8.31.09, Isaiah 11:6-9

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Lions and Lambs

Like I’ve mentioned before, Isaiah is filled with wonderful, and often heartwrenching, imagery and metaphors.  This is one of those passages, heralding the peace that God brings in his wake.  But it is so poetic that we often get fixated on the image itself, focused on animals laying down next to each other and not eating one another.

Whether this will literally take place, I’m not really sure…perhaps predators and prey will be the best of friends.  I think these images are intended to remind us of the personal peace that Christ brings, between individuals, and even between nations.  People who have fallen out with their friends and spouses will be able to forgive and move forward.  Peoples who have suffered at the hands of others will focus more upon the future than the past.  Enemies would be transformed into friends.

This might seem altogether impossible, but remember that this was the heart of Jesus’ ministry on the cross: the transformation of a fundamentally broken relationship into a restored one.  If Christ can change us, we who were enemies of God, into adopted children of God instead, surely restoration of our earthly relationships is now possible as well.

Questions

1. Who is your “lion”, the person whom you just can’t along with, or has hurt you?  How does Jesus’ presence and work in your life make it possible to forgive them?

2. Who is your “lamb”, the person whom you have hurt or left behind?  Why is it important to ask for forgiveness from these people?

3. What is one area of the world that we should be praying for peace, as it is described here?

8.28.09, Isaiah 11:1-

The Branch From Jesse

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

⁵ Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Passion & Compassion

Yet again, we return to references and prophecies of the ministry of Christ.  This is a very descriptive passage, full of adjectives that describe the character of Jesus.  If we group them together, this is what we find:

- That he has wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge.

- That he has righteous power, striking the earth and slaying the wicked

- That he is just, (compassionately) judging the needy and poor.

Now, these characteristics, especially the last two, may seem in some ways difficult to reconcile with one another – how can he be just and compassionate?  How can he be powerful and judgemental, and yet understanding?  And since we don’t know how to reconcile these characteristics of Christ, we pick and choose: God must be powerful…but not compassionate.  Or, God must be compassionate, but not righteous.

The fact of the matter is that he is both.

We may have a hard time balancing these two types of traits, but God does not.  He is fully compassionate, but still is a holy, holy, holy God.  And despite this divine holiness, he has understanding, and looks towards the poor and needy.  Don’t let people, especially the political, force a one-dimensional description of God upon you, as if he cares about sexual sin, but not for the poor, or vice versa.  They do this to fit their pre-existing agendas.  The fact is that He cares about both.

Questions

1. Which characterization of God do you tend to have, that he is RIGHTEOUS, or that he is COMPASSIONATE?  Why do you think you tend to believe one rather than the other?

2. What is the danger of seeing God in this one way?

3. What do you think this righteous compassion looks like?  How would you describe it?

Apologies yet again…

i’m so sorry…i totally forgot monday and today’s posting!  i’ve been more busy with the planting of the church this week…

i’ll try to get back on track by this friday!

peter

8.20.09, Isaiah 9:17; 10:1-4

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks vileness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

————————————-

¹ Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,

² to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.

³ What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?

⁴ Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

This Is His Heart

This might get a bit tricky, but it’s worth talking about…

Some say that we need to give charity to the poor because they are helpless.  They have been victimized and oppressed, and through no fault of their own, are in the situation they are in.  This is often true, as some people go through a tough season or a medical or family emergency that begins their slide into poverty.  And so, we open our hearts and hands to the poor.

Other say that the poor are poor for a reason.   Perhaps they are poor due to substance abuse, and charity only reinforces the cycle of abuse – this is true as drugs are one of the main causes of chronic poverty in the United States.  Or maybe they are simply not making the right choices in life, prioritizing luxuries before essentials.  I have personally seen $40,000 Escalades parked the driveways of houses that were in school districts that didn’t have school supplies, and found myself shaking my head in disbelief.  And so, we close our hearts and hands to the poor.

When we begin to frame our response to poverty and oppression solely by looking at those who are poor and oppressed, this will inevitably be the result – an analysis of the situation which is simultaneously nearly correct, and so very wrong.  Churches and leaders become divided, our response is ambivalent, and our testimony stifled.

There is a better way to approach this situation.

We don’t address poverty and oppression because the poor and oppressed are perfect people, pure victims who have done nothing to deserve their fate.  This what is made clear in Isaiah 9:17, that even the young, the fatherless, and the widow are ungodly, wicked, and speak vileness.  Too often, our mischaracterization of the poor and oppressed as perfect victims has served as our primary motivation for addressing their needs.  But when this illusion is dispelled (as inevitably it is), so also is our motivation for service and compassion.

But what we see in Isaiah 10:1-4 is this: that even after acknowledging that the oppressed are sinners as well, we are immediately called in the strongest possible terms to fight poverty and injustice, and to care for the marginalized.  Obviously, our calling to these ministries is far deeper than mistaking all poor people as victims of circumstances beyond their control.  This calling is rooted in a command, that God has commanded us to serve these people to the very best of our ability.  You see, our motivation for compassion is not the face of the victim, but the voice of our Father.

