God in low orbit

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (7)Isaiah 55:6-9

6 Seek Yahveh while he is letting himself be found; call him while he is being near. 7 A wicked one should abandon his road, and a sinful man his thoughts. And he should return to Yahveh, so that he may welcome him back with love, and to our God, because he will forgive profusely. 8 “Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your roads are not my roads,” a declaration of Yahveh. 9 “Because just like the sky is high from the vantage point of the land, so my ways are high from the vantage point of your ways, and my thoughts from the vantage point of your thoughts.”

God in low orbit

God is everywhere, and no one can ever escape his presence. But there is a sense in which God is also out there and other. He thinks differently than us, and he travels on different roads. It is vanity and presumption to think that we have God figured out. However, we also will be blessed with times when our great God chooses to orbit our lives with a rare proximity. The LORD’s message through Isaiah is that we should all seek him during those times, because they are rare indeed. If we ignore God while he is in low orbit, he may never come around again in our lifetime.

John the Baptist and Jesus both preached that people should repent because the kingdom of God had come near.[1] Paul, James and Peter also used the concept of God’s rare proximity as a motivation factor.[2] The urgency of the gospel message is highlighted by the reality that God’s grace will not always be available to forgive. The good news is that his grace is available today, and he can forgive profusely those who take advantage of the amnesty his grace allows.

LORD, we want to abandon the wicked road we are on; we want to stop thinking our sinful thoughts. This is us, turning back to you, while you are still close enough to welcome us back.

[1] Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9, 11.

[2] Romans 13:12; James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:7.

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a permanent covenant

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (6)Isaiah 55:1-5

1 “Hoy! Everyone thirsty, come to the water! And whoever has no silver, come, buy food so you can eat, and come, buy it without silver, wine and milk for nothing in exchange! 2 Why are you weighing out silver for non-bread, and wasting your income on what does not satisfy? Listen obediently to me, and eat the good stuff, and let your soul take pleasure in fulfilling food. 3 Point your ear toward me, and come to me! Listen and your soul will live, and I will cut for you a permanent covenant, which will endure as long as my covenant loyalty to David. 4 Watch! I gave him as a witness to peoples, a prince and a commander of peoples. 5 Watch! You will call a nation that you do not know, and  that nation who does not know you will run to you, because of Yahveh your God, and the holy one of Israel, because he has glorified you.”

a permanent covenant

The LORD appeals to his people through Isaiah to stop seeking the things that do not ultimately satisfy, and to stop wasting their time and money on them. Instead, he encourages them to direct their ears toward him and listen obediently. He tells them to watch in their mind’s eye something he did for David. He established a permanent covenant with David, making him a witness of his God’s covenant loyalty. Now, the LORD challenges his people to watch again. Now he plans to set up a covenant just as enduring with all his people who pay attention to his words!

This promise of a permanent covenant with the LORD is ours in Christ. When he initiated the Lord’s Supper, he told his disciples that the cup symbolised a new covenant, ratified with his own blood.[1] The author of the New Testament book of Hebrews speaks of that new covenant being set up in his generation, and the old Mosaic covenant having been made obsolete, and vanishing away.[2] There is a way to God, and an eternal life in his grace. That way is Christ.

LORD, give us the wisdom to spend our time and our money on that which really satisfies: your permanent covenant.

[1] Luke 22:20.

[2] Hebrews 8:8,13.

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permanently right

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (5)Isaiah 54:14-17

14 “You will be set permanently right, keeping far from oppression, because you will not fear it, and from terror, because it will not come near you. 15 If someone does attack, it will not be from me; whoever attacks you will fall because of you. 16 Watch! I myself have created a craftsman who is bellowing on the coal fire, and who is producing a weapon for his work; and I myself have created the destroyer to destroy. 17 Every weapon formed against you will not be successful, and you will declare guilty every tongue rising against you in judgment. This is the legacy of the servants of Yahveh, and their justice will come from me,” – a declaration of Yahveh.

permanently right

The LORD had promised a restoration to his permanent love, and permanent peace. But that peace would be from the strength and value of the people’s new foundation, not because they would never again be in conflict. No, attacks will come to the new covenant community, but those attacks would fail, because of the permanent rightness (righteousness) of the people of God. There would be weapons aimed at these righteous people, but God has created a way to win against each of those weapons. For each opponent, God has created a destroyer. For each argument in court, God has devised a counter-argument which declares the adversary guilty. There will be justice, and that justice will come from God.

LORD, inspire us with the confidence that comes from being set permanently right by your grace.

