Author: Ben Bourland

“O Lord, why have You made us [able] to err from Your ways and hardened our hearts to [reverential] fear of You? Return [to bless us] for Your servants’ sake, the tribes of Your heritage.” Isaiah 63:17 ->me: This is not an attempt to lay blame on the Lord, rather a recognition that the guilt of His people is such that the Lord had no option but to drive them from Him and into the far country of sin which they had chosen. The heart choosing disobedience hardens progressively against God’s way until the moment (known only to God and fixed by Him) comes when the point of no return is reached, when the final, decisive choice of sin is made. When this point is passed the situation is humanly irretrievable: only God can change it – if only He will return. This is the condition I find myself in every day…I feel it…I feel further from Him when I have let my own self fixing, self satisfying, self comforting ways come in between Him and I. When I choose a way that is against You Father; when I sin or deliberately look to other sources of strength, happiness, or worth…I drift away…but I am the first one to throw my hands down and accuse you of not being there. What choice do you have Father when my actions and heart tell You to go away? The sobering reality is that You threw my sin on your Son and then turned your back on Him so You would not have to turn Your back on me; He had to suffer a punishment that was not only incurring Your wrath meant for me but also your absence.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but [reverently] to fear the Lord your God, [that is] to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ->me: This is my memory verse for the week and it has been a gift to memorize and dwell on its truths. What does the Lord REQUIRE of me? 1) Ultimately, to FEAR Him. “Walk in all His ways” means to know His ways and you cannot do that without searching what those ways are in His word and through the great teachers. 2) To LOVE Him. Love Him above all other things. 3) To SERVE Him. Serving with all aspects of the person He has created me to be – with my mind, my heart, my body, and my soul. 4) To OBEY Him. Keeping the commandments and respecting His truths by staying away from evil and wickedness. FEAR, LOVE, SERVE, and OBEY. I only have to sit and unpack this every once in a while throughout the day to stay in check with who He wants me to be.

“Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.” Isaiah 63:11-14 (ESV) ->me: These 4 verses are the Lord’s dialog back to Himself about the children of Israel after they have, once again, rebelled and therefore made God their enemy and they His. BUT!…He remembers…the days of old where He led them out of Egypt, took care of them in the wilderness with manna, quail, and water from the rock; delivered them from their enemies by leading them through the Red Sea and the across the Jordan into the promise land. Why? Why did He do this?? Because, it has been His plan all along to bring glory to Himself through His people. What the people can not do the Messiah would cover and cover for all the nations. I have not lived up to the dignity He would have for me but I am working today on my way to His sanctifying work in my life…Why? For His glory; for His design all along is to reveal His ‘name of beauty’, a task He will never desert.

“For God said, “Surely [Ben is] My [son], [a son] who will not lie [who will not deal falsely with Me]”; and so God was to [him] a Savior [in all Ben’s distresses]. In all [Ben’s] affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved [him]; in His love and in His pity He redeemed [him]; and He lifted [Ben] up and carried [him] all the days of [his life].” Isaiah 63:8-9 ->me: As you can see I have personalized these verses today. As I was reading this afternoon these truths out of Isaiah about how God feels about His people resonated with how He must feel about me. Here is what God does: He identifies with His people, He hopes the best of them, He commits Himself to them in saving action. He feels their sorrows, He lives savingly among them, and He bears their burdens perseveringly. I love the ‘Angel of His Presence’ -> literally of ‘Angel of His Face’ is the Lord’s very Own presence (Psalm 139:7). His LOVE…the noun ‘ahaba’ in Hebrew occurs only here in Isaiah – this love is the ‘Love’ that delights in the companionship of the loved one. So, this, in the context of how I have personalized the verse above is an overwhelming view of how God feels about me and what He does for me…for you.

ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE VERSES – For He said, Surely they are My people, sons who will not lie [who will not deal falsely with Me]; and so He was to them a Savior [in all their distresses].  In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Isaiah 63:8-9

“I will recount the loving-kindnesses of the Lord and the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel, which He has granted them according to His mercy and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.” Isaiah 63:7 ->me: Yesterday and today this verse very much rang true to me. Everyday I need to recount the loving-kindness of the Lord and His praiseworthy deeds…sometimes He allows a nice little reminder to turn me toward Him. His mercy on me is unmerited. My sin should commit me to the very worst consequences but He has stood in the gap and taken the brunt to secure me for Himself. Thank you Lord God for your love that surpasses understanding. I am so humbly thankful and grateful.

