Gadfly's Muse

Isaiah 21-23: Not An Easy Job....

Image: "Valley of Vision", 2009, Vicinity of Eastern Grand Canyon, Pa

Isaiah 21:4  My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

Isaiah 22:5  For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of Vision— Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain.

Isaiah 22:12–13 And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13 But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

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Isaiah did not like what he saw.  Even though he had no love whatsoever for Babylon and the other pagan nations surrounding Israel, yet there was in him that God given empathy for his fellow humans that comes with a regenerate heart.  Suffering and devastation are not scenes of joy.  The horror of a battle field burns particular images into the brain such that soldiers never forget them.

One of the members of the celebrated Light Brigade in their historic charge, could not forget the image of his sergeant, riding in front of him at full gallop toward the Russian cannons only to have a cannon ball cleanly separate his head right from his shoulders.  He remembered the headless body remaining on the horse, holding the lance in attack position, for what seemed to be several full minutes until finally it fell off.  Isaiah was seeing visions like that and worse.  It so affected him that he was afraid to go to sleep lest even more visions open up before him.  This truly was the prophet's burden.

Yet what we must realize is that the horror of the Lord's judgment on evil men and women is fully justified.  The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. (Ezek. 33:10-11)  God's continued stance before all His created universe is for the "wicked to turn from his way and live."  Yet they do not.  God warns them that it is coming.  He sends His prophets .... He sends HIs Son... He sends preachers and teachers to proclaim the words of the prophets and the Son.. He calls "for weeping and mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth", that is, for true repentance.  And yet, what does sinful man do with these messages?  They spend their time pursuing "joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine", adopting the attitude "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (22:12-13)

There is a word for this kind of reaction... 'insanity."  That is just what a full blown sin nature exhibits.  It is insane to thumb one's nose at the righteousness of God.  It is insane to persist in wickedness when all the testimony of history and the witness of God's Holy Word teaches that it only brings disaster.  And yet they love darkness more than light (John 3:19).  This is the final choice of every unregenerate heart.  Confronted with the light of Christ they will choose darkness even though it means their own destruction.

These chapters continue to reveal the destruction coming on the entire world and particularly on Jerusalem and Judah.  Here is the entire world represented as being caught up in the judgment on "Babylon."  The exact same picture is painted in Revelation 14:8 where the angel cries out "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."  Compare this with Isaiah 21:9  And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.”  "Babylon" was not just a city back then.  It was the earthly metaphor for the rebellious heart of mankind, dominated by the desire for self-glorification and lustful pleasures.  "Babylon" is the desire of man to control his own destiny, gain eternal life on his terms, decide for himself what is right or wrong, establish his own advancement as the highest good of all things.  "Babylon" is the serpent hissing in Eve's ear... it is the tower of Babel built for the purpose that man might rise to heaven in his own power... "Babylon" was Nebuchadnezzar's nation in his day and it was the nation-states which have followed him that sought for world-domination and power.  It was "Rome" in John's day when he wrote the Revelation and it is the movement toward world consolidation today as mankind still pursues his insane pretensions.

It is this "Babylon" in all its historic eruptions that God will judge in time and space and will bring to an end in eternity.

Like Isaiah, on one hand we passionately long for this to happen.  On the other hand we cringe at the images which will attend its destruction.  Truly there will be horror and weeping.  Truly the remnant will be saved through the fire.   However the thought of these things should arouse longing in our hearts for those who remain in their insanity.  We should... and we must... recoil from the vision of what is in store for them.  And this vision should move our hearts, in love, to plead with them to repent.

That was Isaiah's mission in his day... it is our mission now.

 

 

Isaiah 13-20: Lucifer's Fall, A Deliverer Comes

Image: "Dimly Seen Future", 2014, Bombay Hook, De

Isaiah 13:6  Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Isaiah 14:1–2  For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.

Isaiah 14:12  “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

Isaiah 16:5  In mercy the throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”

Isaiah 19:23–25 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.  24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

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When you are on a 2-yr through the bible reading schedule, it means that some of the daily readings can be quite a chunk.  That's certainly the case today with 8 total chapters on the line.  I can understand why the chapters were lumped together though because they all are part of an extended prophetic warning about the coming judgment of God on the wickedness of the nations.  Isaiah stands and sees the hand of God moving Babylon to come and wreak havoc on the entire area.  But God is not going to let that nation's cruelty and perversity prosper for very long.  Isaiah looks down through the ages and sees God raising up another nation, the Medes (13:17) who will bring Babylon to its knees.  Babylon's destruction will be so great that "It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation." (13:20)  There's a lot more going on here however, than simply a prediction of the immediate future.   Interspersed in Isaiah's visions are something else... a glimpse of something beyond the immediate circumstances of the near future... a glimpse into the heavenly plans of God that these coming events represent.

