Bible in 90, Day 53: The Suffering Servant & The Coming King

Isaiah 53-66

*image courtesy of cafe-ole at stock.xchng

Today’s passage contained some of the best passages about Jesus in the Old Testament.  We see Him here as the Suffering Servant.  Chapter 53 is a famous passage on the humility of Christ.  It seems the disciples didn’t quite remember this passage when they were thinking about their picture of the Messiah.  They expected the triumphant, conquering King who would come and put an end to all evil.  Isaiah paints a different picture of Messiah’s first coming.  He is nothing exceptional to look at, He is despised by men, even His own, and worst of all He is killed.  He is buried among the wicked, crushed by the Lord, oppressed, and afflicted.

Not exactly what some were looking for in a Savior.

Chapter 55 is another passage that looks forward to the ministry of Messiah.  Jesus would allude to the first few verses of this chapter in John 7:37, 4:14, 6:25-59.  He offered the same promise of water for those who thirst and bread for those who hunger.  As in Isaiah’s prophecy, these are offered freely, and result in the end of hunger and thirst.

Chapter 61 features the only passage of the Bible which we actually see Jesus read in the Gospels (see Luke 4:16-21).  He reads the passage from verses 1-2a, and then proclaims that these words were fulfilled in that very moment.  This represents part of Jesus’ mission as Messiah.  He was anointed by the Lord, He came to preach the gospel, bind up the broken, proclaim freedom the year of the Lord’s favor.  He fulfilled all these things.

It is interesting to find such vivid descriptions of Jesus’ life in the Old Testament.  There is such rich imagery in Isaiah’s words.  This is clear when we read these passages on the other side of the cross, but perhaps for those who lived before His time it was not so clear.  Many were obviously unaware of the nature of the first coming of Messiah.

Many today are obviously unaware of the nature of the second coming of Messiah.  Many look at the life of Christ in His first coming and think that this is the only side to Jesus.  They remember His meekness, but not His wrath.  They remember His humility, but not His royal position.  They remember His forgiveness, but not His judgment.  They remember the words, “Blessed are the peace makers,” but forget He also said “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 5:9, 10:34).  They remember that He died, but not that He will never die again.

Let’s remember the humility, gentleness, and self-sacrifice of Christ.  Let’s also remember His soon coming in victory and judgment.  Let’s not be caught off guard like those who were surprised at His first coming.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 52: Israeli Idol

Isaiah 41-52

*image courtesy of shiyali at stock.xchng

Imagine you are a woodworker… just go with me on this.  You dig through a pile of logs and find one you like.  You start working one end of the log and create a nice little statue.  You saw it off at the bottom and separate it from the rest of the log.  You take that bottom piece, the unshaped part, and you throw it into your fireplace and get a nice fire going.  You make some supper over the flames, you snuggle up nice and warm by the hearth.

Now, here’s where it gets weird.

You take that piece you carved and place it on the mantle above the fireplace and you pray to it.  You worship it.  You ask it to keep you safe.  It is your god.

That’s exactly the situation Isaiah describes in today’s passage, specifically in chapter 44.  You can almost hear the sarcasm in Isaiah’s words.  It’s like he’s saying, “Boy!  I wish I was as smart as you!  You obviously know which end of that stick is divine.  I might have burned the wrong end!”  Through His prophet Isaiah, God is telling His people that the idols they are crafting (whether wood or metal, see vv. 12-13) are worthless.  They are senseless.  They cannot hear their prayers, they cannot speak in response, they cannot understand or feel.  They are blocks of wood!

God reminds His people in 45:5-6 that there is no other God besides Him.  Worshiping a block of wood is absurd, but it’s no better to think that there is any other God besides the God of Israel.  He says in 48:11 that He will not share His glory with another.  He also creates a bit of irony in the following verses.  He remind Israel that He is the Creator of not only them, but of the entire universe.  People were worshiping what their own hands had made, and God is commanding them to worship the One who made them with His own hands.

The irony goes further with the imagery of the clay and the potter in v. 9.  In this, God points out the arrogance of Israel in questioning their Maker.  The clay cannot say to the potter, “What are you making?” or, “He has no hands!”  The contrast is interesting because not only are they the clay, but in the above passage they were the potter!  God is saying that anything made cannot be greater than its maker, yet this is exactly what the idolaters were doing.  They were taking something they had made and elevating it above themselves.  In effect, they as the potters were allowing the clay to tell them what to do as their god!  How backwards this is!

And yet, are we much better?  You see, the people Isaiah was prophesying against were guilty not only of idolatry, but of worshiping false gods.  (There is a distinction between the two that requires more space than we have available.)  We may not bow down before little statues (though this is not absent from the world), but we worship all kinds of things.

