Month: October 2019

• 63. Springs of Water

Isaiah 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

The promise is repeated: Parched ground and thirsty land will become a pool and springs of water. This is metaphorically what happened when the Messiah came to earth. When we were baptized the dry ground of the soul became wet and refreshed, fertile and abundant. As signs of this spiritual truth Jesus turned water into wine, Jesus promised living water from the wells of salvation, and Jesus declared, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” This He spoke of the Holy Spirit and Eternal Life, which would enter and flow through our lives. He produces fruit: grass with reeds and rushes.

The soul is a desert because it is dead to God and alive to sin. Jesus came to forgive the sin and make the dead land of the soul to thrive and grow new life. When we are dry and thirsty we have experienced the quenching refreshment of a cup of cold water; we have experienced the refreshing water of a good swim on a hot day. This is what happened to us when we were baptized; this is what happens to us every week in Holy Communion; this is what happens to us when we hear and believe the Gospel with a repentant heart.

The desert of the soul is a habitation of dragons. The Dragon = Satan. This truth, of course, is not pleasant: the sinful soul is filled with demons, fallen angels, and minions of the devil. Sometimes evil rears its ugly head in ways that are beyond our understanding, and it certainly is not our true desire. We might say, “Where did that come from?” Well, one answer is this: demons live there. Jesus came to exert and demonstrate His power over demons during His ministry. Demons inhabit dry places where the Lord is grieved or is absent. But the Lord Himself promises to come in and clean the desert with living water, His very own life. What a promise!

• 62. Streams in the Desert

Isaiah 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

“Then” is the Day of the Messiah, the days of the New Testament, which last from the First Coming until the Second Coming of Christ. “Then” Jesus lived on earth and fulfilled His ministry, part of which included healing the lame and the dumb. These were the kinds of miracles that were blatantly seen and obviously evident. No one could doubt the healings happened. When these healings occurred at the hands of Jesus of Nazareth, everyone could know that the Age of the Promised Messiah had come. The Isaianic prophecy was fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Age is proclaimed by the miraculous healings of Jesus. Now everyone is called to repent and believe the Gospel for the Kingdom has come. Many people believed in Him and were granted eternal life now and forever. The Promise embedded in this Call is that in the wilderness waters will break out and streams will flow in the desert. This is the promise meant for you and me and all believers in Christ. Into the wilderness and desert of our hearts streams of refreshing life-giving waters will flow. These are living waters; they are the very life of God that washes over us, cleanses out sin, and provides spiritual refreshment. Jesus refers this water to the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in our spirit.

Because of Jesus’ finished work, the Spirit of God may come into our lives and hearts and powerfully affect our souls and even our bodies with health and life. We confess: “I am dry and empty inside, like a desert.” We believe and confess: “I am refreshed with the living water of life from Jesus, like streams in the desert.” The good news is that this promise is available to me at any time, in any place, and in any circumstance. Let the waters flow!

 61. Eyes and ears Opened

Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

The prophecy is that then (in the days of the Messiah) healings will happen, the blind will see and the deaf will hear. Jesus and the New Testament refer to this prophecy to declare that the “then” time has come. When you see these miracles happen you will know that God has entered human history and the Promised Messiah has come. Then you may repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus and the Apostle John declare clearly that the spiritually blind shall see the Messianic Savior, and the spiritually deaf shall hear the Good News and be healed and saved spiritually; and spiritual healing, seeing, and hearing means that you have eternal life.

Physical healing of the blind and deaf is not promised; but spiritual healing of the spiritually blind and deaf is promised. We don’t even see that we are blind nor do we understand that we are deaf; but we were; we were born that way. The sin of unbelief and pride prevents us from seeing and admitting that we are so handicapped. So the Holy Spirit must convict us through the Word of Law. Then the Spirit must convict us of healing through the Word of Gospel. The Spirit gives us eye salve and ear mud, anoints the eyes and ears of the mind, heals the blindness and deafness of the heart, and gives us the faith to see and hear the truth. And believing we have life.

