the sea.

Jesse was the father of David. Stump of Jesse is referred to David. Messiah is referred as Son of David. This indicates his name speaks about the messiah. The messiah's attributes are wisdom and understanding, counsel and pwer, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, he will delight in the fear of the lord, He will judge with righteousness and give just decisions to the needy. Righteousness and faithfulness are his other attributes. when messiah comes he will destroy the wicked who make unjust laws and rule in faithfulness , righteousness and peace. He will safeguard the poor and the weak and destroy the rule of the wicked.

Human being pass laws where others have to follow and not they themselves. Laws are made by people so they can control, manipulate and also thier personal motives are gained.. these laws in turn suppress and oppress the weaker people of the society. The strong show their power with the weak and keep the weak subdued under them so that they can rule over them and enjoy every benefit by the laws they make. we as christians have to follow the teachings of Chirst and help the weak and poor by first teaching them the Gospel of Jesus chirst with love and compassion. As we show mercy, love and compassion and teach them the values of Christ we can also help them in their needs and show them the way to trust God and rise up from their poverty and enjoy the abundant life which Jesus has promised.when we love and care for them by helping them spiritually and as need arises materially they will also move and rise and receive the richness God has in store for them.

The attributes of the child and that he will be called Prince of Peace, Everlasting father , Mighty God and he will reign over david's throne and his Kingdom tells us that this child is messiah itself. The four pair words- Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace teaches us that Messiah counsels us with his wisdom, full of strength and might, a God is with us and close to us like a Father and fills us with his peace that passes all understanding. i need all of the saving attributes of messiah in my life. i need his counsel in all that i do, i need to rely in his power and strength everyday, i need him to be my God who is with me and close to me and to fill me daily with his peace with which i can be an instrument in his hands to fuflil his purposes through me.

Yahweh is a stumbling stone and a trap and snare for those who do not love him and they disobey his word. people stumble and break when they do not walk in the ways of Yahweh. The hearts of people become hard and stubborn to follow the living God and they stumble and fall into darkness. people stumble over a God who is almighty and righteous beacause there is no true love for God in their hearts for him. Since there is no love for the Almighty God they do not seek his righteous ways in their lives because the ways of the world become more easy and comfortable to follow than to follow God's holy word. There is no fear of God niether people fear the consequence of sin. It becomes difficult to accept Jesus as the Son of God and live a life imitating Christ and his values.

King of Aram and King of Israel marched to fight against King ahaz. This caused fear and panic in him. But God reassures through Isaiah that they would not come to fight with him and the war would not take place. King ahaz failed to listen to the prophetic and encouraging words of Isaiah because of his lack of trust and faith in yahweh and also he put his trust in the king of assyria than in the mighty God. The consequence of he not putting his faith in Yahweh would lead into destruction of Judah by assyria. sometimes situations look so impossible to be solved that we fail to beleive that God can handle the situation without our interference and all we have to do his remain calm and trust his word. It becomes soemtimes to obey God because it seems his ways are hard to follow that are ways which look easy and also instant to solve a situation. lack of faith in him and trusting in human wisdom can lead to disobidience and fall short of obidience to God.

Isaiah 6:9-10 shows us that the people of Israel are hard hearted and stubborn and not yeilding to the ways of Yahweh even though Isaiah is sent by God to make them known his ways. it looks like an impossible mission because people of Israel will not give an hear to Isaiah's preaching. yet the joy is he has obeyed the call of God to go and preach to the stubborn Israel of God's love for them and warnings if they fail to obey him. Isaiah's prophesy will make the task worse because the message is full of correction which points the sin of the Israelites and a message which warns them of destruction of thier stubborness. There a frustration in preaching the gospel because as we see in the parable iof the sower all seed did no fall on the fertlie ground and produce crop. it fell on the rocky and thorny places which never yielded crop to the sower. there is a sense of frustration when God's holy and life giving word is not accepted by people because of stubborness, self righteouness or human knowledge that does not bow down to the truth of the gospel and continues to remain is sin and rebellion.

Isaiah was fearful when he saw the holiness of God. He saw yahweh full of glory and majesty and he senses his unworthiness and unholiness in front of a majestic God. He becomes aware of his sin. God takes the live coal from the altar and the seraph touches the mouth of Isaiah and God purges away his sin and guilt and makes him clean and holy in his sight. Isaiah hears the voice of Yahweh-- Whom shall i send?and who will go for us?? The voice of Yahweh asking Isaiah as to who will speak to Israel on Yahweh's behalf. Isaiah's response is of love and obidience to Yahweh-- Hear I am , send me Lord. My response to God's calling initially may be a sense of fear and unworthiness to accomplish what he wants and to go where he wants me to. But i will go with the strength and courage of the Lord willingly fully putting my trust in God my strength and acheive his purposes completely relying on Him.

Yahweh revealed to Isaiah is glory and majesty and showed him his a God of glory, power and majesty to enable Isaiah to tell the Israelites about the glorious and majestic God. Yahweh God is the true and holy God. He is a God full of glory and the angels sing of his glory day and night crying how holy, awesome glorious is the Lord God mighty. His glory fills the heaven and the earth too is filled with his glory! From the seraphim's chant we come to know that Yahweh is a holy God and his glory fills all the earth.

