Bible in 90 Days {Week 8 Recap}

 

I’m still reading away! However, I’ve still got a bit of today’s reading to finish, two kids to get to bed (and nag about homework), a kitchen to finish cleaning and laundry to put away, so let’s keep this short and sweet, shall we?

This week was all about prophets: Isaiah and Jeremiah, to be exact. My favorite part was the foreshadowing of Jesus. I’m still amazed that Jesus performed a mathematical improbability by fulfilling so many prophecies to the letter. In fact, each of the prophecies (regarding Jesus or otherwise) were so incredibly unlikely, the probability that it would actually happen was…well, near impossible. (Take it from people who are much smarter than me–Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible, an article on a site that integrates faith and science).

Blows. My. Mathematically-Challenged. Mind.

Insights/Observations from Week 8:

• Here’s a few of the passages on Jesus: Isaiah 7:14-15, 9:2-7, 11 (?)
• Stop trusting in man! Isaiah 2:22
• Woe to: deceivers (Isa. 5:20), know-it-alls (Isa. 5:21), drunks (5:22), those who practice injustice (Isa. 5:23)–my paraphrase. 🙂
• God repeated himself a lot (probably because nothing was getting through the thick skulls of the people He was talking to). He often mentioned that He didn’t really care about their formal sacrifices, but this is what He did want to see: repentance/”making yourselves clean,” stop  doing wrong/start doing right, seeking justice for others, encouraging the oppressed, defend the fatherless/widow (Isa. 1:11-17)
• Oooooo…spooky (confusing) stuff! Isaiah 14:9: “The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones—all those who were kings over the nations.” Is this on my “to-study later” list? You betcha. So many questions regarding death. Here’s another death-related verse: Isaiah 26:19
• Listen up, everybody! “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” (Isa. 29:13) Ouch!
• Another instance where prayer changed God’s mind: God told Hezekiah to get his house in order because he was going to die, BUT…Hezekiah cries/prays/asks God to remember his faithfulness. So, God says he can have 15 more years. (Isa. 39)
• No one can understand the mind of God…so just get over it right now. 😉 (Isa. 40:13, 40:28). Oh…and His thoughts/ways are not like ours (Isa. 55:8)
• What does Isaiah 45:25 mean? Is He giving Jews a free pass?
• Like rain nourishes the soil, God’s Word will never return void: Isa. 55:11
• So, maybe this won’t comfort you if you’re grieving for a loved one, but I thought it was interesting inclusion nonetheless: “The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.” (Isa. 57:1)
• More Holy Spirit sightings? Isaiah 32:15, 42:1, 59:21
• There’s a group at my church doing the Randy Alcorn “Heaven” Bible Study right now and I wish I had time to be a part of it, especially after reading Isaiah 66 on the New Heaven/New Earth
• More instances of rain being withheld because of sin: Jeremiah 3:3, 5:25
• Here’s a doosey of a verse that will definitely be revisited for further study: “How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?” (Jeremiah 8:8). Yeah, I know.
• A new twist on “eating words”–Jeremiah 15:16 talks about being hungry for and satisfied by God’s word.

I could go on but this is already a little less “short and sweet” than I intended. Until next week…