Tuesday, March 24 2009
ISAIAH 16
Key Verse: V1 “Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.”
Moab refused to send a lamb for the atonement of their sins. The sacrifice of the lamb symbolized the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall take away the sin of the world by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
1. God’s Protection
V2 “For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.”
When Moab rejected the sacrifice of the lamb, he was like the bird that was cast out from the protection of his mother’s love and care. When we refuse to believe and accept the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, we are out of God’s love and care, and waiting for His judgment on our sins.
2. God’s Punishment
V6-7 “We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.”
God’s punishment was upon proud Moab who stubbornly refused to acknowledge the sacrifice of the lamb or the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. As a result, they lost the joy and blessings of God and mourned under His judgment and punishment.
3. God’s Patience
V14 “But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.”
God did not immediately punish the nation of Moab but waited patiently for 3 years for them to repent of their sins and offer the sacrifice of the lamb at the altar of God. However, they stubbornly and proudly refused to repent and believe the Lamb of God.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Food For Thought
The Lamb may be meek but He is the Messiah!
