ashamed with shame

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (31)Isaiah 42:9-17

9 Watch! the former things I predicted have come, and I am declaring new things. I am causing you to hear before they sprout up.” 10 Sing a new song to Yahveh; praise him from the end of the land, you who go down to the sea and that which fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11 Let a desert and its towns lift up their voice, villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them shout loudly from the mountain head. 12 Let them give glory to Yahveh and declare his praise in the coastlands. 13 Yahveh goes forth like a mighty warrior; he stirs up zeal like a man of war. He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout; he prevails against his enemies. 14 I have been silent for a long time; I have kept silent; I have restrained myself like one giving birth; I will moan, pant, and gasp together. 15 I will cause mountains and hills to dry up, and I will cause all their vegetation to wither; and I will make rivers like islands, and I will cause pools to dry up. 16 And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know; I will cause them to walk on paths they have not known. I will make darkness before their face into light and rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forget to do them. 17 They will turn back; they will be ashamed with shame — those who now trust in an image, who say to a cast image, “You are our gods.”

ashamed with shame

Given the historical record of how God has worked in the past, it is safe to say that he never does anything on impulse. One of the reasons we urge believers to pray regularly is that sometimes it seems to take long periods of intercession and supplication before God, before we see results. But, thankfully, Isaiah reveals here that even God in his enduring patience gets fed up with idolaters and unbelievers and does something to show his power and shame those who ignore him. I cannot help but believe that if we Christians would dare to seek his face more, we would see more of these new things he promised. We cannot force God to do anything against his plan, but neither can we stop him when he decides to act. We need to remember the kind of things that move God to action, and pray accordingly. In this text, what moved God to action was idolatry.

LORD, all around us are those who have chosen a world and a worldview that rejects you, and values things that people can manipulate. Come and show your power and love so that these can be ashamed of their idolatry.

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given by covenant

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (30)Isaiah 42:1-8

1 Watch! my servant; I hold him, my chosen one, my soul thrills. I have given my spirit to him; he will bring justice forth to the nations. 2 He will not cry out and lift up and make his voice heard in the street. 3 He will not break a broken reed, and he not will extinguish a dim wick. He will faithfully bring justice forth. 4 He will not grow faint, and he will not be broken until he has established justice in the land. And coastlands wait for his teaching. 5 Thus says the God, Yahveh, who created the skies and stretched them out, who spread out the land and its offspring, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it. 6 “I am Yahveh; I have righteously called you, and I have grabbed your hand and watched over you; and I have given you by covenant to the people, as a light for the nations, 7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit darkly from the house of imprisonment. 8 I am Yahveh; that is my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor my praise to the idols.

given by covenant

Isaiah will soon introduce a coming king named Cyrus, who Yahveh will take by the hand and bring about judgment upon his enemies. But this passage does not describe him. It describes a teacher, who will quietly and unobtrusively go about sharing a message of holiness and peace. Also, unlike Cyrus, who does his work in the name of Persia, this amazing servant who comes later will take the LORD’s own name, and share his glory. God gives this servant by covenant to his people. I think we all know who that was.

LORD, thank you for the covenant gift of your Servant, Jesus Christ.

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north or east?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 41:21-29

May 2015 (29)21 “Present your legal case,” says Yahveh. “Bring your evidence,” says the king of Jacob. 22 Let them bring them, and let them tell us what will happen. Tell us what the former things are so that we may take them to our heart and know their end. Declare to us the things to come; 23 tell the things coming later that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good or do evil, that we may be afraid and fear together. 24 Watch! you are nothing, and your work is something worthless; whoever chooses you is an abomination. 25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come from the rising of the sun. He will call on my name, and he will come on officials as on mortar, and as a potter treads clay. 26 Who declared it from the first so that we would know, and from before faces so that we might say, “That is right.” Yes, there was no one who declared it; Yes, there was no one who proclaimed it. Yes, there was no one who heard your words. 27 First to Zion, Watch! Watch them! And I give a bringer of good tidings to Jerusalem. 28 But I look and there is no man, and I look among these and there is no counsellor, that I might ask them and they might answer a word. 29 Watch! All of them are a deception; their works are nothing; their images are wind and emptiness.

north or east?

