Present Your Case

Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 6:03 a.m. – I had this song in my head:

Call My Name / Third Day

It's been so long since
You felt like you were loved
So what went wrong
But do you know
There's a place where you belong
Here in My Arms

The pain inside
Has erased your hope for love
Soon you will find
That I'll give you all
That your heart could ever want
And so much more

Call My name say it now
I want you to never doubt
The love I have for you is so alive
You just call My name

When you feel like you're alone in your sadness
It seems like no one else in this whole world cares
And you want to get away from the madness
You just call My name and I'll be there
You just call My name and I'll be there

I also woke from A DREAM: My mom and dad were in the only part of this dream that I remember. I also had a feeling of my husband’s dad doubling with my dad. My mom appeared to be in a nursing home (both of my parents are deceased in real life). There was something about my dad choosing between a pan of brownies and a pan of something that looked like cherry cobbler and he chose the latter. I think I was surprised by his choice of dessert, too. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 41. The Zondervan NIV Commentary describes the setting at the beginning of this chapter as a trial in a courtroom.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary said that The Lord confronted the nations and the islands face to face in judgment. God was not asking that they negotiate. He was asking that they come together and realize the truth of his words. God stirred up a leader from the east (north), called in righteousness (God’s), who would serve God’s purpose. God would hand nations over to him and subdue kings before him, that is, the conqueror could not be stopped in his conquests. The Lord had planned this, and he would carry it out, i.e. the Lord is sovereign.

Isaiah, according to TBKC, mockingly noted that alliances between the nations would not help them withstand the advance of this leader, i.e. God’s chosen instrument of judgment. In fear, the nations everywhere would be driven to help and encourage each other. Rather than turn to the true God, these idolatrous people would get more and more involved in idol-worship. And, the idols would not help.

God sovereignly chose Israel to be His servants and to do His will. Unfortunately, she often failed to be a faithful servant so God had to punish her. True Israel, i.e. those who have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, even though disciplined by God because of rebellious sin and unbelief, is not rejected by God. The Lord remains their God, so He will continue to be with them and strengthen, help and uphold them (resource: TBKC).

In contrast with God’s choosing and helping Israel, He will not protect nations who oppose her. They will perish. With the Lord’s help, Israel will defeat the nations as if she were threshing and winnowing grain. This, however, will not be by her own power. Israel, i.e. true Israel (those in Christ Jesus) should not be afraid. God is her redeemer. This help from God will cause Israel to rejoice in Him (resource: TBKC).

God reminds his people that he chose them for a purpose of service to HIM. He called them to put their faith and trust in the one and only true God. God would supply all the needs of his people. Trial scene resumes beginning with vs. 21…

"Present your case," says the LORD.
"Set forth your arguments," says Jacob's King.

22 "Bring in your idols to tell us
what is going to happen.
Tell us what the former things were,
so that we may consider them
and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,

23 tell us what the future holds,
so we may know that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,
so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

24 But you are less than nothing
and your works are utterly worthless;
he who chooses you is detestable.

25 "I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter treading the clay.

26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
or beforehand, so we could say, 'He was right'?
No one told of this,
no one foretold it,
no one heard any words from you.

27 I was the first to tell Zion, 'Look, here they are!'
I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.

28 I look but there is no one—
no one among them to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.

29 See, they are all false!
Their deeds amount to nothing;
their images are but wind and confusion.

My Understanding: My mother was a believer in Jesus Christ. I believe the “nursing home” represents heaven in this scenario. My father’s gods were physical strength, power, control over others, talent, physical appearance and human knowledge. My father-in-law’s gods are also of man. They both created their own gods. My FIL believes that God will accept him based upon his own good works. VV 24-29 make it quite clear that these man-made gods’ deeds amount to nothing; they are utterly worthless and those who follow them are detestable.

I inquired of the Lord as to the meaning of the choice of desserts and this was his response: A cobbler is a maker or repairer of footwear; a baked fruit dessert with a soft thick crust (Encarta). MW Collegiate Dictionary: a mender or maker of shoes and often of other leather goods; archaic : a clumsy workman.

Cherry: a small round fruit that has a single hard pit and varies in color from bright red or yellow to dark purplish black; the wood of the cherry tree – use: furniture-making, musical instruments; excellent of its kind (Encarta).

Brownie: a piece of flat rich chocolate cake baked in a square or rectangular pan and sometimes containing chopped nuts. Dessert: a sweet course eaten at the end of a meal. Flat cakes (unleavened bread): 1 Chron 9:31 and Mattithiah, one of the Levites, • the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted * with making the flat cakes.

Feast of unleavened bread is associated directly with celebration and remembrance of the Passover where the Jews were spared because they had the blood on the door but the Egyptians were not spared. This is equated to our salvation in Jesus Christ. Those who have the blood of Christ covering them will be spared for eternity, but those who follow after their own gods will not be spared.

So, in this instance, the “dessert” is what we get at the end; our rewards. The brownies represent unleavened bread which is a symbol of the Passover which is a symbol of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, his resurrection and our salvation in him. The cherry cobbler represents false gods and at the center is a pit, i.e. hell.

I have a sense that historically speaking, this is also in concert with what is going on with Russia and Georgia and the rest of the world. It is possible that Russia could be the conqueror spoken of here in Isaiah 41, i.e. God’s chosen instrument of judgment.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080819/D92LAADO3.html