Archive for June, 2013

Isaiah 9:6 A Child is Born, Part 2

Posted in Isaiah, Prophecy with tags , , , , on June 29, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

…and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor…He will be marvelous. Isaiah 28:29 confirms this as well. This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

Mighty God… The Hebrew language indicates He is a man, strong and brave. There are military implications in the reference.

Eternal Father…The Hebrew word for eternal is ‘ad. It is defined by Strong’s Concordance as: perpetuity, forever, continuing future, ancient (of past time), forever (of future time), of continuous existence, forever (of God’s existence). God is eternal. Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

…Prince of Peace This title pictures the king as one who establishes a safe socio-economic environment for his people. It hardly depicts Him as a meek individual, for He establishes peace through military strength. His people experience safety and prosperity because their invincible king destroys their enemies (NET Bible). True peace is hard to imagine in today’s world. Think of the qualities of a true peace: completeness (in number), safety, soundness (in body), welfare, health, prosperity, quietness, tranquility, contentment, absence of war, friendship of human relationships, and a covenant relationship with God.

Shalom…

Trend Update: Isaiah 19:5-8 Nile River Dries Up

Posted in Isaiah, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , on June 20, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 19:5-8 The waters from the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry. The canals will emit a stench, the streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; the reeds and rushes will rot away. The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown fields by the Nile will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. And the fishermen will lament, and all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

Trend update June 2013: Egypt and the Nile River

Here is an article that was published the other day. In light of Isaiah 19, this is curious at the least. Prophetically, the Nile River drying would be the next thing to happen in Egypt if Isaiah 19 is being fulfilled before our eyes. I don’t think it is any stretch to say there is social and political upheaval across Egypt. Isaiah does not say what causes the Nile to go dry. It could be drought. It could be this dam. It could be a combination of the two. It could be something else. The end result of Isaiah 19, a Savior and Champion is sent to bring eventual peace in the region and ultimately to the world. At any rate, this is an interesting read in light of Scripture. These are interesting times in our world.

‘No Nile, No Egypt’, Cairo Warns Over Ethiopia Dam

Shadia Nasralla

CAIRO | Sun Jun 9, 2013 2:42pm EDT

CAIRO(Reuters) – Egypt’s foreign minister, vowing not to give up “a single drop of water from the Nile”, said on Sunday he would go to Addis Ababa to discuss a giant dam that Ethiopia has begun building in defiance of Cairo’s objections.

Speaking to Egypt’s state news agency MENA two days after the Ethiopian government flatly rejected a request from Cairo to halt the project, Mohamed Kamel Amr said Egyptians view any obstacle to the river’s flow as a threat to national survival.

“No Nile – no Egypt,” he said, highlighting the pressure on the Egyptian government, whose popularity is wilting in the face of economic troubles, to prevent the hydro power plant cutting already stretched water supplies for its 84 million people.

Last week, Ethiopia summoned the Egyptian ambassador after politicians in Cairo were shown on television suggesting military action or supporting Ethiopian rebels – a mark of the threat felt in Cairo from the plan to dam the Blue Nile, the tributary that supplies the bulk of water downstream in Egypt.

“Egypt won’t give up on a single drop of water from the Nile or any part of what arrives into Egypt from this water in terms of quantity and quality,” Amr told MENA, noting that Egypt has little rain and is effectively desert without its great river.

Speaking at a news conference, he declined to detail the action Egypt might take next but noted Ethiopian assurances that Africa’s biggest hydro station would not cut water supplies.

“We have a plan for action, which will start soon,” Amr said. “We’ll talk to Ethiopia and we’ll see what comes of it.

“Ethiopia has said it will not harm Egypt, not even by a liter of water. We are looking at … this being implemented.”

Countries that share the Nile have long argued over the use of its waters, repeatedly raising fears that the disputes could eventually boil over into war. Egypt, struggling with a shortage of cash and bitter internal political divisions following a 2011 revolution, called on Ethiopia to stop work after engineers began diverting the course of the Blue Nile late last month.

The possible downstream effects of the $4.7-billion Grand Renaissance Dam, some 40 km (25 miles) from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, have been disputed and full details are unclear.

While letting water through such dams – of which Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia already have several – may not reduce its flow greatly, the filling of the reservoir behind any new dam means cutting the river’s flow for a time. Evaporation from reservoirs can also permanently reduce water flowing downstream.

Now 21 percent complete, the new dam on the Blue Nile will eventually have capacity of 6,000 megawatts and is central to Ethiopia’s plans to become Africa’s leading exporter of power.