The prediction Isaiah made about Cyrus probably sounded ridiculous. How can this coming ruler be from the north and the east at the same time? But Barnes explains how the statement was true: “Cyrus was born in Persia, in the country called in the Scriptures ‘the east,’ but he early went to Media, and came from Media under the direction of his uncle, Cyaxares, when he attacked and subdued Babylon. Media was situated on the north and northeast of Babylon.”[1] We need never worry about the statement made in God’s word, even if we cannot catch their meaning right away, there is meaning to be caught. Read it, study, trust it.

LORD, thank you for your trustworthy, infallible word.

[1] Albert Barnes “Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament”. “http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/view.cgi?bk=22&ch=41. 1870.”

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mountain smashing

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (28)Isaiah 41:11-20

11 Watch! All those who are angry with you will be ashamed and humiliated; the men of your strife will be like nothing and will become lost. 12 You will seek them, but you will not find them; the men of your strife will be like nothing, and the men of your war like nothing. 13 Because I, Yahveh your God, am grasping your right hand; the one saying to you, “You must not fear; I myself, I will help you. 14 You must not fear, O worm of Jacob; people of Israel, I myself, I will help you,” a declaration of Yahveh, and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel. 15 Watch! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge, owner of sharp edges. You will thresh and crush the mountains, and you will make the hills like chaff. 16 You will winnow them and the wind will carry them, and the storm will scatter them. And you yourself will rejoice in Yahveh; you will boast in the holy one of Israel. 17 The poor and the needy are seeking water and there is none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I, Yahveh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the barren heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness like a pool of water and the land of dryness like springs of water. 19 I will give the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness; I will set the cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert 20 so that they may see and know, and take to heart and understand together that the hand of Yahveh has done this, and the holy one of Israel has created it.”

mountain smashing

Isaiah speaks words similar to Jesus, who promised us that we could remove mountains by our faith in God.[1] Isaiah tells his people, the insignificant worm of Jacob, that the LORD will use them as his threshing sledge. They would smash the mountains surrounding them. Yahveh encourages his readers to believe that, and invites them to watch what happens when they do.

LORD, use us as your threshing sledge. By our prayers, unity, and righteous acts, may we destroy all those things which are obstacles to your coming kingdom.

[1] Matthew 17:20; 21:21; Mark 11:23.

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choosers or the chosen?

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (27)Isaiah 41:1-10

1 Be quiet and listen to me, coastlands, and renew your strength, nations. Approach me, then speak your case; We will draw near together for judgment. 2 Who has roused salvation from the east, called him to his foot, brings nations before his face and subjugates kings? He brings them along like the dust of his sword, like scattered stubble attached to his bow. 3 He pursues them but passes on peacefully; he does not enter the path with his feet. 4 Who has accomplished and done this, calling the generations from the first , I, Yahveh, am first; and I am the one coming with the last ones. 5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the land tremble. They have drawn near, and they have come. 6 Each one will help his neighbour; he says to his brother, “Take courage!” 7 And the artisan encourages the refiner; the one who makes smooth with a hammer encourages the one who strikes an anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good!” And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over. 8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you, the seed of Abraham my loved one. 9 You whom I grabbed from the ends of the land and called from its remotest parts and told, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.” 10 You must not fear, because I am with you; you must not be afraid, because I am your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you. Yes, I will take hold of you with my right hand which delivers.

choosers or the chosen?

Notice the contrast that Isaiah makes here. The nations choose their own gods, and fashion them of wood and stone to their liking. But Yahveh has chosen Israel, and he will outlast those chosen gods. Now, reader, I must ask you. What god have you chosen? Is he made in your image? Is your God one of your own liking, or are you seeking to follow the one who has chosen you?

LORD, we surrender to your sovereign choice. Teach us who you really are. Do not let us fashion you to our own liking.