Notice first of all that the coming judgment this near-term turmoil represents, is a downpayment on God's plan to "punish the (entire) world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity." (13:11)  Of course, in chapter 13 this is in the context of the judgment on Babylon proper.  But it goes beyond that.  In the subsequent chapters we see that Assyria, Philistian, Moab, Syria, Israel, Ethiopia and Egypt will all be addressed in their turn.  Thus, if one was standing in Jerusalem, it would mean that all the nations surrounding Israel were to be devastated by God's judgment as was Israel herself.  This is the "whole world" for all practical purposes.

In these chapters we see God's plan to deal with evil once and for all and that He will do so with serious and terrifying intent.

But though this judgment will be manifested in this world, the ultimate warfare and judgment are in the spiritual world.  In chapter 14 Isaiah cries out to "Lucifer", Satan, the Anti-Christ, and proclaims "How you are fallen!"  We are reminded of our Lord's same observation when His disciples returned from their missions trip and He saw Satan falling from the heavens.  Isaiah is here seeing in the present physical events, namely the fall of Babylon, the real judgment on the spiritual power of darkness that Babylon everywhere in Scripture represents. (Rev. 17:1-5) There will come a day when God's temporal judgments, that He has done through history, will be summed up in a final judgment and Satan will be stripped of all his power of lies and deception.  He will no longer work through the baser instincts of fallen mankind to bring about wickedness, pain and suffering.  That Day is coming.  Isaiah saw it foretold in the total destruction of Babylon as it then existed.  But the true fulfillment would come when God at last says "enough" and Satan will be cast into he fiery pit which he and all his minions deserve.

But in the midst of all these cosmic events another set of insights burst forth.  Isaiah sees in the midst of judgment a Deliverer coming.  The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and Israel and settle them in their own land. (14:1)  Moab, though punished for her unfaithfulness, will yet see the oppressors "consumed out of the land" (16:5) but they will also see a throne established and "One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David."  A deliverer will come and the whole world will see its wickedness purged and a new day commencing with a glorious King on His throne.  Even Assyria will gaze with wonder on what the Lord has done and all of their previous hatred for God's people will be ended.  "In that day a man will look to His Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel." (17:7)  There will be a glorious morning when a road will link Egypt with Israel and on to Assyria in the North.  In other words, there will be one world, centered on the One who sits on the throne in Spiritual Jerusalem.  On that day God will say, "Blessed is Egypt, My people, and Assyria, the work of My hands, and Israel, My Inheritance."

Do you see it?  Does it fill you with wonder?  It does me.  I am so looking forward to it.  God will be glorified in the midst of all the nations He has created and our Lord Jesus Christ will reign over all mankind.  There will be one language as the curse of Babylon is reversed and never again will the human race be divided on itself.

Lucifer must fall... Christ must be exalted... and then the eternal party will begin.

 

Isaiah 11-12:The Problem & The Promise of Hope

Image: "Upraised Hand", 2007, Village Fair, South of Seoul, RSK

Isaiah 11:1–2 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

Isaiah 11:9–10 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. 10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”

Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.

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The Old Testament writing prophets often get a lot of bad press.  To some folks they were just too dreary... always talking about the wrath of God and painting disturbing portraits of what that wrath would entail.  However we must remember that they lived in "the last days" of ancient Israel / Judah.  The smell of death was in the air and they were not alone in smelling it.  Time was running out and only drastic measures could offer any hope and therefore they were commissioned to call the nations to those drastic measures: repentance and a return to the fear of the Lord.

But there is another crucial aspect to the writing prophets' ministries that must not be overlooked.  It is in their messages that we get the first solid depictions of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  

This is because the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.) came to a much fuller realization of the problem facing God's people.  It was not the imminent threat of Assyria and Babylon that was the big issue.  No, the big issue was their fellow man's hardness of heart.  The prophets were well aware of history... probably more than anyone else in their time.  The knew that time and time again Israel and Judah had been called to repentance and sometimes God had acted to give them strong leaders to guide them back to the pathways of righteousness.  But still, time and time again, they had fallen away.  The people of God not only traipsed off after pagan idols, they also lost their common decency.  Injustice, perversions, blasphemy, lusts, disloyalty, lawlessness, abounded.  The prophets saw that it was not a matter of just correcting peoples' manners for a while.  The problem was the deep seated sinfulness of their hearts... sinfulness that neither the individual man or the king over the whole nation, could rectify.  What men needed was a work of God changing their hearts.

