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Tag: Lord

  • You Scoffers Who Rule – a Bed too Short

    You Scoffers Who Rule – a Bed too Short

    Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people…

    Have you ever wanted to say that to those who claim to represent you in this government of the people?

    I have and suspect that most do as we helplessly watch the unraveling of rule which makes much sense or holds hope for our future.

    As lessons of history repeatedly remind us, the rise and fall of nations comes and goes with providential frequency throughout centuries of man’s devouring from the tree of knowledge.

    We’ll look further into the author of this indictment from the LORD and the people who he warns shortly, but first the gist of our controversy.

    לָכֵ֛ן שִׁמְע֥וּ דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה אַנְשֵׁ֣י לָצֹ֑ון מֹֽשְׁלֵי֙ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ :TNIH

    I overheard your conversation

    “We have made a covenant with death

    “with Sheol we have made a pact.

    “The overwhelming punishment of the nation cannot touch US.

    “We have made untruth our refuge.

    “Carefully hidden are our deceitful frauds which we have ourselves concealed.

    Familiar, but not contemporary

    Who has heard such lies and uncovered truths carefully concealed?

    For these are proclaimed against the leaders by a man close to the Source of all truth.

    We know him only from ancient writings, but the evil he exposes cannot be hidden even in this day hundreds of years later.

    He is the Lord’s Prophet Isaiah.

    You may find it helpful to contemporize application of Isaiah’s warnings to leading characters of our own contemporary theatre of the absurd. For as then, even now we ought to see the futility of hiding our sin on a bed too short, under covers too small to wrap up in.

    Isaiah

    1:1 חֲזֹון֙ יְשַֽׁעְיָ֣הוּ בֶן־אָמֹ֔וץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָזָ֔ה עַל־יְהוּדָ֖ה וִירוּשָׁלִָ֑ם בִּימֵ֨י עֻזִּיָּ֧הוּ יֹותָ֛ם אָחָ֥ז יְחִזְקִיָּ֖הוּ מַלְכֵ֥י יְהוּדָֽה׃

    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

    Isaiah 1:1 NKJV

    So who is this guy accusing many leaders of his day?

    The authors of the Baker Bible Commentary offer a few quick facts about Isaiah which may help.

    • Isaiah meahs: “Yahweh is salvation”
    • He is married and has two sons;
      • Shear-Jashub means: “a remnant will return”
      • Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means: “quickly to the plunder, swift to the spoil”
      • (We cannot hear take time to dig into how many times the LORD gives names for the children of faithful servants, but later John and Jesus are among these.)
    • The Prophet is respected by Ahaz and Hezekiah shows that he easily moves into and out of the palace and has access to the king. (Perhaps he holds an appointed position serving the leaders of Judah.)
    • Isaiah ministers from 742-700 BC.

    Israel, Rome & other passing Empires

    For those of you not up on chronologies of history this is not, of course, warnings to the US, a young Empire founded in AD 1776 and coming to age in the 20th century as a nation fully escaping devastation.

    Nor is it about a predecessor power which once claimed, “Rule, Britannia! rule the waves” in AD 1740 as they progressed since AD 1066.

    Who is sovereign over these nations today?

    Some purveyors of power idolize Rome, a Roman republic which overthrew a kingdom in 509 BC, only to be taken by force in 27 BC.

    We both know and some leaders admire the Caesars of this era, overlooking their inevitable ends, as well as tyranny over their own people. Rome as an empire divided in AD 180, which marked the descent “from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron”

    Rome’s division into east and west impacted the early church, but Isaiah speaks of Israel’s division into north and south – a once United Kingdom of Israel under David which has not returned yet to this day.

    Israel then to Israel now

    I don’t want to make too much of parallels between the time of the prophecies of Isaiah and instability in contemporary world empires.

    Note however, these comparisons of time between the woes of Israel and her neighboring nations and more current woes of world politics (and religion or lack thereof, to some extent).

    • 931 BC – United Kingdom of Israel divided after Solomon’s death
      • AD 1585 – English colonize Roanoke in the new world to the west
    • 722 BC – Israel destroyed by Assyria (from the east) [ ~200 years later]
      • AD 1783 – English colonies granted independence after the American Revolution succeeds [~200 years after Roanoke]
    • 701 BC – Assyria attacks Judah [just 21 years after destruction of Samaria, capital of Israel.]
      • AD 1929 FDR elected Governor of New York, then as America’s only 4-term President, 1933- April, 1945 [~21 yrs]
      • United States emerges as the dominant world power
      • In 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem.[source]

    Returning to the Jerusalem of Isaiah

    Truly the scene is not Jerusalem; nor Judah then and later a Judea, Samaria and Galilee of Jesus. Israel is not the land defeated or Jacob from their seed.

