Month: September 2019

• 32. Judgment and Righteousness

Isaiah 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

The Lord is promising righteousness for us by seeking judgment. Sin must be punished: of this there can be no doubt. God must punish sin or He would not be holy and just. If God is not holy and just He could not be God. But God is God, and God will judge. The Lord God will judge all sin; Sin will be judged at the cross of Christ, or, if that judgment is not accepted, then the sin will be judged at the Final Judgment. We can either accept the righteous judgment upon our sin at the cross or we will be forced to accept the judgment upon our sin at the Great White Throne Judgment. Both judgments are forever: either Jesus bears our judgment for eternity or we will bear the judgment eternally. 

Whenever judgment is pronounced it hastes righteousness. When the judgment upon our sin is pronounced at the cross we are immediately declared righteous, for if there is no sin there is only righteousness, the righteousness of God granted to us by grace on account of Christ. At the end of the age when the final judgment is pronounced and all evil is confined to the lake of fire then the only thing left for believers is righteousness. Righteousness is hasted into the new heaven and new earth and that’s all there is. We enjoy the graciously gifted righteousness of God all the time forever.

The Christian daily seeks judgment and hastes righteousness. Repentance accepts the judgment on our sin endured by Christ on the cross, and faith in the Gospel accepts the righteousness of God granted by grace. Righteousness immediately covers and fills the soul, and by faith the sinful self is judged and damned and by faith the new self lives before God in righteousness: this is eternal life, the very life of God filling the soul. Indeed, the Lord swiftly brings righteousness. In mercy Jesus now rules on the throne of David; in truth Jesus is present in the tabernacle of David (the presence of God on the earth).

• 31. The Lord Founded the Church

Isaiah 14:32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Zion is the presence of God on the earth. In New Testament times the presence of God resides among the people who believe in Jesus. It is the Lord who founded the Church on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets (the Word of God) with Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone. That God founded the Church of believers is a comfort and strength for us: we know where to find God, we seek the Lord among fellow believers in order to hear the Gospel of forgiveness and life. The Church is God’s creation, His building, and His place.

The Lord founded the church of all believers so that we could know what to trust in. God promises all people that there is a place we can go to in order to find something sure and solid to believe in. We hear the Gospel and we enter into the safe place where we can find comfort and hope to trust in something certain, God. We do not seek the Lord in the world or in the stars or in his beautiful creation, but we seek and find Him where He told us to: He promises to be in the place He founded; He will be in the midst of those who gather in His name.

Where the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered according to it there God founds Zion. There we come into the presence of God on the earth, and heaven comes to our earth. The Kingdom of God comes when our Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time. We need something to believe in, and God promises it.

• 30. God Purposes Deliverance

Isaiah 14:25, 26, 27 That I will break the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

The Lord has a purpose for the whole earth, and He will stretch His hand to accomplish that purpose. No one can stop the purpose of God from being fulfilled. The purpose is salvation for all the people of the earth, all the nations living in this world. The purpose of deliverance for all people is accomplished when the Enemies of God and His people are defeated. These Enemies are holding the people as prisoners and exiles.

The Assyrian is the contemporary physical face of the Enemy. The Enemy has entered the land where God’s people live. The Assyrian is the symbol of Sin and Satan. God will break him; He will tread him under foot, He will remove the yoke and burden of the enemy upon God’s people. This “breaking and treading” will accomplish the purpose of deliverance for God’s people. This promise was fulfilled in the history of Israel, at the cross of Christ, and in our daily lives. “He shall bruise your head.“ [Genesis 3:15]. The devil was crushed by the innocent blood and death of Jesus Christ. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” [Romans 16:20]. “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew11:30].

Jesus Christ is God’s purpose. Jesus has accomplished God’s purpose. The purpose that God purposed for each of us has been done for our good. When all enemies are defeated, only the goodness and mercy of God is left for us. This is God’s good and gracious will, and it is done on earth as it is in heaven. This prayer believes God’s promise of purpose.

• 29. The Purpose of the Lord

Isaiah 14:24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.

