Day 15 March 13



Day 15 March 13

Passage: Isaiah 43:14-21
The Exodus event was the wondrous act of God. He described himself as personally leading his people across the Red Sea, then eliminating the pursuing enemies. The very mention of these things would help in encouraging the Israelites, for just as how salvation and victory were accomplished in the past, similar events now appear possible as well. But God then said in verse 18: “Don’t remember these earlier events; don’t recall these former events.” God said this because he was about to act again, and another wondrous act was about to happen. Even though the past events were great and memorable, but since these people were about to experience them for themselves, there was no need to dwell on the past. The past events helped in affirming their faith in God’s power, but if it impeded them into thinking that God was only powerful and active in the past, then these should be forgotten so that they would instead hope for God to be active in their future.

The wordings of the promises from the prophets often repeated God’s past promises. Even though these promises were from the past, they remained active in pushing God to act in new ways. In God’s re-creation plans, what materializes are a new exodus, new covenant, new inheritance of the land, new kingship, new Jerusalem, new Temple, even a new heaven and new earth. These descriptions of God’s new acts may resemble the past. But such forms of revelation were because of epistemological reasons. God had to use what they could comprehend to get them to imagine what would happen in the future. God expressed that these things would take place “for your sake” (verse14). In the past, for the pursuing Egyptian soldiers to lose all hope, God had to wipe them out. The Babylonians would suffer the same fate in this current case. This act of God would be a revelation to His people, and a proclamation to the world. To his people He stated, “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the one who created Israel, your King.” (verse 15) To the world He declared, “these are the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.” (verse 21)

Prayer: God, you did wondrous things in the past, and today you shall do the same!

第十五天 Mar 13


经文：以赛亚书 43:14-21
耶和华在整个出埃及的过程中行了奇妙的作为。祂形容自己是亲自带他们过红海，也消灭了追兵。耶和华此刻提起这些，当然有助于鼓励以色列子民，正如当年所行的救赎与胜利，如今类似这样的事情也是同样可能。但18节：耶和华却如此说：“你们不要记念从前的事，也不要追想古时的事。”耶和华这么说是因为耶和华即将再次行动，又一个奇迹就要发生。所以，虽然过去的事如此巨大，也具有纪念价值，但是既然这些子民就要亲身体验这些事，他们也就无需留念过去。虽然过去的事能够增加对于神能力的肯定，但如果以为神只剩下过去的辉煌，那就该忘记这些，而期待神能再次行大事。

先知的应许往往是重述神当年的承诺。虽然是以往的承诺，但至今仍促使神在现今显出新的作为。所以神在更新的过程中，实现出来的，是新的出埃及，新的立约，新的继承土地，新的王，新耶路撒冷，新的圣殿，甚至新天新地。这些都以描述过去，来形容神的新作为。这样的启示方式都是出于认知上的理由。神必须通过他们所能理解的，去想象那个将来的事。

耶和华表示这都是“因你们的缘故”。在以往，耶和华为了让埃及追兵死心，对他们赶尽杀绝。如今的巴比伦也必须遭受此难。这是对子民的启示，也是对世人的宣告。对子民，耶和华表明：“我是耶和华，你们的圣者，是创造以色列的，是你们的君王。”（15节）而当救赎成就以后，这就是对着世人说：“这百姓是我为自己所造的，好称颂我。”（21节）

祷告：主耶和华啊，祢昔日行奇妙的事，如今祢还要行奇妙的事! 

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