Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 60-63.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

According to the Gospel of Luke when Jesus began His ministry in Nazareth, He read from Isaiah 61 and said that it was fulfilled in their hearing.  He stopped with the phrase, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  However, rabbinic tradition was (and I believe still is) that to quote the beginning of a prophecy is to call out the entire passage.  Which is interesting because the sentence Jesus ended with concludes with “and the day of vengeance of our God.”  Now most of chapter 61 continues speaking about things related to the “year of the Lord’s favor”, and I believe that Jesus’ ministry was (and is) about God’s love and forgiveness.  However, I also believe that God’s vengeance against those who will not turn from evil, as described in chapter 63, goes along with His renewed offer of forgiveness.  Whenever I read this I am reminded of the song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (also known as “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory”).  While some have said that the song glorifies the war making of the Union Army during the Civil War, I have always thought of the death and suffering experienced on both sides as examples of God “trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”  The terrible suffering of the Civil War came about because of the grave sin of the way slavery was practiced in this country (I believe that many other countries are still suffering from the ways in which they practiced slavery).  I fear that a new day of such suffering will come upon this country when God pours out His wrath over the innocent blood which is shed in our abortion mills.  Let us fast and pray that God transform our society before that day comes.
I want to note that the passage tells us that it is but a day of God’s wrath with a year of His favor.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.