DAY 305

FAILED SHEPHERDS

Jeremiah 22 & 23 and Titus 1

The prophets, their writing and time: we have for most of the Bible been experiencing time in a very linear fashion as we have been reading…but that is not true for the prophets. The prophets have no problem moving back and forth in time.

Chapter 22:1-9 seems to be an example of this moving back-and-forth in time. These first 9 verses seem to proclaim a message to a king, that if he listens, will result in God relenting…in other words there is still time. This is a move backward in time from where we have been in the previous few chapters. In some ways it sets up a “parade of kings—of bad kings.” Following King Josiah we know that the subsequent kings did evil in the sight of God, and this parade of kings continues through the balance of chapter 22.

In chapter 23 God condemns the bad shepherds and again proclaims that He, himself will make things right. In fact, He will raise up a righteous branch from David…a King. He we get another image of Messiah. In Isaiah he is the suffering servant and savior, and now he is king!

The balance of chapter 23 again critiques the false prophets in the land, in a precious moment God cries out, “I am a God who is near and not far off.” In other words, “I can hear you!”

I am struck by the critique of the shepherds today, probably because I am a priest, and probably because of the kind of days I have been having. I have been busy. The question I find myself asking is whether or not I am being a good shepherd. I know I am working hard, but am I working right? I imagine some of the priests really did evil and knew they were doing evil. I also suspect that some were just blindly doing what they thought they were supposed to be doing. Today I can feel God’s plan marching forward; marching by the failed shepherds. My prayer is that I be about God’s business.

DAY 304

ITCHING EARS

Jeremiah 18 & 19 and 2 Timothy 4

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Itching ears…they can be a problem. In the last two chapters we read how Jeremiah prophesied against Judah. The result was that he was beaten and put in the stocks. Jeremiah endures quite a bit as he seeks to be faithful to God. Remarkably the king knew he was a man of God, because as Nebuchadnezzar was “knocking at the door of Jerusalem,” he, the king, seeks a Word from God through Jeremiah. Jeremiah has a word for him and it is not good…get out of Jerusalem is his word…God is going to fight against you!

How have the people of God gotten themselves on this wrong side of God? How have they gotten to the point of having God say that He is going to fight against them? The answer is itching ears! As Jeremiah was prophesying the dark reality of the situation, the prophets of the Temple and the priests were preaching a message of peace…all of which was untrue. Why did they preach falsehood? Because they preached what the people wanted to hear…they were scratching the itchy ears of the people (and of themselves).

The alternative was to follow a course of repentance. Repentance is hard. It requires admitting you have made a mistake, that you have sinned. It then requires that you ask God to forgive you. And then it requires that you seek to never sin again…hard things to do. It is easier to say, “Don’t get upset, what you did was not a big thing, it isn’t like you killed someone…” It is easier to say, “All this talk of sin is unhealthy, after all it is your life…live and let live.” How many other phrases can you come up with?

The hard reality is that God cares about how we live our lives: God will not be mocked. When we live in a ways that seek to justify sin, condone our lack of concern for others, or simply ignore the serious issues of our day…and when we find God’s appointed messengers say “it’s OK,” then we should expect that God’s true prophets will have something to say to us.

What makes your ears itch?

DAY 303

THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

Jeremiah 18 & 19 and 2 Timothy 3

The setting for these chapters is probably in the early years of the reign of King Jehoiakim—you might recall he is the king that followed King Josiah. Josiah was the good king, the one trying to reform Judah. Jehoiakim comes to power and immediately returns to the evil ways of idolatry and therefore Jeremiah is a threat.

Chapter 18 gives us the image of a potter working, or I should say re-working, clay. It is a metaphor for personal and national repentance and conversion. Clay has remarkable properties. While it is soft it can be molded and shaped, but when it is hardened you cannot remake it. Chapter 19 tells us Judah has reached this point. It is a few decades from utter destruction. Jeremiah when he smashes the pot symbolically communicates that there is no putting it back to together…it is beyond reform.

