Debt and Redemption

Have you ever read Isaiah and the other prophets and thought that the paragraphs don’t seem related? Perhaps you have studied these books of the Bible to find the context in which they were written, and yet, the verses still seem unrelated to each other.  As human beings, we understand things better if we know what topic they are about and why they are written.  But if we think that the Lord speaks arbitrarily, circularly, or without a plan, we are stopped in our efforts to understand what is written by these prophets.

God’s mind is greater than our mind and He speaks with a plan.  Not only is He a great source of inspiration for our thought-life, but we actually get to know God through what He has said.    Today I will write about Isaiah 40, God’s offer to help Mankind.

In verses 1 – 2 the Lord is comforting a people who have been lost in sin.  He states that her (the people’s) time has been completed and her sin has been paid for by the Babylonian exile. Then the Lord speaks about a new and better plan of redemption.  The voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord is a prophecy about John the Baptist.  God not only will send John, but he is going to prepare the way for the great answer to His nation's unbelief: their Messiah, Jesus the Christ.   This will be a new and different way to atone for their sins.  The requirements of the law never completely satisfied the debt of personal sin that men owed to God.

To accomplish the redemption through Jesus, the Lord levels the playing field.  Isaiah writes that the hills will be brought low and the valleys become level. God brings all men to a level status by consigning all men to sin so that all have the possibility to be forgiven.  Though some men may have thought of themselves as good, the Lord points out that their “glory” withers and falls like the flowers of the grass.  He not only leveled the playing field of Man, but now proceeds to tell us how His excellence is far superior to Man, for even His words are “forever.” God is able to give men a reward, whereas none of Man’s works are lasting, hence the reference to withering flowers.  We may be showy for a while, but our lives are soon over and our works forgotten.  In God’s eyes, a thousand years can be as a blink of the eye.

In verses 9 –14 the Lord tells us about His power, and yet being a gentle shepherd, as well as His omniscience and that He was and is the Creator.  This may seem unrelated to His topics of sin and redemption, however, the Lord has just shown that Man’s glory is inferior, and He now contrasts Man’s glory with His own.  Man cannot save himself by putting in time for the sins he has done, neither can he impress God by his own glory.  Even the great works of nations fall short of God’s glory.  The Lord is showing the contrast between Himself and Man in order to show that the creations of men’s hands, their idols, are not Gods.  He is reasoning with His people about the error of their thinking, petitioning them to consider that the Creator of the universe is better than the creations of their hands.  He asks “To Whom will you compare to Me. Or who is My equal?” (vs 25-26). By inviting us to use the mental function of comparing, God is beginning the process by which men will come to discernment, and then truth and wisdom.

God does not despise Man’s inferiority nor despise his cause (vs 27).  Though He acknowledges His glory is superior to Man’s, God also does not get weary of us (verse 28).  In fact, He offers help to those who prefer to have God take the credit for the goodness in their lives; He will give His strength to those who seek Him, (“those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint; vs 31).” And this help, my friend, is far superior to the redemption accomplished by paying a debt for one’s own sin.  Amen.

The Inner Man

We often find ourselves in difficult situations.  There seems to be a choice before us; to change so that the situation molds us, or to remain the same so that we conquer the situation.  In our minds, either choice could be God’s best for us, at times.  But today I am writing about a third choice.  Because difficult situations can take us to the place where we have no more grace to give, and can leave us with no more energy left to fight with, we need to find that place of strength and abundance within ourselves called the “inner man.”

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,… “ (Eph 3:16-17)

Our inner man is that new “man” inside of us, and is a place of abundance and strength in Christ. Though we may be accustomed to seeing ourselves as weak, out of energy, or barren in our trials, that is not how God sees us.  He is at work in our inner man to give forth what each situation needs.  That is why God has gifted us; so that we would have something to give.