The Lord is careful about his thought life, for what He thinks will come to pass. And whatever the Lord purposes will stand. There are two things to notice; God has a purpose, and His purpose will surely be fulfilled. First, God has a purpose. Life is not meaningless. History is going somewhere. The universe has a plan. Philosophers, poets, scientists, theologians, etc., have all doubted whether there is any meaning, plan, purpose, direction, or even an intelligent mind behind all we experience in life. This doubt stems not only from unbelief in God, but also from unbelief that God has a purpose. But there is a God and He has a purpose.

We believe, not just in a grand purpose, but we also believe in a specific purpose for each individual created and redeemed person. Furthermore, God has a purpose for everything He created: insects, rocks, sparrows, flowers, and everything else we see fits into God’s grand design. This is especially true for God’s sentient human beings, who are the objects of His special care. We can’t see the grand purpose, and we can’t see how we fit in to the design (we see through a glass darkly), for the only thing we can catch a glimpse of is the backside of a beautiful tapestry. But we believe God and we believe there is a purpose for everything. It is not up to our puny minds to see or understand what our purpose is or how we fit in to it all; it is up to God to arrange our lives according to His purpose. Our job is to believe God and submit to Him. He really does know best. “Thy will be done.”

Secondly, God’s purpose for our lives will be fulfilled. It will stand. That is the promise we take comfort in. We live our lives in subjection and obedience to the Lord. Nothing happens by accident. Because of this promise we can trust the Lord and rest in peace. God knows the “why” to every question we have. He just cannot explain every detail to our satisfaction, But He does assure us that He is God, He knows what He is doing, He knows where we are going, He knows how to get there, and He know why. We can live at great peace when we believe the promise.

• 28. Rest

Isaiah 14:3 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.

“That Day” in the prophets refers to the Messianic Age, the NT times in which Jesus is Lord and Savior. In that day (which is also the day in which we are presently living) Jesus proclaims, “Come to me, and I will give you rest,” echoing this promise of the Lord where He says, “The Lord shall give thee rest.” The ultimate and final day of rest is the Sabbath Rest promised for the faithful with the Lord in eternity. For today we can receive the promises of rest from sorrow, fear and bondage.

Rest from sorrow is necessary for we live in a vale of tears and sorrow is a present companion much of the time. Sin causes sorrow; sorrow brings unease and discomfort; such is our lot in life. Sometimes the sorrow can become almost overwhelming, but all the time we have the promise of rest, into which we may enter any time. Peace, calm, and ease for the soul comes through the forgiveness of sins in the Gospel. This rest is real and deep, although we do not always appreciate it as much as we could. This promised rest is so strong we could, with faith, fall asleep on the boat in the midst of the storm. Then when Jesus speaks there is a great calm.

Rest from fear includes rest and peace from worry and anxiety, which are simply lesser but more common forms of fear. How often has Jesus said, “Fear not….” His words immediately calm the fears, worries, and anxieties that are wont to plague us nightly. We need this promise of rest because fear and constant fears wear us out. We get tired fighting the “fears within” and the anxieties that are lurking about. Jesus says: Take a rest from your fears, for I am with you. “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Rest from hard bondage is a great promise if we recognize that Sin and Death and Satan keep us in slavery, and cruel taskmasters they are. Renunciation of these Enemies and turning to Christ rescues from the bondage when we recognize the kind of chains of sin that bind us. Slavery is hopeless enforcement to do things that exhaust us and bring us down. Jesus says, “If the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Jesus sets us free, free to gladly and willingly serve a loving master.

• 28, Mercy and Chosen

Isaiah 14:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and the Lord will again choose Israel. The first prophecy fulfillment of this verse is the return from Exile in Babylon for the people of God. The further fulfillment is for the Church of the New Testament. Jacob and Israel = the Church. The people of Israel (Jacob) in the OT have become the people of the Church in the NT. Both the before Christ people who believe God’s promise and the after Christ people who believe in God’s promise are the same: they all believe in Jesus, who is the Promise of God.

