in this corner…

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (18)Isaiah 37:14-20

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahveh’s temple and spread it out before Yahveh. 15 Hezekiah prayed before Yahveh: 16 “O Yahveh who leads armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned over the cherubs! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth. 17 Pay attention, Yahveh, and listen! Open your eyes, Yahveh, and observe! Listen to this whole message Sennacherib sent and how he mocks the living God. 18 It is true, Yahveh, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their lands. 19 They have burned the gods of the nations, because they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands made from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. 20 Now, O Yahveh our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the land may know that you alone are Yahveh.”

in this corner…

Hezekiah’s prayer seems pretty bold to me. I am not sure I could easily pray a prayer like that. But it does not seem to bother God at all that this king came to his throne room in prayer and called on him to wake up and pay attention. Hezekiah understood that God’s sovereignty and concern for his people was being challenged. So, Hezekiah expected Yahveh to act to defend his own character and his own chosen people. This prayer was more like an introduction to a cosmic boxing match.

LORD, teach us to call you to action with our prayers, so that you have reason to rescue us, to defend your honour and protect your investment in us.

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posturing

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (17)Isaiah 37:8-13

8 And the chief consultant returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, because he had heard that he had left from Lachish. 9 And he heard something about Tirhakah the king of Cush, that, “He has set out to fight against you.” After he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “You will say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God (I know that you trust in him) deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Watch! you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands to destroy them, and you–will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that my fathers destroyed deliver them–Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who lived in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah now?'”

posturing

To posture is to assume an artificial or pretended attitude in order to produce the affect associated with that attitude. The chief consultant for Assyria assumed that Hezekiah was posturing when he claimed to trust in Yahveh for deliverance. He knew Hezekiah was afraid, and so were the rest of Judah. They had good reason to be afraid, because the consultant was right to point out that all of the other nations who had opposed Assyria were defeated. Their posturing proved to be empty.

What about us? If much of our faith-talk empty posturing? Are we fond of certain Bible verses because they build up for us a feeling of protection and fearlessness which does not match what we have experienced? Are we people who trust God, or are we just addicted to empty posturing? A true crisis will reveal the answer to those questions. Nothing reveals the heart like a life-or-death challenge. When that kind of crisis hits, people who truly trust God go to their knees. They don’t try to bolster a false confidence. They seek God’s face.

LORD, build in us a confidence that comes from regular visits to your throne room. Replace our empty posturing with a real faith.

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embarrassing confessions

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (16)Isaiah 37:1-7

1 After King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with a course robe, and hurried to Yahveh’s temple. 2 Eliakim, the palace steward, Shebna the Scribe, and the elders among the priests who were also covering themselves with course robes, sent word to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. 3 And they said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘I proclaim this day one of trouble, insult, and humility, like when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother is too weak to push him out. 4 Maybe Yahveh your God hears all these words of the chief consultant has said on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to mock the living God. If Yahveh your God hears, maybe he will punish him for the words that he said. So lift up a prayer for those of us who remain.'” 5 After King Hezekiah’s servants of came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah told them, “You must tell your master this: ‘This is what Yahveh says: “Do not be afraid because of what you have heard; the king of Assyria’s servants have insulted me. 7 Watch! I have control of his mind. He will hear a rumor and he will return to his country, and I will kill him by the sword in his country.” ‘”

embarrassing confessions

Hezekiah knew that Yahveh is the living God, and that he sees all and knows what the Assyrian consultant had said. He felt embarrassed and weak, like (in his analogy) a mother who has come to the point of giving birth, but feels too weak to do it. There will be times in our lives when that happens to us as well. We will feel ashamed even to come to the Lord with our crisis. We will feel that we have somehow let him down by crying out to him again. But the living God just wants us to watch and see what he can do once we dare trust him.

LORD, forgive us for being so embarrassed by our dependence upon you. It is an honour to come to you in prayer, because of your power to save, and your love for us.

