Wednesday, 18th May 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-10 Must Keep the Truth
V1 ‘In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.’ We never know what God will do in our lives in that day, but we know that God has His plan. So as the people being called, how will we respond in that day?
V2 ‘Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.’ What does it mean by to keep the truth? To trust in God’s Word, to follow and to keep it. Are we willing to spend time to seek, to learn and to understand how God work? We are so blessed to have our own Bible nowadays, people in the past have paid the price and shed the blood to bring the Bible to others, but do we treasure the Bible we have in our hands now?
V3 ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.’ If we want to receive perfect peace, then we must live upon the principals of God. God wants us to set apart from this world, to stay firm and rely on Him. In the current situation, social media, lustful desires, and other things of the world have filled our lives and we don’t rely on the Word of God anymore, then the peace will never stay with us. When we face challenges and hardships, we don’t just complain or use our own ways to solve the problems, but we must sing this song loudly, towards our disbelief, our weakness, our unlovability, our unforgiveness, our bitterness… so then we can receive the perfect peace.
V4-6 ‘Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. For He brings down those who dwell on high, the lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust. The foot shall tread it down— the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.’ God will destroy the tower we build by ourselves, the tower of Babel, which represents the pride of people. God does not want us to rely on this world, He wants us to live under the fragrance of the Tree of Life, then we can live in the joyous garden created by God. Do not think we have, or we can do it, because when we think like this then we will never seek God.
What do we do with the Rhema we received from God every day? Do we really live it out and allow God’s Bread of Life fill our lives inside out? Or do we just hear and forget? V7-8 ‘The way of the just is uprightness; o Most Upright, You weigh the path of the just. Yes, in the way of Your judgments, o Lord, we have waited for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You.’ The Kingdom of God is near, but are we willing to wait for God’s timing? We don’t want to wait, and we don’t want to follow, it’s so easy for us to go on our own way instead of God’s Way. Jesus wanted Peter to fish for people, but when Jesus died on and cross and resurrected, Peter went back to fishing.
V9 ‘With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.’ We must learn to let go and rely on God, day and night. What we are like in the day should also be the same at night, do not put on a religious mask in the day then act differently at night. God is giving us a wake up call, the pandemic, the economic crisis, the wars… the world is not going back to what it was before.
V10 ‘Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness, he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.’ To complete the law, we need to love our God wholeheartedly and love our neighbours as ourselves. The wicked are those who don’t know God and who don’t follow God’s way, can we show them grace?
Section Two V11-15 God Established and Rules Over
V12 ‘Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us.’ Only God can give us true peace, not by ourselves, not by others, not by the things of this world. When we are willing to humble and to expose our low points, then we can reveal the light of God in our lives. Do not become the god to others, but to bring people to God. Do we live a life, so people see God in the things we do and the ways we behave?
V13 ‘O Lord our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name.’ Who are the masters in our lives beside God? Can we really truly and only rely on God? Stop asking why certain things happen to us but start seeing God’s hands in all our difficulties. Do not look at the environment, trust in God’s principals. The world may enslave us in the past, but it will all pass away, only God and His Word are everlasting.
Section Three V16-21 Wait Upon Him with Firm Faith
V16 ‘Lord, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.’ Who are they? Those in high places. We must ask God to give us life, not from those with high status in the world. V17 ‘As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O Lord.’ When we are in pain, we must admit that we need God, and everything will go away quickly. When we trust in God, He will do the Work. Wait upon Him, look up to Him, trust in Him, no matter what.
V19 ‘Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.’ Just like what is says in Ezekiel 37, God will breathe into the dry bones and revive them. We should also allow the breath of God to enter our lives, our dry bones, our dead lives; He will do the work, He will shake the earth, this is the end times and God wants to awaken all those who are in deep sleep.
V20-21 ‘Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain.’ Are we willing to trust in God? He will save and He will deliver, we must wait upon Him.