Mostly, in our modern Western culture of enlightenment, we worship ourselves.  We have put man at the center of the universe.  We call this secular humanism.  It is essentially the great sin of the universe – pride.

We also worship things.  We call this materialism or consumerism.  An old saying goes, “Get all you can, can all you get, and then sit on the can!”

Some of us worship our kids.  We put them at the center of our little universe, and do everything to make them happy.

Some of us worship entertainment.  Above all else in this world, we want amusement and relaxation.  Nothing else matters.

Let’s not let anything take God’s rightful place at the center of all things.  We are called in the New Testament to worship Him with our whole lives, and our entire being.  Let’s not give anything else that place.  Let us worship God in spirit and in truth, and never put any idol or false god in His place.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 51: It will not fail

Isaiah 29-41

*image courtesy of gakiku at stock.xchng

All throughout today’s reading there was an emphasis on the Word of God.  Unlike Psalm 119 that we looked at a few days ago, this is not speaking specifically of the Bible as we know it.  It speaks more to revelation, including some that was not written down in the words of Scripture.  We see the leading of the Spirit of God (30:21), the words Isaiah prophesied to the people (much of which was not written at the time, but spoken), the words spoken against Sennacherib (chps. 36-37), the prophesy to Hezekiah about his healing and the captivity of Babylon (chps. 38-39), and others.

In Isaiah 40:6-8, we see that God’s Word will endure forever, regardless of what happens to man and his glory.  What God decrees will be.  What God proclaims is true.

Where is my hope?  Where am I putting my confidence?  I say that the Bible is all we need.  I use words like inerrant, inspired, and sufficient.  Do I really mean this?

I surely didn’t use to.

I mean, not really.  A lot of us “people of the Book” are like this.  Wesay the Bible is all we need, but then we run to statistics, or “experts” (a topic for another blog entry!), or pop-psychology, or secular philosophy.  Or maybe we do the respectable, scholarly thing and think we have to prove the Bible or back it up with secular thought and wisdom.

I hear people say things like, “You can’t start with the Bible, people just don’t believe it anymore.”  While I understand where that sentiment comes from, I humbly disagree.  I like what Greg Stier said/wrote once (how’s that for documenting sources!), “The Bible is a sword!  If you go hackin at someone with a sword and they say, ‘I don’t believe in your sword!’ what’s gonna happen to them?”  I too that to heart, along with Isaiah 55:10-11 and just started believing that if I spoke the truth of the Word of God, it would accomplish its set goal for that circumstance.

This is incredibly freeing.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that we check our brains at the door of the sanctuary (whether coming or going!).  I’m saying that sometimes we get too caught up in worrying about whether or not someone will accept our words as soon as we start quoting Scripture.  The thing is, some people just won’t!  I’ve actually experimented around sometimes with quoting Scripture, but not sounding like I’m quoting anything.  (This is aided by Scripture memory, study, and meditation).  Sometimes we need to blatantly say, “The Bible says…” but other times I just quote a passage and rely on its truthfulness to accomplish what God sent it out for.

Let’s  assume that when we quote Scripture, we are speaking pure truth.  Let’s not shy back from it, or apologize for it, or try to prove it or back it up with other sources.  Know that we are speaking the very Words which God Himself spoke, and they carry the same authority and power as when the Spirit led the author to write them.  Let’s trust the Word, trust the Spirit, and see what God may bring about as His Word pours from our lips like rain from a heavy cloud.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 49: Come, let us reason together

Isaiah 1-13

*image courtesy of ven- at stock.xchng

“Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18).

Imagine a bride on her wedding day.  She has her dream gown on, perfectly white and pure.  She’s waited her whole life to put on this dress.  She’s doodled it on countless notebooks, scoured shops to find it.  Now, she’s wearing it.  She and her bridesmaids are all dressed and ready – the hair is primped, the nails manicured, the cheeks rosy.  But in the excitement, someone gets careless with a glass of wine.  Before the bride can get to the altar, her dressed is ruined, splattered in crimson.  The dream gown is destroyed, not because the fabric has ripped or the stitches come loose, but because of the stain.

Isaiah wrote to a people on the brink of destruction because of their sin.  Before going through a dirty laundry list of the nations (which today would include Judah, Israel, Assyria, and Babylon), he issues this decree from God – the stain can be removed.  Today’s passage did not list some small trivial sins.  There was pride, injustice, murder, infanticide, idolatry, lying, perversion, and the list could go on.  These were a stained people.  To say the garments of their lives were soiled would be an understatement.  God likens them to garments stained with blood, they are scarlet and crimson (see v. 15).

