Tag Archives: Isaiah

Instant Messaging

Posted on by under Christian Living

Texting     Have you ever prayed for God to take care of some problem that you had, and then wondered what the answer to that prayer would be? It is especially difficult for us as Americans to be patient in waiting for a response. We are so accustomed to fast food, microwave ovens, and instant messaging that we expect immediate results. Additionally, it may be that the answer to our prayer is “not now,” and so we have to wait awhile for the result. This is a normal situation, but during the time of Hezekiah, he received an instant response to one of his prayers.

     As 2 Kings 20 opens Hezekiah is sick to the point of death. Isaiah the prophet comes to him to instruct him to put his house in order, for he will soon die. This leads to Hezekiah’s prayer, and the text tells us that he prayed with such fervor that he wept bitterly (2 Kings 20:2). His prayer was heard and his tears were seen by the Lord. Before Isaiah could even exit Hezekiah’s house, he was told to return to Hezekiah with an updated message (2 Kings 20:4-5). Hezekiah was not going to die yet. Instead the Lord granted him another 15 years on this earth. God was prepared for Hezekiah’s prayer, because God knows all things even before they occur.

     Likewise when we pray to the Lord, He already knows what it is that we will say and what it is that we need (Matthew 6:8). Still, He wants for us to come to Him in prayer. We are no different than Hezekiah in that respect. God knew that He would heal Hezekiah, but yet He waited for Hezekiah’s prayer. God has the power to answer all our prayers in an instant. Whether the answer comes instantly or over the course of time, our part is to pray with the earnest expectation that God will hear and answer our prayers (James 1:6-8).

How Did They Know That?

Posted on by under Christian Evidences

The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17      Have you ever been amazed by a child, perhaps your own, who shows that they have been paying attention to something that was said? Maybe they show a grasp of a new idea, and you can see that light bulb going off in their head for the first time. Sometimes we may wonder, “How did they know that,” or “how did they pick up on that idea.”

    In the Bible there are many examples that can be studied where the writers of the Holy Scriptures had a knowledge of scientific facts that would not be discovered by man for many, many years. This should lead us to the same question that we have with the child. Just how did they know that? For instance, consider what we read in the book of Isaiah. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:21-22 NKJV).

      Notice that as Isaiah is speaking about our God, the Creator of the universe, he mentions that God sits above the circle of the earth. Isaiah is writing this sometime around 750 B.C., and he knows that the earth is round – it is a circle. Today we take this knowledge for granted, but it took a long time for man to come to the realization that the earth is round. We no longer worry about sailing over the edge of the earth. But how did Isaiah know this? He had never circumvented the globe or traveled into space to see this for himself.

       Furthermore, Job states “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). Job had never traveled into outer space either, so how does he know that the earth hangs on nothing? The ancients had all sorts of theories about what the earth was like and how it was held up. One theory was that Atlas held the world on his shoulders. Another was that the earth was on the back of some great tortoise. Now that we have traveled beyond our atmosphere, man can see that the earth indeed hangs on nothing.

       Did these men just get lucky with their knowledge of scientific facts that would not be discovered for a long, long time? That is unlikely. The only way these men could have known this information to be true is that God revealed this to them. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). This is just one small proof that the Bible is not from man, but indeed has been penned by God through His Holy Spirit!