If we dig a little deeper we can think about a few other aspects of these two chapters. The image of the “potter and the clay” is a powerful one in which we are powerless. The potter will make and shape what he chooses. The image communicates our standing with God. But of course the metaphor has its limit. The clay, that would be us, in this case seems to stand on “its own two feet” (as if clay had feet) and refuses to be shaped. This clay refuses to be formed into the image that the potter desires. What image does God desire us to be shaped into? His image—this is the message of Genesis where God said “let us make humankind in our image” and then God “got down on his hands and knees and formed us out of the ground.” I know that is metaphorical, but the Hebrew for “form” and for “potter” has the same root. God formed and desires to form us.

The people of Jeremiah’s day refuse and we see their pride in 18:18. They say “the law will not be taken away from the priests, nor counsel taken from the wise, nor the word taken from the prophets”—(there are more prophets then just Jeremiah). That verse reveals the prideful stubbornness of their hearts. They believed they were the people with the Temple, and in the end, God would never leave them…and this pride hardened their hearts…so hard that God would have to smash them.

And so Jeremiah carries out a pot to the Valley of Hinnom. I wrote about that place when we studied chapter 7. This is the place where evil is carried out. This is the place where false religion is practiced. Before Jeremiah carries out this act he prays against them. Maybe he has done this before, but I had not noticed until now. Certainly God has spoken harshly against the people, but up until this point I remember Jeremiah praying for them. Today he prays against them. His invective perhaps reveals the depth of the evil he will face with this new king, or perhaps that he is reaching the end of his proverbial rope. And so after smashing the pot, he goes to the Temple and proclaims the same message.

What is the message for us...for me? Keep a soft heart. We should keep ourselves open to God. You may have noticed that these prophecies (most of the time) are open to revision. Think of the times Moses “debated with God and God “changed His mind.”” Think of the times God told Isaiah he was going to do something and then Isaiah got King Hezekiah to repent and God relented…all because people kept their hearts soft.

God is the Potter. He is in the business of re-shaping. He re-shaped Saul into Paul, the tax collector Matthew into an Apostle, and the list goes on.  He will re-shape all who allow his strong, tender, skillful hands to grasp their hearts to be changed.

DAY 302

FOLLOWING GOD…REQUIRES SOME TOUGHNESS

Jeremiah 15, 16 & 17 and 2 Timothy 2

There is a version of religion out in the air, a version of Christianity that we breathe in…which is false. It is the version that goes something like, “Believe in God, follow Jesus, and you will live happily ever after.” It is out there and we drink it in, it seeps into our pores, and we seem to naturally want to believe that our lives are like a Disney movie.

Yet the data, the data from Jeremiah, the data from 2 Timothy, and the data from our own lives, points to a different conclusion. It seems that the “free will” we have been given lead us to all sorts of wrong behaviors. I have written about this before. This gift of free will allows us to be courageous, to be compassionate, and to love. It also allows us to make so many poor choices.

We are all living with the collective impact of good and bad choices the world before us has made. If you think about the world’s history as containing chapters, then the chapter that Jeremiah finds himself living in is one of the darkest. It is the chapter where the cumulative effect of Israel/Judah’s rejection of God is coming home. We have read it before, but in 15:6 we read it again: “You have rejected me” cries God.

Which brings me to the “toughness” required to follow God: Jeremiah writes in 15:16 that at first God’s words were a joy, sweet you might say. Now they have become bitter. God’s reaction: no release for Jeremiah from his job. God tells Jeremiah that he will make Jeremiah as “bronze” against those who oppose him. The underlying statement in that sentence is “those who oppose.” In other words Jeremiah will continue to be opposed. God does not say, “Oh Jeremiah I’m sorry it is hard, you do not have to do this anymore.” No, God says be faithful and that requires toughness.

Toughness also means being deeply rooted in God’s story of ultimate redemption for the entire world. God even reminds us of it in 16:14 where—before they have been dragged off to exile—he says that one day he will bring them back. You have to be a bit strong, strong in faith, and strong in behavior to live into that promise.

That is what Paul is writing about in 2 Timothy today. He uses language of “sharing in suffering,” “being a good soldier,” and “training hard as an athlete.” It is what Jeremiah says in 17:5…in classic Jeremiah language… “Cursed (yup cursed) is the man who trusts in man and makes his own flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” So my brothers and sisters, may we be deeply planted in God, and be tough.