We are all stained.  We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  All of our sins stain us like blood, we are all scarlet and crimson.  But we can be white as wool again.  We can be clean and pure as snow.  How do we do this?  Verses 16-17 lead us in the right direction.  We must wash ourselves, we must stop doing wrong, and seek justice.  How are we to be washed?  How can we cleanse the stains from our hearts?  Interestingly, what we must wash in to remove the crimson stains doesn’t seem logical –

Blood.

Revelation 7:15 tells us about those who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb – Jesus.  Jesus’ death on the cross, the spilling of His blood makes the atonement for our sins.  If we turn to Him in faith, confessing with our mouth that He is Lord, and believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9-10).

So, let’s reason together.  Shall we stay in our sins, stained as we are?  Or should we come to Jesus, with nothing to offer of ourselves, and seek cleansing through His blood?  Let’s humble ourselves, admitting that we are in need of a Savior.  Let’s seek His forgiveness, daily, trusting that He will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  Let us wash ourselves, and be white as snow.

*originally at Words of Reason

Deviant Pottery

*image courtesy of neadeau at www.sxc.hu

Isaiah 56-66 this morning.  Chapter 64, verse 8 caught my particular attention today.  This is a small reference to a larger truth that is explored by Jeremiah in chapter 18 of his book.  What struck me today was the thought of myself being the clay on God’s spinning wheel.  For some reason, I combined this with the image of  Romans 12 where we are told to be living sacrifices.  Someone once said (Ken Davis?) that the problem with  living sacrifices is that they keep climbing down off the altar!  

Guilty!

By the thought occurred that sometimes we do this as the clay, too.
 Sometimes, we see where we think God is going with the design for or lives, the shape we are to take.  Then we say, “Thanks God!  I’ve got it from here!”  I had this comical image of a lump of clay trying to shape itself on the spinning wheel.  The metaphor could go on endlessly from here.

But I’ll spare you…

The point is that we have to walk by the Spirit everyday.  We can never hop off the wheel, and assume we’re done.  We can’t even try to shape ourselves.  We are fulfilling our role when we are pliable in the Maker’s hands.  We have no right to quarrel with our Maker and assume we know better (see Isaiah 29:16 and 45:9).  Let us not be deviant pottery, but obedient servants, humble vessels in the Maker’s hands.

The journey is complete!  So, it was only a week-long journey through Isaiah, but it still feels good!  It’s an accomplishment, and one that gives me hope for my next goal.  This Sunday, Sept. 19th, 2009, I’m going to take the Bible in 90 Days Challenge.  I’m doing it on my own (because of the short notice/spontaneity), and I’m going to use my audio Bible that I used for Isaiah.  I’m using the plan from the website, but instead of an even 12 pages per day, i’ll be doing between 50-65 minutes per day.  This first came up as a desire to complete the Bible before graduating seminary, and I graduate in December.  I’ve net gone through the entire canon, cover to cover, since entering seminary.  This is a sad thought, and one I’ve decided to rectify.  So anyway, starting Sunday, my entries will reflect my trip through the Scriptures.  

You guys hold me to this!  No slacking… here we go!

Grass, Flowers, Rain, Snow

*Image courtesy of DesertRat1 at www.sxc.hu

So I slacked off ran out of time last night and didn’t do my entry on Isaiah 34-44.  However, the passage that stuck with me from yesterday tied neatly into today’s passage.  Of course, I covered Isaiah 45-55 (one more day of consistency and the dream will be complete!) on my walk this morning.  Ironically, my walk was cut short by rain (the irony will soon become apparent), so I finished listening under my carport.

The key passage yesterday was Isaiah 40:7-8, and today was Isaiah 55, especially verses 10-11.  In chapter 40, we see that people may come and go, much like the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of God stands forever.  And in chapter 55 we see that this same eternal Word will not be found to be useless or powerless, but will accomplish the purpose God had for it, just as the rain and snow never fall without watering their intended ground.  

Where is my hope?  Where am I putting my confidence?  I say that the Bible is all we need.  I use words like inerrant, inspired, and sufficient*.  Do I really mean this?

I surely didn’t use to.

I mean, not really.  A lot of us “people of the Book” are like this.  We say the Bible is all we need, but then we run to statistics, or “experts” (a topic for another blog entry!), or pop-psychology, or secular philosophy.  Or maybe we do the respectable, scholarly thing and think we have to prove the Bible or back it up with secular thought and wisdom.