It fell to the prophets to first proclaim that there was a solid hope that such a transformation was coming and they had the glorious insight that it was through the Holy Spirit being poured out in abundance that it would arrive.  The prophets saw a day when God would hear the deepest cry of sinful hearts... the cry for freedom from the bondage of sin... and they saw that God would answer this prayer in two, complementary ways.  He would send forth a "Rod from the stem of Jesse" (11:1), a Messiah from the house of David, and the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon Him and go forth at His bidding to bring this very relief from sin's oppression among His people. (11:2)

And what a transformation it was to be.  The famous passage (11:6-8) speaks of the wolf dwelling with the lamb, the little child leading the formerly vicious animals, the cow and the bear grazing contentedly together.  What we should see here is the "now and not yet" nature of this prophecy.  The fullest realization will come when the Lord returns and all forms of pain and suffering will be removed.  That is the "not yet" part.  The "now" part concerns how through the Holy Spirit, those people who have been born again into the likeness of Christ, will no longer be moved by the animal passions, like greed and lust, that caused them to abuse their neighbors.  The Holy Spirit breaks the heart of stone and builds a heart of flesh... a heart of warm and loving affections... which more and more gain supremacy in the individual Christian's sanctification. 

Here is man's main problem.  Man cannot change his nature.  Even when he has some elementary desire to be more noble, more righteous, more upstanding, what he discovers is that his evil heart takes each disciplined step he makes and warps it to evil.  Progressing in external piety he becomes inwardly more hypocritical and prideful.  The facade of civility often breaks down under the slightest of provocations.  The leopard cannot change his spots.

But the Lord Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, can.  Through His Holy Spirit He opens a person's mind to see Him as the only answer to their guilt and shame and then, again, through that same Holy Spirit, He breaks down the walls of their rebellious nature and breathes into their soul a new vitality.  

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that God didn't do this in the Old Testament.  He did.  The witnesses of the saints like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, etc. exhibit all this same transforming work.  The difference between Isaiah's day and now is not one of essence but one of degree.  The arrival of the Messiah would herald a day when it would no longer be a few people here or there undergoing transformation.  The New Day would be when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  And in that day, there shall be a Root of Jesse... and the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious."

This was Isaiah's comfort as he fought off despair.  Sin was the problem... but there was hope.  One day the Holy Spirit would truly be unleashed and the problem of sin would die its inevitable death.

 

 

 

Isaiah 9 & 10: In Darkness, Light

Image: "Emptiness", 2007, Minsok Village, vicinity Seoul, RSK

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.

Isaiah 9:7  Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 10:17 So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame; It will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day.

Isaiah 10:22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

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I don't think it was easy being a prophet.  Take a look at the flooding images in these two chapters alone.  Imagine how Isaiah must have felt as, on the one hand, God reveals to him the awful destruction that will come through Assyria acting as God's agent.  Israel and Judah will be like a bird's nest full of eggs and Assyria's hand will gather all the eggs for themselves (10:14).  There will be destruction as wickedness is punished like briers being burned in a fire (9:18).  Starvation will be so severe that a man will be tempted to "eat the flesh of his own arm." (9:20) This is the stuff of nightmares.  It's hard enough just reading it.  Imagine how it must have affected Isaiah to envision it.

But then, in the midst of such graphic horror, there are such beautifully poignant contrasts.  A Child is born... A Son given.  His Name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!  This child will have an unending government sitting on the throne of David and establishing His kingdom with judgment and justice.  The same zeal with which God was going to wreak judgment on His people through Assyria was going to "perform this" also. (9:6-7)

 Then Isaiah is immersed again in visions of God turning on Assyria and punishing her.  Assyria is sunk in pride.  She is boastful and arrogant, believing that her great conquering powers flow from her own strength.  She is like an "ax" that boasts against the One who "chops with it" or a "rod" that doesn't see itself as only powerful when in the hands of the one who lifts it up. (10:15)  Therefore God will humble Assyria.  He will allow her to shake her fist at Mount Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, but then she will be "lopped off" with terror.  She will be cut down like trees in the forest. (10:32-34)  Thus Isaiah saw the horrors not only of what Assyria would do to his own Israel and Judah, he also saw the graphically depicted fall of Assyria who was judged for her sins as well.

However, like a graceful melody breaking through the cacophony of destruction, Isaiah sees that God will purify for Himself a remnant.  There will those who will escape the coming wrath and who will be restored in heart and soul to their own Mighty God.  The plowing of destruction will produce a harvest of righteousness at the hand of the Lord God of Hosts.

