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Tag: Isaiah

  • Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    Beyond Nations and Coastlands

    The Servant of the Lord

    Is Jesus Savior of the nations, good news to the coastlands and Messiah of the elect?

    Prophets and kings of Israel have looked forward to the incarnate Son of Man. Yet the Messiah of Israel did not suffer, die and rise to glory only for Jacob. The Lord is lord of all the earth, the heavens and mankind. He IS the hope of the nations, Redeemer of Israel and God incarnate now and forever!

    Isaiah 49

    Listen to me, O coastlands,
        and give attention, you peoples from afar.
    The Lord called me from the womb,
        from the body of my mother he named my name.
    2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
        in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
    he made me a polished arrow;
        in his quiver he hid me away.
    3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
        Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

    Listen, you unbelievers of every nation

    The Messiah of God predicted by Isaiah will have to deal with a number of challenges, not least among these understanding mortality.

    [ctt title=”How does an eternal, immortal, timeless One experience life as man?” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/3d2V2+ Read John 1″ coverup=”3d2V2″]

    No man may stand before Almighty God face to Face, yet the LORD has dwelt in the womb of a virgin and endured the suffering of death on a Cross for our sake.

    If the Lord rejected all except Noah long ago, will the Lord not reject even the wicked of Israel along with those beyond the coastlands at the day of reckoning? [Matthew 24:37-38]

    John 4:22

    [ctt title=”4:22 ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν” tweet=”.. we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. – John 4:22″ coverup=”mHlMU”]

    Even the chosen needed witness that the LORD chose Abraham and Jacob, Moses and David for their faith. For the LORD destroyed and damned those who turned from righteousness. “Before Abraham was, I AM;” says the Lord, the God of Israel!

    Not only Messiah of Israel, but Savior of the Nations

    Isaiah 49:6

    he says:
    “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
    I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    So difficult for a man of flesh and bone to think in terms of timeless soul and Savior before time. Moses witnessed judgment on the land and redemption of a people for the Lord’s own purpose. Yet even in one hundred twenty years Moses could not claim the covenant of Abraham. Moses led a chosen nation through the sea. He and leaders of an elect people bowed before the Lord on a mountain where we would receive the Law of God. Yet Moses who had parted the sea and brought water from the parched wilderness could not cross the Jordan into Israel.

    Judges and Kings could not rule over a stiff-necked people who believed that Abraham’s promise is fulfilled in their land land and success for their generation. From Elijah to Isaiah the elect continued in the sins of their fathers, while worshiping their ancestry over the LORD! Isaiah and Prophets of the LORD would eventually come to an end of their time, yet anticipating the lasting Redeemer the LORD did promise.

    7 Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
    to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
    “Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
    because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

    Who IS the Holy One of Israel?

    The Redeemer of Israel IS and was and will be Lord over those who love Him.

    Isaiah tells the chosen: 50 Thus says the Lord:

    “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
        with which I sent her away?
    Or which of my creditors is it
        to whom I have sold you?
    Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
        and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
    2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
        why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
    Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

    Isaiah foretells of a great Teacher of Israel

    Isaiah, the prophet of God tells of the Redeemer of man’s slavery to sin, a Savior sent beyond nations and coastlands; the Lord who is risen after the love of His own Sacrifice. Isaiah speaks next of the wise and loving teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Can you hear His voice?

    4 The Lord God has given me
        the tongue of those who are taught,
    that I may know how to sustain with a word
        him who is weary.

    [ctt title=”If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”” tweet=”Jesus speaks truth, love and the words of eternal life.” coverup=”f5KGc”]

    Recalling the crowds who followed and foreshadowing of a trial long past the days of Isaiah:

    Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
    5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.

    6 I gave my back to those who strike,
    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
    I hid not my face
    from disgrace and spitting.

    The suffering servant will rise to outlive His accusers

    9 Behold, the Lord God helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
    Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.
    10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant?
    Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
    trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on his God.

    Has Caesar prevailed? Pilate? Does one High Priest yet live?

    Do the kings who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord live? Have the false prophets of hatred risen to take the lands they plunders?