I hear people say things like, “You can’t start with the Bible, people just don’t believe it anymore.”  While I understand where that sentiment comes from, I humbly disagree.  I like what Greg Stier said/wrote once (how’s that for documenting sources!), “The Bible is a sword!  If you go hackin at someone with a sword and they say, ‘I don’t believe in your sword!’ what’s gonna happen to them?”  I too that to heart, along with Isaiah 55:10-11 and just started believing that if I spoke the truth of the Word of God, it would accomplish its set goal for that circumstance.

This is incredibly freeing.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that we check our brains at the door of the sanctuary (whether coming or going!).  I’m saying that sometimes we get too caught up in worrying about whether or not someone will accept our words as soon as we start quoting Scripture.  The thing is, some people just won’t!  I’ve actually experimented around sometimes with quoting Scripture, but not sounding like I’m quoting anything.  (This is aided by Scripture memory, study, and meditation).  Sometimes we need to blatantly say, “The Bible says…” but other times I just quote a passage and rely on its truthfulness to accomplish what God sent it out for.

So try this: assume that when you quote Scripture, you are speaking pure truth.  Don’t shy back from it, don’t apologize for it, don’t even try to prove it or back it up with other sources.  Know that you are speaking the very Words which God Himself spoke, and they carry the same authority and power as when the Spirit led the author to write them.  Trust the Word, trust the Spirit, and see what God may bring about as His Word pours from your lips like rain from a heavy cloud.

*Image courtesy of jpbrouard at www.sxc.hu

*Inerrant – without any error, falsehood, or contradiction.  Inspired – literally “God-breathed,” the Bible is the very Word of God.  Sufficient – complete, able to meet the needs of mankind as deemed by God, sufficient for the life and work of all.

Refuge for the Thorns

*image courtesy of www.sxc.hu
Listened to Isaiah 22-33 this morning. There was an interesting couple of verses in Chapter 27.

Ok, so this is one of Isaiah’s vineyard songs, another being in chapter 5. In the whole book, the briers and thorns represent destruction of some kind. In 5:5-6, they come up after God removes his care and protection. In 7:23-25, they come up in the literal farmland when the area becomes desolate. In 9:18 they are consumed by fire as a metaphor of the consuming power of wickedness. It seems consistent to me with the parable/song in chapter 5 and the general tenor of the book that these briers and thorns represent the invading armies that will come as God’s judgment. At the least, they represent the destruction these armies will bring. Ok, so briers and thorns = bad.

But then, the last time briars and thorns come up in Isaiah is in our passage today.

27:2-5 says:

“² In that day—
“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
³ I, the LORD, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.
⁴ I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
I would march against them in battle;
I would set them all on fire.
⁵ Or else let them come to me for refuge;
let them make peace with me,
yes, let them make peace with me.”
Did anybody else catch that?
So, it starts out right. God, in his righteousness, marches out against them, and sets them all ablaze. At least, He would hypothetically. (The NASB Study Bible says that God is pointing to Israel’s lukewarm state, they aren’t briers and thorns confronting God, but they aren’t trusting Him either.)
But then, v. 5 happens! Right after saying He would march out against them and set them all ablaze, He says He might just let them into the vineyard and make peace with them, even giving them refuge!
Did I miss something?
The briers and thorns are those enemies of the people of God which will destroy the beautiful vineyard of God! When He removes His protection, they will destroy all that He has built up! They deserve to be consumed by the wickedness they promote! They deserve to burn in the flames, not receive God’s peace!
And all God’s people said, “Amen!”
Because we don’t know our Bible.
This passage is a beautiful illustration of the continuity of God’s mercy and love between the Old and New Testaments. The New Testament condemns us all as briers and thorns, reminding us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Rom. 5:8. Let me expose this a bit.
We hear “sinners” and just think of good people who do bad things. Try thinking of it this way – traitors against the King of the Universe. We are not good people who do bad things, we are traitors who commit treason against the King of the Universe. We are, in fact, the briers and thorns. If we are those who have come to God through Jesus Christ, then we are the briers and thorns which have been given God’s peace and refuge.
In keeping with the theme of my church right now, let’s take this truth into our hearts and lives and look in three directions from it.
Upward – we look to God and realize His infinite mercy and justice.
Inward – we look at ourselves, our hears and minds, and realize that we do not deserve the peace and refuge we have in Christ. We are traitors, we are the ones who were desolating God’s work.
Outward – we look at others around us and realize that we are not better than any of them. If we shout out for their destruction, we realize that we are briers and thorns like they are, we’ve just found peace and refuge. We do not condemn briers and thorns for acting like briers and thorns. We do not condone or reward sin, but we humbly remember that we too are sinners whom Christ died for. Instead, we confront them with the truth of God’s Word, remembering that Romans 6:23 not only tells us that the wages of sin is death, but also that the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Who knows? I may discover that the thorns I’ve been condemning were the beginning of God’s work to produce something more beautiful than I could have imagined.

