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The proposition examined in this study is that the multitudinous bride of Christ is ‘hidden’ in Isaiah 54 in the form of references to twelve faithful women of the Old Testament, in fulfilment of the prophecy about the suffering servant that, after his resurrection to immortality, “he shall see his seed” (Isa. 53:10).  Six women were considered and six remain to be examined.

Readings: Job 12; Nahum 1-2; James 5

There is a sign over a secretary’s desk which says ‘Oh God, help me to be patient, and please hurry’. We live in such a busy world that we want to even hurry patience.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us, 

“ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).

The sufferings of Christ were prophesied in graphic detail by Isaiah centuries in advance in Isaiah 53, though the chapter really begins at Isa. 52:13.  We can select a few of the relevant phrases to remind ourselves of what he had to suffer. “His visage was so marred more than any man… He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities… he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isa. 52:14; 53:3-5,8).

Readings: Job 3-4; Jonah 4; Hebrews 10

In our readings for today we are in the company of two men who experienced real difficulties and problems in their lives, even though they lived fifteen hundred years or so apart from each other.

Reading: Mark 12

Global warming has been talked about; warned of by climate specialists and gradually making itself felt around the world for all of this century. It has been discounted and mocked by those who have not wanted to change their industries and driving habits to avoid adding CO2 to our atmosphere. 

But now the drastic changes to our weather world-wide are being felt in almost all nations. Extreme heat, drying vegetation to the point where there are wide-spread forest fires in so many countries. 

Reading: Jonah 2

Sitting quietly amongst the group of books known as the minor prophets is that of Jonah. A lot of details and many lessons, are packed into the small space occupied by the brief account of an episode in the life of Jonah. The 48 verses contain three sections. The first is the ship and the storm, the second is Jonah in the great fish and the third concerns Nineveh. There are two occasions in the first section when prayers were offered, one in the second and two in the third. Through them we see the actions of Yahweh, the Living God who answers prayers, being contrasted with the inaction of idols. 

Readings: Esther 1; Amos6; 2 Timothy 3-4

Amos, a prophet to both Israel and Judah, does not hold back in Chapter 6 in his condemnation of the citizens of each nation’s capital city: “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria” (v1), he says, and the first eight verses of the chapter are filled with condemnation of the prosperity and complacency of God’s people. What had brought them to this point and why was their prosperous ease so wrong? A look at the history of this period gives us the clues. 

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In Titus 1:4 Paul writes of the “common [koinos] faith”. Yet Peter had said: “God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common [koinos] or unclean” (Acts 10:28). It seems that, just as with the English word ‘common’, the Greek koinos can be used with a good or bad sense. Another example of a ‘good’ use is Acts 2:44: “And all that believed were together, and had all things common [koinos]”. Of all things that they had in common, of crucial importance was their faith. Their faith, in the sense of faith referring to their beliefs, was the thing that they “all … believed”. So it could be said even then, that the faith was a ‘common faith’. It was common to all those baptized into Christ. The same was true when Paul wrote to Titus.

Readings: Nehemiah 7; Joel 2; 2 Thessalonians 1-2

Have you ever noticed that the Apostle Paul always introduces his letters to the Ecclesias with the same words of greeting?  “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” But his letters to his son in the faith, Timothy, are slightly different, “Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”  These are not simply polite words to express his ‘good wishes’; they are important, deeply felt sentiments affecting his readers’ spiritual well-being.