Blogging the Bible

Can you believe it?! We are half way through the bible! Time really does fly when you are having fun–learning and growing and being challenged by God’s Word! Keep on reading! Or start reading if you have just joined us. Read when you can. Some reading is better than none at all!

The Kingdom of Righteousness can only be ruled by THE Righteous One. We know that is Jesus Christ. It is another name given to him in the scriptures. It is hard to even imagine this kind of kingdom. Isaiah tries to help us imagine. Justice will rule. People will reflect the righteous ruler and they will all be shelters for one another, refuges, safe place to live and be. Our relationships will be like water in the desert and shade from the burning sun.

People will no longer be foolish and obstinate. They will “see” and they will hear and listen. The world will no longer be upside down where the foolish and scoundrel are regarded highly. The noble one, those who follow the righteousness of God, will stand. This will come through judgment (vs. 9-14) but justice and compassion will prevail (16-20). Peace will result and never again be threatened. Our rest, final and complete, will never again be disturbed. We will be blessed and everything will benefit from the blessing God gives when he reigns in righteousness. No fences necessary! All of creation will be glad!

Sound like a life you want to live? It is the life we all long for. Deep down inside each of us we know somehow that this life and this place is not our final home. And contrary to the popular belief, heaven is not some foggy less real place. Heaven is the REAL place. This world and our existence here is the foggy less real place. This world is designed to prepare of for the real world that God has intended for us and planned for us from the beginning of time. How we listen to the Lord in this life, defiant or obedient, determines how we will experience REAL life for eternity. Defiant we will experience eternity separated from God forever–the is what judgment means. Obedient, we will experience his grace and mercy and the joy of living in perfect relationship with the Lord and each other. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice.

But through the ages people have knowingly chosen to disobey the Lord and go their own way. They have chosen self-rule over God’s rule. But thankfully, through the ages God keeps calling to all of us, giving us another chance to repent of our defiance and disobedience and follow him. He will reign in righteousness for eternity. Where will YOU be then?

Everyone who has been the parent of a two-year-old or even been around one knows the amazing defiance those little tiny people can express. It seems they are able to express a defiant “No!” long before most other words. Even before they can say it, their little faces and bodies can express an amazing resolve to do things their own way. We have all watched helplessly as a two-year-old will put their pants on backwards because they want to do it themselves.

Isaiah says, this is not just two-year-olds. This is the human condition called sin. It is an obstinate “no” that we declare, even to God himself! In the opening eight verses of this chapter, Isaiah describes human obstinacy. It means we make plans that we know are not what God has planned for us. We form alliances, depend on people and things, that God has warned us against relying on. We go places and do things without consulting the Word of God. We look for help from other people and things demonstrating that we do not believe or trust God to do for us what he has promised. The result is not help. It is only shame and disgrace, says Isaiah.
These are rebellious and deceitful children, “unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.” (vs. 9)

The obstinacy goes further. We knowingly do not want to hear the truth but want only pleasant things spoken to us. I often struggle with this as a preacher. The scripture is full of hope, but it is also full of warnings and hard sayings. It is a temptation to only preach the hope and not the warnings. People adore sermons on love. They are not so appreciative of sermons on repentance and the need for transformed living! Isaiah says that if we only hear what we want to hear, it is like having a great wall built around us. But that wall is faulty and eventually will come tumbling down and destroy us (vs. 10-11).

As usual in the juxtaposing of judgment and hope in Isaiah’s message, in the middle of his warning comes a word of hope. Verse 15 offers salvation. How does it come? It comes from repentance and rest, quietness and trust. But like two-year-olds, we say, “No! I don’t want any of that!” It sounds ridiculous when stated like this. We are offered salvation and we say, “No thanks. I don’t want it?!” That is exactly what we do by the way we live our lives, no matter what our lips say (remember yesterday’s reading!). And beginning in verse 18, again, we hear the tender and compassionate plea of God who “longs to be gracious.” Like a parent dealing with an obstinate two-year-old, our heavenly father does not turn away or abandon us. He allows us to suffer the consequences of our behavior (because we are not two-year-olds, we are adults and most often the best learning comes from natural consequences).