DAY 301

CLINGING

Jeremiah 12 13 & 14 and 2 Timothy 1

In chapter 12:1-4 we read Jeremiah’s plea and he asks the question many have asked, “Why do the wicked perish?” God’s answer is amazing, “If you can’t run with men, do you think you can keep up with me?” What is even more remarkable is God’s further response… “I have forsaken MY house. I have abandoned MY inheritance…” The “MY” is God. It is as if God is saying, “Your tragedy is minor in comparison to mine.” For all that God is allowing to happen, even orchestrating, to the people of Judah, He is saying it is a worse for Him, then for them. Consider all He has poured into His people, the centuries and centuries of love…it has all been rejected and he must destroy it.

Chapter 13 gives five variations on this dark theme: a ruined loincloth (vv.1-11), wine jars (vv.12-14), fading light (vv.15-17), a royal dirge (18-19) and disgrace for Jerusalem (vv.20-27) – the five variations in the same theme. (and it continues into chapter 14)

The result…Jeremiah prays.

It is hard for Jeremiah. He can see the future coming…he can see the Exile looming on the horizon. It is like he is a meteorologist watching the tornado coming, telling people to get inside, telling them to repent and turn back to God…and they won’t listen.

Here is another way to describe the reality of Jeremiah’s situation. The nation is so bad that God is going to punish it – God said he will and He has told Jeremiah

Think about a nation in modern time. Is there one that has been so bad that they must be punished, defeated, so they can start over? You might be thinking of a few.

This is the REALITY OF THE SITUATION that Jeremiah is living within.

So often, when people read Jeremiah, they see God as mean-spirited, but the point is that the Nation is so evil that is must be defeated so it can start over afresh…and we, in our own day and age have such examples…and I have already highlighted the cost to God.

And while that is the reality Jeremiah finds himself in, he is a man torn, torn between his concern for his people, and his serving God. Jeremiah is clinging both to his people and to God…we will read in the coming chapters how they will tear Jeremiah from themselves, just as they have torn God away.

He has a message for them…it is a message from God. Yet if you were to read Jeremiah cover-to-cover, then you would read times when Jeremiah is proclaiming this message and their need for repentance to his people…and times you will read of him begging God to spare them.

As with many chapters of this book, and the Scriptures, the deeper you look the more remarkable things you find.

What I am left with today is not the destruction; it is rather to ponder the “impact on God.” God feels, He loves, He hurts, He gets angry…and He never gives up on us…regardless of the cost to Him. He says that he made us to “cling to him” (13:11). The intimacy God has with us is something to ponder…and in many ways it pulls my mind to the Servant of God on the Cross—Jesus Christ. There is a verse from a song “Rock of Ages” and it says, “Naked to thy Cross I cling…” In the end, the walk of someone following Jesus is to understand the length that God has gone to deal with all we are reading about (and more).

DAY 300

HOW DEEP OUR FAITH?

Jeremiah 9, 10 & 11 and 1 Timothy 6

Yesterday I mentioned how the first part of chapter 9 was about Jeremiah praying for his people. We pick up in the chapter with God speaking in verse 17. He says to “call for mourning,” what else can be done, for He is bring ruin upon them. In verse 25 there is an interesting phrase where God says he will punish those who are circumcised merely in the flesh – and in this verse he links Judah with pagan nations! In other words Judah is no better than those other countries because their circumcision is only “skin deep” and not “heart deep.”

In chapter 10 we read an argument, a polemic, comparing the Living God to idols – it is no contest and it comes to its peak in verse 16 “for he is the one who formed all things.” From the height of verse 16, we plunge into verses 17-22 as a “great commotion” is coming out of the north. The “argument” in this chapter is a little bit like God’s Word saying, “Are you kidding me, you are following idols?”

Before we dig into chapter 11 I want to circle back to Day 1 where I tried to describe the different kings, and one of those kings was King Josiah—a good king. Before Josiah, King Manasseh reigned and he was a bad king. He was the son of another good king, Hezekiah. How do we go from good to bad to good? There are some theories.

Hezekiah was the king for much of Isaiah’s reign. While Hezekiah tried to reform his country, the siege upon Judah by Assyria left it a wasteland. It took a strong toll on the nation, and no doubt on Hezekiah’s son. When this son, Manasseh, came to the throne he rejected all that his father represented. This is a story as old as the ages. Manasseh therefore turned strongly to idolatry. It was a long dark reign. There is even an Assyrian tablet containing a treaty where Manasseh becomes a vassal of Assyria and swears, yes—swears, that he will worship the Assyrian god Asshur as his own god.