Thus back and forth the vision see-saws.  There is the darkness of judgment but also a "great light" that shines on those in darkness, under the shadow of death.  A "great light" that will come by way of "Galilee of the Gentiles."  This Light will cause the nation to increase in joy and the yoke of burden will be broken along with the rod of its oppressor (9:1-5). 

Isaiah must have felt like a ping-pong ball bouncing between God's paddles.  Salvation and Judgment, both wielded by God unto the end of His own glory.  What God requires He also gives.  The call is to trust, believe, hope and endure.  Like the old Western movies, the wagon train may be circled and under deadly attack, but the cavalry is coming and if you listen intently, you can hear the bugle sounding in the distance.

As it was for Isaiah so it has to be for us, at least to some extent.  We do not have the Spirit sending us intense visions showing us how this same set of visions will work out in the continuing life of God's Church.  We have plenty of visions written down for us to ponder but we have to let them sink deep.  To some extent we must let the twin bells of judgment and salvation ring in our ears.  If we truly believe in one we must truly believe in the other.  It is only in the midst of terrible judgment that amazing salvation makes sense.  It is only when we, like Assyria, learn that we are only instruments in God's hands and that we must put away any haughty looks or sense of personal accomplishment, that we will then be able to see the light shining in the darkness.

God's mighty hand was proved to us on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  There we saw the darkness of judgment and the light of salvation.  Both were accomplished and both are still being accomplished.  Let us bow before our God and cast our hopes on Him.  Let us be the "remnant" that He will build into a mighty nation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day: Here Lies a Warrior

Image: "Here Lies a Warrior," 2007, United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Seoul, RSK

1 Chronicles 11:10–14  Now these were the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.
11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam the son of a Hachmonite, chief of the captains; he had lifted up his spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time.
12 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim. Now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. 14 But they stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the LORD brought about a great victory.

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If you travel to the other side of the world and visit the Republic of (South) Korea, do not miss the opportunity to go to the only United Nations cemetery in the world.  It is an honored burial ground, respectfully maintained and constantly under military guard.  It bears silent witness to the combined forces that fought the Korean War and preserved the freedom of at least half of the Korean peoples.  I have known a couple of men who fought in that war.  One only recently died.  His memories of the hardship, terror and inhumanity of the conflict readily sprang to his mind as he spoke of how it was only by the grace of God he survived.

I do not know anything about the man buried beneath the marker above. It just stopped me in my tracks as I walked down the rows and rows of the dead.  Here lay a man who was born only a eleven years after my grandfather in 1896.  He was a kid when the Wrights flew the first airplane.  He remembered Teddy Roosevelt and saw the automobile transform the nation.  When he was 20+ years old he went to war in the "War to End All Wars", WWI, from 1914-1918.  It was not the last war and neither was it the last in which he fought.  He went to war in WWII and then, when his country again needed him, he went to Korea.  There his fighting ended and there he returned to be buried 10 years later, with carefully tended roses testifying to the honor in which he is still held.

On Memorial day it is right and good to stop and remember the price paid for the liberties and prosperity we have inherited.  This should not be just some artificial bit of maudlin romanticism.  Honoring the dead doesn't mean that we attribute to them some beyond human purity.  As a career military officer I can truthfully say that few military men, including me, were saints.  They were and are fallen sinners just like we are and each had his or her own foibles and perhaps even serious moral failures.  But there is a kind of nobility that military service can bring out in a man, especially in wartime.  There is when courage is glaringly evident or equally glaringly absent.  In the heat of battle men lay down their lives for their brothers, often in deliberate actions which they knew they would not survive.  The image of a battle blackened soldier emerging from the jungle carrying his wounded brother on his shoulders is a haunting reminder of Viet Nam.  

This man saw three major wars.  He knew death up close and personal before it finally claimed him.  He was nearly 60 years old when the war in Korea heated up.  I imagine he could have stayed home if he wanted.  But he didn't.  He was moved by some principle that was greater than his life.  There was some imperative that drove him to lead men again in harm's way.  I cannot help but think, for men such as he, that it was a genuine sense of duty.  We can call it love of country... we can call it loyalty to his calling... we can call it by many names but it represents one necessary aspect of the kind of nobility that fallen men can exhibit.

David's three mighty men probably had a lot in common with this soldier.  They were fierce warriors but they were more than that.  When David expressed a desire for water from a particular well near Bethlehem, these three men broke through enemy lines to retrieve some for him.  They were not ordered to do this... they just wanted to show their affection and loyalty to their king.  Their names are not inscribed on a plaque in a cemetery.  They are written by the Spirit of God into His eternal Scriptures.  

