AWESOME GOD God Is Our Comfort (July 6) Day 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

You will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.” ISA 12:1

Rashi

You will say when you see the nations being sentenced to disgrace and abhorrence.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me and you exiled me, and my exile atoned for me, and now, amends have been made for my iniquity. Your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Jonathan renders: I will confess before you, O Lord, that I sinned before you, and, therefore, you were angry with me, and were it not for your mercy, I would not be worthy to have your anger turn away and comfort me, and behold, your anger has turned away from me.

TRUST WORTHY God’s Remnant: God is our ultimate deliverer and comforter

In the end, we will see that all things come together for God’s greater purposes, which transcend our lifetime and our own problems. Isaiah’s prophecy assured the Israelites that he would leave a remnant and they would ultimately thank the Lord for turning away his anger and giving them comfort. As we undergo challenges in life, we can thank God for his sovereignty and love that molds our character and draws us close, put our trust in him, and be assured of his deliverance and comfort. How have you experienced the comfort of God even as you go through challenges?

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. MAT 5:4

5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2CO 1:3-5

1 To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

2 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

3 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

4 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

6 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

7 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

8 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

9 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

10 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

John Gill

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth—As at the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace, in the times of Augustus Caesar, when there was a general peace in the world, though it did not last long; and in the times of Constantine, signified by silence in heaven for half an hour (Rev 8:1); when for a while there was a cessation from wars and persecution; and as will be in the latter day, and which is here chiefly designed; when nations shall learn war no more, and Christ’s kingdom will take place; of which and its peace there shall be no end (Psa 72:7; Isa 2:4; 9:5-6). The consideration of which may serve to relieve distressed minds under terrible apprehensions of present troubles and public calamities;

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire—Or “carts” or “wagons,” in which, as Aben Ezra observes, arms and provision were carried for the use of soldiers; the Targum renders it “round shields”: and the destroying of all these military weapons and carriages is a token of peace, and of war’s being caused to cease, there being no more use for them; with this compare Eze 39:8-9. It was usual to burn the arms of enemies taken in war.

11 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

12 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. PSA 46:1-12

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

9 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

Rashi

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love—May the light of the redemption come, and may the Lord command his steadfast love to us.

And at night—In the darkness of the exile and the troubles.

His song is with me—Heb. שירה. May his resting place be in our midst. שּׁירה is an expression of camping, as we translate (2Sa 17:26): “And Israel encamped,” וּשְּׁרָא. I learned this from the Great Masorah, which associates this word with (1Ki 5:12): “And his songs (שירו) were 1,005,” in the “aleph-beth” of two words with different meanings (homonyms). This taught me that this is not an expression of song, but the Midrash Aggadah does interpret it as an expression of song, interpreting in this manner: Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be he: “We remember what you did for us in Egypt. You commanded us one commandment by day on the eve of the Passover, and we observed it, and at night, you redeemed us and we sang a hymn before you. But now we keep many commandments, yet you do not redeem us. Because of this, I will say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?’ ”

12 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God. PSA 42:9, 12

76 Let your steadfast love comfort me

according to your promise to your servant. PSA 119:50, 76

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. JOH 14:16-17

John Gill

Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive—These words explain who is meant by the Helper, “even the Spirit of truth”; the true Spirit of God, the dictator of the Scriptures of truth, who leads men into the truths of the gospel, confirms them in them, and gives boldness and freedom to own, and confess them before men:

Whom the world cannot receive—The men of the world, who are as they came into the world, carnal and natural men, can neither receive the Spirit nor the things of the Spirit, the truths and doctrines of the gospel; they can neither receive them into their understandings, nor into their affections; and indeed, because they cannot understand them, therefore they do not love them, but despise and hate them:

Because it neither sees him nor knows him—The world, and the men of it, can neither see him with their bodily eyes, because he is a “spirit”; nor know him with their understandings, because he is the “Spirit of truth,” which they are ignorant of, for want of a spiritual discerning.

You know him—As a spirit of illumination, regeneration, and conversion:

For he dwells with you—He is an inhabitant in your hearts, he has taken up his residence in you as his temples:

And will be in you—As a Helper, when I am gone from you; and as a Spirit of truth to guide you into all truth, to stand by you, and assist you in preaching it, and to enable you to bear a faithful and glorious testimony for it.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. HEB 4:14-16

. . . and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.” LEV 16:2

John Gill

And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother”—Who was the high priest; and what is here said to him was binding on all high priests in succession from him:

Not to come at any time into the Holy Place—Or “holiness,” which was holiness itself, or the Most Holy Place, as distinguished from that which was sometimes called the Holy Place, where stood the incense altar, the showbread table, and the lampstand, into which Aaron went every day, morning and evening, to do the service there enjoined him; but into the holy of holies here described, as appears by the after description of it, he might not go at all times, or every day, or when he pleased, only once a year, on the Day of Atonement; though, according to the Jewish writers, he went in four times on that day, first to offer incense, a second time to sprinkle the blood of the bullock, a third time to sprinkle the blood of the goat, and a fourth time to fetch out the censer; and if he entered a fifth time, he was worthy of death. Some have observed, that this respected Aaron only, and not Moses; that though Aaron might not go in when he pleased, and only at a time fixed, yet Moses might at any time, and consult the Lord upon the mercy seat, see Exo 25:22. Pausanias makes mention of several heathen temples which were opened but once a year, as the temples of Hades Dindymene, and Eurymone, and particularly the temple of Minerva, into which only a priest entered once a year; which perhaps was in imitation of the Jewish high priest:

Inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark—This is a description of the Holy Place, into which the high priest might not go at any time, or at pleasure; it was inside the veil that divided between the Holy Place, and the Most Holy, where stood the mercy seat, which was a lid or covering to the ark, at the two ends of which were the cherubim, the seat of the divine Majesty; which was a type of heaven for its holiness, being the habitation of the holy God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and of holy angels, and holy men, and where only holy services are performed; and for its invisibility, where dwells the invisible God, where Christ in our nature is at present unseen by us, and the glories of which are not as yet to be beheld; only faith, hope, and love, enter inside the veil, and have to do with unseen objects there; and also for what are in it, as the ark and mercy seat, types of Christ, through whom mercy is communicated in a way of justice, he being the propitiation and the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness. And this caution was given to Aaron,

So that he may not die—By appearing in the presence of God without his leave and order:

For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat—This one would think should be a reason why he should not die, when he came into the Most Holy Place, because there was the mercy seat, and Jehovah on it: and besides the cloud of incense on it, he went in with, for so many understand by the cloud, the cloud of incense: thus Aben Ezra says, the sense is, that he should not enter but with incense, which would make a cloud, and so the glory not be seen, lest he should die: and Jarchi observes, that the Midrash, or the more mystical and subtle sense is, he shall not go in but with the cloud of incense on the Day of Atonement; but the more simple meaning, or plain sense of the words is, as the same writer notes, that whereas he did continually appear there in the pillar of cloud; and because his glorious Majesty is revealed there, he is cautioned not to use himself to go in, i.e. at any time; with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan,

“for in my cloud the glory of my divine Majesty, shall be revealed over the mercy seat.”

And this being the case, such a glory being there, though wrapped up in a cloud and thick darkness, it was dangerous to enter but by divine order.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” REV 21:3-4