{"id":36523,"date":"2022-09-13T12:59:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/can-you-explain-the-afflicted-and-needy-are-seeking-water-isaiah-4117-20\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T12:59:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:59:30","slug":"can-you-explain-the-afflicted-and-needy-are-seeking-water-isaiah-4117-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/can-you-explain-the-afflicted-and-needy-are-seeking-water-isaiah-4117-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you explain, \u201cThe afflicted and needy are seeking water,\u201d Isaiah 41:17-20?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Isaiah 41:17-20, &ldquo;The afflicted and needy are <strong>seeking<\/strong> <strong>water<\/strong>, but there is <strong>none<\/strong>, And their tongue is <strong>parched<\/strong> with thirst; I, the <strong>LORD, will answer them Myself<\/strong>, As the God of Israel I will <strong>not forsake<\/strong> them. I will <strong>open rivers<\/strong> on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water. I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert together with the box tree and the cypress, that they may see and recognize, And consider and <strong>gain insight<\/strong> as well, That the <strong>hand of the LORD has done this<\/strong>, And the Holy One of Israel has created it.&rdquo;\u200b<\/p>\n<p>God is talking to the nation of Israel throughout Isaiah 41. He is assuring them that He, the God of Israel, <strong>Jehovah, is their God<\/strong>. He is promising to help and fight for them in their day of trouble. Verse 13, &ldquo;For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, <strong>Do not fear<\/strong>, I will help you.&rdquo; God is promising that once again there will be favor in Zion, and He will establish a New Covenant with them. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)&nbsp;\u200b<\/p>\n<p>These verses guarantee physical blessings. Recall similar promises in Isaiah 35, &ldquo;&hellip;the wilderness and the <strong>desert <\/strong>will be glad and <strong>blossom as the rose<\/strong>.&rdquo; This is<strong> literally happening<\/strong> in the land of Israel. They have turned their desert places into beautiful growing fields, lush and full, with the aid of water. The very fact that they are <strong>in their land,<\/strong> which was promised to them since Abraham (Genesis 13:14-16), is a manifestation that Jehovah is with them. God&rsquo;s favor is returning to them. Once the prophecies in Ezekiel 37 &amp; 38 are fulfilled, the New Covenant, noted in the previous paragraph, will be established.\u200b<\/p>\n<p>There is also a <strong>spiritual application<\/strong> to these verses. Symbolically, their &ldquo;tongues&rdquo; are &ldquo;parched with thirst&rdquo; which shows that they are thirsty for&nbsp; the &ldquo;water of truth.&rdquo; Jesus said in John 6:35, &ldquo;<strong>I am the bread of life<\/strong>; he who comes to Me will <strong>not hunger<\/strong>, and he who believes in Me will <strong>never thirst.<\/strong>&rdquo;&nbsp; (See also John 4:14.) The prophecy in Zechariah 12:10-14 foretells that one day Israel will accept Jesus as their Savior.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, the Jewish people will look back and see all that has been done for them. <strong>Israel will say &ldquo;Behold, this is our God<\/strong> for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us <strong>rejoice<\/strong> and be glad in His salvation,&rdquo; Isaiah 25:9.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isaiah 41:17-20, &ldquo;The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/can-you-explain-the-afflicted-and-needy-are-seeking-water-isaiah-4117-20\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Can you explain, \u201cThe afflicted and needy are seeking water,\u201d Isaiah 41:17-20?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}