Scripture Reading : Isaiah 3-4
Theme : End Times Judgment and Restoration
Removal of Male Leadership (3:1-15). Here, God describes His judgment against Israel’s sins in the end times, which also reflects to some degree God’s looming judgment, through Assyria and Babylon, against the sins of Isaiah’s generation. God will remove key male leaders to the point where only immature, foolish, self-willed, children-like leaders will be available. The qualification for leadership will be so low that one just needs to have a cloak. The Jews are the one who will bring these punishments upon themselves (v.9). For they are oppressors of the defenseless, devouring the weak and crushing the poor. They force God to punishment righteously.
Removal of Proud Women (3:16-4:1). God will also punish the proud women of Israel. They are like the wicked Jezebel, who indulge in luxury, live for pleasure and external ornaments. God will take everything they love from them and give them the opposites: from perfume to rottenness, from nice hair to baldness, from beauty to branding (enslavement). Men will be so few as result of death, that women will fight over men for husbands to have children (unable to marry and have children were a reproach back then).
Establishment of God’s Glory (4:2-6). Again, Isaiah agrees with other prophets that in the end times, there will be a remnant in Israel whom God will save. These remnants, along with resurrected saints, will see God’s amazing glory just as Israel saw God’s glory during the first exodus. There will be complete peace and security because the Messiah will remove sin.
Praying the Scripture
- God focuses so much on the end times in the major and minor prophets because it is in the end times that God will completely get rid of Israel’s sins (Dan. 9:24), also the sins of the world, and then commence everlasting righteousness on earth. It is also in the end times that God will fulfill His promise to crush Satan (Gen 3:15; Rev. 20:2) and give Israel permanent peace (2 Sam. 7:10). This is God’s big plan and He wants believers to understand it, hope for it, yearn for it and live for it. Pray that you will not be short-sighted, but realize you are a pilgrim on this earth. You ought to live for the everlasting righteous Messianic Kingdom by denying your sins thousands of times every day and be witnesses for Christ on this earth (2 Pet. 3:11-12). God wants us to understand and agree with Him that such glorious eternal kingdom is worth giving up temporary earthly comfort. Pray that your heart will align with God’s heart, your value with God’s value.
经文：以赛亚书3-4
主题：末日的审判和复兴
除掉男性领导（3:1-15）。这里，神形容祂在末日时将对以色列之罪所施行的审判。这也在某程度上反映了神即将借着亚述和巴比伦对以赛亚当代人的罪施行的审判。神会除掉主要的男性领导，以致所剩的只有幼稚、愚昧、自私及孩童般的领导人。做领导的资格即将降低，以致只要有衣服的都可以当任。这些刑罚是犹太人咎由自取的（9节）——他们欺压手无寸铁的百姓，吞噬贫穷柔弱的人。他们强迫神施行公义的审判。
除掉骄傲的妇女（3:16-4:1）。神也会惩罚以色列狂傲的妇女。她们犹如恶毒的耶洗别，只管自己享福享乐，穿戴首饰。神将夺走他们所爱的一切，让她们陷入相反的局面：必有臭烂代替馨香，光秃代替美发，烙伤代替美容（作奴仆的缘故）。因着死亡，所剩的男丁将少之又少，叫妇女必为着要生儿女争夺男人（那时候，不婚有子必遭唾弃）。
用经文祷告
- 神在大小先知书里如此强调末日之事，因为神就是末日的时候将完全除尽以色列（但9:24）及世界的罪，并在地上展开祂永恒公义的统治。神也将在末日时履行应许，击倒撒旦（创3:15；启20:2），并给予以色列永久的和平（撒下7:10）。这是神重大的计划，因此祂要信徒明白、盼望并渴慕此事，为此而活。祷告你能远看将来，晓得自己仅是世上的客旅。你当为着永恒公义的弥赛亚国度而活，每日无数次治死自己的罪，在世上为基督作见证（彼后3:11-12）。神要你明白并赞同：这等荣耀的永恒国度是值得我们舍弃短暂的属世享乐的。祈求你的心能与神的心吻合，你的价值观与神的是一致的。