Josiah is different, and so is Jeremiah: two men born relatively in the same time period; born to serve the One True Living God. We read that Jeremiah began his ministry in the 13^th of Josiah’s reign; Josiah would be about twenty or twenty-one and the year would be 672 b.c. Five years later, in the 18^th year of his reign, they found the Book of the Law and Josiah gathered everyone, they read it, and Josiah had everyone “perform the words of the covenant.” (cf. 2 Chronicles 34).

I provide all the background because as we come to chapter 11 we read, “Hear the words of the covenant…” Scholars believe that the events of this chapter were inspired by the Book of the Law being found and Josiah “kicking his reform movement into high gear.” In fact Jeremiah was sent on a preaching tour…to all the cities of Judah and all the streets of Jerusalem. The result was rejection.

We read in 11:21 “the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand.”” Anathoth…might you remember that name. I didn’t, but fortunately some other people who have written about Jeremiah did. In chapter 1, verse 1, we read that this is Jeremiah’s home town and it is a town of priests. What do you think these priests were doing before Josiah come to the throne? They were leading idol worship. While Josiah has people with their lips professing covenant renewal, their hearts are far away…their circumcision is only skin deep.

We face the same challenge. We hear week-in and week-out the message of the Gospel and then go back into the world, the world with all it tempting idols. In the days after Jesus’ Ascension the idols were both of wood and clay, but also the kind we wrestle with today…like money. Listen again to the New Testament lesson:

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Jeremiah’s world may seem far from ours, but it is not really; nor is Jesus’. May our faith in God be a deep faith, for the idols of the world still seek to draw us from His love.

DAY 299

TURNED INWARD

Jeremiah 6, 7 & 8 and 1 Timothy 5

So let’s start at the end of our Jeremiah readings today, chapter 8. “For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me…Is there no balm in Gilead?” 8:21-22a.

Jeremiah’s heart is wounded, an amazing phrase, a phrase that he will unpack for much of the rest of chapter 9.

You might ask, “Why?” That is unless of course you have read chapters 6, 7 and the first 17 verses of chapter 8. Jeremiah is warning Jerusalem of its impending destruction. The catastrophe has not happened yet, but in the most graphic language Jeremiah is prophesying that it will. We read, “This is the city that must be punished…she keeps fresh her evil” (6:6-7). In 6:14 we read of how the priests have been telling people “peace, peace, when there is no peace”—in other words they have been lying to the people. In 6:16-17 we read how the people have disregarded the good ancient paths and ignored the trumpet (read as very loud) warnings.

In chapter 7:1-15 Jeremiah is standing at the entrance to the Temple proclaiming all that the people have done wrong and offering them God’s forgiveness if only they repent. They don’t, and so beginning in 7:16 God says to Jeremiah, “Do not pray for these people” – wow! In the balance of chapter 7 we read again how God finds it an abomination when people offer him empty ritual and then go and practice evil: this is not real faith and not real religion. How evil were they? Consider just one verse, 7:31 and the place “hinnon”. Here is what the Easton’s Bible Dictionary says about it:

“a deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the so-called "Hill of Evil Counsel." It took its name from "some ancient hero, the son of Hinnom." It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8 . It had been the place where the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moloch and Baal. A particular part of the valley was called Tophet, or the "fire-stove," where the children were burned. After the Exile, in order to show their abhorrence of the locality, the Jews made this valley the receptacle of the offal of the city, for the destruction of which a fire was, as is supposed, kept constantly burning there.” I had to “look up” offal: it the waste products of an animal, the parts that are not used.

God is abhorred: Jeremiah grieves. These prophecies are not new. These prophecies are that “run- away train” of humanity that so often ignores God. You might object. You might be saying, “But we are better.” I would like to think that, but then I go to Haiti and I see it. We are not better, we are just insulated and maybe God’s voice is somehow muffled. Maybe I am so “turned inward” that I like the people of Jeremiah’s day cannot hear God.

