My Food
Monday, April 22, 2024
Let's Go Home
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Rent Time
In our home group we are walking through Isaiah. The book is usually divided in two. Chapters 1-39 are focused on prophecies related to Judah's problems while chapters 40-66 are focused on God's answers. The two sections of Isaiah correspond easily with the two main sections of the Bible itself. The old testament has 39 books which present Man's problem while the 27 books of the new testament provide God's answer.
Chapters 36 through 39 of Isaiah conclude the first section and contain two historical events pertinent to Isaiah's prophecies. The first of the two events fulfills the prophecies that Isaiah has been declaring to Judah for 30 years. Judgment was coming because of their departure from God and that judgment was coming in the form of an invading nation. Chapter 36 recounts Assyria's invasion of Judah in 701 BC.
Assyria was a terror, well known throughout history for its brutal military tactics. It's king at that time was a man of rage (37:28) known as Sennacherib. He once described his personal qualities when conquering the king of Sidon. [I] attacked and "the king of Sidon whom the terror-inspiring glamor of my lordship had overwhelmed, fled far overseas and perished." It is this King Sennacherib we find at the doorstep of Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah in 701 BC . . . with an army of hundreds of thousands.
King Sennacherib sent a prominent commanding officer called the Rabshakeh to Jerusalem. He came with a message for King Hezekiah demanding submission. The message seems to be conveyed to us in full and contains all manner of bullying tactics. For this is what the enemy does - he demands submission.
You have no strategy to beat me. You have no strength. You are all talk. (36:5)
You are relying on weak friends/alliances. (36:6)
Your religion is being torn down by its leaders - even they don't believe. (36:7)
Your group is so small! (36:8)
God told me to conquer you. (36:10)
I will hurt you if you don't submit. (36:12)
Your leaders are deceiving you. (36:14)
Don't listen to those telling you to trust in God (36:15)
Surrender to me and it will go well for you. (36:16)
I will provide you with everything you need. (36:17)
Your God is no different from any other god. (36:18)
God will not work on your behalf. (36:20)
These are the tactics of the enemy when he invades. Wisely Hezekiah had instructed those receiving the message not to answer. There was only one response that made sense. The King's advisers rent (tore) their clothes. This action contains two main elements - an expression of complete bankruptcy to meet the situation and, at the same time, an appeal to God for help. And so it is when the invader comes to the people of God. We confess that we have no strength of ourselves to meet the enemy and we look to God in hope.
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Comfort, yes, comfort My people
What comes to mind when you think of the word "comfort"? Was there a time in your life when someone drew alongside you and gave you comfort? Was it a gesture, a comment, a look? Comfort has many forms but for our purpose I am going to focus on words that comfort. For example, someone may find themselves waiting to hear from the doctor about a biopsy result. To hear the words, "it's benign," provides you with comfort. Or maybe you are waiting to hear from the surgeon about the cancer that you were recently diagnosed with. You may not sleep at night. To hear, "we got all of it," provides a strong measure of comfort.
The church at Ephesus was particularly concerned for Paul because he was in prison. A Roman prison was harsh and deadly. Naturally they wanted to hear some news of how he was doing. They were afraid for him. Their thoughts may have kept them up at night too. Some may have been praying for him. Some maybe not.
So, he sent Tychicus. Paul writes to them saying,
"But that you also may know of my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts." (Ephesus 6:21,22)
Tychicus was sent four times in Scripture! (Eph 6:22, Col 4:8, 2 Tim 4:12, Tit 3:12) Twice we read that he was sent to comfort. To provide words and to listen to words for the purpose of comfort. And how much comfort he must have brought! Paul was doing well and wanting to know how they were doing. One man sent on missions of comfort throughout the mediterranean world. What a guy. What a role. The traveling comforter.
