Isa. 63:5

5 And I looked [nabat], and there was none to help [`azar]; and I wondered [shamem] that there was none to uphold [camak]: therefore mine own arm [zarowa`] brought salvation [yasha`] unto me; and my fury [chemah], it upheld [camak] me. KJV-Interlinear

5 And I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me; And My wrath upheld Me. NASB

This evenings Bible Study is a little delayed, because I have been watching the local news coverage of the plane crash at our local airport. The Hillsboro International Air Show has been underway this weekend, and right at the end of today s show, one of the jets crashed, immediately after takeoff, into a nearby neighborhood.

It is quite remarkable, that on such a clear and beautiful summer day, that suddenly out of nowhere a major disaster can occur so close to home. Things like this happen elsewhere, or that is generally how people view the world, and then wham, something very dramatic happens very close by.

Right now in the Middle East, we are witnessing the battle between Israel and a couple of terrorist organizations in Gaza and Southern Lebanon. That certainly qualifies as being on the other side of the world. But too, we watch the news and see stories of crime, or wrongs of one type or another, or natural disasters and accidents.

The principle of all of this is that, none of our lives are so bulletproof or invincible, that something cannot happen to each one of us, at anytime, anywhere.

Just as there is no one who can prevent the occurrence of disasters in life, so too, there is no one who can bring help to God in His effort to provide salvation and an eternal life thereafter.

We have mentioned in the preceding days that all of the philosophies and beliefs that history has invented, none of them actually have any value or meaning. There is no one, nor any plan, that can come to Gods aid, in His effort to defeat evil and help humanity. In fact, all of the world s philosophies and beliefs are in some form, a part of evil. Obviously, they will not defeat themselves, but were invented for the very purpose of defeating God, by distracting people away from His Word.

Satan and man invent their own ideas in order to perpetuate themselves.

So, this clear statement from the Bible is written in order to demonstrate, that there is but one plan, one God, one Savior, one method of accomplishing freedom for humanity. That is Gods way, and His chosen way, is through His chosen Savior, His only, and repeat this, only, Son, Jesus Christ, is that way. There is no substitute, no stand-in, and no alternate philosophy that is acceptable or even partially acceptable.

God went to a great deal of effort to accomplish this work. It is said here to be the work of His arm.

When you use your arms, you have to lift, push, pull, carry and so forth. You are exerting great effort from the strength of your arms when you use them.

In contrast, your fingers can perform work of a much smaller effort. Typically, the fingers cannot lift an extremely heavy sack. For example, to lift a two hundred pound sack of something, would require the strength of your arms. You fingers only, cannot lift but a few pounds, if that.

The point here is that the difference between the work that fingers are capable of, and the work that the arms are capable of is significant. Arm work is much greater than finger work.

So what does this have to do with anything?

Psa. 8:3

3 When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers , The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; NASB

In Genesis, we learn that God created the universe out of nothing. He accomplished this with mere finger work. The word, bara is used to indicate something being created out of nothing.

We know, or should be aware of, the magnitude of this universe. It is huge to say the least. With its galaxies, stars, black holes, even the life forms on our own planet, including their genetics, and proteins and the building blocks of atoms and such, the universe is extremely complicated. There are even new theories in science, of eleven dimensions, rather than the four we are most familiar.

Not only this, but there are things that we probably will never discover, like why angels can exist but we cannot see, or hear, or even detect them. Needless to say, the universe is massive and extremely complicated.

This is all finger work for God, even as vast as it is.

But salvation, is another matter. That is arm work for God.

Humanity cannot invent much of anything new. We cannot create life out of nothing. We cannot re-invent the laws of physics. We can t even control the numbers of hairs that will grow on our own head. Yet these are the simple things for God. And yet man concludes that in his own imagination, he can simply invent a philosophy that will do even greater work?

Man cannot control the bias or prejudice, or the injustices of the world. Man cannot guarantee an equal opportunity, or happiness for anyone.

I saw a recent article that estimates the extremely poor of the world, now numbers at one-billion people. That is fifteen percent of the world s population, and a lot of unhappy people. What will happen when the world s population rises from our present six and a half billion, to ten or twenty or thirty billion?

It will be fuel for even greater misery, and a recruiting resource for terrorists. What then?

Only God, through Jesus Christ, has the one and only answer.

For every effort of God, Satan or evil, has many alternatives, and God has the answer to them all, His justice.

Based on His justice, and divine essence, God has the resources and the power to counter evil at its every turn. Gods wrath, is His policy of applying His own standards of righteousness and justice to life.

Once evil has been gotten rid of, then Gods blessings can flow freely and uninterrupted. When does this occur?

Well, for human history, that will be accomplished at the Second Advent of Christ, but for you and me, it begins the very moment that we get our act together, and advance in our spiritual life. By pursuing our spiritual lives, by maintaining our fellowship status, our studies, our learning, our application, then we begin to realize the blessings that God has been waiting to give to each one of us.

A weakling who cannot even lift a pound, will not realize much benefit from his efforts. But if he lifts weights everyday, works-out, eats right and so forth, for a day, a week, a month, a year, and then for many years, his abilities and his efforts will result in a significant increase in the benefits that he will have for himself.

Your daily study is your daily spiritual workout. And you don t even have to break a sweat at it. But with consistency in your studies, the spiritual muscles in your soul will become phenomenal. In the next life, you ll be able to whip a dozen of those beach dudes, with your little finger.

Now is the time to post a prayer.