DAY 192    Read 2 Kings 17 and 18; 2 Chronicles 29.

Today's reading:  Like a clean breeze that sweeps away the chilling fog, King Hezekiah's zeal for God brought revival to Judah after many years of prevailing wickedness.  (The northern kingdom fell in 722 B.C.).

Memory gem:  "Hezikiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly"   (2 Chronicles 29:36).

Thought for today:
"Hezekiah proved to be a man of opportunity.  No sooner had he ascended the throne than he began to plan and to execute.  He first turned his attention to the restoration of the temple services, so long neglected; and in this work he earnestly solicited the cooperation of a band of priests and Levites who had remained true to their sacred calling.  Confident of their loyal support, he spoke with them freely concerning his desire to institute immediate and far-reaching reforms....

"In a few well-chosen words the king reviewed the situation they were facing--the closed temple and the cessation of all services within its precincts; the flagrant idolatry practiced in the streets of the city and throughout the kingdom; the apostasy of multitudes who might have remained true to God had the leaders in Judah set before them a right example; and the decline of the kingdom and loss of prestige in the estimation of surrounding nations.  The northern kingdom was rapidly crumbling to pieces; many were perishing by the sword; a multitude had already been carried away captive; soon Israel would fall completely into the hands of the Assyrians, and be utterly ruined; and this fate would surely befall Judah as well, unless God should work mightily through chosen representatives....

"It was a time for quick action.  The priests began at once....They engaged heartily in the work of cleansing...the temple.  Because of the years of desecration and neglect, this was attended with many difficulties; but the priests and the Levites labored untiringly, and within a remarkably short time they were able to report their task completed.  The temple doors had been repaired and thrown open; the sacred vessels had been assembled and put into place; and all was in readiness for the re-establishment of the sanctuary services."--Prophet and Kings, pp. 331-333.

DAY 191    Read Isaiah 32 through 35.

Today's reading:  This passage contains one of the favorite descriptions of the new earth (chapter 35).  It also has wonderful promises--our memory gem, for example.

Memory gem:  "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever"  (Isaiah 32:17).

Thought for today:
An interesting title made by combining a word with Jehovah is found in Judges 6:24:  "Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalam," which means "Jehovah is peace."  Parallel to this, in the twenty-third psalm we find the words, "He [the Lord] leadeth me beside the still waters," the waters of quietness.  And the apostle Paul writes of Jesus, "He is our peace"  (Ephesians 2:14).

In the days of Gideon, Israel had forsaken God and therefore knew no peace.  Only occasionally did they turn back to God; and then, we are told, the land had peace.

The wicked never have any peace.  "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked"  (Isaiah 57:20, 21).

First comes righteousness, then peace.  We read in Isiah 32:17:  "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever."

But the only righteousness that God accepts is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and of those upon whom it is bestowed by faith in him; for Jesus "made peace through the blood of his cross," we read in Colossians 1:20.

And, friend, if you trust in Him, "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"  (Philippians 4:7).  And He will lead you every day and every night by the still waters of His love.

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Difficult or obscure words:
Isaiah 33:16.  "Munitions"--strongholds.
Isaiah 34:5.  "Idumea"--Edom.
Isaiah 34:11.  "Bittern"--probably hedgehog or porcupine. 

DAY 190    Read Isaiah 29 through 31.

Today's Reading:  Each of these three chapters begins with a pronouncement of woe.  But amid the solemn words of judgment we find God's mercy.

Memory gem:  "In returning and in rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength"  (Isaiah 30:15).

Thought for today:
When asked how to eliminate psychiatric problems, a prominent specialist in that field answered that there would be much less strain on men and women if they would team up with God as a daily partner.  People literally worry themselves into sickness.

You know that Christ has died for your sins; believe also that He will be your partner and guide.  You can talk to Him and have His help every day.

Christ foresees the future, so why not let Him bear the burden of it?  We do not know what a day will bring forth, but He does.  In Matthew 24 Jesus gave an outline of the future, a prophecy of days to come.

