You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
19 For the
people [`am] shall dwell [yashab] in Zion [Tsiyown] at Jerusalem [Yaruwshalaim]: thou shalt weep [bakah] no more [bakah]: he will be very [chanan] gracious [chanan] unto thee at the voice [qowl] of thy cry [za`aq]; when he shall hear [shama`] it, he will answer [`anah] thee. KJV-Interlinear
19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no
more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he
hears it, he answers you. ESV
Zion is typically referred to as a mountain, and the dwelling place of God. God is truth, and truth is Bible doctrine or the content of the Scriptures. Therefore, Zion represents the vastness of truth in which God dwells. Jerusalem comes from the root word shalom, or Salem, which means peace. Jerusalem is called the city of peace. Jerusalem was originally built on and around Zion. Therefore, Jerusalem, the city of peace, was built on truth. Therefore, peace is constructed from truth.
The people, referring to all who belong to God, which means all believers, which means all Christians, cannot possibly all live within the city limits of Jerusalem, let alone on the hill which is at its center.
However, this dwelling place is not the geographical location of Jerusalem, nor the hill that is within it.
What this verse refers to, is Bible doctrine resident in the souls of people who have learned it, understood it, used it, and incorporated it within their daily lives.
With maximum doctrine in the soul, acquired by a daily study over the course of ones life, the individual believer advances to spiritual maturity. Accompanying that advance, is inner peace, or a relaxed mental attitude, which is a result of advancing in ones spiritual life.
We all still live in this Devils world. Consequently, we all face the heart aches and hardships that come with this world that we live in, and when difficulties strike, the first thing that the mature believer does, is pray to God, while resident in fellowship, in the name of Christ.
The result? God, referring to God the Father, hears our prayer, and answers us accordingly.
God is not a Genie. Prayers cannot be construed as wishes. But what God does, is that He answers our prayers, and as we pray to Him in Christ name, He responds to our prayer through Christ as well. Jesus Christ executes all action in the divine plan.
The principle that is important here, is that this response comes to mature believers.
Not that immature believers can’t pray, because they can, nor that they won’t be heard, because they will be heard, but until they have the inner resources of the spiritual life which is obtained through a daily study of Bible doctrine, they lack the spiritual wherewithal that makes them out of sync with God.
Immature believers typically live their life out of fellowship. Immature believers typically struggle with false ideas. Immature believers, remain immature, because typically they do not have the motivation or the drive to pursue their spiritual growth. And that lack of self-discipline generally keeps them at an immature level.
Therefore, the response they receive, from God, is limited.
What immature believers need is a daily dose of Bible doctrine, and a consistent growth pattern of life, within their spiritual life.
And until they advance in their spiritual life toward spiritual maturity, the blessings in response from God available to them will be proportional to their resolve and desire, and to their consistency in advancing in their spiritual life, in accordance with Gods defined spiritual process.
The phrase, as soon as He hears it, indicates the quickness and speed with which God acts.
And God asked swiftly with spiritually mature believers.
Remember one more important principle. The book of Isaiah contains a phenomenal amount of doctrine related to the end days of history. Those end days, referring to the final days and weeks and months of the Tribulation, will see the most horrific of events in all of human history. Those Christians, who will exist in those end days, will be calling to God, and in light of the terrible activities that will be occurring at that time, Gods response will be needed quickly, more than at any other time in history.
And it will come quickly.
What people need today, as they have always needed throughout history, is to decide to pursue doctrine and their spiritual life, and advance to spiritual maturity. Most people do not do this, and therefore their spiritual lives are handicapped and hamstrung as a result of their failure to advance.
Life and history revolve around Jesus Christ, who is God, who is designated as the son of God, and as such is the Savior and mediator between man and God. Jesus Christ is the word, the living word, of which we have the written word. He is truth. And that is our focus and focal point for determining our meaning and purpose, and our direction and quality of life.
These studies are a part of the massive daily study web site at DailyBibeStudy.Org, and are written, so that you can come to Christ if you have not done so already, and therefore not be lost forever.
And if you have already believed in Christ, then these studies are written so you can learn and understand and grow in your spiritual life, so that you can come to the full knowledge of Christ, so that you can fulfill your meaning and purpose in life as God intended for you, and so you can qualify for a phenomenal eternal reward which you will have forever.
To ignore this opportunity to pursue a daily study means you will be incomplete, unfulfilled and you will lose out, big time.
The Daily Bible Study is online, making it possible as never before in all of human history, to advance in ones relationship with God, through Christ, and to complete yourself beyond your imagination.
But you have to decide to make that commitment. No one else can study for you. You have to do that yourself.
To receive notice of each days Bible Study, please go to my twitter page and sign up.