I think God has a special place in His heart and in His Kingdom, for those of His elect, who are willing to lay down their lives for their country and their king.  He has honored the memory of some of these by keeping their names alive.  If God thinks this way then so should we.

Isaiah 8: Here Am I... Signs and Wonders For the Times

Image: "Rock Solid", 2010, Vicinity of Canmore, British Columbia, Canada

Isaiah 8:18–20  Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

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This chapter is chock full of inspiring and thought provoking teaching.  Several verses are quoted in the NT as being directly applied to the Person and work of our Lord Jesus.  Particularly important to me is the picture in Heb. 2:13 where verse 18 is put into the mouth of the ascended Christ as He stands before God the Father and proclaims "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."  This eschatological picture affirms that in that great day when our Lord claims His inheritance in full and gathers all of His elect to His presence that He will stand among us, identify with us and call us His own.  What a wondrous promise that is!  It certainly is worth meditating on and allowing the hope it imparts to fill us with a holy resolve.  One day we will all be truly a family, whom our Christ will be delighted to call "My brethren" and we will all sing praises together! (Heb. 2:12)

But verse 18 also teaches us a good deal about today.  

In context, God is speaking to His disciples (8:16) and calling them, as His remnant in the coming judgment He is bringing on Israel and Judah, that they are to become "signs and wonders" in Israel.  In other words, an important mission of the continuing Church is to stand as a visible and potent testimony to the reality that there is "a God in Israel." (1 Samuel 17:46)  The whole earth is to be confronted with the truth of our Holy God, not only in and through the Scriptures, but also in the living witness of His true Church.  His providential ordering of all things is such that His people will never be destroyed, they will continue throughout the ages no matter what persecutions or pogroms are directed toward them.  No tyrant will be able to completely suppress them and the Holy Spirit will ensure that their continued existence is a source of amazement to their enemies.  

Not only are they to be "signs and wonders" by virtue of their miraculous preservation but also by the living witness of their righteousness.  They will be a beacon of the blessings that come from covenant faithfulness and obedience.  The "law will be sealed" among them and their principled lifestyle, centered on God's Holy Word, will distinguish them from the lawlessness of the surrounding culture.  They will be "filled with the fruits of righteousness... to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:11) and "shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15)

This is the highly charged and stimulating vision of the Church that God imparted to us through Isaiah.  He calls us to turn away from the vain whispering and muttering of idolatrous teachings coming at us from all side.  He calls us to be a "people" who "seek their God" (vs. 19) and stand on the "law and the testimony." (vs.20)  We are to judge all things "according to this word" resting in the truth that there is "no light" in the world that is apart from that word.  This compelling vision requires our utmost concentration and diligent watchfulness, especially in uncertain times.  But it is the fact of that uncertainty in the world about us, as people are vainly seeking some ground on which to stand, that calls us to this very task.

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 7: When The Winds of Fear And Doubt Assail

Image: "Intricacies", 2020, Severna Park, Md

Isaiah 7:2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

Isaiah 7:7 7 thus says the Lord GOD: “It shall not stand, Nor shall it come to pass.  ....Isaiah 7:9 .... If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”

Isaiah 7:14  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

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For all practical purposes Judah and her leaders were shaking in their boots.  Ahaz was on the throne and he was a piece of work.  We are told in 2 Chron. 28 that he saw all the apparent prosperity and strength of the Northern Kingdom of Samaria and decided that evidently they had it right.  So he gave himself over to walking "in the ways of the kings of Israel." (2 Chron. 28:2)  In doing so he pulled out all the stops.  There were no abominations that he did not commit, including burning his children in the fire.  

Even so he sat on the throne of David and therefore God had a special covenant interest in him.  When the very nations that he had sought to emulate, Syria and Samaria, conspired against him and gathered their troops to invade, "his heart and the heart of the people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with wind." (7:2)  Terror and panic were in the air.  In the face of this prevailing fear God sent His servant Isaiah to speak to Ahaz and give him what should have been words of immense comfort.

"Don't worry... it shall not stand nor shall it come to pass" (vs7) Isaiah tells Ahaz.  "These two kings are nothing but two stubs o smoking firebrands. (vs. 4)  I have My plans for them and when I am done they will be nothing but a bunch of ashes."  Isaiah solemnly tells Ahaz at that point: "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established (i.e. made firm)." (vs. 9)  God's message to Ahaz was conditional, at least as far as he was concerned.  God was going to work vengeance on Syria and Samaria... if Ahaz wanted to personally benefit from this then his response was to believe.  If he did not... well, he would not be kept secure.  It was a warning he should have heeded.  