God knows we can’t see and so He gives us prophecies, signs and wonders, and physical evidence of the spiritual truths so that we can see. When our spiritual eyes of faith are opened and our ears unstopped we see our Sin and hear our Savior: and we are saved and we have life. Healing miracles giving wholeness and life are offered to us for free every time we hear the Gospel. Healing happens and we see and hear. Believe the promise and rejoice that the Lord has performed the healing that we need. The physical miracles of Jesus are witnessed for us and written for us by eyewitnesses that we might believe the spiritual truth. This spiritual healing happens in us every time we listen to the witnesses. Admit your blindness and receive your healing.

• God will Come and Save

Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.

Your God will come and save you: this is a prophecy of the Messiah. Jesus, who is God, who will come to the earth to live and die and rise again for the purpose of saving His people from Sin, Death, and the Devil. In this prophecy is a promise: the promise of salvation. 

The Lord has fulfilled the prophecy and kept His promise. He came and saved us when the Son of God was born as Jesus of Nazareth. “You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” This He did in a powerful and effective way, in the only way possible, but in the most unexpected way: He took the place of His people under sin and bore its penalty for us. Jesus came and He saved. Our sins have been completely forgiven; our impending death and its fears have been turned into eternal life; and the Devil’s authority and power to own and control, to kidnap and enslave, to steal and destroy, has been stripped away. We have been saved.

During our lifetime Jesus still comes to us daily and saves us. He comes to save us every day, because every day we get into trouble again. We sin daily, we die (to self) daily, we are saved daily, and we are given new life daily. We remember our Baptism: we die and rise with Christ and walk in the newness of life. We are constantly sinning and constantly converted. And with the promise of salvation Jesus comes to save us by answering our prayers and meeting our real needs according to His good will and purpose for us. The Lord who saved you promises to come and save you again and again.

Then we have the sure and certain present hope of a secure and solid future reality: Jesus will come again and save us finally and forever from the presence of Sin, Death, and the Devil ever again forever. When Jesus comes again He will come with a vengeance to punish and destroy our enemies. He will come with a recompense and reward for us who are saved, eternal life with God in the Eternal State.

• 59. From Desert to Joy

Isaiah 35:1,2 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

The wilderness and the solitary place is the human heart without a knowledge or relationship or faith in God. Without God, man is really alone (even though God gave him a wife). Humans try to fill the emptiness with all kinds of worldly things and people; nothing but God can lastingly fill the hungry, quench the thirsty, or satisfy the inner longing. The soul is a desert, filled only with angst. The sinner is a zombie, a walking dead man, and he can do nothing about the emptiness, dryness and lifelessness within.

God promises that the desert of the soul will be glad and rejoice, because it will blossom abundantly with joy and singing. This life-giving joy comes in when the Spirit implants faith through the Gospel. What was dry and parched is now lush and verdant. If we could only see the difference Jesus makes to the empty soul we would emotionally be filled with joy all the time. But emotions are temporary; they come and go. However, the joy of the Lord is deep and lasting, even when our emotions are not sensing it.

The Lord tries to make us see the difference by using the picture of turning a desert land into green pastures and fertile crops. This metaphor helps us to see the glory and excellency of our God by faith. Jesus came into our world to change us forever. Jesus comes into our hearts every day to change us forever. Jesus will come to earth again to change the universe and make it fit for eternity. For today, He leads me beside still waters and green pastures every time I hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. Believe the promise and enjoy the blessing.

• 58. Iniquity Forgiven

Isaiah 33:24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

God has a wonderful promise for the inhabitants of the spiritual kingdom of God and for His people that dwell in it: their sins shall be forgiven. This forgiveness of iniquity has come through the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Because our sins are forgiven we are brought into the Promised Land of our inheritance in heaven. We enter into the Kingdom by repentance and faith in the Gospel. The Gospel says, “Jesus died for you; your sins are forgiven.” When we repent and believe that Good News we become an inhabitant of the Kingdom of God.