The Greek word for comfort in this verse is "parakaleo" - one of the primary words used to describe the Holy Spirit. It means "to call to one's side - to beseech, urge, exhort, comfort". Through Tychicus God has given us a palpable example of the work of the Holy Spirit. Tychichus gave comfort, but even moreso the Holy Spirit gives comfort. What words has He said to us? An entire book! For me, Romans 8:29,30 are just such comfort - Predestined, called, justified, glorified - all in aorist tense - completed actions done in the past. So, by Divine Decree, God has already concluded the matter, I am already glorified. It's a done deal. That will help me sleep at night! The real Comforter.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Loud And Smelly
Both Elijah and John the Baptist not only had shared doubts, but they probably looked similar too! Both were Wilderness Men - wearing who knows what and eating who knows what. They were likely hairy men, bearded with a rough appearance. They spent much of their days out in the wild. They would be men that we would not naturally, on first appearance, go toward. In fact, we would go toward them only if we needed to. Doesn't that fit! If I was walking down the street and saw a hairy man with leathery skin and a booming voice ahead of me, I would calculate how to get around him. Not wearing the refined clothing of the day or of the cities, he displays an appearance of being outside the normal hum of life. He does not fit in my circle.
As we look upon John the Baptist, we do not feel the tug on our pant leg while our child says - "Daddy, please take me to the wild, dark, smelly, hairy, loud, harsh looking man! I want to meet him." It is not our first inclination to go toward a man like this. It is not our first inclination to go toward John the Baptist. It is not our first inclination to go toward repentance. But it is to the unknown, to the scary looking man, to whom we must go. We must go out to meet him.
John finally declares who he is to the Jewish inquisitors. He is -
"the voice of one crying in the wilderness" John 1:23
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Prophets Have Weaknesses Too
It is worth looking at these two prophets from long ago - Elijah and John the Baptist - to see how identical they appear to us in the Bible. Both had moments in which they would falter in their faith. After his triumph on Mount Carmel, Elijah ran from the threats of Jezebel. He ran a long way. He ran way back to the mountain at which God gave the Law, Mount Horeb. Elijah sadly ran back to a fleshly way of thinking which of course took him back to the Law. That is what the flesh does. It runs to the Law to try to justify itself before God. It wants to lean on its own righteousness. It is only fitting that God would ask Elijah, "What are you doing here?" It would be wise for us to hear God asking us the same thing when we are justifying ourselves, leaning on our own righteousness. "What are you doing here?" We are not under law anymore - we are under grace.
In the very revealing seventh chapter of Luke, we see that John the Baptist also stumbled by doubting that Jesus was the Christ, the Coming One. He wondered if there was someone beside Jesus who would be the actual Messiah. So, he sent messengers to Jesus asking if He was the very Christ Himself. He wasn't sure. He had doubts about God.
For both of these men, God answers their failing faith by showing them more of Himself. Elijah finds God in the gentle stillness - just what his heart needed. His heart needed to stop the storm of self-focus and self-pity. So God quiets him. John finds God as the fulfillment of Scripture - just what his heart needed. He needed assurance, so God gives it. It was more convincing for Jesus to show that he was the fulfillment of Scripture than to merely say, "I am the Messiah."
Friday, November 6, 2020
Prophets Call People To Turn Back
Thursday, June 25, 2020
He Was Unknown
“This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” John 1:7-9
The Scripture is clear - that all through him might believe. More appropriately we would say that it is the message that John the Baptist brings that opens the way to belief. He bore witness of the Light. This is what the ministry of John did. It pointed to Light. Considering the contrary of this is helpful. Without John the Baptist, the nation would not have a witness of the Light. Nothing to show the way to the Light. As a result, there is something utterly peculiar about John’s ministry that pointed to Jesus.
Let us walk through the section in John 1 beginning at verse 19. John the Evangelist tells us the testimony of John the Baptist. It begins with Jews sending their leaders to John who was outside of Jerusalem to ask who he was. "Who are you?" When John the Baptist appears on the scene of first century Palestine, the nation did not know who he was. One of the keys to this passage is to see John the Baptist as the personification of repentance. Who he was in the plan of God is summed up in the word "repentance". The Jews did not know who this was. He was unknown to them.