He not only takes care of the past, but He takes care of the future too.  He promises that those who love Him will be with Him where He is.  We need never be separated from Him--neither now in Spirit nor then in actual presence (see John 17:24).  He said: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"  (Matthew 28:20).

Why not take a verse from the old gospel song, learn it, believe it, and live it?

        Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus
        Just from sin and self to cease;
        Just from Jesus simply taking
    Life, and rest, and joy, and peace.
                                  ----Louisa M.R. Stead

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Difficult or obscure words:
Isaiah 29:1.  "Ariel"--a symbolic name for Jerusalem, perhaps meaning an altar in the last part of verse 2.
Isaiah 29:9.  "Cry ye out, and cry"--rather: look about, and look.
Isaiah 30:24.  "Ear the ground"--old English for "till the ground."

DAY 189    Read Isaiah 24 through 28

Today's reading:  The book of Isaiah contains surprises all the way through.  In the midst of solemn denunciations of sin and prophecies of doom for wickedness, one finds sublime promises for faithfulness.

Memory gem:  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee"  (Isaiah 26:3).

Thought for today:
We ask the question, Is death the end of existence?  For the answer, we turn to the Holy Scriptures, God's revelation to men, and the answer in a few words is this: There is death, but there is also resurrection.  To the man whose hope is in Christ, there is life beyond the tomb--endless life (see Romans 6:23); 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

It is said that early Christians inscribed upon their tombs the Latin word resurgam, meaning "I shall rise again."  There was certainty in their faith.  They really believed something.  They had no doubts about the future.  And that was because they believed in the Bible and its divine prophecies of resurrection.

These prophecies are plain and clear, in the Old Testament as well as in the New.  The resurrection prophecies are not surmises, wild guesses, or even hopes--they are revelations from God.

We find a great prophecy of the resurrection in Isaiah 26:19: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise.  Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."

Just now, accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour.  Repent and be converted and obey the gospel, and you will be among the "blessed and holy" who will have part in the first resurrection.  "On such the second death hath not power"  (Revelation 20:6), for their lives will be "hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory"  (Colossians 3:3, 4).

May this be your happy experience--and mine--so that, whether we wake or sleep, we may "live together with him"  (1 Thessalonians 5:10).

DAY 187    Read Isaiah 16 through 19.

Today's reading:  More prophecies of future events in the nations constitute further links in the chain for the inspiration of the Bible.

Memory gem:  "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it"  (Isaiah 19:1).

Thought for today:
Fulfilled prophecy is especially adapted to serve as a test, for we are 1,900 years from the writing of the last Bible book, and 3,400 years from the first.

"Miracles performed 2,500 years ago cannot be seen now, so they are often flatly denied," says Earle Rowell.  "But a prediction made 2,500 years ago, which was contrary to all analogy at that time and a stumblingblock to the generation which heard it, but which has recently been fulfilled, is evidence even more convincing than a miracle.  In fact, such a fulfilled prediction is the greatest of all miracles, and is so admitted by the skeptic Hume."  (And there was no greater skeptic than he.)

Other evidence can be falsified or lost; but prophecy relates to history, and history is recorded factual experience.

God calls as His witnesses the great nations and cities of antiquity--Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Nineveh, Arabia, Tyre, Sidon, Palestine, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, India, Rome, and many other countries.  Before the jury of the twenty-first century, God brings His witnesses; and the testimony of the witnesses grows stronger every year, as new facts are searched out by the historian or dug up by the archaeologist.  No counterproof has even been attempted.  And every year that rolls by is itself a witness of the fulfillment of many of these prophecies, as the scroll of history unrolls.

Remember this, friend, the Bible stakes everything on its ability to foretell the future.  If its claim to make genuine predictions is true, it is a miracle of foresight beyond human ability.

DAY 187    Read Isaiah 16 through 19.

Today's reading:  More prophecies of future events in the nations constitute further links in the chain for the inspiration of the Bible.

Memory gem:  "Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it"  (Isaiah 19:1).