I know that may be an uncomfortable thing for you to read. It is uncomfortable for me to write. But here is the deal—prophets are supposed to make us uncomfortable. They are supposed to get us to take a look in the mirror and be honest.

Prophets can make a difference. Maybe not always turning the tide of a nation, but standing as a sentinel, calling to their people, calling to God’s people, calling forward to us. Jeremiah’s is a man so in step with God that he must tell people what God tells him…and yet he is not separate from his people and it pains him that they will not listen.

I am left wondering where I am not hearing God, or where I am failing to proclaim, or where I have been comfortable with my own holiness while some of the people of God go off happily sinning – not that I am a prophet, but you and I live in a world where we are so turned in on ourselves (or let me speak for myself – I am turned in on me – worrying about “what will I eat and what will I wear”) that we might not be seeing the big picture.

Jeremiah challenges me to “turn and look outward” – Allow Jeremiah to have his way with you for a moment – even if it is painful.

DAY 298

WRATH…ANGUISH…AND?

Jeremiah 3, 4 & 5 and 1 Timothy 4

Chapters 3-5 are pretty tough to read:

·         God’s Word starts with “divorce” – the analogy is clear – God’s people have been unfaithful to God (3:1-5)

·         It can be hard to read such words, they shock and in some ways God’s prophet is trying to “shock into repentance” the people he, Jeremiah, cares deeply for.

·         Jeremiah, a prophet of Judah (the southern kingdom) even calls the Israel (the northern kingdom) to repentance. (3:6-14)

·         Yet they will not be shocked and so God tells them what they are missing in 3:15-23, and yet in 3:24 we read that they “lie down in their sin.”

·         And so “disaster will come from the north” (4:6) and Jeremiah is in anguish over Judah’s desolation.

With all these words, with all this prophecy of wrath and anguish, what then is Jerusalem’s response? The answer is no response—no change—no repentance. He tells Jeremiah to “run up and down the streets” to try and find one person who is doing justice.

·         Jeremiah tries to “reason with God” by telling God that these are just the poor folks, they do not know any better (5:4). Jeremiah says he will go to the “the great” (5:5) but God says that are all alike, they have broken the yoke (the teaching/law).

·         In fact it is worse than throwing off the law, “they have said, “He (God) will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us…the prophets will become like wind, the word is not in them.” (5:12-13)

What is amazing is that with all that has taken place and all that has been spoken…”Jerusalem” basically says, nothing will happen and Jeremiah is wrong—wrath, anger and hardness of heart.

The story of the people of Israel and Judah is the story of humanity and not just on the scale of a nation, but on the scale of a state, or county, or town, or village, or church, or person. We can all harden our hearts to God. In the text of Jeremiah he keeps mentioning going up to high places or under trees (cf. 3:6). These are the places where sacrifices (including sex) to other “gods” would take place. The people would not leave behind their unholy habits. Overtime their habits owned them and they hardened their heart to God.

Let’s try a real life example. Do you know anyone who is trapped in addiction? The addiction blinds them. All that is wrong around them, all the people who love them, who are in anguish over them, try and point out all that is happening…all to no avail…their heart is hardened. Other phrases include the “alcohol/drugs is blinding them” or the “sin is blinding them.” Whatever phrase you and I use the bottom line is that when we walk about from God’s ways…that evil can hold power over us…as individuals and as nations.

The Good News is that this is not some 50-50 battle between good and evil. No this is a battle between God and all that opposes Him…and He is supreme. This is why we read in Jeremiah that when anyone turns to Him, then He will save. I just went to Annual Banquet for a local organization that helps people trapped in addiction. We heard story and after story of how, when people turned to God, God saved.

The challenge in all this is to somehow break through our hard hearts.

DAY 297

GOD’S CALL…IT CAN BE HARD

Jeremiah 1 & 2 and 1 Timothy 3

Today we begin Jeremiah, another one of the great prophets of Israel. Before we launch into the text let’s try and get some bearings:

·         Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were prophets for the country of Judah, the southern of the two kingdoms.

·         Isaiah prophesized from 740-700 B.C. and maybe to 680 B.C.

·         Jeremiah prophesized from 627 B.C. to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.

·         Isaiah prophesized a message of both warning, even judgment to the nation as its viability hung in the balance, and comfort in the Messianic hope.