But you may say to yourself, “But seeing the poor and oppressed as victims helps soften our hearts and convinces us that we are doing the right thing!”  I suppose this is true to some extent, and we at times need the emotional leg-up.  But this betrays some serious misunderstandings as to the nature of God, and those who follow him:

We don’t know what is good because it feels good – we know what’s good because God has said it.  If he said it, it’s good.

Jesus is our Lord, and the idea of Lordship does not require God to convince us of the merits of his causes.  If it is his cause, it automatically has merit.

So we don’t have to be blissfully ignorant of the failures of people to serve them – we serve them because the people of God follow the leading of God.  And the beautiful consequence of seeing this situation in this light is that it destroys the barrier between us and the poor and oppressed.  They are no longer purely victims – they are sinner/victims that we are called to love despite their sins and shortcomings.  And I think we all know some sinner/victims that were loved by Christ despite their sins and shortcomings.  In this way, Christ calling us to serve the poor and oppressed is really no different than the love that Christ has shown each one of us.

8.19.09, Isaiah 9:6-7

⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

The Trinity

There are few more mysterious (read: confusing) aspects of God than the Trinity, that God is one, and yet in three persons.  As mysterious as this idea is, it is always good to reflect on the importance of the Trinity every now and then.  It often seems as if this idea has no precedent in the Old Testament, but this is not true, because this verse actually reveals a portion of the mystery of the Trinity.

In this passage, when we first read it, it appears that the verse is only referring to Christ.  But in verse 6, if you read the description of this son that will be born, there is a trinitarianism about it: it refers to the Son, to the Counselor, and to the Father, that the whole Trinity is actually working to restore peace and justice.

This serves as a good encouragement for us in two respects.  First, it helps us remember that the ministry of Christ is the ministry of the Trinity.  Jesus’ death and resurrection restores our relationship to God the Father.  The Holy Spirit is given in lieu of Jesus’ presence, to empower and guide us until Christ comes again.  All of the Godhead is actively at work in the process of redemption, their ministries and roles reinforcing one another.

In a more personal light, it’s good to remember that God is fully with us.  Sometimes we can forget this when we grow loose in our understanding of the Trinity, that we feel like Jesus is with us, but who knows where the Father and the Holy Spirit is in our lives!  But this is not what this passage revealed, is it?  Instead, the entirety of God is offered and promised to us – God, all of Him, is with us on this journey, and that’s an amazing thing…

Questions

1. What is unique and important about the ministry of God the Father in our lives?

2. What is unique and important about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

3. What is unique and important about the ministry of Jesus Christ in our lives?

8.17.09, Isaiah 9:2-5

² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.

⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.

⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.

When He Came…

These verses of course are a reference to the ministry of Jesus Christ.  What is interesting about how Jesus is referenced here is that he is not yet identified directly, but instead is identified by what he has done, or the consequences of his ministry.  It’s as if Isaiah is building the hype: “It’s an amazing day, like winning the Super Bowl and the Lottery at the same time, and getting married, BECAUSE…”

This is noteworthy because for that moment, it throws the spotlight on what Christ has done, and its consequences.  Sometimes, in the midst of busy lives, we forget the simple memory of what Jesus has changed in our lives, and when we do so, are spiritually the poorer for it.  So it is good to take a moment to look at the metaphors and descriptions that Isaiah uses to describe the coming of Christ, and look at them in the context of our own lives:

When in your own life have you experienced the following:

1. Walking in darkness, and then coming into light?

2. Been overjoyed (and surprised!) by abundant blessings?

3. Been freed from something oppressive?

4. Seen something destructive transformed into something redemptive instead?

8.14.09, Isaiah 9:1

To Us a Child Is Born

¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan

Nevertheless

If you have been following along so far…Isaiah can be quite depressing.  Promises of divine justice and retribution, harsh condemnation for those who seek pleasure instead of justice.  It seems as if there is no bright side to the relationship between Israel and God, and by extension, God and us.

But there is a very, very bright side: Jesus.

We saw a glimpse of it a chapter ago with the promise of Immanuel, that God would be with us.  But that glimpse is about to get even more defined and real, not just a prophecy, but a promise.  And it all begins with this word, “Nevertheless”.  Words like this or “however” mark a comparison between what came before, and what is to come.  What came before this “Nevertheless” were relentless prophecies about Israel’s destruction, brought upon themselves for what they had done, and what they had failed to do.

But what is to come afterwards is the promise that a child would be born to Israel that would fully redeem and restore it, not politically, but fundamentally.  The promise of Christ outshines everything that came before it, as if saying, “You just lost $10.  Nevertheless, you have won the lottery.”  So no matter our current situations, we always have to keep in mind this incredible, divine “Nevertheless”, that the ministry of Christ puts all of our trials and sufferings in a very different light.