    Only Christ, Holy One, Son of the Living Father and One with the Holy Spirit rises from the Cross of sacrifice to preach once more to Israel and the Nations – His redemption for those who believe in every nation beyond time and circumstance: Jesus IS Lord!

    The Promised Messiah, Jesus

    Acts 26:22b-23

    I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

    John 1:

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    [ctt title=”“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ” tweet=”Messiah, Christ Jesus, the pure blood sacrifice on the Cross of perfect redemption.” coverup=”GSa8o”]

    Hebrews 9:27-28

    And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8

    Surely the Lord created the heavens and the earth and man in the beginning. The Shepherd gathers every faithful follower from every nation and generation. In these last days the Lord will count the elect and the adopted, fulfilling all prophesy. He will form the old creation into a new heaven and a new earth where the LORD will dwell among us. The faithful will rise to His glorious love and embrace a overflowing joy we have not known because of sin.

    Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

    As it was in the beginning, it will be once more and forever.

    Amen.

     

     

     

  • Beyond Nazareth

    Beyond Nazareth

    Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh and Nazareth

    Our long journey began in Beyond Nineveh with a look at Jonah, a reluctant Prophet who preached repentance to the largest city on earth. {Read about the beginning of our journey in the link above.} From Jonah’s home in the Galilean hills, Jerusalem would have seemed like a modern day New York City [Population 8.4 Million] compared to nearby towns of Nazareth and Capernaum.

    Just like Jerusalem compared to Nineveh, New York City pales by comparison to a distant city like Karachi Pakistan [Population 27.5 Million souls]. A familiar New York City is smaller even than two cities in China, Shanghai [24.3 Million] and Beijing [21.5 Million].

    Jonah of Gath-hepher, a town of Lower Galilee, about 5 miles from Nazareth

    The Lord sends Jonah to seek repentance from a distant unfamiliar city. Instead, Jonah sailed toward modern-day Spain rather than journey east toward modern-day Mosul Iraq. In fact, these foreigners repented!

    Isaiah Preaches Repentance and More

    Prior to the fall of Jerusalem many prophets foretold destruction by several conquering empires. One additional perspective of these turbulent times comes from the prophesies of Isaiah.  Yet a distant look Beyond Nazareth reveals hope of a Redeemer and Messiah. How distant? More than seven centuries.

    Isaiah 52:7

    How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
    who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

    A Long Time from Nineveh to Nazareth

    We see jews made refugees not long after Jonah won non-believers in Nineveh to the Lord. Jerusalem captured, spared then rebuilt; conquered again and again (just as before). In first century Galilee powerful Rome to the west subdues all the Mediterranean. Israel (long defeated) doubts a prophet of note could reside in Nazareth [see John 1:46]. But a Prophet, yes more than a Prophet, would be called by others: Jesus of Nazareth. All would ask, is he the Messiah?

    Isaiah Prophesies a Far-distant Hope

    Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.

    As many were astonished at you—
    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

    so shall he sprinkle many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
    for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.

    Isaiah 52:13-15

    A son of man, suffering servant of the LORD; Jesus of Nazareth became best remembered for His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice of love on the cross. The distant time was eight hundred years before Christ and Isaiah spoke accurately of the pivotal event in the history of mankind.

    Isaiah 53: Description of the Messiah

    Now, twenty-one centuries after Jesus of Nazareth, scripture speaks to us – to the believer and to the sceptic in distant lands:

    Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

    Prior to the fall of Jerusalem, before the rebuilding centuries later, centuries before Jesus of Nazareth the Prophet Isaiah describes our loving Lord.

    For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
    he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.

     

    He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    Does the world esteem God? Is the Lord not saddened by our grievous sin?

    Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.

    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

    To be continued…

  • The Voice of a Shepherd in the Wilderness

    A Flawed Shepherd

    We’re flawed – very flawed; you know what I mean?

    A Shepherd is sorta an outsider, you know. The people in town wear fine clothes, woven from the well-washed wool of our flocks, yet they turn away from us repulsed by the scent of our lowly work as shepherds.