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permanent peace

Posted on July 4, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (4)Isaiah 54:9-13

9 “This is like the water of Noah to me, because when I promised to keep the water of Noah from the passing again over the land, so I promised not to get angry at you and rebuke you. 10 Because the mountains may withdraw, and the hills may shake loose, but my covenant loyalty will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not shake loose,” says Yahveh, who feels compassion for you, 11 “O needy, storm-driven one, not given rest. Watch! I am setting your gems in a permanent setting, and I am laying your foundation with sapphires. 12 And I will set your fortifications with ruby, and your stone gates with beryl, and all your wall with valuable stones. 13 And all your children will be students of Yahveh, and there will be intense peace upon your children.”

permanent peace

After Noah’s flood, God set his rainbow in the sky as a promise to never again disturb the peace of his planet with an overwhelming act of judgment. He reminds his people of that promise when he now promises to re-establish Israel as a nation at peace with their husband-Lord. That peace will be permanent this time because of what he is going to do in Israel, not just for them. He is resetting their value system. The foundation stones of the new Israel will be valuable gems, set in permanent settings. Their children will learn from Yahveh himself, and will experience rav shalom – intense peace. Like the planet after the flood, Israel will be over its catastrophe, and ready to start anew.

This is a promise for believers in Christ as well. Jesus gave his peace to us, a peace not affected by the trouble we will face before his return.[1] It is a peace that comes from strength to endure those troubles. Like precious stones set in a permanent setting, we will not be moved by the troubles around us. We will experience permanent peace as each generation learns from him.

LORD, we accept your promise of permanent peace through the strength that only you can give.

[1] John 14:27.

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permanent love

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (3)Isaiah 54:6-8

6 Because Yahveh called you when you were an abandoned wife and still grieving spiritually, like a wife pledged in childhood when she is rejected, says your God. 7 I did abandon you for a tiny moment, but I will gather you with enormous feelings of compassion. 8 In a temporary fit of wrath, I hid my face from you, but I will have compassion on you with permanent covenant loyalty says your redeemer, Yahveh.

permanent love

Marital Love is a beautiful thing, and it is just as alive today as it always has been, but many marriages in our generation do seem to have missed the idea of permanence. We are not the first generation to suffer this loss. Isaiah’s people knew of many women who had been abandoned by the one who had been pledged to them from childhood. They faced a life of shame and insecurity, made even more difficult by a society which would brand them as discards.

The LORD speaks through Isaiah to that generation and uses that social reality to explain something about himself. He admits being the kind of husband who for a tiny moment ignored the bride he was promised to. But he goes on to promise a restoration gathering that proves his enormous compassion on his people. His wrath against their sin was a temporary fit, but the restoration will be a permanent act of faithful love to those who covenant with him.

Maybe you feel abandoned by God today. You might be experiencing his brief fit of wrath against you for your sin and transgressions. You may feel like he has hidden his face from you, and maybe he has. But the choice is now yours. Will you pursue this permanent love he promised, or will you walk away, and consign yourself to a loveless life. On the other side of God’s wrath against your sin is God’s permanent love for you as his bride. Seek him until he finds you.

LORD, we do not deserve your permanent love, but we want it. Restore us to yourself because of who you are.

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Ruth revisited

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (2)Isaiah 54:1-5

1 “Scream joyfully, infertile one; who has never given birth! Bust out rejoicing and bellow, one who has not been pregnant! Because the abandoned woman’s children will be more than the children of a married woman,” says Yahveh. 2 “Widen the site for your tent, and let them spread out the tent curtains of your dwelling place. No need to spare; make your tent cords long and strengthen your pegs, 3 because you will spread out right and left. And your descendant will inherit nations, and they will inhabit cities that are now desolate. 4 No need to fear, because you will not be ashamed, and no need to be confused, because you will not feel embarrassed, because you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood. 5 Because your husbands are your maker, his name is Yahveh of armies; and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the land.

Ruth revisited

The story recorded in the book of Ruth was part of the literary heritage of Isaiah and the people of Jerusalem. Aspects of Isaiah’s message in this text reflect that story. Jerusalem felt barren like Naomi did, who lost both her husband, and her sons, the two other husbands in her family. She was left with nothing, and so encouraged her daughters-in-law to leave her and to try to find families elsewhere. But Ruth believed that Naomi’s God was not going to desert her. She held out hope and was committed to being faithful in spite of the dark circumstances all around her. Isaiah is thus challenging the Israelites to trust God the way that Moabite woman did.

LORD, give us the vision and faithfulness to trust you as Ruth did – to accept you as our redeemer.