Questions:

1. What are some of the hard situations you have found yourself in recently?

2. How does Jesus change how you view or approach that situation?

8.12.09, Isaiah 8:12-22

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
everything that these people call conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.

¹³ The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,

¹⁴ and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.

¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony
and seal up the law among my disciples.

¹⁷ I will wait for the LORD,
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

Fear This

This passage has this very interesting line, which says, “Do not call conspiracy everything these people call conspiracy.”  What an interesting phrase, and one that is relevant even to this day.  After all, nearly everything you read or see on the news is related to fear in some way, and very often, attributes the cause of this fear as some conspiracy of some kind.

How many times haveyou read that your water is full of lead, and it is a government cover-up.  The drug you are taking for your condition is actually making you impotent, but the pharmaceutical companies are not telling you.  The plastic bottle of water you are drinking contains materials that might give you cancer.  Now, some of these are true, some of them are not, but either way, we feel spooked and fearful – of our water, of our cars, of our cell phones, everything.  We shouldn’t underestimate how much fear rules our lives.

But this passage speaks of a greater fear and dread, and that is fear of the Lord, which overshadows all other fears.  This seems strange, that fear should drive out other fears, so perhaps an easier way to understand this is not as fearing the Lord, but remembering Him.  When we remember the Lord, his eternal character, holiness, power, the other fears of our lives suddenly line up into correct perspective.  In other words, we should live wisely, aware of the dangers around us, but always remembering that there is a great God who is larger than all else.

Questions

1. What is the thing you fear most in your life?  How is God greater than that fear?

2. In what ways can we remember God’s power, holiness, and character?

8.9.09, Isaiah 7:10-25

¹⁰ Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. ¹⁵ He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. ¹⁶ But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. ¹⁷ The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

¹⁸ In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. ²⁰ In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River —the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also. ²¹ In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. ²² And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. ²³ In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. ²⁴ Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

Keep This In Mind

This passage from Isaiah contains a famous verse, the reference to Immanuel, or “God With Us”.  Although it is a famous verse that prophesies as to the coming of Jesus (who would be born from a virgin), it also was a prophecy of events that were transpiring in the days of Ahaz and Isaiah.  This makes the passage a little confusing because we read it as modern people, largely unaware of the ancient context.

But I think there is a message for us, in the midst of the confusion.  I’m not sure the prophecy was any clearer for King Ahaz as it was for us, as it discusses Egypt and Assyria using metaphors of livestock and agriculture – clear as mud.  But the guiding  and encouraging principle is what Isaiah started off with, that no matter what is to come for Israel…God is with them.

Sometimes, the basic message of the gospel can get lost in the details.  The future can seem very foreboding and hazy for us – what choice do we make?  What is to come?  How will we fare?  How will everything possibly work out?  As weighty and difficult as these questions are, we always have to remember first that God is with us – this places all of those difficult questions in a very different, and far less threatening context.

Yes, there is uncertainty…but God is with us.

Yes, there will be hard choices…but God is with us.

Yes, there will be hardship…but God is with us.

Immanuel, God is with us.

Questions

1. What situations of your life are uncertain and unsettled?

2. How does the fact that God is with you in those situations change how you perceive or address those situation?

3. How do we know that God is with us?  How do we become more aware and sensitive to his presence?

8.6.09, Isaiah 7:1-9

¹ When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

² Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

³ Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ⁴ Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, ⁶ “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” ⁷ Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
” ‘It will not take place,
it will not happen,

⁸ for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.’ “

Ganging Up On You

Israel’s historyis not sugar-coated in any way – it’s incredibly blunt with its assessment of itself and its leaders.  The kings of Israel were a mistake from the beginning, as the Lord was supposed to lead Israel himself, but the people wanted a human leader.  This saddens God, but he acquiesces, and so begins a tragic part of their history.

But Ahaz was one of the rare good guys.  And the thing about being a good guy in a position where nearly everyone has failed before you means that the expectations are high, and most likely, people are waiting for you to mess up.  If you’ve ever been in that situation, you know how difficult it is.  And to make matters worse, Israel’s enemies take this opportunity to gang together to overtake the country – poor guy!

But God’s response is pseudo-mathematical.  He basically says this: Ephraim + Aram + Rezin = NOTHING COMPARED TO ME.  He reminds Ahaz that when you look past all the alliances and such, these people are led by a human, just somebody’s son, nothing more, and certainly nothing compared to God.

When things gang up on us, it can be hard to keep our head – work + relationships + tiredness + stress, when it all hits at the same time, it can feel like we’re about to break.  But remember God’s math, that all those things put together are nothing compared to God himself!

Questions

1. What are some of your “enemies” right now, the things that are discouraging you?

2. Do you remember when these “enemies” all seemed to come together at one time in your life?  What did you feel?

3. How does God’s power or promsies counter each of the enemies you listed above?

4. What form does God’s salvation most commonly take in your life?  The encouragement of friends or the church?  The promises of the Word?