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challenged by superior strength

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (15)Isaiah 36:1-22

1 During the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the armed cities of Judah and captured them. 2 This king of Assyria sent his chief consultant from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. The chief consultant stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet him. 4 The chief adviser said to them, “Inform Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your means of confidence? 5 Your claim to have a plan and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me? 6 I see, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and hurts him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him. 7 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in Yahveh our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who destroyed his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’ 8 Now you should make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them. 9 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s petty officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 10 I remind you that it was by the command of Yahveh that I marched up against this land to destroy it. Yahveh told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!'”‘” 11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite vernacular in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the chief consultant said, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, because they will be eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine along with you!” 13 The chief consultant stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite vernacular, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 This is what that king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in Yahveh by saying, “Yahveh will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ Because this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a sign that you will submit and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own–a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “Yahveh will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Exactly…, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can Yahveh rescue Jerusalem from my power?'” 21 They were silent and did not respond, for the king had told them, “Don’t respond to him.” 22 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

challenged by superior strength

Perhaps today you are discouraged because you have taken a look at your track record, and you seem to be on the wrong side. Maybe you feel like these citizens who were told by their king to trust Yahveh. Then you listened as all the reasons you should not trust the LORD were laid out before you. You feel disheartened, because although you want to trust God, you are tempted to find a team with a better track record. After all, lots of losers who came before you trusted their gods to save them.

I am not going to try to convince you. You know the right thing to do. You know that times like this are the very reason for your existence. The world and God’s heaven are watching to see if you will trust God. Goliath has said his bit. It’s time for you to run, or pick up some rocks.

LORD, give us all the courage to side with you, regardless of what challenges we face.

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not whisked off

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (14)Isaiah 35:1-10

1 Wasteland and dry land will be glad and desert will rejoice and blossom like the crocus. 2 It will blossom lavishly, and it will greatly rejoice with rejoicing and exulting. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of Yahveh, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen weak hands and make staggering knees rock-solid. 4 Say to those whose hearts are rushed, “Be strong; you must not fear! Watch! your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution will come and save you.” 5 Then blind eyes will be opened, and deaf ears will be opened. 6 Then a lame one will leap like the deer, and a mute tongue will sing for joy, because water will break forth in the wasteland and streams in the desert. 7 And the parched ground will become a pool, and a thirsty ground springs of water. Her resting place is in a settlement of jackals; grass will become like a reed and a rush. 8 And a highway will be there, and a way, and it will be called the way of holiness. The unclean will not travel through it, but it is for they who walk the right way; and fools will not wander about. 9 No lion will be there, and no ferocious wild beast will go up it. It will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk there. 10 And the ransomed of Yahveh will return, and they will come to Zion with rejoicing. And everlasting joy will rest on their head; joy and gladness will come upon them, and sorrow and sighing will escape from them.

not whisked off

Isaiah’s message was not that the ransomed of the LORD were to be whisked off to heaven. They were going to return to Zion with everlasting joy. Jesus’ first ministry on earth was a foretaste of the kind of restoration and revival proclaimed here. God will come in vengeance, visiting his retribution (4), then the highway will be there, and the ransomed will return, with singing.

We will see this event. The LORD’s vengeance will come upon all those who rejected his Messiah. His ransomed ones will return to a redeemed, restored, resettled and sanctified earth. The joy we will know will be like coming home to a home that we never had. It will be like returning to a place better than we ever thought possible. But it will be the world intended for us by our creator.

LORD, come and restore.

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none will miss her mate

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (13)Isaiah 34:12-17

12 Its nobles–but no kingdom is there–will call, and all its princes will be nothing. 13 And thorns will go up her citadel fortress, weed and thistle plant in her fortresses; and it will be a settlement of jackals, green grass for daughters of an ostrich. 14 And desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and a goat-demon will call to his neighbour; surely there Lilith[1] will sleep, and she will find a resting place for herself. 15 There an owl will nest and lay and hatch and care for her chicks in her shadow; surely there birds of prey will be gathered, each one beside her mate. 16 Seek from the book of Yahveh and call out the text: none of these will be missing; none will miss her mate. For my mouth has commanded, and his spirit has gathered them. 17 And he has cast a lot for them, and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line; they will take possession of it forever, they will live in it first one generation then another generation.

none will miss her mate

Isaiah challenges us from his standpoint in the past. He tells us who live in his distant future to call out (read) his words, and check for their fulfilment. He speaks of the predictions as if they were female animals, and says that none will miss her mate. In other words, each thing predicted will find its fulfilment. We know now how absolutely right he was. But Isaiah lived long before these things came about. His assurance that each of his predictions would be fulfilled was the assurance of faith.