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connected to strength

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

 

May 2015 (26)Isaiah 40:26-31

26 Lift your eyes up high, and see! Who created these? The one who brings out their army by number. He calls all them by name. Because he is powerfully great and powerfully mighty, no soldier is missing. 27 Jacob, why do you speak, and Israel, why do you say, “My way is hidden from Yahveh, and my judgment is passed over by my God?” 28 Have you not known, or have you not heard? Yahveh is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the land! He is not tired, and he does not grow weary! There is no searching his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weary, and he increases power for the powerless. 30 Even young people might get faint and grow weary, and a young one might stumble, exhausted. 31 But those who wait for Yahveh will renew their strength. They will go up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not tire out.

connected to strength

Isaiah encourages his people to look up to the stars, and contemplate the strength of their creator. It is this same Yahveh who has promised deliverance for his people. So, the key to constant renewal of strength is staying connected to him. Isaiah calls it waiting for him. That does not mean the believer will never experience weakness or temporary failure. It means that the source of our strength is God, who never experiences these things. The Christian life is often one of evident weakness. But we stay connected to the God who created the stars, so he continues to manifest his strength even when we are weak. In fact, his strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we feel weak, we should look at the stars for a while, and remember that we are connected to the strength that hangs them in the sky, and never gets tired.

LORD, when we are at the end of our strength, help us to trust in your strength, and know that we are connected to you.

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like no one

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (25)Isaiah 40:18-25

18 And to whom would you liken God? And what likeness would you compare him to? 19 A craftsman fashions an idol, and a refiner overlays it with gold, or smelts chains of silver. 20 The one who is too poor for such a gift chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks a skilful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over. 21 Did you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the first? Have you not understood from when the land was founded? 22 He is the one who sits above the sphere of the land, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He is the one who stretches out skies like a veil and spreads them out like a tent to live under, 23 the one who gives princes over to nothing; he makes land rulers like nothing. 24 In fact, hardly are they planted; in fact, hardly are they sown; in fact, hardly has their shoot taken root in the land when he blows on them and they wither, and a storm carries them away like stubble. 25 “And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.

like no one

First, Isaiah said that compared to God, all the mighty nations are like nothing. Now, he stops to ask if there is anyone else who does come up to God’s level. He describes in detail the ridiculous practice of fashioning gods from wood and stone, overlaying them with precious metals, and making them look like the inhabitants of the land. God literally stands above all those “gods” because he created all that is, and he sits above the globe, looking down on all of them in sovereignty.

Then Isaiah looks on the equally ridiculous practice of idolising the princes and rulers of the land. This form of idolatry is still as prevalent as it was in Isaiah’s day. But Isaiah explains why these leaders among men are no equal to God. He had previously admitted that all flesh is but grass that temporarily flourishes, but is soon dried up and blown away. Now he uses similar language to describe the fate of these political and philosophical leaders. They are not like God, because they are mortal, and he is not. Lots of people agreed with Friedrich Nietzsche when he proclaimed that God was dead, but then Nietzsche died, and God lives on. Isaiah is explaining that no one compares to God, so no one can take his place. When we let anyone try, we are just building more stupid idols.

LORD, we surrender to the reality of your existence, and the reality that we cannot produce your equal. You are like no one else. You alone deserve our praise and obedience.

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like nothing

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (24)Isaiah 40:12-17

12 Who has measured water in the hollow of his hand and marked off sky with a ruler, comprehended the dust of the land in a third of a measure and weighed out mountains with the scale, and hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured up the spirit of Yahveh or informed him like the man of his counsel? 14 With whom has he consulted, who has enlightened him or taught him a path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and made a way of understanding known to him? 15 Watch! nations, like a drop from a bucket, and they are ignored like dust on balances! Watch! He weighs islands like a thin covering. 16 And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire, and its animals not enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are like nothing before him; they are ignored by him as if they were nothing and emptiness.

like nothing

In some carefully controlled scientific measurements, the room must be kept dust free, because even the slightest deviation matters. But most of the time a little dust makes absolutely no difference in what the scales show. That is the picture Isaiah gives us. In the scale of actual significance, even the mighty nations that everyone worries about are just dust on balances. They are like a drop of water in a whole bucket. Even Lebanon, with all its forests, does not have enough wood to create a fire to bother God, or enough animals to sacrifice to appease him. The inhabitants of the great nations think of themselves as competitors of Yahveh and Israel. But Isaiah’s words remind us that all the nations of the world are nothing compared to the power and significance of our God, its creator.