Ahaz basically could not break the chains of unbelief in his soul.  He tries to pass off Isaiah's offer of a sign to prove what God had said as a facade of piety.  It didn't work.  God knew his heart and so the rest of the chapter is a heart wrenching preview of what would happen to Judah also in the day when God brought Assyria down to do His will on Samaria and Syria.  It was not a pretty picture.

Let's focus on vs. 9 though.  "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established."

As with Ahaz we should understand that sometimes the great test of our faith, the "proving" trial of it, is to "trust in the face of hopelessness."  Ahaz was pretty scornful of Isaiah's comparing those two strong kings with burning matches.  Ahaz knew that they were completely capable of tearing down the walls of Jerusalem, ravaging the countryside and carrying off him and his entire clan as captives.  In 2 Chronicles 28 we read that this is exactly what happened.  We are left wondering what would have happened if Ahaz had believed Isaiah.  He didn't and therefore he was not "established."

So the test of faith for Ahaz was, as David did so often, whether or not to put all his eggs in God's basket.  God had worked wondrous victories against invading hordes before... He would do so again in the days of Hezekiah.  We can only believe that had Ahaz humbled himself... if he had undertaken to purge his heart and his land of idols... if he had begged God's forgiveness and pleaded for mercy... that a huge disaster might have been avoided.  Neither I nor anyone else can speak with certainty about what God would have done.  He is God... He does what He wants... but He is also always faithful to His Word.  God's word went out to Ahaz.  God did not have to warn him... nor challenge him to believe... but He did.  This creates the hypothetical possibility of an alternate outcome and I have to believe that God would have done something different.

Now we know that man cannot cause God to change His decree.  God knew that Ahaz would not believe.  Ahaz' fate was as certain as God Himself.  Yet, we are left with a lesson:  "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established."

When we, with startling clarity, recognize the gathering storms about us.  When we are convinced that we cannot, in our own strength, withstand the bad news that is bearing down on us, then we must remember, "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established."  Whatever is coming is entirely under God's sovereign control and is directed toward His purposes.  That means that God can turn back the mightiest tide of disaster... or He can cause that tide to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.  There is no guarantee that God's plans may include catastrophe... but there is God's guarantee that such disasters will not shake us from His hand. 

The key is trust.  When the wind is howling we are not to panic as would those who know not God.  We are to "be still and know that He is God."  He will not suffer one of His children to be eternally lost.  We can face anything that comes having a peace that passes all understanding.  And, perhaps more often than not, we will see the power of God protecting us in ways we could not imagine.  What He does is up to Him.  What we know is that He will never leave us or abandon us.  Thus we will see ourselves "established" in accordance with our faith.

 

 

 

Isaiah 6: Behold Your God!

Image: "Goodness", 2020, Severna Park, Md.

Isaiah 6:4–5 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”

Isaiah 6:12–13 The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.  13 But yet a tenth will be in it,  And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.”

John 12:41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

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Isaiah's vision of God and his classic response to that vision, is a beloved staple on Christian discipleship.  It is only slightly less famous than that of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.  The Scriptures recount other stories that have a bit less drama in them: Abraham being called to pack up and leave, Moses' encounter at the burning bush, the Ethiopian Eunuch being baptized, etc.  We read these stories and we wonder if every Christian life should have a "Damascus Road Experience?"  Some denominations insist on it as evidence of being born again.  Others are open to the idea of "gradualism", as when a Christian can honestly say that he/she cannot ever remembering "not believing."  There are positives and negatives to each side.  Those who insist on such an experience can, all too often, "manufacture" an emotional setting where the individual does indeed have an "experience" and will base his assurance on that memory, often in the face of glaring contradictions in his behavior.  On the other side, doctrinal assent and a comfortable complacency can hinder the development of a vital Christian piety.  

What is important is to come to grips with the question:  Is a strong direct "encounter" with God's holiness a prerequisite to true faith?  I would answer that "no", such an earthshaking event is not required but a serious, conscious "decision" for Christ is.  I don't have room to talk about the whole "free will" thing here, I will just state for the record that this doesn't mean that the sovereignty of God in regeneration is impugned in any way.  I am simply saying that a truly regenerate soul must make a conscious "decision" and will, inevitably, do so.

How could any Christian, professing a knowledge of the awesome holiness of God such as confronted Isaiah in verses 4 & 5 ever forget the occasion, more or less vividly?  Such was the case in my own life, even though I was a pretty solid Christian kid before that.  John Stott was a famous evangelical preacher and pastor (d. 2011) when I was first getting really serious about Christianity.  I think his "conversion" experience mirrors that of many.