以赛亚书 26 – 当那日 我们要倚靠神
2022年5月18日 星期三
潘锡安牧师
神说到做到，不会出尔反尔。从罪进入世界时，神就说过他已经有预备，我们也知道神要做的事。主耶稣在地上的时候常说：“天国近了，你们要悔改”。在全球疫情猖狂、治安经济受到极大冲击的时候，我们作为跟从神的人，要如何回应神要做的事？“当那日”，我们要倚靠神。
一、v.1-10 必有愿意守信的
V1-2 “守信的”原文指的是抓住神的话。神行事有他的法则，我们是一群相信、跟从神法则的人。我们愿意花时间去学习神的话语，知道神如何运作吗？当我们买来一件新的器具后，是否一开箱就把说明书丢掉？我们是否珍惜神赐给我们的圣经？在古时，只有祭司或君王才有资格读圣经，而现在我们有多常亲自去读圣经？在每一天的晨祷，我们照着神的话去吸收里面的养分。“救恩”要成为我们的“城墙”，保护我们，不让我们被世界欺骗离开神。我们的根基要建立在耶稣基督上，但我们的时间都花在哪里呢？是在神的话语，还是在刷手机、看不该看的东西上？
V3-4 我们是否愿意坚守神法则的、“坚心倚赖”神，还是用世上的东西来填满我们的心？我们很容易在社交媒体上堕落，因为我们或许缺乏爱和平安，里面充满害怕、孤单。当事情发生的时候，我们不是用属世的东西去麻醉自己，而是要大声唱起这首歌，对着我们的软弱、小信、害怕、不能爱或饶恕的地方去唱。只要倚靠耶和华，就得“十分平安”。
V5-6 神的心意是要帮助我们。“住高处的与高城”其实就是巴别塔 – 造巴别塔的人在生命中看不到神，只看到自己或者别人很厉害、可以处理所有问题，但这些都要败落、被神拆毁。神不要我们倚靠自己或者世界，他要我们活在生命树的气息下，这才是永恒的乐园。
V6 “困苦人”指的是穷困的人，“穷乏人”指的是低下软弱的人，就是在以赛亚书61章1-2节所讲的人。 神希望我们谦卑，不要以为自己完全没问题、但看别人却都是问题。当我们整天觉得自己是可以的、只看到是别人才有需要，我们反而在不断扩张自己。我们里面没有神，即使外在是为别人付出、帮助人，但心里仍然很虚、干渴、无法真的爱人，因为我们不知道如何真正的爱自己。爱自己不是去买好的东西，而是去领受神每天给我们的灵粮。我们是否愿意谦卑活在生命树的气息下、让神的粮充满我们的里里外外？
V7 当那日，我们必要守着神的道，就是他的法则。神会修剪我们的道路，我们会为着神的修剪而感恩吗？
V8 我们愿意等候神吗？天国近了，但是耶稣还没再来，我们是否就先做一些自己想做的事？耶稣被钉十字架之后，彼得带着一群门徒去打鱼，想放下耶稣曾对他说的“得人如得鱼”的应许，因为他们以为耶稣已经死了，他们想要“鱼”而不是“人”。主耶稣复活后来到岸边为那些打鱼的门徒预备能够使他们饱腹的鱼，如今的我们是否愿意放下自己来跟从神？
V9 白天的时候，我们或许在人前包装自己，做很多事，看上去很敬虔，然而到了晚上，我们做什么呢？日有所思、也有所梦，在夜深人静的时候，我们的心是否仍然渴慕神，我们的灵是否仍然切切寻求神？当意气风发的时候没有倚靠神，我们就跌倒了。神借着世上的许多事给我们敲响警钟：国与国之间的战争、新冠疫情、治安混乱、经济危机，等等。今天我们已经不能再倚靠任何人或金钱了。神将我们带到新西兰，呼召我们来到这个教会，我们要紧紧抓住神的法则，单单渴慕、寻求神。
V10 不要以为你自己守着神的法则就好了，因为守信的还有其他人。我们要爱神，也要爱人如己。“恩惠”就是怜恤，“恶人”就是没有神的人，所以我们不要排斥恶人，而是帮助他们。
二、v.11-15 要知道神是成就的、是掌权的
V11 我们要经历神、要讲见证、要做盐做光、做灯塔，因为人心中无神，就看不到神，但他们看得到我们。我们的生命是否彰显神的国度，让人看见后“抱愧”？
V12 “得平安”不是靠人的努力，而是单单倚靠神。我们要看到自己的低点，在低点中让人看到神如何翻转我们的生命。我们若看不到自己的低点，就只是让人看到我们厉害如神，无法将人带到神的面前。要让人看到在我们的软弱、困难、羞愧中神施行神迹奇事帮助我们。不要沉迷在我们自己的世界中，不要体贴我们的软弱，反要攻克己身、叫身服我。
V13 以色列人曾经经历亡国的羞辱，被巴比伦等外邦人管辖。但我们看到的是家破人亡这些负面的东西，还是继续相信神的法则？
V14-15 我们是否相信那些曾经管辖我们的“主”最后都会死去？要捆绑、砍断他们在我们灵魂体的连接，相信神成就、神掌权，因他是万军之耶和华！
三、v.16-21 要坚定等候祂
V16 “他们”就是那些在高处与高城的人。让我们放下里面的固执叛逆，选择生命。
V17-18 你是否愿意承认自己的疼痛，还是以为自己很好、不需要神？这疼痛“像风一样”，很快会过去。只要我们信神，就看到他会做事。
V19 当那日，无论发生什么事，只要我们相信、等候神，“死人”就要复活，沉睡就要“醒起歌唱”。这正是以西结书37章4-5节所说：“枯干的骸骨啊，要听耶和华的话！主耶和华对这些骸骨如此说：我必使气息进入你们里面，你们就要活了。”神对我们说的话，我们有听吗？
V20 神要在末世做事，震动这个世界，让人从安逸中苏醒过来。你的安逸和枯干是什么？神要我们“进入内室，关上门，隐藏片时，等到愤怒过去”。
V21 耶和华神要“从他的居所出来”，我们愿意在这个时刻放下自己、倚靠神吗？要专心寻求他、不放弃跟从他，相信神必成就大事！