Category: Isaiah

Sanju was 36 years old when he finally decided it was time to take his abnormal belly to the doctors. It wasn’t until he started having trouble breathing that he decided something may be wrong.  Gallons of fluid were drained from the belly, the doc reaches in and finds a hand – it is Sanju’s twin! He had carried his twin inside of him for 36 years.

You must realize you are sick before you get better.

Conviction comes first then comfort.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a doctor turned preacher who was a master spiritual diagnostician. Of persons who seek the joy without the proper prerequisites he said:

Indeed the real trouble with the miserable Christian is that he has never been truly made miserable because of conviction of sin. He has by-passed the essential preliminary to joy, he has been assuming something that he has no right to assume.

Too often we want the comfort. We put off the surgery, deluding ourselves that the pain and scars are not there, or at least not that serious. “They can wait, its not that bad yet.” Sin is a toxic cancer that first deadens our perception; the wounds are always deeper than we think. “I’m getting better, progressing, feeling stronger – I will be on top soon,” we say to ourselves. The sickness grows.

Only a miracle of grace can awaken us from the deadly sleep of sin. God offers a covenant of comfort. He speaks tenderly. He pardons. The payment for our surgery has been paid, with an all sufficient currency. The most precious commodity in the universe, the blood of Christ is the ransom and the remedy; it both buys and cleans.

The Great Physician is always on call.

Bethany and I still have some VHS movies even though we got rid of both of our VHS players. This was an attempt on my part to ensure that I will never have to watch Ann of Green Gables again – I have told her that I will buy the set for her on DVD…? Imagine 30 years ago when VHS came out if someone then said, “I’m not buying any of those, I’m holding out for DVDs.””What are DVD’s ?”

“They are what is to come, and they will be superior. I’m going to save all the money that I would spend on VHS and one day, when DVD first comes out, I will have all the movies that you have in a superior format; I will also watch them on a flat screen!”

People might think you odd. They might think you are missing out on watching and enjoying some great films. At times you are weak. VHS players and tapes get cheaper. Maybe just one or two, after all you have been saving all this time and you can certainly afford it. But you hold out preaching, “DVD will come, repent of your VHS ways, sell them now, and save in the hope of the great DVD.”

The wait is worth it. Do not settle for the worlds cheap imitations. “Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come…”

The sights and sounds of heaven are better than the world’s entertainment.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.- Jim Elliot

This is the powerful poem by Karsten Piper that I read a few weeks ago when we journeyed through Isaiah 20.

Luke 18:25 by Karsten Piper

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur’s claws,
and upside down in the curette’s spoon.
Light shone out of the needle’s eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed-

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

HT: Desiring God

Name that movie:

Brian Fantana: [shouting] …they don’t belong in the newsroom!

Champ Kind: [shouting] It is anchor*man*, not anchor*lady*! And that is a scientific fact.

Brick Tamland: [shouting] I don’t know what we’re yelling about!

Brian Fantana: You’re with us, Ron, what do you think?

Ron Burgundy: [shouting] She… She… It’s terrible! She has beautiful eyes, and her hair smells like cinnamon!

Brick Tamland: [shouts] Loud noises!

How often is our worship generated simply by mood?  We aren’t necessarily grasping truth, just simply going with the flow of the service be it somber or exuberant.  I do think worship should be contagious.  I do think mood is important, even essential in a sense, but it is not the place we start.

The song of the redeemed in Isaiah 12 is born out of truths:

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel

The truth of who God is generates our worship.  Too often we simply want an experience.  We don’t want to think, we just want to feel.  Merely seeking a feeling is self-centered.  However if I must start with God, thinking properly about Him, and responding prperly in emotion and action this becomes God glorifying.  Think then feel, or as Driscoll says:

Theology→Doxology→Biography

“I don’t know why I’m singing…I don’t know why I’m crying…I don’t know why I’m so happy…I don’t know why I’m raising my hands…LOUD NOISES!  Wahoo!  I am clueless…but it sure feels good!”

Yes, I watch American Idol. But mostly to see the disasters; alas, the fun part of American Idol has now ceased. Last night a horrible singer throws glitter and flowers out of his pocket to woo ‘the ladies’ leaving a mess to be cleaned up. Simon asks for Ryan to come in and clean it up. He tells the stage hand to wait for Ryan.  Ryan enters, is a bit patronizing, and shrugs off the duty. So Simon takes the broom, and although he has no clue how to use it, attempts to dispose of the sparkly carnage. After being informed that the cameras are now off he quickly gives the broom back to the stage hand.

Ever notice someone higher than you do work that you thought you were above?

Jesus came as a humble shoot from a stump. He came a servant to give his life as a ransom (Matthew 20:28).

Frustratingly I cannot remember where I read it much more poetically stated that:

Once Christ has humbled himself, how can man ever be prideful?