We live in iniquity, another word for sin. Iniquity means unequal, uneven, crooked. Sin causes our lives to be broken and fragmented, without harmony and peace. Sin makes us separated from God and from Life, and without God our lives cannot ever come into line and be in a straight way. Iniquity simply means things are not quite right and smooth; it is the evidence of sin. When sin and iniquity is forgiven our lives begin to come into alignment and smooth out. Life flows. 

We need forgiveness daily, for we sin daily. Thankfully, we have forgiveness daily; it is always available; it is constantly held out for us to receive. The more we repent and believe the forgiveness of iniquity the more our lives come out on an even keel, things come together, and we are at peace. We admit that we cannot straighten our life, get all our stuff together, nor make peace by ourselves. We need help; we need more than help; we need the Lord to do it all. And this is His promise: He does it.

•  57. Judge, Lawgiver, King will Save

Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: He will save us.

The Lord God is in Himself all three branches of government rolled into one: judicial, legislative, and executive. He is the Absolute Monarch. And there is no challenge, appeal, or demonstration that can alter His laws, His decisions, or His purposes. This Almighty, Omnipotent, Sovereign, Absolute King saves us. There can be no doubt about the power of God to save us from Sin, Death and the Devil. The victory is sure, certain, final and finished. If God saves us we are saved. Of this promise there can be no doubt.

The fascinating truth, however, is that God did not use unmatched power, military might, or unquestioned authority to save us and set us free from the Enemies. The power of salvation is exercised in weakness, humility, service, suffering, unconditional love, and death on a cross. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel is the judicial decree of the Supreme Court: “You are saved, you are forgiven, you are free.” This is the Law of the Land. The Gospel is the legislative authority of Congress that makes a New Law, overcoming and destroying all the legal demands of the Law that were against us, condemning us, and making us guilty of infinite sin against an Infinite God. The New Law: “Your sins are forgiven; you are saved.” The Gospel is the President that executes the decree and makes it active and effective in our lives. The Gospel enforces the Truth that sets us free and makes us secure forever. It gives eternal life and salvation.

Our judge, lawgiver and king is now in charge of our lives and our eternity. And Jesus is in charge of our salvation.  He works out all things together for our good. When He says, “Trust Me!” we can really trust Him. The power announced in the Gospel is the power of love. Love is the strongest force in the universe. God loved us like this: He gave His Son.

• 56. See the King and the Land

Isaiah 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

The promise of the beatific vision of God in all His glory and beauty is the promise of coming into the very throne room of the King of the Universe. Seeing the King will indeed be an eternity changing event, but it is not a one-time event for we will see the Lord of Glory every day forever. The vision of God in His beauty affects the soul as He pours liquid love all through us. We will never be the same again, ever. This is the promise for believers in Jesus Christ. It will be more stunning than any beautiful thing we have ever witnessed before. Everything we endure on earth will be worth it all just to stand in His Glorious Presence and be powerfully moved. It is worth looking forward to. We wait in faith for this vision.

A few people have been privileged to see the Lord, although not in all His glorious and brilliant glory. We think of Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Peter, and John. These temporary glimpses give us hope and joy while we contemplate what is yet to come. Any revelation that we receive in this life is a foretaste, an appetizer that inspires us for what is yet to come.

We will also behold the land that is very far off. Heaven is not so far off since it is all around us at all times, but we cannot see it with our physical eyes for it exists in the spiritual realm, seen only with the eyes of faith. However, the new heaven and the new earth, which will be our land to enjoy forever, are far off in time from the moment in which we presently live. The restored Paradise garden of Eden, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God, the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey, the inheritance eternal in the heavens, and the New Heaven and New Earth will definitely come to us and we will live there in perfect love and bliss for eternity. When we behold the Land we will be almost as over-awed as we will be when we see the Beauty of the King. The land that is very far off is more beautiful and wonderful than anything we can even imagine. Imagine the most beautiful land you have ever seen and then multiply that view by a million. There you have it in mind. We keep this vision before us until we see face to face.

