Of all the OT Prophets, Isaiah is probably the best know largely because of his many Messianic prophecies. But what most people do not associate with him is that many of his prophecies are spoken directly to his contemporaries. Many of his prophecies were encouragements or warnings to be faithful to the Lord and to not depend upon Egypt or any surrounding nations for their national security. Isaiah began his ministry in the year that Uzziah died. He endured the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz. Do you suppose that Hezekiah grew up under the teaching of Isaiah? He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. His father Ahaz did not. Hezekiah “trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.” Why was Hezekiah different? It was Isaiah who had seen the glory of the Lord that is recorded in Isaiah 6:1ff. I think Isaiah spoke it to Hezekiah. Hezekiah wanted it more than anything. Because of that, he cut off anything that detracted from the glory of the Lord. He destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made. He stopped the idolatrous worship of the people of Israel!
Alas, he also learned from his father Ahaz. Ahaz had taken gold from the temple in order to hire the King of Assyria to attack Syria and Israel, so that he would get relief from them. When Sennacherib invaded, out of fear, Hezekiah took the gold from the temple in order to pay Sennacherib’s demands. Did he really need to do that? The enemy smells fear from afar. The gift of gold only served as the scent of fear to incite Sennacherib to greater demands. The enemy used Hezekiah’s good acts as leverage against him as the demands were laid out upon the wall in Hebrew in the hearing of all the people. The glory of the Lord was maligned by Sennacherib’s officers. What would Hezekiah do? Would he depend upon the Lord? Would he succumb to the threats of fear? When the enemy uses your good acts against you to create more fear in your life, do you depend upon the Lord? Or do you succumb to the threats of fear. Maybe at those times you need someone to speak the glory of the Lord into your life. Maybe someone today needs you to speak the glory of the Lord into their life. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 125
Last summer Jesse and I possessed the good fortune to stand in the midst of the city of David. It certainly is not the highest peak around. The Mount of Olives towers to the east. Mt. Moriah and Scopas tower to the north. Other peaks loom on the west. To the south reach peaks, which on the other side lays Bethlehem. I suppose that those mountains afforded some protection for the city of David. But I guess the issue is not how much protection the mountains provide, but that they surround the city. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people. He surrounds me.
Because He surrounds me, the rule of the wicked cannot remain in my life. He will not allow it. The wicked may touch and rule elements of my life briefly, but it cannot rest there, for evil cannot remain in His presence. He will cause the wicked to leave in order keep me from falling into his snare. Sometimes it feels like evil surrounds me completely, but if I look out into the distance, I see His peaks towering in the distance. He still surrounds me. He still is working to remove the scepter of the unrighteous from my life. He won’t let iniquity rest in me. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
MICAH 5
Micah switches gears back to the future. In chapter 4 we began looking at the Millennium. Then he digresses back to the great battle which will usher in the Messianic kingdom where the nations that oppose the Messiah are crushed. Then in 5:1 he shifts further back to the future when Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem and finally strikes Zedekiah with a rod bringing a permanent end to the line of kings until the Messiah would appear. But He leaves Judah with hope. He catapults back to the future 582 years. Out of little Bethlehem, the birth place of David and only five miles from the temple in Jerusalem, he announces the birth of the last and great ruler. Out of you Bethlehem, a little insignificant town, a town so small that it is not listed in the list of cities conquered by Joshua. Its only significance is that when the nation was on the verge of subjugation to the Philistines a young man came forth to lead the nation into victory and lead the nation to the status of a world power of the time. But that was the past. Micah takes us back to the future when the world is on the brink of being destroyed by those who follow the powers of darkness. A ruler will step forth from Bethlehem, and he will intervene.
I felt compelled to consult a commentary on this passage and came across something of great interest to me. This phrase, “Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,” what does it mean, “shall come forth to Me?” Listen to this from the commentary:
Willis, while maintaining the MT, offers an unusual interpretation based on parallels: “From you [a city] will come to me [a person],” meaning that the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem as an inferior king to meet Yahweh, his superior king, in order to submit himself to him. Renaud (La Formation, p. 224) objects that, among other arguments, all of Willis’s invoked parallels are located in a clear context of surrender, whereas here the context is one of victory, not surrender. Besides, none of the parallels use “I.” (to)I suggest that they are both correct as long as we understand that the words ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ do not refer to quality of person but to the concept of submission. The result would be that unlike other kings of Judah, the Messiah, Jesus, comes out of Bethlehem to submit Himself to the will of the Lord which results in overwhelming victory! Thus Willis is correct in terms of submission, and Renaud is correct in terms of victory. Jesus’ path to victory is through submission to the Father.