*image courtesy of www.sxc.hu

Paul planted, Apollos watered…

Today was Isaiah 12-22. It’s been a long day, and I’m tired, but I remember God speaking through Isaiah at one point and saying that the people had made great preparations for some plant (i’m ashamed at my fuzziness right now), but that it would not grow because He had not allowed it to be so. Ugh, that was horribly recalled. I’ll have to look it up later and correct this entry.

The point was (and this is what I remember for sure) that we can lay all the plans we want, we can plant all we want, we can say all we want, but if God does not bless it will not succeed. After my chapters in Isaiah, I listened to Mac Brunson’s sermon “Growing Deeper in the Things of God” and he echoed this point.

God provides.

Whether it is the growth of a plant, or the income of a career, we can make neither happen without God’s working in or lives. I pray that I will remember this, regardless of my situation. Much like Elijah in Mac’s sermon, God has spent years teaching me to trust in His provision. I pray that like Elijah, I will step out in faith when He asks me to do great things.

I’ll close with a quotation that Mac gave in his sermon. It was something like this (again, forgive my tired mind), “We can never know the depths of God’s provision unless we are attempting to do impossible things.” Amen, and amen!

Ashes for beauty

This morning I listened to Isaiah 1-11 on my NIV Audio Bible. I have begun to read through Isaiah at least 3 times in the last few years and get bogged down in the 30’s nearly everytime. So, I’ve decided that I’ll listen to 11 chapters a day on my morning walk for the next 6 days and be done in less than a week (assuming I drag myself out of bed everyday for my walk!). I decided this evening that perhaps I should write a bit each day on the passage I’ve heard.

I can’t recall which chapter it was, but Isaiah prophesied against the “cows of Bashan” at some point this morning.
(Interestingly, I just heard Mark Driscoll preaching about this same passage.)* The prophet is speaking out against women who are flaunting themselves outwardly, but we see that God detests their spiritual state. Where they had long flowing hair, they will have baldness. Instead of perfume, there will be a stench. Instead of beauty, there will be branding.

I wonder if these women would have believed it possible. I wonder if there was ever a thought in their minds that one day, all their beauty, status, and possessions would one day be ripped away. I wonder if they were in denial when the invading hordes carried them away and plundered their homes.

Probably not.

Probably, they were like those in the days of Noah who were eating and drinking and carrying on like nothing could touch them. Moving forward as though the balance of power would never shift, the army would never fail, the economy would never collapse or stumble, and that their country would always be the favored place of God. Well now I’m just preaching.

We have been spared much in this country. We’ve not faced an ongoing war on our own turf for over 100 years. We think we’re invincible, we don’t even consider calamity being on the horizon. We’ve built a house of (credit) cards and place more faith in financial speculation than God.

But this isn’t that message. I’m not that pastor. I may be one of Jerry’s kids, but I’m not his clone. This is not a right-wing, Republican, conservative evangelical call to bring America back to God. I’m not sure how I even feel about the theology of that ideology.

No. This is not a clarion call. This is doubt and fear. Perhaps I’m too pessimistic, but I don’t see things changing. I used to almost want America to continue on the path it’s on. I wanted to be part of an underground church, an outlaw by confession. But now, I’m a husband. I’m a dad. I have three lives that God has put into my hands. Would I be stunned if an invading horde took my wife away? What would my faith do? Would I hold up? Many of the faithful might be swept away in the storm if God’s wrath were to fall.

Could our citizenry even comprehend the change in life if this country fell? How many millions would not survive, simply because they lacked the skills to do so? Most of us have never known true suffering and misery. Would I survive? Would I save my family and provide for them?

We no longer fear the wrath of God because we think we’re insulated from it. If the truth be told, God would not have to send an invading horde to destroy America. He only need turn off our electricity.

We are like a delicate piece of china on a high pedastal surrounded by a thin glass case. Inside the bubble, we are untouchable. What we do not know is that there is a ADHD kid who just ate his 3rd Butterfinger standing right in front of us. We are not indestructible, we are simply shielded… for now. If the glass case were to be removed, we wouldn’t last longer than three strides on some Heelies.

I didn’t exactly head off in this direction. In fact, I’m not sure where I am right now. Hopefully, in this sober moment, I’m resting solely in the protection of my God. Hopefully, I am the candle and not the darkness.

*after doing some digging, the cows of Bashan terminology actually comes from Amos 4:1. i’m thinking now that Mark referenced both these passages. also, it’s Isaiah 3, sorry i was being a slacker earlier!