LORD, teach us to pray as if prayer is the only thing that matters, because all other powers are useless compared to yours.

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reasons to cry out

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (23)Isaiah 40:6-11

6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And he responded, “What will I cry out?” All flesh is grass, and all his loyalty like the flowers in the field. 7 Grass withers; a flower withers when the breath of Yahveh blows on it. The people are just like that grass. 8 Yes, Grass withers; a flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Go for yourself up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice strongly, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift it up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 Look! Yahveh, Yahveh comes strongly, and his arm rules for him. Watch! His reward accompanies him, and his recompense is before his face. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather lambs in his arm, and he will carry them at his chest; he will lead those who nurse.

reasons to cry out

Isaiah was having a bad day. Maybe he had just sat in a prophet team meeting all day and went over budgets and voted on projects and determined schedules and such. Maybe he had tried to get through to some important somebody only to be ignored or mocked. For whatever reason, Isaiah was not in a very encouraged state this day. And the LORD came to him and told him to prophesy. Isaiah did not feel like prophesying. We felt it was no use. You can’t get through to these people. They are like the grass in a field. It’s going to grow until it stops, then it’s going to wither and die, and crying out to it is going to make no difference.

The LORD reminded Isaiah that he had two very good reasons to keep crying out his prophesies, even to this rebellious grass-like people who would not listen:

1. First, the power of God’s word which Isaiah preaches. The power for change and accomplishment is not in the people. The power is in the word of God itself. All flesh is grass; it is temporary. When the hot air hits it, it dies and returns to dust. But God’s word stands. There is no greater investment that pouring yourself into God’s word, and spending your life preaching, teaching, praying, and blogging it!

2. Secondly, the purposes of God’s word. Yahweh told Isaiah that he had the wrong simile. The words he were saying were not to be like the strong wind that beats upon the grass and dries it out. The prophets words are the strong acts of conquering king, and the caring acts of a loving shepherd. God will give the people what they need. He purposely sent his word to do that.

LORD, we commit ourselves to crying out in every way possible to this needy generation. We also commit to learning your word so that our words are not useless and harmful hot air, but strengthening and nurturing words – from you.

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reasons for comfort

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

May 2015 (22)Isaiah 40:1-5

1 “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and say to her, that her compulsory labour will be fulfilled, that her sin will be paid for, that she has taken from the hand of Yahveh double payment for all her sins.” 3 Be a voice calling in the wilderness, “Clear the road for Yahveh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God! 4 Every valley should be lifted up, and every mountain and hill should become low, And the rough ground should be like a plain, and the rugged ground like a low valley. 5 Then the glory of Yahveh will be revealed, and all flesh will see him together, because the mouth of Yahveh has spoken.”

reasons for comfort

“God’s comfort is not a hollow, positive-thinking, “There’s-a-silver-lining-behind-every-cloud” kind of message. God always gives His people reasons for comfort” (David Guzik).  Isaiah speaks comfort for Jerusalem for the following reasons.

1. The exile will come to an end. God regarded the exile as a period of compulsory labour, and he sees the end of that period. He wants to assure his people that there will be life after exile. He wants to assure us of the same fact. No matter what we may be dealing with, even if we consider it an exile of our own making, God comforts us with the assurance that there will be an end to it.

2. Her sin will be paid for. They cannot overcome their own transgressions, but the Messiah will. He alone can and will bring redemption and restoration. Jerusalem will have paid double for their sins, first by their exile, then by the sacrificial atonement their Messiah will bring about by his own death on the cross.

3. Jerusalem will become a level place and on it the glory of Yahveh will be revealed. All of the former pretence to power and importance will be erased, and while that is happening, the Messiah will come. The glory of Yahveh will be revealed in him. This happens in both advents, and Isaiah puts them both together here. Ultimately, his words reflect the fact that when the Messiah returns to set up his kingdom on earth, all nations will see and recognize him as their rightful king.

LORD, thank you for the comfort from your word, comfort for all who wait for your Christ.

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