The Christian believer today makes a number of faith statements about God, about Christ, and about the future. Until Christ returns, most of those things will just be faith statements. Even many of our prayers will seem to fall on deaf ears. What motivates us to keep making faith statements. Just like Isaiah, our confidence is outside ourselves. Our confidence is in the eternal God. Even if most our assertions today seem to be without their companions, we keep affirming what God said. He will be proven true, and so will we.

LORD, give us the courage to believe what you have said, regardless of how long it might take to prove it. We know you are faithful to your word, and to your people.

[1] possibly a proper name for a Mesopotamian night-demon.

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up in smoke

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (12)

Isaiah 34:6-11

6 Yahveh has a bloody sword; it is blood filled. It is covered with bloody fat from lambs and goats, from fat of rams’ kidneys, because Yahveh has a sacrifice planned for Bozrah and a huge slaughter planned for the land of Edom. 7 And wild oxen will go down with them, and steers with strong bulls. And their land will be blood drenched, and their soil will be fat fattened. 8 Because there is a day of vengeance for Yahveh, a year of retribution for the strife of Zion. 9 And its streams will be changed to pitch and its soil to sulphur, and its land will become like burning pitch. 10 Night and day it will not be quenched; its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be in ruins; forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her. 11 But a large bird and a hedgehog will take possession of it, and an owl and a raven will live in it. And he will stretch a measuring line of perplexity out over it, and a plumb line of emptiness.

up in smoke

This is one of those passages which gives us insight into the interpretation of New Testament descriptions of coming judgment. Edom’s coming judgment is described as if God is planning a sacrifice. The whole land will be bloody and filled with fat from the slaughtered corpses. Then it will all be consumed on a sacrificial altar, and the LORD will be pleased by the smell of the smoke going up into the sky forever. This is not a picture of eternal torment. Those sacrificial animals were not being perpetually tortured. They were killed, and the evidence of their destruction (the smoke) pleased God. That is how sacrifices worked.

So, when Revelation portrays this evil world lamenting Babylon’s destruction, it mourned when it saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up![1] So, when the redeemed shout, “Hallelujah! The smoke rises from her forever and ever”[2] they are not relishing over the pain and suffering Babylon was experiencing, but rejoicing that she had been utterly consumed. The imagery in both testaments is that of a whole burnt offering. To take those statements as descriptions of an ever-burning hell where the souls of the lost are forever tortured is to abuse scripture and to offend God. God is a God of justice, and he decides what hell will be. His word describes hell as a place where sin is destroyed, along with the sinners who sin.

Isaiah is also the first to use the metaphor of an unquenchable fire here. He says of that fire “night and day it will not be quenched (10).” But the context makes it clear that the fire continues as long as it takes to consume all the people in the land. The final state of Edom was not one of perpetual burning. The same verse speaks of Edom being left desolate and abandoned, in ruins. The next verse speaks of stray animals taking it over, because there are no longer any people to keep them out. Isaiah’s imagery is certainly not about a place of fiery torment kept going perpetually. It is about a place being cleansed of all its inhabitants. So, when Jesus speaks of coming final judgment, he describes the lost as chaff, being thrown into an unquenchable fire and burned up.[3] The grain is saved, but the chaff is consumed by the fire. Isaiah sees Edom’s loss as eternal because they would be forever destroyed. Jesus predicts the same fate for lost sinners. The good news, from both the prophet and our Saviour, is that the redeemed will be saved from that coming destruction.

LORD, we rejoice that you will bring an eternal end to sin. We ask you to help us rescue the lost from that fate by proclaiming the gospel to all who will listen.

[1] Revelation 18:9,18.

[2] Revelation 19:3.

[3] Matthew 7:19; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17.

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dissolving the sky army

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (11)Isaiah 34:1-5

1 Come near, nations, to hear; and peoples, listen closely! Let the land hear, and everything which fills it; the world and all its offspring. 2 Because the anger of Yahveh burns against all the nations, and wrath is poured out against all their armies; he has put them under a ban, he has given them up for slaughter. 3 And their slain will be thrown away; and their corpses, their stench will go up. And mountains will melt with their blood, 4 and the whole sky army will dissolve. And the skies will roll up like a scroll, and all their army will wither like the withering of a leaf on a vine, or like withering of a fig tree. 5 When my sword is drenched in the sky, watch! It will descend upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, for judgment.

dissolving the sky army

Isaiah uses apocalyptic imagery to describe judgment upon Edom. Edom is only one of many nations presently under Yahveh’s ban, and all of those nations would eventually be overcome by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. They are devoted to destruction. But, before God destroys them, he will first defeat their sky army. There is a battle going on in the sky, dissolving the sky army, and then the sword of the LORD will descend and annihilate Edom. What was the message for the inhabitants of Edom? Isaiah was telling them that they might think they are safe, but their fate is sealed. Such is the message for all those nations, and individuals who have turned against the Lord today.