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no one with Me. I trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I stained all My raiment.” Isaiah 63:3 ->me: This entire passage gives me the picture of the redemption that Jesus brought through His death on the cross. There was no one else who could do the work of Salvation. Jesus alone had to go and pay the price and then through that sacrifice slayed the old me, my sin, and rescued my soul. It is the blood of my old self that is on the garments of Jesus. I am now clothed in white [Redeemed] and I now walk by His side seeing the blood of my slaughtered sin on His clothes as a reminder of what He has done for me. If the old me is dead then there is no way for that old man to come back to life; it is my responsibility to refuse the influence satan had on my old self and cling to the newness and strength I have in Christ alone.

“​WHO IS this Who comes from Edom, with crimson-stained garments from Bozrah [in Edom]? This One Who is glorious in His apparel, striding triumphantly in the greatness of His might? It is I, [the One] Who speaks in righteousness [proclaiming vindication], mighty to save!” Isaiah 63:1 ->me: The watchmen see the Son of God coming from afar off; from the land of Edom. Edom means ‘red’ and is the land of Esau. Bozrah means ‘vintage’ matching the winepress motif. The watchmen can only see generalities from their distance but they see a lot as he comes toward them. 1) His garments: some commentaries say they could not see that they were crimson-stained yet only that they were ‘sharp’ in color. Maybe vivid in color. 2) His Splendor: Not a bedraggled figure but entirely majestic. 3) His triumphant gait: The purposeful and energetic walk of One Who is confident. 4) His Strength: There is no weakness, not even withstanding that He comes, as we learn, from battle-tiredness. He is brimming with vigor. Who is He??? He is a speaker: He was first introduced in Isaiah as endowed with the word in vengeance and salvation. When He donned His garments He vowed not to keep silent. (Revelation 9:13,21) Now He speaks again, and does so as One whose Righteousness is intact and whose self-awareness is that He is Mighty to Save. Mighty greatness is ‘abundant’. Merely ‘great’ strength could rise to an occasion and then, perhaps, be spent; ‘abundant’ strength cannot be exhausted, and as abundant as His strength so is His Salvation, inexhaustible in it efficiency. This is my Savior Who goes before me. This is the one Who wielded His sword and cut down death and sin. Reading ahead, I can already tell my Quiet Time tomorrow is going to be a doozy.

“Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the Daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes [in the person of the Lord]; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work and recompense before Him. and they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken.” Isaiah 62:11-12 ->me: The ending of this chapter is so awesome! 3 “Beholds” are called out in verse 11 – 1) The invitation goes out with the Lord’s own authority. 2) Zion is alerted to her own salvation; Zion’s salvation is the world’s salvation. It is what the Lord Himself undertook and then committed to the Anointed One (59:16). The New Testament thinks here of the ever-imminent return of Jesus (Phil 3:20-21 & Heb 9:28). The completed task of the One Who comes. His reward and recompense are the “Holy People” (Heb 12:2). Then verse 12 tells us that on that day we will be called: “The Holy People” glorified and made righteous through the work of the Holy One. “The Redeemed of the Lord” Those who have been rescued from the world and bondage of sin. “The Sought Out Ones” Those whom the Lord has gone to great lengths to secure for Himself. “A City Not Forsaken” The City on a hill, the bride of the bride groom; the protected and Holy City of God.

“I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace day or night; you who [are His servants and by your prayers] put the Lord in remembrance [of His promises], keep not silence, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 62:6-7 ->me: What does it mean to be a Watchman? 1) I have been placed on the wall by God. I am here because He put me here. 2) I will be resilient day and night. 3) I am to pray unceasingly for God to bring His promises and purposes to fruition. 4) I am to be vocal; not silent. 5) I must stand watch and pray until He returns as if nothing would happen unless I did so. The fulfilment of the Lord’s purposes for Zion come through the prayers of His people. My prayers as I live here in the Zion of Hebrews 12:22, and wait for the Zion of Revelation 21:10, is my part in the guardian care of this city (I am to be a Watchman).

“You [Judah] shall no more be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land be called Desolate any more. But you shall be called Hephzibah [My delight is in her], and your land be called Beulah [married]; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married [owned and protected by the Lord].” Isaiah 62:4 ->me: After reading this passage today in Isaiah 62, I really want to take a deep dive into the traditions, ceremony, and courting of Jewish marriage in the time of Isaiah. I feel like there is so much more here in the details of marriage in this time period that I may be missing about the strength of the statements being make here. I know how I felt when I was given the honor of marrying Marianne. I still am blown away that she would give herself and take me. What is interesting here is that the groom delights in his bride, cares for and loves her but she, likewise, respects her husband, leans on him to provide and these actions are a big part of why the groom delights in his wife. Her dependence on him fosters even more the unconditional love he has for her. Understanding this helps me see God’s love for me and His desire to protect and delight in me, delight in the love and worship I give Him…this is the relationship. This is the thing that is different from all other earthly religions.