    The scene Isaiah, son of Amoz, son of Abraham presents emanates from the Throne of the Lord God.

    Here we find an indictment which the Prophet Isaiah must read before leaders of the lands. He begins:

    Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
    For the LORD has spoken:

    Isaiah 1:2a NKJV

    Isaiah 1:

    1:2 ἄκουε οὐρανέ καὶ ἐνωτίζου γῆ ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησεν υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν

    LXX Septuagint

    You will not likely hear this read today or indeed at any time in a temple or synagogue of jewish cultural worship. Yet it is “the word of the LORD!”

    יְהֹוָה

    “I have nourished and brought up children,
    And they have rebelled against Me;

    Isa 1:3 The ox knows its owner
    And the donkey its master’s crib;
    But Israel does not know,
    My people do not consider.”

    Isa 1:4 Alas, sinful nation,
    A people laden with iniquity,
    A brood of evildoers,
    Children who are corrupters!
    They have forsaken the LORD,
    They have provoked to anger
    The Holy One of Israel,
    They have turned away backward.

    The LORD has much more to say to these rulers. Read it for yourself.

    We hear all-too-frequent accusation and condemnation of opposing leaders of men and women. Yet you will not hear these harsh words of the LORD in the halls of your nation, temples of worship or message in the palm of your hand.

    Isaiah rebukes them:

    9 Unless the Lord of hosts
    Had left to us a very small remnant,
    We would have become like Sodom,
    We would have been made like Gomorrah.

    10 Hear the word of the Lord,
    You rulers of Sodom;
    Give ear to the law of our God,
    You people of Gomorrah:

    Do you hear the Lord your God?

    1:20 וְאִם־תְּמָאֲנוּ וּמְרִיתֶם חֶרֶב תְּאֻכְּלוּ כִּי פִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּֽר׃ ס

    But if you refuse and rebel,
    You shall be devoured by the sword”;
    For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

    Isaiah 1:20 Masoretic Text; NKJV

    And while we consider our more contemporary dilemmas of the nations, let us consider the word of the LORD, through His Prophet Isaiah.

    Do the leaders of the nations listen to the Lord God?

    Why, they don’t even listen to their own advisors, let alone a godly advisor like Isaiah.

    Isa 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
    That the mountain of the Lord’s house
    Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
    And shall be exalted above the hills;
    And all nations shall flow to it.

    For the day will come unexpectedly, even as a contemporary remnant found temporary solace in this from a “United Nations.”

    3 Many people shall come and say,
    “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    To the house of the God of Jacob;
    He will teach us His ways,
    And we shall walk in His paths.”

    Yet do those who stop up their ears against the word of the Lord and dim their eyes to scripture spoken through the Prophets even realize the long-standing prediction of Isaiah?

    For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
    4 He shall judge between the nations,
    And rebuke many people;
    They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    And their spears into pruning hooks;
    Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    Neither shall they learn war anymore.

    Isaiah 2:3b-4 NKJV

    “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

    Isaiah 48:22 NKJV
    To be continued...
  • Because the days are evil – 1

    Because the days are evil – 1

    See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

    Ephesians 5:15-16 NKJV

    Intro to October series on evil

    Choose any month of the calendar year and assign it to good or evil. The newness of our January resolutions seem to evoke a new good in our lives. December brings the good will of Christmas and the lights of Chanukah. In November some Americans acknowledge our thankfulness to God.

    Choose any day and you will find both good and evil. Yet if you were to choose one day most celebrated – yes, celebrated for evil – it would be Halloween. October, for this reason, may be the one month most tempting toward evil in each measured year of our mortal flesh.

    Therefore, this month I will set aside my usual serial approach to studying a single book of the Bible such as James or 1 Peter in favor of taking on the serpent in the room and his evil agenda against any who would call God and Christ Jesus Lord.

    One additional introductory thought: this series on evil will also be rooted in Scripture, rather than the cultural lore associated with the enemy of the Lord God, that fallen angel destined for destruction Satan. God-willing, I will strive to keep each topical post brief, lest the devil sway you from God’s written word.

    Ephesians 5:

    Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

    Ephesians 5:1 NKJV

    Speaking to true Christians (not just those who occasionally show up in a building with a cross somewhere), Paul writes:

    8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

    11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

    Evil is always associated with darkness, though some spirits of the dark pose as angels of light. Even Satan is a fallen angel, but more of that in a later post.