It’s about Jesus, it’s always about Jesus, its only about Jesus, its solely about Jesus, and we are Jesus people living in the wake of Jesus’ death and resurrection and so for us it is about Christ, it is only about Christ, it is always about Christ.  – Mark Driscoll, in a sermon titled Examining Two Enemies of the Gospel

Seeing is a blessing. I have never had to wear glasses; I have always had perfect vision, although I anticipate that this will not always be the case. If I had to give up a sense it would not be sight. Loosing touch or felling would be kind of cool, you could have people beat up your foot like Mr. Deeds. Smell, it could be a blessing in many ways to loose your sense of smell, especially if my allergies would be banished with it. If I lost the sense of taste I am sure I would eat much healthier than I do now. Hearing would be painful to part with, but not as much as sight.

We have seen Jesus. We dwelt in darkness, but we have seen Jesus. Isaiah got a glimpse and looked forward. We look backwards and forwards, but we look at and towards Jesus. What has been alluded to throughout Isaiah is now made clear to us because we stand on this side of the cross.

Take some time to praise God for your spiritual eyesight. So many are blind. So many will never see the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. You have seen the most wonderful sight by the eye of faith and are promised that what is now of faith will one day be made sight. After thanking Him, take some time to read Is. 9:1-7 and behold, meditate, and worship the Christ.

The revelation made of Christ in the blessed Gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, more filled with rays of Divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation, and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or apprehend. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. This therefore deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them. For if our future blessedness shall consist in living where He is, and beholding of His glory; what better preparation can there be for it, than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory, in the revelation that is made in the Gospel unto this very end, that by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into the same glory.  – John Owen  in The Glory of Christ

In case you haven’t watched a horrible movie in a while and are longing to waste 96 minutes of your life might I suggest the 1995 flop Judge Dredd. Thankfully Stallone has since realized that he has all the film material he will ever need within the Rambo and Rocky franchises, bring on the sequels. To save yourself the pain, Stallone plays a perfect, genetically engineered crime fighter who must combat his twin gone wrong, the ultimate criminal. Basically he shoots all the bad guys and says a bunch of corny one liners such as “I am the law! Put down your weapons and prepare to be judged.” In the end I am left with no dread for Judge Dread. Aquaman could likely beat up Judge Dredd. That is the ultimate cut down in the world of superheroes.We dread a lot of things in America:

Credit card bills
Report cards
Bank statements
Driving an unreliable car
Leaving the house to an undesirable work place
Coming home to an unhappy spouse
Giving blood

God tells Isaiah to let Him be his dread. Do we dread God? When the high Priest came before God on the Day of Atonement with the bells ringing around his ankle as signs of life I think he did so with a smattering of dread. God is not requesting that we live in a state of fear, looking around our shoulder expecting to be zapped at any moment. I think He simply wants to be taken seriously. His threats are not empty, His promises are sure, and his gospel is that precious. Do we think God corny, unthreatening, and goofy like Stallone when He threatens?

How much time do we spend worrying about:

How we might be failing God
Unconfused sin
Discovering the sin we are blind to that is still in our lives
Insincere worship
Unsanctified affections
Hardness of heart
Lack of devotion

in proportion to the stress over the credit card bill?

But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  – Isaiah 8:13

Seraph was the guardian of The Oracle in the Matrix. He could pretty much beat up anybody he wanted to in one on one combat. It would be pretty safe to conclude that if someone came along that Seraph couldn’t beat up, you should run too.

The seraphim stood above God’s throne in Isaiah’s vision. They had six wings. They used two to cover their face and two to cover their feet as a position of humility before Yahweh. Seraphim means “burning ones”. So her are these angelic beings, burning ones, but when before God, they assume a position of humility and sing his praise. Angels could beat us up. If burning ones assume a position of humility and praise before the thrice holy God, shouldn’t we?

Addendum:  I ran accross this great quote from Tozer and had to share:

Yet we must not compare the being of God with any other as we just now compared the mountain with the child. We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to God. This would be to grant God eminence, even pre-eminence, but that is not enough; we must grant Him transcendence in the fullest meaning of that word. Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite. The caterpillar and the archangel, though far removed from each other in the scale of created things, are nevertheless one in that they are alike created. They both belong in the category of that-which-is-not-God and are separated from God by infinitude itself.  – A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy

You ever get that feeling that something is missing? The strongest you ever get this feeling is when you have one of those dreams where you forgot to wear you clothes to school or work. You apparently make the drive wondering, “What did I forget?”

You pack for a trip. You have double checked everything, but you still feel like something is missing. You are two hours into the trip when it hits you.

The new year seems lacking,

especially in the evenings,

weekday evenings more specifically. What could it be?

NO 24!

In Isaiah 5 GOD is upset that something is missing in HIS vineyard. There is a serious fruit shortage. That something is missing is blatantly obvious, as obvious as a drive to school in your underwear. When we finally snap out of our dream we rationalize its unreality, “there is no way I could walk out the door in my underwear, where would I put my wallet, this can’t be real.” do we fail to rationalize our spiritual state? Are we delusional? Are we running around naked acting as if we had clothes on before a holy GOD?