And then the promise returns in the final verses. When human beings cry for help–really knowing we need it–graciousness awaits us “as soon as he hears.” Verses 19-26 explain what he will do. He will answer. He will open the eyes so that we can see our teachers–we can listen to the instruction of the Lord (v.20). He will lead us in the right way. (v.21) We will rid ourselves of all other false gods (v. 22). He will send rain and make produce plentiful (vs. 23-24). Water will flow and the sun and moon will be brighter than ever and he will heal his people’s wounds (vs. 25-26).

the final verses of this chapter, vs. 27-33, summarize the message of Isaiah throughout the book. The guilty, those who will not finally listen, will be judged (Topheth, a place of burning death, v. 33) and those who trust in the Lord will celebrate (v. 29). Doesn’t seem like much of a choice, does it? Yet, each day, not just in “that day” we are faced with this choice–to follow the instruction of the Lord or to go our own way. The important question is not, what will you decide “in that day.” The question is, what are you deciding today!

Ariel is another name for Jerusalem. This was David’s City. This is the prophecy repeated of God’s plan to destroy Jerusalem but also to punish those who brought her down. The judgment is against both Israel for her idolatry and disobedience, but also against her enemies. God uses the treachery of other nations to bring judgment on sin, but God does not take responsibility for it. He holds the nations responsible for their action because it is their sin. In his power and providence God merely uses the actions, both good and evil, of humankind to accomplish his purposes. Fortunately, for us, it is also always intended to move us to be reconciled with God so that we can have life!

Verse 13 is an important one because it describes the condition of human sin related to faith and worship that transcends time and space. In every era, in every part of the world this is an accurate description of people when they do not acknowledge their Creator and God. What is this common and recurrent condition?

First it is a shallow and superficial faith. The mouth and the lips say one thing, but the heart–the devotion and affection and attention–demonstrates something else. Our lips can sing the songs and say the prayers, but our hearts can be totally disengaged at the same time! We can be singing “Lord, I love you,” and we can be living, “I love myself and other things in this world!” We can be sitting in a pew in worship but our lives the rest of the week we are “sitting” in very different places not anywhere near worshiping God.

Second, our worship can become a matter of going through the motions. We can be simply obeying “rules only taught by men.” As a wise person once said, “Standing in the garage does not make a person a car, and sitting in church does not make a person a Christian.”

Isaiah’s word to the Israelites so many thousands of years ago is also a word to us. Are we worshiping with our hearts or just with our lips?

Chapter 28 begins, again, a series of six woes: to Ephraim, David’s City, to those who try to hide their plans from God, to obstinate children/nation, to those who rely on Egypt (power other than God), and woe to the destroyer/betrayer (ch 28-33). These woes are followed by a final judgment on the nations and a song of celebration for the redeemed (ch. 34).

Again, Isaiah’s message of judgment and hope are woven together to make clear that God in his righteousness offers both. There will ultimately be judgment for all those who reject his rule and there will be hope (redemption and reward) for those who trust in him.

Verses 7-16 are especially condemning because the prophet declares the judgment that will fall on those who are supposedto be leading Israel–prophets and priests who “stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine.” These violators of God’s laws are burdening the people with “rule upon rule” says verse 10. The result? Since these people who were asked to speak for God in serving his people have done jus the opposite, God will use “foreign lips” to speak to the people. Their own deception and legalism will become their ruin (vs. 13).

But the hope is again declared beginning in verse 16. God will “lay a stone in Zion” and the one who trusts in this stone will never be disappointed! This prophetic word of Isaiah is what Paul declares in Romans 9. The “stone” that has been laid is the “chief cornerstone.” It is the very foundation of the hope of the world. It is Jesus Christ! The stone causes some to stumble–those who refuse to believe. But the stone is a rock and a refuge for those who believe.

How persistent God is with this message! How hard of hearing we are! How gracious he is to continue to woo us through the prophets. How amazing that he was willing to send his only beloved Son to tell us of this hope!