·         Jeremiah, as we will read, also prophesized a message of judgment. Yet he is 100 years closer to the destruction of Jerusalem and its great Temple. Jeremiah risks his life pleading with the Jewish kings…and he will travel with the people as they are dragged to exile in Babylonia. I think you will get a picture of a man totally dedicated to his God and to his people and what is best for them.

The first two chapters of Jeremiah contain “God’s call to him” and then onto to his first message the people.

In 1:1-3 we are provided the time: during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah.

·         Josiah we can read about in 2 Kings 22 and 23 – he started when he was 8 years old. During his reign Jeremiah’s father, Hilkiah, finds the Book of the Law, and Josiah launches reforms—Josiah was a good king.

·         Jehoiakim we can read about at the end of 2 Kings 23 and 24. He was older, 25 years old, when he began to reign. He reigned 11 years and “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

·         Then there was another king (Jehoiachin) who reigned for about three months and then Jerusalem fell. He is not discussed in Jeremiah, his uncle Mattaniah was made “king” (under Babylonian rule) and Mattaniah’s name was changed to Zedekiah.

·         I know that is a lot of information and you have read it before, but it helps me to get my bearings.

In 1:4-10 we see God’s call to Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s resistance. Jeremiah says “I do not know how to speak.” A natural reaction; when God asks any of us to do something our first reaction is, “Wait a minute, was that God, or something else? It probably was not God, why would God ask me!” And yet God responds and “touched my mouth” says Jeremiah.

In 1:11-17 we see God giving Jeremiah visions and asking him what he is seeing. God is giving Jeremiah confidence that he is really seeing what God intends while He shows Jeremiah that trouble is coming from the north. Then in 1:18-19 God says to Jeremiah that He will make Jeremiah like a “fortified city” and that even though people are not happy with what Jeremiah is saying, that God will protect him.

In chapter 2 we move into a long discourse, God is speaking through Jeremiah and He is recounting all that He, God, has done—and yet the people have forsaken Him. At one point He asks them, “What other nations have changed their gods…” v.11. It is as if God is saying, “I cannot believe you left me, nations don’t abandon their gods, but you have abandoned me—I did not abandon you.” He also “calls them out” because they have gone after the god Baal. This is the god that required child sacrifice.

In the midst of this long discourse covering large periods of time we get a glimpse into Josiah's time. While Josiah was a good king he was not perfect. It appears he was going to make an alliance with Egypt and in the end it is the king of Egypt that kills him—the may be alluded to in 2:18 and God’s view of that alliance.

The message goes on and I imagine that Jeremiah might have been anxious to challenge the people. He will be doing this a lot; it will not be easy. Yet God will guard and protect him.

For me there is a great parallel in the New Testament lesson. While Jeremiah is speaking of kings and the plight of a nation, in Timothy it is much more personal as this time God is speaking to “overseers” (you might say bishops or priests) and deacons. It all comes down to the people God calls, and whether or not they seek to serve God. The kings of Israel and Judah were to serve God, today priests, deacons…in fact all followers of Jesus…are called to serve God…may we do so faithfully.

DAY 296

SERIOUS LOVE

Isaiah 65 & 66 and 1 Timothy 2

We come to the end of Isaiah. It is one of the most challenging books of the Bible as it
“bobs and weaves” between Isaiah’s own present day and God’s Word for all time. The last two chapters contain many of the same themes that we have read. You might think all this is a bit redundant, and before I ask you to consider another point of view let’s look at the themes.

We see in both 65 and 66 how God finds false religion an abomination. Abomination is a strong word. God says elsewhere in the Scripture that he “spits out” people who are offensive to him. What is this false religion? We read about it in the first parts of both chapters. It is people who are going through all the “religious rituals” while at the same time practicing evil—we have this in our own day and age. When we call ourselves Christian, when we “practice our own rituals” be they going to church, reading our Bible, or claiming the high moral ground…and then we go out and not just sin (for we all sin) but go out and sin and say what we are doing is OK, that is when God gets really upset.

In some ways God is responding to the people who cry out to him. In chapter 64, verse 9 we read people saying to God, “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please, look, we are all your people.” I think in Isaiah 65 and 66 God makes a point that not everyone is really interested in being “His people.” He goes to say that “His people” will include those who are not Jewish, the Gentiles, which is a term for everybody else. God’s people are those who truly seek Him, and not just when they are in a pinch.