Sudan, which borders Egypt and Ethiopia and also gets much of its water from the Nile, said it supported the project.

“The Grand Renaissance Dam brings many benefits and blessings for us,” Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman told reporters in Khartoum.

He gave no details, but Sudanese officials have said the dam will enable Ethiopia to export power to Sudan, a country with frequent outages and one of its closest allies in Africa.

(Editing by Alastair Macdonald, Tom Pfeiffer and Kevin Liffey)

 

Isaiah 9:6 A Child is Born

Posted in Gospel, Isaiah with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 15, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

This verse is a chorus in Handel’s Messiah which was written in 1741. The Messiah was written by Handel 24 days.

The verse is prophetic in nature. The first part of the verse, For a child will be born to us, was future to Isaiah. It is the past to us in June of 2013. We know this child to be Jesus as noted in Luke 2:11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

…a son will be given to us…The purpose of the Son is clarified in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This fact in history has binding results today and into the future. The grammar of the verse (Isaiah 9:6) in Hebrew indicates that the son is given to us, a gift.

…and the government will rest on His shoulders…This event is yet future to us in June 2013 and of course it was future to Isaiah some 700-800 years before the birth of the son. The Hebrew word for government is misrah, according to Strong’s Concordance it could also mean rule or dominion. Translation, He is in charge. Jesus confirms this in His resurrected body in Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…”

Other references in the Old Testament confirm authority being given to the Son by the Father. Psalm 2 is an excellent example. Specifically verses 6-7 “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain”. I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. “

1 Corinthians 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. This is an absolute necessity when one reads this verse in the original Greek New Testament. The word for must is dei. Stated another way, it is necessary. This has to happen.

1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. The Bible says there will come a time when there is no more death.

Isaiah 9:3-5 The Prince the Liberator

Posted in Isaiah, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , on June 10, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 9:3 You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; they will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

The grammar in the Hebrew indicates that God is the One who causes the population of Israel to increase abundantly. God is the One who causes their joy to increase.

The nation will be happy in His presence. Harvest time for people of Israel is a time of shouting, joy, gladness, and singing. There are festivals and eating and drinking. This is a happy time full of merriment as evidenced from passages in Judges, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. This the joy the nation will experience with the living God.

There is the implication of a great military victory. The Hebrew word for “spoil” is shalal. According to Strong’s Concordance, it means: prey, plunder, spoil, booty of war. Gladness abounds as the men gather and divide the plunder.

Isaiah 9:4 For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. 

Israel is being compared to an ox that has a yoke and carrying heavy equipment. A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that is placed on the neck of animal for the purpose work and plowing a field. An ox is an animal of labor. It was whipped and beaten.

God will step in and break this oppression as He did in the battle of Midian. The reference is to Gideon’s victory in Judges 7-8. God chose the men for battle. God needed only 300 men when the enemy had tens of thousands of soldiers. Israel was directed by God to attack at night. Confusion was created and the enemy attacked itself. The victory was decisive. It did not take long to achieve the conquest.

Isaiah 9:5 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

As confusion was the case in the battle of Midian, so shall confusion and trembling reign during the battle when God intervenes again. The enemy will be burned from the head of the cloak to the toe of the boot. They will be consumed by fire.

These are future events. We know this person of the Godhead to be the man, Jesus. This says in Isaiah that He is physically coming to Earth.

Isaiah 9:1-2 A Prince is Coming

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , , on June 1, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 9:1 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

The “her” is Israel. This area was invaded and plundered by Assyria and Tiglath-pileser. This is the land in anguish and contempt.

“He” is God. Later in the verse, “He” is Jesus, who is God.

The eastern border of Naphtali is the Jordan River north of the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee itself. The northern border is the Leontes River.  The western border of Naphtali is Asher and in the southwest corner is bordered by Zebulun.  Zebulun is due west of the Sea of Galilee.

This area was Jesus’ Ministry headquarters. Matthew confirmed this was fulfilled prophecy when he quoted Isaiah 9:1.

Matthew 4:13-15 … and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES—

In today’s world (June 2013), this northern region appointed to Naphtali is occupied to some degree by Lebanon.  There are prophetic considerations to this verse. These lands will be restored to Israel in the future.

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.

Matthew 4:16 quotes this verse from Isaiah.

This is the region where Jesus recruited His disciples. From this point forward, Jesus taught the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Good news is coming.

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