Exile and homecoming. This is one of the major themes of Isaiah. The sin and disobedience of Israel ends them up in exile. They are in exile because they have removed themselves from communion with God by their idolatry and disobedience and sin. And they are in exile because of the hand of God using the treacherous nations surrounding them to carry them off into a foriegn place. Both spiritually and physically they are in a foreign place–a place they were not designed to be in.

This one chapter echoes the despair and hope, the judgment and reconciliation, the exile and homecoming of the experience of the Israelites and the prophet Isaiah’s message from God to them. The chapter begins with the promise of “in that day” again. It is a day when God will destroy every source of evil and harm and will plant his people is such a way that they will “bud and blossom and filol all the world with fruit.” (27:6). But it is also the Lord who has “struck her down” along with those who struck her (27:7-8). He has done this by exile.

In exile the people gain perspective because they can see the “promised land” from a distance. They can see how God’s mighty arm has been with them more clearly when it is removed! It is so clear when we read these stories that the Israelites were like small children in their behavior. They acted out of immediate needs and desires and they did not have a view of the larger context. It seems so strange, since God’s presence, from our perspective seemed so clear. But alas, this is our story, too! We too, if we are honest, often act like small children. We want our way. We think we know better than God. We think he is mean when thing do not go our way or we are not allowed to do what we want without consequences. We can only see the little play room in front of us and cannot see the vast expanse of the universe God has laid out for us!

I am reflecting on my own periods of exile this week. Where are the places and times in my life when I have, by my actions, separated myself from the Father? And when can I identify times when I know that the loving Father put me in a foreign place to help me come to the place to want to come home? Exile and home…where are you?

Two chapters of praise follow the oracles of 13-24. verse one of chapter 25 is the summary statement of all that follows. It proclaims that:
1. The prophet Isaiah claims God as his God
2. God is perfectly faithful
3. God has done marvelous things
4. The things God has done were planned long ago

Then verses 2-5 of chapter 25 clearly state that God is on the side of the weak and powerless and against the ruthless and powerful.

The rest of chapter 25 and chapter 26 declare again what will happen “in that day.” The day of God’s final victory over evil and establishment of his righteous and eternal kingdom. Some of the characteristics of that kingdom are:
1. Death is swallowed up.
2. All tears wiped away.
3. All disgrace removed.
4. The best provisions will be ours (food representative of this).
5. All will acknowledge God as Savior and Ruler
6. Evil will be trampled (represented by Moab).
7. All other “lords” will be forgotten.

These are beautiful chapter of hope and promise. Isaiah has been enlisted by God to bring the word of judgment but ALSO the word of hope. In God’s promises are both. If we do not repent of our sin, judgment awaits us. But if we confess and repent, hope and glory awaits us.

More oracles. One verse in chapter 22 is of particular interest because it speaks across the ages. From Genesis to the book of Revelation the scripture teaches that we can make all the plans that we want, but unless we listen to and follow the direction God gives, our plans are to no avail. Verse 11 of chapter 22 declares this dominant biblical theme. The verse says they built a reservoir, but they did not look to “the One” who made it, planned it long ago. They engineered their environment but they did not consult the Chief Engineer! This always has disastrous results.

Chapter 24 is actually the conclusion tot chapters 13-23 and begins again with the phrase, “In that day.” This “day” Isaiah speaks of is of the very distant future. It is THE day of all days, the final day when God’s rule and reign will be total and all evil will be destroyed. He will “lay waste” everything in heaven and on earth that has raised its head against his rule. Then he will reign on Mount Zion gloriously. This is an excellent example of Isaiah’s prophesying both judgment and hope. Evil will be punished. But the promises of God to live and reign with his people in a restored and glorious city (Zion) will be realized. Can you hear the doxology? Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Praise God, ye creatures, here below! Praise him above ye heavenly hosts! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen!

More oracles. Oracle is another word for prophecy–a word of truth about the future. When prophets really speak for God, their word is always true. The punishment for a prophet who spoke false words was death by stoning, so people were not clamoring to be prophets! God usually called them kicking and screaming because they did not want to be bearers of bad news. But prophets did not only predict doom. They also foretold future hope. Isaiah is an especially dramatic example of a prophet of judgment AND hope. The judgment of God is always meant to redirect his people the right way where they will find blessings unimaginable.