So here is one of the themes: God desire for people who truly seek Him. He does not reject sinners; he rejects sinners who claim that they are not sinning! He welcomes those who are humble and contrite.

The other themes we read in these chapters are themes of hope: God will make a new heaven and a new earth—a new “Jerusalem”—there will be peace, even among the animals. How does all this happen? Through His faithful Suffering Servant Messiah.

You might be sitting there thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I got it—in fact I have heard this all before.” Maybe your attitude is not quite like this, but I come back to my observation that this is a bit redundant, and wanting to offer you another point of view.

My point of view has a “preface.” First, we need to appreciate that Isaiah was prophesying about a long period of history. It is not just once that people were unfaithful and cried out to God, and then God delivered. It was over and over in Isaiah’s lifetime and after it. So we get a bit of redundancy from that simple fact. But, of course, the Bible’s point, God’s point, is bigger, much bigger, than the repeat offense of the people during Isaiah’s life. His point is twofold: His Love and His Seriousness.

God’s love, His steadfast love that I have written about before, is immeasurable. Do we, do I, get it? Is it planted in my heart, my mind and my entire being so fully that when life gets me crazy, I can take a deep breath and trust the love of God? Or will I turn to idols or to human inventions? Our idols are different than those of Isaiah’s day, but they are real, and we, and I, turn to them in lieu of turning to God. I have not fully planted the love of God deep enough in me. I need to hear the message of Isaiah again and again and realize I go down that path. I need this message in order that my heart is moved to be humble and contrite. I say all this not to “beat myself up” but rather to stay on the right path of following Jesus and to keep the Love of God in Christ in the foremost part of my spirit and consciousness.

Next is God’s Seriousness. Quite simply in Isaiah we read that God is coming to get himself killed to set us free from our iniquities. Can it get more serious than that? Again, I do not mean to be harsh, but picture for a moment you doing some amazing sacrificial act, like dying for someone, and then meeting them. You expect they might throw their arms around you—not that you need their recognition, but you sort of expect them to receive the love you have given. When you meet them they say, “No thanks, I didn’t really need it, and I don’t really need you.” Besides the hurt (and yes we hurt God) I imagine myself (on a good day) saying, “OK, then you go your way and I will go mine.” Isn’t that what God says to those who reject Him? He says, “Go your way, to a world without God.” We have images of mini-worlds without God and they are not nice…they are worlds where human beings live only for themselves as they seek to exploit and rule others…they are worlds without justice and without peace…God is serious about trying to get us to understand what lies ahead if we reject Him.

All of this is simply to put a “punctuation mark” a “period” on Isaiah. Isaiah is about God’s love, and His love of us is serious business…we ought not be casual about it.  

DAY 295

IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY, NOT JUST OUR RIGHT

Isaiah 62, 63 & 64 and 1 Timothy 1

The message of Isaiah has been building and building. Since chapter one we have had days where the text overflows with information, or metaphor, or prose. Today chapter 62 builds upon what we read in 61. Zion is being more than delivered. At times the language is concrete and it feels as if it is Jerusalem. At other times it is more global, “And they shall be called the Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord.” As followers of the Suffering Servant, the Man of Sorrows, Jesus of Nazareth, we are to bear these titles…not as a “right” but rather as a “responsibility”—I will say more on that in a moment.

First chapters 63 and 64 – the Lord’s Day of Vengeance—it burst on us. We should not be surprised; it is the other side of the coin for chapters 61-62 are really directing us to the ultimate coming of God’s Kingdom—and therefore God’s judgment. Yet one amazing thing to note is 63:7, “I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord.” Who is doing this recounting? Isaiah; Isaiah is interceding for the people.

Which brings me to 1^st Timothy; it is a straightforward letter exhorting Timothy. Paul tells Timothy that while he has accepted the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, he is to stay strong and be holy. This leads me back to “responsibility over right.”