    Hills near Bethlehem in 2016 palestinian region of Israel

    Mostly we live in the wilderness just beyond Bethlehem, grazing our sheep, sleeping in solitude under the dark dome of silent star-lit nights. At night I look up to the Lord in the heavens, remembering the words of my youth.

    Traditions from our fathers recall a shepherd-king, David, of generations long gone. The old City of David just up the mountain from Bethlehem became home to a couple of thousand people. Our little town of Bethlehem now swells to nearly a thousand due to Rome’s order for our families to return for a census. Jerusalem has grown to maybe 40,000, plus Roman centurions.

    Time of the First Temple – 957-586 BC

    Solomon, son of David, built the first Temple in Jerusalem with riches from other lands. Enemies destroyed the Temple and plundered our lands, because our kings refused to listen to the Lord. Isaiah and the Prophets repeatedly warned our kings not to turn against God. They promised us hope in a Messiah, a King who would lead Israel in righteousness: but first Babylon would parade our captive leaders into foreign cities to live.

    Bethlehem road, 2016 palestinian Israel

    Second Temple rebuilt – 538-170 BC

    They allowed some of our fathers to return and rebuild Jerusalem, just a short journey north beyond these hills.

    Alexander ruled over us and the entire world nearby while our fathers adopted the language and some of the culture of our Greek captors. Egypt ruled us once more after Alexander’s death, until an Alexandrian general of Syria conquered us again.

    Herod rebuilds the Temple and Jerusalem under Rome – 38 BC

    Our grandfathers told us stories of the revolt of the priests and Herod the Great recapturing Galilee with considerable help from Rome. Rome’s powerful peace rules over us now, enforced by legions encamped across our countryside; but shepherds have little to say in these matters of power.

    Life of a Shepherd

    Our days of drudgery drag on into senseless seasons of defeat and despair. Dreams discouraged — hopes of all the years abandoned in desperate darkness for distractions of days lost in silent surrender. When we were young, times of promise never escaped our self-confidence. Now scores of years reveal a flawed flesh and failing desires.

    What hope have we beyond darkness in times of sorrow? For our remorse reminds of a past built on foundationless self-made dreams and hopes of self-earned glory.

    I did not need God!

    Who can keep the Lord’s Law or live up to men’s visions? We blame our flawed upbringing on generations of our fathers who failed in advantage over other men. I was a self-made, flawed man, with a little of a flawed plan.

    Who needs the help of another? Yet what stiff-necked soul does not cry out to God in our failure?

    I cannot face a God who knows my sin nor can I face a punishment of a God who stands in holiness against our transgressions. What savior for me — what savior for me?

    A Shepherd Recalls Scripture from Isaiah

    In solemn silence my distraught heart, heavy with hopeless, strains for gentle words of comfort whispering deeply into my soul. Lord, help me – forgive me – I can’t quite remember…

    [ctt title=”Isaiah 7:14 לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אֹות הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמֹו עִמָּנוּ אֵֽל׃” tweet=”A Messiah, born to a virgin” coverup=”eEdCg”]

    [ctt title=”Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. – Isaiah 7:14″ tweet=”” coverup=”jLQN1″]

    Immanuel, God with us; how I could never bear the thought of standing near Almighty God. Who can stand before, “God with us?” I once believed I was better than most, but now I fall before Him.

    The Messiah will be born to a virgin, pure in heart and flesh and He will not disappoint.

    I could never be like Him. Yet a voice soft as the caress of a gentle breeze describes a Savior I could hear, the only compassionate one who perfectly understands a lowly shepherd like me.

    He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

    Or make it heard in the street;

    A bruised reed he will not break,

    And a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

    He will faithfully bring forth justice.

    Isaiah 42:2-3

    Conviction and the Cry of a Repentant Heart

    Now that my days of self-deceit have passed, indeed I am a bruised reed. My heart burns faintly with what life remains in these flawed bones and failing flesh. I cry out to the Lord.

    O God, are you gentle as a baby born humbly to a poor virgin? Lord, would you have mercy on a lowly man who lives near the beasts of your barns? What would you say to a flawed one like me?

    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.- Isaiah 66:2b

    To be continued Christmas day…