The Lord will have Mercy on the believers. Many of the Jews, especially the Pharisees, mistakenly thought they could earn mercy by being good and righteous (actually, self-righteous); some of the Jews, like the disciples, the tax collector (God be merciful to me, a sinner), and the Prodigal Son, who returned to his father and received unexpected and extravagant mercy, knew they were sinners who couldn’t earn God’s favor and had to trust that God would be merciful. The Promise is simple: the Lord will have mercy! God did have mercy (He sent His Son), God still has mercy (He forgives sins daily), and God will have mercy (He will resurrect us unto eternal life). This is good news for us prodigals and tax collectors: we may return to God every time we fall away from perfectly righteous living and find mercy. We live and we are alive by mercy.

Secondly, the Lord will choose the believers, and He chose me. This promise is true for me and all believers in Christ: God chose me, I did not choose Him. I cannot ask why He chose me and not others, because I do not know. What I do know is that He chose me because He loves me. Period. Full stop. The promise of my being chosen is a great comfort and security for me.

The further part of this promise is that strangers (Gentiles) will be joined to the Church of the NT and cleave to the Lord. That means me. He is my God and I am part of His people. I am my Beloved’s and He is mine.

•  26. My Strength, Song, and Salvation

Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, and my song; he also is become my salvation.

God is my Salvation. Salvation belongs to our God. Because the Lord has become my salvation I will trust and not be afraid. God promises to be for us Strength, Song, and Salvation. This promise was fulfilled for us when Jesus came to earth and completed this mission.

I am weak, but He is strong. I have no strength, but the Lord is my strength. The Lord God Almighty, Creator and Father of all, is my Strength. That God became a human being; His name is Jesus. That God strongly overcame and definitively defeated the Enemies that were against us. The Death and Resurrection of the Lord, Yahweh, won victory over Sin, Death, and the Devil by Grace and Truth. This is my strength. To confess, “God is my Strength,” involves two beliefs: 1) I am not strong; I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him, and I certainly cannot do enough good works to become a righteous person; therefore, I repent in dust and ashes; 2) Jesus is strong for me; He does for me everything I cannot do for myself; the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to convince me that Jesus is my Lord and my Strength.

As my Song, the Lord has brought unbridled joy to my heart; therefore, I will sing and shout for joy. My worship and praise to God is unbounded; so I sing. I do not sing because I feel good; I sing because God is good. This God, Jesus, has become my Song. The Holy Spirit has put a song in my heart and a dance in my feet. When I believe the Gospel Jesus comes in and I will sing a new song; it is new because He is mine and He is always fresh and new. Joy in the Lord may be the same over and over, but it is never boring. No matter how I hear it, or how often I hear, the Gospel is always a new song. Clean and fresh and new is always good.

God has become my Salvation: God became a man and died for me. That event gives me forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation from everything negative and harmful to me. God is the salvation; God does the saving. He has taken away from me everything bad and replaced it with everything good. I am saved from Sin and given Righteousness; I am saved from Death and given Life; I am saved from the Devil and given God. When I believe this promise, I make it personally my own. Salvation brings me from hell to heaven; it bridges a huge chasm.

• 25. My Strength, Song, and Salvation

Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, and my song; he also is become my salvation.

God is my Salvation. Salvation belongs to our God. Because the Lord has become my salvation I will trust and not be afraid. God promises to be for us Strength, Song, and Salvation. This promise was fulfilled for us when Jesus came to earth and completed this mission.

I am weak, but He is strong. I have no strength, but the Lord is my strength. The Lord God Almighty, Creator and Father of all, is my Strength. That God became a human being; His name is Jesus. That God strongly overcame and definitively defeated the Enemies that were against us. The Death and Resurrection of the Lord, Yahweh, won victory over Sin, Death, and the Devil by Grace and Truth. This is my strength. To confess, “God is my Strength,” involves two beliefs: 1) I am not strong; I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him, and I certainly cannot do enough good works to become a righteous person; therefore, I repent in dust and ashes; 2) Jesus is strong for me; He does for me everything I cannot do for myself; the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to convince me that Jesus is my Lord and my Strength.

