Sabbath: Desire of Nations
Image © Pacific Press
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Isa: 59:1-21; Isa: 59:15-21; Isaiah 61.2; Isaiah 61.1-11.
Memory Text: “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3).
“We must learn in the school of Christ. Nothing but His righteousness can entitle us to one of the blessings of the covenant of grace. We have long desired and tried to obtain these blessings but have not received them because we have cherished the idea that we could do something to make ourselves worthy of them. We have not looked away from ourselves, believing that Jesus is a living Saviour. We must not think that our own grace and merits will save us; the grace of Christ is our only hope of salvation. Through His prophet the Lord promises, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7). We must believe the naked promise, and not accept feeling for faith. When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can desire.” — Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 36.
This week we can see more of this great truth as revealed in the writings of the prophet Isaiah.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 20.
(21)
The Internet is a complex beast and for the end-user is can be quite perplexing when something does not work. If a page that you want to look at does not appear properly on your computer or device, it can be quite frustrating. The usual response from end-users such as ourselves is to blame the server that is providing the web pages. But it could be any number of things including the routers being overloaded, a gateway malfunction, or even the cache in your local computer or device not being updated properly. I have often found that an "Internet problem" is really my problem. My computer is holding an outdated page and it is not updating it properly. There is a webpage that I find useful, "Is it just me?". I put in the URL for the website that I want to look at and "Is it just me?" delivers a report that the site is working fine, or it is down. If the page server is fine and I am not getting the pages then I know the problem is a lot closer to home.
Isaiah tells us that God's page server is on and never fails so the problem is with us:
Amen. Agreed !
2 kings 20:2&3
2
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3
"Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly
Why did Hezekiah fail when the emissary came from Babylon?
I believe it's because of his self righteous prayer. I have walked and I have done is the seed for his fall. He who does not fall upon the mercy of God will always fall victim to self.
Have you shared (shine the light) of God's leading in your life?
Isa.61:10-11 - ”I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (11) For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
Isa.60:1-3 – ”ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, and the Glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. (2) For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and His Glory shall be seen upon thee. (3) And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Isa.59:20-21 – “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. (21) As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD:
My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever."
The Desire of Nations is the living Word of God which was given to the tribes of Israel. The time has come to extend the promise of Salvation to all nations; Israel sinned just as the heathen nations throughout all the world have lost their way.
A man was promised to become mankind’s Redeemer, to come from the loins of Jesse, but His spirit's Light was to be the Spirit of His heavenly Father; living the Righteousness of His Father to redeem the world from the clutches of darkness.
“The sins of Israel” is the title of Isaiah Ch.59 in the King James version, spelling out in one chapter the effects of man’s fallen nature. The Father knows that we cannot free ourselves from the power of this iniquity and prepared the Way to lead us out of our spiritual darkness.
God’s Son, our Savior Christ Jesus awakens mankind to GOD'S Way of Truth, Light and Life – to walk in it by faith and so let the old man die as we live our true Life in the spirit of God’s righteousness.
The redeemed soul is now living the nature of the Father by faith in His Living Word Christ Jesus – God with us, Emanuel! Christ in us and we in Him is our living testimony: to live as the salt of the earth and the shining light upon the hill. God has reconciled man to himself in Christ to so multiply his Love to reach the world - Acts3:46-48KJV; Isa.42:6KJV; Isa.49:6KJV.
Psalm 67:1-7 (1-3)”God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause your face to shine upon us; Se’lah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee!”
When I read Ellen White she says, "We must believe the naked promise, and not accept the feeling of faith." I remember the many times that I promised God through tears that I will do merits and good deeds to make up for my mistakes. Without a doubt, great is the mercy of God, because he supplied all the sins on the cross. He doesn't need my merits and actions to forgive my sins, he just hopes that I can believe in Him.
The book "Faith and Works" quoted as the lead-in for this week's study is a must read. Just wanted to mention this for any who have yet to find and read this gem.