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he will bear their iniquities

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

July 2015 (1)Isaiah 53:6-12

6 All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahveh let fall on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, but he did not open his mouth; he was brought lamb-like to slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, neither did he open his mouth. 8 He was taken in a miscarriage of justice, and who cared about his future? Because he was cut off from the living land; he was struck down because of the transgression of my people. 9 He took his grave among the wicked, and was among the rich in his death, although he had done no violence, and no deceit had come from his mouth. 10 But Yahveh was pleased to crush him; he made him weak. If anyone accepts his life as a guilt offering, he will have a future. He will extend his days, and the will of Yahveh will succeed in his hand. 11 He will see into the trouble of his soul , and he will be satisfied. My righteous servant will declare many of those he knows righteous, and he is the one who will bear their iniquities. 12 For this reason, I will divide to him a portion among the great, and with strong ones he will divide bounty, because he poured his life out to death and was counted with transgressors; yet he was the one who bore the sin of many and will intercede for the transgressors.

he will bear their iniquities

Isaiah’s words predict a future Messiah whose innocence is clear to all, but who will be crushed and killed as a guilt offering for the ones he knows. He will bear the punishment for their iniquities, extending their days, and making Yahveh’s will succeed for them. If you do not see Jesus in these words, then words have no meaning.

LORD, thank you for the guilt offering you provided for us. Our sins are many, but he has taken them all upon himself on that cruel cross.

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deceptive assumptions

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

June 2015 (30)Isaiah 53:1-5

1 Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of Yahveh been revealed? 2 Because he grew up like a stalk before him, and like a root from dry ground. He had no form and no majesty that we should consider him, and no appearance that we should take pleasure in him. 3 Men despised and rejected him, a man of suffering, and knowing sickness, and people hiding their face from him. He was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard. 4 However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses, and he carried our pain, yet we ourselves assumed him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the beating which brought us wholeness was placed upon him, and by his wound healing happened for us.

deceptive assumptions

Isaiah’s people were a despised lot. No one would have expected the Son of God to make his appearance among men as one of the Israelites. But that is exactly what Isaiah predicts. And just to show that God rejects all our deceptive assumptions, Isaiah predicts that when the Messiah does show himself, he will be despised and rejected by those same people. He will appear weak, struck down and afflicted. But this beating he would take would be as a substitute for the transgressions of the world.

Before we run off with this idea as it relates to Christ, and his suffering on the cross, we need to see the message from Isaiah’s standpoint. He was speaking to a group of people who had deceptive assumptions about themselves. He was trying to encourage them to stop believing those lies. The truth is, God did want to work though them. Example: the Messiah himself would be seen as a beaten, condemned criminal. But God would work in that reality to save us all.

What deceptive assumptions cloud your vision? What keeps you from trusting God? Remember that God has chosen you, so stop doubting that.

LORD, give us the vision to see through the deceptive assumptions.

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the disturbing one

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

June 2015 (29)Isaiah 52:11-15

11 Turn around, turn around, get out of there! Do not touch any unclean thing. Get out from the middle of it, keep clean, you who carry the vessels of Yahveh. 12 Because you will not go out in a hurry, and you will not go escaping, because Yahveh proceeds you; and the God of Israel is your rear guard. 13 Watch, my servant will achieve success; he will be exalted, and he will be lifted up, and he will be very high. 14 Just like many were appalled at you—in the same way his appearance was beyond human disfigurement, and his form beyond the sons of Adam—15 so he will disturb many nations; because of him, kings will shut their mouth. Because they will see what has not been told them, and they will contemplate what they have not heard.

the disturbing one

Isaiah calls his people to stop cowering in defeat under the oppression of their foreign emperor. He challenges them to turn around, lift their heads high, and watch. Coming soon there will be a change in the scenario. A servant is going to arise who will disturb the nations. He will appear disfigured when he is lifted up, and will disturb many nations. He will change reality forever, forcing the proud and superior to rethink things.

Isaiah did not live to see the fulfilment of this prophecy. But you and I know that time itself was rattled and deeply disturbed by what happened on a hill in Jerusalem a few centuries after Isaiah predicted it. Christ can set you free, but first he will disturb you deeply, and get you to thinking.

LORD, disturb us, until we recognise you for who you are, and allow you to change us.

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feet and voices

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

June 2015 (28)Isaiah 52:7-10

7 How well fitting on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God is reigning as king.” 8 The sound of your watchmen! They lift up that sound; together they sing for joy; because they see Yahveh’s return to Zion clearly. 9 Break forth, sing for joy together, ruins of Jerusalem, because Yahveh has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 Yahveh has bared the arm of his holiness to the eyes of all the nations, and the whole land will see deliverance from our God.

feet and voices

The word translated “beautiful” – describing the feet of those bringing the good news of God’s deliverance – has the connotation of fitting well. I am reminded of my wife, who has the most difficult time finding footwear that fits right. We spend lots of time in stores, where she tries on pair after pair. Isaiah uses a word that speaks of feet fitting in appropriately. He then goes on to describe voices which harmonize together. The idea behind both these metaphors is that the news of deliverance just feel right.

The LORD has some good news for us in Christ. When we finally hear that our sins have been forgiven by Christ’s death on Calvary, it feels great. We want to kiss those beautiful feet who brought such good news to us.

LORD, help us to be the well-fitting feet who bring good news of your deliverance to others.

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