So in the midst of all the oracles of Isaiah that bring judgment chapter 19:19-25 is one of many messages of hope for Israel. “In that day” is a very important expression in the Old Testament. It is a very clear reference to a day when the king of kings will reign in righteousness. His righteous judgment will mean that some will perish but it will also mean that some will be saved and restored. It is a “day” when justice will prevail in all things.

Isaiah, is not linear in its presentation of God working behind the scenes. It is cyclical. This means that the author tells the story of God’s revealing himself to his people and dealing with them by moving in and out of the past, present and future very rapidly. Sometimes, because it is prophetic text, the events refer to future events but ones that are close to the time of the prophet. But they sometimes also have another far reaching application and can be speaking of events far, far in the future. The deliverer in chapter 19 could have been a relatively contemporary reference to a military deliverer that came and gave freedom to those oppressed at the time Isaiah spoke. But often, Isaiah also refers to a much more far reaching deliverance–that of the Messiah, the Son of God.

This oracle about “that day” is particularly interesting because it speaks of a foreign nation, Egypt, who will worship the Lord and as a result be a testimony to other nations about the greatness and mercy of God. It is a beautiful testament once again to the tender heart of God toward those who are oppressed. Verse 20 says that when they cry out he will hear them and will rescue them. Verse 22 is reflective of the Exodus story where God struck Pharoah (the oppressor) with plagues and delivered his people (the slaves, descendants of Joseph) at the same time.

In that day there will also be harmony between the warring factions. There will be a “highway” from Egypt to Assyria and they will worship together! Whoa! What a day that must have been and what a day it will be! And the final verse 25 is a particularly powerful portent of the kind of peace THE Deliverer will bring…Egypt, Assyria, and Israel will be blessed. This can only be done by the hand of the Lord. Thousands of years of conflict and war that no human leader has been able to settle will finally be settled by God himself. We ought to long for that day! And in the meantime, we need to be working on bringing peace to the parts of the world that we can influence…our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our churches. If we worship God in Spirit and in truth, his Spirit will work in us to bring it to pass. Pass the peace!

These entire chapters are full of oracles against particular nations with particular treatment from the Lord. God is presented here as the one who discipline nations according to their behavior and according to the plans that he has for them as well as for the entire world.

The foundation of all this judgments is not the prophet’s desire or Israel’s expectations, but the direct act of God. Actually the prophet put it in this terms: “The Lord of the hosts has sworn: as I have designed, so shall it be; and as I have planned, so shall it come to pass” (14:24) and also “For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (14: 27)

There is a powerful message in all these chapters; the reality is not just what it seems to be, but what is really happening. The rise and downfall of every nation named here, is the direct action and expressed will of God.

I think it will be very helpful for us to remember, that even though this world looks out of control, the Almighty God in behind scenes fulfilling his purposes. It is exactly like we remember the death our Lord Jesus Christ on this holy week, we know that many thought that the cross was the end, but actually behind the scenes our God was resurrecting our Lord.

Christ is risen!

Si Cristo ha resucitado!

The justice of God is demonstrated when he punished Assyria for her haughty pride against Israel. As usual, the nations do not realize that is because God allowed them to get the victory, that they actually overcame the Israelites. (10:5-19)

Chapter 11 is the glorious description of the coming of the Messiah and the final restoration of the people of Israel. Chapter 12 is a thanksgiving and praise song, which express the gratitude to God for his great care for his people. God is described as the source of salvation and security.

 I think that this song is also an extraordinary effort from Isaiah to demonstrate to the Israelites that, if you approach life with God presence and God’s view, your life as individual or as nation could be much better. You do not need human alliances to save or bless your life; you need the Holy One of Israel.

This song of praise is also a reminder that the same God who helped the Israelites in the past will help them now in the present, and will help them in the future. The prophet says: “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth” (12:5)

Do not forget that God has a remarkable “record” of faithfulness for his people, and every time that you praise him for what he has done in or through your life, is also a proclamation that he is going to do more now and in the future.

That is why we can sing with the Israelites: “Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy one of Israel” (12:6)