This was a classic evangelical conversion. Christianity was certainly not new to John Stott. He had learned it at his mother’s and nanny’s knees, at Sunday school at All Souls, in classroom and chapel at Oakley Hall and Rugby, and in classes for his confirmation in the Church of England in 1936. He not only knew the faith, he also practiced it devoutly, reading his Bible and saying his prayers, attending additional, voluntary services at Rugby, and spending time alone in one of the school’s chapels.¹³ He was unusually religious at a school where singing in chapel had degenerated into "polite moo-ing," according to one correspondent in the school magazine.¹⁴ But this was the moment when Jesus Christ came alive for Stott. It was a dramatic experience that justified talk of being born again. He would always see it as the defining moment of his life.¹

Simply put, I think every true Christian, has that moment, like Stott, when they know, at some deep level, that where as before they had known about God and His Son Jesus, now they know Him and HIs Son in a more direct and personal manner.  Some people describe it as "Jesus came alive to me!"  I know what they mean though there are perilous aspects to thinking of Jesus as being ONLY alive to me.  The main point of all this though is that for Paul and Isaiah and Moses and Abraham, there came a day when life took on a certain newness.  They weren't the same as they were before and what is more, they couldn't be the same.

When a person is confronted by God's holiness and perfection, as well as the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, in such an intimate manner there is a corresponding movement of their will.  They "decide" for God and His Son... they acknowledge that they want to be servants of the Triune God.. their heart and mind and soul and will find, perhaps for the first time in their lives, a central unity.  This is accompanied by a sense of wonder and of gratitude.  The person is aware of the deep privilege they have been accorded and they find that they cannot help but respond, as did Isaiah, "Here I am, send me!"

We modern Christians must find the right balance in our preaching, teaching and worship in this regard.  We must not resort to tactics of emotional manipulation ("Let us sing 'Just as I am' fifty more times until someone comes forward!"  Neither should we fear to use methods that do appeal and promote appropriate emotions.  If there is no passion in our preaching, no joy in our singing, no tears in our confessions of sin, then something is wrong.  Our proclamation of the Gospel is "Good News" and it should be received as such.

1. Alister Chapman, Godly Ambition: John Stott and the Evangelical Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 13, http://www.questia.com/read/121629543/godly-ambition-john-stott-and-the-evangelical-movement.

 

 

Isaiah 5: Exalted in Judgment, Hallowed in Righteousness

Image:  "Complementary Colors," 2020, Severna Park, Md

Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.

Isaiah 5:20  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 (Is 5:25) ... For all this His anger is not turned away,But His hand is stretched out still.

 (Ho 14:8) .....I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me.”

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Isaiah is a sobering book even as it is encouraging.  

It is sobering in its graphic depiction of how God's people had degenerated into wickedness.  The picture painted is one of strong contrasts.  There is the unrighteousness of injustice (vs.7), the wallowing in sensual pleasures (vs. 11), the greedy abuse of power (vs. 18), the deliberate recasting of good and evil such that evil is called good and vice versa (vs. 20), etc.  These behaviors are reprehensible in the godless world surrounding the Church but when they dominate the people of God themselves, then God's anger is righteously roused and He will not withdraw His hand until destruction is complete and His people's hearts are turned again to righteousness. (vs. 25)

God's people were created to show forth righteousness in their lives, profession and desires.  They are designed as a "vineyard", planted on a "very fruitful hill" and tended by God's providence with unwavering care. (vs. 1-2)  But when His vineyard produces "wild grapes" instead, or, like the fig tree Jesus encountered on the road to Jerusalem, barren during the time of harvest, God's righteous judgment is that it must be destroyed.  This should alert us to God's "complementary colors:" Judgment and Righteousness.  God will be glorified in both (vs. 16) as part of His Divine purposes for creation and history.

We must not turn our eyes away from this.  We don't like to think of God being angry with His Church. We, correctly, look to His love for His Church and His sovereign intent to bless it and protect it and, in due time, bring it to Himself.  These are true things and they constitute the deep assurances of the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.  That's where we want to fix our focus.  But God wants us also to face facts.  "Not all Israel (is) Israel", Paul proclaimed in Romans 9.  The Church has always existed, in space and time, including those who "profess with their lips but their hearts" are far from God.  Often these souls may be self-deceived.  Like the rich young ruler they sense something lacking in their lives but they persist in the forms of Christianity in vain hope that such will be sufficient.  The Church has always had this element in it.