The vintners vision for the vineyard was it yeilds a good crop of grapes. He dug the vineyard and made is smooth and clean and cleared the stones and planted some of the best vines.But the crop came it did not acheive what the vintner wanted. all the effort of the vintner produced a bad fruit instead of the good fruit what the vintner was expecting. since the vineyard did not produce the good fruit the vintner decided to destroy the vineyard by taking away the hedge that was around it . Further he decided to break its wall and allowed it trampled and become a wasteland. Instead of being a fertile land it is turned into a place where no cultivation can take place, instead of a yield of good fruit it will only produce briers and thorns and it is deprived of rain falling on it. God had mighty plan for Israel. God loved them and cared for them and he wanted to achieve his plan and purposes through them. Although he cared for them they forgot him and turned to sin and rebellion and God could no longer use them for his glory. Due to their sin and rebellion God plans to destroy them completely.

God's temple will be established in Jerusalem and it will be the chief temple where all nations will come to worship God. Gentiles will come to God's temple and worship him and learn of his ways and also get an understanding of God's ways. Jews also will together will Gentiles seek God's ways. Both jews and gentiles will hunger to worship the living God and yearn for his word which will help them to walk in peace and unity instead of settling disputes through wars.

The people of Israel have forgotten their Maker and creator who created them and loved them as his own. They do not know that Yahweh is their God and they are his people and they have failed to understand that they belong to a master and a God who loves them and cares for them. when christians forget that they are created by Yahweh God and he has formed them in his own image and likeness and to live according to His purposes they are simply seperated from his presence. Every plan and purpose God has for them is lost and christians grope in darkness which eventually leads to sin and rebellion towards their God. God accuses his people from being unclean and full of evil deeds. They do wrong, do not live justly, no encouragement for the oppressed. They do not defend the fatherless or help the widow. Their behaviour seems to be unreasonable because they do not realise the way offer their sacrifices to God are not the once that God is expecting. They fail to understand what God wants of them and instead they offer a different worship unto God which is not right in his sight. God is calling them towards him to reason out with him to know the right way to worship him and live according to what he has to tell them. He offers them mercy and forgiveness and in love tells them that he will wash away their sin , make them clean and acceptable in his sight and teach them his ways which leads to get the best from him.

Discipline by itself makes a person to walk the narrow path and cannot follow the desires of the flesh. Churches do not exercise discipline because the leaders themselves may not live a disciplined life based on the Word of God and also the promptings of the Holy Spirit. futhermore the congregation may resist discipline and leaders do no want displease them in fear of losing numbers to their church and always in the business of pleasing people than God. Thoughtful and appropriate application of discipline can give immense growth to the church and make way for the Lord to pour his anointing and blessings on the church as whole and such churches can be used mightily by the Lord to save souls. when a church neglects discipline it can curtail the plans and purposes of God, it can lead into a compromised way of living and give an opening for the enemy to steal , kill and destroy and block God's abundant life on the leaders as well as the congregation.

No work, no food sounds harsh but if taken in the right attitude it can have great results. God has created us as his workmanship and he expects his people to use thier abilities to work and be prosperous. it sounds harsh and it can make people hunger for food but we should understand the context in which Paul makes us understand the effect of remaiining idle. when one is idle they become dependent on others and also in their idleness they may be confusing the once who work hard among them. It makes every believer realise that we need to sustain ourselves with our own earnings and not be a burden to anyone which may lead also to be a great blessing in God's kingdom. This rule applies to very person who is able to work and provide for their own needs and this is not applicable to the sick, elderly or who are physically not fit to work

Paul was not idle when he was with the thessolonians. He worked hard day and night laboring and toiling so that he would not be a burden to them and Paul himself became a example to the thessolonians showing them not to remain idle. He had the full right to receive his wages as he preached Christ but he set an example to the thessolonians to be hard working and not remain idle.

The bible commands us not keep way from every one who is idle and does not live according to the Word of God. Paul encourages everyone to work hard and provide for their daily bread and not be a burden and anyone. The word of God also encourages us to lead a quiet life and mind our own business and work hard to provide for our daily needs and live a holy life to the glory of God and not to remain idle. Our christian duty is to first put our trust in God and with God as our strength we should work with our own hands according to the abilities he has given us and in the talents that he has blessed us to be a blessing to our families and also to the Kingdom of God.

Peseverance in our faith is important because we have to safegurad against all the deceptions of the enemy and we need to keep ourselves strong in the teachings of Christ and persevere in His will and plan for us to get the reward of eternal life in heaven. If we stop beleiving and not being patient we may be start believing the lies of the enemy, our faith in Jesus Chirst may diminish and eventually it can lead to falling prey to the deceptions of antichrist. we can help each other pesevere by having a prayer fellowship that makes us praise and worship christ and build ourselves on the word of God and continually support each other through prayer. Faith and peseverance keeps us assured in our salvation that we have received from Christ when we accepted him as the Lord and Saviour of our life. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and he has given us the freedom to enjoy God's presence and his death on the cross has redeemed us from sin and given us the free gift of salvation. Grace has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and God has made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions and it is by grace we are been saved.