Thought for today:
Fulfilled prophecy is especially adapted to serve as a test, for we are 1,900 years from the writing of the last Bible book, and 3,400 years from the first.

"Miracles performed 2,500 years ago cannot be seen now, so they are often flatly denied," says Earle Rowell.  "But a prediction made 2,500 years ago, which was contrary to all analogy at that time and a stumblingblock to the generation which heard it, but which has recently been fulfilled, is evidence even more convincing than a miracle.  In fact, such a fulfilled prediction is the greatest of all miracles, and is so admitted by the skeptic Hume."  (And there was no greater skeptic than he.)

Other evidence can be falsified or lost; but prophecy relates to history, and history is recorded factual experience.

God calls as His witnesses the great nations and cities of antiquity--Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Nineveh, Arabia, Tyre, Sidon, Palestine, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, India, Rome, and many other countries.  Before the jury of the twenty-first century, God brings His witnesses; and the testimony of the witnesses grows stronger every year, as new facts are searched out by the historian or dug up by the archaeologist.  No counterproof has even been attempted.  And every year that rolls by is itself a witness of the fulfillment of many of these prophecies, as the scroll of history unrolls.

Remember this, friend, the Bible stakes everything on its ability to foretell the future.  If its claim to make genuine predictions is true, it is a miracle of foresight beyond human ability.

DAY 186    Read Isaiah 13 through 15.

Today's reading:  Many of Isaiah's prophecies have been fulfilled with striking accuracy.  Today's reading contains one of these--Isaiah 13:19, 20.  Another well-known passage--Isaiah 14:12-15--describes Lucifer's rebellion against God.

Memory gem:  "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir"  (Isaiah 13:12).

Thought for today:
The prophet Isaiah says that Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah"  (Isaiah 13:19).  It is a brief statement, a brief prophecy, but it is direct and literal.

There is still more.  In Isaiah 13:20 we read: "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there."  Now, how did Isaiah know that the Arabian would continue to exist even after Babylon had become dust?  Twenty-five hundred years ago the Babylonians were the haughty rulers of the world, while a few humble Arabs lived in tents about Babylon.  The Babylonians are gone; the Arabs still live in tents in that country.  But they do not live in Babylon.  They don't pitch their tents there.

This same prophet Isaiah who gave us some of the remarkable prophecies about these nations and cities brings us this wonderful word from God: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool"  (Isaiah 1:18).

Will you receive this from the same prophet whose prophecies have come true and are coming true now and will come true to the end of the world, over into the new earth which has been promised to all of God's saints?

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Difficult or obscure words:
Isaiah 13:21.  "Owls"--Hebrew, ostriches.
Isaiah 13:21.  "Satyrs"--wild goats.
Isaiah 13:22.  "Dragons"--Hebrew, jackals.
Isaiah 14:4.  "Golden city"--probably better: terror.
Isaiah 14:29.  "Cockatrice"--adder, a poisonous snake.
Isaiah 17:10.  "Pleasant plants" and "strange slips"--representations of the gods and goddesses of fertility often worshiped by idolators.

DAY 185    Read Isaiah 9 through 12.

Today's reading:  One of the remarkable prophecies of the coming Messiah is accompanied by beautiful promises for God's faithful people.

Memory gem:  "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"  (Isaiah 9:6).

Thought for today:
It is said that our Lord Jesus Christ has at least sixty-five names in the Bible.  Fifty-two of them are in the Old Testament; and five of those are in the wonderful prophecy in Isaiah 9:6.