As my Song, the Lord has brought unbridled joy to my heart; therefore, I will sing and shout for joy. My worship and praise to God is unbounded; so I sing. I do not sing because I feel good; I sing because God is good. This God, Jesus, has become my Song. The Holy Spirit has put a song in my heart and a dance in my feet. When I believe the Gospel Jesus comes in and I will sing a new song; it is new because He is mine and He is always fresh and new. Joy in the Lord may be the same over and over, but it is never boring. No matter how I hear it, or how often I hear, the Gospel is always a new song. Clean and fresh and new is always good.

God has become my Salvation: God became a man and died for me. That event gives me forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation from everything negative and harmful to me. God is the salvation; God does the saving. He has taken away from me everything bad and replaced it with everything good. I am saved from Sin and given Righteousness; I am saved from Death and given Life; I am saved from the Devil and given God. When I believe this promise, I make it personally my own. Salvation brings me from hell to heaven; it bridges a huge chasm.

• 24: Comfort in place of Anger

Isaiah 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

God was angry with us, but because Jesus, the Son of God, took the righteous wrath of God the Father upon Himself on the cross His anger is turned away from us. God’s anger over sin and disobedience was placed directly upon Jesus, and so it was turned away from us. In place of the anger God promises comfort. The promise of comfort is the comfort of sins forgiven, the comfort of anger taken away, the comfort of the gift of eternal life, the comfort of an open and restored relationship with God, the comfort of the presence of a loving God always with us.

God Himself, with His own love and power, comforts us to the bottom of our soul and spirit; He totally surrounds us and fills us with overwhelming love. Jesus bore the anger so that we would bear the comfort. That day of comfort has come, and we still live in the day of comfort. Every time we hear the Gospel we are comforted so much that our future is secure and our present is safe. Comfort replaces all the guilt, shame, disgust, fear, worry, and anxiety that surrounds us and desires to bring us down every day. Since the accusing Satan, our own sinful flesh, and the temptations of the world are always around us and relentlessly bring discomfort, God comes to plant comfort deep within.

God’s comfort is eternally present even while suffering the discomforts of life and death. We see the discomfort, but we believe the comfort. The promise of comfort has been given to us once for all, and that comfort is continuously available and it is continually administered to us. We enter into the place of comfort by faith in the Gospel. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” We live in daily mourning and comfort, that is, repentance and faith.

• 23. Knowledge of the Lord

Isaiah 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

The Kingdom of God will fill the earth and cover it everywhere. This kingdom, this knowledge, this holy mountain is the invisible reign of God dwelling in the hearts and lives of all believers in Christ. In this place evil cannot hurt or destroy. There is a place to go to and enter in where we are safe from the harmful effects of sin and evil. That place is the kingdom of God. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” and “Deliver us from evil,” we are entering into the safe place, God’s holy mountain, where righteousness dwells because sin is forgiven. A renewed mind and a cleansed heart live out of the knowledge of the Lord and affect the world around us.

While this promise denotes the future Eternal State, it also includes the present state of life in this age in which heaven comes into the heart where we know God. In that safe place of God’s Presence, where the heart is cleansed through the gospel of forgiveness, there will be no hurt or destruction. The kingdom of God comes within us and we are delivered from the evil of sin and unbelief. With this promise that God will dwell in us we can go forth and live on the earth, and as faith spreads the earth will be full of God. At the same time as the knowledge of God fills the earth, the kingdom of darkness seems to grow and increase all the more. But the Lord wants us to see by faith that His kingdom is increasing, in spite of outward appearances. The Lord gives promises like this so that we can be as optimistic as He is. The optimism of the covering of the kingdom is meant to lift our spirits above the corruption and darkness of the world around us.

The hurt and destruction of Sin cannot enter into the holy mountain. The good news is that this place is available to us for it is right next to us, even within. Repent and believe the Gospel for the knowledge of God is at hand.