In America we live in a democracy with all sorts of “guaranteed freedoms.” Those guarantees lead many to say “it is my right” – you fill in the “it.” The dilemma is if everyone demands their “rights” we end up with everyone living for themselves. As the “bearers of this message of the democratic freedoms” we might think our focus should be responsibility of bearing this message—that sort of an attitude would lead to all sorts of great behavior. My blog is not about being an American, but a Christian. We have amazing salvation and freedom in Christ—the Israelites had amazing identity and blessing as being the Chosen People. In Isaiah today we read The Holy People, the Redeemed of God. Imagine walking around with an attitude of thinking, “Yup, I am one of the Holy Redeemed People.” I cannot think it will go well. Consider a different attitude, “I need to live as the Holy Redeemed Person God has declared me to be, so that others will know God” — responsibility over right – it is the path Jesus showed us—what “rights” might he have declared! Let’s live the right way—let’s live responsibly for the Gospel.

DAY 294

A FLOW OF FAITHFULNESS

Isaiah 59, 60 & 61 and 2 Thessalonians 3

“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”

So we read in the closing chapter of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians.

God is faithful; faithful to His people, faithful to His world, and faithful to His plan of redemption. In chapters 59, 60 and 61 we see the flow of faithfulness.

Chapter 59 demonstrates God’s faithfulness to his people. It doesn’t start that way—it ends that way. It starts describing a pretty bad situation. In verses 1-2 it says God’s hand is long enough to act and His ear completely capable of hearing—but He is not apparently hearing His people, nor is He acting. Why? Isaiah says because their sin.

When we hear the word “sin” it is easy to confuse a situation. We all sin. We do! If our sinning causes God to “not act or hear” then you and I are in trouble. Take a closer look however at the chapter and what you will see is “unrepentant sin.” People are sinning and acting as if is it OK…”their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood.”

If we learn anything from this chapter we must learn of the need for repentance. In the last chapter we read how God dwells in a “contrite heart.” Repentance can be a hard thing for us – saying “I am wrong, and am doing the wrong thing, and furthermore I will repent—turnaround—and no longer do it” is hard. God know this fact, he made us. It is why I like that in my tradition we get on our knees and pray a “confession of sin.” Our body position helps us: we kneel, get quiet, think about what we have done and not done, and ask God to forgive us. It is as if we “stop time” so that we can “get real with God.” When we do God is swift to act.

That is what we see in the balance of the chapter: God’s faithfulness to His people—the people who repent. In verses 9-15a we read a communal lament. They are weeping over their sin. In the second half of verse 15 (15b) through 16 we note “the Lord looked and saw.” God abhors people pretending to be “religious” that is why He was “not acting.” When people were honest, He was quick to move. In fact in verse 17 He girds himself for battle on their behalf and in verse 20 God proclaims that the Redeemer will come. God is faithful to His people when they are honest with Him. Today, if you went to church, I pray you were honest with Him. I you have already gone, or did not go, be honest with Him right now.

The second point (and I will be briefer) is that God is faithful to the world. In chapter 60 it is easy to read that all the things foretold are about building up a place, Jerusalem, by the returning exiles. I do not think this is what Isaiah is talking about. The text says the “whole earth is covered in darkness.” The Lord rises over its center, Jerusalem, and the light pierces the darkness. Nations and kings shall come to Him and no one can hide from His justice. I could go on, but I think the beauty and expanse of this text makes the point.

Finally today we come to chapter 61—a person proclaims that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. Who is the person? It is both the Servant and the Messiah. The Servant we were told would have the Spirit upon him (chapter 42) and so too the Messiah (chapter 11). In Isaiah, we come to realize that the Messiah and the Suffering Servant is the same person—we believe that person is Jesus of Nazareth who is the very Son of God. Jesus stood up in his synagogue, unrolled the scroll of Isaiah, read this text, and said, “Today this text has been fulfilled in your presence.”

What is even more powerful is what this Suffering Servant Messiah will do—he will usher in the year of Jubilee. You have read about this in Leviticus (yup Leviticus – you gotta love how this stuff fits together). In Leviticus after 50 years, the Year of Jubilee was to be celebrated which meant all debts cancelled and all prisoners set free. (I wrote about this on Day 50). Isaiah’s text is grand, it has been taking us up and down, back and forth, and here we come to the one of the high points—and in it we see that God is faithful to us, to His world, and to His plan of Jubilee.

And of course here is the point, God does this by going to the Cross, our debts are cancelled are we are set free by the Blood of Jesus Christ.