This passage of prophecy is like a mighty carillon with five great bells.  The prophet Isaiah is the bell ringer.  Every time he rings a bell, there floats out into the centuries a mighty harmony.  Since Isaiah wrote these words down by the inspiration of God 700 years before Christ was born, and since 2,000 years have already passed in the Christian era, the words of this text are at least 2,700 years old.  Yet the echoes of these great bells ring as sweetly as ever.  Listen to the five tones: "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

As the prophet Isaiah wrote these words in the future tense, he was looking forward to what was to come, what was to be.  He predicted, he prophesied by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  The New Testament records the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy about the holy Son of God.  But to me the greatest wonder of all is not that the Good Book testified of Him, not that history stands up and bears witness for Him; but thank God, that my own heart can testify, "I know whom I have believed"  (2 Timothy 1:12).  The wonder of all wonders to me is not that Christ was and is all that these other witnesses have claimed Him to be, but that this wonderful Christ is my wonderful Saviour and that through Him my sins have been forgiven.  He gives me peace like a river (see Isaiah 48:18).  He has planted my feet upon the rock (see Psalm 40:2).  He is my Companion and Friend.  He gives me access to the Father, for no man cometh to the Father but by Him (see John 14:6).

And because of this, all believers can sing, "What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord!"

DAY 184    Read Isaiah 5 through 8.

Today's reading:  When wicked King Ahaz refused to ask God for a sign, God still gave him one, as well as a prophecy of the miraculous birth of the Messiah more than seven centuries later.

Memory gem:  "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel"  (Isaiah 7:14).

Thought for today:
Jesus Christ entered this world through birth.  He had a human mother, yet He was the Son of God.  He understands even the "feeling of our infirmities"  (Hebrews 4:15).  He knows what it is like to be a human being--to be hungry, to be weary, to be thirsty, to be rejected.  He knows what it's like when enemies threaten and persecute.  He also knows what it's like when friends desert us.

The birth of Christ--by which we mean His entrance into this world, including His miraculous conception--will always be a mystery.  It is God's secret.  The apostle Paul says: "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified on the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory"  (1 Timothy 3:16).

We cannot understand this in all its fullness, but we can believe it with all its wonder and blessed deliverance, salvation, and peace.  The whole gospel is based upon it.  How the Creator--for such Jesus was, with the Father--could become a man, is beyond our comprehension; but He did.

Christ entered this world through what has been called a "biological miracle."  But what would we expect?  Would we expect to understand the nature of God and all His mighty works?  Could we do so, we would be equal to Him.  Christ had a human mother, but no human father.  Our Saviour Himself said: "I and my Father are one"  (John 10:30).  They were one in mind, one in nature.  Christ was divine in the highest sense.

The purpose of His coming to this world was twofold: first, to reveal God; second, to redeem man.  This is one reason why Jesus was sinless.  God is sinless.  This is why He was holy, for God is holy.  No wonder the angel Gabriel said to the Blessed Virgin: "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"  (Luke 1:35).

DAY 183    Read 2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 3 and 4.

Today's reading:  A somewhat good king (Jotham) is succeeded by Ahaz, one of the most wicked of all the kings of Judah.

Memory gem:  "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  And he shall be for a sanctuary"  (Isaiah 8:13, 14).

Thought for today:
"The accession of Ahaz to the throne brought Isaiah and his associates face to face with conditions more appalling than any that had hitherto existed in the realm of Judah.  Many who had formally withstood the seductive influence of idolatrous practices, were now being persuaded to take part in the worship of heathen deities.  Princes in Israel were proving untrue to their trust; false prophets were arising with messages to lead astray; even some of the priests were teaching for hire.  Yet the leaders in apostasy still kept up the forms of divine worship, and claimed to be numbered among the people of God"--Prophet and Kings, p. 322.

"As the apostate king neared the end of his reign, he caused the doors of the temple to be closed.  The sacred services were interrupted.  No longer were the candlesticks kept burning before the altar.  No longer were offerings made for the sins of the people.  No longer did sweet incense ascend on high at the time of the morning and the evening sacrifice.  Deserting the courts of the house of God, and locking fast its doors, the inhabitants of the godless city boldly set up altars for the worship of heathen deities on the street corners throughout Jerusalem.  Heathenism had seemingly triumphed; the powers of darkness had well-nigh prevailed.

"But in Judah there dwelt some who maintained their allegiance to Jehovah, steadfastly refusing to be led into idolatry.  It was to these that Isaiah and Micah and their associates looked in hope as they surveyed the ruin wrought during the last years of Ahaz."--Ibid, p. 330.