• 55. Place of Defense

Isaiah 33:15,16 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

This is a conditional promise: if you walk righteously, speak uprightly, despise gain, refuse bribes, avoid bloodshed, and shun evil, then you will dwell on high, live in a strongly defensed place, be given bread, and always have water. In other words, if you do what is right you will live well. Honesty, integrity, and truthfulness will bring safety and prosperity. The opposite would also be true: if you lie, cheat and steal you will not do well. This is all a general principle built in to the universe. “Honesty is the best policy.” Keep the commandments and you will be blessed. This principle is always true and the Bible is full of it: God gives blessings or allows curses according to obedience or disobedience of the Ten Commandments.

The Moral Law of God is given to human beings for their good. Good things come as a natural consequence of keeping the Law; bad things happen as a consequence to those who break the Law. This truth is undeniable. The problem is that many Jews extended moral righteousness to include the consequence of eternal life and heaven (if they even believed in such a prospect). Even after Jesus came, too many Christians still believe and act as if eternal reward is based on earthly behavior: do good and God rewards; do bad and God punishes. This idea of “earning” reward or punishment is endemic to human nature: we are often tempted to believe that good works deserve eternal reward, and sinful deeds deserve eternal punishment.

This is true, but it misunderstands or disbelieves GRACE. Grace means Jesus earned the reward for us and gave it to us. This is astounding! Eternal life is a gift of grace. Faith receives it. But once we understand and believe the grace of God in Christ we may forget that keeping or not keeping The Law of God still has good or bad consequences in life. And the gospel of grace gives us the power to keep the Law and reap the sowing to the Spirit.

Jesus has satisfied the condition of this promise: therefore, by faith we shall “dwell on high,” even now and certainly forever.

•  54, Stability, Strength, and Treasure

Isaiah 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

Faith is wisdom and knowledge, which is Jesus. He is for us stability and strength. This is a promise for believers in Jesus: stability for the times in which we live and strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord = faith in Jesus. This faith is our treasure; Jesus is our treasure: this is our promise. When we have Jesus we have wisdom and knowledge, since Jesus is wisdom and knowledge. When we have Jesus we have an eternal treasure, the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field. In other words, in Jesus we have it all.

We need stability. We will not find it in any worldly person, thing, government, or institution. We live in chaotic times, and we always have since the Fall. No matter where we are or when we live or who is in charge or what is going on we will always exist in uncertain times. Jesus is for us the stability and the solid rock and foundation on which we can build a stable life, marriage, family, community and work. Jesus is wise and He always knows what to do, and He promises He will always do it. On Him we rest; in Him we trust; we are stable.

Jesus is the strength of salvation. Because we are saved from our Enemies we shall be strong. Jesus is strong to save us from anything that would be against us. Because He is strong we have strength in Him. In Christ we have strength to overcome any and every obstacle that would keep us away from God and from Life. In His strength we are overcomers: thus all the promises for overcomers are meant for us. Every other foundation and source of strength will fail us and we will crumble, except for Jesus only. Everything else, including ourselves, is too weak to stand up against Sin, Death, and Satan with all his spiritual forces. Only Jesus saves.

Jesus is our priceless treasure. He is worth more than all the wealth of the world. “The fear of the Lord” = faith in Christ. By faith we have this treasure, and nothing can take it away from us, neither moth, nor rust, nor thieves. It is an inheritance eternal in the heavens. Once we have Jesus by faith we would be willing to give up everything else and sell all to obtain that one thing, Jesus. This priceless treasure is something we have been given and now we have it and we enjoy it.