    “Awake, you who sleep,
    Arise from the dead,
    And Christ will give you light.”

    Ephesians 5:14 NKJV

    60 ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּכְב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח׃
    2 כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֤ה הַחֹ֙שֶׁךְ֙ יְכַסֶּה־אֶ֔רֶץ וַעֲרָפֶ֖ל לְאֻמִּ֑ים וְעָלַ֙יִךְ֙ יִזְרַ֣ח יְהוָ֔ה וּכְבוֹד֖וֹ עָלַ֥יִךְ יֵרָאֶֽה׃

    ישעה 60 The Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)

    Walk in Wisdom

    15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

    17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

    Walk the straight and narrow path without such foolish ways toward where we all tend to wander. We crave the crowds on the left or slip into the mire of the sin on the right.

    Redeeming our time implies that we must buy back the lost time for our sin.

    But what if you cannot afford the cost of your sin? How long would it take for you to earn your way back into the eternal good of heaven?

    Beloved, our mortal days are both evil and brief.

    Do not forsake Christ as those who would sway you toward foolish rebellion against His unfailing love do so willingly.

    Jesus IS our Redeemer, because of His sacrifice for our sin.

    20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

    Receive the Holy Spirit, Paul urges believers as he cautions against common sinfulness. Your heart is the Lord’s, therefore praise Him above all. Submit to each other, as broken parts of the body of Christ who fear God.

    Do you fear God?

    “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 14:7b CSB

    Those who do evil forget their fear of the Lord. The foolish revel in their sins and mock the faith of the righteousness.

    We will be judged as good or evil

    Yet the Lord will judge good and evil, punishing the tormented souls of evil-doers while showing mercy to the faithful who would do good for God’s sake, because of Christ Jesus.

    Christ IS our Savior and Redeemer, Judge of our souls so prone toward sin.

    Do you fear God and desire grace at the mercy seat of judgment?

    For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

    Ephesians 5:8

    Jesus is either your Lord or

    you must answer for your own sins without redemption.

    old man in beret kneeling at grave

    Let not your epitaph be:

    And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD…

    To be continued...
  • Suffer for Good – a letter from Peter – 6

    Suffer for Good – a letter from Peter – 6

    To do good or evil?

    Previously, from the background of Psalm 34 Peter urges the church to be like-minded in doing good. The Christian Standard Bible labels these verses, “Do No Evil” and the New King James Version, “Called to Blessing.” Yet just five verses later Peter calls on us to suffer.

    Our action? “Seek peace and pursue it.” [1 Peter 3:11b CSB]

    Peace, from the greek, εἰρήνη – eirēnē, is a trait of witness for followers of Christ, therefore Peter insists that we must pursue it to be Christ-like.

    Depart from evil and do good;
    Seek peace and pursue it.

    The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
    And His ears are open to their cry.

    Psalm 34:14-15 NASB

    This, too, Peter urges from the Psalm; but then he draws an application from this Psalm of David applying it to followers of Christ.

    Pursue Suffering?

    1 Peter 3:

    The CSB calls it, “Undeserved Suffering” and the NKJV heads this section, “Suffering for Right and Wrong.” J.B. Phillips summarizes Peter’s central message of his letter to the church, “Do good, even if you suffer for it.”

    13-16 [PHILLIPS] After all, who in the ordinary way is likely to injure you for being enthusiastic for good?

    It’s a question of fairness, but also one about our motives in what we pursue.

    We may sense some fairness from unbelievers when we do good. Yet those who pursue good (but not Christ) sometimes pursue evil and may turn against Christ-followers.

    The Greek idea of pursuit here, διώκω – diōkō, actually suggests:

    ‘to make to run or flee, but also, to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after or to press on.’ Metaphorically to pursue good, to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire.

    Peter reminds from the Psalm that the Lord watches both those who pursue evil and those who pursue good.

    14 CSB But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed.

    Peter quotes the Prophet Isaiah [8:12] urging:

    Do not fear what they fear or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

    Christ, holiness in your heart

    Patiently endure suffering, for our Lord and Savior also suffered.

    The NKJV states: 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and the NASB urges: 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. What does this mean to a follower of Jesus?

    Who is Lord? Who is supreme in your life?

    Peter’s guidance to the church comes from his own personal witness.

    – excerpt from Mark 8:27-29 CSB

    Jesus had asked Peter and the Twelve, “Who do people say that I am?” He then asked the Disciples, “… who do you say that I am?”

    Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

    Christ Jesus Lord!