It has been God’s design all along to hide His glorious riches in less-than-perfect men and women. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;  we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;… “ (2 Cor 4:6-7).  When we least suspect it, we are rich inside, in the inner man. God meant for us to bring light to dark situations, and therefore put gifts inside of each one of us.

Over the past 42 years I have been praying for the Lord to give me His grace for each situation I find myself in.  However, my willingness to be molded into His image left me short-sighted, for I could not see that He dwelt in my inner man richly, imparting much more than His grace for my trials.  I began noticing that there would come to my mind a “word fitly spoken” (Prov 25:11), which are words of council, wisdom, and knowledge (1 Cor 12:8). My prayers became filled with prophetic revelation so that I knew how to converse knowledgably with Him in the Spirit (1 Cor 14:15 & Eph 6:18).  Discernment and the distinguishing between spirits (1 Cor 12:10) brought functional wisdom into my life, which helped me to navigate the enemy’s mind field. It became apparent that there was, indeed, a third choice . . . one besides grace to be molded or determination to conquer.  I could go to that place inside, the inner man, and give the riches of Christ.

After becoming aware of our potential to give richly towards any situation, we might find ourselves confused, for we may not have the faith to proceed from our resources in our inner man.  Most of us proceed from our mind, which categorizes our weaknesses and failures.  This is where the gift of faith comes in, for faith enables us to believe that “as He is, so also are we in this world.” (1 Jn 4:17)  God’s best for us is to be as Jesus is.  Faith allows us to look at the Life of Christ within us and to live as He did.  Faith will see beyond the earthen vessel to the treasure within.

Today, be encouraged in your trials.  Go to that place of strength and riches within you.  Your faith will enable you to give from the gifts that He put within you.  Amen.  

The High Horse

We admire the Apostle Paul for his writings and the great works he did.  Also, he had the great experience of meeting Jesus, which led him to change from persecuting the Christians to affirming them.  When Paul met Jesus for the first time, he was knocked off his horse and blinded. Then the conversation went like this;

And he (Paul) said, “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 9:5 KJV)

It was Paul’s tumble off the horse that gives us the expression of someone being on their “high horse”, or being proud.  That also is what the Lord pointed out to Paul; he was kicking against the circumstances in his life that were meant to bring him to Christ.  Instead of being a leader in the Jewish faith, Jesus called Paul to be His servant, and a leader in the Christian faith.

I am a teacher in a nursing program and have had many dedicated, hard-working students.  But I also have had those who challenge the amount of work we require of them.  Those students who tackled their preparation and cared for patients with all their hearts retained their lessons and made great nurses.  Those who rebelled did not. There is great gain in submitting to the circumstances of life. The rebellious do not make good servants.

If we look at Paul’s ministry, we see a similarity to Jesus’ ministry.  They both were servants to God, and they both submitted to hurtful and humiliating circumstances.  By submitting to the sufferings of this life, Jesus learned obedience to God and was able to do His glorious works (Heb 5:8).  Paul learned that the sufferings of this life were the wrapping paper on the gifts he gave on behalf of the Lord to others.  He writes;

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:10-11)

Paul could heal the sick, raise the dead, evangelize and write scripture because he fellowshipped with Christ.

We also have pride to deal with, and occasionally, or more often than we’d like to admit it, we kick against the circumstances of our lives.  Some believe that their faith is meant to change unfavorable circumstances to pleasant circumstances.  Yet faith that resides in our head and does not produce any works is dead (Jms 2:17)  Our lives are meant to contain sacrifice.  We are encouraged to

“Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Rm 12:1)

Clearly, God did not intend for our lives to go smoothly.  A smooth and carefree life should not be the goal of our faith.  A holy life, one in which we fellowship with Christ, should be our heart’s passion.  If we want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do His works, and the works of His great apostles, we cannot protect our lives from hardship.  Though our pride may rise up and demand that we be treated like a child of Christ, we are sons if we are humble, and servant-leaders when we partake of his sufferings (Rm 8:17).  Amen.