It is when this essentially superficial Christian gloss of Christianity characterizes the majority of the Church, whether individual congregations, denominations or across the nation, that the extended hand of God's judgment can be expected and often observed.  What God desires and demands of all who draw near to Him is that they will see Him as Holy.  He wants His people to be filled with a godly awe / fear such that they are overwhelmed with a sense of privilege.  They see themselves as "chosen", called to be "servants of God", adopted children in His family who have access to the God of all Creation through His Son, our Lord.  

When this mindset dominates an individual, fills the breasts of the majority in a congregations, forms the core impulse in a denomination and becomes the passion of nation-wide Christianity, then "righteousness" begins to flow.  A "change" will be sensed in the air.  Wicked people, entrenched in the halls of power and possessors of vast fortunes, will begin to be on guard.  Young people will be given a true alternative to crime and many will be saved from lives characterized by imprisonment or death.  "Righteousness" flowing from the transformed hearts of God's people is a double dose of supernatural power.  It is God who changes our hearts and it is God who brings forth righteousness from it.  Hosea (above) speaking for God said, "Your fruit is in Me."  A fruitful life, a righteous life, is found in God and it is He who tills the soil, plants the seed, waters the growth, prunes the excess and reaps the harvest.  We have to understand that this is His purpose for us and we must not allow the distractions of superficial prosperity or the cares and worries of the world to cause us to lose sight of it.

God will be Exalted in Judgment and Hallowed in Righteousness.  This is His plan for all things and our part is to be fruitful vineyard where God's righteousness is made known.

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 3 & 4: Certain Signs of the Times

Image: "Broke Back Capitalism," 2013, Vicinity of Continental Divide Trading Post, Lordsburg, NM

Isaiah 3:1–3 For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water; 2 The mighty man and the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder; 3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert enchanter.

Isaiah 4:5–6 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

1 Peter 4:17–19 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

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The old, ruined truck stop stood as a vivid reminder of the ephemeral quality of temporal prosperity.   Located about 3/5ths of the distance between Los Cruces and Tucson, this section of Rt. 10 is not all that heavily travelled and the only nearby attraction is the very campy Continental Divide Trading Post.  If you are aware of Pedro's South of the Border on the East Coast then that, on a smaller scale, is the trading post.  I image the writing was on the wall for the owners well before the doors were closed, the gas pumps were ripped of their bases and the inventory disposed of as best they could.  What started out full of hope, at some point, became just a grim acceptance of the inevitable.  That happens with men and nations also.  Isaiah 3 & 4 vividly depict just how it happens.

When a nation is in decay, like a human body growing old, it shows up in all its faculties.  There will be signs of it in the economy (3:1).  It will register in the ineptitude and corruption of the political leaders (3:4 & 14-15).  The people will become soft and effeminate and the manly virtues will diminish (3:2).  Greed and injustice will alienate the poor and the relatively poor and the nation will emulate the unprincipled actions of their leaders (3:12).  "Those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths."

As Isaiah well knew, there comes a tipping point in any nation's history which, having been passed, cannot be reversed.  It was Isaiah's role then, as it is the Church's role now, to proclaim and warn.  The message has to be starkly stated.  There can be no flinching in delivery, no softening of tone, nothing which might make it sound non-threatening.  At some point, when a building is on fire, you have to shake the lazy person's shoulders and tell him "If you stay here you will die!"  Such is the nature and content of the Church's proclamation during the times of impending judgment.  "If you don't change your ways this nation will die and great will be the consequences to those in it."

As it was then, so it is no, "The LORD ... stands to judge the people.. with the elders of His people and His princes.."  (3:13-14).  Notice the all-inclusive address.  "You are all in this together... and judgment will fall on all together."  God is just.  He knows that all governments, at the very basic level, exist because the people allow them to govern.  Of course the government may be based on terror and the people subjected in fear, but there is a choice available.  There is no reason for 200 people to walk meekly to a killing ground when they are being guarded by 2 or 3 soldiers.  At some point the people can force their government to change even if it is at great cost.  If a people are willing to tolerate a corrupt society and even allow themselves to be corrupted in it, then God's judgment will rightly make that known.

The only hope, when signs of approaching collapse are present, is for a total, heart-felt, sweeping repentance to first fill Christ's Church (1 Peter 4 above).  A revitalized and courageous Church can then stand against the tide of filth and even begin to help reverse it.  Individuals can be saved and as the demand for righteousness becomes widespread, politicians will fall into line.  There will never be a true theocracy on this earth until the Lord returns but it is the duty of the Church to proclaim the Good News of hope:  The God Who will certainly judge unrighteousness also is the God who offers mercy.  

People today are pretty much convinced that disaster is coming.  We need to tell them that their fears are well grounded but it is not yet inevitable.  God has given us time... let's take advantage of it.