Restoration, Part 4
Week 18
Isaiah 61:4 King James Version (KJV)
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolation, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolation of many generations.
Isaiah 61:4 New American Standard
Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastation;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolation of many generations.
As we study this verse I do want to point out that Isaiah was talking to the Jewish people, when Isaiah says “they” he is talking about the Jewish people or the Hebrew children however you wish to view them, God’s chosen people. I am chosen by God, too. You are chosen by God too, right? That is how I came to understand that these verses are promises for me too! And you!
What words stand out to you when you read Isaiah 61:4?
1.
2.
3.
4.
When I first came across Isaiah 61:1-4 I remember reading and re-reading the scriptures, I still love reading those verses and saying them out loud. REBUILD, RAISE UP; REPAIR. For me, that came as REBUILD, RENEW, RESTORE. I don’t know about you, but there have been so many times in my life that I needed one if not all of these things to take place at the same time in my live. I needed Rebuilt. I needed Renewed. I needed Restored.
Can you think of a time when you needed Rebuilt?
Renewed?
Restored?
51 has came fast….I have no idea how I ever turned 51, much less, how my sons ended up being the same age that I am today, you know 27 or 31 give or take a few years. Really you just wake up one morning and bam! In your face 51! My body needed (and still does) REBUILT.
Name 3 things that your body doesn’t do as well as it did 20 years ago.
1.
2.
3.
My knees sag. My chin is sagging. My belly is not a firm as it once was 20 years ago. My hair falls out. Hair is growing rapidly on my face. My lower back gets out of whack. I need rebuilt, like the Bionic Women.
They will rebuild ancient ruins (old waste), oh my stars, slap me in the face. Yes I need rebuilt but I don’t feel ancient yet and I don’t feel as if I am OLD WASTE!! This word waste in Hebrew is kho-reb. Kho-reb means drought or desolation, dry, heat. Is that talking about menopause?? I am usually very thirsty, my skin is so dry, flaky dry and the heat is on full force inside my body. At this point I do feel I am in a drought because lotion does not seem to “sink” in and completely moisturizes my skin. I didn’t do the things I should have to prepare my body for menopause, no one told me!! This Hebrew word is from the word Khaw-rab meaning to parch through drought; to desolate; to destroy; to kill; to destroy; dried up; waste. Honestly I have felt my spiritual life has been dried up that I killed any chance of a real relationship with God the Father. I felt as if I had destroyed my relationship with my family and with Jesus. I felt alone as if I were the only one on a deserted island. OLD WASTE. I had wasted so much. I had wasted so many opportunities. I was dried up and not useful, to anyone. I needed Christ. I needed to know He cared. I was parched for HIM. All that verses 1-3 had taught me and showed me, I learned that Jesus came so I would no longer be parched, or dried up, John 10:10 tells me that Jesus came to give me life abundantly (overflowing). I didn’t have to stay as an ancient ruin or as old waste.
They shall rise up the former devastation
Koom is the Hebrew word, it is a prim root meaning to rise in various applications either literally or figuratively, accomplish, be clearer, confirm, continue decree, get up, make good, help, hold, lift up (again), stir up, stand up, strengthen, or succeed.
Which of this words hits home with you?
I feel they also save the best for last. SUCCEED. Please Lord, I need to succeed in something. Anything. Please help me to succeed in what YOU have chosen for me to do and be.
Former – first in place or from the beginning. I do not believe that you just wake up one morning and decide that you are going to destroy your own life, I really don’t. Where does that destructive attitude come from in your mind? We just don’t make things up, we learn them. Learn them from who?
From where?
From the people who came before us. We watch and learn. Sometimes without so much as even a word, we hear the destructiveness loud and clear.
The bad habits you have, did someone you love have those too?
Have you ever heard of generational sin?
You can see it right here in our town. The grandparents turn away from God. Then their children seem to be even further away and then their children do not seem to even grasp anything about God or Jesus Christ whatsoever.
Do you know of a family like this?
Stuff rolls downhill?? It rolls faster and gets bigger.
Former comes from the Hebrew word roshe which is from an unused root word meaning to shake the head.
What happens when you shake your head? Most of the time it is one of two things.
1.
2.
When we tell God NO, stuff starts rolling downhill and unless we can get some help, it will take off with a vengeance and destroying whatever is in its path. Usually someone or something we love.
What do you think of when you read the word desolation?
Desolation comes from the Hebrew word shaw-mame which means to stun growing or to numb. The last word used in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible to describe desolation is WONDER.
I wonder what will happen next. I wonder when the next shoe will drop. I wonder who is going to hurt me next. I wonder. I wonder. I wonder.
You are so numb, you are not growing, you are acting and behaving the same way you would have at 16 or even 14, you have not matured in Christ and you sure have not matured in life.
BUT Jesus came to PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY THAT WAY!!! RISE UP MY CHILD! RISE UP! BE WHAT HE PLANNED ON YOU TO BE. RISE UP!
They will repair the ruined cities
What is a city?
What makes a city?
If you didn’t have people living there, could you have a city?
Jesus came to repair, His chosen people. He came to renew lives that have been destroyed.
But…there is that word again “They”.
What does “they” imply?
Jesus does not want you to do this alone. He gave us a whole family to help us, to guide us, to comfort us. Together, we can learn what Jesus wants to give us, together we can pull each other out of the ruts and help get us back on the right path. Together we can learn how to allow Jesus to REBUILD us, RENEW us and RESTORE us.
Jesus came to give us an overflowing FULL of JOY life. John 10:10
Next:
BOLDNESS
DOUBT WHO AM I IN CHRIST
HOLY SPIRIT
