Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Isaiah 49
Preparing for Worship

Preparing for Worship

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9:30 Worship Service

10900 Huron Street

Northglenn, CO

Scripture:  Isaiah 49:22-26

Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people:  and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:  they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord:  for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.  Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?  But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:  for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.  And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine:  and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Sermon:  Shall Not Be Ashamed

  1.  Who are ‘they?’
  2. For whom and for what are they waiting?
  3. What will happen?

Catechism:  Westminster Shorter Catechism Question # 48

What are we specially taught by these words before me in the first commandment?

These words before me in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.

Deuteronomy 30:17-18  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.  Psalm 44:20-21  If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.  Ezekiel 8:12  Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.

Worship:

O Come All Ye Faithful

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
‘Thus Says the Lord’

‘Thus Says the Lord’

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‘Thus Says the Lord’

Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,
and set up my standard to the people…..

Isaiah 49:22

How do we know that God is Who He is and will do what He will do?  What we know of Him rests upon what He has revealed of Himself. He has revealed Himself in creation, and that is useful for us to understand that He exists.  Creation enables us to understand certain things about His power and His dominion. For other revelations of God, we rely upon His Word. When we speak of His Word, we include both the written word, ‘which is contained in the Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testament,’ and Christ, the Living Word.  For the past few days we have been considering the promise which God has made that, ‘they shall not be ashamed who wait for me.’ This promise occurs within the context of a number of promises to Israel specifically. All of those promises, including the one which we have been contemplating, rest upon the Word of God.  Hence, we find the statement, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ scattered throughout the Scripture, particularly in this portion of Isaiah. The whole of our spiritual understanding with regard to the Character of God, and the redemption which is through Christ, rests upon, ‘Thus says the Lord.’ For this reason, we seek to emphasize what He does and therefore, make much of Christ.  What God has said, we believe. That leads us evermore thoroughly to contemplate Christ, the Living Word.’

Our Wise and Glorious God,
we rejoice that You are as good as Your Word.
We praise You that we may rest securely,
in confidence that, ‘Thus says the Lord.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘Then You Will Know’

‘Then You Will Know’

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‘Then You Will Know’

…for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Isaiah 49:23

What do we learn from waiting upon God, especially when we see Him fulfill His promises?  According to God, ‘Then you will know that I am Jehovah.’ Jehovah has no equal, has no rival, and has no one else to whom we can compare Him.  He does not share His glory with another. This is why, when we encounter Christ, Who is ‘the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person,’ we find Him so incomparable.  He is the proof that God is, and that He has revealed Himself. He is the active demonstration of the Character and Love of God. He demonstrates the powers of God to heal all ills, and to raise the dead.  He transforms bodies, lives and character. When we see Christ, we behold all there is to see of God. God fulfills all that He has promised in Christ. In Him all the promises of God are ‘yes,’ and ‘Amen.’  When we have beheld the miraculous; when what we thought could never be, comes to pass; when Christ has become more real to us than ever before, then we know that Jehovah is. Our knowledge that He is Jehovah is inextricably tied to Christ.  Therefore, if we would know God, we must, at all costs know Christ. Jesus never fails to reveal to us the Living God.

Great God of Wisdom and Knowledge,
we rejoice in Your great revelations.
We praise You, most of all, for Christ,
 for in knowing Him, we come to know You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘Not…Ashamed’

‘Not…Ashamed’

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‘Not….Ashamed’

… for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Isaiah 49:23

Why shall those who ‘wait’ for God not ‘be ashamed?’  They have put their hope in God. They have relied upon His promises.  They have had confidence in His Character. Will God be as good as His Word?  Will He do all that He has said? If we look back into the sacred history, we come to the conclusion that thus far, He has done all that He has promised.  He gave the heir to Abraham, and eventually the land to his descendants. He brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt and destroyed all their enemies. He brought them back from the Babylonian captivity and orchestrated the rebuilding of the Temple.  In the fullness of time, He sent Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. We could cite promise after promise which He has infallibly fulfilled. This should encourage us greatly, especially with regard to what Christ has promised. He has promised salvation to all who come to God by Him.  He has promised peace and rest to those who come to Him. He has borne us up in all our troubles, and promised to return to receive us unto Himself. He has promised to give us a new body and a dwelling place with Him for all eternity. We see His faithfulness thus far, and we are therefore confident that we who wait for Him will not be ashamed.

Our Gracious, Promise-keeping God,
we rejoice that You are ever as good as Your Word.
We praise You that as You have done all things well thus far,
and that You will bring all to perfect completion.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘Who Wait For Me’

‘Who Wait For Me’

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‘Who Wait For Me’

… for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Isaiah 49:23

For what have the people of God waited?  In the broadest context, they have waited for God to fulfill His promises.  Eve waited and hoped for ‘the seed of the woman.’ Abraham waited and hoped for his promised heir, and the inheritance of the promised land.  The slaves in Egypt waited for liberation. The ‘holy men of old’ waited for the promised Messiah. These are but a few of the vast host who have hoped and waited for God to fulfill His Word.  In time or in eternity, God fulfilled all these promises. He fulfilled many of them in the person and Work of Christ. This was the testimony of Simeon, who testified of it when he held the infant Christ.  It was the testimony of John the Baptist. It became the testimony of the Apostles, and it has become our testimony as well. There are promises which God has made, many of which relate directly to Christ which He has yet to fulfill.  Because the Character of God is good, we have confidence that as He has fulfilled His Word thus far, so He will fulfill His Word in the future. Thus we look for Him to fulfill His promises to us, both personally and corporately. We are ‘they’ who wait for God and we ‘shall not be ashamed.’

Our Holy Unchanging God,
we rejoice that You are utterly reliable.
We praise You that we may wait for You,
knowing that You will fulfill all that You have promised.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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