    Χριστός Christos Ἰησοῦς Iēsous κύριος kyrios

    All of the Apostles (not just Peter) witnessed Jesus as the Christ to the church. John, who would have been with Peter here, also writes the Good News of their earlier calling:

    One of the two who heard John [the Baptist] speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon [that is, Peter] and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).

    John 1:40-41 NASB

    Have you found the Messiah?

    That is, do you have Christ [God with us] in your heart, Peter asks those who suffer for Jesus?

    Sanctify Christ as Lord

    If God is with you, then act like Jesus so that unbelievers may see the Lord in the actions of your heart.

    15-16 NKJV But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

    Sanctify Him in your hearts.

    What does that mean, what must I do?

    Understand the holiness of the Lord God!

    The Creator is not like any other man or object of His creation. And the Messiah Jesus must be honored with this same Holiness.

    Sanctify – ἁγιάζω – hagiazō – from hagios, ‘sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)’ – 1. to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable [commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity] or hallow; 2. to separate from profane things and dedicate to God; 3. to purify

    Some will recall Jesus’ instruction to the Apostles about prayer from the King James Version:

    Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

    Matthew 6:9a KJV

    Hallow the Lord in your heart, Peter tells us. καρδία – kardia, which we recognize as the heart ‘denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life.’

    All tradition from Jewish teaching recognizes the heart not only in the physical sense, but more importantly as ‘the centre and seat of spiritual life.’

    A Model for Suffering

    Gentleness and respect begin Peter’s list here of qualities of a sanctified heart for Jesus.

    He continues with keeping a clear conscience, so that unbelievers who slander you for doing good are put to shame before the Lord.

    Suffer only for doing good, but not for doing evil as the false followers of God will claim.

    For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.

    1 Peter 3:18a CSB

    Do you realize that your suffering for Christ Jesus may lead someone unrighteous to God?

    Peter, having God’s own Spirit in his heart, puts forth Jesus as our example of both suffering and hope.

    He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

    1 Peter 3:18b CSB

    He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

    Peter witnessed the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus! And Peter tells us more of the Lord’s victory over sin and death.

    Without Jesus’ death for our sin we would have no victory. Those who died not knowing Jesus had no victory, though they did suffer death.

    Who are these spirits in prison?

    It’s a somewhat secondary debate from the greek of Peter’s letter, but consider the events following Jesus’ death and His appearance three days later.

    The Gospel records that He yielded up His spirit [gk. pneuma].

    Matthew 27: NKJV

    Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints [ hagios or holy ones ] who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

    Peter now proclaims a cleansing of the spirit comparing baptism (permanent change possible only in Christ) to the Lord’s cleansing of the earth at the time of Noah.

    One understanding of prison as a Greek metaphor for waiting illustrates the time of one of the three watches of the night. (See Stongs’ explanation.)

    1 Peter 3:

    NIV 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

    Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

    1 Peter 3:21-22 CSB

    Why Suffer?

    1 Peter 4:

    Therefore since Christ suffered physically, Peter begins, understand why you must suffer for doing good for Him as your Lord. (Remember that these first century believers were already suffering for their faith in Jesus.)

    “Arm yourselves also with the same purpose,” the NASB reads.

    Why?

    “… because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…

    You, beloved believer are changed permanently in Christ. For you suffer in the flesh as did our Lord AND you have ceased to sin.

    [You are] finished with sin— 2 in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

    What an uplifting encouragement from Peter to the suffering church. Yet he strengthens their personal resolve further.

    What remaining time did these suffering believers have?

    Perhaps little; some only days or weeks.

    And you, beloved follower of Christ, what little time might you have left to suffer in the flesh?

    Our Former Sin

    3 For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

    Judge yourself, fellow sinner. Even if we have not committed some of these godless offenses in the eyes of the Lord, our flesh without Christ has coveted evil. Peter warns suffering believers to hold firm in our faith.

    4 They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living—and they slander you.

    And I remind us where Peter began this contrast between you or me and those who cause us to suffer for Christ.

    2 … live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

    Peter then assures us of God’s fairness and judgement.

    They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

    1 Peter 4:5 CSB

    Hope in the Gospel

    Peter speaks of Jesus preaching even to the dead. The end is near for some of the believers to whom he writes. What is the hope for those who suffer? Why must we suffer for Christ?

    For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.

    1 Peter 4:6 CSB

    We were once dead in our sins. Yet God wants us to live in the spirit according to His will.

    Jesus, our Savior will judge, separating those who follow from those who will receive the justice of their own sin — punishment without the grace of God’s mercy.

    Endure in your suffering for Christ Jesus, in these last days.

    To be continued...