LORD, we run to you for our security and find safety only in your grace.

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a forgiven city

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (10)Isaiah 33:17-24

17 Your eyes will see a king in his beauty; they will see a far away land. 18 Your heart will deliberate on an awesome thought: “Where is that Scribe? Where is that one who weighed this out? Where that one who counted these towers?” 19 You will not see a rude people, a people whose language is too hard to speak and listen to, whose blabbering tongue cannot be mastered. 20 Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, a tent that is not loaded for transport. No one will ever pull out its tent pegs, and none of its ropes will be torn in two. 21 Instead, there Yahveh will be mighty for us, a place of rivers, streams many hand widths wide; yet a galley ship with an oar cannot go in it, and a mighty ship cannot pass through it. 22 Because of Yahveh our judge; Yahveh our lawgiver. Yahveh our king; he will save us. 23 Your riggings hang slack; they do not hold the base of their mast firm, they do not spread out a sail. Then an abundant prey of spoil will be divided; a lame one will take plunder. 24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who live in it, their iniquity will be taken away.

a forgiven city

Isaiah describes the joy of the inhabitants of Jerusalem upon discovering that the Assyrian threat has been miraculously stopped by God. Donald Flemming describes this section:

“With the besieging armies gone, the people will look out on the open fields again. They will cheer their king as he appears before them in his royal robes (17). No longer will they hear the foreign language of the Assyrian generals who took the Judeans’ money and then betrayed them (18-19). People will flock to Jerusalem for the feasts and festivals as in former days (20). Jerusalem will be safe, like a city on the edge of a broad river where no enemy warships approach and therefore no one needs to prepare any ships for battle. The city, by God’s forgiving mercy, will be a place of good health and ample provision (21-24).”[1]

Such is the picture our hearts need to meditate on today: a portrait of a city on the brink of destruction, rescued by the grace of Almighty God. Can you imagine that awesome sight? I’m not asking you to imagine some distant cloud in heaven. I want you to see a city, redeemed and restored to its intended perfection. Trust the LORD to do this for your city, your town. Believe that he is mighty enough to bring about restoration, health and wholeness. Now, go out and be an instrument he can use to do just that. You, be a judge, lawgiver or leader that the LORD can use to restore his rule.

Jesus is returning to set up his eternal rule on this planet. There is no doubt about that. The question for you and me is whether we will allow him to use us to begin restoring the fallen cities today.

LORD, we imagine an awesome thing – a forgiven city. Make us instruments of your divine restoration.

[1] Flemming, Donald C. “Commentary on Isaiah 33:1”. “Bridgeway Bible Commentary”. http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bbc/view.cgi?bk=22&ch=33. 2005.

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fear of heights

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (9)Isaiah 33:13-16

13 Listen, you far away ones to what I have done; and know, you near ones, my power!” 14 Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized those atheists: “Who of us can live alongside this devouring fire? Who of us can live alongside relentlessly consuming ovens?” 15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who rejects gain by extortion, who pulls back his hand from the taking a bribe, who stops up his ear from hearing blood and shuts his eyes from looking on evil. 16 That one will live among high places; mountain fortresses will be safe for him. His bread will be provided; his water will be sure.

fear of heights

The atheists in Jerusalem had rejected the God of their people because they were convinced that no one could live alongside (literally, as registered aliens among) such a God. Yahveh is a devouring, consuming fire, and he is relentless. He never stops. So, they figured that if they just live as if this powerful God did not exist, they could be OK. They could not live among high places where God was, so they decided to just stay in low places where it was safe. But Isaiah rejects that kind of thinking. Fear of heights cannot bring lasting safety. God is real, and the only true safety is found in acknowledging his presence and power. Living an disciplined life in submission to God’s holiness was all that Yahveh asked of them, and they had the ability to do that.

LORD, forgive us for refusing to live the life you require. Teach us how to scale the heights and live in your presence without fear, trusting in your Son’s sacrifice and your Holy Spirit’s guidance.

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