This one who submits to the Father is the One who is from everlasting. Immediately the words of Moses in Psalm 90:2, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” He who submits to God the Father is God, God the Son! Clearly this is one of the mysteries of the Universe! God the Son eternally submits to the will of the Father, God the Holy Spirit eternally submits to God the Son and God the Father. The love of the Son for the Father is proven by His submission to His will. The love of the Holy Spirit for the Father and the Son is proven by His submission to their will. The love of God the Father for God the Son is proven by His exaltation to His right hand, being given a name that is above all names and given as His inheritance those for whom He died. What great glory is seen in this eternal love affair, of which He has made us part!
This all sounds very cerebral, but there is a very practical side to this. Jesus’ submission is plastered throughout the New Testament. He Himself said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be serve, but serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Who was He serving? Us? Yes. The Father? Yes. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does.” His submission was moment by moment and dependent upon the Father. His eyes were clearly fixed upon what the Father was doing.
His evening with the disciples before His crucifixion was filled with this, “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.” What was He doing? He was cleaning them. He was talking about spiritual cleansing. Jesus’ death brought the cleansing that they needed. One among them was not clean, Judas. Did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? Yep. He served the one whom He knew would betray Him. The others were clean, except. Except what? Except the dirt that had come upon them from living their daily life. Think spiritually.
How do we clean each other’s feet? Think spiritually. If cleaning each other’s feet is at all possible, it is only possible if we are in total submission to the Lord Jesus Christ and to each other. What does that look like? It looks like Jesus
Philippians 2:1-11 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.Does this look anything like our church, or the church in America? Where is the submission to one another? We approach church from a consumerism mentality. Does this church meet my needs or my family’s needs? Oh, I will take this entrée from this church, this dessert from this church, this fruit from that church. But am I committed to the people of this congregation? What if this congregation does not have a menu which I like? If they do not, then I will just go to one that has the right menu. Lord forbid if someone should point out my sin! If they do, then I’ll just go to another congregation. Am I lowly minded enough that if my brother points out my sin, I won’t be defensive? Will I truly consider his point? Submission to one another is a forgotten concept much less work.
Yet, this is the glory of Jesus. He submitted to the Father. He calls us to do the same and to submit to each other, and in so doing, we reflect His glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
HEBREWS 2
The glory of the Lord has been attested to by signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. And yes, they still happen today. They do not happen every day or we wouldn't view them as miracles. We would view them as every day events. I have met and know people who have attested to having personally received miraculous healings apart from medical science. I can personally attest to numerous occasions where the Lord has miraculously provided finances for me, especially in my seminary days. For example, one morning in seminary I had zero money in the bank, zero money in my pocket, no food in the refrigerator or cupboard and no prospect of receiving money in the near future. I got up and walked to the seminary library and sat down at a study table to have my quiet time. As I was reading God's word, another student, whom I had only met the week before and barely knew his name, got up from his study table, walked over to me and handed me a $20 bill. In 1980 dollars that was a lot of money. He said, "I don't know why but the Lord told me to give this to you." We ate that day because of a miracle of God. That student did not know my need. He had little money himself. It was a sacrifice for him to give. Yet God spoke to him. He listened and obeyed. And I am sure God made up the difference for him. There were several miracles that occurred in that provision: the student heard, the student obeyed, my need was met without me telling a soul and my faith was strengthened. My seminary days had many similar events.
What is man that God is mindful of him? Yet it is the glory of God that He became a man that He could meet our needs. By the grace of God He endured the suffering of death on the cross for us. Now that is glory! He destroyed the one who had the power of death! Yes, death and sickness reign for a little while, but they flee when Jesus comes and He is coming to ultimately defeat sickness and death. But before He returns He gives us aid. He is able to give us aid because in all things He was made like us. He knows our temptations. He is an ever merciful and faithful High Priest for us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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