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Results are in: the Israelites in the Bible are Just Like Us! (Isaiah 44-50)

Results are in: The Israelites in Bible Times are Just Like Us! (Isaiah 44-50)

Say it ain’t so! The Israelites in Bible times are just like us?! The Old Testament shows a people who keep turning away from God, though. Surely, that isn’t a reflection of our own lives, right?

To think we could be compared to them?! They would be on fire for God, then stop remembering and sharing with their kids, turn away to live in sin, fall for idol worship, and become redeemed through God’s mercy. Putting it that way, we may need to concede our similarities and learn from those who have gone before us.

It’s never too late to start!

Download your first two weeks free by signing up below (or buy Book One of the Family Bible Plan)!

Say it ain’t so! The Israelites in the Bible are just like us?! The Old Testament shows a people who keep turning away from God, though. Surely, that isn’t a reflection of our own lives, right?

To think we could be compared to them?! They would be on fire for God, then stop remembering and sharing with their kids, turn away to live in sin, fall for idol worship, and become redeemed through God’s mercy. Putting it that way, we may need to concede our similarities and learn from those who have gone before us.

It’s never too late to start!

Download your first two weeks free by signing up below (or buy Book One of the Family Bible Plan)!

Israelites in Bible times...

The Israelites in the Bible can serve as a beacon of light for us. Let’s not let their faults be wasted and instead, let us learn from them!

We have the blessed opportunity to now take the time to study:

  • what made them fall away,
  • what pressures resulted in caving,
  • why did they turn to idols, or even
  • what happens when we fail to pass on the goodness of God to our kids.

The first nation that eventually led to Christianity, the Israelites in the Bible are a guide for us to take note of. The lessons imparted in the Old Testament help to ground us in Him in order to live out the New Testament covenant in full.

But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, Since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.

The roots...

The Israelites in the Bible are notorious for turning away from God. But we would be remiss if we did not seek to identify the roots behind this travesty.

The basis for this often stemmed from them having a hard time remembering God was sovereign. When your foundation is built off of that sound block of truth, the emotions that come and go will have to be challenged against it.

When the cornerstone is not there, the winds of emotion try to be that block but fail. Our feelings shift and sway with the day, events that happen to us, or even with the culture. God intended for us to have a solid foundation against which our emotions can be challenged.

Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.

Even after the miracle they experienced in crossing the Red Sea on dry ground(!), they failed to trust God’s sovereignty to provide them their basic necessities.

He went above and beyond by giving them bread from Heaven, yet it wasn’t enough to satiate their earthly desires.

Q

Do your earthly desires overshadow the solid foundation of God’s sovereignty?

Worldly wisdom...

The Israelites in the Bible swayed often to the world’s way of doing things.

Back in Judges, they begged God to give them an earthly king so they could be like the other nations. Even after dire warnings going in one ear and out the other, they soon learned the hard way that God’s predictions were correct. Moreso, they learned the worldly way of doing things was a rejection of God Himself.

And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

God wants us to seek Him, for there we will find Him; when He is found, He offers us a wisdom the world rejects. It is there that the wise are made.

God’s wisdom is unparalleled. Yet, it is so often we look to the world to determine the next best steps. Proverbs takes us through the positives and negatives for the establishment of this critical formation in our lives while Isaiah takes us through the pitfalls and consequences associated with our failure to apply this to our foundation.

Q

Do you fail to recognize God’s sovereignty by looking to the world for direction and wisdom?

Idolatry of the heart...

In Isaiah’s day, physical idols were common. They were mostly fashioned out of wood or metal but the irony was lost on those who made them and/or bowed down to them.

The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Seems nonsensical when it’s explained this way. Yet, this is the wisdom of the world.

Did you catch that last part though? Even through the folly of the obvious flying right over their heads, the root of idolatry is a heart issue. Reread these last 3 verses again.

They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

For the Israelites in the Bible (and us today), when they turned away from God and toward idols, it was a matter of the heart.

Q

Is your heart grounded in a solid truth or do you sway toward idols the world promotes?

The truth of the matter...

Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.

Just as with the Israelites in the Bible, for us it really boils down to a false Christianity. We cannot concoct our own version of God, the gospel, or what the Bible says and live by that standard. We must start with God, the gospel, and the Bible as our foundation upon which we live our lives.

When those building blocks are missing, the result is not hidden from God.

Q

Really now, what are the building blocks of your life of faith? Do they need to be restructured or built anew?

Do you live for HIS glory?

A motto that should fast to every area in our lives… why not grab a daily reminder to boast for Whom we live to please?

Soli deo Gloria!

Consequences...

The Israelites in the Bible spoke not in truth or right[eousness]; this was not lost on God! Their claims were empty because their hearts were not right with Him.

We are fools if we think we can trick God with half-hearted Christianity and think He won’t notice or care.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Oh boy, the Israelites in the Bible tried to shy away from responsibility… again. They had a continual pattern of disobeying, shifting blame, being called out for it, dealing with consequences, healing through reconciliation, and then a full rinse and repeat.

They had faced plagues, famines, wars, and more. Now, they would be taken away as slaves, as though a reset for the Israelites of the Bible. The nation of Israel was built after God saved them from slavery and now they were going back into it… only this time with a promise of salvation for the remnant (those who stayed true).

Each picture the Old Testament provides is a snippet of what was coming in the New Testament: God sending Jesus to redeem us all from the bondage (slavery) of sin.

Q

Does your life represent one who is a slave to sin, or one who is free in Christ?

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Results are in: the Israelites in the Bible are Just Like Us! (Isaiah 44-50)

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